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In the advertisements, iRobot's Roomba vacuums make it seem like we are now living in a the era of the Jetsons. But are they right for you? Do they work? Can you really sit back and relax while "Rosie" does all the work?

I put a Roomba Pro Elite to the test in a typical house to find out. I let the vacuum loose on carpeting, tile, vinyl and wood floors. And I tried it out in small and large rooms.

One thing the vacuums can't handle is a throw rug. Especially on with fringe. So prior to vacuuming, all rugs were removed, as instructed. Then, the virtual walls had to be set up. The walls, powered by batteries, have a manual setting that determines the length of the wall. The wall can be set from 3 to over 8 feet. One challenge with the wall is to determine where the invisible wall actually is. The wall's signal disperses outward in a pie shape. The longer the wall setting, the wider the wall expands. It took a few tries to get the angle right. On a positive note, once the wall was set, Rosie never crossed it.

Freshly charged, Rosie went to work on the vinyl kitchen floor with diligence. The Roomba cleaned crumbs, powder and dog hair commendably. One issue I noticed was that the island in the kitchen's center caused more re-routing than an open kitchen would have. Therefore, Rosie ran out of steam before the entire floor was covered and had to be recharged. Corners were covered. But some debris remained.

A tile foyer floor proved more challenging. The floor had 9 inch smooth tiles with 3/8 inch grout spacing. The vacuum has a device on the front to help it over rough spots. But it was no match for the tile and got stuck on the deeper grout areas. It backed up and re-routed itself most of the time. Other times, the machine called for help. The result was that only two thirds of the floor were cleaned.

On typical carpeting, Rosie did much better. She got stuck underneath a rocker/recliner and had to be rescued. And she got hampered in a tight space between a chair, and end table and the wall. Although the suction is not as strong as it is on a conventional vacuum cleaner, dirt pick-up was good and the edge cleaning device worked well. My test living room has a deeply-napped carpet, however,which Rosie promptly ate.

Even though the vacuum has settings to make it more efficient for different room sizes, it did not do well in a small bathroom, due to the obstructions. It seemed to do better in larger rooms, with few obstructions, such as coffee tables.

So can you turn the Roomba on and leave? The instructions say no. And based on the number of times I had to rescue it, I agree that it needs supervision. Can it take over some of your vacuuming chores? Definitely. Newer models have more suction and other maneuvering changes. But until the technology improves much more, a conventional vacuum should be used at times to get what the Roomba misses, and to do the deep cleaning. One other note is that a Roomba shouldn't be purchased without an extra battery pack.

If you have typical floor coverings, and don't mind babysitting a bit, my recommendation is that the Roomba can save time and effort - as long as you don't expect miracles.

Learn more about this author, Liz McGuire.
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