Is a Robot Vacuum worth it for an apartment?

catboy123 on 25/11/2021 - 05:42
Last edited 25/11/2021 - 05:43

Been entertaining the idea of getting a robot vacuum for a while now but wanted to get some thoughts on whether it was worth it for my circumstances, and if so, which model?

  • 2 person household in a 2 level apartment, approx 90sqm total. No pets currently, but maybe a cat in the future.

  • Timber floors and tiled kitchen/bathrooms.
    We cook often so a mopping feature for the kitchen area would be good.

  • We shed alot of long/medium hair, will this mess up the vacuum or are they designed to handle hair?

  • We would have to pick up the vacuum to bring up/down stairs - would this make an auto empty station not worth it?

  • Budget would be around $500

Thanks all.

Electrical & Electronics Robotic Vacuum Cleaner

Comments

  • sjj89 on 25/11/2021 - 07:18
    -1

    Name checks out

  • holdenmg on 25/11/2021 - 07:31
    +2

    I have looked at both Robot Vac's and Apartments.

    I reckon if you can swap a $99 Robot Vac for an Apartment. I'd totally go for it. lol

    Seriously though, I'd use a Robot Vac for light dust or crumbs.

    Also, Cat v Robot Vac Youtubes.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IEuFUVM6f28

  • muzzamo on 25/11/2021 - 08:19
    +2

    I view robovacs as essential and I would get two of them if I had a two level apartment.

    Something like the roborock s50 would do the trick although closer to $1000 for two of them.

  • morse on 25/11/2021 - 08:52

    In your circumstances I’d say yes. You can run it everyday if you want to keep hair, crumbs dust from building up.

    We just bought this one from ALDI for $569 (hasn’t arrived yet) but has had some decent reviews from other ozbargainers. https://shop.aldi.com.au/product-detail?product=708056&name=… The benefit of buying from ALDI is that it comes with a 60day satisfaction guarantee. This one does have a mop function.

    • wrx5 on 25/11/2021 - 16:26

      My friends bought that from elsewhere and they are very happy.

  • Domingo on 25/11/2021 - 08:55

    I have the Xiaomi Mi Robot, which is on the more budget side so not sure if more expensive ones have better features but will share my experience.

    It's pretty bad for long hair. The hair gets wrapped around the main brush and wound really tightly into the connectors on either side, which are a real pain to clean out. It came with a tool for cutting the hair off, however it's still really annoying and time consuming.

    My experience with the vacuum overall is positive. It does a good '90% clean' and extends the time between when I have to do a proper vacuum significantly. I often will set it up to run when we leave to go out, so when we come back the job is done. I had always planned on setting it to run on a schedule, however to do that you need to make sure there aren't any phone charging cables or similar on the floor as it will destroy them. It's happened twice now where the cable gets pulled into the vacuum brush and the spinning force cuts through the coating and exposes the wiring inside.

    The little brush on the side does an okay job at getting things off the wall and the edges of the kitchen counter for the robot to pick up, however it doesn't get everything and over time a proper vacuum is needed to properly clean up, which I usually do when I vacuum our stairs.

    Long story short, in my experience it won't replace your existing vacuum, but you'll need to use it a lot less.

  • avoidfullprice on 25/11/2021 - 09:18

    The use case of budget robo vacuum cleaner is to say run it daily while you have no spare time or energy from work, so it keeps the place cleanish until the weekend.

    It will achieve probably 40%-70 cleanliness compare to a Kmart vacuum cleaner, even after multiple passes (recharge, empty tray, run) so manage your expectation that you still have to manually vacuum clean your place once a week/fortnight to pick up hair, dirt and dust. When you get a pet, don't run it while you are not home

    We have a robot mop as well, and we run it after vacuuming. We don't have a 2-in-1 esp at $500 price range.

    • coffeeinmyveins on 25/11/2021 - 10:18

      don't run it while you are not home

      This right here is why robots doing things like cleaning bathrooms or automatically cleaning roads is hilarious. They can infer objects they shouldn't hit like a wall or a leg of a chair, but smearing shit all over the room and itself? nope.

  • Apostle0748 on 01/12/2021 - 09:45

    I already use one in my apartment, it has a scan of the floors so knows where it's going. On a schedule to run 12pm, M-F; best decision I ever made.

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