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I’m so disappointed having to write this review. I really wanted Bob to become a part of the family and have some of the great experiences that other’s talked about. But, after just 7 days here are some of my pros and cons of BobSweep Pet Hair, Rouge. A little note about my house, I have short shag carpet in the living room, laminate with an area rug in the family room and laminate down the hall and in the kitchen. The house is a total of 1870 sq. ft., but Bob is only going to be in the living area of the house, so maybe 1100 sq. ft. We have one small terrier dog and one large Chocolate Labrador and one messy 5-year-old.
I ordered my Bob online from Home Depot.com. The shipping speed was faster than expected and he arrived one day earlier than stated online. I took my lunch from work so I could go home and unbox my Bob and get him charging so I could start using him as soon as I got home from work. Unboxing was fairly painless. You do have to install Bob’s side brush with an enclosed screwdriver and screw. There are a lot of spare parts, which is nice. There was the mop attachment and some extra side brushes. I plugged in Bob’s charging station and set him up. The enclosed “birth certificate” was cute too…”Bob Mitchell” was home!
When I got home Bob was charged up all the way and I set off for my first cleaning experience. I noticed the color of my Bob. The Rouge red was stunning and went with my living room furniture great. This was a good thing since there was exactly ONE place in the entire house that was suitable for Bob’s charging base to be after looking at the 2 feet to the side and 10 feet to the front requirements. The spot is on the wall, just as you walk into the front door of the house, so having an attractive unit was a huge plus!
So, I decided to start my Bob with his remote (although there aren’t batteries included) I rummaged and found 2 AAA batteries. I pressed the start button and away Bob went. He made a 180 degree turn and made a beeline for the dining room table and chair across the room, almost like he was running to hide! So, Bob runs to the table and subsequently gets stuck under the table and can’t find his way out of the tangle of 6 dining room chairs. I rescue Bob from the table and make note that I might have to pull the chairs away from the table on days I want Bob to clean while I am not home. It should be noted that Bob was much quieter than I expected him to be. He was also able to maneuver over the medium pile short shag carpet I have in the living room. Then he pretty much stayed in the living room for a while, he wasn’t able to make his way to the family room, which is right next door, during this clean cycle. He also never made it into the adjoining kitchen. So, after some here and there in the living room and having to be rescued another 2 times under the table and chairs I decided to have Bob make his way to the charging base. I used the remote again and pressed the “charge” button. Unfortunately, Bob couldn’t find his base. I looked in the manual and saw that you can sync the base to Bob. I went through this step, but in the next 6 days I had Bob, he never made it back to his base on his own. He would always die somewhere in the house before making it back. Dining room table=1, Bob=0.
So, next…the area rug in the family room and Bob’s struggle with it. We have a large area rug in the family room that covers a good part of the laminate floors in that room. The rug isn’t too high or thick and the corners are stiff and heavy, so they don’t curl up. Bob made it up on the rug a few times without issue…but he had to be going at an angle. If he hit it straight on he would just get caught up and couldn’t make it up all the way. Sometimes he would reverse and try again, but most times he would just give up and stop right there…but not after turning his wheels so much that it made little marks in the carpet. Rug=1, Bob=0.
The dog’s dishes are in the corner of the kitchen along with a rolling cart. Although Bob can’t fit under the coffee table, under the couch or under the bookcase, he can fit under the rolling cart. Unfortunately, when Bob gets in there, he can’t get out…he just keeps turning in circles. Cart=1, Bob=0.
One thing that’s a plus is Bob’s dirt bin capacity. It’s huge!! He can clean and clean and it’s got room for the dog hair and dirt. Also, the remote is nice because it allowed me to drive Bob under my bed and vacuum under there, which I never do.
So, unfortunately, after a week of trying him…Bob is going back to the store. Like I said, he never made it back to his base to charge so the “auto restart” feature is useless since he dies during cleaning and can’t recharge. Bob’s family member idea is super cute…but now since I have been calling this small appliance by a name, my 5-year-old has become attached to him and also called him by his name. So, now I have a 5-year-old that feels like I am giving her puppy away as I box Bob up…fast forward to the next day I’m telling my mother-in-law about Bob and my daughter says, “don’t talk about Bob, it makes me sad.” Overall, I wish Bob worked, he will be missed. But, we just plugged in Ellie the Roomba 690. Ellie can make it up the carpet, find her base and has Wi-Fi connectivity. Ellie=1, Bob=0.
