Review Of Robot Vacuum Cleaners

So you’re tired of vacuuming? Get a robot to do it for you.

There are several robotic vacuum cleaners available to do all of the dirty work for you – even when you aren’t home. How great would it be to come home to a clean floor every day and only have to empty out the dust container and clean out the robot before the next scheduled session?

Robot vacuums are not foolproof.

They will not replace your upright vacuum cleaner completely. You will still have to do some maintenance cleaning, especially in corners and at the edges of walls. The robots are good, however, for getting high traffic areas and almost all of uncluttered rooms – even under furniture.

There are three popular robot vacuum cleaners available: The Electrolux Trilobite, the Karcher RoboClean, and the iRobot Roomba line.

Dyson is scheduled to come out with its robot vacuum cleaner worldwide at the end of this year. The biggest difference you’ll notice with current robots is the price. The Trilobite is much more expensive than the Roomba.

Following is a breakdown explaining the differences and the reviews.

The More Expensive Robot Vacuum Cleaners – Electrolux Trilobite

The Electrolux Trilobite robot vacuum cleaner is now updated to the Trilobite 2.0. It promises over 200 small improvements from the first version. At $1800, price is apparently not one of the improvements. What makes the people at Electrolux confident in charging that kind of money for their robot is the superior technology to the less expensive Roomba models.

Trilobite is a robotic vacuum cleaner that actually uses ultrasound technology to avoid bumping into objects. Much like a bat, it sends out sonar beams that let it know it is coming close to an object. It stops within about 1/4-inch of the object.

The cheaper robotic vacuum cleaners know they are coming close to an object only when they actually bump into the object. This could damage furniture over time and is a bit inconvenient for pet water bowls and other objects that might create a mess if bumped. This sonar technology also allows the Trilobite to create a map of the room so it knows the places it has already vacuumed. This allows it to make fewer passes over the same area.

The other changes that Electrolux has made to the Trilobite take the good features of the Roomba and add them to the superior technology of the Trilobite. It now has infrared to avoid falling down stairs and can be programmed to schedule cleanings. So, is the Electrolux worth the extra money? It’s definitely worth paying more, but whether to pay so much more depends on your situation.

The superior mapping technology does make the unit clean faster, which might not seem all that important since you’re not doing the cleaning yourself. It does matter, however, when you have a limited time to work with due to battery time. The Trilobite does have a shorter charge time than the Roomba, but the Roomba is simply randomly passing across your floor, often hitting the same spot five or six times. This means that the shorter charge might end up actually cleaning more floor space because it is a more organized cleaning. Depending on the size of your rooms, the Trilobite can generally clean more rooms in less time due to its “smarter” and more efficient mapping.

The Trilobite is also more likely to “spit things out” if it accidentally sucks up rug fringe or other obstacles. This means it is less likely to get stuck and need to be rescued than the Roomba in such cases.

If you have antique or delicate furniture, you might appreciate the Trilobite not bumping into your furniture legs like the less expensive Roomba does to figure out where things are. The Roomba has a bumper, but over time, it might cause scuffs or dents in delicate furniture.

The Advantages of Roomba Robot Vacuum Cleaners

Obviously, the biggest advantage of the Roomba robotic vacuum cleaners is the much lower price.

The Roomba Scheduler retails for about $330 and can be found for less online. People who own Roombas are usually quite happy with them. If you own a Roomba and then test out a Tribolite, you’re more likely to notice the better quality of the Trilobite.

The Roomba, however, is not without some advantages over the Trilobite and similar high-end models.

The Roomba weighs about 6 pounds while the Trilobite can seem very heavy at 12 pounds. This will make a difference when you carry the unit up and down stairs. Remember that you also have to lift the unit to clean it. Children are often fascinated with robot vacuum cleaners. You can make it a game with the Roomba, allowing children to place the unit in the middle of a room and press the button to start the cleaning. Smaller children might not be able to carry a Trilobite, and are more likely to drop it. The price might also exclude children from being involved in the fun of the robotic vacuum cleaners. While you might allow your children to help with something that costs $400, you’re less likely to allow them to carry or retrieve (or help if it gets stuck).

The biggest advantage to most people in spending less on robot vacuum cleaners is the fact that technology is constantly improving.

Remember the second version of the Trilobite that has 200 small improvements? That’s only five years after the release of the first one. The Roomba Scheduler is also a dramatic improvement on the original Roomba robotic vacuum cleaner released in 2002. If there are some spectacular improvements just a few years later, it’s unlikely that you will spend almost $2000 again, but a few hundred is probably worth the upgrade.