People obviously find them useful. But I will reiterate a sibling comments recommendation, get one that can run Valetudo : https://github.com/Hypfer/Valetudo

I am not interested in getting one at all.

When I bought my Roomba in 2013, it cost as much total as I pay my cleaning ladies to come once every two weeks. If your floors get dirty easily, it's not really going to get them spotless, but it'll get them far cleaner than they'd otherwise be.

But the cleaners do more than the floors. Vacuuming takes me about 20 minutes once a week. I don't really see the point when I live in a 2 bed apartment.

> I don't really see the point.

You save the 20 minutes once a week.

That's it. That is the whole point. A slight convenience. I use one in a 1 bedroom apartment.

Considering some of these things can cost almost £1000. This firmly then lives in the total waste of money pile then. I will stick with my £50 tesco vacuum thank you.

I bought mine about 6 years ago for 200 EUR then. Still works. Had to switch the battery once.

If 20 minutes is all you need once a week, yeah it maybe doesnt make sense for you.

I have a dog and need to vacuum at least once a day, currently.

Without a robot vacuum, Id go crazy.

Ok fair enough.

I was surprised to discover that if you run the robot vac once a day or even every second day it significantly reduces the amount of dust that ends up on other surfaces.

You just schedule it and forget it. As everyone says it doesn't do as good of a job as you do but the main benifit is it's consistent about doing that job more frequently.

Sure, but a cleaner coming twice is the same cost of a robot vacuum that will work for a couple of years, typically. They do an okay enough job, but they need to run daily, sometimes twice a day, to really keep up considering it's limitations.

It really depends on how big your properties is. A cleaner here could be done in less than an hour and there is no cleaner charging £150 an hour.

What math are you doing here?

Robovacuums don't cost £150 an hour. If you buy one for £500 and run it every day for two years, you're paying ~70p per hour. Are there any cleaners who charge less than £1 per visit?

I was being hyperbolic because people seem to be overstating the cost of a cleaner.

I used to pay my Spainish cleaners about €20 euros a week for two cleaners. Granted that was while ago, but it was peanuts.

Also I'd rather have cleaner do it properly, than by a robovac that (as everyone says on the sibling comments) does half a job.

Children are free

In what universe?

I think it’s one of the most idiotic devices anyone could own. Buy a normal vacuum cleaner for half the price, spend 10 minutes a week vacuuming your apartment, and you won’t come home and find that your cleaning robot spent the afternoon choking on a shoelace.

> "most idiotic devices anyone could own"

Ever been to Chesterton's Fence?

Hypothetically, some people who own such an idiotic device might have pets that bring in lots of dirt from the fields, lose lots of hair, and get a little bit agitated by the normal vacuum cleaner but more or less ignore the robot vacuum.

Cats aren't that bothered by vacuum cleaners unless you come at them with it and they normally just run into another room. Never seen a dog that bothered by them.

Oh, well if you’ve never seen one…

The point being made is that some people like to make much a do about nothing. Just put the dog or cat temporarily in the other room, outside and the problem is solved.

But what if I'm too lazy to vacuum 10 minutes a week and don't want to do it?

You could change your attitude. A vacuum cleaner is already a labour saving device

So could you. You're already using one labour saving device, why not another?

Because it is relatively expensive, totally unnecessary and decadent and probably doesn't do a particularly good job (as people have admitted in their replies to me).

Additionally much like people ubering a McDonalds when the drive through is less than a 2 minute drive away. It actually causes additional headaches (food is more likely to come col and/or incorrect) and complications that don't exist with simply just spending a few minutes not being lazy is actually easier.

> probably doesn't do a particularly good job

It's not the same as a full vacuum run. But it's god as what they are designed to do. Clean a bit every single day.

All the crumbs that fall down in the kitchen over a day, don't get chance to get stamped into the floor. Noticeable less dust buildup on top of counters. I come home and it's done. Mental load removed.

It's neat. And you can get them from 80 EUR. Even if they only last 5 years, that's 16 EUR per year, but saves you maybe 8h per year. Maybe it's because I live in a relative rich country, but here that is not decadent. People buy cars for 50 000 EUR :3

If getting a small vacuum out quickly is a big mental load, I dunno what to say to that. It all seems like it isn't necessary.

It is like having a smart fridge or something that produce ice-cubes for me and loads of other stupid kitchen gadgets. I didn't feel the need to have a robot vacuum cleaner in the past and I don't feel the need to have one now. Especially with all the iffy spying stuff that it might be doing.

Also any of these things that is less than 100 euros is likely to be crap. I just got rid of a lot of old electronics tat.

The cheaper ones are great, because they don't connect to an app or wifi. Mine just has a remote with a timer. Like I wrote you, mine has been going for 6 or 7 years.

I'm not trying to convince you to buy one, I'm trying to explain why you have one. Because YOU said that you don't understand it. I'm trying to explain my needs. No need to shame me.

Of all the household items i have, the robot vacuum I would certainly buy again.

As I said. I am not interested in any of this. I am glad you find it useful, but I have the level of technology I am comfortable with.

Which one is that? I want one without cloud and valetudo seems like a pain. Buying an 800 dollar vacuum only to risk bricking it right away is scary. I'd buy a simple one for $80 right away though.

Mine is probably not for sell any more. It's from Eufy. No camera, thus no carpet detection.

> Buy a normal vacuum cleaner for half the price, spend 10 minutes a week vacuuming your apartment

You obviously don't have a pet or a baby.

Make that 15 minutes of vacuuming AND mopping 3 times a day for a baby. Suddenly it seems very attractive to have a clean house while not having to find the time during the baby's sleep and nap time to do it manually.

You could argue the same for a dishwasher: I used to only use a single fork, glass and pot (eat out of the pot). A dishwasher seemed like the most idiotic device anyone could own if that's all you need to rinse every day. Until of course you add more people to that equation...(and maybe cook more than just pasta)

I've had three babies and three dogs (fortunately not all at the same time). I've never mopped or vacuumed three times a day, I can't imagine the need for that.

Maybe our threshold for cleanliness is vastly different, or you somehow managed to produce babies don't throw half of their food on the floor after every meal (3x a day)?

But even with a magic baby and magical dogs, you mentioned only spending 10 minutes a week vacuuming. I have no idea how that is possible with babies and dogs unless your threshold for when something requires cleaning is extremely high.

Before having a robot vacuum/mop I would have to go and pick up every piece of food and wipe the floor after every meal. Sure, the whole kitchen didn't technically need a mop, but there's usually also food in other places simply through the action of cooking. We cook every meal for the baby and most meals for ourselves.

Do you just leave the food and crumbs on the floor until your weekly 10 minute vacuum? In which case, yes, the notion of a robot vacuum must feel idiotic to you. The notion of a vacuum would also feel idiotic to me in that scenario as you can surely just use a broom and a dustpan for such a small amount of cleaning.