Oh My Gookie! an autonomous robot vacuum?? NO WAY!?!

Thought it was a Dreamcast for a second.

I have now had both...the Neato dpes work in straight lines, but missed at of dirt...it also sounds like a jet is taking off next to you...went back to the Roomba...does a better cleaning job with floors and carpet...yet we can have a conversation while it is working,

Neato has to many computer issues...it gets confused easily, looses it's place, and will just stop working.

How often do you need to replace the filter? That's one task I forget to do on any appliance.

Will this scan my receipts if I put them on the floor?

I bought a Neato on Woot the last time it was offered, and have been using it for a number of weeks now. extremely happy with it. here's a number of observations so far:

1) it has definitely reduced the amount of vacuuming we do ourselves. I run this each weekend while my wife and her mom are out. it cleans our 3 bedroom single floor home (I'm not exactly sure of the sq footage) in 3.5 hours with one stop for a recharge. we used to vacuum ourselves each week but now it's about once a month.

2) it's gotten stuck only two times. once on the fringe of a rug in our family room, but I fold that underneath now and just leave it like that. the other was on a rubber band that got wrapped around the roller. it was easy to remove - just pop that part open, and remove the roller.

3) emptying the bin is just as easy. you push one orange lever and you can remove the bin. pull the filter off and dump the contents. everything snaps back together just as easily.

4) updating the firmware is easy too. you download an updater to your pc. plug in the Neato to your USB, and let it go. I haven't really noticed any difference since updating the firmware, but I wasn't experiencing any trouble in the operation of the unit either.

5) people have described the sound as a jet taking off - that is accurate. but I am often here when it's running, in our home office with the doors closed. I can watch a movie with normal headphones on and not be disturbed at all.

6) it requires 3 feet of clearance on each side and in front of the device for where you want to park it's docking station - that helps neato maneuver for docking. we didn't have a lot of free floor space by the walls, so we had to move stuff around to make the space for it. knowing the space requirements before buying it would have saved us some frustration trying to find a place for it.

7) I never had a roomba so I don't have a reference for comparison, but the neato does bump into things. in our foyer we have a table with some other things underneath - I notice that neato has pushed those things around a bit. one of the items is a glass container and it's moved but otherwise unharmed, so I suppose it's not bumping into things very hard.

8) neato does better on carpet than hardwood floors. we have hardwood floors in our kitchen that have pretty deep grooves - wife says that neato misses grains of rice in those grooves ( though I have never noticed it). it does an ok job against the walls and in corners, but not as good a job as you'd do with a regular vacuum.

9) the proof is in the bin - I was really surprised at how much crap this thing actually picked up. the bin has enough capacity to vacuum our entire place, but it's always nearly full.

10) the house just feels fresher. there's nothing like coming home from an outing to freshly vacuumed carpets. and because I don't actually have to do any of the vacuuming, I take the time to move chairs around so neato can get under our dinner table - we hadn't vacuumed under there for as long as I can remember. a little prep (in comparison to how much work and time you save) goes a long way.

in summary, for a relatively new customer, I'm a believer. you can't beat the convenience and time you save, and the maintenance has been really low so far. I've paid more for a vacuum that I had to push around myself. I would have bought a neato a lot sooner if I knew how good it would be.

Just ordered and I hope I love it! Actually I hope the wife loves it and she will stop asking me to vacuum!

rmirasol wrote:I bought a Neato on Woot the last time it was offered, and have been using it for a number of weeks now. extremely happy with it. here's a number of observations so far:

1) it has definitely reduced the amount of vacuuming we do ourselves. I run this each weekend while my wife and her mom are out. it cleans our 3 bedroom single floor home (I'm not exactly sure of the sq footage) in 3.5 hours with one stop for a recharge. we used to vacuum ourselves each week but now it's about once a month.

2) it's gotten stuck only two times. once on the fringe of a rug in our family room, but I fold that underneath now and just leave it like that. the other was on a rubber band that got wrapped around the roller. it was easy to remove - just pop that part open, and remove the roller.

