Dalek Suck

[neadods]

I'm stealing 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...

Comments

[neadods.livejournal.com]

That is really cool looking!

I need to limit its options. When it could roam the whole first floor, it had too much confusing territory to cover. I'm going to see what happens when I ask it to do the living room on Mondays and Thursdays, the halls on Tuesdays and Fridays, and the kitchen, pantry, and library on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

Right now I can hear it from below as it fusses around M's rooms. We've put a childgate at the top of the stairs to prevent it from saying "goodbye, cruel world!"

[dora-took.livejournal.com]

the new ones claim that they recognize steps and won't fall down them anymore, aren't supposed to get caught on elec cords or rug fringe, and come with some elec-eye posts to invisibly fence off any areas you don't want it going into. Wonder if Target has some really old models, or if these are only on higher versions.

[neadods.livejournal.com]

I think Target is selling the lower-end range - a nice introductory machine without a lot of $$ down. If Dalek Suck gets a sibling (I notice with amusement that someone on Amazon named theirs Gort), Suck will probably be confined to the kitchen/hallway/bathroom area where there are no cords or fringe to worry about, while the other model takes the front end of the house.

As for the extra features - I'm sure they're only on the higher end models. More processing capability = more $$$. But I am leaning more towards getting a pet version of my own; that sounds like a pretty powerful machine.