Bought one of these from Woot several months ago. He works 5 days a week, does a great job, and no problems.
I first tried Neato on short runs. I wanted to see how he maneuvered and what problems he could get into. We have a long hall that leads to a bathroom and I used the magnetic strips to restrict him to those two areas.
I was working in another room when I realized he was silent. Went into the hall, looked right, no Neato. Looked left toward the bathroom, no Neato. No sound. Looked right again, looked left, no sign of Neato. Did he escape? A fast scan of doorways showed the magnetic strips were in place. He wasn't under the hall cabinet. Finally found him in the bathroom stuck between the toilet and tub. He had shut down but his message window explained that his bumper was caught on something, would I please release him.
I reoriented him, he shot out of the narrow pathway toward the sink, spun around and back he went to clean the area between the tub and toilet. He got to the wall behind the toilet, spun, and headed out again but was at an angle, so he got stuck again. He worked at getting free but couldn't and again shut down. This time the message was to please clear the path. I straightened him, he took off toward the sink, hung a right and zipped back out into the hall and tackled the hall carpet. Fine.
A little while later I saw him return to the bathroom and down that narrow area between the tub and toilet. At the wall, he spun and came straight out to the sink, hung a right out of the bathroom and down the hall to his charger where he docked. Task completed. Talk about obsessive!
(I refer to Neato as a “he” because he reminds me of my husband --doesn’t ask for directions, occasionally appears to get lost, but, in the end, gets the task done.)
