Sharpion 0 Report post Posted July 11, 2008 (edited) Me not that long, 2 mths only. In fact never notice abt this robot toy till I moved in to my new house. With 1 new condo building at the right of my flat & upgrade of a multi-purpose hall in the school behind my unit, the whole floor of my house is constantly covered with tiny dust, even though I shut all windows in the day. Really wonder how the dust comes into my house?? Why just 530? It doesn't come with lighthouse feature. I find this lighthouse feature very useful, you can block the robot from leaving a room till it has cleaned up that whole area. You should consider 535 if you are going for entry level model. Just my opinion, you may think differently. I don't need home base cos my living room, bedrooms & kitchen are not on the same level, so this guy can't move around freely. Just wanted to get a 510 only, very cheapo I hesitate cos this robot toy is **** expensive lor. With the $$, I can buy many broom liao. heh, sounds like you really do need one actually. I think you are right, cannot underestimate the importance of the lighthouse - coz that salesman keep telling me to get the lighthouse also. Actually the 535 is ok for me also lor, its more like whether you want the scheduler or not :/ i tink i go visit courts later again and see the actual machines one more time azt18 is selling an older model Roomba 4162 if you are interested you probably can email him. im actually still quite fearful of buying from overseas even though the price makes sense...hai~ Edited July 11, 2008 by Sharpion Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
azt18 0 Report post Posted July 11, 2008 heh, sounds like you really do need one actually. I think you are right, cannot underestimate the importance of the lighthouse - coz that salesman keep telling me to get the lighthouse also. Actually the 535 is ok for me also lor, its more like whether you want the scheduler or not :/ i tink i go visit courts later again and see the actual machines one more time azt18 is selling an older model Roomba 4162 if you are interested you probably can email him. im actually still quite fearful of buying from overseas even though the price makes sense...hai~ Informations on lighthouse and virtual walls. http://forums.irobot.com/irobothome/board/...;thread.id=5075 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Sharpion 0 Report post Posted July 13, 2008 Tingshen is right, the model is NOT the 570 but rather the 560 ($988) and the 530 ($788). Had a very frank talk with the sales guy there and he did acknowledge the lower cost from the US. He say there is nothing he can do to throw in free stuff or discount even if i buy directly from them etc. So i asked him what was the good point of buying from them, he mentioned: Warranty, cheaper to buy spare parts, cheaper to send for repair, get updated on new products and special discounts for the new stuff as if you buy locally, you will be a 'member'. Just sharing what I found out, have decided to buy from ebay already. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
yokine9a 1 Report post Posted July 14, 2008 Wah, just a 530 already priced at $788, really cut throat price leh Sharpion, hv you bought your roomba? Not sure abt buying from overseas eBay but when I was in Sydney, ever bought some books from Amazon & shipped to Australia, experience was good. Is the supplier in eBay reliable? What is the price difference compare to Amazon? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
azt18 0 Report post Posted July 14, 2008 (edited) Risk from ebay is the physical product that you get may not tally with the product that was being advertised. Edited July 14, 2008 by azt18 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Sharpion 0 Report post Posted July 14, 2008 Wah, just a 530 already priced at $788, really cut throat price leh Sharpion, hv you bought your roomba? Not sure abt buying from overseas eBay but when I was in Sydney, ever bought some books from Amazon & shipped to Australia, experience was good. Is the supplier in eBay reliable? What is the price difference compare to Amazon? yo, not yet - i was approving my CC from paypal. not sure about amazon, never go see there - but will check it out. if i get from ebay, i'll buy from those powersellers with tons of good comments. azt18: u have experience buying many units? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
dankoo 0 Report post Posted July 16, 2008 Hey guys...I have 2 new 560 on the way from US. Do PM me if you are interested. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
dankoo 0 Report post Posted July 16, 2008 Wah, just a 530 already priced at $788, really cut throat price leh Sharpion, hv you bought your roomba? Not sure abt buying from overseas eBay but when I was in Sydney, ever bought some books from Amazon & shipped to Australia, experience was good. Is the supplier in eBay reliable? What is the price difference compare to Amazon? It all depends. You have to check the reputation of the seller. I have good experience so far....Amazon dont ship their electrical stuff to SGP too..you have to go thru a forwarding company. My first Roomba from amazon...made the mistake cause they put the irobot package into another box..this increases the vol weight of the package and I incurred more costs! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
tingshen 0 Report post Posted July 16, 2008 (edited) Had a very frank talk with the sales guy there and he did acknowledge the lower cost from the US. He say there is nothing he can do to throw in free stuff or discount even if i buy directly from them etc. So i asked him what was the good point of buying from them, he mentioned: Warranty, cheaper to buy spare parts, cheaper to send for repair, get updated on new products and special discounts for the new stuff as if you buy locally, you will be a 'member'. are you pretty/handsome? he's trying to smoke you through......with smelly "sweet talk"... Warranty, I think iRobot direct is faster and more complete, there are incidents where users reported battery failure and iRobot simply send them a whole new set Cheaper to buy spare parts? ask him to give me 100 lists, I will show him 100/100 are more expensive if I were to buy from him. Cheaper to send for repair? Who needs a repair within warranty period? Is it really worth to "repair"? Simply buy the parts to replace the malfunction one from iRobot/Ebay etc at a much lower price and faster turn around time. Special discounts for NEW STUFF? Look at their website please, you tell me if that's called "updated" or not.... There is absolutely no benefits/incentives to buy iRobot locally. Let's see how soon they will die off, please do not support them, they are out there to suck you dry only...... either the salesman is so naive to believe whatever his company told him, or he's too lazy to find out the fact, or he simply want to chat with you for fun and hope to close a sales.....that's all..... anyway, paypal protects you for up to USD2000 for anything bought from ebay USA. Edited July 16, 2008 by tingshen Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
