I don’t know about you, but I like my home to be clean and tidy. However, the reality is usually quite different, because with a full-time job, there isn’t always time to get the housework done. Especially when you live alone (apart from two cats, but they’re not much help).
Vacuuming is a particularly unpleasant task. Even a cordless vacuum cleaner didn’t help much. That’s why I had been thinking about buying a robot vacuum cleaner for quite some time. A few months ago, I finally got one and now I wouldn’t want to be without it.
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Reason 1: Fighting pet hair
As I mentioned, I live with two cats. And you can tell, especially when they’re molting or when they get into a fight (literally). Then tufts of fur fly through the flat.
But it wasn’t always possible to grab the vacuum cleaner because I had to go to work, had other plans, or couldn’t motivate myself to take on the chore. That meant a lot of animal hair and fluff remained, especially on carpets.
If you get a robot vacuum cleaner with sufficient power, this should no longer be a problem. From 10,000 pascals upwards, the robot should be able to handle everything, even heavily matted carpets. However, make sure that the brushes are as tangle-free as possible.
I have the Mova E40 Ultra at home. It’s a robot vacuum cleaner with a mopping function and rotating brushes. I can personally recommend this model, especially as it’s mid-range in terms of price (from $450 to $500) but still offers many functions (and has a powerful suction power of 19,000 pascals).
Reason 2: The robot vacuum cleaner sees what I don’t see
You often only notice those corners that haven’t been cleaned for a while when you see a room from a different angle. For example, when something falls under the table and you have to crawl underneath it. And then you notice that one corner is full of crumbs.
The robot vacuum cleaner takes a different perspective here and effectively vacuums under the sofa, for example. Very handy if you don’t want to bend over to get into every corner. It also picks up every little crumb by driving in narrow lanes through the space — something I would never have the patience to do.
Reason 3: Cleaning schedule for the entire home
Speaking of patience: There are certainly people who have their lives better under control and follow a fixed cleaning schedule, with every room being cleaned regularly. Unfortunately, I am not one of those people. That’s why I’ve tended to clean my place according to the principle: Anything that is used a lot and is dirty is done straight away. Everything else is done sometime later.
When exactly will this “sometime later” be? I have no idea. However, I no longer have to ask myself this question, because the robot vacuum cleaner simply has a fixed order in which it cleans all the rooms. And it never gets tired.
If necessary, I can always tell it to clean a specific room once more. Or to clean it more thoroughly by turning up the suction power. It’s flexible, but I don’t have to interrupt my work or other activities to do so.
Reason 4: Replaces vacuum cleaners, brooms, mops, and Swiffers
I used to have a few utensils lying around my flat that didn’t have a fixed place. Vacuum cleaners, brooms, and mops, to name but a few. I never really liked that, but there was no other solution due to lack of space.
Basically, I can now banish most of these items to the basement. Because the robot vacuum cleaner replaces them all. It only needs a fixed place for the base station, where it can recharge, refill the water tank, and clean the mops. Otherwise, it is much more space-saving than anything I had before.
Reason 5: More technically advanced than ever
Last but not least, I would like to emphasize: If you have refrained from purchasing a robot vacuum cleaner because you thought the technology was not yet mature… then now is the time to buy. Many manufacturers are still developing their devices — for example, with extendable arms or other extras. But even mid-range models can already do everything you need.
My robot vacuum cleaner costs less than $500 and can already climb steps, recognize special surfaces such as carpets and automatically adjust its suction power, clean and dry its mops itself at the station, navigate intelligently through every room without collisions, and simply seems technically sound.
And if you’re concerned about the longevity of a robot vacuum cleaner, my colleague is still using his 14-year-old Roomba from iRobot and is completely satisfied. I’m pretty sure I will be too in the next few years.