I LOVE My Roomba
In a blinding act of decadence, I bought myself a Roomba Discovery. Having a big black dog, we found that in order to keep the bedroom even SLIGHTLY black dog hair free, we were vacuuming up to 2 times per day. No cat I've ever had has been anywhere near the hair factory that Jeppiepooh has been. Love him to pieces, but MAN what a mess.
Since the hair finds its way under the bed, under the dressers, under the nightstands and under EVERYTHING it was becoming more and more difficult to get to. The bedroom is a large open area, with hardwood floors, a few area rugs, and lots of "stuff" in the way. Wes didn't think that a Roomba could properly navigate the mess. I, on the other hand, was optimistic.
This little Roomba does a really good job. It has emerged unscathed out from under the bed. This is a significant accomplishment as many an item has been lost for eons. When it gets itself stuck, teetering on the edge of an area rug it has partially ingested, it cleverly rocks itself off. When it wedges itself under something that was just that little bit too short, it shuts down for a second or two, seemingly "thinking," then figures a way out. If it can't get out, it plays a silly little song that basically says "help me mom."
It is not too difficult to empty its bagless dirt compartment. A bit more difficult to remove its brushes and clean them, but that only has to be done about once a week. The only engineering issues I would have changed with the unit is that I don't think that the battery remains charged long enough to do a large room like this one. Also, it is rather loud. However, all in all the unit makes our "dog hair duty" a lot easier.