HD video: Roomba 560 vs Discovery
By Ryan Block 
posted Aug 22nd 2007 5:03PM
posted Aug 22nd 2007 5:03PM
P.S. -Forgive our shabby carpet, the dudes who rented the place before us took really sucky care of the joint.
[MP4] Download in 720p HD (139MB)
[MP4] Download in wide VGA (40MB)
[AVI] Download in 720p HD (139MB)
[AVI] Download in wide VGA (40MB)
Hi, Thanks for the excellent choice in video, but.....
Why the hell do we need 4 versions of video including two in HD of a freekin robot vacuum. A simple You Tube craptastic flash video would have sufficed.
Doesn't this end up costing someone bandwith money?
Proof that people will complain about anything...
Come on, you gotta find 5 versions of videos including two over 100MB of a robot vacuum race kind of funny, don't you?
Maybe one more would have been overkill... :D
He's clearly not a w00ter...
Thanks for the great review guys! The cabling thing really is still an issue, but it's nice to know that the sensors are working well.
For anyone interestsed in a Scooba, I bought one for my bro and sis-in-law for Christmas. They love it! No more cat hair on the travertine : ) I can wholeheartedly recommend it.
Why four formats? Mac vs Windows, and Beauty vs crap. If you want a simple craptastic youtube hit, get the vga file approriate for your machine. It's not really that hard. Personally, I think it's awesome they posted multi-platform and resolution videos. And the bandwith it costs is nothing compared to the spammers.
So yeah... quit your whining and just download the little file if you want! :)
PS: Engadget... nice one on trying to blame the aftermath of your USB powered arsenal wars on the previous tennants!
Supporting engadget while being a total douche does less good than you think.
Personally I would have liked a simple 48-byte outcome statement instead of a 170mb video. I'm not downloading that shit just to find out which one was better.
Then shut up and don't download it. Those of us who have Roombas and are interested in the new versions rather enjoy having a decent look at them. And with 8 Mbps RR Turbo, it took just over 2 minutes to download.
This is really stupid. OH, LETS HAVE 4 VIDEOS OF VACUUMS AND WASTE ALL OUR BANDWIDTH AND PEOPLE TIME!
loved it thanks for your time creating the video!
Two points... First you ask why the multiple formats... my guess is engadget got a sweet new HD cam and thought "why not post a 139MB file of dueling roomba's"
Second. Reminds me of Tron
Of course, the only question left for people who have never used a Roomba is, how well does it clean?
They clean surprisingly well for their size. I have one of the last gen Roombas and I have more of a problem with the dustbin being too small than I have with it not cleaning well. It seems that no matter how many times I clean this carpet, I always get a bin full of carpet fuzz. That proves that the beaters work well and kick up everything. With these newer versions, suction has been increased a significant amount, so I can only imagine they work even better on carpet, and probably do a great job on solid floors now too.
No no no,
The question is, how well will it blend?
They're really a terrific product line. Frequently available on Woot.com, they can be had for much less than retail. As a way to maintain a house in-between heavy cleaning they're great. Also good for houses with pets. (I'd never give up my Dyson, but appreciate help.)
I downloaded the 140mg "HD" video. What crap. Why make such a large sized file, when the source video is so dark, grainy, and overall quite poor with frequent artifacts? Next time spend less money on the macbook pro, get a tripod & decent compression software.
Thanks for the video, about the wires though. Usually wouldnt atleast one end be plugged in? most likely two.
I can see how it is dragging the wire and theres nothign to stop one end. How does it fare when say the power cord to a laptop is plugged in to the socket and the laptop?
(OOO have a mac book? test the magnetic power cord thing! haha)
Good video. Honestly the 560 with it's stronger suction would most likely be slightly louder than previous generations and your video certainly proves that it's got a much deeper motor signature than my 4150(Target only model silver color same features as the Sage).
As far as the wire test goes, it's a vacumm with moving parts that make contact with the surface it's running over so of course it's going to get tangled with cords. I always remove cords and loosing fabric lying on the ground or place a vwall by them it's second nature you'd the same thing with an upright vac.
It's got the nice front caster that roomba put on the last gen late models which is a much better than the original roombas my Roomba Red(R.I.P) would constantly get long hairs and other junk stuck in that front wheel to the point where it would stop rotating.
what is the 1/4 mile time for the 560?
Longer than you could possibly ever imagine! As far as the complaints about the posts on Engadget, if you don't like them, you don't have to read them. Some of us including myself happen to like the things we see here and appriciate the posts by the editors. So keep up the good work guys.
A lot of cable testing! How about some cleaning tests?
For a video that purports to compare the 4th and 5th gen Roombas this video really does nothing to explain how they are different, other than demonstrating that they look different, one has a dedicated "dock" button, one has IR sensors, one has a different side-sweeper brush.
