Outsourcing It: Samsung PowerBot 9250 Review

Truth bomb time... I don't vacuum anymore. No, my house isn't covered in animal fur and cracker crumbs. It's not my kids or my husband. I outsourced it. As my life has gotten crazier, as my kids have grown and needed more from me in their school time, as my husband's travel schedule exploded and my life is filled with meaningful and worthy work outside our home and in it, I had to make a decision about what I would and would not do. I am only one human being and there are only 24 hours in a day. What probably seems like luxuries to many people has become a necessity for me. I decided long ago that I would rather spend my time loving people and building relationships than doing chores and other household tasks.

But... I do enjoy a clean house. I'm not one of those people who can just let it go and live in the mess. My husband is definitely not that person. I don't want my kids to grow up in a mess. So someone or something has to clean. In a household with 5 current human members, a dog that sheds like he is on chemotherapy year round and fish (which make more mess than one might think), running the vacuum has to be a daily chore.

Enter my best friend, the robotic vacuum. Every morning, while I type away or read or workout, he hums away. There is no sweeter sound than a chore getting done that you didn't have to do. It seems so silly. I bought a robotic vacuum. This silly little truth bomb, this revelation, led to a bigger one in my life though... I don't have to do everything myself! I also don't unload the dishwasher. Yup, I will wait hours for my kids to come home for the dishwasher to get unloaded. My kids can do things, I can hire people to do things or buy things that do stuff for you. There is NO shame in this game!

I've tried lots of different robotic vacuums over the years. I've had more Roomba's that have ended up going back because they get lost and just kind of suck. Actually, they don't suck enough. I get one, my husband tries it out and they go straight back. I can't justify the money for something that doesn't seem to work as advertised. We put a lot of research into our current vacuum and it is the only one that has ever made it past the one week mark in our house. We landed on the Samsung Powerbot 9250. It works kind of like a Dyson in that it does the cyclone suction and it really does get up all of the hair clumps from our 15 year old lab, who is currently shedding like a chemo patient since it is Spring. It also does a decent job on edges and getting under stuff, although I find that I need to have the kids do the edges once every couple of weeks. It is also programmable to go off at any time and can be manually guided by a remote.

My favorite feature, however is the resume feature. One of our biggest complaints about the other robots we tried was that some areas never seemed to get clean because the vacuum always started in the same place. The 9250 does a cleaning cycle and when it gets to low battery, it goes home and charges itself (it makes itself home about 75% of the time on it's own, which is the highest we have ever tested). When the batteries have been recharged, the 9250 goes back to where it left off, which means my entire downstairs actually gets vacuumed every day.

My only complaint about the 9250 is that the bin is not super large. It has to be emptied AT LEAST daily at our house, if not more. Once the bin gets full, it clogs the brush and has to be manually unclogged. My mother in law just got the R7070. It has a blade that cuts pet hair and is supposed to reduce that problem. I'll be interested to see if that actually works or not.

Overall, I love to having to vacuum. Seriously though, of all the robotic vacuums we have ever tried, this is the only one I would ever recommend to people. It actually does what is says it is going to do and keeps our highly allergic family breathing easier. Get one, and at the same time, figure out what other things in your life you can outsource to breathe a little easier, both literally and figuratively.