neadods: (Default)
neadods ([personal profile] neadods) wrote2010-06-27 05:29 pm

Dalek Suck

I'm stealing [livejournal.com profile] copperbadge's brilliant name for his roomba for my own - I've had the thing for about a month and only now have I found the time to charge it and set it up!

Because the house is in an O setup, what started in the newly-cleared library has tootled happily into the new pantry (it likes it there; it keeps going back), around the kitchen, across the living room, and almost threw itself down the basement stairs until I closed the door. It hasn't quite finished any room (except the pantry).

Also on the down side, little whisking brush aside, there's only so much a round object can do about corners. And it turns out that its solution to dealing with a lot of cat hair is to every now and then cough up a hairball. (Seriously. It just leaves this big clump behind.)

On the plus side, it's easy to pick up said clump and dump it. Also, it's really quiet. So quiet I can barely hear it in another room; I think I've found a way I can clean while M's asleep.

Bottom line, I don't think it's a way of getting out of never having to vacuum again, but it's going to be a pretty darn decent way of giving a regular lick and a promise to the floors every other day or so, and that does mean a lot less vacuuming I have to do. So that's a big plus - big enough that I'm wondering if Dalek Suck needs a brother to help cover all this territory.

As for the cats, Kaylee's gone high and given it the evil eye; Mickey stared from a short distance until it came at her, and the others have gone into hiding except for Mulder, who is watching closely and even dared touch it.

Oh lord, it's doing something obscene to the chain saw...

[identity profile] dune-drd.livejournal.com 2010-06-27 09:38 pm (UTC)(link)
At least you're honest about the edges - I talked to a guy at a party once who said it was the bestest thing ever and he'd NEVER use anything else...I'm certain Roomba paid him for that conversation

[identity profile] neadods.livejournal.com 2010-06-27 09:45 pm (UTC)(link)
It isn't the best thing ever, but it beats the hell out of doing the entire job myself. I've got one of those dyson mini-vacs for the corners (the kind that looks like a ray gun.) Yeah, it was expensive, but so is buying a long string of cheap dustbusters that don't do the job. I figured I only wanted to pay *once.*

And said spot-vac is how I'm going to deal with the little corners and edges; it's already what I have for dealing with scattered litter daily.

PS - there are also some extreme height differences between floors (for instance, new pantry is only 2 levels of linoleum; kitchen is about 4.) It doesn't gather well in those areas either, because as it climbs the threshold, its brushes lose contact with the edge.
Edited 2010-06-27 21:46 (UTC)