Neato - robotic house floor cleaner

stevehull · 08-16-15, 09:16 AM

I am not a big fan of the latest and greatest - but this one is a greatest.

You may have heard of the "Rooba", the so called "robot" floor vacuum cleaner. I had seen some reviews of it and it was an expensive disappointment to the reviewers. Pass.

My oldest son got another type of robot vacuum called the "Neato". He loves it and encouraged me to buy one. It is smart and outlines the house walls first, the does a very specific grid cleaning pattern. If it runs out of battery power, it returns to the home charging base for a fillup.

My son's routine floor cleaning has ended and he only has to do some corners and tight areas about once a month.

Looked it up online; a bit expensive at $350+ shipping so I decided to hold off.

Of course the smart ads found that I was looking. Then "Woot" offered me a refurbished "new" one at $150 (Signature XV). That got my attention and I ordered it.

Came a couple days ago, looked like new and the installation instructions are just one page. Turn on the battery power compartment switch, set it down positioned next to the charging base and let it power up for 12 hours. I set it to clean our guest house where I just installed about 1200 sq ft of laminate. I got REALLY tired of sweeping up the fine dust that comes in as you track in the sawdust.

It comes with a stock "beater" bar that has silastic paddles and brushes to maximally clear hard floor surfaces. It comes with another bar designed for homes with wall to wall rugs

Anyway, it ran around yesterday for about three hours and I had to empty the Neato dust bin four times full of fine wood dust that my brooms, upright vacuum cleaner and damp mop had all missed. I opened all interior house doors and closets and just let it go.

If it has a full dust bin, it stays in the middle of the room and flashed a red light with a panel that tells you to empty the bin. You do that and it starts right up where it left off cleaning.

This is no dummy . . . It has a small laser to guide it around, some sort of embedded positioning software and the 3 inch diameter wheels go over transition strips, lamp cords and such. Watching it return to the charging station and snuggle up to it for a charge is rather amusing. It came out of a closet, went across the room, down a hallway, into the kitchen, went around the island and "found" the charging station.

And it will not fall down stairs either as the laser will detect them.

Yes it does carpets and area rugs as well, but I was amazed at the quantity of dust/grit that it got off the floors. Very nice filter on it as well. I saw it going though bright sunlight and there was no dust debris spewing out of the exhaust port. Quite strong vacuum too. And not at all noisy. You know it is on, but FAR less noisy than a standard vacuum cleaner.

My wife and I are no neatos and are rather content (lazy?) with the debris that three dogs, three cats, two cockatiels and the debris that living on a livestock farm brings in the door. Dogs alone bring in an amazing amount of sand/grit on the paw pads.

Today it starts again and I will be interested in how much dust it gets this time.

Two thumbs up . . . . and I have no financial connection in any way to this company . . . .

Steve

stevehull · 12-30-15, 06:41 AM

Melving - A+ for finding yet another typo in my posts!

Steve

Geo NR Gee · 12-30-15, 12:48 PM

Our family have been using the Neato for 5 years now. Before that it was also the Roomba. Neato is better unless Roomba has been redesigned in my opinion too. I do like the edge spinning brush of the Roomba though.

Spending $400 on a robot vacuum didn't seem like a wise investment until I asked my better half to use her favorite vacuum and do a once over. Then when she was done,(very important step here) I showed her the empty dust bin, put it back in the new Neato and I set the Neato free. After a few minutes, I pulled the dust bin and showed her how much more this picks up. Looking in the dust bin, she was a bit surprised and was ok with the purchase.

I did that same demonstration at my mother and my friends house. Also found that when my floors are kept vacuumed, that my gal is much happier when she comes home from a long day of work.

There is one for the shop and one in the house. One thing that I learned is that when the battery is past its useful life, that you can replace them with a longer lasting aftermarket battery from places like Amazon. One charge and my whole house is cleaned.

stevehull · 12-30-15, 01:21 PM

Geo - there are also a number of forums that show how to buy the actual batteries and to make up your own battery packs. The newer Li-ion cells have far more capacity than the older types so you get get more cleaning done per charge (as you noted).

Some of the Neatos are VERY pricey, but the clean floors and happy spouse far makes up for it.

I should also note that we are on a livestock farm and people are supposed to take shoes off when entering, but some forget (me included). The Neato does an incredible job of cleaning.

It starts at 7:30 am and goes through the entire house (won't fall down stairs). About 1/2 way through, it "knows" it doesn't have sufficient charge to finish the job and goes back to the base unit (120 v plug in) for a quick charge. Once that mini charge is done it goes back to the exact spot when it stopped cleaning and starts cleaning again. When all done, a big sleep and charge until the next day.

Steve

Geo NR Gee · 01-01-16, 12:31 PM

I didn't know that they have a new unit called a Neato Botvac. It has the side brush built in. Those little extra spinning brushes are the cats meow. The Roomba (different company) has it, whereas the older Neato Signature series doesn't. It makes a big difference in cleaning the edges or not.

Maybe I should see if there is a hack to add one. Cannot see spending another $500 just for the edge brush.

