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Re:Amazon terminates iRobot deal, vacuum maker to lay off 31... by Semaphor on Monday January 29, 2024 @10:27PM (#39186074)
I have a cheap (well, also old, there wasn’t too much else back then, it’s 10 years old) iRobot Roomba 620 and am very happy with it. Extremely repairable, which is not something I read about modern ones of any manufacturer.
Re:Amazon terminates iRobot deal, vacuum maker to lay off 31... by blagie on Tuesday January 30, 2024 @05:40AM (#39188522)
I have a successor, almost identical, but perhaps two generations newer. Upgrades:

- Bigger, better dust bin

- Slightly less dust makes it into the HEPA filter

- Slightly better / cheaper roller design

... and similar details.

A friend gave me their smarter vacuum (which they didn't use), and I hated it:

1) It tried to overthink things and was pretty demanding.

2) It didn't clean as well. My Roomba has a pretty anaemic vacuum, but cleans very well by virtue of going over every place many times in random directions as it bumps along for 30+ minutes. The smart vacuum plotted a course which covered everything once, finished up in record time, and nothing was actually clean.

What's odd is that even now, 2+ decades after launch, so little has improved. What I really want is "cyclone operation," as in any modern dumb vacuum, so most of the dust doesn't make it to the HEPA filter. The design is stupid simple:

- Air comes into a circular container from a hole in the side, so the air spins.

- Suction comes out a hole in the top at a half-way point in the radius of the dust container, while most of the dust wants to stay at the inside or outside

- If you're even more clever, you put the suction at half height, because dust naturally goes to the bottom.

The annoying thing is cleaning or replacing filters.