iRobot 12601 Looj 135 Remote Controlled Cordless Electric Gutter Cleaning Robot With Belt Clip And Case
- Includes rugged case for convenient storage and an extra flexible auger
- Works with standard K-style, aluminum, copper, metal or vinyl gutters
- Internal antenna provides great range and reliability up to 40-feet away
- Smart speed moves slower going forward to clean thoroughly and faster going backwards to finish its mission quicker
- Flexible auger delivers the power needed to blast through clogs
Cleaning gutters can be a dangerous and time consuming job but it is an essential part of home maintenance. Gutters need to be cleaned regularly to avoid water damage, overspills and ice dams. Plus, dirty gutters create a breeding ground for carpenter ants, mosquitoes and other pests. Now there’s an easier way to maintain your gutters. The new and improved Looj blasts through dirt and debris and brushes your gutters clean. Avoid climbing and repositioning a ladder multiple times while juggling t
List Price: $ 149.99
Price: $ 149.99
Does a good job if it fits in your gutters; wear safety goggles!,
Before you decide whether you want to invest the money in a gutter cleaning “robot” do yourself a favor and measure your gutters to see if the Looj will fit. iRobot has a really convenient print out that shows the dimensions and will allow you to cut out the template to easily measure your gutter’s width/depth and whether the Looj will make it under your gutter straps, nails or however they are hung. You can find it here on iRobot’s website in the Looj 125/135/155 product description. I had a link to the PDF but Amazon wouldn’t let me include it in my review. Sorry.
Once you know the device will fit in your gutter and won’t get stuck, then read the reviews and decide if it’s worth the money.
For me, the Looj has done a great job on my gutters. It will, however, NOT save you ANY time and could potentially take longer than it would if you repositioned the ladder. The difference is that the Looj makes the process of gutter cleaning an order of magnitude safer than what most people are accustomed to. The Looj is also technically not a robot; it’s more of a remote controlled car that works for you. You can’t set it and forget it like you can iRobot’s Roomba.
The way the device works is you first must charge the battery. This requires you to plug it into the outlet with just the bare battery; you cannot plug the Looj into the wall as you would with iRobot’s other ‘bots such as the Roomba. The reason being is that the Looj is waterproof up to 1 foot (12 inches, or roughly 31 cm). In order to accomplish this, iRobot couldn’t design this as affordably as it is given the need to waterproof the electrical plug as well.
The battery requires a charge of at least 15 hours. I’m unsure as to the reasoning behind this, but it could be because of battery “memory.” The Looj is a device that you won’t be using every week of the year. You will be using it during certain seasons, with the Looj being retired after the last leaves fall from the trees and started back up in spring (potentially). If the battery had what is known as “memory,” you would potentially need to buy a new battery every year. This battery will deplete itself gradually, so when bringing the Looj out of a winter’s retirement you will need to recharge it and NOT buy a new battery.
One complaint from the first generation of Looj was you were expected to ONLY charge it 15 hours. No more, no less. I’m not sure how anyone could really keep track of this. The new Looj needs 15 hours to charge but now it’s OK to leave it plugged in “for no more than a few days.” Hopefully during a 3 day period you’re home to unplug it. I have no idea what will happen if you leave it plugged in longer; probably a shorter battery life over all.
You will also need 2 AAA batteries (NOT included) for the remote control device. Install these into the handle/remote.
Once you’ve charged the battery, you place it into the Looj’s battery compartment (follow the directions to ensure proper water proof-ness of the Looj). Attach the belt clip to your belt or pants, attach the Looj’s auger to the Looj (the auger is that funny brush/rubber contraption and does all the work), attach the remote control to the Looj (it’s a convenient handle) and hang the Looj from the belt clip. The clip for the Looj to hang from is on the opposite end of the auger. Do NOT attempt to hang the Looj from the remote control handle.
One complaint I have with regards to the clip is that it is very easy to pull not only the Looj off of the clip, but it’s easy to take the clip with it, which makes it potentially dangerous as you fumble around on the ladder. I cannot recommend enough that if you go with the Looj, prior to climbing the ladder ensure you are acquainted with easily removing it from the clip so as to avoid any danger.
