Inflation: Eye of the Beholder

About a year and a half ago, I paid $139.99 for a refurbished Shark Ion RV725N Robot Vacuum (via Groupon).

I like the thing. We're lazy around here and hate vacuuming. We also have pets, which means that we need to vacuum, often. I wasn't willing to spend $500+ on the Best New Thing, but $140 seemed reasonable compared to what I'd spend on a high quality vacuum cleaner that I'd have to, you know, manually push around the house.

But yesterday it shit the bed. It started its cleaning excursion, went about two feet, halted, and blinked two red lights ("clean" and "!").

According to various sources, that could mean either a "boundary sensory failure" (so I cleaned all the sensors) or a "suction motor failure" (so I checked to make sure there wasn't e.g. a wad of paper stuck in the orifice leading to said motor).

No joy.

I tried other things, including giving the whole device a thorough brushing down to make sure no sensors were blocked, the brush was rotating freely, the bumper wasn't binding up, etc. All without success.

So, time to buy another robo vac. Dammit. How much is this going to set me back?

The answer:  $84.99 plus tax at Amazon for a newer model (also refurbished -- not an affiliate link, btw) with more features (including being able to just tell Alexa to start the vacuum instead of undertaking the onerous physical chore of walking to it, leaning down, and pressing a button).

Yep, 40% less, not just for the same thing, but for a better version of the thing.

Not that I wanted to blow $90 (including tax) on a new one. But it's better than $140-$150.

No, it's not a sign of deflation, or "not inflation." While I don't keep close track of the robo vac milieu, my impression is that the technology has advanced significantly in the last year and a half, so the "new to me" vac may well be, relatively more obsolete now than the "it's dead, Jim" vac was when I bought it. The price of a new, state of the art robo vac has probably gone up.

On the other hand, the old, probably obsolete when I bought it, vac served my needs just fine. And I expect that the new one will serve those needs even better. I'm even hopeful that it will be less prone to e.g. getting stuck in corners or running itself up onto low edges and then beeping pitifully until I hear it and rescue it.