So, I let the Roomba loose in my house yesterday just to see if all the hype was really justified. I have to say it’s impressive technology and it certainly entertained my children on a quiet Sunday afternoon, who began to refer to it as their “new dog” for some reason. From a performance standpoint, it picked up an awful lot of dirt in a short period of time and somehow was able to work its way a maze of furniture, carpets, toys and newspapers. To really make the Roomba do a good job, you need to prep your house by moving as many obstacles as possible.

Now the question is whether I’d buy a Roomba – the model I have (Roomba Scheduler) costs about $300. I hate to be wishy-washy but the answer is “maybe”. It works well but can you justify spending the money when you’ve already got a relatively new vacuum cleaner sitting in the closet? If you got a big home with lots of hardwood floors and a few bucks gathering dust in your pocket, I’d say go for it. Otherwise, it’s a tough call but there’s no doubt it’s a device that falls in my “works and works well” category (along with the MacBook and the Blackberry)

Note: One of the things that makes the Roomba an interesting product is the eco-system that has been developed around it such as forums and user groups such as Roomba Community and Roomba Review. By the way, I spoke at the Third Tuesday PR meet-up last week about how companies should be reaching out to bloggers. Roomba is one of the few companies so far that has given me the chance to evaluate their products.

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