By far the cheapest I have seen these, at least since the dollar crashed.
Roomba 780: http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/iRobot-Roomba-780-Vaccum-Cleaning…
Roomba 630: http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/iRobot-Roomba-630-Vaccum-Cleaning…
Neato or LG Roboking only. Roomba follows a random pattern. Watch the Youtube vids.
Love my LG Roboking. Did research before buying and very happy with the purchase.
which version of the LG roboking is best around this price range?
I have the older maroon coloured round one and that is excellent. I am unsure of how the new versions have been going (they have moved to a square shape) but at least they are starting from a good base. Sorry I can't help further.
Have 2 Robokings at home for upstairs and downstairs. Absolutely love it.
That lg robot. Is it really vacuum cleaner or just sweeping around? Are you sure the vacuum power is good enough? Of course not comparing with dysons
They dont need to be super powerful as its a robot it can vac everyday if you want =)
I have an Aldi vacuum that I used to vacuum with at full power while wearing Noise Cancelling headphones (it's powerful but loud).
All four residents of the house agreed the Roomba 630 left the place visibly cleaner than it had ever looked before.
It also picks up a fair amount of dirt in a room after it has been cleaned using the Aldi vacuum.
Can vouch for Samsung VR9000 powerbot
I think from memory that the 630 does not have a schedule function, meaning you cannot schedule it to run when you are not at home. This was a deal breaker for me so ended up getting the 650. For some reason in Australia it is quite hard to get the 650 and everywhere seems to only sell the 630.
I have the Roomba 630 (don't know if the same for the 650?) and I would not recommend especially for the price. It is meant to trace the walls of your house and slowly clean every inch. But in reality unless you have a perfect square shaped house then this thing just wonders aimlessly around your house missing spots everywhere as it tries to find the nearest wall.
Also unless the docking station is in the center of the room, the Roomba will never make its way back.
My 650 has no issues returning to its base station which is in the corner of a room. It does seem pretty random in its movements when you watch it but after completing its cycle it seems to have gone everywhere in the house. There are some decent timelapse videos around the net that show how they cover all areas.
* wanders
Roombas aren't smart enough to think. Or so I think. :)
That's complete rubbish. It is not programmed to simply trace walls. There are several links on the internet, here is one with a long exposure showing the pattern of movement: http://d3s72ob46k9lct.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2013…
It looks random but it ends up going over each spot several times and deals perfectly well with a large oddly shaped room with corridors and obstacles.
http://www.gearfuse.com/robotic-vacuum-paths-mapped-and-comp…
And my Roomba has never had any problems finding it's was back to base.
The Roomba 630 does struggle to map a whole large apartment - you're better off cleaning by room or splitting in two for cleaning using the virtual wall.
Also, Roombas generally take longer to clean the same area - hasn't really been an issue for me as I just turn it on when I am going out.
In terms of cleaning ability, I am pretty happy with my Roomba 630. The worst thing about it's cleaning pattern would be that it takes longer to cover the same area.
Samsung's Powerbot is $1k+. The high end Roboking's are expensive too, I have no idea whether the Roboking priced similar to the Roommba 630 is any good.
For ~$800, I would go for the new Neatos. The D85 is $800ish shipped right now - check out various Amazon sites for Neato deals.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Neato-Robotics-Botvac-Robot-Vacuum/d…
LG Rebooking or Neato D series?
From memory, the 630 was around $430 just before Christmas @ JB Hifi.