02/11/2023
I'm writing about robot vacuum and mop combos. About five years ago I did a thorough comparison and settled on the Deebot M80 Pro. Recently I looked into upgrading to "self-emptying" and "self-washing" robot vacuum and mop cleaner combos. But I found several good reasons to stick with my aging Deebot M80 Pro fleet. Why?
Well, first and foremost, most of the "self-cleaning" models use a traditional yesteryear disposable "bag" to hold the multiple emptying cycles of vacuum bin material, and this disposable paper bag is environmentally unfriendly and just creates unnecessary paper bag trash, and incurs expense and inconvenience because you have to buy replacement disposable bags. I'm surprised in this age of climate change, that most robo vac manufacturers opted to create extra unnecessary trash with it's related carbon and trash footprint (A notable exception is Shark(tm) brand self-cleaning robo vac syatem, which just empties dustbin loads into a bagless bin which you pull out the whole plastic bin and empty when necessary and replace in the self-cleaning tower. Good job Shark)! Also I must add that I haven't researched if there are third-party reusable cloth bags made for any of these disposable bag units. Manufacturers really should offer reusable cloth bags as an option for these "self-cleaning" robot vacuums.
So the Shark looked like a nice eco-friendly option, but there seems to be a design catch - the mop must be removed for the self-cleaning option to work. Kind of defeats the idea of a hands-off robo vacuum experience.
Then there is the instinctive reaction I have to hands-off self-cleaning self-washing robot vac mops in general philosophically. I mean honestly I think if we can't even be bothered to empty our robots onboard dust bin and change it's mop pad, we are really getting incredibly detached and lazy. Personally, I don't mind cleaning my fleet of robots bins and refreshing their mop pads. In fact, I have a big stack of mops pads and I change them multiple times during the mops cleaning session. I'm reminded of the 70's film "Silent Running" with Bruce Dern. My fleet of Deebot M80's are my "drone friends" Huey, Dewey and Louie. The joy of robots is interacting with them a little bit now and then. One can barely help but personify them after awhile. I'd definitely consider a robo vac that could also play poker.
The next new "feature" in newer robo vacs is that they run grid patterns instead of the older technology of bumping into stuff and then turning around and roaming around the room zig-zag randomly. I actually like them roaming around zig-zag randomly. I run all three M80's at the same time for the big weekend cleaning, and because they roam and swivel randomly they usually crash into each other, sometimes even having three-way collisions, which everyone in the household finds enjoyable and interesting, who knows why. "Bumper Car" robo vacs are fun.
Then there is the other issue that if I replaced my working and lovable Deebot M80 robot(s) they themselves would become huge pieces of environmental trash, destined to end up on some third-world electronic trash heap with children in rags climbing electronic trash piles the size of mountains to scavenge circuit boards off of the unfortunate betrayed and condemned Huey Dewey and Louie Deebot M80's.
I feel the same way about self-cleaning robot vacs as I do about self-driving cars. Self-driving cars imho are idiocy (except to the extent they could allow blind and disabled people better transportation options). And I suppose self-driving cars could theoretically reduce drunk driving deaths. Still in general for most of us self-driving cars are technology overkill, effort spent on technology not really needed or wanted by most of us. Anyway, we already have "self-driving" if you will, systems, to free up our hands: they are called buses and trains.
The next new negative is the advent of the little LIDAR conning towers on the new generation of robo vacs. Well when I originally did my thorough research five years ago and selected Deebot M80, I selected it because it had a nice low ground clearance. I designed my home so that my deebots could slide under everything in the home. The new LIDAR conning towers cause the new robo vacs to fail to clear under some obstructions that the M80's can slide under fine. Another strike against the new generation robo vacs. "Old age and skinny-ness trump youth and LIDAR" or something like that.
Then alot of these new units have useless voices that apprise you of the obvious, such as "successfully charging" or "bin emptied" etc. I don't want a talking robo vac. My Deebot M80's just beep, in their "machine language", like R2D2. Charming.
I like having a bunch of R2D2 chirping from time to time; like when they get stuck on something. "What did you get into now, R2D2?! I'm coming R2D2! Don't worry help is on the way!" Again, kinda fun that the little robots still need Jedi's help once in awhile.
Lastly there's just the expense. These self-cleaning and self-washing robot vacs are generally $400-$1500 and my aging fleet of Deebot M80 are already fully depreciated and practically free now.
And that's the latest from Lake Dust-B-Gone, where all the women are strong, all the men are good looking, and all the robots are above-average.