3) emptying the bin is just as easy. you push one orange lever and you can remove the bin. pull the filter off and dump the contents. everything snaps back together just as easily.

4) updating the firmware is easy too. you download an updater to your pc. plug in the Neato to your USB, and let it go. I haven't really noticed any difference since updating the firmware, but I wasn't experiencing any trouble in the operation of the unit either.

5) people have described the sound as a jet taking off - that is accurate. but I am often here when it's running, in our home office with the doors closed. I can watch a movie with normal headphones on and not be disturbed at all.

6) it requires 3 feet of clearance on each side and in front of the device for where you want to park it's docking station - that helps neato maneuver for docking. we didn't have a lot of free floor space by the walls, so we had to move stuff around to make the space for it. knowing the space requirements before buying it would have saved us some frustration trying to find a place for it.

7) I never had a roomba so I don't have a reference for comparison, but the neato does bump into things. in our foyer we have a table with some other things underneath - I notice that neato has pushed those things around a bit. one of the items is a glass container and it's moved but otherwise unharmed, so I suppose it's not bumping into things very hard.

8) neato does better on carpet than hardwood floors. we have hardwood floors in our kitchen that have pretty deep grooves - wife says that neato misses grains of rice in those grooves ( though I have never noticed it). it does an ok job against the walls and in corners, but not as good a job as you'd do with a regular vacuum.

9) the proof is in the bin - I was really surprised at how much crap this thing actually picked up. the bin has enough capacity to vacuum our entire place, but it's always nearly full.

10) the house just feels fresher. there's nothing like coming home from an outing to freshly vacuumed carpets. and because I don't actually have to do any of the vacuuming, I take the time to move chairs around so neato can get under our dinner table - we hadn't vacuumed under there for as long as I can remember. a little prep (in comparison to how much work and time you save) goes a long way.

in summary, for a relatively new customer, I'm a believer. you can't beat the convenience and time you save, and the maintenance has been really low so far. I've paid more for a vacuum that I had to push around myself. I would have bought a neato a lot sooner if I knew how good it would be.

[quote postid="4908095" Will neato cross thresh holds to continue vacuuming?

Currently owned this and previously owned two different models of Roombas. As others have pointed out, the Neato wins in the roller category - hair doesn't wrap around and get stuck on the brushes as much as it does on the Roomba. Conversely, the difference between Roomba's bristles brushes/suction and Neato's rubber fins do favor Roomba on carpeted items. I have a smallish rug at the foot of my bed that the Roomba cleaned that better (either through suction or those bristles) than the Neato. The Roomba also has that corner arm that always worked better than I expected it to along edges and on dusty table legs.

In all other aspects I prefer the Neato - due to the way it images the room it has a more efficient cleaning pattern than the Roomba and covers more area in less time.

The Neato also intelligently maps a trip back to its base, maintains its schedule without complaints and was engineered smartly enough to only require a full-on cleaning about once a month. There's very little maintenance thus far other than emptying the dust bin every few days.

While all these robots invariably miss some dirt (they're not perfect), they do pick up a surprising amount in a few day's time. In that aspect the Neato and Roomba are roughly equivalent, though I should note that I've had both Roomba's die on me within a year of usage for each. That I continue to buy the machines are a testament to how much they assist me in the home, allowing me to take care of other tasks instead of vacuuming my floors every few days.

I recommend this machine without any misgivings so far. Neato also appears to be cool with updating firmwarme through the USB port in the back. They've released several on their website so continued support is likely.

I'd like to know how it handles cat toys on the floor, does it try to eat them? I'm pretty good about picking stuff up, but, ya never know :-)

I'm this close.....

vipermjb wrote:Neato and Dyson on two different Woots in the same day. Brain is at critical mass....explosion imminent!!!!






-boom-

You could clearly say that things kinda suck at woot today.

This thing looks like the "Oreck XL" of Roombas. It works great but it is reaaaally ugly.

robdcm wrote:If you have cats and do not already own one of these - BUY IT RIGHT NOW!!!

