Comments about iRobot iRobot Looj™ 150 Gutter Cleaning Robot:

I tried my new iRobot Looj for the first time this afternoon. I purchased the unit primarily for use at our summer home where the gutters are extremely difficult to access and thus are not often completely cleaned. The trial this afternoon was at our primary residence. Overall, I thought the unit performed well and my gutters are probably cleaner than they have been in years and the device is a really great idea. There are, however, some design issues that should be addressed, and hopefully those of us who have invested in this model will be able to upgrade when these improvements are made. The antenna design really needs improvement. It has a tendency to become trapped between the unit and the wall of the gutter which causes binding. This causes the unit to slow down, stop, or flip over. The unit became stuck at one point and had to be retrieved manually. My concern is that the unit will become stuck at some part of the gutter that I really would rather not have access by ladder. I was also concerned by the amount of force required to release the Looj from the remote. Having to exert this much force while standing at the top of a ladder is not ideal. Finally, the bottom tread seems prone to slip. Perhaps the traction could be improved in some fashion. Even with these negatives, however, I was generally impressed with the unit and it certainly better than other alternate methods I've used. Operation does become easier with practice.

Comments about iRobot iRobot Looj™ 150 Gutter Cleaning Robot:

I wrote a review for amazon, thought i'd shareFirst I want to thank all the 1 star reviewers. their insight was invaluable to my success. All of their complaints are valid, but inconsequenial for cleaning gutters. I have LOTS of gutters. Hundreds of feet. 2 stories up, cant walk on the roof for breaking tiles and uneven ground underneath. Very dangerous. In fact dangerous enough I didnt bother with gutters for 7 years. When I first read about Looj, I went "COOL" Ive got to own one of these. After reading the rather poor reviews, I lowered my expectations[$] So..... I thank the reviewers regarding the battery recharge. your right there was some charge when I opened the package. Ran it down to zero before starting to charge. Next I was going to start Saturday @ about 10am so I started charging at 7pm the night before. So far so good. About 1/3 of my gutters are not near any trees and are "clean". So inorder to try it out I started there. Clean, I thought. Put that baby in there, turned it on, and it looked like a dust tornado tooling down the gutter. Dirt, old leaves, sand, twigs just flying all over the place. Cool!. Next I worked on the medium build up area. Mostly leaves and twigs. I want to Thank again past reviewers. 1. stupid antenae got stuck a few times. tore off the rubber insilater in about 2 minutes. SO? I left it off. Yes this baby flipped over. So what? tossed it into reverse and it either flipped back or started to eat through stuff upside down. After climbing the ladder in a safe place and setting up the looj, I got down and just walked behind looj underneath and went the full length of the gutter. When it Almost fell out of the gutter a couple of times, My only thought was, "all the easier to retrieve it". Never did fall out though. Finally the "fully loaded" gutter. Under a mass of eucalyptus trees. Never been cleaned, WAY to dangerous. Started on one side that was accessable and went to work. It wined, it wrred, it threw stuff all over me. got stuck, back up, try again. flipped? kept going. Couldn't see much after about 10 feet as I had to walk under the thing. Only way I knew it was working was stuff being flung all over the place. figured when it stopped raining dirt it was stuck. Back and forth, back and forth. Took and hour or so to do about 50 feet worth. Was starting to get low on batteries so I thought, "well lets see if I can get this thing back to the beginning". threw it in reverse, It threw up more stuff, but smoothly made it back. Looking at the gutter i was AMAZED how clean it was. Threw out sticks, a rats nest, branches everything! Now it took me maybe 2 minutes to clean 3 or 4 feet with my hands. Could have done three times the amount in the same time by hand. Up the ladder, down the ladder, up the ladder down the ladder, on uneven ground no less, but it would be faster. In conclusion, I had low expectations for the Looj. I thought If I could just get all the gutters clean once then KEEPING them clean might be safer and easier with the Looj. I was pleasently suprised at how well it dealt with the tough job and am quite confident that once they are clean the looj will make fast work of keeping them clean. As a couple of side notes. I wish they could get them to go around corners or down the drainpipe. Be nice if it was a real robot rather then a RC and the battery charge is a bit of a pain. Ditch the stupid antenna if you can. FINALLY, DO NOT let your children play with this when you bring it out the first time. They are absouletly chomping at the bit for the gutters to get dirty again. "Comeon dad let ME try it!" I figure im good for 4 or 5 cleanings before they realize its a job to do. [$]