Russell Hobbs R-VAC Robotic

Runs for 10 seconds then conks out. Save your money – Have tried on tiles, vinyl & carpet. Brought & replaced battery in case that was the issue (expensive). Lasts 10 seconds if lucky! Cant comment on cleaning as it has never actually worked.  Show details

Pretty much the worst vacuum cleaner I've ever seen – This wireless vacuum cleaner was such a waste of money I am not surprised it has been discontinued. A gimmick that cost quite a bit of money only to end up being thrown in the rubbish. Next to useless on carpet. Approx 5m x 5m room, plus hallway. Didn't bother with the kids bedrooms.  Show details

I like it – It took a while to iron out the kinks, getting used to a new device. It does a good job considering it cleans up after 2 golden retrievers and 2 long haired cats. Bin requires emptying each use and the wheels and spinning parts require regular cleaning due to long hair. In short it does what it is intended to do. Perfect on hard floors. I… Read more

set it up to clean one carpeted room at a time.

A quick look picking up; Cords, paper clips, hair ties, bread tags etc. Prevents jamming. Battery lasts for 2 hours of continued use.

Rubbish! – Fine until the battery runs out which happens very quickly. Called the company and the Russell Hobbs customer service team were very rude/aggressive, refused to acknowledge the problem, wouldn't replace with a free battery and then when I asked about buying a new one ($50 + Postage) told be there was no warranty and would only last 6 months if that.... disgusting. I will never buy a Russell Hobbs item again.  Show details

Shouldn't Have Wasted My Points!! – I got my vac using loyalty points. It sat in storage for about 6 months as we were renovating. When I started using the vac it worked ok... for a while. Then it just had a mind of its own! It's not rocket science using the remote, but silly me I couldn't work it out. I shouldn't have wasted my points! Come on Russell Hobbs, how about offering some compo?  Show details

Nothing but trouble – I got my vac through loyalty points with no receipt battery died because no receipt and never kept loyalty details wouldn't help bought a new battery worked for one day now it just stops press the auto button will work for a minute then stops. If you have a choice of another brand I would seriously look before getting a Russell Hobbs  Show details

Changing my review to 1 star – As I said in my Update 2: If you see one of these still being sold save your money. The first one suffered from the documented spiral of doom. The second RVac just died on me after 7 months. The left drive wheel became loose internally and disengaged from the gears. I contacted customer support and they said they no longer sell or repair it,… Read more

"contact your supplier for a refund". St George Credit Card Rewards kindly refunded my rewards points. Credit to them (pun intended).

The title of my first review should say "Does a great job for as long as it works" 1 Star.

crap – Got one had to send back due to software problem , received new one ,had to replace battery at 10 months, 3 months later software problem , Took sledgehammer to it.-. . . . . . . . . .. . .. . . . . . .. . . . .  Show details

Works great – I had some trouble with it getting stuck every time it went on to a rug or carpeted area. After reading someone elses comments, I did what they suggested and removed the rubber agitator from underneath. It works fine now and doesn't stop as much as it used to. I run it every day and its amazing how much fluff and dust it collects. I'm very happy with it.  Show 2 replies

Frustrating constantly cleaning it to get it to work, works on hard floors only – Constantly needs cleaning to get it to work, brushes get tangled and won't work on carpet. It is quicker to get out the dyson and do the job properly. The slightest bit of fluff or hair on the rollers and it just cuts out the unit needs constantly re-attaching to the base or it can't find it.

Not as good as roomba – I did the same as the reviewer who took hers back to store and bought another roomba but binned my Russell Hobbs as after about 8 months, the brushes were trashed and completely tangled, the bin was falling to pieces and it was scratched. It wouldn't have been taken back and there was nothing wrong with it except it didn't do a good job. It pushed… Read more

dirt into corners and it would then avoid going within 5cm of walls and corners. It regularly got stuck on high chair, sliding door track, floor mat, its own cord. Sigh. I got tired of coming home to beeping and a dusty floor. Every time I emptied the bin and cleaned the brushes, the little knob at the end of the brushes would fall off and roll away, and the bin was a two handed empty unlike roomba's simple slide out bin. pay the extra if you can afford it and get the Roomba.