YES! A new device with which to terrify the cats, and it keeps on working even when we're not around!

Best of all, it automatically cleans up the extra shedding that results from kitty terror!

Eeeeeexcellent!

How's the battery life on this over time? I owned a roomba years ago and my biggest complaints were the hair tangled in the brushes and the fact that over time the battery just couldn't hold a charge worth anything. Replacing the battery was as expensive as buying a new roomba from woot!

How is it when you have uncarpeted floors, forced air, and a LOT of cat fur that blows around?

Costco has the XV 11 for $329. 4+ star ratings.

http://www.costco.com/Browse/Product.aspx?Prodid=11612511&whse=BC&Ne=4000000&eCat=BC|90608|4716|90775&N=4047972&Mo=1&pos=4&No=0&Nr=P_CatalogName:BC&cat=90775&Ns=P_Price|1||P_SignDesc1&lang=en-US&Sp=C&ec=BC-EC40044-Cat4716&topnav=

nobgobblin69 wrote:I know this sounds like a dumb question, but is this as noisy as my roomba? anyone had both? Hate the noise of the rooma..

It's fairly noisy but you can talk on the phone. I got one two days ago and I want another. The thing is great. It's not perfect and you're going to have to do a little pickup along the edges of a thick pile rug but it's unbelievable.

bmbags wrote:How's the battery life on this over time? I owned a roomba years ago and my biggest complaints were the hair tangled in the brushes and the fact that over time the battery just couldn't hold a charge worth anything. Replacing the battery was as expensive as buying a new roomba from woot!

Brush is a misnomer on this. They are flexible clear plastic "fins" and if you've got something weird on the floor, it will wrap a little bit, stop and give you the message on the readout. When you clear, it starts right back up.

worldwidewebfeet wrote:Costco has the XV 11 for $329. 4+ star ratings.

http://www.costco.com/Browse/Product.aspx?Prodid=11612511&whse=BC&Ne=4000000&eCat=BC|90608|4716|90775&N=4047972&Mo=1&pos=4&No=0&Nr=P_CatalogName:BC&cat=90775&Ns=P_Price|1||P_SignDesc1&lang=en-US&Sp=C&ec=BC-EC40044-Cat4716&topnav=

I got mine at Costco and it came two days ago. I want another one!!!! They're great.

celeste91784 wrote:How often do you need to replace the filter? That's one task I forget to do on any appliance.

You have to take the filter off to empty the dust bin and I just ran hot water over mine to clean it and it dried without getting distorted. So for the third cleaning I have put the first filter back in while the second one dries. I think it cleans great. It's unbelievable what comes out of the dust bin with three dogs and two cats. It doesn't do well along the edge of a thick-pile rug but that takes a second to catch up and I'm figuring in another three or four days, it will have done a good enough job overall that won't be as big a problem. I like the flexible, plastic strips that are "brushes". They send a bunch of replacements so it doesn't tear up your carpets or scratch your floors.

Simply great!
We had a Roomba that we finally donated to a community garage sale. It was kind of fun to watch, but it missed so much dirt and was constantly getting stuck that we just gave up on it.

The Neato is worlds better. It doesn't miss a spot, and it avoids most obstacles completely using it's proximity sensing ability. We've run it the day after doing a thorough cleaning, and it still comes up with a full bin of dirt.

Some people have complained about the noise, but this really isn't a problem. It's not nearly as loud as a conventional vacuum cleaner. Our kids complain if we run it at night, so we usually start it up just before we leave the house for shopping.

Oddly, our animals completely ignore it - even our Chihuahua!

