Robo Vacuum – Your New Friend in House Cleaning
August 30th, 2009 by John Johns
Robo vacuum, as the name suggests, is a robotic vacuum cleaner, which comes in models of varying levels of complexity and functionality (and varying price accordingly). The robo vacuum, depending on the model, does pretty much everything from cleaning your floors according to a set timer, to detecting dusty places by itself and cleaning them up and docking itself to a charging unit. The gadget is a blessing to the many people who despise the job of cleaning inaccessible spaces and are bored by having to perpetually keep cleaning dirty floors. The robo vacuum is almost lifelike, since it goes about doing its job while you are busy doing yours – it does not even matter whether you are at home or not.
There are many obvious advantages of going for the robo vacuum in place of manual cleaning. Aside from the obvious advantage of saving time and hassle, inaccessible places are easily dealt with. In addition to this, some advanced systems use radar to form a map of the entire cleaning space. So, every inch is cleaned and no cleaned part is revisited. Some cleaners have the ability to detect particularly dusty places and pay more attention to them. Robot vacuum cleaners are lightweight and easy to handle, they are not gizmos with so many functions that they drive you crazy. Most of the robo vacuums these days come with a good deal of accessories that make its use further easier. Remote control unit, charging base, programming scheduler and cleaning brushes all give better functionality with least trouble.
Most of the models can handle different types of floors- carpets, tile, wood, linoleum, concrete. But if you have a combination of carpets and other flooring, you will have to look for a robo vacuum that has good transitional capabilities. Some vacuums require you to key in the room dimensions before cleaning, but this is a one time activity, provided the same space is vacuumed each time.
When making a purchase, some simple pointers to bear in mind are:
- It makes sense to go for a model with good battery backup, if a large space is to be cleaned.
- If you have delicate breakables, a robo vacuum with radar is best used to avoid collisions. It also finishes cleaning quicker, since no space is revisited after cleaning once.
- Look for a machine with a relatively large dust bin.
- Remote control and self-charging are very useful features. Especially self-charging almost fully automates the cleaning process and is recommended.
- If complete automation is not a prerequisite (which is most likely the case if you stay at home during the cleaning), you can go for a simple model which will do the job at the push of a button. It runs the risk of getting stuck while moving from one surface to another, if a rug is encountered. A beep is emitted and the cleaner needs your intervention. Charging can also be done manually, saving you the cost of going for an auto charging base.