12/27/07 Roomba 1; Cat Hair 0

I GOT A ROOMBA FOR CHRISTMAS! And let me tell you, it is sooooo cool! Better than I thought it would be! I have more fun watching that thing race around the room. I got the Roomba Discovery, which had the best reviews for effectively sucking up cat hair. It comes with all its cute little roomba accessories, like a little docking station, and its little remote control, and its little virtual walls. As soon as I got it, I pulled it out to play with it. Sure enough, it zipped right around the living room, disappearing under the couch and dancing around in little twirly circles in the middle of the floor. The idea was that I was going to let it do the living room while I cleaned the kitchen, but the Roomba is so much fun to watch that I just ended up standing there watching it the whole time. I still need my upright vacuum to do the stairs since Roomba is scared of dropoffs, but I find it to be very effective for general room cleaning and especially for those hard to reach places like under the bed and the couch.

Roomba is a lot like having a toddler or a puppy. You have to Roomba-proof the room before you just let it fly. Pick up cat toys, raise electrical cords off the floor, shut doors to rooms you don't want it to go into. Once that's done however, Roomba just does its own thing, scooting around, following a pattern only it knows. So far, I've "vacuumed" the living room twice with it, and the bedroom once. It hasn't gotten stuck in the corner yet, or trapped under anything, or eaten anything it wasn't supposed to. It's been perfectly behaved the whole time. It did stop and beep at me to change its diaper dust bin once it got full (OH MY GOODNESS YOU HAVE NEVER SEEN SO MUCH CAT HAIR!) but other than that, its been fine on its own. It actually does a better job around the bed posts than I did with the upright, since it shimmies around them several times (kinda like the way kids run around and around trees) before changing its mind and heading off in some other direction. I didn't think that the random zig-zag and circling patterns would get the whole room, but it did. Best of all, it goes back to the docking station when it gets tired and plugs itself in for a nap. Can't beat that.

The boys were always horribly freaked out whenever the upright vac came out, but the Roomba is quiet enough and small enough that they don't pay it any attention. Both cats made a point of ignoring it from the safety of the bed while it zipped around below.

True, I've only had it for two days, but the Discovery seems to have addressed all the complaints about previous models, so cleaning power, maneuverability, and battery life has all been improved. Plus, it's just too cute! It really seems to have a cheerful personality for such a little robot, and it has picked up enough cat hair to knit a cat hair sweater for every member of my extended family. (Hmmm. Christmas present idea for next year?) I have a feeling that the Roomba and I will be playing together daily. I'll have it do a different room each day (plus the living room every other day), so that no matter where you are, you'll have that just vacuumed feeling.

Take that cat hair! Mwu-ha-ha-ha-ha!