Tip - Watch Square Trade for warranty sales, then pick up a three year warranty. Neato has great customer service, but the warranty is only for one year. Being that this is a) new technology, and b) it has lots of moving parts, the $30 you'll spend will probably be a good investment.

worldwidewebfeet wrote:Costco has the XV 11 for $329. 4+ star ratings.

http://www.costco.com/Browse/Product.aspx?Prodid=11612511&whse=BC&Ne=4000000&eCat=BC|90608|4716|90775&N=4047972&Mo=1&pos=4&No=0&Nr=P_CatalogName:BC&cat=90775&Ns=P_Price|1||P_SignDesc1&lang=en-US&Sp=C&ec=BC-EC40044-Cat4716&topnav=

Plus tax but no shipping cost. About $343 total. And I read somewhere the difference between the 11 and the 12 is the 12 is white and sold by Target only.

Overstock is not an authorized dealer. Neato will not honor the warranty. Woot is.

celeste91784 wrote:How often do you need to replace the filter? That's one task I forget to do on any appliance.

I haven't had my Neato long enough to know but they send you six filters, if the accessory pack comes with the vacuum and it does on this offer today. It's a good filter with good plactic bracing around it and you have to remove it to empty the bin. I ran mine under hot water and let it dry overnight and it was good as new. My hunch is it's going to last a good little while but they did send me six.

hayeswildrick wrote:Simply great!
We had a Roomba that we finally donated to a community garage sale. It was kind of fun to watch, but it missed so much dirt and was constantly getting stuck that we just gave up on it.

The Neato is worlds better. It doesn't miss a spot, and it avoids most obstacles completely using it's proximity sensing ability. We've run it the day after doing a thorough cleaning, and it still comes up with a full bin of dirt. I'm more than satisfied since what it got up is an astonishing amount of dog hair and real dirt and that's after I had run my regular vac. This is far better than my regular one which obviously did best on anything obvious.

Some people have complained about the noise, but this really isn't a problem. It's not nearly as loud as a conventional vacuum cleaner. Our kids complain if we run it at night, so we usually start it up just before we leave the house for shopping.

Oddly, our animals completely ignore it - even our Chihuahua!

Tip - Watch Square Trade for warranty sales, then pick up a three year warranty. Neato has great customer service, but the warranty is only for one year. Being that this is a) new technology, and b) it has lots of moving parts, the $30 you'll spend will probably be a good investment.

Great info about Watch Square Trade. I never heard of it. They honor their contracts if you have a problem? And I love my Neato. I've run it two days in a row, since I've only had it starting day three today and I'm running it again. And out of three dogs and two cats, they are not interested in it. I was afraid they would start torturing it. It's noisy but you can talk on the phone at the same time, a little louder, and it does leave some obvious dirt behind but I got that and figure since I'll run it everyday with so many animals that it should get better in a few days. Bad along the edge of a thick pile rug but not dreadful.

rmirasol wrote:I bought a Neato on Woot the last time it was offered, and have been using it for a number of weeks now. extremely happy with it. here's a number of observations so far:

1) it has definitely reduced the amount of vacuuming we do ourselves. I run this each weekend while my wife and her mom are out. it cleans our 3 bedroom single floor home (I'm not exactly sure of the sq footage) in 3.5 hours with one stop for a recharge. we used to vacuum ourselves each week but now it's about once a month.

2) it's gotten stuck only two times. once on the fringe of a rug in our family room, but I fold that underneath now and just leave it like that. the other was on a rubber band that got wrapped around the roller. it was easy to remove - just pop that part open, and remove the roller.

3) emptying the bin is just as easy. you push one orange lever and you can remove the bin. pull the filter off and dump the contents. everything snaps back together just as easily.

4) updating the firmware is easy too. you download an updater to your pc. plug in the Neato to your USB, and let it go. I haven't really noticed any difference since updating the firmware, but I wasn't experiencing any trouble in the operation of the unit either.

5) people have described the sound as a jet taking off - that is accurate. but I am often here when it's running, in our home office with the doors closed. I can watch a movie with normal headphones on and not be disturbed at all.

6) it requires 3 feet of clearance on each side and in front of the device for where you want to park it's docking station - that helps neato maneuver for docking. we didn't have a lot of free floor space by the walls, so we had to move stuff around to make the space for it. knowing the space requirements before buying it would have saved us some frustration trying to find a place for it.

