It’s been a few days short of a year now and I’ve yet to do any sort of update on my Roomba 614. The little guy is still trucking along and is receiving a lot of use, however it’s workload has been lightened immensely with the passing of our two dogs. At this point we just have a cat and the Roombas do a great job of staying on top of all the hair and cat food that he kicks around, not to mention our messes as well. But overall the vacuum has been dependable and reliable and does what I expect of it, however I have a few gripes/observations after a year of use:
The Good:
- The Noise – I’ve noticed that my 614 is considerably quieter than my 530. And I dont think that’s just because my 530 is getting quite over the hill but they’ve just improved upon the overall design so that it runs quieter than the older model.
- Battery Life – The battery life has been great on the 614 so far. I’ve even left it dead and off the charger a few times and it hasn’t destroyed the battery like the old ones. If I can get at least another year out of it I will be happy.
The Bad:
- The charging station – No longer can you unplug the charging station and then plug that cable directly into the Roomba to charge. This is a pain because sometimes the Roomba doesnt want to align properly and is too dead to turn on and have it auto dock so you’re left unsure of if it’s charging properly. Plus I feel like it charges faster when plugged directly into the cable. It’s a small change from the old 530 series, probably one that saves them a buck or two on each Roomba, but it’s an unfortunate change
- Edge Detection – I feel like the 614 gets stuck on the edge of my stairs far more often than my 530 does. Again this is something I would have expected to be comparable if not better than it was on the 530.
- This roomba managed to fall down the stairs once, something none of my other robot vacuums have managed yet.
All in all I’m pretty happy with it. They really didn’t add or change much from my old version, they mostly just polished it up. They did, however, cut a few corners here or there to save costs. However, the cost also came down, so I guess it’s a trade-off.
A seasoned Senior Solutions Architect with 18 years of experience in technology design and implementation. Renowned for innovative solutions and strategic insights, he excels in driving complex projects to success. Outside work, he is a passionate fisherman and fish keeper, specializing in planted tanks.