What happened to iRobot's Home Community?

Boomerang · Joined: 15 Jun 2008 Posts: 36

I have the iRobot Roomba 580.
Seems their web site has been changed with no mention of 580 (as I've been told is the 570 which I didn't know when purchased a month ago).

Also their Home Community Forum is not functioning and stopped (as per messages) 6-14-08. When I emailed iRobot the only answer I get is my User ID and Password which does not Sign me In to the Home iRobot Community.

Anyone know what the problem is?

Boomerang

PS:
My iRobot 580 with the old brushes seems to be working fine to date!
Hope this lasts for a while... :)

dura321 · Posted: June 18, 2008, 11:34 am Post subject:

I'm not sure I just tied to log in as well and got a error message :cry:

vic7767 · Joined: 14 Jan 2006 Posts: 3287 Location: Louisiana

The IRobot site user forums for both the Create and user community went down for maintenance on 6/14/08 and has not allowed anyone to access the forums since.

I opened a trouble ticket on their site at the same time I opened a ticket on my brushes not turning on my 535. I've received an answer about the CHM but nothing yet on the message boards not working.

See this post:

http://www.roombareview.com/chat/viewtopic.php?t=9535

Boomerang · Joined: 15 Jun 2008 Posts: 36

Could it be the frank discussion regarding the 570? :roll:

_JP_ · Joined: 12 Dec 2007 Posts: 207

It looks to me that they don't have an active administrator to keep the site in working order. Glitches in forums happen, and finally one did happen to the iRobot site.

Boomerang · Joined: 15 Jun 2008 Posts: 36

The last time I wrote a message (and saved it), I went back to the forum and noticed some words were put into my message. I think there is a hacker in the forums. :idea:

I could never find a way to edit the message. I wanted to remove these words.

vic7767 · Joined: 14 Jan 2006 Posts: 3287 Location: Louisiana

If you ever get back into those message boards there is a small ( ^ ) located on the far upper right of your message. If you left click on it you will see the edit option.

Boomerang · Joined: 15 Jun 2008 Posts: 36

My, my....why the code....couldn't they just have the word Edit....I've never seen a forum with the ^ for edit .....although before MS Windows online operation was very cryptic. :shock:

Who knows how many months will go by before the iRobot Community returns then again maybe never. Maybe if I read all the consumer complaints on the Forums, I would never have purchased the 580.
The forum doesn't exactly help sales.

fancyfreewv · Posted: June 18, 2008, 6:12 pm Post subject:

Boomerang to help you understand, a lot of these models are the same machine. The covers are different colors but they pop off and can be changed and the shells are either black or white and there are many extra accessories added to justify the pricing.

The 550, 560, 570 and 580 are basically the same. The 570 and 580 add in the remote control but if you buy it for $59.99 from IRobot you can control any of the models from the white 535, 540 included with it. Neither of these can be scheduled or controlled otherwise. Some of the models are reserved for the companies who are selling them. 535 = Home Shopping Network, 550 = Costco etc etc

The first time anyone mentioned a 580 to my knowledge on this forum everyone said he was mistaken. No mention on the IRobot site at that time just an infomercial. Then IRobot added it to their website as an official "model".

So the point is, you can take advise from and ask questions about your 580 just as if it was a 550, 560 or 570 and the same would be true.

Boomerang · Joined: 15 Jun 2008 Posts: 36

It's probably why they do not publish the Specifications of the Roomba. I usually look for this when comparing electronics before purchase. Changing model numbers with the same specifications on a product seems wrong to me. They can bundle the product with additional items for a special sale but I believe it should be sold as the correct model number no matter the bundle or the product case color because as you say the bare bones of all these models are the same. Only the superficial (non-electrical) parts have changed over the models. It gives the novice to iRobots (like me) a feeling of progress and upgrades to robot when actually it hasn't been for some time.
Another thing....when on the iRobot DirtDog Community I noticed less complaints than on the Roomba Community. I don't know if the DirtDog has the same inner electronics. It seemed to me to be a better model than the Roomba. The Scooba on the otherhand seemed to have almost as many problems as the Roomba.
:shock:

vic7767 · Joined: 14 Jan 2006 Posts: 3287 Location: Louisiana

Althought the DD is similar to other 4XXX models and may even have the same PCB it is missing a vacuum motor, dirt detect sensor and front wheel stasis detector. The DD also has different brushes and is not designed for cleaning some carpet styles.

_JP_ · Joined: 12 Dec 2007 Posts: 207

Boomerang wrote: It's probably why they do not publish the Specifications of the Roomba. I usually look for this when comparing electronics before purchase. Changing model numbers with the same specifications on a product seems wrong to me. They can bundle the product with additional items for a special sale but I believe it should be sold as the correct model number no matter the bundle or the product case color because as you say the bare bones of all these models are the same. Only the superficial (non-electrical) parts have changed over the models. It gives the novice to iRobots (like me) a feeling of progress and upgrades to robot when actually it hasn't been for some time.
Another thing....when on the iRobot DirtDog Community I noticed less complaints than on the Roomba Community. I don't know if the DirtDog has the same inner electronics. It seemed to me to be a better model than the Roomba. The Scooba on the otherhand seemed to have almost as many problems as the Roomba.
:shock:

I was able to easily figure out the similarities and differences between the model numbers by reading the descriptions for each model on the iRobot web site. As features change or are added those changes are listed. It is clear that differences between model numbers are due in part to what's included in the package. I decided the package level I needed and made my purchase based on that. There isn't any attempt by iRobot to deceive anyone there.

