Roomba Great For Dirt & Styx

My house has been Roombafied. Remember when I won a GPS a little while ago? My coworker won the iRobot dirt sucking device that I originally hoped to win. She wanted a GPS and I wanted a Roomba, so we pulled a 'One Red Paperclip' of sorts, and traded.

Suz and I have wanted a Robotic vacuum for a long time now, but never had the cashflow to make the almighty A.I. purchase. In the last few years prices have dropped dramatically, while battery life has increased dramatically.

I was drunk with giddiness, and a little bit of rum, as I opened the box containing the retro green Roomba, model 4105 (U.S. model 416 on the iRobot website). It dominated the space, while around it, accessories glittered with the sparkle of brandnewness.

Inside the sturdy, nicely printed box there were beaucoup de stuffs. This particular robo vac did not come with the self-charging home base. However, it did come with a regular charger, two virtual walls, one additional filter and a plastic wall-hanger thinger for displaying the robot vacuum above your fireplace mantel along with the mounted, taxedermied heads of all the dust mites you've killed.

Upon box openage, I was impressed with the attention to detail the Massachusetts company gave to everything, including the packaging. If you weren't already aware, I am a big fan of wonderfully-designed packaging, and the folks at iRobot do not disappoint.

Even the styrofoam lid bore the impression of the iRobot logo. Beyond that, the actual contents further impressed. The robo vac's wheels look like those of the off-roading, mudding variety. I don't know who's got 4 inches of mud in their house, but it looks as though the Roomba can easily handle it with these sweet knobbed wheels. The dust bin clicks and unclicks deliciously and the the buttons are 2nd to none.

This particular model charges quickly - in only 3 hours, compared to 7 hours for more geriatric models. The 416 also has a dirt detect sensor and will hover over particularly dirty areas, sucking away joyfully until it can see its own robo face in the reflection.

Although the website does not state it comes with an accessory kit, mine did. And WOW am I ever lame for getting excited about it! The bonus kit came chock full of vacuumy goodness including two more virtual walls for a total of four, 6 more filters, an extra main roller brush, an extra side brush and an extra rubber thingamadoey!

What's more, Roomba's are totally hackable, and the company openly encourages users to interface with their vacuums and custom-program them for bizarre and radical things. Amazing!

As exciting as this is, my Roombafication isn't complete. I plan on purchasing the self-charging home base for $60, if it is compatible with my little Dennis.

Yep. I've named my Roomba Dennis, after Dennis DeYoung of Styx fame. How could I not name him that? You know, after the writer of my most favouritest song in the whole world, Mr. Roboto?

"Thank you very much, Mr. Roboto, for doing the jobs nobody wants to..."