GaaraOfTheSand 0 Report post Posted July 16, 2008 Anyone using Roomba 580? Is it worth getting compared to cheaper models? Anyone mass ordering Roomba 580/570/560 or got lobang please pm me. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kohsw88 0 Report post Posted July 16, 2008 Tingshen is right, the model is NOT the 570 but rather the 560 ($988) and the 530 ($788). Had a very frank talk with the sales guy there and he did acknowledge the lower cost from the US. He say there is nothing he can do to throw in free stuff or discount even if i buy directly from them etc. So i asked him what was the good point of buying from them, he mentioned: Warranty, cheaper to buy spare parts, cheaper to send for repair, get updated on new products and special discounts for the new stuff as if you buy locally, you will be a 'member'. Just sharing what I found out, have decided to buy from ebay already. I had never bought a roomba from local store. From generation 1 until the latest generation. I would say that the salesperson is right. Warranty is important if you do not know how to replace parts in roomba. I helped my friend to import a roomba 560 2 mths ago, and one of the cliff sensors does not work. It always fall over step. Do you know how to replace the cliff sensor? Where can you get the parts (sensor)? If you don't buy from local store, if your roomba is imported from overseas, Ackerman is going to charge you very high for repair cost. To the extend that the repair cost can buy a brand new roomba. They are trying to discourage you guys from importing. The repair cost is ridiculous and they are not too friendly... The new roomba is modular, the wheels, brushes, cage, holder etc are easily replaceable. But the motherboard, sensors are not easy to replace. My question is, where to get the parts? Usually they buy another roomba as spare parts...so hard to get parts in USA... You can report your problem to irobot directly. If they know that you are not living in USA, they will not entertain you, sometimes. If the roomba DOA, you need to replace a complete set, they will ask you to send the roomba back to them before they replace a new set for you. How much is the shipping back to USA? you go check it out. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
dankoo 0 Report post Posted July 16, 2008 I had never bought a roomba from local store. From generation 1 until the latest generation. I would say that the salesperson is right. Warranty is important if you do not know how to replace parts in roomba. I helped my friend to import a roomba 560 2 mths ago, and one of the cliff sensors does not work. It always fall over step. Do you know how to replace the cliff sensor? Where can you get the parts (sensor)? If you don't buy from local store, if your roomba is imported from overseas, Ackerman is going to charge you very high for repair cost. To the extend that the repair cost can buy a brand new roomba. They are trying to discourage you guys from importing. The repair cost is ridiculous and they are not too friendly... The new roomba is modular, the wheels, brushes, cage, holder etc are easily replaceable. But the motherboard, sensors are not easy to replace. My question is, where to get the parts? Usually they buy another roomba as spare parts...so hard to get parts in USA... You can report your problem to irobot directly. If they know that you are not living in USA, they will not entertain you, sometimes. If the roomba DOA, you need to replace a complete set, they will ask you to send the roomba back to them before they replace a new set for you. How much is the shipping back to USA? you go check it out. I do agree that is the main thing to consider when getting direct from US. In USA, they have roombaxchange which is the indirect servicing agent for iRobot. Indirect cos iRobot dont offer any servicing services...they only do exchanges. There are parts that we can order from roombaxchange too. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
hansolo76 0 Report post Posted July 16, 2008 im concur with kohsw vs pro-ebay tingshen importing bascially means having an uncertain life for the bot. uncertain if it will reach here in 1 piece, uncertain if problems wont arise, uncertain how to diagnose problems, uncertain how to get replacement parts and at what cost, uncertain how to repair with acquired parts. some uncertainty can be alleviated from detailed study but it will not be the 100% assureness of having local warranty and support. i do agree with tingshen in that ackerman has priced the bots too high. their price for the scooba can buy 3 scoobas at the price i imported for. my conclusion is i rather import and face the risk of a lemon bot. worst come to worst i will import another and if 2 times still suay, i will take it fate decree irobot is not for me Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
tingshen 0 Report post Posted July 16, 2008 (edited) hansolo76, perhaps you haven't imported enough stuff the chances of getting a lemon is very very slim......if iRobot kind of business is profitable enough, I can sweep ackerman in 2 months. If you look at their monthly sales data, i think you may want to faint...... anyway, they must be doing this as a sideline.....the worst distributor state.....macam boh service like that lor.... Edited July 16, 2008 by tingshen Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Sharpion 0 Report post Posted July 17, 2008 hansolo76, perhaps you haven't imported enough stuff the chances of getting a lemon is very very slim......if iRobot kind of business is profitable enough, I can sweep ackerman in 2 months. If you look at their monthly sales data, i think you may want to faint...... anyway, they must be doing this as a sideline.....the worst distributor state.....macam boh service like that lor.... thanks for your input tingshen, i am now completely convinced not to even consider getting it locally and my faith in ebay has increased a lot haha, hansolo i like the way u think - i shall use that way of thinking too however im having some problems with actually buying the roomba - the 2 ppl i found on ebay ask to contact them should you want international delivery. I tried contacting one and was rejected coz my buyer rating is 0 and the other one never reply me :/ seems like we have quite a few people here all wanting to get one - is there some way we can consolidate or something like Gaara is suggesting? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
