Most iRobot vacuum reviews focus on its features, what it can do and how it does it. However, you can uncover so many more pros and cons of this vacuum by finding out what it doesn’t have, as well as many other external aspects indirectly related to it…
Convenience Depends on Duration of Maintenance
The convenience of your robot vacuum depends on the duration of the maintenance rather than the automated vacuuming. If your robot spent two hours vacuuming your house, but you ended up wasting a whole hour just to empty the dustbin, clean the roller brushes and clean the filter, it would certainly not be worth it. You might as well spend that hour vacuuming yourself.
You certainly need one that’s super easy to clean; otherwise, the main purpose of convenience would not be achieved. No wonder the iRobot Roomba 980 design forces hair that gets wrapped around its brushes to be pushed to the ends of the flexible brushes. It’s much easier to pull off those trapped hairs.
No Need for Ergonomic Design, Yet Fewer Risks of Injuries
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) provides guidelines for ergonomic specifications that prevent injuries when using appliances which require physical manipulation. Well, that’s one less worry you would have with a robot vacuum.
You never have to bend, squat and stretch just to keep your house clean. With an iRobot, you don’t even have to be there!
The smart device uses some advanced technology to map out every corner of your room, navigate through and clean every square inch of space. Hence, the device automatically rules out chances of occupational related injuries experienced when performing household chores.
You Might Have to Re-Design Your Living Space
You would always have to consider your robot vacuum whenever you plan any interior design change in your home:
- The iRobot Roomba 980 has a 13.9 inch diameter. That’s the minimum space that should be available between furniture pieces, for the contraption to navigate comfortably and clean every part of your room.
- If your living space is crowded with too many furnishings, you might have to get rid of some of them.
- You might have to buy new furniture that can accommodate the 3.6 inch iRobot height.
- Take into consideration the iRobot’s 0.625 inch climbing height if you have to buy a thick carpet.
Basically, you’ll end up with a typical iRobot-friendly interior: ample space, low carpets and furniture pieces with sufficient space beneath them.
Convenience Comes at a Cost – Operational Cost
Buying a robot vacuum is much like hiring a cleaner to vacuum your house: instead of expending your own physical labor, you would instead pay the cleaner to do it. Well, you don’t really pay the robot, but you would spend money to keep it running.
Compared to various canister, upright and hand-held vacuums, you would be spending significantly more on operational costs, particularly on the cost of filters. You might have to replace the air filters four times per year, at a total cost of about $50, to keep the unit running optimally. The other vacuum types would normally require fewer filter changes and at lower cost.
However, considering that other vacuum types can hardly do what a robot vacuum does, the extra operational cost is certainly a reasonable trade-off.
Ultimately, it’s always wise to look beyond the obvious features of any product you buy. Only then can you have a more realistic perception of its true value; even if it’s a robot contraption that seems to come straight from a science-fiction movie.
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