The
first ever review we posted to The Test Pit was for a robot vacuum
cleaner, the iRobot Roomba 700. It was back in the days when we got
overly excited by the notion that a robot could vacuum our carpets...
not like these days when we're very serious and down to earth. And
so... ARRGGHH!!! IT'S A FREAKING ROBOT. WAHAY! IT'S CLEANING OUR
HOUSE! IT'S CLEANING OUR HOUSE! QUICK, PUT SOMETHING ON TOP OF IT!
HAHAHA! Ahem, sorry about that. We review the iRobot Roomba 880.
It
goes without saying that this is the best robot vacuum cleaner we've
ever reviewed, both in features and the actual quality of the clean.
The unit itself is just 35cm across and only 9cm tall. That means it
does indeed fit under many different types of furniture, extending
the surface area of your floors that get cleaned in one go. It also
features a carry handle which helps in lifting the not-at-all-bad
weight of 3.8KG. As well as the robot itself, the box contains the
base charging station, two 'virtual wall/lighthouse' units, a remote,
and a few extra bits and bobs to help keep it it clean.
Unlike
some of the cheaper robot hoovers (there, we said it – we call
vacuum cleaners 'Hoovers' and we don't bloody care) the iRobot Roomba
880 can be fully programmed as to when to spring into action and
start cleaning. This means that you can set it to start at 3am each
morning, complete a circuit of your house (either upstairs or
downstairs – it can't yet tackle stairs), then put itself back on
charge for the following night. If you wanted to. We, however,
preferred to set it going when we were awake so we could leave LEGO
minifigures on top of it, and watch them 'drive' the iRobot Roomba
880 around. Great times.
And
yes, you read that right; it can put itself back on charge. The
underside of the iRobot Roomba 880 features charging contacts which
connect to the base station (which remains plugged into a wall
socket), meaning as soon as the Roomba's battery starts to get low,
it scuttles back home to juice up. Watching the plucky little thing
line itself up to the base station is both incredible and adorable.
If
you're a bit concerned about letting this thing run wild about your
home, creeping into every room and sucking up just anything it
desires, worry not. The two included lighthouses units can be dotted
about your home and set to either lighthouse mode (which draws the
iRobot Roomba 880 to it once one room has been cleaned, ensuring
another gets the same treatment), or virtual wall mode (which creates
an invisible barrier the Roomba will not cross – great for keeping
it in one room or area, and away from things like pet food bowls on
the floor).
Once
this thing has gone over your floor, you really can tell that it is a
quality product. Instead of using rotating brush rollers, the iRobot
Roomba 880 has two opposing rubber rollers which scrape dust and hair
from carpets. The suction is also surprisingly powerful considering
the small total size of the cleaner... and there came our only
negative comment. Because this thing can shift a lot of dirt, we
found that we had to empty it before the battery ran out. This means
that although the iRobot Roomba 880 can clean for anything up to an
hour before needing to recharge, the chances are that the bin will be
full before that, requiring you to empty it before cleaning can
recommence.
To
be fair, we found this only to be the case in rooms with particularly
fibrous carpets, and on days when we hadn't vacuumed for a while.
Still it is something to bear in mind if you're leaving the iRobot
Roomba 880 to clean unsupervised.
But
at the end of the day this is an astonishing bit of kit and we've
enjoyed every moment of it being in Test Pit Towers. It is the kind
of technology that, once the novelty factor wears off, becomes
seamlessly integrated into your day-to-day life without you having to
think all that much about it. If you're looking to take your first
steps into the world of autonomous cleaning gadgets, or you're
looking to upgrade, look no further than this.
£599.99
