iRobot 560 Roomba Vacuuming Robot, Black and Silver
Life happens in busy homes, and keeping up with accumulating dirt, dust, pet hair, crumbs, and debris can be a daily challenge. Introducing the iRobot Roomba 560- a member of iRobot’s newest generation of Roomba Vacuuming Robots.
Now there’s a better way to maintain cleaner floors every day. With dramatically improved navigation, cleaning coverage, vacuum pickup, particle filtration, and scheduling capabilities, the Roomba 560 picks up amazing amounts of dirt and debris from your floors with the touch of a button–so you don’t have to.
The Roomba 560 even cleans on schedule when it’s most convenient for you. Use the on-board scheduling system to easily program up to seven days and times per week for Roomba to vacuum–whether you’re at home or on the go. The Roomba 560 also offers the most efficient room-to-room cleaning available using two innovative, new Virtual Wall Lighthouses.
With dramatically improved navigation, cleaning coverage, vacuum pickup, and particle filtration, the Roomba 560 vacuuming robot picks up amazing amounts of dirt and debris with the simple touch of a button. The powerful unit features innovative spinning side brushes that grab dirt and dust from corners and along wall edges, as well as two high-speed, counter-rotating brushes that pick up pet hair, cat litter, food crumbs, and other debris from floors. The vacuum sucks up the debris and deposits it into a large, easy-to-empty bagless dustbin, and its improved fine-filtration system traps dust, pollen, and other allergens inside the unit, reducing infiltration into the living environment.
Product Features
- Vacuuming robot picks up dirt and debris with the touch of a button
- Easy-to-empty bagless dustbin; fine-filtration system traps allergens
- Anti-tangle technology; gentle-touch bumper system; built-in cliff sensors
- Self-charging Home Base, 2 Virtual Wall Lighthouses, an extra filter, and more included
- Measures 16-3/4 by 21 by 5 inches; 1-year limited warranty
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
Solid performance, some reliability questions, October 21, 2007By: Nicolas S. Martin (Indianapolis, IN United States)
I won’t duplicate what others have said. On our hardwood floors Roomba does a better job than the top-rated cannister which we’ve been using. We have a good whole-house furnace filter and we don’t get an enormous amount of dust, so I don’t find that the Roomba dust tray fills up quickly. It’s true that the Roomba needs minor regular maintenance (such as cleaning the brushes), but all vacuums need this, and they rarely get it. It is easier to perform that maintenance on a Roomba. Two things prevent me from giving it five stars. The first is that the product is still not very “smart.” As the technology progresses it will surely not take 30 minutes to vacuum one room. The second is that iRobot has dismal customer service. The reps aren’t familiar with the functions, haven’t read the product manuals, and don’t even know what is in the box. In short, it acts like the military contractor that it is.
Update: After a few weeks of use, several of the spinning arms that whisk out dust from wall edges have broken off. The only source of replacement is the manufacturer, and it is out of stock with about a month estimated shipping time. (iRobot’s estimated shipping times are a joke.) If the arms break off at this pace they will represent a noteworthy maintenance expense. It’s obviously for good reason that the replacement part is sold in a three-pack. One of the large wheels has now become very noisy but shows no sign of contamination interference. It is apparently broken. I’ll get a replacement unit. iRobot’s tech support wait times, like other customer services, is unacceptable. Management clearly doesn’t know how to provide service to back a good product.
Update 2: I’ve replaced the first defective unit. In two weeks the replacement has done fine, but I now have the gnawing concern that the product won’t have a life span that justifies the price. The corner brushes already look worn. The Roomba does a good job of sensing and slowing down for object it sees head-on, but it hits corners and smaller legs pretty hard. I don’t like the way it bumps into my floor speakers, so I’ll have to protect them from it. The Lighthouses have no off switch, so the batteries are consumed even when they are not needed but the Roomba is working.
