Alice joined the family almost two years ago for my birthday. And I have loved her ever since. There was the great naming debate. Ducky wanted to name her Rosie (Jetsons), I wanted Alice (Brady Bunch) and there was also the consideration of Robbie (robot). Since it was my birthday present, I won. Alice the first took a header down the stairs. Her cliff detectors let her down. I now put a virtual wall at the top of the stairs to prevent any further mishaps. Alice the second, ate some bad lint or something and had to be sent back to her homeland (factory). And now we have Alice the third. And she has been doing splendidly for about a year and a half. iRobot's customer service is superb.
We thought at first that she would replace our Hoover. But if you live in anything bigger than an apartment, she really is a supplementary vacuum. The whole having to recharge herself takes a while and if you really want to get the whole house clean, that is a problem. She can get to places that regular vacuums can't without major redocration. She drives under beds, couches and tables. She is also willing to commit to much lengthier cleaning adventures than I am. And I am always amazed at what she picks up. At first we tested her by running her every day in one room. And it took about three weeks before she stopped filling her bin. Yuck! And we did vacuum in there with the upright before we got her, fairly regularly. She makes the carpet fluffier over time.
The best thing about Alice. Velcro is not afraid of her. He is deathly afraid of vacuums. When he was a puppy, he was kind of scared of the vacuum. Then my brother, Toad, decided that he should vacuum him to get out his loose fur. And scared poor puppy Velcro nearly to death. He has not been the same since. It has been ten years. Velcro will scurry out of the room as far as he can get when I get the vacuum out. But Alice, she can be running in the same room and he will just continue his nap without batting an eye. She will run into him and he is only mildly disgruntled. He just gets up and moves.
If I were to go back in time and buy Alice again (and I would) I would upgrade to the scheduler model. Then every day at noon she would start herself and clean and then dock herself again when she was done. She and Dyson get along great. I am off to go start her for her daily run. I forgot earlier.
5 comments:
wow. where does the dirt go? she looks way too small to have a bag or a plastic trap....
poor velcro. riley used to be terrified of the vacuum, too. we had to do intensive treat-training with him, moving him slowly slowly slowly closer to the vacuum. it took months.
now i have to vacuum with one hand and pet him with the other and he stays calm. if i stop petting him, he barks.
How funny, we never started naming anything until Hubby and Buttercup drove to Texas. Our GPS became Sasha, it seems a fancy enough name for the snotty voice that comes out of it. Now we have an Alice for the pool only we call him Squirt because of water that gets flung everywhere.
How nice for you to have Alice. Vacuuming is one of the chores I actually enjoy, so I do that. I need an Alice for the dishes or the bathrooms.
Our little schnauzer, Jack, is terrified of the vacuum. He goes to the family member farthest away from the vacuum, crawls into their lap, and proceeds to tremble until the evil thing is turned off. I can't vacuum anymore unless someone else is home with me.
Alice sounds cool. I always wondered how those work. Sounds like you're pretty happy with yours.
Laurie- There is a bin in the back. You just take it off, dump out the dirt and put it back. I tend to use the big vacuum to empty it. Less dirt to fly around.
We had a next door neighbor whose dog liked to be vacuumed and she would vacuum the loose hair off of him. He would pester her whenever she vacuumed.
lcm- We name cars and a few other appliances. It just seems friendlier that way. I enjoy vacuuming too, but sometimes there just isn't time or you know what is living under the bed.
Thanks for stopping by, Kaycie! Velcro just flees the evil monster. Alice is so much quieter that I think that helps.
Your brother vacuumed the dog? He doesn't live in Alabama, does he? That's the sort of thing half my relatives would do.
I envy you Alice more than you know. I've listened to my two cents rave about hers over the years enough to know that I want one. I can't imagine what my dogs would think of it. Could be interesting.
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