Aero Vac

[zupernoc]

Above are some pictures I took with my phone, showing the Aero-vac which I purchased from Casino187 on ebay, for use with my 1.5 year old 535 Roomba. Here are a few of my opinions / observations regarding the Aero Vac vs the old style bin.

1. Quieter - It is dramatically quieter, I did not take out the ol' Radio Shack dB meter, but I would venture to guess it is at least 30% quieter then the old style vac. I would guess this is because the vacuum positioning is not creating as much as a rattle / vibration with the plastic.

2. Larger capacity - again I did not take any volume measurements (lazy) - but visually it appears much larger capacity.

3. Same filter material - The Aero Vac filter is the same material as the old yellow edge filters, just more surface area (it seems) and stretched tighter (not as loose). These filters are now on the iRobot website for purchase, but I did not see the aero vac bins, yet at the time I visited.

4. Foam type gasket around the edges of the filter, presumably to create a tight seal. While I do not know if this affects the vacuum suction, it does not really prevent the vacuum from getting dirty. You can see in one of the above pictures, some particles still get past the filter, onto the vac, and out the exhaust.

5. Picks up the same amount of dirt. Again just my opinion, but you can see the above dirt is from 1 day of non-vacuuming in my apt bedroom with 2 cats. I Roomba daily. In my test, the Aero Vac picked up the same amount, if not more, pet hair, litter, and "stuff" as before. I am very happy with the performance.

6. Not as much hair wound around the CHM brushes. Is the hair wrap around both ends of the brushes totally eliminated? No, but it is somewhat reduced, and a welcome improvement. (sorry no pics)

Overall based on my personal experience, the Aero Vac is an improvement, something I would add to all my Roombas. Now obviously this is just my opinion, your results may vary. I personally liked the 6 arm side brushes better then the current 3 arm brushes, so it is all personal preference.

[Fraggboy]

Thank you for the detailed review of the Aero vac dust bin. I am going to move this to the Review forum so others may find this easier.

[Gordon]

I thought it to be a purty dad-gum adequate REVIEW, myself!!
Thanks zupernoc!

[vic7767]

Thanks for the review zupernoc. I'm headin to ebay to order one for my Roomba.

[mfortuna]

Now that we know how to get a 500 series into diagnostics and that the aero-bin works well, does this mean I will be getting a 500 series? Maybe!

[Gordon]

Now that we know how to get a 500 series into diagnostics and that the aero-bin works well, does this mean I will be getting a 500 series? Maybe!

I could not fathom why you skipped that recent eBay offering!

You might look at the final post (MikeD55's) in that thread to see if a slightly higher price (for today) might still entice you.

[indigo]

I was looking into these filters. I checked the eBay seller mentioned above and this is what he says about this filter:
Works with All AeroVac Roomba 500 series
I have a 560.
But what the heck is an AeroVac Roomba?
I checked iRobot and don't see any labeled as an Aerovac model (unless I'm missing it).
Would this type filter work on my 560?
Love my Roomba, but holy cow the dust gets spewed everywhere!

[vic7767]

That is just the name for the style of dust bin. It will fit in all 500 model Roombas.

[indigo]

Great, thanks!

[thelber]

Can't find the bin anywhere on eBay for sale right now. Anyone have any idea if they will be selling the AeroBin as an accessory on the iRobot site in the future?

[Jubo]

What makes you think they won't sell if it is suppose to ba a standard item in all 500 series?

[sean74]

I had heard that on one of these forums, that they will be available by themselves hopefully in January when new 580 etc. come out. It will be the standard from what I heard as well, so I assume the same as Jubo. Supply will catch up with demand as it becomes the standard shipped bin.

Casino187 was the only forum member / ebay seller selling them by themselves that I knew of.

I also watched a video on the HSN site (not sure the date), and the host mentions (paraphrasing) "that until iRobot releases Roombas with AeroVac technology at the beginning of next year, HSN and 'a place you need to have a membership at' (Costco) will be the only 2 places to get roombas with AeroVac technology."

So my plan is to hold tight, clean the pet hair wrapped around the rubber brush ends every day, and when they become affordable as an accessory, pick one up and see how good it works. No rush for me though.

[crusin_x1]

I've had the opportunity to use the Aero-van bin for a little while. I had purchased a 550 from Costco but decided that one is going back because I need to have the light houses.

So I have been using the Aero-vac bin along with the standard bin that I received on my new 570. I will say there is not doubt in my mind that the Aero-vac bin is better at collecting fuzz then the standard bin.(thanks to the red rugs for all the fuzz) Also less fuzz collects around the ends of the brushes, although there is still some that does, it's greatly reduced when using the Aero-vac bin.