The DirtDogs get fewer complaints because fewer of them are sold, compared to the Roomba line. Increased sales makes for increased support calls.

Boomerang · Joined: 15 Jun 2008 Posts: 36

_JP_ wrote:
I was able to easily figure out the similarities and differences between the model numbers by reading the descriptions for each model on the iRobot web site. As features change or are added those changes are listed. It is clear that differences between model numbers are due in part to what's included in the package. I decided the package level I needed and made my purchase based on that. There isn't any attempt by iRobot to deceive anyone there.

The DirtDogs get fewer complaints because fewer of them are sold, compared to the Roomba line. Increased sales makes for increased support calls.

Check out Dyson:
http://www.dyson.com/store/product.asp?product=DC15-ANIMAL&spotlight=spec
They let one know the full specs of each model. They're not changing the models because of an extra brush, etc.
I did look at the iRobot Comparison Chart but it did not give the specification of the motor. I was knew to purchasing the iRobot so I didn't know all the models had the exact same workings except for a brush or two. :roll:

fancyfreewv · Posted: June 20, 2008, 2:47 pm Post subject:

I agree with JP that it's easy to do the side by side comparisons however they are a bit misleading when you see different colored items and different pricing as most marketing strategies reserve color change and style change for different models and all of them are different.

Using your Dyson example, I have the purple Animal but there would be no way I could get a purple model that was not the Animal. Then I would have to have a different color and different features and possibly mechanics or electronics too. That makes it easy for the consumer who wants to compare prices to just look for the color after they have decided what they want to get.

I feel this is intentional on IRobot's part. They change the color from white to black on the more advanced models that can schedule on board then further change the plastic $29 cover to make you think it's totally different again.

Also, there is a misleading thing in the comparison that says some clean 3 rooms and some 4 rooms. This would make a novice think there was a more powerful battery or motor in the more expensive one. There is nothing on the lesser models that prevents it from running long enough to clean 4 rooms and my 535 and 560 run the same amount of time almost always within 10 minutes of each other.

Boomerang · Joined: 15 Jun 2008 Posts: 36

fancyfreewv wrote:
Also, there is a misleading thing in the comparison that says some clean 3 rooms and some 4 rooms. This would make a novice think there was a more powerful battery or motor in the more expensive one. There is nothing on the lesser models that prevents it from running long enough to clean 4 rooms and my 535 and 560 run the same amount of time almost always within 10 minutes of each other.

EXACTLY....I did think there was a more powerful motor and battery in the more expensive 580 model. I had no specifications to check models against. :roll:

fancyfreewv · Posted: June 21, 2008, 7:30 am Post subject:

What's actually going on with the 3 rooms/4 rooms thing is that because of them adding LH/VW technology, if you choose to setup the LH, you would have enough (using 3 of them) to go in and out of 4 rooms. The more LH the more rooms etc. Only problem is someone pointed out that the specs on the machine (don't know where they got them - I think it was Vic 7767) says the LH will allow up to 10 rooms.

On the website, they do not include the proprietary models such as 535, 540 and 550 which come also with the LH/VW technology. The 500, 510 and 530 do not.

To my knowledge nobody on this forum has managed more than 4 even if they have more LH purchased separately or with another robot (I have 3) due to the time contraints built into each room's cleaning time before the LH wakes up and invites it into the next area. 35 minutes is about it. So multiply 35 x 4 and that's the max running time anyone gets before it starts searching for it's HB.

Once again, they make it very difficult for you to dig out this detailed information and come to a buying conclusion.

Boomerang · Joined: 15 Jun 2008 Posts: 36

Model changes / upgrades leads one to believe there's improvements and progress going forth with the Roomba but acturally it's at a stall (of ? years).
I knew of a software company that worked this way rearanging / removing segments of the program and putting it out with a new version number.
They're now out of business. They ran out of options and never upgraded to the newest operating systems.
I hope the iRobot doesn't stand still and does move forward with the improvements their customers want. There may be an oponent out there.
My Roomba 580 is running fine for the almost 2 months that I have it. I do know what the future consequenses could be by reading the forums. For this reason, I do want to see the Roomba improve. It's a great concept and a big help with keeping a place in tip top condition. :D

roadknightlabs · Joined: 07 Sep 2006 Posts: 223 Location: San Francisco, CA.

vic7767 wrote: The IRobot site user forums for both the Create and user community went down for maintenance on 6/14/08 and has not allowed anyone to access the forums since.

Hey Vic,
thanks for that bit of information. I went to the Create Forum the other day to post about my CamBot, got dumped into the Customer Service area as well and was wondering what had happened. I figured they might have expired my account for non -use or something, but this makes more sense.