First of all, it's not the same company as roomba (irobot). Sounds like you had issues with your roomba (you don't say what they were), but I don't see how that is related to being "tricked."
My anecdata: we've had three since 2009, the earlier ones cleaned well but got dirt inside and eventually stopped working after 2 years. Our latest one bought 3 years ago seems better designed and more reliable, zero problems so far. Ours runs 2-3 times a week, mostly on wood and linoleum floors, and fills up with pet hair and dirt each time. We don't fiddle with the IR barriers, we just put a box in a doorway if we don't want it to roam, and we don't worry about docking, we just pick it up wherever it stops, empty it and dock it manually. Overall, it does a good job of getting most of the dirt in an area, but there is still the need to do a deeper clean once a month. Not affiliated, just a satisfied customer.
My anecdata: we've had three since 2009, the earlier ones cleaned well but got dirt inside and eventually stopped working after 2 years. Our latest one bought 3 years ago seems better designed and more reliable, zero problems so far. Ours runs 2-3 times a week, mostly on wood and linoleum floors, and fills up with pet hair and dirt each time. We don't fiddle with the IR barriers, we just put a box in a doorway if we don't want it to roam, and we don't worry about docking, we just pick it up wherever it stops, empty it and dock it manually. Overall, it does a good job of getting most of the dirt in an area, but there is still the need to do a deeper clean once a month. Not affiliated, just a satisfied customer.