Best Roomba for an apartment with hardwood floors & area rug?

I'm interested this as well. I heard the Neatos are much better

Are they worth the money?

I love the Roomba. But like I said, area rugs are going to take a beating.

obligatory tech board response:

the neato is vastly superior to the roomba. it goes back and forth rather than just randomly running around bumping into shite. i've had my neato for one year now and have only had to replace the batteries in it 7 times. you should definitely get the neato

Dyson 360 Eye

How thick is your area rug? I've never actually tested my Roomba, but I think any rug under 1" should not be a problem

The Roomba's wheels are about 3" in diameter, and they actually can extend all the way out to let it climb over thick rugs.

Cleaning power doesn't differ much between robotic vacuums, no matter the model. There's a physical limit to how much suction power you can generate given the power a portable battery can put out.

If you are looking for a budget (relatively speaking of course, it's still quite expensive) robotic vacuum, I would go with the Roomba 860. It's the cheapest model you can get that still has the next-gen brushless rollers. I like them because the "brush-less-ness" makes cleaning hair out of the Roomba so easy.

If you feel like reading, here is a detailed review of the Roomba 860. About 2/3 of the way down, there is a picture of how the Roomba's wheels stick out.

I think Neato have even cheaper models but I would wait until they come out with a brushless version if you want to go that route. There's a lot of Neato fans here. :)

Get a Neato

I named mine Tucker.

I love him. I tell him hey when I come home from work.

We have a great relationship. He cleans while I drink. It's perfect.

quote:

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If you're going to get a Roomba, get one of the smarter ones. We went through the entry models and they were dumb dumb dumb. Learned our lesson and got the 960 and it's at least as smart as a preschooler. It moves in straight lines when cleaning, will return to its base when charge drops, and then will get back out there to finish the job afterward.

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All of which is completely unnecessary for someone in an apartment. Sure this is good advice if you're trying to vacuum 3000 sqft, but the 650 is like 400+ cheaper and won't be noticeably worse than the top of the line model for cleaning an apartment.

ETA: I have a 650 and its one of the best purchases I've made.

Any Black Friday deals on the 960?

Hello Yankee,

I understood your problem. Because I too faced the same.

My house is of area 1200 sq.ft with all types of floors including the thick rugs.

And as said Roomba's are highly talented cleaning the normal hardwood and tile floors and carpets as well (low and medium pile).

But considering the thick carpets, the basic Roomba models didn't do well to me..

And after reading from here I got to know that the higher end Roomba models came designed for cleaning thick rugs.

As they work great on remaining floor types as well, It is always the best to go for the top end models Roomba 960 and 980.

Hope this helps you.