Will certainly be a bummer if they do go under, I really appreciated their serviceability. Have several in the immediate family that have been going for over 7 years at this point though all kinds of calamities. Each time can I just pop out all the components clean/replace as necessary and get it back in service, good as new.
this post was submitted on 12 Mar 2025
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The free market is supposed to make this happen. The problem is that we have also built a system that just generates mountains of junk and e-waste. Because our government is feckless and refuses to actually regulate, ya know, anything with a shareholder attached.
So the Roomba I bought in 2021 is gonna stop working come 2026... Guess I need an open source vacuum now too 😩
this comment makes me question, is there an open source sex toy community?
edit: there is lmao https://github.com/PITR-DEV/ukbutt-mod
Bro .. this is the best response I've ever gotten on Lemmy 🤣🤣🤣 thank you stranger, both fascinating and hilarious
I'm glad I waited to replace my old Eufy one. I definitely will not be replacing it with Roomba now.
Haha. Ofc with these prices and features compared to some other good Chinese and other brands roomba is doomed. Like check vacuum wars on YT. Middle model roombas are on par with your typical Chinese brand robots but price is double. Basically, you pay for a brand 🤷.
I will check them out later! I've been wanting a robot vacuum for a while now but I also am wary of Chinese bullshit.
I want a really good one that doesn't connect to the internet in any way. 👍🏻 Even if that kills some of its smart features.
I have an older model roomba, the 630 that has no internet connection whatsoever.
Chinese stuff has largely reached the same tipping point Japanese/Korean stuff reached in the 80s, where the previous couple decades it was cheap crap and "all of a sudden" it's on par or better than domestic consumer tech.
The cheap junk is still cheap junk of course but if you look at the middle tier or better they can be very good. DJI is a prime example, there aren't a lot of alternative drones if you want it to 'just work' and work well with decent support. You can also get a drone on Ali-express/TEMU for $20 but it's going to be cheap crap, but DJI drones you can buy in BestBuy and the bigger/more professional ones get used on movie sets.
Why are the Chinese companies not collapsing too? What's different about irobot that they can't compete?
Is that a serious question? If it was, then Labor costs is the short answer. The longer answer would also include unmatched economies of scale at every step in the supply chain leading up to the final manufactured product as well. So their cheap labor also gets them cheap components.
Hmm, can irobot not also manufacture their products in China?
So my vacuum will likely not work in 12 months. Niiiice.
Their products are like 5 years behind their competitors. It's inevitable.
It would be great if more smart devices had a LAN-only control mode like my 3D printer, TV and AV receiver.
I would be perfectly happy if my iRobot phone app only worked from inside my network.
Doesn't apply to iRobot but there are lots of robot vacuums that can be flashed with an open firmware with just a USB UART cable: https://valetudo.cloud/pages/general/supported-robots.html
As for the other devices, my 3D printer, projector and AV receiver are all locally controlled.
Big +1 for Valetudo. I use it on a refurbished Roborock S7+ I got on eBay and it's fantastic.
Make sure to read their disclaimers, they're really not interested in expanding features, so make double sure it's sufficient for what you want.
I think it's just using MQTT, so block network access and use HomeAssistant
At that point, I wouldn't trust ANY device that cannot be controlled locally, either natively or at least through some hacks.
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Slightly off topic but how are y'all at replacing the parts that get worn out?
I'm still on the 2nd filter it came with and I haven't replaced any of the brushes, etc.,
I kind of wish I had a maintenance schedule where I just had the parts delivered and replaced them at set intervals rather than having to guess when it's worn out.
But I also don't want to overspend.
If you’re using a roomba, the app will typically tell you when to replace your brushes and filter. The filter you can find easy replacements for as well as the little spinning brush. The bigger brushes are harder. You can buy replacements from third party vendors for cheap, but they’re not perfect… and if you have carpeting the roomba will freak out until the third party brushes wear down a bit. After that happens, everything mostly works.
I usually clean out the roomba every week and replace the brushes every 4 months or so. I run mine nightly though (I have kids).
There are a million third party vendors that sell replacements on amazon, just take a look. Though - and I don't know for sure having not actually read the article - it seems as though you may also need to change out the firmware so you can keep operating it if iRobot's servers go down, since all the roombas i'm aware of need internet connectivity to operate.
If you're at the point where you need to start replacing parts, it might be worth starting to look into other brands
My Roomba doesn't connect to the Internet -- I use the clean and dock buttons
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