We’ve had Bob for 6+ moths and have to say it’s nice to sit down and have a good cup of joe with my wife while bob is taking care of the hard work. Now… it’s not all rainbow and sunshine; bob starting acting up and not performing how it should (I must also say we have two large dogs .. Husky and Malamute) anywho, as I was saying, he started acting up for which my wife contacted customer service. He is now back from the doctor; not only they diagnose and fixed what was wrong with him but also sent him along with side brushes and moping pads. Customer service rep was top notch; providing updates l the time. Bob may not entirely eliminate the need to vacuum but for sure makes our lives a whole lot more enjoyable!!!
I bought Bobsweep Pethair Plus almost 8 months ago. He is my hero! I have 1 large long-haired dog and 2 cats. I am allergic to my pets so regular vacuuming is a necessity. I set Bob down where I want him to start cleaning and he runs for about an hour on the thorough lift deep clean program. I usually need to empty his dustbin after 2-3 uses (2-3 hours of run time). I mostly get a ton of animal hair and dusty dirt. If Bob runs low on batteries I have to help him get to his charging station if he’s not in the same room as the charger. He doesn’t understand that he can’t go through walls to get to the charger. He gets stuck under the recliner chair because of the height of the recliner base. That’s his main spot that he gets stuck in the house. He can usually get unstuck from other spots. I find that if I shove a couple of my husbands sneakers under the edge of the recliner it keeps Bob from wasting his battery charge on trying to escape the recliner. There are times in the biggest room in the house that Bob misses a corner and runs low on battery before getting to the corner. Other than those weaknesses, Bob is awesome. He picks up tons of pet hair, works well on carpet and the kitchen linoleum. He can vacuum throw rugs without sucking them up. He doesn’t fall down stairs. He takes about 4 hours to charge, but if I set him in a different spot of the house each day, the house gets done. While Bob is running I can get other things done like laundry, cooking, etc. I did have an issue with Bob’s brush falling out and Bobsweep had amazing customer support. I was within warranty so I got him shipped for free, repaired free, and sent back in a brand new box with accessories like a new brush, another block plus, a remote, cleaning brush all free. The filters cost $15 to replace and I order them every 3 months due to my allergies. I love my Bob!
I, like many others, was excited to get my Bobsweep. And, I am so glad that there are people out there that are happy with their purchase. I truly am. However, I’m on the other end of the spectrum and, like many others who have left reviews of utter frustration, I believe there are much needed improvements to be made on these vacuums. In reading the reviews, there seems to be a common theme regarding the units getting stuck, having error messages right out of the gate and, the inability for these vacuums to make there way back to their base stations to charge.
I followed all of the instructions in setting up my new vacuum. But, it seemed to have some hiccups with error messages. I checked it all out, did the troubleshooting and tried again. It made its way around the house, getting stuck, here and there. It consistently ran into furniture and walls, making scuffs and dents, even with the installed bumpers. The bumpers even failed to stay on when the unit tried to round any corners. They were just swiped right off. Now, I read that the unit may run into some furniture that it might have trouble “seeing”. I get that although, I still think that’s unacceptable. I read that it may have trouble maneuvering over darker surfaces but, my baseboards are white. I chased the vacuum around, at one point, trying to keep the dust off of the front of the unit, so it didn’t interfere with its operation. Still ran into everything. The unit also found its way into tight areas where, it kept running its cleaning pattern but, never could find its way back out. When it was low on charge and needed to find the base, it could not locate it, even though I repeatedly made sure it was synced. At one point, I placed the unit in front of the charging station at about 8 feet with no obstacles and pushed the button and away it went. Away. Away. Away. Could not find the base. Ever.
So, after fiddling with this mess for a while, I decided that it was, obviously, a manufacturer defect and that it should be returned either, for an exchange or a full refund. It’s still within the 1-year limited warranty so, there should not have been a problem there. The customer service rep tried to convince me that I just needed to let him send me a new set of bumpers. Like that was going to solve everything. Or, anything. I told him that I wanted a refund. He says that I need to get “Bob” to see the “Doctor” and that it would cost me a round-trip fare of $30. Wait. What?! Seriously???
I’m so fed up.
With great anticipation and reviewing all robotic vacuums out there I decided Bobsweep was the one for me owning a Siberian Husky. I read the manual, watched videos to make sure I understood everything on this little jewel that was going to make my life easier. Big huge disappointment. If you have an empty room sure it’s fine although the part where it says dont worry if it misses something it will come back and get it. Not true. I kept it clean, making sure the tray was empty, filter clean, wheels free if dog hair etc. I’m done trying to make this work for me. Just to use it i have to set up several baracades which by that time I could have easily used my regular vac. That little tray is just not equipped for dog hair. I got so frustrated after giving it several chances I almost threw it out the back door! I want to sell it for half price to somebody who might have better use for it then myself.