For some time now I’ve seen several videos around showing off what seemed like a miracle machine. The Looj from iRobot. iRobot, if you are unaware, are the same geniuses behind the Roomba robotic vacuum cleaner. It looks pretty spiffy, don’t you think?

Now I have never used a Roomba myself but they seem to be all the rage these days and I’ve gotten several positive reviews from close colleagues. Now every year around this time I venture into the scary outside world and clean out my parents gutters. I figured iRobot’s reputation was pretty sound and if it meant less time dangling from a roof in the hot sun, then it might be worth a shot. I went to Amazon, placed my order for the Looj 125, and two days later I was ready to give it a try. Hmm…So there seems to be a 15-hour charge time for the battery. Two days and 15 hours later I was ready to give it a try.

The basic premise seems simple enough. A small radio controlled treaded vehicle uses a bristled auger that spins and flips debris from the gutter onto the lawn. However iRobots implementation doesn’t quite work out in practice. Initial impressions is that the Looj feels more like a plastic toy than a tool. Despite being treaded it fails at getting past the most simple obstacles, obstacles its suppose to be able remove from its paths. All it did was splash around like a baby in a bathtub. It made more of a mess than anything else. Granted it was a bit wet up in the gutters, but the Looj is advertised as waterproof up to 1-foot of water. The website also claims that the “Looj blasts through debris, clogs and sludge.” It’s far too underpowered to accomplish this. My gutters weren’t too terribly clogged and this should have been a simple task. Had I have brought the garden hose up with me I would’ve cleared it out quite easily.

To sum it up, I basically found it useless. I was patient and gave it a fair shot because I really wanted this to work. It’s just too underpowered to get anything more than dry autumn leaves out of your gutter. I do think the idea has potential. If instead of the 7 volt battery we loaded in a 18 volt, and put in a stronger motor for the auger, we might have something.