O'Cedar O'Duster
We’ve all seen those little robotic vacuums that use GPS-like navigation to clean your home. They look pretty cool, but a little out of my price range for a vacuum. When I saw a new automatic sweeper from O’Cedar for $39.00 plus a $5.00 off coupon, I couldn’t resist.
I have hardwood floors in a lot of my home. I also have a 65 lb retriever with allergies who is constantly shedding and I also have a really REALLY fluffy white cat who also sheds like crazy. Pet hair is the bane of my existence! I bought the O’Cedar O’Duster and here are my thoughts.
1. Clean your floors before use. I know it sounds silly, but you are going to be disappointed otherwise. Once your floors are clean, this is a good tool for maintenance. (If you don’t give your floors a good initial cleaning you will go through the 3 refill dusters that come with your duster in no time) Using this every day really has eliminated the dog hair “tumbleweeds” that would appear if I didn’t vacuum daily. I also live near the shore so its very sandy by me. Kids bring in sand and dust. This definitely keeps all that under control when used daily.
2. Keep an eye on it. While it does run around all by itself, it can get hung up on things like furniture, carpets, etc.
3. If you have pet hair like me, you will also have to clean the wheels almost daily. Yes, its a chore, but its easier than vacuuming as far as I am concerned. The biggest problem with cleaning the wheels is how freaking difficult it is to get the mechanism apart. Why do manufacturers do this? They HAVE to know this is a product that will primarily be used by women. Women have fingernails, often manicured fingernails. You need the strength of 10 men (or at least a 17 year old boy) to get to the wheel mechanism open in order to clean out the hair and debris. I also have arthritis in my hands so it is especially difficult for me. This is a pet peeve with so many products and O’Cedar definitely could have done a better design job here. The cleaning cloths are held in place by velcro. The velcro also seems to accumulate some dirt. This will have to be cleaned occasionally too.
4. When you buy your O’Duster make sure you print a $5.00 coupon from the website! Also, make sure you buy refills when you buy your O’Duster. If you don’t, you will be frustrated. I bought mine, found out it came with only 3 refills (that I used up immediately because I failed to clean my floors first) and then found out none of the stores near me had refills. I did contact O’Cedar and at first they suggested I visit stores in other towns. I said “I thought O’Cedar was supposed to make my life easier”? I also told them I was in the process of writing a review. They then offered to send me refills. Of course they blamed the stored for not having the refills. Whoever is responsible, it ultimately looks bad for O’Cedar. Who wants a product that you can’t use, right? So don’t buy the O’Duster if you can’t also buy the refills at the same time!
Overall impression: I give it a B-. I like the concept, it charges easily and runs for hours. It does dust but it doesn’t really "clean". It is ridiculously difficult to clean the duster's wheel mechanism. Refills could be an issue.