| | |  | Home & Garden | Home » » Roomba 500 Series Side Brush, 3-Pack | | | | | | | Description: | | Keep your iRobot Roomba 500 Series Vacuum Cleaning Robot operating at peak performance! The innovative new sidebrush design for iRobot Roomba 500 Series Robots reaches deeper into corners and edges to remove more dirt, dust and debris. Side brushes are easy to remove and replace as part of routine maintenance. Includes three replacement Side Brushes and a screw for each. | | | Features: | |
• Includes three replacement Side Brushes and three screws.
| | | Product Details: | | | Package Length:
| 5.6 inches | | Package Width:
| 5.4 inches | | Package Height:
| 1.2 inches | | Package Weight:
| 0.02 pounds | | Average Customer Rating:
|  based on 57 reviews |
| | | | Customer Reviews: | |
Average Customer Review:
 ( 57 customer reviews )
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
107 of 109 found the following review helpful:
 It's official: Less is MoreDec 03, 2008
By NLee the Engineer
Like most reviewers here, I love my Roomba 550 (to the extent that a man can love a Horseshoe Crab, that is), but feel disgusted by the poor durability of the spinning side brush. The first 'arm' of the side brush broke off after just two weeks of use. Within two months, my Roomba was completely 'armless'. So I ordered this 3-pack Roomba 500 Series Side Brush one month ago.
The new brush has only three 'arms' compared to six in the original design. This has alarmed some reviewers, who thought they have received counterfeit replacement parts. But according to the official iRobot web site, the three-arm version is indeed the new design. I was initially skeptical of whether three arms are better than six in terms of durability. But so far the new brush seems to be working just fine. At least there is no sign of any arms breaking off (yet).
Apparently, iRobot has received massive complaints about the series 500 Roomba side brush, and is offering a replacement brush to each owner. Just go to "irobot dot com slash support", select your Roomba's model, and enter "order spinning side brush" in the search bar. You will then be able to 'order' a side brush for free - after you complete the product registration page.
[Update on Dec 16, 2008]
I received a free side brush from iRobot 10 days after filling in the request online. The downside is that I started to receive 'special offer' emails from iRobot every single day! Luckily there is an option to unsubscribe to those offers.
[Update on Feb 20, 2009]
All three arms of the new side brush are still intact after three months of moderate usage (once every two days). So it looks like the new design is indeed better.
Helpful hint:
When installing the new spinning side brush, make sure to press it down hard until you hear a definite 'click'. The first two times I did not install it correctly, and the side brush kept falling off after a few days.
10 of 10 found the following review helpful:
 Works on the older Roombas too!Apr 11, 2010
By Amery Priestman
I have the older Roomba Scheduler and also a Discovery and those come with the two brush shorter side brushes, not this one which has three brushes on the rotator. The brushes are a bit longer in this product which I thought might be a problem with the placement of it so close to the wheel, but it appears the old brush was also smacking up against the wheel anyway. If it was a problem I would simply trim the bristles a bit, but didn't have to.
These little things seem to make my Roombas work even better than before even if they were not intended to be used on the older models!
5 of 5 found the following review helpful:
A necessary replacement (3 arms good, 5 arms bad)Mar 10, 2009
By A. Dent
"Aragorn"
Anyone remembers Orwell's Animal Farm? :)))
Like all good things in life, the helicopter Roomba brushes only last for so long. A time comes when they need to be replaced. In our case, there was in fact a transition period where our 5-arm helicopter became a 4-arm, then a 3-arm so we got the replacements. They were 3-arm brushes :). In all fairness, I can't say if they perform better or worse than the original, I'm just happy that our Roombas (got 2) are complete again in the way their maker wishes them to be.
From a prospective buyer's point of view, it's probably important to testify that the replacements do work. They do mount quite nicely to replace the old-style and the Roomba does not seem to mind.
9 of 12 found the following review helpful:
Love the roomba, order replacement parts early to avoid backorders!Feb 03, 2008
By L. Hughes
"Buffy Fan"
We LOVE our Roomba (570). We have 2 dogs and a 10 month old so vacuuming is critical and also a luxury of time we don't have. The roomba is great but the side brush only survived a month before one of the "arms" broke off. It still works but now that I'd like to order one for replacement, they're on backorder everywhere. Get these early and store them.
13 of 18 found the following review helpful:
 Poorly designed yet needed accessoryOct 28, 2008
By J. Shinn
First I would like to state that I am an embedded systems design engineer and must say that iRobot did their homework and job on the Roomba itself, but seem to have disregarded this level of craftsmanship when it came to the all-too-necessary side brushes. Mine, like everyone else has reported, breaks off in a matter of months. Regardless of whether this is a design flaw or a means for recurring profit, it matters not. It has caused me to resort to drastic measures which I have outlined below:
1. Take a side brush that has lost all or most of its arms. File the notches down with a razor blade or exacto. Be careful.
2. Use a 3/32 drill bit to drill five (or six on some models) evenly spaced holes into the side brush knob.
3. Use 80 grade (0.80) fishing wire and cut five (or six on some models, or if you feel like you need more arms) equal lengths (app. 4" is a great length).
4. Place a drop or two of super glue into each hole and insert each section of wire into each hole. Let dry preferably overnight before use.
5. I have used this personally and it works great. The side brushes do not move at the rotation speed a weed eater would and thus I have noticed no problems with ruined furniture; and I have very nice furniture.
6. Optionally if you are very dexterous you can try to "shred" the ends of the wires, but this is difficult and should only be attempted if you are extremely careful. The only purpose for this is to allow the side brush again to work on dust bunnies as well as heavier particles.
Hope this helps everyone as much as it has helped me. Long time running this option and no replacements YET! :)
See all 57 customer reviews on Amazon.com
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