Excellent product, and I received it free!

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Perfect for what it is, with realistic expectaions

I hate overenthusiastic reviews that simply say the product is perfect, I love it, go buy one. That's not helpful to me. When I read a review, I want to know what potential problems I might have if I purchase said product and if the problems are minor enough to overlook. Having said that, I do admit this Roomba is adorably cute and I do love this little vacuum.^M
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I recently redid my 1,400 sq. ft home in laminate floors, with the master bedroom keeping the carpet. I own a Dyson vacuum, three dogs and three cats. The first was to try and control the fur shed by the others. I have a rug in the kitchen and bath mats in the bathrooms (wood in the kitchen, vinyl in the bathrooms). If I don't vacuum the house every few days, fur piles up along the walls and under the dining table and chairs. One round of vacuuming totally fills the Dyson container.^M
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When I got the Roomba, I let him charge overnight and then some (the manual recommends 16 hours on the first charge). Then I came home and let him loose. I DID NOT pre-vacuum any of the fur. As I watched, it seemed to travel in a very random pattern, repeating some areas way more than others. I became skeptical. Then, I started dinner and proceeded to ignore the Roomba for the next hour or so. When I looked up. the fur under the dining table and chairs was gone! Yes, he gets stuck under the chairs and does much bumping to find a straight path out, but he does get out. The next time I looked up, he had found his way into my master bathroom (having travelled from laminate to carpet to vinyl to bath mat). Only once did I hear a little call of distress to find him stuck on a furry wool rug in the living room. So, the "fringe" on rug problems do happen.^M
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I empty the container after every cleaning. Most of the fur had been wound around the brushes, but those are easy to remove and clean, especially with the cleaning brush (it kind of resembles a letter opener with a blade on one part). The dust was in the container and on the filter.^M
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The next morning, I set it to Max and went to work. I wanted to test how well it would dock itself unsupervised (the first time I manually docked it, pushing the Spot and Clean buttons). I came home to a happily docked Roomba, a clean floor, and a very full dirt container (he must have found his way under the beds). Lots of fur cutting, but fairly easy and no more than I would have to do with the Dyson.^M
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Final notes: If you have mostly hard floors, getting a Roomba is almost a no-brainer. The carpet in the bedroom is medium-pile, and I've had no problems with it crossing the laminate-to-carpet threshold or moving along the carpet. It also gets up and off the bath and kitchen rugs (3/4" high at least) with no problems. If you have a lot of fringed rugs or long-stranded ones, you may find it a pain getting these out of the way before letting the Roomba loose. I haven't noticed any scuffs or scratches, but perhaps the laminate floor has a tougher finish. I still do a bi-weekly vacuuming in the dogs' room and to clean the couches. Imagine if Roomba could climb onto couches!^M
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Problems noted: Obviously, it would be wonderful if the Roomba could map out your house to keep track of where it's been (and where it needs to clean). I think it's a little unrealistic to expect it at this point, though. It does take longer to clean that it would were you to run the vacuum yourself. However, Roomba allows you to do other things while it takes a long time to clean. It would be nice to use a radio frequency rather than infrared for the remote and docking station. However, the Roomba seems to do an okay job of wandering around and passing by the docking station so it can see it when power is low. The handle feels flimsy, but I pick it up with both hands on the sides anyway.^M
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It's a little expensive, but coming home to clean floors every day is worth it to me. I tell myself I could just vacuum every day, but I know I won't as it's the last thing I want to do after coming home from work. Also, Roombas made after October 2005 had a software upgrade, so you may want to consider the dates of reviews you're reading.^M

I love robots

This vacuum sucks a little harder than some other vacuums, which is to say it doesn't suck quite as hard. That being said, it operates itself which makes up for it's lack of suction. I have five cats and four dogs and trust me, you pretty much need a robot to follow them around or you'd be swimming in a sea of dander 24x7. It also picks up hair, specks of cat food, dirt, grass, pine needles and greenie crumbs. If it could also clean up dog vomit and cook I would marry it. This product pleases me. I recommend naming it as well. I named mine Stimpy.