The dream of never having to vacuum again feels all too real when you look at advertisements for iRobot's (IRBT -0.73%)Roomba floor-cleaning robot, but one recent high-profile review does not look favorably upon these friendly looking floor cleaners.
Roomba 780: Courtesy of iRobot Corp.
Consumer Reports recently characterized the robotic vacuums as "expensive novelties." This is the last type of product review you'd like to hear as an investor in iRobot, and it comes on the back of competitor Neato Robotics winning several head-to-head robot vacuum reviews.
What's really interesting is the disagreement between consumer reviews and Consumer Reports. A quick look at the Amazon.com or Bed Bath & Beyond sites shows the robotic vacuums performing admirably and collecting four- to five-star reviews across the board.
In the video below, Motley Fool analyst Blake Bos goes over these mixed signals, and tells investors what they should watch for before the company reports earnings after markets close on Tuesday.
