Wootalyzer's Pricing Post! - The price of today's woot item is saved here for future reference
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NEATO XV-21 Pet & Allergy Robotic Vac
$299.99 + $5 Standard Shipping
Condition: New

*DISCLAIMER* Wootalyzer! is in no way affiliated with Woot!, and this post may not always be here!

I bought this on Woot last time it was on about 2 weeks ago. This is really an awesome piece of technology. It takes care of 98% of my vacuuming and sweeping.

It JUST got marked down to $405 on Amazon so this is still a great deal.

rmcc4444 wrote:I bought this on Woot last time it was on about 2 weeks ago. This is really an awesome piece of technology. It takes care of 98% of my vacuuming and sweeping.

It JUST got marked down to $405 on Amazon so this is still a great deal.

EDIT: Here is my review from amazon.com

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I purchased this on sale at Woot but am frequent Amazon customer so I wanted to give my 2 cents on this device. I have made 2 outstanding purchases in the past 2 years. The first was a timed rice cooker and now this thing. It's amazing how it figures out where it needs to go. Right when I think it's going to beep because it's caught up in a tight space it starts moving again. It even has hydraulics of some kind to lift its rear end up to help it get out of tough situations.

Sometimes I'll think it's not going to get to the kitchen because it's starts heading back towards my bedroom where it already cleaned after a bit it eventually gets its way to the kitchen and laundry room and does it's job on my wooden floors (extra cat littler pieces and all) as good as any broom would do. I really have no plans to ever vacuum or sweep my house ever again.

The first few times my 2 cats were freaked out. After a few more times they became more interested and observed. Now they play with it a little bit but it doesn't mess up the sensor. I've also noticed the allergy flareups one of my cats gets frequently gets due to being FIV positive has decreased since using this. I can't say 100% this is due to the Neato because I made a few other changes (food, litter, etc.) but it certainly hasn't hurt.

If there was one thing I could add to the XV-21 it would be those spinning weed whacker type things that the Roomba has to help clean up junk directly alongside the walls. Now I either ignore the junk and it will eventually get picked up or sometimes rub my shoe right where the wall meets the floor to get the junk into the open where the Neato can suck it up next time.

As for noise, it's about as loud as a low-end vacuum. Not bad at all. I can watch TV with it running as long as I turn the volume up a few notches.

Even with that extra "weed whacker wall" Roomba feature I would without a doubt still go with the Neato. The Neato is intelligent whereas the Roomba seems mildly me hearties.

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This little guy is awesome! It's actually intelligent, and hasn't gotten tripped up by too many things (just some headphone wires once). Very highly recommend.

I've mentioned this before, but Costco has always had a Neato for $299, so this has never seemed like a good deal for me.


[MOD: Different Model. That's All Floors. We're selling the Pet & Allergy]

previous woot, same $299.99:
http://www.woot.com/forums/viewpost.aspx?postid=5156804

product website:
http://www.neatorobotics.com/product/robotic-vacuums/xv-21/

support page:
http://www.neatorobotics.com/support/answer-center/

General manual: http://www.neatorobotics.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/NEATO-VACUUM-USER-GUIDE.pdf

General quick start guide:
http://www.neatorobotics.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/NeatoVacuumQSC_US_0328111.pdf

bye

One final thing. I purchased HEPA filters from this guy.

http://www.vic7767.com/neato-xv-11-xv-12-and-xv-21-mods-kits-and-any-parts/

He has other accessories/mods as well.

Cheers

I LOVE THIS PRODUCT! I bought one a few weeks ago (last time it was on woot). I wish I had bought this sooner. I run the neato every day, each day in a different section of the house.

My only gripes:

1. It does NOT get close to the wall, so baseboards never get cleaned.

2. The dust bin will fill up before the battery conks out--and the battery conks out fast.

3. It gets confused with curvy furniture legs (it tries to climb some curved furniture, and then gets stuck.)

I wish it could empty its own dirt bin when it recharges.

The good:

1. The suction on this thing is incredible. I can pick up a significant amount of dirt, even after I've vacuumed with a Dyson.

2. The neato uses a grid pattern to get ALL of a room. (I used to have a Roomba that would bounce around randomly, sometimes leaving large swaths uncleaned.)

3. The brushes don't clog up with dog hair (compared to my roomba, which I'd have to clear out dog hair after each use.)

4. The unit finds it dock regularly.

All in all, this is an excellent product, and I recommend buying one.

It looks like a Super Nintendo.

I wish it could empty its own dirt bin when it recharges

hehe

This was never sold at $599.99, the list price since before it came out has always been $429.99. What's with the overstatement of the list price, Woot? All this does is detract from your credibility.

If woot would let us use our billmelater accounts in conjunction with paypal I would be buying one of these. I am sure a lot more people would be buying a lot more stuff, even if you charged an extra buck for the trouble. Paypal and billmelater are the same company from what I understand, and woot is the only place where I can't select paypal billmelater for my method of payment. If you decide to change this in the next 24 hours let me know and I will buy a new vacuum. I just don't have the cash in my checking account right now.

