So cleaning the kitchen floor or your sealed wood floors?
Still doing it the hard way with dirty water? Yes you know that bucket that you dip your mop in and out of spreading the dirty water about!
So time to modernise the way and use some clean water. There are some cheap versions that just have a damp cloth on the bottom and in all effect smear the dirt around.
So of the quality devices what should you be using?
I’d recommend taking a look at the irobot scooba range. Today I am looking at two of their range.
The scooba 230 which is the smaller more modern release
The Scooba 390 which is the bigger device but with active brushes.
The key difference aside from the size is that the 300 series Scooba has a rotating brush to give a scrubbing action whereas the 200 series has static brushes on the bottom.
Both have a detatchable battery. The batteries for the 300 series for me are charged on a separate charger and for the 200 series are charged in the device. The 300 series is a substantial battery but the 200 series is a much lighter lithium ion battery.
See pictures below:-
The blue battery is the 300 Series and the silver is the 200 Series.
Then turning to filling these up then both have separate clean and dirty tanks. In the 200 series this is a bladder inside the device and you are told to open the empty cap when filling to avoid an air bubble. You can either use the Scooba cleaning fluid or some vinegar to clean and this applies to both devices.
Warning you will be surprise how dirty the water is off your so called clean floor. The Scooba dispenses water out of the clean tank but collects this back into the dirty to tank giving you a properly clean floor.
The 300 Series has a detachable tank and a solid plastic tank rather than just a membrane. This means that it is more durable and easier to put near the tap as with the 200 Series you are putting the whole device under the tap or getting a jug to fill it.
The next difference is that the 300 series prepares the area by sweeping up the crumbs then cleaning scrubbing and then sucking up the water so you are just left with a damp floor that won’t take long to dry.
The 200 Series does not sweep for you so you need to sweep the floor first and then set the robot to run.
The best part is you can just go out and let them both to get on with the job. If you watch the random pattern you will probably think it is all a bit mad but by the time you come back the floor will be clean so the science does work.
The 300 Series has rotating scrubbing brushes whereas the 200 has static scrubbing brushes that can be unclipped for cleaning
The difference I found that is that they were both the same on a smooth floor but on a textured floor say a textured vinyl the 300 performed better at getting the dips in the floor clean.
The 300 series comes with a silent wall which is a device to stop the robot going into areas you want to block. It is simply set up and gives a signal to prevent the robot crossing the pre-set line.
The 200 Series has a shiny surface and this tends to show marks where it runs along the skirting boards. The 300 has a more practical surface and tends not to show the marks.
It is fair to say there is a significant price difference. The 230 can be picked up from the irobot site for £249 however the 390 will cost you £449.
So which should you choose? If you have textured floors then go for the 300 series as you will get better results. If your floors are smooth then the 230 should keep your floor clean just fine.
