| Review: iRobot Roomba 410 Intelligent Floorvac Robotic Vacuum Cleaner |
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| Friday, 03 July 2009 | ||||||||||||||
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The iRobot Roomba 410 is an entry-level robotic vacuum cleaner with a host of features. For the uninitiated, robotic vacuum cleaners are small, often disc shaped, battery operated vacuums that scour the floor vacuuming up dirt, hair, lint and the like using some computer means of navigation. The 410 utilizes counter rotating brushes and a vacuum to pick up dirt (these brushes routinely have to be cleaned so they are hand-removable). It does not use any kind of bag and the dirt is captured in a “dirt cup” – which iRobot claims is very easy to remove and empty. Also, an interesting note is that its sensors and programming are set up such that the Roomba 410 covers every area of the floor an average of four times during a given cleaning session. To learn more about Robotic Vacuums in general see our other article titled “Robotic Vacuums - An Overview”. [REF Robotic Vacuum Cleaner Reviews 2009] The Roomba 410 comes with a “virtual wall” which consists of a unit that emits an invisible infra-red beam of light. The Roomba is programmed to never cross the beam of light thereby confining the Roomba to a designated area. It also has infra-red sensors that allow it to detect and avoid any kind of drop-off (like stairs). It comes with and edge cleaning sidebrush to ensure that it picks up all the dirt and dust from around an edge – like a wall or other hard to reach areas. The 410 also has dirt sensors that will allow the unit to focus on particularly dirty areas and ensure it leaves them clean. Interestingly this unit comes with something called a stasis sensor – which is used to tell the unit it is not going anywhere and is likely stuck. When this is detected the Roomba uses “escape algorithms” to get unstuck and continue its cleaning. On a full charge the unit is said to provide up to 2 hours of continuous cleaning. Although it does not come with a home base for charging, one can be purchased (Roomba's 4900 Self-Charging Drive-On Home Base). The iRobot Roomba 410 has 2 modes – clean and spot. In clean mode the vacuum will calculate the size of the room it is in and adjust it’s cleaning time appropriately. In spot mode the robot will clean in an area with a 3 foot diameter – very useful for quick cleaning small areas. The unit weighs in at 8.4 pounds, is 13 inches in diameter and about 4 inches high. It comes with a 1-year warranty. The iRobot Roomba 410 comes with the following: What are consumers saying?
Pros Cons A neat to watch video series can be seen on the iRobot website:
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