Update 3: The main brush on my replacement Roomba has slices in the rubber after three weeks and the side brush arms are quickly getting worn, so I have contacted iRobot: it wasn’t easy. The phone menu claims to lead to tech support, but it never gives you the option of a live person. Grrrr. I called the corporate number and after I pitched a glitch they put me through to a more senior person who acknowledged that they have made phone support difficult so as to drive customers to the web site. Grrrr. He also said that there was a defect in the side brush which caused it to break easily, and sent me a new bottom and side brush at no charge. What about all the people who have bought and are still buying units with defective brushes? Will they have to call impossible-to-reach tech support, slink back to the web site, and beg for a replacement? What about those who don’t realize it is a defect and simply pay for replacement brushes?
iRobot’s corporate number is 781-345-0200.
Feb 08 update: The battery has now lost what I estimate to be about 40 percent of its capacity. The manufacturer says this is not uncommon. They recommend a reset and a 72-hour charge. Service rep says that after that charge “if you get 5 or 10 more minutes that’s a good sign.” Not good enough, I think. Stars aside, I now think this product is not worth buying.
iRobot 570, September 23, 2007By: DH “DH” (Jupiter, Florida United States)
I thought I’d give it a try based on great reviews and introduction of the new 500 line. I was modestly disappointed.
The product is a great concept and I think keeps improving each generation, but won’t work efficiently in my home. It is best suited for a house with fairly rectangular/square rooms and it can navigate from one to the other using the lighthouses. I’m not sure, but i have a lot of RF interference with a wireless baby monitor, cordless phones, and wireless internet, so maybe that affected it’s docking ability–but it would not automatically dock. It did manage to go room to room, however with my open floorplan, I’d have to purchase about 3 extra lighthouses/virtual walls to keep it in one place long enough to do its job.
Also the 570 has a wireless remote, mine never worked - I’m not sure the true benefit of the remote since all of the options are readily avail on the unit. . you just have to bend down
.
The unit was good at picking up dust and small debris (child goldfish/pretzels), but did not have the power/brushing ability to remove my thick yellow labrador’s hair from an area rug (*fairly thick rug) and would actually end up depositing a linear wad/ball of hair at the edge of the rug everytime it went from floor to carpet (which it did well). It was amazing at getting up and off the rug without difficulty, and even managed to avoid some electrical cords.
Also, it managed to wedge itself under an ottoman and really got stuck. I’d keep trying to move it, but it went back and jammed under the ottoman (about 6 inches off the rug) and carpeting and stopped.
For most users with basic wall to wall carpeting and a regular furniture arangement I think this would work fine, however in my house (with many odd shapes and obstacles, an open floor plan and a labrador) it didn’t do the job as I had hoped.
It is pretty quiet, and really tried to clean, but in my opinion, didn’t make the grade for my particular home. Perhaps the next version would work or this could work in your house. Most sellers offer a trial period.
A great feature that is missing is the ability to “teach” the vaccuum how you want it to go around the room, and then really maximize it’s ability to clean.
I’d try it if you have a pretty basic house and don’t expect miracles, but until the next one, I’m getting out the handy hoover.
Great but not perfect, September 16, 2007By: M. Kelley “mpkelley20″ (Boston, MA United States)
My wife and I decided to get one of these because our 8 month old son is about to start crawling. While we try and keep our floors clean, our beagle has other thoughts as she sheds all over the place. We went with the latest 560 model as it has just about everything we would want with a product like this. It works as advertised and we will definitley keep it but there are some areas that need improvement. Here is a quick breakdown of the pros and cons
Pros
1. Quieter than a standard vaccuum
2. Seems to learn the room dimensions quickly. The virtual walls and lighthouse feature are very nice.
3. Is “smart” enough to avoid getting tangled in our area rugs
4. Obviously easy to use as it is just a push of a button (or even better when you program it)
5. Can use everyday to keep the floors spotless
6. Have successfully used it on hard wood, vinyl, carpet and (accidently) concrete
7. Cleans under furniture which is otherwise a pain to do
8. Entertainment value - keeps the dog and baby interested for a while!
Cons (or areas for improvement)
1. Fills up fast - Upon intital cleaning cycles, we had to empty it after about 10 minutes. Further usage proved better as the dust/dog hair was a lot less than before. I suppose this is a good thing as it is picking up dirt that I missed with the regualr vaccum.
