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Roomba 500 Series Side Brush, 3-Pack
Studio : iRobot
by iRobot
Brand : Roomba 500 Series Accessories
Model : 81901
Publisher : iRobot
Availability : Usually ships in 1-2 business days
EAN : 0853816819010
UPC : 853816819010
Avg. Customer Rating: (based on 9 reviews)
Our Price : $19.99
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Product Description |
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Keep your iRobot Roomba 500 Series Vacuum Cleaning Robot operating at peak performance! The innovative new sidebrush design for iRobot Roomba 500 Series Robots reaches deeper into corners and edges to remove more dirt, dust and debris. Side brushes are easy to remove and replace as part of routine maintenance. Includes three replacement Side Brushes and three screws. |
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Good to have on hand |
We received only one side brush with our Roomba, so this 3-pack is great to have on hand. We set our Roomba to run on a daily basis (black dog, white carpeting!) so it's nice to have the spare brushes and things ready to go if one gets snagged or broken. We have small kids so sometimes toys are left out by accident and can tear the 'arms' on these brushes.
I love my Roomba and am glad that these spare parts are available seperately and cheaply! |
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Poorly designed yet needed accessory |
First I would like to state that I am an embedded systems design engineer and must say that iRobot did their homework and job on the Roomba itself, but seem to have disregarded this level of craftsmanship when it came to the all-too-necessary side brushes. Mine, like everyone else has reported, breaks off in a matter of months. Regardless of whether this is a design flaw or a means for recurring profit, it matters not. It has caused me to resort to drastic measures which I have outlined below:
1. Take a side brush that has lost all or most of its arms. File the notches down with a razor blade or exacto. Be careful.
2. Use a 3/32 drill bit to drill five (or six on some models) evenly spaced holes into the side brush knob.
3. Use 80 grade (0.80) fishing wire and cut five (or six on some models, or if you feel like you need more arms) equal lengths (app. 4" is a great length).
4. Place a drop or two of super glue into each hole and insert each section of wire into each hole. Let dry preferably overnight before use.
5. I have used this personally and it works great. The side brushes do not move at the rotation speed a weed eater would and thus I have noticed no problems with ruined furniture; and I have very nice furniture.
6. Optionally if you are very dexterous you can try to "shred" the ends of the wires, but this is difficult and should only be attempted if you are extremely careful. The only purpose for this is to allow the side brush again to work on dust bunnies as well as heavier particles.
Hope this helps everyone as much as it has helped me. Long time running this option and no replacements YET! :) |
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Also three versus five. |
Beware; either United Vacuum is shipping the wrong item or iRobot is no longer manufacturing the five-pronged brushes, but like the September 30, 2008 customer, I also just received the 3-pronged brushes instead of the ones pictured here. Aside from this annoying bit of Ford Pinto technology, however, the Roomba is a fairly wonderful little item, especially if you feel like you're wasting your life vacuuming the "traditional way." I just don't want to waste my life replacing badly-designed parts and posting negative reviews on amazon.com.
iRobot, please spend a little more time on your domestic carpet/floor research and development and a little less on your genuinely disturbing weapons technology! Does the U.S. Army have to send for replacement parts as often as we do? |
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three-pronged replacements instead of five-pronged |
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I've had my Roomba for just over six months, and have resigned myself to frequent replacements of the side brush as the prongs break off with use. However, this time when I ordered replacement brushes, what I received (from United Vacuum) were three-pronged side brushes instead of the five-pronged brushes that came with the original Roomba as well as my earlier replacement packs (and which are pictured on the page I'm looking at now). With the breakage issues that I've already experienced, this is unacceptable. A three-pronged brush will become unuseable even faster than the five-pronged original. These are getting shipped straight back for a refund. |
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irobot: practicing the art of obsolescence since 2001 |
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Irobot figured out that if they make these things break apart like peanut butter brickle they can sell TWICE AS MANY! good for them, bad for us. These things are awful and the arms snap off after about two days of use. I went ahead and painted on some resin to one of them and it's lasted about two months! |
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