Why I stopped using robotic vacuums

 

While I love home automation and robotic vacuums are key to that, I have completely stopped using mine. Part of the shift has come because I have moved, and my current robot can't navigate my home as well as it should and gets stuck too frequently. My current generation robot is the type that changes direction by bumping into things. This means that if you have different height floors, the robot will drop down to the lower floor and get stuck in that region. While I have attempted to block it off using the beacons and placing things in the way, it still manages to drop into that space and get stuck. The other problem is that it is somewhat annoying if you want to be in the same room and it takes a long time to clean the home. 

There are options. I could get a newer vacuum that maps the home, and rather than only bumping into things, once it has a map, tell it not to go to that area. I could also buy additional beacons to keep the current vacuum from getting stuck, but at this point, it doesn't seem worth it. While robotic vacuums are continuing to improve, it's still difficult to justify. Especially since it's around $600 to get a new vacuum that could block zones. 

Currently, I manually vacuum with a Dyson V7 stick vacuum. It cleans very well while being lightweight and easy to use. It does a good job of cleaning and makes quick work of it. It's also quieter than the robotic vacuum, so it's less disturbing to others. Ironically, having a better manual vacuum does make it feel like less work to vacuum. Someday I may return to robotic vacuums, but for now, it's manual vacuuming for me.