Floor Cleaning Woes

I have a roomba. It's like a member of the family now. It does a good job on the carpeted areas. One day it even "knocked" on the closed bedroom door when I was inside because I forgot to set the virtual wall! It was like having a toddler come looking for me. If you have an area with chairs, like in a dining room, you might want to move them out of the way so it doesn't have to constantly try to get around the legs.

One advantage to the roomba is that it will sweep under the bed... a place I can't reach with the vacume.

I also have a Bissell steam mop. I would give it a 4 out of 5 stars. It cleans tile very nicely and is very quick and easy to use. I wish it cleaned grout! Be careful though as it should not be used on sealed wood floors.

I use a non toxic, 100% safe floor cleaner from wowgreen that is wonderful. Totally safe. Just mop on and let it dry, no need to rinse. check it out on wowgreen.net/93110.
J. d

Thr roomba works well but breaks often. If you get it, make sure to get it from hammacher schlemmer b/c they have a lifetime warranty. We have returned ours to them in exchange for a new one twice with no problems.

I have the scooba and the roomba. The roomba vaccuums and of course the scooba mops. Both do an adequate job of cleaning the hardwood floors in my home. They help out because when I'm busy cleaning other things I can just set them and let them go. It's not the best job in the world but maintains my floors until I have the time to actually clean them myself. The downside to both machines - they tend to be a little slow. It takes them awhile to clean a room. And you might get one or two rooms cleaned befored the battery needs to be charged and/or cleaning fluid needs to be changed depending on the size of the room. Also, they are a little loud. Also be sure to put up the "electronic walls" that come with them or they will go all over the place!

V.,

I have white tile floors and want a Scooba! I just keep forgetting to order him. The reviews are pretty good. The chief complaint is his failure to do corners. (Probably having something to do with his shape) But, I figure if all I have to do is maintain corners, it would be a lot better than sweeping and mopping several times a day!

Here are some reviews:
http://store.irobot.com/family/index.jsp?categoryId=21749...

Love the roomba, hate the steam mop. Have both. Roomba works very well, steam mop doesn't. Don't know about the scooba but you could google "scooba reviews" and see what other owners are saying. I rely on online reviews quite a bit.

I have a Bissel steam mop and I love it. It is great for tile.

I have a Bissell Steam Mop and a few hundred square feet of tile. It is much easier to deal with than a mop and bucket and less toxic, too!

Here is a link that makes comparisons between the various leading brands: http://www.amazon.com/review/R37LN1JWR1UY6S/ref=cm_cr_pr_...

i have a eureka steam mop from amazon, i love it so much

I have a Shark Steam Mop and I love it. :)

I have a Eureka Enviro Steamer and I really like it. I have lots of ceramic tile and it is great for that. I got it from Amazon.com...I think it was about $69.

Had a steam mop...waste of money...took it back. Have really wanted a roomba...My mom and sister in law love it.

I had a steam mop when I had vinyl floors. Compared with a standard mop, it was great. No big puddles, no wringing a mop in a bucket of dirty water, easy to steam through sticky spots, dries quick, worked with plain water, pad was machine washable. But I would still use the mop to sweep crumbs into a pile, and then vacuum at the end. When I switched to laminate floors I stopped using it.

We have an older Roomba and it did a surprisingly good job vacuuming the carpet. My husband had vacuumed a few days prior to us setting off the Roomba and we were both shocked at how much dirt & hair & carpet fibers it picked up in the small dirt container.
Our only complaint so far is the battery died sooner than we had thought it would. This seems to be the most common complaint about them when you look online.

The one we have is the Roomba Discovery, Model #4220

My mom has a rumba and a scuba that they use for there basement. They just turn it on and it goes. I think the scuba ( mop thing) workd better, but they are effortless and you can turn them on and leave them. one con is the time, take a long time

We have a scooba and love it. My husband bought it for me about 2 years ago and we use it quite a bit. Our entire house is hardwood floors and it does a great job of washing the floors so I don't have to mop. It also will not fall down the stairs and will not climb onto a rug or other things. It will occassionaly get caught on something and you have to get it unstuck but that is very rare. It also has a rubber side so when it does bumb into something it will not damage it and it will change direction. When it bumbs something, it does it very softly and not enough to ever cause damage to anything.

The only bad things is that after a while of owning and using one, the battery starts to run down. Before we only had to charge it a couple of hours and it would go clean a whole room. Now we have to charge it longer and keep it charged at all times because it losses it's charge very quickly. So we can't just do a cleaning cycle without planning ahead or just always keeping it plugged in. That's not as big of a deal because I know we can buy another battery but they are pricey.

I love that we can fill up the scooba with cleaning solution and water and set it in a room or area and let it go. Many times we start it when we are leaving to go somewhere so when we get home, it's all done.

If you have any questions about the scooba, feel free to contact me and I'll be happy to share my experiences with it. I am looking at getting a roomba soon as well so I can have it going inbetween the scooba cycles.

I have the shark steam mop....love it:)

My husband got me a roomba a couple years ago. Works well on tile and carpet. Only downside---gotta move the coffee tables, potted plants, and the chairs away before roomba-ing. That takes time. So I have involved my kids and get them to move the items turn it on/ off and put things back.
Oh, you have to clean my model quite a bit. Gotta dump the dust bin and clean the brushes. But mine is about 3 years old and I heard they have improved that detail with newer models.

I think it depends on how old your kids are. Will they mess with the roomba or scooba? I have a steam mop and love it. It's easy to use and disinfects like crazy. But then, I have preschoolers who wouldn't leave the other ones alone.

I have the scooba, and not a piece of carpet in the house. I really thought I would love it, but it runs out of charge, cleaning liquid, or gets cornered in one room. Im really busy, so its annoying to me to stop what Im doing to recharge it. Maybe I was expecting way too much more from it, but I wouldnt do it again.