I also noticed that the Aero-vac bin in my opinion does collect more stuff then the standard bin or maybe it looks like more because of all the fuzz. Either way there is more stuff in the bin of the Aero-vac so it appears to work well.

The same 570 was used on all of the comparisons. I only swapped the bins.

My 550 is going back to the store now but I will purchase the Aero-vac bin if it becomes available as an upgrade.

[esk3]

Could someone possibly compare the aero-vac bin to the normal bin?
As in, what's the point?

I know this is tedious if you already know, but I really don't, so thanks in advance.

I read the thread and everything, but what is the actual difference, physically and everything? Not just the difference in effects...

[sean74]

Esk3,
Please read this post:

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=12022

The Aero Vac pulls its intake from on top of the 'dust cloud' area of the bristle brush. The current bin has 2 distinct areas. The vacuum fan pulls from the floor, behind the brushes, through a squeegee, into the 'dust' bin area. The only stuff that makes it into the 'sweeper' bin area is what was flung in there from the bristle brush. No help from the fan.

The point of the aeo vac design is at least two fold: The main thing is it is now working like a traditional vacuum cleaner, in that the vacuum force of air pulls directly behind the brushes, so whatever the brushes are flinging up and loosening, the vacuum can pull in. The secondary effect of this is that the bin is bigger, and due to this change, it now fills up from back to front, so you supposedly can empty it less.

These directly lead to what you have read on this thread, that with the vacuum pulling from the brush area, there is less wrapping around of hair at the ends of the brushes and also crudding up the yellow bearings.

I can vouch for the fact that while I do not mind cleaning the brushes after every run (beats vacuuming myself), hair wrapping around ends of brushes, and sometimes wadding up into the gear area (which makes roomba stop and complain), any design change to help this is mostly welcome, esp. by pet owners.

My 2nd 550 with Light Houses is on its way with old style bin. Light houses are important to my floor layout. However, when Aero Vac bins go on sale by themselves for a reasonable price, I will buy at least one for my bot in charge of the carpeted room. That is where animals spend most of their time, and where most hair issues and 'clean brush' complaints occur in my house. My regular bin seems OK on hard floors and the squeegee design picks up a lot of fine particles.

I hope this helps give you a picture of the actual design change itself.

One thing to think about is to flip over and look at is the bottom of your regular push vacuum. No hair wrapped around the brushes anywhere, since a large fan motor is sucking hair right away off the bristle area.

I want to have a more powerful fan motor added to an Aero Vac bin once I get one, and a Li-Ion battery to give it the juice it needs. I don't care about longer run times or quietness, I want the battery capacity to run a more powerful vacuum motor. I think that would be a next evolutionary change I can see to make this closer to the power of a regular vacuum cleaner.

I wonder how easy it is to swap in a higher CFM fan of the same size on the Aero Vac bin?

[mfortuna]

Adding a more powerful motor may mean beefing up the electronics on the printed circuit board. We have seen in the past Irobot doesn't have much margin in their designs.

[cadcoke4]

I have an idea for pet owners. If the brush were removed, and the motor for it disconnected, perhaps it would still vacuum sufficiently, but not have the hassle of cleaning the brush.

Ideally, you would make some sort of modification to add an additional vacuum motor and space and plug that into where the brush motor was connected. However, I realize this is actually quite a large mechanical addition, even if electronically it is simple.

Joe Dunfee

[djos]

I have an idea for pet owners. If the brush were removed, and the motor for it disconnected, perhaps it would still vacuum sufficiently, but not have the hassle of cleaning the brush.

Ideally, you would make some sort of modification to add an additional vacuum motor and space and plug that into where the brush motor was connected. However, I realize this is actually quite a large mechanical addition, even if electronically it is simple.

Joe Dunfee

I tried an experiment leaving out the beater brush and the performance was severely degraded - the vacuum is just not very strong.

[ferilferila]

I have an idea for pet owners. If the brush were removed and separated the engine for them, perhaps it would have sufficient pressure, but do not bother to clean the brush.

[piokrza]

I have an idea for pet owners. If the brush were removed, and the motor for it disconnected, perhaps it would still vacuum sufficiently, but not have the hassle of cleaning the brush.

Ideally, you would make some sort of modification to add an additional vacuum motor and space and plug that into where the brush motor was connected. However, I realize this is actually quite a large mechanical addition, even if electronically it is simple.

Joe Dunfee

I tried an experiment leaving out the beater brush and the performance was severely degraded - the vacuum is just not very strong.

I wonder what if the brush blades in case of neato will be removed, how it then will work on hard floors...