2. No warning that it is full. This is the one area that would be a huge improvement. I feel like I need to interrupt it all the time to check if it is full. It would be great if it had some way to gauge how full it is.
3. Battery life - Not sure if I am getting the full specified battery life out of this as it seems to need a recharge after about an hour to an hour and a half (isn’t it supposed to last longer?)
4. Automatic docking is iffy. Several times after it was done cleaning, it wandered around aimlessly looking for the docking station. The “lighthouse” feature didn’t seem to help much. I ended up moving the dock to a more open area and hopefully that will work better.
So for my first few days playing with this thing, it seems to do its job rather well with just a few annoyances that really do not affect its ability to clean. We plan on running it once a day to keep the dog hair and dust down to a minimum which will hopefully help our allegies.
*****UPDATE: 10/2/2007*******
Well, I’ve been using the Roomba now for a couple of weeks. I have it run every other day and here is what I think of it now
1. After letting it clean several times, I find I don’t have to empty it every 10 minutes. I can now clean three rooms (about 900 square feet) without having to empty it.
2. My wife and I both agree that we seem to breathe better in the house now. Maybe it is due to less dust in the house (especially under the couches) or maybe its in our heads. Either way, we are breathing easier.
3. The self docking is now working great. I think my problems in the past were due to the brushes getting too dirty and requiring frequent cleaning (2 or 3 per run). Now, since the floors are cleaner, this has not been a problem and the Roomba finds its way home with no issues. I use the lighthouse settings to clean each room separately and then I guess they help Roomba find its home. Very nice!
4. Battery life doesn’t seem to be a problem. I am getting the stated cleaning times per the manual and it seems to be enough to clean the 3 rooms.
5. The Roomba does require maintenance after each cleaning cycle. This requires emptying the dust bin, removing the brushes and filter to clean and, sometimes, cleaing the sensors that may have dust buildup. The entire process takes no more than 2 minutes and, even though it sounds like a pain, will hopefully keep Roomba problem free for a long time.
I can find no fault with the Roomba right now. I might even consider purchasing a second and third one for the other parts of the house. I suppose I can move Roomba to the back rooms on the first floor or the upstairs but that would require too much effort on my part!
I am also considering the Scooba for my kitchen and bathrooms but haven’t pulled the trigger yet. I might wait for the next generation to see if the bugs have been worked out of the current models. Also, if Irobot ever invented one, I would jump at the chance to get a robot that will shampoo carpets! Maybe we will see one soon..
***Update 11/19/2007***
Ran into my first problem with Roomba this past week. The side brush snapped off and I was unable to put it back on. Knowing that these brushes need to be replaced from time to time I decided to order some replacements. Finding them on the Roomba site and ordering them was easy. Problem is that I was informed that they are on backorder for 4 to 6 weeks!! I e-mailed support and they responsed asking me for my mailing address, Roomba number and where I purchased it from. They stated they needed this so they could send me a replacement brush (a free replacement brush). I sent them the information with the hopes that they have some spare brushes ready to ship out but was then informed that it will take 4 to 6 weeks to get it out to me.
So in the end, I am stuck waiting for about $75 worth of brushes that I ordered as well as the free side brush they are sending me for at least 4 weeks. The good news is that Roomba still does her thing but the corners and edges of walls are somewhat neglected without the side brush.
I would still recommend Roomba to those who are thinking about it. Just be forwarned that “due to extremely high demand” replacement parts, including brushes, are currently on backorder for the 500 series.
******Final Update 1/25/2008*******
Thought I’d give one final update now that I have been using Roomba for several months. I am still a believer that Roomba can keep your floors clean but it does take a bit more effort than some people will think. I will try my best to break down the cons for Roomba as the pros are pretty straight forward. You get very clean floors without having to pick up a vaccum. My floors have never looked or felt cleaner and this goes for both the hard wood floors and the area rugs.