Very very happy - love it! – Bought it from Target Online, Australia for $399 (free postage). Scoopon also had it for the same price + postage. It was a lot of money at risk, I was a bit sceptical, husband even more so. But we are soooo impressed. We have vinyl, timber and tile floors. We have an indoor dog and a cat and 6 people in the house. We cannot believe how much dirt… Read more

it manages to find. We do tend to lock it in small areas so it can finish one room at a time. We do keep it away from the girls' bedrooms and bathrooms as we don't want their long hair to foul up the brushes etc. So it does an amazing job in the main traffic areas of the house and for that I'm very grateful. It was a risk worth taking.....

good service – i had problems with my r-vac cleaner battery although my vac is 18 months old I was sent a new battery free of charge many thanks Russell hobbs

Disappointing Russell Hobbs R Vac robotic vacuum cleaner – Russell Hobbs R-Vac robotic vacuum cleaner suddenly stopped working so I phoned the manufacturer to ask about repairs under warranty. Was informed that I had to synchronise the remote to the robotic cleaner but this could not work at all as the cleaner cannot be switched on despite being fully charged. Helpline operator also said that I had to… Read more

pay for sending the robotic cleaner to Melbourne for repairs as I purchased it by redeeming Bankwest rewards in WA or if it is purchased online.

Would not recommend getting this model as it did not clean well even when it was actually working. Cleaning of machine is also not convenient. Had a LG before n it was much smarter.

Great Value at sale price of $248 with all the extras – After thinking about a robo cleaner for a while and not being able to justify over $500 based on limited cleaning ability on this type of cleaner, I found this good featured R Vac for an excellent sale price. It does a great job on large tile floor areas and short pile carpet. Sensors work well and seems to have the same algorythm as the stupidly… Read more

expensive models over $1000. You also get a mobile infra red border unit to prevent the R Vac going to no go areas. Good battery life, sturdy build and acceptable noise level at this price make it a no brainer choice. In a nut shell it does what is expected. In all honesty a friends top of the range model with a ceiling camera does not clean any better.

Great buy. Very pleased.

After 9 months of good use the R Vac failed. Took it back to Harvey Norman and chopped it in for a steam generator iron. Good old Harvy Norman.

We also bought a rechargable electrolux combo stand up hand held vacuum cleaner on sale which better at quick cleaning. Good battery life. Cleans as well as $1000+ models. Great Value. Can't deliver drinks to you.....

Had an iroomba? don't buy this – Being spoilt having had an iroomba which I could turn on and come home to clean floors, I was extremely upset I had chosen the cheaper option thinking it would work as good. All the sales lady said was nothing 'mapped' as well as the iroomba. This I found from the first time I used the Russell hobbs one, seemed to have no set direction, although… Read more

I thought it doesn't matter as long as it cleans everywhere. But it does not clean everywhere....possibly only covers 3/4 of the floor area if that unless you are using the remote control to direct it. (which obviously defeats the purpose) It is slightly lower than the iroomba which means it gets stuck in almost every place (not just 2 places-iroomba) it got stuck and wrecked the spinning side brushes by continuing in the same spot for goodness knows how long. Well after 3 weeks I could no longer deal with this machine and called the store who happily took this useless thing back and I paid the extra for a new iroomba. I could have kissed him!!! BTW my previous Roomba lasted 5 years cleaning perfectly EVERY time. I will never buy anything lesser again.

Love it – I redeemed some ANZ loyalty points - so nothing to lose, just looked up price if I had paid it would have cost $399-499. I probably wouldn't spend that much on a robot vac. But I think this one is fabulous, it does my timber floors and crawls up onto the rugs as well I have just left it working upstairs, all carpeted floors, while I prepares dinner, it has done a marvellous job, it doesn't do corners very well, small price to pay tho

Was very disappointed – When we received our robo vac we put it onto the lino floors and it was great,then went onto the carpet whick is around 15yrs old so no longer very thick it would go for 10 to 15 sec and stop contacted support team and was just told to clean it and take the front wheel out and clean that as well really no help at all with info so we have spent a… Read more

few weeks trying different things and although this should not have to be done my Vac now works on the carpet and hasnt stopped. we have taken off the rubber brush and yes we put it back on for the hard floors and yes it is doing the carpet really well . I hope this helps some of you as thecompany doesnt seem to want to know maybe they will read this and fx the problem from there end and improve. Good luck people.

For the price it's great – Ok got mine for the holiday beach shack. Great on the vinyl but does not cope with the rugs. So when I'm not here the rugs are up so it can do its job. Wish I knew this prior as I wanted it mainly for the rugs. Works well with the long dog hair though. Great on hard floors Bad on carpet or rugs

Not so good – Bought mine for my birthday. returned it 3 mths later -sensors nit working bumped into walls got stuck under furniture etc.Returned it and got a replacement. Here I am a few months later and it barely manages 50 mins run time before redocking and gets lost so house not being cleaned. Should have bought the other brand even if a little dearer. did a good job briefly.

