Review: iRobot Roomba Pet Series

Having two black cats means I have a fur problem.
Fur on my clothes, fur in my food, fur all over my floor. More fur than I can manage.

I’m also a messy cook – I try to sweep up the kitchen but between the fur and food, things get messy fast around here.

My cats and I share a common hatred of the vacuum, so even though I have a sweet Dyson Animal, it doesn’t get used as often as it should.

Enter the iRobot Roomba Pet Series – time to make technology work for ME!

I got mine at Costco for $300 (before 10% California sales tax, sigh), but mine is an older model (the 595). You can get iRobot Roomba 630 Vacuum Cleaning Robot for Pets for about fiddy bucks more on Amazon.

In some ways, it reminds me of my cats – the Roomba is a cute, black blob.
But unlike my cats, IT IS USEFUL.

Not only am I adorable, I’m functional as well!!

First, I heavily vacuumed the whole house with the Dyson. Then I set the Roomba free, and it filled right up!
The next day, set the Roomba free again and I couldn’t believe how much dirt it picked up (fur, litter, food bits that I dropped in house and around the couch). I also love how it gets into spaces the vacuum won’t, like under the coffee table and couch.

Alas, it doesn’t seem to identify and take out the source of the mess – the cats. They are wary, although not scared, and watch it from afar. After I turned off the Roomba yesterday, one of my cats snuck up on it (which was pretty cute, watching her think she was being all stalky and predator like), and investigated.

It is also pretty “intelligent”. It got trapped in a small, awkward space yesterday and instead of wasting time and power, it shut itself off. It also knows to go back to it’s docking station when it is full/needs power. Another thing I really like is that it is wicked easy to clean. Press button, pop out tray, dump tray, pop back in tray. That’s it.

I want to put cat ears on it and treat it as a third cat (albeit, a useful cat. I know, I know, an oxymoron).

My cat demanded I show SOME proof that they on rare occasion have a use – here is one of them acting as a foot warmer aka “I’ll do anything for pets and attention; even let mommy stick her cold feet on me”

I leave you with this video of a cat riding on top of a Roomba in a shark costume. The fact this video exists and has been shared shows the true awesome power of the Internet.