iRobot - Roomba 510

I'm on my 3rd generation device now, started with a Roomba, then Eufy, now a Dreambot - each is obviously better than the last, but i had attributed that mostly to it simply being a new product space and so advancements are regular and large. The roomba barely did any mapping, and the app was bare bones...seems like it's only made a tiny bit of progress in the last 9 years. Definitely spent more time babysitting/maintaining the Roomba than i saved by using it to vacuum lol, but i like tech so thats ok

I generally love my Roomba. I got my first one around... '08? maybe later than that, I still have it. My husband bought me an i8 I think it is, self-emptying. It has more bells and whistles which makes it more prone to being difficult to operate but once it gets going, it's fantastic. That first little Roomba though? Best $250 I ever spent. I don't have experience with other makes.

Not technically a roomba, but that didn’t stop us from naming it Goomba the Roomba! It’s been great, forces us to pick things up off the floor.

We have three dogs and one being a Golden Retriever. Our 15 year old 500 series Roomba has zero issues cleaning that.

Neato XV series for being awesome and being the first robot vacuum to feature a lidar sensor roomba 500 series, for a while they were the most popular robot vacuums ever made and still the most reliable, other than battery replacements they can last more than 15 years without issues Roomba 980, the thing is still a beast at cleaning and the navigation is good enough. No keep out zones or anything but it does its job well

The older Roombas could be set to clean once per day at a specified time, so you could have 7 scheduled cleanings. There are buttons to set the clock and then a cleaning time for each day of the week. I still have 2 of them, one is a 650 and the other is a 500 something. I don't think they make them anymore, but I am sure you could find one. These 2 both still work. I don't have an app for them, but I have a 3 foot dowel rod I use to push the start button, If you have connection problems or simply don't want to connect to the internet, the solution is to not connect. Just push the start button. The advantage of the Roomba brand is that you can get replacement parts easily and they run forever. There's lots of info on how to repair them. Don't know if the other brands have that knowledge base yet.

I have one basic Roomba that moves around randomly and another that supposedly maps the space. The cheaper, random movement robot is vastly superior in all ways.

If it's just one room, get one of the old random bounce around Roombas with the bristle roller. 500 or 600 series. They're great at picking up litter and combing embedded pet hair out of carpet. I have a 692 I keep just for that. They're also super cheap because everyone wants the self-emptying models now. I see the older ones pretty often at thrift stores and Facebook Marketplace for under $30.

Our roomba tries to keep up. Hal (main floor roomba) needs maintenance every few days. But man 2 days where Hal is off duty and you can see it. The tumbleweeds roll in. Hal doesn’t replace vacuuming or steam cleaning area rugs. He does however help keep the dusting down and limits the tumbleweeds . My better half will tell me don’t pause Hal he is doing https://preview.redd.it/7mmkuro4c1ef1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4fd808d8cc6c7e830934f5fb947860ae71518915 Gods work ROFL. We have 3 dogs 2 super shedders GSD and Husky/GSD mix and 1 wire hair terrier. This year we have had to even vacuum dogs as well. They are so worth it! ❤️❤️❤️

No robot vacuum is going to do well with stones and if there’s snow, it’s going to get wet when it melts. You’d probably want to get something industrial quality, like Makita or Pudu, but those are HUGE and probably will be too big for 600 sqft. If you meant pebbles when you said stones, you might have a better chance with one of the older iRobot Roombas (500-600/Professional series) with the high capacity sweeper bin. They are cheaper on eBay now and don’t have as many problems as the Dirt Dogs. I don’t think any household robot is going to clean up stones at all. And even if they somehow do, it’s going to get clogged in the auto emptying dock.