We’ve never had a robot-anything before (vacuum or floor scrubber) and we finally took the plunge on the Scooba based on the reviews. It does a terrific job on our ceramic tile floors, which are flat and smooth – perfect for the Scooba! If you have tile floors, buy the Scooba, and the dry-dock charging stand, and the cleaning solution. It is much easier (and your floors will be cleaner) than wet-mopping or Swiffer/Bona. Details below:
I agree with other reviewers who note the seemingly haphazard pattern of cleaning (or lack thereof) and I encourage everyone (especially engineers) not to watch and try to discern the algorithm. The reviewer who said the algorithm is dumb also agreed that his floor was dry and clean at the end -- and that is what counts. It is fun to watch Scooba approach walls slowly (after he has found them once), then run along the wall perimeter, so you know there is a brain inside. Once you have your area sized properly, the Scooba will do a great job. You will be dumping out dirty grey water (and dog hair, in our house) from the tank so you can see for certain how well it is working. I also agree with the reviewers who like the smell of the “official” floor cleaning solution. At 40 cents per cleaning (or less if you use less solution – see my tip below) it is nice touch at minimal cost. We also splurged on the charging stand; certainly a big profit-maker for iRobot, but extremely convenient (it fits in the back of our laundry closet this way). Because it tilts the tank up–away from the fill port–we leave the unused water and cleaning fluid inside the clean tank for the next time. (We always slosh out and empty the dirty water tank thoroughly!)
Our bottom line:
1. Once you get the area set correctly, Scooba does a great job. You know that you have the area correctly sized if there is very little water left on the floor at the end (a few quarter-sized spots here and there) so it has time to do all three passes (soak, clean, and squeegee) in forty minutes. (Read: soak, scrub and suck).
2. You will end up using him frequently to keep up; we do the kitchen every other day and one other area every week. After ignoring our kitchen for weeks on end in the past (we aren’t neat-freaks) it surprised us to find ourselves running the robot every other day. But as long as we keep up, we never have to vacuum up dog hair or do a major cleaning. It is easy and our floors look great, which is exactly why you buy a Scooba.
3. You will quickly develop a routine (put the stools, trash cans and the dog bowls up on the counters, move chairs out, set the “virtual wall”) and then fill the clean tank and turn the Scooba loose. When we first began using our Scooba, we ran over the floor with a towel afterwards to pick up the wet spots left over, but now we just ignore them and let them dry. They don’t leave any dried-up marks or residue behind. Cleaning the Scooba dirty tank and brushes afterwards is essential, but that is the only part of the job that takes any real effort on your part.
4. We drain and slosh out the dirty water tank multiple times to make sure we get it empty, but we don’t even bother opening the clean water tank afterwards. We know we will be using it again within a day or two so we just put the robot onto the charging stand, and then “top it off” and add one capful of new cleaning fluid (instead of two) when we are ready to run it again. Since the charging stand keeps the tank tilted up we know it won’t leak out the fill port. And we use less cleaning fluid that way. (This is not recommended by the iRobot folks; they want you to dump out both tanks.)
The Details (more information than you probably want or need):
The first time we used it, our floors were pretty awful (hadn’t been cleaned since Christmas) so we ran the regular upright vacuum first and pulled the dog hair clumps off the chair legs and such. We weren’t completely satisfied with the Scooba’s first pass, but we knew there was a lot of set-in crud on the tile, and the dirty water tank was really filthy.
Our first three runs were an exercise in figuring out how to divide our house. We have ceramic tile floors (18-inch squares, very flat and smooth) throughout our kitchen, dining and entry areas. The kitchen is complicated by a center island, eat-in nook with a center-post table, walk-in pantry, and adjacent laundry room and bath, so it was very hard to determine the actual floor area and I’m too lazy to do the math. We turned the Scooba loose on the entire area for the first run (including the adjacent laundry and bathroom) and he did the entire area with only a tiny bit of water left in the (clean) tank when he finished. But he also left some wet areas behind on the floor so we figured that this was too large an area (even at the “big room” setting) so he hadn’t finished the “suck” pass. Maybe he got lost and confused by too many turns.