7) I never had a roomba so I don't have a reference for comparison, but the neato does bump into things. in our foyer we have a table with some other things underneath - I notice that neato has pushed those things around a bit. one of the items is a glass container and it's moved but otherwise unharmed, so I suppose it's not bumping into things very hard.

8) neato does better on carpet than hardwood floors. we have hardwood floors in our kitchen that have pretty deep grooves - wife says that neato misses grains of rice in those grooves ( though I have never noticed it). it does an ok job against the walls and in corners, but not as good a job as you'd do with a regular vacuum.

9) the proof is in the bin - I was really surprised at how much crap this thing actually picked up. the bin has enough capacity to vacuum our entire place, but it's always nearly full.

10) the house just feels fresher. there's nothing like coming home from an outing to freshly vacuumed carpets. and because I don't actually have to do any of the vacuuming, I take the time to move chairs around so neato can get under our dinner table - we hadn't vacuumed under there for as long as I can remember. a little prep (in comparison to how much work and time you save) goes a long way.

in summary, for a relatively new customer, I'm a believer. you can't beat the convenience and time you save, and the maintenance has been really low so far. I've paid more for a vacuum that I had to push around myself. I would have bought a neato a lot sooner if I knew how good it would be.

Great review. My experience matches yours exactly. If I'd only known how great it was, my house could have been clean everytime a visitor unexpectedly came to my door. I have two stories so I'm getting another one.

eleanorhenry wrote:[quote postid="4908095" Will neato cross thresh holds to continue vacuuming?

Yes, indeed, it will. I have a high threshold and it went right over and on down the hall.

MVH wrote:Plus tax but no shipping cost. About $343 total. And I read somewhere the difference between the 11 and the 12 is the 12 is white and sold by Target only.

...and Woot, and Amazon, and ebay...

My Neato (costco, infinitely returnable and only $40 more than woot) has been deployed for about a month.


I updated his firmware. He cannot cross the thresholds predictably in my home, which is to say that he CAN do it but does not choose to implement his successful strategy with any consistency. So I have to drag him from room to room which is a pain.

He does not successfully return to his base in our one big,scheduled, room. He makes it to about 6 inches away and bleeps all day until he runs his battery out or I get home, whichever comes first. He returned to the base fine before the firmware upgrade.

His vacuuming is far superior to my Roomba and I am amazed at how much dust and crud is in his bin even though I run him every single day and have hardwood floors.

His ability to navigate wires is much worse than Roomba. He has stripped a headphone wire and also got stuck up on a rubber doorstop which he proceeded to grind into dust with his "brush" until it was low enough for him to proceed. He did not stop spinning his brush or try to back up as the Roomba would have. He was courteous enough to vacuum up the pile of rubber dust he had created however the mysterious "Wakko Talks Faboo!" rubber former-doorstop-nubbin remained as a clue to his misdeed.

He leaves dust bunnies along the walls b/c he does not get as close to them as Roomba, nor does he have a side brush.

I thought his carpet cleaning abilities were better than Roomba but now that his brush is shredded from his doorstop attack and wire shenanigans he does much less well on the rug than he used to.

JRuegg wrote:Neato is introducing the XV-21 in April. It's supposed to have a better brush and filter for pet hair.

From the article, it sounds like the XV-11s and 12s can utilize the new filters and brush after a firmware update.

http://www.engadget.com/2012/03/11/neato-robotics-xv-21-vacuum-sucks-up-pet-hair-and-allergens-lo/

I also purchased a Neato last time it was here. I love it.

According to this article, adding the upgraded filter will cost you, but still seems like a great deal.

I'm the owner of 3 Woot-Roombas that all had to be retired after several years of service. Bought the Neato in a Woot-Off and have to say, I'll never look back.

This is much better than the Roomba, particularly if you have long-haired pets. We have a Newfoundland that sheds a poodles worth of hair on average a week.

We ran the Roombas and now the Neato 5 daysa week (weekdays).

With the Roomba I had to use an exacto knife to get the mat of hair out of the brushes after nearly every run. The Neato has been running for two weeks now, and not a single hair in the roller with lots of evidence in the bin that its working.

