Linen and Things is going out of business. I've never been there and their prices don't seem all that great to me so its no surprise to me that they are going out of business. However..... they have the iRobot Scooba floor scrubbing robot listed at $399 on for $225. If you have a lot of floors to scrub this thing is an amazing little rig. Don't watch it because it will drive you nuts in its seemingly random floor cleaning routine but it gets the job done AUTOMATICALLY while you do other things. The $225 is a great price (its $370 at
www.robotshop.ca). They also have the Roomba 520 for $263 and the 560 for $323. Unfortunately all sales are final so I would probably go with the Roomba 540 from Costco for $290. Its a no brainer with Costco as you can return pretty much anything there.
I'm a gizmo kind of guy but when I heard about these guys a couple of years ago it sounded like the biggest gimick. Everyone I've talked to have raved about them and you'll be hard pressed to find people who don't like them. Playing with one first hand has shown me how impressive these guys are. The most prevalent comment is "I don't know how I lived without it" and from what I've seen I can understand why.
A lot of people hack them and I think they are programable as well. They also run off of sub-c cells - I wonder if anyone has modded one with a brushless motor yet....
Anyhow great rig and the Scooba is a really good deal.
