430?

miamicanes · Joined: 13 May 2008 Posts: 22

I just found a local store selling the 430 for $118... but I haven't found much info about it. Where does the 430 fall in the Roomba "family tree"?

Is it really a "4300", which apparently is a bilingual 4100?

Does it have any shortcomings that the 42xx models don't have & can't be upgraded away after the fact, and are likely to make me regret buying one instead of a more expensive 4xxx model?

Apparently, it takes 7 hours to charge. If I buy it over lunch, and plug it in at my office after getting back, can I let it charge for ~3-4 hours, then unplug it, take it home, and let it charge for another 3-5 to finish it off?

bobnielson · Joined: 12 Jun 2007 Posts: 275

You have to be talking about one of the 4xxx's and not a 5xxx (the newer series of roombas) I think. I think what they mean with the 7 hour or 6 hour charge is that you don't get a docking station and have to plug the charger into the hole in the side of the roomba for 6-7 hours to get a full charge after every run. No matter what roomba you have requires the FIRST charge to be of 16 hours or longer. I think you should be able to charge for a few hours at work and then finish the first 16 hours at home.

vic7767 · Joined: 14 Jan 2006 Posts: 3099 Location: Louisiana

Evidently IRobot has introduced a new version of the 4XXX Roomba and is renumbered it to the 4XX series. The model has a single clean button similar to the DD.

wsngmartin · Posted: May 14, 2008, 9:26 am Post subject:

miami:
my "google" search of the 430 came up with the 4300 which is the 2-button bright red. does that sound like the bot you're looking at? if not then it might help to have you describe it to us.
if 118 is for the 2-button bright red then it's a good deal, if it's for the 1-button dark red, not so much.
the 7 hr charger probably describes the type of charger, i.e. the black "standard charger" which requires the 7-hr "regular" charge, vs the gray-bricked "fast charger" which does the job in 3 hrs. both the 2-button red and the 1-button dark red come w/ that. it still requires the first charge to be 16 hours though (or 72 hrs if you can stand it).

miamicanes · Joined: 13 May 2008 Posts: 22

It was red, with two buttons, APS battery. Unsure about the charger.

Unfortunately, it ended up being moot. The sale ended yesterday, and it's back up to its normal price of ~$148. Of course, you'd never know it from their website, where it was still shown prominently as of about 2 hours ago, nor would you really be able to tell because the expiration date is buried in fine print that there's no way to actually read via their web site (it's a scanned, low-res copy of their newspaper flyer, with mouseover popups for each individual item). (to navigate to the ad from their homepage and see whether it's still listed, go to www.brandsmartusa.com, follow the link to the weekly ad, and tell them you live in zipcode 33172).

Grrrrr. The only thing that pisses me off more than companies that don't show in-store availability on their websites is companies with outdated or misleading info on their websites :(

They also had the "410" (red, two buttons, yellow APS) for ~$148, the "400" (red, one button, no apparent LEDs, gray battery) for ~$95, and the "415" (shown on the box itself as "4150", grey-ish, 3 buttons, yellow battery) for ~$168.

Interestingly, despite the "400" saying it had "standard battery" on the box, and the "410" saying it had the "enhanced APS battery" on the box, BOTH claimed to be capable of cleaning two rooms.

wsngmartin · Posted: May 14, 2008, 11:31 am Post subject:

miami
in a nutshell
1-button dark red: 7 hr charger (black brick), standard battery, no "spot" or "max".
2- button red: slow charger, yellow battery (APS), "spot" and "clean"
3-button sage: fast charger (grey brick), yellow battery, "spot", "clean", "max".

i have the 2 button and the 3 buttons. i don't use the "max" anymore, decreases battery longevity if you use it too much, but you can get either 1 or 2 button to go "max" if you use remote. 1-button you may not be able to do the diagnostics that you're not supposed to do anyway but are described here on this forum and may be helpful for troubleshooting if you're inclined that way.

i think the black battery does not run as long as does not last as long.

agree w you about out of date or misleading ads.

miamicanes · Joined: 13 May 2008 Posts: 22

Does the "415" (apparently, a Sage w/3 buttons & fast charger) still need 16 hours to do the first charge? Or if I bit the bullet, threw down $168 for one after work, and had it plugged in & charging by 6pm, could I get it charged up enough to at least feel slightly gratified watching it run for ~20-30 minutes around midnight before stopping it and putting it back on the charger to finish charging overnight?

wsngmartin · Posted: May 14, 2008, 12:42 pm Post subject:

miami

i'm going by what i remember the battery gurus telling me, but sorry, minimum 16 hrs, ideally 72 hrs. gets easier the more bots you own :D

your light's probably going to turn "green" after 3 hours, maybe even less. *Resist the urge*. The battery comes to you 40% filled. After the power light turns green, it goes to "trickle charge", which allows the little cells (there are 12 of them in there) to balance and fill up. my understanding is that if you skimp on the initial charge there might be dire consequences down the line, like a shorter lifespan for your battery. and do NOT interrupt the initial charge---they even mention charging bot directly plugged in if it comes w/ a dock, which i don't believe the 415 does.

other battery tips, in another nutshell:
it takes a few runs/cycles to get your battery up to its best performance.
don't run it to depletion (max) more than once a month or two.
run it frequently, and do NOT leave it unplugged/off the dock w/ the battery still in, even if powered off. if you're gone for awhile, pull the battery out of the bot. even better, put the battery in a plastic ziploc and frig it.

my first battery only lasted 7 mos. i yanked my new bot off the charger as soon as the light turned green and gleefully ran him on max all the time. silly me. good thing iRobot is very sweet about replacing them batteries under warranty, but doing 72 hr refreshes is very tiresome.

miamicanes · Joined: 13 May 2008 Posts: 22

Well, getting back to the original question... I'm still mad at Brandsmart for lyin^h^h^h^h being careless about how they advertised the 430's price, but if I have a moment of bad judgment and decide to let the bastards have my business anyway (because, as far as I can tell, they're still the only place in South Florida to buy a 4xxx-series Roomba that isn't a 400 and costs less than $199), is there any particular reason to favor or avoid the 430 vs the 410? Maybe the front caster differs? Fast vs Slow charger? Something that's sufficiently major for them to bother stocking both the 410 AND 430 at exactly the same price instead of just one or the other?

wsngmartin · Posted: May 14, 2008, 5:05 pm Post subject:

miami
i'm not familiar w/ the 430 but one way of checking the "born date" (date of manufacture) of the bots is to look at the box and you will see the serial number. you'll see something like this
JEN042300610270700231
the first 5 *numbers* tell you the model no. i.e. 04230, or 4230.
the next 6 numbers tell you year (06) month (10) date (27)
this bot for instance was manuf'd oct 27, 06.
bots manufactured bf sept 06 were fixed wheel.
bots older than late 05 have the 2.1 firmware.
so, definitely, look at the boxes. i'd guess all the 410's are swivel wheel since iRobot renumbered the 4 series after the 5's came out.