Vacuuming the house manually, especially from under every single couch, table and other furniture, is not something most of us enjoy doing every week. Vacuumer robots have been around for a long time, but their prices have been generally high and the actual cleaning performance poor.

iRobot released new models, 530 and 560 earlier this year, which are the fifth generation models. A floor washing robot was released as well, called Scooba. In our flat removing all the carpets for floor washing is a lot of work and if you go through all that trouble, you might as well wash the floors yourself. This ruled Scooba out of our house, but a vacuuming robot on the hand seemed very useful to keep all the cat hair and litter off the floors. Our 2 beasts from Dubai just keep on generating mess and someone has to clean it. That someone is now the Roomba 530. And it really sucks - in a good way.

Differences between 530 and 560
We ended up getting the cheaper model 530 for reasons that I'll explain later. It cost 329 euros, which is not more than 1,5 times the price of a good, regular vacuumer. Very reasonably priced and the 4th generation models can be even obtained for as low as 129 euros. 560 has the following differences compared to our 530:

- Costs 100 euros more (429 euros).
- Sscheduling functions; starts cleaning the house automatically at scheduled times, 530 needs the press of the "Clean" button.
- Includes 2 virtual walls instead of 1.
- 570 is essentially the same as 560, but with an extra brush kit and a remote control included.

If you do need 2 virtual walls, it cuts down the price difference to just 50 euros between 530 and 560, since another virtual wall bought separately costs 50 euros. Having a remote control is also a nice feature, as you can use it to tell the Roomba to "Dock" or clean a "Spot" without actually walking to it to press the buttons. Without a doubt, many people will find the scheduling function useful as well.

In our case, we figured we can just as well limit Roomba's entry to other rooms physically with objects, if we ever needed to block more than 1 doorway. I also prefer to check the house myself before putting Roomba to work while being away, since we tend to have laptop cables, cats' water & food cups (with food next to them on the floor) and other things lying around. This eliminates the use of the scheduling function, because you can't let it clean the whole house without some preparing anyway. If you ever saw how the Roomba throws dry cat food around the kitchen floor with its side brush, you'd understand. :) With the preparing done, you can just as well press the "Clean" button yourself. Nevertheless, the extra features of the 560 are definitely worth considering.

Both models have the same basic features: 1 side brush, 2 brushes rotating in opposide directions, 1 extra filter, 1 extra side brush and a cleaning tool for the main brush included in the package. Not to forget the 30-day money back guarantee, either.

Performance
Ultimately, it comes down to one question: how well does it suck? The answer is: quite well. Even after manual vacuuming the Roomba manages to find an incredibly amount of dirt, dustballs and cat hair, especially since it dives under furniture like beds, couches, chairs and tables. It has managed to amaze me with an almost full container after a short (about 1 hour) operation. The first time we ran it, it got so stuck from cat hair it started asking for help. Yes, you read right - it talks to you, by telling what is wrong. In English, German and French. In this case the brushes had gotten stuck from too much cat hair. This was the first and only time it ever happened so far, but after a short removal and cleaning of the brushes it was willing to continue.

Our flat is definitely cleaner now. We generally activate the Roomba 2 - 4 times a week and it does the work while we're away. I have only one complaint which concerns its cleaning performance on carpets. It probably performs better on carpets with a more smooth surface than ours, but in our case it tends to leave visible trash on our carpets. It's certainly not a big problem to shake the carpet a bit outside or simply use a manual vacuumer for those tiny spots, but it's the only thing that keeps the Roomba from reaching perfection. Other than that, it seems to do almost a perfect job on any kind of floor surface. It also doesn't scratch the floor. We let the Roomba clean the bathroom and sauna floors as well, when they're dry.

The new models contain the best features from the older models: they sense stairs and don't fall down, the usage couldn't possible be more simple (just a press of the "Clean" button), they find back to their docking stations to recharge after finishing and yes, unfortunately they also still bump into things. From what I've read, the Electrolux Trilobite senses everything in advance instead of bumping, but on the other hand its price is almost 3 times the price of the Roomba 530.