Another complaint with the belt clip is that you are expected to place the Looj, after running it through your dirty, mucky gutters, on the clip. This WILL bring the dirty, wet Looj into contact with your pants leg and possibly your shirt as well. Be sure to wear clothes you don’t mind having to wash when doing this job. iRobot has a holster for the previous model that should protect you from dirty clothes and won’t detach the belt clip with it but I’m unsure whether this will snuggly hold the second generation Looj.
Place your ladder. It is recommended that for larger sections of ladder you try and place the ladder in the middle of the gutter run so you can have the Looj travel the full length of the gutter from a central location. One of iRobot’s design goals with this ‘bot is to set the ladder ONCE and not have to reposition every time.
One thing I would like to stress is that if you are using this device, BUY AND WEAR SAFETY GLASSES. The Looj will be throwing debris out of the gutter at potentially high speeds and if you have wind you have the potential for blow back. If you…
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|Use the Template and the Fwd/Rev Button,
Let me start with the con: I wish the remote had more range. Seemed to work best, and the instructions tell you this too, when the remote was held in my aluminum gutters. I read somewhere that someone tied a string to the device. That might be a good practice as long as it does not get stuck in the tracks.
Anyhow, owning a home that is on a slope and in the woods, I get TONS of leaves in my gutter and I am not climbing up a ladder to get to them. This product does a great job. I followed the instructions on the iRobot web site to test your gutters to see if the device will fit before I bought the device. I also made sure that when I used the device, that I did not try to just drive it through the leaves when things got heavy. I went forward, backed up and then went forward again. I really could only do a 2-3 foot section and then have to back up when things got thick. This sounds like alot of work but to just stand atop a ladder at 10 ft using a remote beats going on a slope at 20-35 feet. I wish it could turn corners.
Finally, the job that it does, i.e. how it cleaned the gutters was quite impressive. I am not sure I could have done better by hand. Definitely paid for itself in the first year.
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|Rescue Me!,
I bought the Looj because I had a Roomba which worked great, so I thought I’d try another product. Well, it didn’t work out so well.
First of all, this is not a robot. It’s a remote-control tool. There are no sensors and no smarts. That’s no bad by itself, but it also has a design problem, which I’ll explain shortly. The device is basically a tractor with an auger up front. You move the tractor through your gutter and the auger spins, removing debris in the process. Thus, you can climb the ladder once per gutter, use the tool, bring it back, and then move on to your next gutter.
That’s the theory. What happened with me is that when the Looj got to one of the ties across the top of the gutter, which are about every eight feet or so, the auger would stand stationary and the tractor would spin, usually getting it stuck on its side or upside down. The device doesn’t have a way to sense that this is happening, nor does it have a way to right itself, so the only thing I could do was move my ladder out to wherever it got stuck and rescue it. Well, that’s OK, except that it defeats the purpose of using the device.
I tried being smarter and turning off the auger when I get to one of those ties, but that didn’t work. The debris tends to get pushed ahead of the machine, and the tractor can’t get up enough speed or traction to punch through the debris with the auger off. But if the auger is on, the tractor flips. So I could come up with no solution.
I should also add that the spinning auger isn’t the same as gloved hand or a spade which can scoop out the debris and place it wherever you like. Instead, the auger spins and throws the debris over a 90 degree angle, ranging from near vertical to horizontal, plus quite a bit forward and back. This means that anything near it or below, including you, gets splattered with debris. Now cleaning out a gutter is a dirty job, but I never got any in my hair! But since the thing starts out close to you, that’s what happens.
I got through about twelve feet of gutter before giving up and repacking the thing to send back. Oh, by the way, I tried to call Customer Support, but since it was closed on Sunday, I couldn’t get through. I knew I should have been wary when the first thing I saw when I opened the package was a big STOP sign telling me to call customer support before returning the item. Well, I tried, I tried.
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