Thanks for sending this link in Susan. That is a good pic and a cool site.

I think Stephen had an iphone before others too

So a while back we got a re manufactured roomba from a woot bag of crap. I purchased a charger online and a docking station. The roomba would not dock. Being it was under warranty I contacted support and after some parts and communications they sent out a replacement robot and told me to discard the improperly functioning one. We had ordered replacement batteries and got the old one working again.

So with little investment we have two functioning 500 series roombas . We love them.

quick review: When run a couple times a day it keeps your areas spotless. I figured I would have to do some catch up with an upright once a week, but it is not needed. They do an amazing job. But, there are draw backs. We have livestock so we have to empty the dual bin often. In the middle of a cycle helps. It takes time and is noisy. When it comes down to effort it is a wash compared to using an upright once a week, but our carpet looks great every day.

Then there is the more technical part of it. It seems you need to be able to dabble in taking things apart to keep them functioning every now and then. Tonight I had to rip a gearbox apart to clear some obstructions.

That photo was when I took a break 1/2 way through. It was pretty bad. A normal user should not have to do this after less than 20 uses like I did. Normally you would call in, but this one is out of warranty and I was able to get in there and fix it myself.

We still think they are the coolest robots we have and are very happy with them.

Picked up some eneloop batteries.

Back when I posted about my neato battery charger, Marlin mentioned I get some eneloop batteries. I read up on them and there are tons of sites that go into detail of how cool they are, but it all comes down to one thing. They have a very low discharge rate when stored. You can use them a year after they have been charged.

We use the heck out of rechargable batteries. Wiimotes, remotes, flashlights, makeup mirrors, and lots more. Biggest problem is when our batteries run out we put in some we had charged earlier and they hardly last. Also with flashlights once you go to use it, it is near death. I am hoping these change that a bit. Yeah I could buy a lot of batteries for $24, but if these work good it is totally worth it.

So they come charged just to prove how well they hold their charge. I did not use anything fancier than our wii to see, and that looks charged to me.

Got my second roomba replacement battery in the mail today as well. Both of our 500 series roombas now have new battery packs and wow do they run for a long time. I will post about the whole roomba army I have amassed here soon. It sorta crazy.

The roomba we got from woot had a decent battery, but we used the hell out of it and instead of 30 minutes of action we were lucky to get 10. With the new batteries a full hour is normal. Sometimes the roomba will dock when it is still green because it is done cleaning the room. Pretty cool. I tried to force the old battery into a deep cycle recharge and used something I built years ago to drain RC car battery packs. Worked like a charm, but a little too good. 10 auto bulbs suck a helluva lot of power. I thought the batteries were going to melt. Woops

The aerogarden has 4 types of basil going right now. Figure we should be able to pick some fresh next week. Theresa is loving our new 6 quart kitchenaid mixer.

I wanted a stick mixer and Theresa picked up a kitchenaid one. Made some hummus, and plan on using it for soups.

Some new bowls and plates

And an electric kettle to ease the making of French press coffee

Solved it a few times. I messed up in the vid and do it a diff way now, but still shows how it works.

make

Great idea. and seems they will sell for $10.

Seems Phat posted a link to plans

Apparently it can cure premature ejaculation as well.

We got a roomba in our latest woot bag of crap and the charger I got online showed up Saturday. The thing was almost dead so it started a 16 hour battery refreshing cycle so we did not get to use it till Sunday. We let it wander the whole upstairs the first time and it picked up a lot of stuff. I was pretty impressed. It ran for about an hour and then needed a recharge. Ended up running it 5 times yesterday and it does a really good job.

We had not vacuumed for a week so there was pet hair and crap on the floors. The first few times we saw where it would catch some cords and get stuck. It is really good at getting unstuck, but wanted to keep cords from getting messed up and helped it a few times. Under my bed it found some dryer sheets that made it mad. After the 5th session our carpet was looking awesome. I turned on our regular vacuum and did a pass that got some of the smaller stuff up. It did pretty good on the linoleum in the kitchen too. Only problem was the vacuum would blow hair around the floor and then it would suck it up eventually.

I never thought they would be all that great. I did not know it had a vacuum in them. Just thought it used brushes to pick stuff up. The thing is much bigger than I thought it would be too. It seems pretty darn smart as well. It uses 3 methods to clean and seems to know which one to use. It worked wonders on the cat litter Thunky likes to throw. For $8 + $15 for a charger we are very happy. Doubt I would have ever bought one, but now I want a scoomba if we ever tile the kitchen floor. Plan is to run it weekday mornings when we leave for work. Will torment the livestock and not bother us. We has robot