Maintenance
Even an automatic vacuumer needs human interaction. The manual states you should clean the brushes and empty the container after 3 - 5 times of cleaning runs. I personally recommend to do exactly that and sometimes even more often than the manual states. The Roomba performs best with the brushes cleaned from hair and the filter emptied from dust.

All brushes, the container and the filter are removable. This makes it very easy to cut stuck hair from the brushes with scissors. While some people might feel disappointed having to manually clean an "automatic robot vacuumer", I do want to state that this is made very quick and painless for the end-user. The removable brushes are an excellent feature.

Early reviews stated the side brush got broken far too often. I haven't noticed anything like that in my Roomba. This was probably a problem with earlier models or brushes and this issue seems to have been fixed. Many parts can be replaced, including the battery, all 3 brushes, the filter and the container. 1 extra side brush and 1 extra filter are included in the package. The manual tells you to replace the filter every 2 months. We have yet to see if this is actually required (we used the Roomba for 1 month now). I see no reasons to switch the other parts unless they break, or the battery goes dead (shouldn't die in several years). The spare parts are not cheap, but not a rip-off either. Although the 30 euros price for a 3 filters package feels a bit pricey.

Roomba vs. standard vacuumer
This is probably the question that interests anyone who has ever considered getting an automatic vacuumer. Does it completely remove the need for manual vacuuming?

If you talk about floors and places Roomba can access, the answer is: yes. But that still leaves higher places, tops of corners lists, cable piles in corners and other places to collect dustballs. So, my suggestion is this: get  a cheap 50 euro vacuumer to get the places where Roomba cannot access, cleaned. But don't worry about floor areas, especially if you don't have a lot of carpets - Roomba will clean those for you and it will do a tremendous job at at. You will only need the manual vacuumer randomly.

What about the noise, then? Roomba keeps its sound level below 60 dB, which is definitely more quiet than most standard vacuumers. Compared to my Hoover, it's noticeably more quiet. Obviously, 60 dB is still way too loud for overnight cleaning in the same room, but it is not that easy to hear from another room with the door closed.

Our 2 cats are less afraid of the Roomba than the Hoover, most likely due to the noise level. Or maybe they're just more interested, as the sheer fact that the Roomba moves by itself continues to amaze them. In fact, YouTube is full of videos presenting the reactions of various pets to this self-moving cleaning attack.

Conclusion & problems
Not having tested the earlier robot vacuumers, I can't make a comparison. I can only say this product delivers everything it promises and with its current pricing I can only recommend it to anyone tired of vacuuming. It still crashes into objects, walls and furniture like the earlier models, but not nearly as hard (I've seen the earlier models in action on videos). Its carpet vacuuming abilities leave a bit to hope for and one time it managed to turn almost upside down from a carpet corner. This being said, 99 % of the time it gets over carpets, cables and door steps without issues so this is nothing to worry about.

Pros
+ Cleans very effectively
+ Removable brushes and easy maintenance
+ Side brush cleans corners
+ 30-day money back guarantee
+ Extremely easy to use
+ Does not fall off stairs and finds back to its docking station

Cons
- Leaves dirt on some types of carpets
- Crashes into things instead of "seeing" them in advance
- Bigger things like dry cat food gets thrown around by the side brush, generating more mess

Summary (9/10)
The Roomba 530 does what it promises: it doesn't just move the dirt around, it really cleans the house for you.

UPDATE (10 months later)
My Roomba has now been repaired by the warranty service for 3 times in the last 5 months. It has been the same problem every time: the brushes stop turning, only the side brush works until the whole cleaning unit inside the robot is switched. The service has been free of charge and fast (under a week every time), plus the last time I got a new kind of cleaning unit with new kind of brushes. They're faster to clean, especially when it comes to hair.

Reading comments from Amazon and other internet stores reveals I'm not alone with these problems, but I am not going to lower the grade I gave the product just yet. We'll see...