iRobot Roomba 4900 Self-Charging Drive-On Home Base

List Price: $69.99 Discount Price: $41.00

Features:

• Accessory to Roomba Discovery Series models of floorvacs
• Fast-charging power supply; APS Fast Charge included
• Recharges a Roomba APS battery in less than 3 hours
• 2 convenient lights indicate power and charge function
• Measures approximately 13 by 4 inches

Customer Reviews:

Work well with some common sense. [Posted on 2008-05-22]
I have used this charger with my Roomba Discovery for a few months now. It works well if you read and understand the directions and have a little understanding of how it works.

1- The Roomba can be in a room other then the charger and fail to find it if the battery runs out. If this is a problem try the virtual wall they give you to limit the area in which it is working. Or buy a second base for other rooms or for very large rooms. You can have more them one. Just place them so they don't interfere with each other.
2- The limit on the distance that the IR can be detected is about 10ft and must be line of site to the Roomba. So place the unit where you vac will pass through the beam, ie: If you room is L shaped, place it in a corner with a path between both areas looking into the room. Or place it in an area looking into the largest area in the room. The beam is like a flash light beam, so it will not pass through furniture or other obstacles. Obstacles will create shadow areas where the vac can't see the beam, keep this in mind when you place it.
3- The base does not stay put when the vac moves off of it. Try a piece of double stick foam tape on the bottom on wood floor or carpet tape on carpet. Problem solved, they should put a piece with the unit.
4- You should be cleaning your unit after a few runs, so clean contacts should not be a problem if you are taking care the way they suggest. The vacuum is not maintenance free.
5- Place it in an area with the clearest possible view into the room. It still won't work every time, but I found that it works fine about 90% of the time. The other 10%, I bend over and pick it up. Or, you can press the spot and clean buttons together when the battery indicator turns yellow and it will start to look for the dock right away while it continues to clean. Doing this in yellow instead of red will give it much more time to find the base and still provides good cleaning for the average size room.
6- This unit works with the Discovery units only, so don't try it with others. If you do, failure is guaranteed.
7- Hope this helps you get the most out of your unit. I gave it 4 stars because they should give you the tape to secure it to the floor or wall.

Entertaining and convenient [Posted on 2008-06-02]
The self charging base is great. It fun just to watch the Roomba find the base and attach itself. It doesn't hurt that it's really convenient to just let the Roomba go vacuum, then find it docked and charger after it's done.

Works Like it should [Posted on 2008-09-05]
The product description is accurate and easy to understand, plus it works as it says it will. It is lightweight so pay attention to the instructions and place it against a wall,especially on hard slippery floors. Just plug it in, follow the brief instructions and 30 seconds later your roomba is on it's new home/charger.

disappointment [Posted on 2008-09-30]
Does not seem to be charging the roomba and apparently one of two bulbs are not working.

returned unused [Posted on 2008-10-24]
after I purchased this little accessory, I decided to return it without using it. It really was an extra that I didn't need and also I don't really have a place to park it.

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