I'd expect the "pet" version to carry some armor, or defensive weaponry - spinning saw-blade maybe?

Somehow I think this thing would last about three nanoseconds around The Jack Russell Terminator Twins...

Hasta La Vista, Vacuum!

But I already have a Roomba (Pet) and a Mint. Do I really want to try a third robot vacuum??

These are awesome - purchased my first during a normal woot last month, then after seeing it in action I got another three for the rest of the house during the last woot-off.

Have the first running a daily M-F schedule doing the family room & kitchen where the pets hang out (no more cat hair on my socks), with the other three on a M-W-F schedule for the master bedroom, the living / entry / dining room, and the upstairs bedrooms. Goes under all the beds, as well as between the legs of the tables and chairs with ease.

So nice coming home to a freshly vacuumed house. Plus the patterns it makes in the carpet make the bedroom look like a giant zen garden.

dmax801 wrote:But I already have a Roomba (Pet) and a Mint. Do I really want to try a third robot vacuum??

Need the Neato to complete the collection!

Better than sliced bread!

And it is 100-240V so if have to move to a 240v nation, you can still take your neato and be happy. You just need a plug adapter. Love, love, love mine--the dogs still give it stink eye, but it ended the dog hair complaints from some of the humans in the household. Now we won't have to get rid of whiny men who have a hard time seeing dog hair as decoration.

I've had the non-pet version of this little gadget for almost a year. I upgraded the software (easy done with usb port and pc). Added the "pet brush and filter". My overall opinion is, it's save us lots of time by not having to vac. My 1st floor is all hard wood floors with a few rugs tossed in. Lots of "things" to navigate around and through. It's interesting to watch it navigate under the kitchen and dinning room tables. But it's not without flaws.

1. Battery life: Understanding it does a lot of moving around but it takes 2 charges to do about 900sq foot. I've blocked of 2 large rooms (office and sitting room) so it's only doing a powder room, great room, dinning room, kitchen and entryway.
2. It's noisy as hell. It sounds like it's sanding or beating the heck out of the floor and it will leave a few removable marks so thank god it doesn't take the same route all the time. I cut the noise way down when I switch to the pet brush (have 3 cats)
3. I don't consider my house that bad even with the cats but I have to empty the dust collector every time.
4. It did crash once. I had to do a master reset to get it to navigate more then 2 inches from it's charger.
5. It WILL SCUFF you furniture. I know that NEATO tries to makes this things furniture friendly but it has beat the crap out of the corners and legs on some of my furniture. I've used seam sealer foam tape to cut down on this. However, you can tell it shows no mercy as some of the tape has been "rubed" off.
6. I got it online from a store and got a 3 year warranty. I got the feeling the battery will be the weak point and costs for the brushes and rollers are not cheap. The belt that turns it all seems strong but don't try to buy one.

COSTCO has a new one for the same price.

I realize it's the XV-14 (different model than WOOT) but it's new...and seems to come with more brushes, filters, etc.

It probably has a smaller bin/different filters though. If you're a non-pet owner and want to try the neato, COSTCO may be a better answer for you...

I LOVE that they have such an awesome return policy, so if it goes psycho (some complaints in reviews I've read) you can just take it back...even if the mental break happens 6 months down the road!

I am the great vacuum murderer, and use this very customer friendly return option regularly with my ROOMBA.

I'm a former owner of 2 roombas, Neato owner for about 6 months. We have a mostly-hardwood first floor with four rooms, and an all-carpeted upstairs that we use it on. One cat.

The biggest reason we use the Neato more than we used our Roombas is the fact that (at least in our house) we don't have to clean the brush. You empty the bin, bang on the filter, and you're done.

The Neato also navigates the transition between an oriental rug and the hardwood floor in our living room that might as well have been a wall for the roomba. It's persistent... it will try several times, then try to "drive around" the obstacle. It always eventually succeeds and then goes back to where it was on the carpet. This is the biggest benefit I've seen from it's "smarts".

It does NOT do a very good job around baseboards and table legs- there's a ~2" missed ring around everything. We don't really care (our goals is not to be stepping on Cheerios the kids dropped in our bare feet), but if you are OCD about your floor cleanliness this is not the robot for you.

Battery life on the hardwood is a complete non-issue. It does ~600 sq ft. and still has half a charge left. It does run down faster on the carpeting, but it completes our ~500 sq. ft upstairs without needing a recharge.

Overally, we're really happy with it. Our two previous roombas died prematurely with hardware problems, so I'm quite happy to have switched to another vendor.

I love this thing, the kids love this thing! We're still getting used to it though. It does not cope well with tassels on rug ends or whatever you call them. And once in a while I think it sneaks a couple of beers while I'm out and sits in the middle of the room, convinced its path is obstructed. (It wasn't) But after it sobered up it was fine. Damn party robot!

I was surprised that it only came with the one filter though. I was expecting a couple. No, it didn't say so, but the other models came with multiple filters, so I just sort of assumed....

