The Roomba is a robotic vacuum offered by the iRobot Corporation.  The idea is that you start Roomba "with the touch of a button" and it will vacuum your room without any effort on your part.  According to iRobot, "Smart and efficient iRobot Roomba lifts an amazing amount of dirt, dust, pet hair, cat litter, crumbs and other debris from your carpets and hard floors.".  I don't like to vacuum, and I really like the idea of a robot doing my work for me.  Thats why I used a bunch of credit card rewards points to get one several years ago.

Despite the Roomba receiving generally good reviews and acquiring a large following of fans, I'm surprised to report that I rarely run into another Roomba user.  This is surprising to me because:

1. Roomba works very well.
2. Roomba is less expensive than many "manual" vacuums.
3. Roomba is easy to maintain.
4. Roomba makes it so you don't have to waste time vacuuming.

Suction and Brushing: First I wanted to see how good the Roomba suction and brushes could really be.  After all, many vacuums have a lot more power behind them compared to Roomba.  What I did was first vacuum the area as I normally would using a Dirt Devil upright vacuum.  Then, I immediately let Roomba vacuum the same area.  Once Roomba was complete, I checked his dirt cup.  Theoretically, there shouldn't be a whole ton of stuff in it, I figured, because I had just vacuumed with the more powerful vacuum.  WOW!  That cup was FULL!  There was all kinds of hair and dust in it.  It was actually really gross, but somewhat satisfying at the same time.  I took this to mean that the Roomba had sufficient vacuum action to be seriously used as a vacuum.

Stairs / Heights:  I didn't want to have to worry about Roomba falling down my stairs.  Since my whole top floor is carpeted, I would like to just leave Roomba going up there and not have to think about it.  I put Roomba on my kitchen table and started him doing this thing.  Every time he would come to the edge of the table, he would wind up with his nose hanging over the edge by an inch or two, but would go no farther.  Roomba could definitely sense the edge and backed off.

Area:  One concern was that Roomba would miss spots.  I tested this by covering the carpet with a thing coating of odor absorbing powder.  Then, I let Roomba vacuum the area.  I figured that if Roomba missed a spot, I would see the powder still on the carpet.  Roomba did not miss any areas.   As long as you let him run his full course, he pretty much gets the whole room.

Edges:  Roomba does a great job along walls and edges.  He has a little spinning brush that extends out from under him and spins things into the path of the vacuum.

Entanglement:  This is one smart vacuum, and he has a way of getting himself out of some pretty impressive jams.  One thing he can do is lift himself up a bit.  For example, if he runs onto some electrical cords, he can kind of "step" off of them.

Maintenance:  I've been using the Roomba for a couple years now with no trouble.  After a lot of use, the battery will start to wear down and Roomba will lose his oomph.  He won't be able to vacuum as long or as fast.  So at some point, I got a new battery for under $50.00.  This really woke up the little guy.

In addition to the battery, I periodically do the following:

1. Empty the dust bin and clean the filter.  I do this every time the Roomba runs.  Just dump out the dust, and brush off the paper filter.
   
2. Take off the bottom brush and clear it out.  I might do this quaterly, tops.
3. Take off the bottom rubber roller thing and clear it out.  I do this when I do the brush.
4. Generally clean the bottom.  Bits of dirt and hair can gather in a couple spots on the bottom.  Clean it all off.  I usually do this when I do the brush.
5. Replace the filter.  I might do this once a year tops.

It isn't all that different than what you might do for a normal vacuum.  The difference is that when Roomba is clean and happy, you have to do less work and he'll be happy to clean for you.

Overall, I am very happy with my Roomba.  I rarely use a manual vacuum, and thanks to Roomba, my floors are certainly vacuumed more than they would be normally.

Roomba's brother, Scooba, on the other hand, is a different story entirely.