For the second run we closed the pantry and bathroom doors and he did very well, getting up nearly all the water and leaving everything dry with only a few spots here and there. But this time he still had almost a third of the clean water left over in the tank.
The third run (just right!) we opened the pantry back up and kept the bathroom closed off, and he did great—nothing but a few small wet spots left behind here and there and everything was really clean. There was still some water left in the tank, but we just left it for the next time. Our conclusion is that once you figure out the optimum area the Scooba will do a great job; you don’t want too big and you don’t want too small.
By the way, our dog is very sensitive (read: scared) of many noises, the smoke detectors, the treadmill, and even the waffle-maker signal makes him tremble and hide—either in your lap or in the farthest room, sometimes behind the toilet. But the Scooba doesn’t bother him. He sniffed at it once and has ignored it ever since.
Follow-Up, Several Months of Use Later:
We still run the kitchen every other day and continue to be very happy with Scooba. My suggestion is to run it frequently so you don't need to vacuum first (it gets all the dog hair by itself without vacuuming). The brushes are soft and not designed to really scrub hard; remember that the design is to soak, then run the (light) scrubbing brush, then suck up the dirty water before it dries. This is why it is important not to select too big an area. The brushes will not pick up ground-in crud, so the more frequently you run it the better it will perform.
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This Item  iRobot Scooba 450 Floor Scrubbing Robot |  |  |  |  |  | |
| Price | — | -13% $1,399.99 List: $1,599.99 | -27% $949.99 List: $1,299.99 | -21% $1,099.99 List: $1,399.99 | -12% $158.39 Typical: $179.99 | $899.99 |
| Delivery | — | Get it as soon as Tuesday, May 7 | Get it as soon as Thursday, May 9 | Get it as soon as Wednesday, May 8 | Get it as soon as Tuesday, May 7 | Get it as soon as Tuesday, May 7 |
| Customer Ratings | ||||||
| Suction power | ||||||
| For deep cleaning | ||||||
| Value for money | ||||||
| Battery life | ||||||
| Easy to use | ||||||
| Sold By | — | Roborock Technology Co. Ltd | Roborock Technology Co. Ltd | Narwal Robotics | Woot | EufyHome |
| surface suggestion | Floor | Carpet, Marble, Wood, Tile | Carpet, Marble, Wood, Tile, Upholstery | Vinyl, tile, laminate, hardwood floors, marble... | Carpet,Floor,Hard-floor | Carpet |
| runtime | — | 180 minutes | 180 minutes | 3 hours | — | — |
| batteries included | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| battery average life | 20 minutes | 180 minutes | 180 minutes | 3.5 hours | 100 minutes | — |
| compatible devices | Amazon Echo | Amazon Echo, Google Home, Smartphones, Siri | Amazon Echo, Google Home, Smartphones | Smartphones | Google Home | Amazon Echo |
| weight | 15 pounds | 31.1 pounds | 28.4 pounds | 4.35 kilograms | — | 26.01 pounds |
Reviews with images
DO NOT WASTE YOUR MONEY on this unit
DO NOT WASTE YOUR MONEY on this unit. I have the 850 I Robot and that is a GREAT unit you can vacuum all you want with any vacuum as many times as you want then put the vacuum in the same room and they will be dirt in it. The first time you use the vacuum unit in any room you wonder where all the dirt came from even if you floor looked cleanThis unit did not clean anything but dust. look at the dirt on my floor after 30 minutes of washing??? the floor. it will not get closer then 2 inches from any wall so that area will not clean ever, and it leave long water marks on the floor after cleaning since it only puts water down on the floor and will noit pick any of the water up so you are left to mop the whole thing anyway..... do not waste your time or money on this unit!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Top reviews from other countries
🅡🅞🅝🅝🅘🅔
Disappointed: Not prime time or suitable
Reviewed in Canada on August 24, 2015soundwave
It Works, But Keep Your Expectations In Check
Reviewed in Canada on May 12, 2015Ken Trudgeon
Does a great job on floor area which is trafficked and in ...
Reviewed in Canada on August 3, 2017