Which Roomba did you buy / Do you plan to buy and Why?

[0bod]

I see pros and cons for buying all of the Roomba models, so I was wondering what other people think.

Which Roomba model do you think is the best value and why?

Personally, I'm leaning towards either the Roomba Red from Amazon or the Discovery SE from Hammacher Schlemmer. The Red seems to do basically what I want it to do at a very good price, or I could just go all out for the Discovery SE and with the lifetime guarantee, I know that I'll never have to worry about it breaking down.

Any thoughts? Are all the accessories and the warranty worth the extra cost?

Thanks for your input!

0bod

[Buzz Lightyear]

Definitely that Discovery SE from Hammacher.

Two reasons.

1) It's cheaper to buy the Discovery SE instead of buying the accessories separately.

2) Lifetime guarantee. The Roomba Discovery is great, but it's not cheap. If I'm going to invest that kind of money into it I like knowing that I never have to worry about it breaking on me. That's worth the extra money to me.

Buzz

[Guest]

You can buy 2 roomba reds for $246.... So I just bought 1 for now.... 1 year warranty. Hopefully by the second year of life the new roombas will be cheaper and better!

[Rick]

True, but then you don't get Max clean, the remote, wall mount or the home base, and because charging is mor ethan twice as fast as the Red, I can use my Discovery even more times in a day than even if I had two Reds!

Rick

[gemniii]

Well I bought 1 RR for myself and after a week I am VERY DISAPPOINTED.

I should have bought one as soon as it came out
Why oh why did I wait ?????

Now I'm going to buy an SE for my 80yr old Mother-in-law.

[Psnyder]

I bought the Roomba Discovery on ebay for $190. Everyone seems to want the SE which is pretty much not discounted at all - full retail at $270

I figured I really didn't need the wall mount. It's not like the Roomba drives up walls to get there - the docking station works just fine. I'm far too lazy to put the Roomba into a wall mount and then I'd have to install it. I wonder how many people buy the SE only to never install the wall mount.

If you compare the retail price, it is an extra $20 for a wall mount that probably won't get used. If you look at the demand for the se and compare it that way, you are paying $80 extra (270-190) for a $59.99 wall mount. That is nuts. Plus the wall mount requires batteries. Seems like an extra unneeded step to me.

[jonvall]

I bought the Roomba Discovery on ebay for $190. Everyone seems to want the SE which is pretty much not discounted at all - full retail at $270

I figured I really didn't need the wall mount. It's not like the Roomba drives up walls to get there - the docking station works just fine. I'm far too lazy to put the Roomba into a wall mount and then I'd have to install it. I wonder how many people buy the SE only to never install the wall mount.

If you compare the retail price, it is an extra $20 for a wall mount that probably won't get used. If you look at the demand for the se and compare it that way, you are paying $80 extra (270-190) for a $59.99 wall mount. That is nuts. Plus the wall mount requires batteries. Seems like an extra unneeded step to me.

I think the real hook for buying from H&S is the lifetime warranty, at least it was for me. Yes you saved $80.00 but I feel you're being penny wise and dollar foolish.

[gemniii]

Well I went and bought the SE from H&S for the Mother-in-Law.
But the poll doesn't let me add another to the total.
So someone feel free to add another SE to the fire.
Reason for the SE from H&S - Lifetime warranty and service that you pay for.
Maybe she will give me the wall mount for my RR

[PHYDE]

Since I'm overseas, there was no benefit in the H/S warranty. Most of you are not buying the SE, you're buying the warranty.

*I* bought the regular Discovery. If H/S offered that model, I suspect that most of you would probably do the same, and do without the "benefit" of the charging wall mount for the extra bucks.

[JJ]

Agreed. If not for the lifetime warranty, I would have bought a regular discovery, or even a Red plus a homebase.

The lifetime guarantee is a big selling point.

[Mr. Jinks]

Original model Roomba owner here, just bought the Discovery SE from Hammacher Schlemmer.

