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For the last few years, the Gremlin has followed the development of robotic vacuums with some interest. Any piece of technology that removes or mitigates a daily life annoyance is something I enthusiastically embrace, but until three months ago, I had avoided the Roomba.
Why? Because every Roomba owner I knew seemed distinctly “meh” about them. On paper, they seemed to be the perfect solution to minimizing time spent cleaning the house, but friends unfurled rumblings of navigation problems, poor performance over time, and a general sense that their robotic companions created as much hassle as they removed. In addition, we live in a two story house with a step-down family room on the lower level, meaning that a single automated vacuum could only clean part of the house. They’re also expensive, and even the most ardent fans admit that they don’t completely remove the need for a good old fashioned human controlled hoovering.
Today, the Gremlin is here to give you an honest assessment of how valid these concerns turned out to be, using my experience with the Roomba 960 over our initial months together.