Dont buy – Mine boggs down on the carpet it has been back to Harvey Norman they told me I had the wrong type of carpet (I have normal short pile)and no exchange I will never shop at this shop again or buy Russell hobbs products Ps the first one was returned because it would not recharge its self so Im onto number two JUNK JUNK Nothing very expensive

Russell Hobbs R-VAC is not up to the standard – I have bought it and got delivered last week. It cleaned a room with the hardwood floor. It was OK. Today I have tried to put it to clean another room with a rag on the floor. When it was going over the rag it stopped and reported a brush cleaning error. I 've cleaned it 10 times and each time I was getting this error No.2 again and again.… Read more

Somehow I did not connect that the error was reported on the carpet only. I thought the Cleaner stopped working due to a fault of some kind. So I've called the customer service and tried to explain what has been happening. But the customer service representative in Moorabbin, Victoria did not listen and has not been helpful. She's tried to teach me how to clean the brushes and told me that If I brought the vacuum cleaner, and it was a cleaning issue I would be charged $100 cleaning fee.

So, I have cleaned the brushes to a better than new condition and when it did not help I called the customer service again. The second lady did not listen to me either. However, she told me that if they inspect the appliance and it is a cleaning issue I will be charged $75 cleaning fee. When I pointed that last time I called the fee would be $100 and tried for the 10th time to describe what 's happening with the cleaner she just hanged up on me.

Finally, it has occurred to me that my vacuum cleaner just won't go over the rag I have in my house. When I put it away from the rag it works fine. But there is a problem now. I need to protect the rag with 2 "walls" but there is only one wall in the box that came with the cleaner.

bad warranty customer service

I love it – I Bought my rvac two weeks ago and have fallen in love! It goes under the dinningt able, dressers, around the dogs and the space isolator works well. The house will always be clean when I return home and I love that I can manually control the rvac to vacuum a space or spot clean. The rvac how ever gets jammed every three to five days due to… Read more

human hair getting twister around the rotating brush underneath (same problem as my Dyson) although is VERY easy to clean out. A decent amount of money although well worth it!

It cleans our wool carpet perfectly which the hand held Dyson struggled to do. Works well, efficient

Tiles floors – I have the R-Vac - on a large tiled house - and I am very happy with it. Leave it go for the day when I head out to work - just come home and find out where it finished, clean and put back on the charge - I am impressed what it picks up. I am happy with it Cleaning and amount of area it convers Noisy a little - but I don't have it on when I am home

Expected better – I bought an R-Vac robotic vacuum cleaner from Russell Hobbs based on many internet reviews, including this site. I set up the vacuum, fiddled with the battery installation and left it to charge overnight as required. The unit is weighty, appears solidly constructed and was neatly packaged. The next morning I set it to work. Unfortunately it went… Read more

round in a circle for about ten seconds before stopping and emitted a series of beeps while everything flashed. The remote control unit (whose rubber buttons tend to stick in when pressed) showed an error message. After consulting the manual it appeared my brand new robot needed its forward sensors cleaning. How one is supposed to clean a brand new set of sensors I wasn't sure, but I gave them a wipe anyway. The vacuum then went back to work for the same ten seconds before repeating its shut down. I wrote a kind email to customer service but as yet have had no response. I am disappointed as I have been threatening to purchase a robot vacuum for a couple of years now. I settled on the R-vac due to its wealth of features, 2 year warranty as opposed to the standard 1 year for all the others I inspected and decent price point. I guess I won't throw out my upright model just yet. Good price, well packaged, lots of features, longer warranty didn't work, fiddly battery installation.

Pleasantly surprised – After reading many terrible reviews on robotic vacumms, I didnt expect too much. The vacuum does not do a sufficient job to use only this, but does do a good job maintaining floors between proper vacuums and stretches out the time between vacuums. It works well on floorboards, however, i only have one carpeted room (plush carpet) and it struggles… Read more

to do this room so i only use it on the floorboards. vacuums for a good two hours between charges, and puts itself back on charge when its done. Couldnt live without it! great for setting the time before you go to bed to wake up to a vacuumed house. great for in between vacuums. You can do other things while it vacuums the floors doesnt get right into corners as it is round, not good on thick carpet.