And yes, while I did want the homebase, the main reason for getting the SE is for the lifetime warranty. It's nice knowing that I never have to worry about it breaking down.

[Phairest]

I plan on buying my Roomba from HS for the warranty, and as such my only choice is the SE. If they had the regular white Discovery there I'd rather have it though- the wall mount in the SE package is totally extraneous IMHO. But alas they don't, so boo-hoo I HAVE to buy an SE At least, I think the SE's coloring will hide scuffs/dirt better than the white one would.

[Guest]

I spent $200 for a Discovery from Bed Bath and Beyond as a Christmas present for the parents. The home dock is **nice** but I won't use the wall mount. I'm hitting myself for not buying a warranty, but if the Roomba lasts for two years, they'll be a better model by then!


Cedric.
aka. Washu! ^O^

[ced1106]

One though on the warranty: This stuff gets obsolete. The New and Original Roomba have the same brains, but New is easier to clean and has a greater capacity. IIRC, the Original was released in 2000, so that means you may be buying something to replace the Roomba in a few years.


Cedric.
aka. Washu! ^O^

[MaryM]

I found the best deal on the green regular discovery-series Roomba at BJ's - must be special packaging for them - regular new Roomba, home base, 1 virtual wall, and remote for $199... while the green one usually sells with 2 virtual walls and no home base for $175 on amazon... would have been $225 with a home base as an add-on.
I was tempted by the HS promise of eternal warranty, but agree that two years from now a better one will be available and I'll want to upgrade...
Also tempted by the cheap price of the RR + home base, but it's not enough of a price difference to wait for Amazon's 4-6 week shipping to get the good price...
So saw it tonite packaged with the extras I wanted, and bought... can't wait for Santa to deliver it so that I can watch it do it's thing...

[Big Mama]

I bought a Roomba Discovery SE about 6 months ago from Hammacher Schlemmer. Don't fool around...go with the Discovery SE and make sure you buy it from Hammacher for the lifetime warranty.

My Roomba ran great until my older son decided to clean the basement (!!??) with it. It ran over a sticky mouse trap and got glued down!! I called the repair service in Pennsylvannia. After trying to walk me through a "fix it" operation we gave up. They asked me to send them the screen filter (small) and they immediately sent me a brand NEW Roomba. This is a great company and a great product.

I have young children so the "constant crumb factor" is evident everywhere. It works great on hardwood floors. I go up to bed at night, turn it on and in the morning my floors are clean, clean, clean!

I'm so impressed I'm now watching IROBOTS new product: SCOOBA. It washes floors! I'm in Heaven!

[autobot]

1 original pro elite. 1 discovery and now 1 red. the original pro elite has not ran for a long time. passes all diognostic tests, wheel encoders clean but still circle dances. the discovery has gone 10 months without much trouble but now needs some serious attention. that brings me to red. i needed something (because i forgot how to push a manual vac) to clean the house while i waited for a chance to get my discovery back going. so red seemed the obvious choice since i dont need any more virtual walls, remotes. even the docking station works with it. and $99.00 at home depot; perfect for me. that makes it practically disposable. forget hs and their lifetime waranty. cant be bothered with all that returning. but for $99.00 it can die and its full of spare parts.

[piratelover]

Bought 2 reds, on sale at local home improvement, one for me, one for my dad. We both love ours. He's got dogs, I've got long-haired cats. Now am looking to get self-charging one, if it also continues to clean automaticaly after re-charging. Dad just doesn't use it enough because he has to bend down to pick-up and put down red. Does anyone know of an auto unit that continues to clean after re-charging. Willing to pay for that feature.

[Ydoc]

You will be sorry Roomba red is a piece of Junk compared to the Discovery SE. You can't beat a lifetime warranty.

[meilpoks]

Bought one Roomba Red from http://shop.robo-store.de

Wheel belt failed after three weeks (was easy to replace though with regular o-ring from local hardware store) and running time is thirty minutes. Feels like it has quite a bit of design flaws.