I had some Amazon Rewards $$ to spend, so I ordered myself a robot vac. After pouring over every review site on the internet, I decided on this one...https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08CNCB44L/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 I like that it goes back and forth in "rows" like @Yvonne Smith 's, plus it maps the house and I can set "no go" zones in an app. It has the strongest suction, and it is on sale. With my rewards money I only paid about $200. It is supposed to be here tomorrow.
Mine has an app like that, too. Every time you use it, it will keep mapping your house, and you will see the rooms start to look more like the house looks. We have had all of our outside plants in the front room all winter, and it is hard for the vacuum to navigate around all of that; so I have just been using the regular vacuum over the winter. I am sure that you will enjoy having the robot when it arrives, @Beth Gallagher !
Thanks, Yvonne. I had a Roomba a few years ago with that random pattern thing and it was always getting hung up on things. I like that this one can be programmed to avoid the dining table (with all those chair legs) and goes in straight rows. I also like that it has a washable filter, which most don't have. (I also like that if it's a dud, I can return in within 30 days. )
Oh my goodness, I am so thrilled with "Rosie", the new robo-vac. I turned it on (from my phone) this morning and it vacuumed most of the downstairs area in 68 minutes, and used 45% of battery charge. (I had some rooms closed off... bathroom, laundry, etc.) I couldn't get over how much dust was in the bin, and how it made the "rows" in carpet like a regular vac. Here's the map it created of the vacuumed area...
Yep. It does a lot of backing up and turning around when it gets under a table or whatever. I think once it has the area "mapped" it will go faster. Plus I had it on "low noise" mode which is a bit slower. So far I'm very happy with this and I might buy another one for upstairs.
No, our little dog died in 2017. He always barked at the vacuum cleaner, so I'm sure "Rosie" would have been big entertainment in his day.
So I 'vacuumed' the downstairs from my chemo chair today. I was able to sit there 25 miles from home and watch the robo-vac at work on my phone. Today it took 10 minutes less time than the first time, so I guess it's learning how to maximize the area with the mapping feature. The second vac was delivered this afternoon, so it's on the charging base. I'll be letting it loose to map the upstairs tomorrow. Woo hoo!!
If I bought one of these things, as soon as it saw the state of my house, it would call Amazon and return itself.
OTOH, there are people who keep their countertops cleared of all clutter. Or so I've heard. I would like to. But it never works out that way.