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ARE SELF-CLEANING ROBOT VACUUMS THE BEST

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People are usually torn between getting devices they can control by themselves as against robotic gadgets. This also goes for appliances like vacuum cleaners. What really is the hype about? Like are self-cleaning robot vacuums the best? Do they live up to expectations? Do they really function without human supervision? Well, I guess you are about to find out.

After performing series of tests, we have finally come to the conclusion that self-cleaning robot vacuum cleaners are not the best for cleaning. Normal upright vacuum cleaners tend to do a better job of cleaning our homes as they can clear out more dust and debris.

ARE SELF-CLEANING ROBOT VACUUMS THE BEST

LIMITATIONS OF SELF-CLEANING ROBOT VACUUM CLEANERS

In the previous paragraph we made a bold and audacious claim about self-cleaning robots not being the best. Find below are the reasons why:

Not so efficient

We kind of already introduced this point. As compared to the normal humans controlling themselves, robot vacuums do not stand a chance. This is more noticeable when you try to clean rugs, carpets, wall corners and hair of pets. However, they tend to do better with hard floors (and not even all of them).

They struggle a lot with rugs and carpets because they have smaller motors which is not sufficient to get suction. Their brushes have fewer agitations and their receptacles are likewise small. In fact, some people tend to buy both the manual and the robot vacuum cleaner for the sake of cleaning edges alone.

Almost always get stuck

People who have experience with robot vacuum cleaners can testify that in spite of them having all manner of sensors and automations, they tend to get stuck easily and sending distress signals by way of beeping so their owners can rescue them.

You will want to assume that in all their “smartness”, they can be able to wiggle out from being stuck. But not so at all. Their most favorite stuck points are shoelaces, toys, phone cable and chargers, clothes lying on the floor, under furniture and door hinges.

Now imagine you program your self-cleaning vacuum cleaner to tidy up the floor while you go out, and only for you to come back and it is stuck somewhere, you’ll be mad right? Some users do not even use the mop function of their robot vacuum cleaners, because they end up mopping rugs (don’t laugh!).

They have steep prices

Acquiring a self-cleaning robot vacuum cleaner could cost at an arm and a leg. What were you really expecting? You literally just outsourced your cleaning. You did not expect it to be cheap, let alone handing it over to a robot. The lowest priced robot vacuum cleaner could cost about $200 and the most expensive could be in excess of $3000.

That’s an average cost of $1100 for a vacuum cleaner! Meanwhile, an average manual one costs about $603. With this price variance, acquiring one will strongly depend on your budget and how big your home space is. And then you’ll now decide if you really hate vacuuming to outsource it to a robot.

Noise

This goes without saying. A machine that has to carry out major cleaning functions by itself would make some buzzing sound while moving around. Some models are quite noisy. You will appreciate this point more when your robot vacuum cleaner is working and you are sleeping, or seeing a movie or even reading.

Imagine the sound they make when they run into walls or furniture as they move. You might not be comfortable with this. Upright vacuum cleaners are better off here.

Hard to fix

With all its circuitry, app integration, sensors and computer brain, if it develops faults, a self-cleaning robot vacuum cleaner is very difficult to fix – as compared to the normal upright type. You will need to empty them of any dirt as often as possible, as well as clean up their wheels and brushes too. Their spare parts are also scarce and expensive to acquire. Some users have reported that robot vacuum cleaners can just stop functioning all of a sudden, largely due to charging and battery issues. It is important to also note that robot vacuum cleaners have a shorter warranty span, which covers one or two years at best. Upright vacuum cleaners have more warranty period. If the manufacturer cannot guarantee your money for a long while after you purchase this machine, you really need to consider before releasing your money.

Issues with pets

Household pets are always fascinated with the presence of a machine buzzing around the house. However, there could be issues arising when these self-cleaning robot vacuums become over smart and slurp pet food in its path, thinking that it is dirt. They could also mess up areas that pet “poop” all in the name of cleaning up mess. All of these could end up making a mess of the whole floor area including rugs and carpets.

LIMITATIONS OF SELF-CLEANING ROBOT VACUUM CLEANERS

Robotic Vacuum Cleaner Cleaning Floor While Mother and Daughter Playing on the sofa

SO WHAT’S THE HYPE WITH SELF-CLEANING ROBOT VACUUMS THEN

Even though we have outlined a number of reasons why a robot vacuum cleaner isn’t the best after all, they are not entirely useless. There are still exclusive functions only robot vacuums can execute. And that’s what the hype is about. Some tasks that can be specially handled by a self-cleaning vacuum cleaner are as follows:

They clean pet fur and hair

If you are a cat and dog lover and have a lot of them in your house, you might actually need a robot vacuum cleaner. Just be sure you get the one that suit this purpose perfectly. You can schedule the cleaning periodically so the vacuum cleaner does the fur and pet hair cleaning automatically.

Exclusive features

It is no news that one of the most important features of the robot vacuum cleaner is its ability to be scheduled for periodic cleaning. You can also synchronize some very recent versions to some installed App on your mobile device to track mapping areas for cleaning.

A normal upright vacuum cleaner cannot boast of these features. You can also set up specific cleaning areas of your house and leave some part out. If you want to have some fun with the cleaner and the app, you can control its cleaning manually to give you the rover bot and controller feel.

Cleaning range

There are some parts of the house that are usually dirty not because we want them to, but because we simply cannot reach them. Some of these places are the under the sofa, under the TV stand, under the bed and so on. with the help of a robot vacuum cleaner, you can achieve this. Self-cleaning robot vacuum cleaners have low profiles and low center of gravity which helps them to clean the areas mentioned above effortlessly.

People with disability enjoy this feature a lot. You do not have to move stuff to clear the area. The robot vacuum cleaner just goes under and does the cleaning.

They actually clean

Well, this is stating the obvious but the ways in which they make use of their sensors and cameras is hard to not notice. Remember that they also have to work on battery power when fully changed.

Imagine the kind of battery required to power this machine. You won’t believe it, but some self-cleaning robot vacuum cleaners also empty themselves (like take put out their own trash), have mopping functions and give out alerts if they are stuck or encounter a road block.

All of these are worthy of mention because these are the functions that make them clean the house with little or no supervision. The smart phone function helps you to schedule cleaning. So you can just go out, come back and voila! The floor is sparkling.

Conclusion

Self-made vacuum cleaners might not be the best, however, they still play a role in automated house cleaning. Go ahead and explore your options!