The area the Neato cleans is about 1100sq ft divided into 4 distinct areas. It successfully navigates all of them one at a time, switching between carpet, hardwoods and area rugs (no frills) without issue. It does require a charging session to complete though, but does that fine. The roomba would not clean the entire area.

All in all, I would definitely recommend this over the Roomba (sorry Roomba, we did love you so).

Trigger. Pulled.

Had to figure out if my extreme laziness when it comes to cleaning was worth three-oh-five :-)

Turns out, it is!

I've always loved my Roombas over the years and it sounds like I'm going to like this much better.

This vacuum is fantastic. Roombas do not compare. It's like going from a model "T" to a Corvette. I would recommend this machine to everyone who can afford it. It has saved me and my wife so much time and work. We have 2 dogs and it picks up all the hair. It is truly incredible how well it really does work. We have it set to vacuum most of our first floor (1000 sq ft) 3 days a week. It does about 90% then goes back for a charge. About an hour later it finishes up right where it left off. Amazing !!! Very very well engineered and well built. My only criticism is that it does not have an edge brush so once in a while you do have to do vacuum alone the walls. I’m telling you, buy one. You will not be disappointed.

radi0j0hn wrote:How is it when you have uncarpeted floors, forced air, and a LOT of cat fur that blows around?

Just run it more often. I've run mine two days in a row because of three dogs and two cats. I'm going to run it every day for all that hair.

chimpsnest wrote:Trigger. Pulled.

Had to figure out if my extreme laziness when it comes to cleaning was worth three-oh-five :-)

Turns out, it is!

I've always loved my Roombas over the years and it sounds like I'm going to like this much better.

It has been worth it for my extreme laziness. Something about getting the vacuum out keeps it from happening often enough. This thing is painless.

eli2005 wrote:My Neato (costco, infinitely returnable and only $40 more than woot) has been deployed for about a month.


I updated his firmware. He cannot cross the thresholds predictably in my home, which is to say that he CAN do it but does not choose to implement his successful strategy with any consistency. So I have to drag him from room to room which is a pain.

He does not successfully return to his base in our one big,scheduled, room. He makes it to about 6 inches away and bleeps all day until he runs his battery out or I get home, whichever comes first. He returned to the base fine before the firmware upgrade.

His vacuuming is far superior to my Roomba and I am amazed at how much dust and crud is in his bin even though I run him every single day and have hardwood floors.

His ability to navigate wires is much worse than Roomba. He has stripped a headphone wire and also got stuck up on a rubber doorstop which he proceeded to grind into dust with his "brush" until it was low enough for him to proceed. He did not stop spinning his brush or try to back up as the Roomba would have. He was courteous enough to vacuum up the pile of rubber dust he had created however the mysterious "Wakko Talks Faboo!" rubber former-doorstop-nubbin remained as a clue to his misdeed.

He leaves dust bunnies along the walls b/c he does not get as close to them as Roomba, nor does he have a side brush.

I thought his carpet cleaning abilities were better than Roomba but now that his brush is shredded from his doorstop attack and wire shenanigans he does much less well on the rug than he used to.

I think the problem is yours is a male.

The neato really does a great job picking up dust and pet hair.

chimpsnest wrote:I'd like to know how it handles cat toys on the floor, does it try to eat them? I'm pretty good about picking stuff up, but, ya never know :-)

I'm this close.....

You'd be better off clearing the floor first. Someone said it ate their rubber door stop so your cat toys are not going to fare well. But if it gets stuck, it will just stop until you clear it.

chimpsnest wrote:I'd like to know how it handles cat toys on the floor, does it try to eat them? I'm pretty good about picking stuff up, but, ya never know :-)

I'm this close.....

There are always cat toys (balls and catnip filled stuffed critters) on the floor and the neato just seems to push them out of the way. Same with golf balls, which the cats like to play with.

If you have the ones with ribbons or or string fibers, I would definitely pick those up.