What about comparisons of meaningful parameters like how well they clean and how long they clean?
I assume you do not have a real vacuum cleaner...
Can someone post the results since I'm on a cellular modem right now? Even if it 3G I don't have time to download and watch this. Which was better and why? That's what I want to know as an owner of a current Roomba.
It has improvements, the official list includes things such as the soft touch (nice, slows down before it hits something so it hits very soft), supposedly better anti-tangle technology (ironically, after I finished typing soft touch before, I had to go into the other room because my Roomba was trying to eat my cell phone adapter that slid off the back of the dresser, unfortunately, after watching the video, the new Roombas don't appear to be any better), a new design that breaks down completely and is almost entirely user replacable, and the new Lighthouse technology (tells the roomba where it's been and where to go and such).
Personally, while it looks nice, and certainly has some improvements, I'm happy with my Sage until it either craps out, or they come out with something that has a self cleaning base and/or actual pathfinding. My opinion is that these new Roombas aren't worth the money to upgrade Roombas that are working perfectly fine right now, and may even be a little expensive for a first time buyer. Wait until woot has them for $200, haha.
Thanks! That was really helpful. I guess I'm sticking with my Roomba.
You shouldn't have bought an Iphone..
What camera do you take the videos with ? The MP4 720p is really crappy :/
How about the dust bin? Is it larger than before? If this thing can clean for 4 to 5 hours then it'd better hold a ton more crud than before. I suppose I could clean more often too :) but I forget. If only it would empty itself then I'd never have to take responsibility again!
You forgot to include the most important comparison:
Does it clean better and faster?
Good work.
Can u do a comparison on how well they cleaned. Put some dust and dirt in a small confine area and see which model can do it faster.
Rex
I had a 1st generation Roomba that broke one day and started going repeatedly in unobserved circles on my hardwood floor. The thing actually scored a perfect 1.5 foot diameter circle in the hardwood floor below the polyurethane layer. I just can't get excited about these things since that time.
Macbook wire? Engadget with an Apple product? Gasp...Plot twist.
*gasp* What a twist! (Robot Chicken rules!)
The discovery is a pretty cool machine. Not to mention that if you got a pair of them, they would look you took the eyes out of the Lard Lad Mascot.
WTF!?! No DUST test, COME ON! They are vacuums, and no cleaning test! Us Roomba owners don't just use the to fight!
"P.S. -Forgive our shabby carpet, the dudes who rented the place before us took really sucky care of the joint."
I left you that mustard didn't I?
Thankless bastards...
Actually if Ryan was doing this at home, then his personal blog shows why he did no dust tests
I suppose it's a measure of their success as genuinely useful tools that they have managed to make robots boring.
your carpet looks awesome to me!
Excellent work gentlemen. Funny and informative!
Thank you!
BTW, after seeing your Roomba in action, I think mine is a bit on the spastic side. :-|
I have a top of the line scheduler with remote from the generation that was current last week. It was a great machine but I've had it replaced FOUR TIMES because it would either inexplicably stop working, or inexplicably grind it's gears to a pulp. I ordered the new roomba immediately when I saw the improvements iRobot has made. My Discovery always did a top-notch job of cleaning my place (hardwood, linoleum, rugs) and I can now look forward to a clean place again without worrying about it committing suicide every 2 months.
ps - the irobot site has $299 as the cheapest model. I bought mine through hsn.com for $249.99 and googled a 15% HSN coupon for additional savings. Free shipping too. No scheduling features, but I can push a stupid button to save $180 (comparing to $399 new scheduling robot with remote.)
THat was a really cool review. Lots of fun to watch.
Any chance that we could see a test on the new one (and even the old one) when it goes up against those shaggy ends on mats that usually are in front of doors? Mine always seems to get tangled up in those. So we've resorted to picking them up prior to Roomba-ing.
Great vid. But I was interested to see how well they cleaned since that is the main objective of the product.
Is that actually HD footage. "[MP4] Download in 720p HD (139MB)" its not exactly upto scratch in terms of quality. but im greatful all the same. this is just the thing to keep looping on the ole' plasma (through connect360) to prove to the Mrs there a good idea! Thanks again Engadget :-D
I just got my roomba discovery, and am glad to know the next generation doesn't offer much to make me envious (except the better wall detection / gentler collision)
I love my Roomba (same complaint about the small dustbin capacity) use it on hardwood with care to NOT have cables all over the place, and it does a great job. I turn it on on my way out the door, and return to a cleaned apt. and docked vacuum, ready for next time ('cept I have to remember to empty the thimble, I mean dustbin.
in all fairness you wouldn't take an upright vacuum to any cabling either...