08-16-15, 09:16 AM	#1
stevehull Steve Hull Join Date: Dec 2012 Location: hilly, tree covered Arcadia, OK USA Posts: 826 Thanks: 241 Thanked 165 Times in 123 Posts	Neato - robotic house floor cleaner I am not a big fan of the latest and greatest - but this one is a greatest. You may have heard of the "Rooba", the so called "robot" floor vacuum cleaner. I had seen some reviews of it and it was an expensive disappointment to the reviewers. Pass. My oldest son got another type of robot vacuum called the "Neato". He loves it and encouraged me to buy one. It is smart and outlines the house walls first, the does a very specific grid cleaning pattern. If it runs out of battery power, it returns to the home charging base for a fillup. My son's routine floor cleaning has ended and he only has to do some corners and tight areas about once a month. Looked it up online; a bit expensive at $350+ shipping so I decided to hold off. Of course the smart ads found that I was looking. Then "Woot" offered me a refurbished "new" one at $150 (Signature XV). That got my attention and I ordered it. Came a couple days ago, looked like new and the installation instructions are just one page. Turn on the battery power compartment switch, set it down positioned next to the charging base and let it power up for 12 hours. I set it to clean our guest house where I just installed about 1200 sq ft of laminate. I got REALLY tired of sweeping up the fine dust that comes in as you track in the sawdust. It comes with a stock "beater" bar that has silastic paddles and brushes to maximally clear hard floor surfaces. It comes with another bar designed for homes with wall to wall rugs Anyway, it ran around yesterday for about three hours and I had to empty the Neato dust bin four times full of fine wood dust that my brooms, upright vacuum cleaner and damp mop had all missed. I opened all interior house doors and closets and just let it go. If it has a full dust bin, it stays in the middle of the room and flashed a red light with a panel that tells you to empty the bin. You do that and it starts right up where it left off cleaning. This is no dummy . . . It has a small laser to guide it around, some sort of embedded positioning software and the 3 inch diameter wheels go over transition strips, lamp cords and such. Watching it return to the charging station and snuggle up to it for a charge is rather amusing. It came out of a closet, went across the room, down a hallway, into the kitchen, went around the island and "found" the charging station. And it will not fall down stairs either as the laser will detect them. Yes it does carpets and area rugs as well, but I was amazed at the quantity of dust/grit that it got off the floors. Very nice filter on it as well. I saw it going though bright sunlight and there was no dust debris spewing out of the exhaust port. Quite strong vacuum too. And not at all noisy. You know it is on, but FAR less noisy than a standard vacuum cleaner. My wife and I are no neatos and are rather content (lazy?) with the debris that three dogs, three cats, two cockatiels and the debris that living on a livestock farm brings in the door. Dogs alone bring in an amazing amount of sand/grit on the paw pads. Today it starts again and I will be interested in how much dust it gets this time. Two thumbs up . . . . and I have no financial connection in any way to this company . . . . Steve __________________ consulting on geothermal heating/cooling & rational energy use since 1990

12-30-15, 06:41 AM	#2
stevehull Steve Hull Join Date: Dec 2012 Location: hilly, tree covered Arcadia, OK USA Posts: 826 Thanks: 241 Thanked 165 Times in 123 Posts	Melving - A+ for finding yet another typo in my posts! Steve __________________ consulting on geothermal heating/cooling & rational energy use since 1990

12-30-15, 01:21 PM	#4
stevehull Steve Hull Join Date: Dec 2012 Location: hilly, tree covered Arcadia, OK USA Posts: 826 Thanks: 241 Thanked 165 Times in 123 Posts	Geo - there are also a number of forums that show how to buy the actual batteries and to make up your own battery packs. The newer Li-ion cells have far more capacity than the older types so you get get more cleaning done per charge (as you noted). Some of the Neatos are VERY pricey, but the clean floors and happy spouse far makes up for it. I should also note that we are on a livestock farm and people are supposed to take shoes off when entering, but some forget (me included). The Neato does an incredible job of cleaning. It starts at 7:30 am and goes through the entire house (won't fall down stairs). About 1/2 way through, it "knows" it doesn't have sufficient charge to finish the job and goes back to the base unit (120 v plug in) for a quick charge. Once that mini charge is done it goes back to the exact spot when it stopped cleaning and starts cleaning again. When all done, a big sleep and charge until the next day. Steve __________________ consulting on geothermal heating/cooling & rational energy use since 1990

12-30-15, 12:48 PM	#3
Geo NR Gee Journeyman EcoRenovator Join Date: Jan 2011 Location: Seattle Posts: 326 Thanks: 109 Thanked 23 Times in 18 Posts	Our family have been using the Neato for 5 years now. Before that it was also the Roomba. Neato is better unless Roomba has been redesigned in my opinion too. I do like the edge spinning brush of the Roomba though. Spending $400 on a robot vacuum didn't seem like a wise investment until I asked my better half to use her favorite vacuum and do a once over. Then when she was done,(very important step here) I showed her the empty dust bin, put it back in the new Neato and I set the Neato free. After a few minutes, I pulled the dust bin and showed her how much more this picks up. Looking in the dust bin, she was a bit surprised and was ok with the purchase. I did that same demonstration at my mother and my friends house. Also found that when my floors are kept vacuumed, that my gal is much happier when she comes home from a long day of work. There is one for the shop and one in the house. One thing that I learned is that when the battery is past its useful life, that you can replace them with a longer lasting aftermarket battery from places like Amazon. One charge and my whole house is cleaned.

01-01-16, 12:31 PM	#5
Geo NR Gee Journeyman EcoRenovator Join Date: Jan 2011 Location: Seattle Posts: 326 Thanks: 109 Thanked 23 Times in 18 Posts	I didn't know that they have a new unit called a Neato Botvac. It has the side brush built in. Those little extra spinning brushes are the cats meow. The Roomba (different company) has it, whereas the older Neato Signature series doesn't. It makes a big difference in cleaning the edges or not. Maybe I should see if there is a hack to add one. Cannot see spending another $500 just for the edge brush.