Scooba (Dooba Doo)

The Scooba by iRobot is like their Roomba vaccum cleaner except it actually washes floors. Here you can find reviews and information on the iRobot Scooba.

The Scooba prepares, washes, scrubs and squeegees most hard floors. You can just turn it and walk away and when you come back your hardwood floor or linoleum will be shiny and clean.

There are three models:

Scooba 5800 - the basic model, covers 250 sq ft in one charge

Scooba 350 - covers 500 sq ft

Scooba 380 - cover 850 sq ft

Amazon Rating - 3.5 Stars (141 ratings, 5/7/08)

Most helpful review - 4 stars

It meets the 80/20 rule. It does 80% of the work that you would do if you did a thorough, good clean yourself. However, I usually don't do a thorough good clean myself on mopping floors since I left the navy.

Obviously, make sure that your floor is swept before starting Scooba. (I use my Roomba since I am doubly lazy..) Scooba won't get into the corners, but neither do I when I mop.

The point is.. I don't like mopping. Neither does my wife. The hardwood floors never get mopped. I have a dog & 2 cats. Thus, the kitchen floor always looks like &*$(#! most of the time. Now it doesn't. It looks great. I'd suggest it for people that hate mopping & just want someone (or thing) to do it..

The first time I had scooba clean, it ran, but no water came out, and ittold me to check the tank, so i fiddled with it (pulled it apart & put it together again) and it worked. perhaps I didn't put the little rubber tube in right or didn't snap things together right the first time.

It works great on mud, dried food & dried spills. It missed some hardened, caked on gunk that would take a bit of scrubbing with a brush, or, scrubby part of your mop, but I didn't expect it to get those. In my case, it got up things like hardened jelly & stuff, but whatever the trash can has been grinding into the floor for the last couple years, it couldn't get up.

When you are done with Scooba, you do have to empty it out, give the tank a rinse, and clean the brush & a removable tube, to me though, thats easier than cleaning a mop. Though some people don't clean their mops, I would strongly suggest it with scooba.

You also need to buy their special cleaner, which to me, isn't that bad, since if you didn't use it, you'd be using another cleaner anyway. Scooba is quite efficient, as well. it uses 1/8? cup of cleaner and a quart or so of water on my floor (200 Sq. ft). If I were mopping, I'd be using more of both. I tried vinegar, which did pretty good, but the clorox appears to work better. I bet if you used Scooba more often, then vinegar would be fine.

The best time to use Scooba, in my opinion, is right before leaving in the morning, watching the TV downstairs, or going to bed (provided that 45 minutes of hair dryer sounding noise in another room doesn't bother you). That way the floor is dry when I come back to it. Some people have complained that it leaves the floor too wet after a mopping, but, to me, it appears the same as after when I mop myself.

So, in summary, if you just want the floor mopped, get Scooba. If you a perfectionist, its not for you.

iRobot Rating - 4 stars (58 ratings, 5/7/08)

Most helpful review - 3 Stars

I like iRobot products [...]. In fact, I proudly display an "i luv Robots" magnet on my refrigerator. Hey! This is the cleaning future!I have owned a Roomba Discovery (gray/white) for more than two years. I absolutely love it. It always performs well. An occasional Replenish Kit and cleaning... No problems.I recently purchased the Scooba 5800 and was excited to do so. Unfortunately, I was disappointed. It does clean the areas it passes over. However, it does not pass over the entire designated area. In this case less than 250 sft., one Virtual Wall and very few obstacles. The same room Roomba has cleaned thoroughly many times. This Scooba robot arbitrarily stops and spins in a circle. Much like Roomba's optional Spot Clean. Scooba loses traction when it does this and waste solution. It will do this no matter where it is when other untouched surfaces need cleaning. I do not like that. I found myself screaming at this robot, "You have already cleaned that spot!". With Roomba, I can predict where it is going to clean. Scooba's Wall Following and Room Crossing are sufficient. Also, put a little more in the box: Storage Mat? Replenish Kit? More solution? I have not yet had the battery problems I read about with Scooba and it is at least 30% quieter than a standard vacuum cleaner. Okay. So Scooba is no Roomba. I wish I could take my Roomba's navigational intelligence and put it in my Scooba. Maybe I'll put Scooba in Neutral and tie it to the rear of my Roomba. Well, I guess the magnet will stay for now.