IROBOT ROOMBA 500 SERIES VIRTUAL WALL REVIEWS
- Create an invisible ‘wall’ to block doorways and other off-limit areas in your home
- Creates an adjustable infrared beam (up to 8’) that Roomba will not cross
- Works with iRobot Roomba 500 Series models 510-530 (sold separately)
- Requires 2 D batteries (not included)
List Price: $ 29.99
SALE Price: $ 24.99
Rating: 
(out of 2 reviews)
Related posts:
September 6th, 2010 at 7:42 am
Review by R. Nowak for iRobot Roomba 500 Series Virtual Wall
Rating:
I just love using the towers to contain my Roomba. I am in a wheelchair, and if I needed a third tower to block off a door (my Roomba came with 2), I would have to use shoes or boxes to do so. Then when I needed to get through, I would have to move them out of my way and then replace them again. Very time consuming and annoying. The towers are worth the price, at least to me.
However, this particular model is cheaper than the rest for a reason. It has an on/off switch that you have to remember to use, whereas the model that is $10 more turns on and off automatically whenever you turn your Roomba on. More precisely, they only turn on whenever your Roomba comes into a certain range of the tower, so they also save on battery life.
If you have the Roomba that you can program to run when you are not at home, I do not recommend getting this tower, for it will not contain the Roomba unless you turn it on when you turn on your vacuum, defeating the purpose of having a programmable Roomba to run when you are not home.
September 6th, 2010 at 8:34 am
Review by Trik for iRobot Roomba 500 Series Virtual Wall
Rating:
There are two versions of the iRobot Roomba 500 Series Virtual Walls. One has the lighthouse capability and turns on automatically when the Roomba starts vacuuming; the other lacks the lighthouse capability and must be manually turned on within the 90 minutes prior to the Roomba starting its vacuuming. If you do not use the schedule feature on the Roomba nor the lighthouse feature, than this version of the Virtual Wall is acceptable although still not preferred. I do not like the fact that I have to manually enable the walls.
I have two walls already with the lighthouse feature so that is sufficient for my needs; it really can’t clean more than 3 rooms without recharging the unit. I wanted to be able to set and forget the schedule with the addition of two more walls, but that is not feasible anyway for other reasons. One, I need to empty the Roomba after each use (as well as clean the brushes). Two, I need to police the floors before hand since my child likes to leave things like hair bands (which she shoots at her cat) on the floor.
If the Roomba emptied itself, the walls turned on by itself (which the other ones do), and my daughter wouldn’t leave messes on the floor, I would have my dream of floors that were kept clean without me doing anything to assure it.
These walls didn’t help me achieve my dreams… but they are helping me get closer to it.