Braava m6 latest thoughts? (Other options welcome)

[Julian]

I’d like to get something to wet-mop an approx 65 sqm area, minus about a 10 sqm rug so that’s about 55 sqm of actual hard floor area.

I’ve read various complaints about the m6 leaving streaks from the wheels so am wondering what the latest verdict is on that. Did iRobot tweak the cleaning pattern at all to make it drive over a recently mopped (i.e. still damp) area less as some people suggested? I also read that distilled water can help and that it shows more on shiny floors. Are there various tricks & maybe iRobot fixes that have lessened or resolved the problem or is it still an issue for some people?

I read from a few disappointed m6 owners that their previous 300 series units had been giving them a better clean but from looking at the 300 spec it couldn’t handle my floor area with wet mopping due to the reservoir size. I suppose that I could do it in 2 passes (can the 300 take a virtual wall?) but if I was going to do that then I might as well get the cheaper 240 and do it in 3 goes. I know the 240 has a built in virtual wall mode (don’t clean behind its starting line) and my space actually splits quite well into 3 areas that could be split that way.

Decisions, decisions. Does anyone have latest thoughts on m6 streaking or other downsides after a while using it and/or does anyone have thoughts on using either a 300 or a 240 on bigger areas by doing a split clean?

Right now I’m tending to lean away from the 300 in favour of either going high-end (m6) or cheap and cheerful (240) although with the 240 I would need to buy at least 3 re-usable cloths and at least one spare battery if I wanted to do the whole floor in the same day so that would put up the cost a bit.

[ps0001]

I've never had an m6, but I have two 240's that I bought as "for parts/repair" on eBay for under $50 total. One was completely fine, and the other has a clogged nozzle; so I use one for wet/damp cleaning and the other for dry cleaning.

One came with a charger, an original battery, and a China/eBay battery; the other didn't have any accessories. I bought a pack of six China/eBay reusable cleaning pads (two of each: wet, damp and dry) for about $12.

The cleaning pads work well. I'm tempted to try sewing a bit of rough Velcro to the front of one to see if it can tackle stubborn dirt more aggressively, but otherwise they work as well as the one pack of iRobot disposable pads I bought.

The eBay battery only works on one robot for some reason, but it works really well. I thought it would struggle to clean my kitchen area, but it can easily cover more. I need to investigate why it's not working in the other unit--it could be something simple I'm overlooking. I found comparable ones on eBay for around $15, so I wouldn't hesitate to buy one if you need a spare. Both the genuine and eBay batteries charge pretty fast too.

I think the m6 would be pretty neat, but I can't justify the cost right now. I just thought I'd point out that a couple 240's might be cheaper than you think. I really like the virtual wall mode and vibrating cleaning heads. I don't think the 380 has those features.

[Julian]

Thanks ps001. My situation is that I have two homes in different countries and it is my holiday home I am trying to sort out. I actually have a 240 at my main home which doesn’t have the large open-plan hardwood area that my holiday home has. My 240 works perfectly at my main home where I really only use it for my about 12 sqm kitchen where I set it up, shut the door on it to trap it in the kitchen, and set it going. I love the effectiveness and simplicity of the 240 for my main home hence my temptation to go that route for my holiday home. I could even put it in my carry-on luggage next time I change location and try it out at my holiday home first.

Excellent point on getting stuff on eBay, given that I use cheaper third-party base station bags for my i7+ to keep running costs down I really don’t know why that didn’t occur to me. I also note that some of the third-party 240 batteries claim massively bigger battery capacity than the official 1800mAh unit (some claiming 5300mAh but sometimes one needs to take those claims with a pinch of salt)! Anyway, I do find that the reservoir capacity is not the limiting factor so I could very possibly do the whole area of a single charge of a big battery and, depending on how fa4 the reservoir can stretch and how quickly the pad gets mucky, I could probably do the whole area in 2 parts and just possibly even on a single pass although there I suspect the pad might end up being an issue.

Having said all of the above, I am also a hopeless technology addict so the temptation of going with the latest and greatest m6 has by no means been laid to rest

[Transammatt]

Hello, I would go with the m6. Here is why. You love technology for one it’s a great robot. I have had braava Justin since day one.I could tell you that software updates have made it smarter. I use distilled water and a little bit of cleaning solution.(fantastic) it’s purple and smells great. What I can tell you is if you have dark smooth reddish floors you will be able to see some streaking. I have a dog and five people live in this house after the pad starts to get dirty it can start to smear the dirt around. But if the floors are really clean this robot mop will work great for you. Start with a really clean floor keep it on a good schedule you’ll love it! Let me know after a few months what you think?
Matt

[glen e]

I am very happy with my m6. I’ve had it now for about a month, using it many many times every week. It’s just so nice to walk into a kitchen with a clean floor. I do it almost every day. I am using a diluted bona tile cleaner ,it’s working fine, and early on I had some hesitancy of the unit to finally dock, it would meander around for a couple minutes before it always docked up. I have no tracks or film on my tile, my tile is a bone white color.It works in conjunction with my i7+. I also concur that everything is much better if you use it often and make sure the M6 doesn’t have a heavy duty job to perform. The tile floor gets cleaner with regular/often use.

[Julian]

Thanks Glenn & Matt. I’m definitely beginning to lean towards the m6 now. The 240 is perfect for my small simple hard-floor spaces in my main home, just a kitchen and two bathrooms where I can carry the 240 to the appropriate room and close the door on it until it is done, but for the bigger and more complex open plan hard floor area in my holiday apartment I think the mapping sophistication of the m6 will be valuable.

A few questions...

1 - The scheduling seems a bit less useful than an i7+/s9+ where those can essentially maintain themselves after each run so can be hands-off for weeks at a time whereas the m6 needs pad changes and tank refills after each run. How do people deal with that in practice? Not use the scheduling at all since prep is needed beforehand or do prep (pad change and tank refill) immediately or soon after each mission completion so that the m6 is always ready for the next run? The later seems doable although it would be quite nice if the app had some sort of nagging function to remind you to do a clean after a run and the user could go into the app and hit a “done-it” button to clear the nag/reminder and tell the m6 that it was properly replenished for the next run. If the user failed to confirm replenishment then the app would assume the m6 had dirty pads and no fluid and skip all subsequent scheduled missions until it is told that it has been properly prepared. If that feature doesn’t exist already I might suggest it to iRobot if/when I become an m6 owner, presumably as an optional setting since perhaps dry mopping doesn’t need a pad change every day if doing daily cleans.

2 - Do people always vacuum beforehand or with daily running does the pad pick up modest levels of dust in a pet-free home OK?

3 - Does anyone carry their m6 outside its mapped area, e.g. to a garage or balcony where it has no route back to its dock? If I invested in one I would have it map my open plan living area but would also like to be able to carry it out onto my 45 sqm tiled balcony to clean that now and then. The balcony is technically connected to the living area but, with the m6’s quite sensitive carpet-detection/threshold-height setting I am as close to 100% sure as I can be that it wouldn’t cross the 5 or 6cm high threshold between inside and outside areas, that’s basically a small step, so it would need to be carried.

[glen e]

I don’t ever use the schedule function for the mop. For reasons that you have pointed out. Just doesn’t make any sense.

The floor condition when you run the mop is really just common sense. If it’s minor small debris And a small space, I would try it as it is, however, if it’s dirty and I can see that dirt, I’ll vac first.

[Brett]

Does this thread not belong in the Braava section of the forum?

[vic7767]