Now for the cons (none of which would make me rethink my purchase but I thought it would be informative to those who are still waiting on buying one)
1. Although Roomba does her thing once I hit the clean button, there is still some maintenance that is required. Emptying the dirt bin after each cleaning cycle and keeping the brushes clean have actually been a bit more work that originally described. I have a dog who sheds and the hair gets wrapped around some of the brushes. The tool that is provided in the box to clean the brushes does little to help with this. I find it eaiser to get a pair of scissors and carefully cut the wrapped dog hair off the brushes. For those of you who don’t want to get your hands dirty, please keep this in mind!
2. The side brushes break fairly easy. One of the comments I saw in my review is that Irobot now ships some rubber bumpber that helps with this. I haven’t looked into getting this yet but I suggest that if you don’t have one on yours (like me), be prepared to replace the side brush often. I was able to get a free replacement on my first one but haven’t gone back for a second yet.
3. The scheduling aspect of Roomba is useless for me. Because I have a 1 year old who has every toy in the history of toys, I find I need to do a complete sweep of the rooms before Roomba does her thing. If Roomba hits one of these toys, the sensor doesn’t always pick up on it and it will try and go over the toy. This usually results in Roomba shutting down until you restart it. Leaving it on schedule means I need to clean up before it goes off. Its just easier for me to set it off manually when I want it to clean.
4. Noise - While quiter than a vaccum, Roomba can still be rather loud. Unless your house is very large, expect the noise to create a bothersome sound if you are watching TV on the same floor or if you are trying to sleep. You will hear it.
5. Auto Docking - Can’t seem to figure this one out. Half the time Roomba docks itself with no problem. The other half it wanders around aimlessly with the docking light blinking just a few feet from the station yet it completely ignores it. I’ve cleaned the sensors and it still does it. I guess it just has a mind of its own sometimes.
6. One minor cleaning issue - Roomba will sometimes leave a big dust ball on the edge of an area rug when it is transitioning from a hard wood floor to the rug. It appears that the dust ball is wrapped around the brushes at one point but gets pulled off by the edge of the rug when it takes that tiny little step up from the floor. If Roomba goes back over that area, great! dust ball gone. If not, your stuck with a dust ball that you have to pick up (again, for me not a big deal but for those that don’t want to get their hands dirty….)
None of these complaints or even the sum of them all give me enough reason to question my purchase. Since 95% of the dirt is removed including under furniture (which frankly, I never cleaned prior to Roomba!) these minor issues really don’t amount to much in my opinion. Yes, it can be rather disgusting to clean the brushes when they get clogged and I need to make sure all toys are off the floor but that all translates into a very clean house! Keeps the wife happy!!
I’ll check comments from time to time so if anyone has any additional questions, just drop them in and I will try and help.
********One More Update - May 20, 2008**************
Had to post this as it has been somewhat of a minor/major issue with my Roomba. The side brush that spins around has not been the best design I’ve ever seen. I’ve mentioned that it has broken off before and Irobot sent me some free replacements. Well, this continues to be a problem.
It seems that the side brush likes to get caught on things like corners or furniture which then causes it to break off or snap off an arm. I contacted Irobot about it again asking if they could send me some of those rubber bumbers one person mentioned in the comments section. The response was that they found the rubber bumber to have little to no impact on the side brush so they are no longer using them.
They did send me 3 additional brushes at no charge (thank you very much) but this won’t fix the design problem of the brush itself. So I caution people here that are looking to purchase this robot that do not want to fork over additional money for new brushes every coupole of months. I’m Ok with it because I just consider the brushes to be the cost of vacuum bags (and the free ones don’t hurt either!) but in this economy, some people might not have the money to pick these up when they need replacing.
I sitll love my Roomba because of the great job it does and the fact it covers areas I could never reach. In fact, I now have a Scooba to wash my floors and love the job that does as well (although that has an entire other set of issues!!)
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