Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)Got the 380 just over 30 days ago... (although, this review applies to the whole scooba line as they are all very similar)
I want to start off by saying that I have the roomba 530 and 560 and I love them both, wouldn't be able to keep my house clean without them.
However, with the scooba 380 I was severely disappointed:
While it does clean the floor somewhat effectively, it is gravely overshadowed by the below points that make me wish I had returned it within the 30-day return policy.
Here is what I have experienced over the last 30 days (used it about 8 times to clean high traffic kitchen area and bathroom floors).
My first impression right off the bat was that it does not have the same build quality of the Roomba series which was immediately noticeable upon unpacking. From the sharp plastic edges, defective charging unit to the light houses, the whole experience is a lot cheaper and clumsier than the roomba 500 line. It is almost as if it was made by an entirely different knockoff company...
Despite allowing the scooba to charge overnight, it is not capable of completing two full cleaning cycles on 1 battery charge, misleading from the marketing materials, again this is the 380 which is supposed to be able to clean larger rooms with two complete cycles.
Long recharge time (about 3 hrs+).
You need to clean the brush, filter and rubber tube every couple of cycles.
Requires you to empty the dirty solution tank for every cycle (obviously, but one of the many steps to using this product).
Unlike the roomba it does not figure out how long to run for. If you fill the tank and put the scooba in a small bathroom it will run for the same amount of time as a large room, like a kitchen, very frustrating. iRobot's advice for this shortcoming is to put less solution for smaller rooms, not an elegant or easy solution. You have to calculate the water/solution ratio for small spaces, which is a pain and still haven't figured out.
I have dark hardwood floors, leaves SOME streaks and tire marks even after wet spots have dried.
Once it completes a cleaning cycle it beeps every minute or so, so if you want to run the scooba at night it will annoy you to put it back to charge, I hate appliances and gadgets that beep unnecessarily. At least the roomba 500 series does notifications with nice tones rather than retro beeps... (I know this is nitpicking but it speaks to the low quality of the unit and user experience as a whole).
It gets stuck more frequently than my 2 roombas and sometimes is able to sneak under one of my area rugs, making a mess and eventually getting stuck. iRobot mentions that it is able to "sense" carpets, only if they are heavy enough to trigger its clumsy bumper system.
The standalone charging unit is defective. It does not complete charging the battery, forced to use the scooba's inconvenient multi pin charging port on the side to recharge. The faulty charging base is a widespread problem, refer to user forums online & irobot's website for reference.
Not capable of self-charging as with the upper level roomba series, a must-have feature to make these robots worth the time (and $$$). (Have to connect a clumsy multi pin connector that has to be oriented exactly right to plug properly.)
Clorox solution is expensive, after spending almost $500 on this robot it hurts to have to buy this expensive proprietary solution although, have not tried vinegar, heard that it can affect certain types of hard wood floors (which I have).
Loud and squeaky (due to scooba's rubber squeegee), can't be in the same room as the scooba if you want to relax... Oh and FYI in iRobot's scooba product video (on their website) depicts a rubber belt sweeping away dirt (part of its "first stage" of cleaning), not so: That belt is just a stationary squeegee and dirt is supposed to be directed to vacuum ports on either edge of the robot, disappointed when I discovered this.
The virtual walls are not up to par with the roomba's virtual walls (500 series). It has an extremely wide beam, more so than the roomba lighthouses. This makes using them a bit more difficult as the scooba stays pretty far away from the virtual walls, thus loosing cleaning coverage. One solution is to try to hide it on the opposite side of a doorway.
All in all, I can not recommend this current generation of scoobas (they all function nearly identical, its just the battery and accessories that differ). There are just too many niggles about this product that lead to an overall bad user experience.
If you want a robot to clean something then go with the roomba, its effective, fun and easy to use.
As for easy mopping:
A swiffer mop (or similar product) in about 5 minutes can do what takes the scooba about 45 minutes + maintenance (not to mention 3 hour charging time) to accomplish. Simply put, this product does NOT make mopping easier, in reality it takes longer, is more frustrating and requires a lot more patience than a already simple process.
Hopefully irobot will have a major revision of the scooba to make it worth our time and money.
2 stars because this product has some potential and it does somewhat clean the floor, but again I don't like this product and I wish I hadent kept it outside the "30 day satisfaction guarantee"
Finally, I read a lot of reviews before buying the scooba, anyone who says they simply love it and blindly give it 4 or 5 stars has got to be affiliated with iRobot in some way...
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