Thursday, August 27, 2009

Bye W

W has served us well and he has smartly learnt the layout of our house. The more he worked each day, the lesser time he took to complete each cleaning cycle. He was such a great help and took so much household-work-related stress off me! I only had to ask him to start working everyday after waking up and upon reaching home after a day out. Before we knew it, the house would be clean and AN could play-act tea time sitting on the floor if she wanted. Prior to that, all her 'utensils' would have fur all over (all thanks to the static, fur sticks to EVERYTHING, even to the bottom my father's pants while he walked when he was here..). And there would even be fur on the tallest part of the slide.

We decided to send him back though.

Have I mentioned before that the beater brush melted after 2 uses when it first arrived? Irobot sent me a new cleaning head which I replaced (irobot parts can be replaced very easily, even by a layman myself) but after just one use with the new module, it seemed like the brush looked slightly distorted again. Could it be that the brush did not start off perfectly rounded while still being new. After having done its thing for the last 1.5 wks, there had been nore further distortion, but for the amount we paid, I was worried the set would not be capable for long enough to justify its cost.

Since Irobot has a 30 day money back guarantee and I had been reading that the Roomba 562 (a new Pet Series robot) is a stronger model for homes with pets, we decided to send W (Roomba 570) back and had just placed an order for 562.

On paper, the only differences btw a 562 and a 570 is that the 562 has 2 bins (1 standard vaccum bin and a large sweeping bin) but no wireless controller and the 570 comes with a wireless control without the large bin. Seemed like larger bin would suit our needs more but then again, since W did his job every morning (and evening sometimes), a small bin was more than enough. The only thing, if I had to point out a fault, was that fur (and my long hair) gets caught on the brushes so I would not be able to send it to do more even if the bin could take more load.

There's no reason to complain though, coz even with regular vaccum cleaners and the Iecologi, I stop mid-cleaning to clear the brush or fur and hair.

Let's just hope the 562 will be stronger like some reviewers say. I hope the brushes are stronger, or maybe the way they build it, will differ from 570. There were fur inside Wwhen I took it apart (to replace the faulty cleaning head).

Now that W is not around anymore, we sure do miss his presence. He was like a pet and Maen has gotten so used to him that she didn't even bother to move away anymore when he approached. In fact, she would at times, allow him to bump into her and then change directions. Baileys would still move away if he felt W had no intention to change path. B is one who avoids confrontation, even in this case with W, but he had come to a point where he would allow W to get closer to him than he usually allowed before deciding to get out of W's way.

Bagless vaccum cleaners have never attracted me but for the convenience an iRobot gives, I am willing to bear with the flying dust as I empty the bin. It gets disgusting though and I had to nag at AN to get out before she breathe in those dust. U can't believe how much dust there is! Every time I empty the bin, there would be a thick layer of dust. Goodness...and to think I used to vaccum every alternate days when we first came, and down to weekly before W came.

A Roomba would NOT be good for anyone with allergies given that dust still gets transferred from one place, to another as you empty its bin.

But the convenience, ooohhhhh.....I think I'd rather become asthmatic breathing in all those dust than not have a Roomba at home.

And there's this Scooba which does the mopping...hmmm...ok it makes no sense to pay over S$400 to buy a floor washing robot when a mop and pail cost less than $20. Forget it. ;p

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