Robot Reviews

Hey Matthew, Don't know if you did it or not so I hope it's not too late. I did it with a french brand called amibot and it damaged it a bit. I have to say it was quite an old model and now they improved their machine so it's fine to put vinegar in it. Not sure about the braava though, I think you ...

For that matter, if we're building our own replacements, we could change the gear ratio so it doesn't spin quite as fast, and therefore not fling debris across the room.

lol! That's awesome. So... alternate theory... frozen nosewheel makes everything else drag a bit more; the drive wheels have to work harder, robot thinks it's on carpet? I dunno.

Yeah, the wifi map seems pretty gimmick-y to me. I'd rather be able to see the growing map in-progress, or "what it thinks it has left" during a mid-job charge. Bonus map feature - where did it decide it needed carpet turbo boost?

Well, the 980 has the same black & white caster as the older versions that it uses to detect forward speed. With the 655 (for example) if the caster was stuck with hair, the robot assumed it was stuck and would drive in a triangle trying to get un-stuck. It could be that on the 980, if the nosew...

Thanks! That's helpful. I might go ahead and try to sell the 5800 regardless. The 230 at least is useful in the bathrooms where it can get around behind the toilet and its limited capacity is less of an issue. The battery and reservoir are big enough that I can run a short cycle (you can run short o...

Hey guys; so I have a Scooba 5800 and a 230. I wind up not using them very often because it's kind of a pain to empty the dirty tank and clean everything out after a run, and unless I confine them to a fairly small area at a time, the water they lay down winds up drying before they get back for a se...

I do have to clean the extractors nearly every time I run any robot, because we have a German Shepherd and another Shepherd mix. So 70% of what's in the bin is Shepherd hair. So clearing those is standard practice for me. On the other hand, I did find that the 980's nosewheel was all jammed up with ...

1) Yes... egad. Edited the original post... 980 across the board. lol 2) Bizarre. So I wonder why it thinks hardwood is worthy of full power? Something must be amiss. 3) Hm. This is mildly disappointing, insofar as I sort of expected it to get better and more efficient over time, since it would lear...

Well, about a week ago I bit the bullet and bought a used 980. I was excited about the mapping capabilities and "charge-n-go." I moved our e5 downstairs and put the 2013 655 up for sale on eBay. I figured "downstairs" is a good place for the e5 because it's really only one big ro...

I don't think so. I'd at least go to the 800 series / e5. There are quite a few on eBay you can get for under $150 shipped.

I get it quite a bit with my e5 compared with my 655. On the other hand, the e5 has so much more stuff in its bin at the end of a run, I figure the tradeoff is worth it, even if my wife is annoyed by the "roombarf."
* "roombarf" is mostly German Shepherd hair

Man I'm jealous of your 390. I'm used to having only about 25% picked up with my two Scoobas.

More weird. Took battery out. cleaned contacts. Put it back in, and back on the charger overnight. Now this thing is back to 60+ minute runs. Not the two hours it used to be, but at least something!

Weird. The battery is about two years old. It's been kicking butt up until yesterday... 2+ hour run-times. I tried a different charger and for a minute I thought it was working okay, but same symptom cropped up after a few minutes. So.... I dunno. Mebbe I'll pull the battery to let all the caps drai...

So THIS just started... my 655 gives me the low battery chime, so I carry it over to the charger and dock it. Almost immediately the little battery LED turns a solid green, suggesting a full battery. I leave it for a few hours. Take it off the charger, hit CLEAN. The battery LED goes from solid gree...

I mean... it doesn't SOUND great. lol

Go back and double-check all of your connections.
If it still doesn't work... strip it and sell parts on eBay.
Buy new/used one.

Yeah, I put 900-series extractors in my e5. Seems to work just as well and they were cheaper on eBay.

Fair enough; I know it's time-consuming to run a site.

iAdapt 2.0 is mapping.

iAdapt 1.0 is... iDumb. I think it's supposed to do some sort of rudimentary obstacle monitoring, but I haven't seen it do anything along those lines.