The 230 is the nook, cranny, and floor-scrubbing baby brother of the Scooba family by iRobot. Taking up little more space than a CD, it’s only a few inches tall. It won’t replace your mop, but it’ll tirelessly try.
Plusses
The cleaning itself is a cinch. Fill ‘er up, plop ‘er down, hit the CLEAN button, and watch the little guy scoot and spin its way around. The collision detection is great, and it’s able to navigate its way along walls and under gross spots (like behind your toilet) due to its diminutive size. Perfect for a lazy, dirty 20-something such as myself.
Minuses
The Scooba 230 will not replace mopping your floor. It doesn’t have the muscle to get out serious grime or caked in dirt. Despite having a vacuum function, it’ll still leave your floors pretty much soaked after a cleaning session, necessitating an air or towel dry. It’ll also start dragging along loose hairs and dust globs behind it, like some sort of disgusting mutant rat tail—which is either a perk (easy to pick up!) or horrific, depending on how squeamish you are. So the Scooba 230 is ultimately a mop complement—not a mop replacement. A $US300 robot luxury item. [iRobot]