OV9

Rich B wrote: Thu Feb 05, 2026 1:46 pm

Mito Man wrote: Thu Feb 05, 2026 1:39 pm Mines been the same. I don’t understand how they can properly work unless you have an ultra minimalist lifestyle with no furniture Can’t do under the dining table properly or sofas or behind doors and the dogs hair messes up its brushes. I reckon its hour of deep cleaning is the equivalent to me spending 3 minutes with an actual vacuum.

Same - i probably spend as long as”preparing” the room (checking under the sofa for stray lego, blocking off the sliding door tracks that it gets stuck on, propping up the sofa it doesn’t quite fit under) as it would just to run a hoover round the areas i know will have 8 year olds crumbs spilt.

Forgot about the prep! Have to move the bar stools onto the table, move dog bed, cat scratching post, dining table benches just to get a decent mop and clean. Only do this if going out or have other jobs need doing, otherwise much faster just to get the hoover out and mop myself.

Jobbo wrote: Thu Feb 05, 2026 10:41 am I'm amazed at the size of garden a relatively small robot mower seems to be able to cope with

I presume that's because they can go out every night, and if they are going out every night they aren't doing much cutting as there's not been much growing so they can cover more ground.. Or they can do different sections a night?

I wonder if you could make a hutch for it with solar panels on the roof - charge during the day and work at night.

Rich B wrote: Thu Feb 05, 2026 1:37 pm yeah, my hoover doesn’t quite deliver on the “set and forget” expectation - though it still is pretty good.

I don't use a schedule for this reason. It gets deployed after I've lifted chairs n shizzles (or even just opened doors, as it hasn't learnt how do that itself yet).

Keep saying we need those Tesla robots. Also means you don’t need to buy “smart” versions of all products. Washing, cleaning, fleshlighting. All done by one gizmo

Mito Man wrote: Thu Feb 05, 2026 4:35 pm Keep saying we need those Tesla robots. Also means you don’t need to buy “smart” versions of all products. Washing, cleaning, fleshlighting. All done by one gizmo

If you follow it round the house, I assume it could do all of those tasks simultaneously.

unzippy wrote: Thu Feb 05, 2026 4:30 pm

Jobbo wrote: Thu Feb 05, 2026 10:41 am I'm amazed at the size of garden a relatively small robot mower seems to be able to cope with

I presume that's because they can go out every night, and if they are going out every night they aren't doing much cutting as there's not been much growing so they can cover more ground.. Or they can do different sections a night?

I wonder if you could make a hutch for it with solar panels on the roof - charge during the day and work at night.

I'm sure the ones I've seen do incorporate those.

unzippy wrote: Thu Feb 05, 2026 4:30 pm

Jobbo wrote: Thu Feb 05, 2026 10:41 am I'm amazed at the size of garden a relatively small robot mower seems to be able to cope with

I presume that's because they can go out every night, and if they are going out every night they aren't doing much cutting as there's not been much growing so they can cover more ground.. Or they can do different sections a night?

I wonder if you could make a hutch for it with solar panels on the roof - charge during the day and work at night.

That's how the one that was at a holiday home we rented ran. It a tour of the garden every morning.

I find having a cleaner negates any issues with Roomba et al…

Our cleaner is only once a week, with a very malty Labrador, the robot picks up the slack when I'm away with work!

No prep needed though? Just leave all doors open downstairs, it does slowly sex the bar stool bases, but the little spinny brush cleans them all and it's not damaged them, so it clearly is well experienced

Goes under the sofa, TV stand, fits between the dining table legs and dining chairs/benches easily so no messing there, and it hasn't got stuck yet.

The dog also gives zero fvcks about it, which I'm surprised about.

16vCento wrote: Thu Feb 05, 2026 8:12 pm Our cleaner is only once a week, with a very malty Labrador, the robot picks up the slack when I'm away with work!

No prep needed though? Just leave all doors open downstairs, it does slowly sex the bar stool bases, but the little spinny brush cleans them all and it's not damaged them, so it clearly is well experienced

Goes under the sofa, TV stand, fits between the dining table legs and dining chairs/benches easily so no messing there, and it hasn't got stuck yet.

The dog also gives zero fvcks about it, which I'm surprised about.

All of that. Sounds like these newer ones are much better and the empty bin is a must. Upstairs it goes under the beds as well where the standard Dyson won’t. I’ve got it on a daily time downstairs with the dogs. Sometimes I need to do the lounge twice a day. But you just tell it to go and it works. Deals with the kitchen table fine as well without needing to lift the chairs. It rarely gets stuck as well. As long as the cables have been picked up from chargers.

Similarly the dogs don’t GAF with it where by they are scared of the dyson.

16vCento wrote: Thu Feb 05, 2026 8:12 pm Our cleaner is only once a week, with a very malty Labrador, the robot picks up the slack when I'm away with work!

I find not having a malty dog negates any issues with picking up the slack

dinny_g wrote: Thu Feb 05, 2026 6:48 pm I find having a cleaner negates any issues with Roomba et al…

I find having an 8 year old negates any issues with having a cleaner er al!

- the messiest age in my experience