Never owned a Roomba, but I've owned this Neato for two years. True it gets stuck once in a while, and I had to return it twice to Neato, but they pay S&H, and their service is OUTSTANDING. Every night when I come home, the cup is full and my floor is tidy. (3 dogs, 1 cat) Keeps working like a champ!! I just love it, I'm a believer, here to buy another one

i feel like woot.com has become tvlaptop&vacuum.com
i see the same things over and over again, woot used to have alot of really neat things, not so much these days

haydesigner wrote:I've mentioned this before, but Costco has always had a Neato for $299, so this has never seemed like a good deal for me.


[MOD: Different Model. That's All Floors. We're selling the Pet & Allergy]

Will the robot climb onto a carpet when it comes to it or does it just go around it? GEO.

I got one the last time. Love it, love it! I'm a major slob, but I keep cleaning up areas just so the Neato can get to them on its daily rounds. Yes, my house has gone from vacuumed whenever to vacuumed daily.
Now I want a Neato for countertops, walls, and ceilings. And laundry. And the patio.

I bought this one on the last time Woot had it. Love it. My 3yo boy enjoys it every time it runs. It helps me out with cleaning.

I wish it can get closer to the walls/edges and climb the stairs too. Hehe

I got one of these things last time they were offered. Absolutely LOVE it! I've owned a roomba before and much prefer the neato. Some people ay it's loud - if the most you've spent on a vacuum is $50, then perhaps you might think it's loud - but really, it's not. It seems to pick up more dirt than the roomba and the brushes don't get gunked up as much. It does a much better job of getting in and out of small spaces than the roomba. My roomba would get into a complicated area like under the dining table (with chairs) and would spend forever trying to get back out - half the time giving up. This thing seems to know exactly how to get back out. The only issue I've had is that we have 1 room with pile carpet. The neato cleans it just fine, but makes a clicking sound when in that room. I've yet to contact CS to see if this is normal or not, maybe someone else on here can give some feedback on pile carpets?

Excellent customer service. I had a problem with the brush (that I probably caused myself) and the customer service rep diagnosed it over the phone and sent me replacement parts with no questions asked. When I mentioned that my battery seemed to be running down too quickly he sent me new batteries too.

A good product and a good company.

How does the battery compare to Roombas? I loved my Roomba but it seems ridiculous to have to pay $70 for the battery which didn't even make it 2 years.It is now a very hightech doorstop.

Except where I am I pay 6.5% sales tax. So for $5 shipping it was cheaper on woot.

haydesigner wrote:I've mentioned this before, but Costco has always had a Neato for $299, so this has never seemed like a good deal for me.


[MOD: Different Model. That's All Floors. We're selling the Pet & Allergy]

Sorry, double post.

haydesigner wrote:I've mentioned this before, but Costco has always had a Neato for $299, so this has never seemed like a good deal for me.


[MOD: Different Model. That's All Floors. We're selling the Pet & Allergy]

Every time this thing comes up on Woot, I debate the pros and cons all day and eventually chicken out because $300 for a tiny vacuum seems steep to me. Even if it's half off MSRP. (Nothing sells for MSRP these days anyway)

But every time I let it pass me by, I feel like I should have bought it. I feel like I'm missing out. I felt the same way about the garment steamers, then I finally bought one and I couldn't be happier. Of course $40 for a garment steamer is a lot cheaper than this thing.

Alright fine, you talked me into it... I'll buy it if someone can answer this one question:
Is it as loud as a full-size upright vacuum?
Will it bother my apartment neighbors if I set it to run daily?

I live in an apartment and every time I vacuum I feel like neighbors can hear me three doors away. I'm pretty sure my rickety old upright vacuum is louder than most lawn mowers.

EDIT: ok that's 2 questions. I can't count.

Mine transitions from hardwood to area rugs ok.

keoki44 wrote:Will the robot climb onto a carpet when it comes to it or does it just go around it? GEO.

kmurphy4000 wrote:Every time this thing comes up on Woot, I debate the pros and cons all day and eventually chicken out because $300 for a tiny vacuum seems steep to me. Even if it's half off MSRP. (Nothing sells for MSRP these days anyway)

But every time I let it pass me by, I feel like I should have bought it. I feel like I'm missing out. I felt the same way about the garment steamers, then I finally bought one and I couldn't be happier. Of course $40 for a garment steamer is a lot cheaper than this thing.

Alright fine, you talked me into it... I'll buy it if someone can answer this one question:
Is it as loud as a full-size upright vacuum?
Will it bother my apartment neighbors if I set it to run daily?

I live in an apartment and every time I vacuum I feel like neighbors can hear me three doors away. I'm pretty sure my rickety old upright vacuum is louder than most lawn mowers.

I got mine during the last woot-off and have been using it for two week. I literally LOVE it. It's somewhat loud, but I don't think it'd upset apartment neighbors. I do pause it when it's running and we're trying to play Rock Band.

haydesigner wrote:I've mentioned this before, but Costco has always had a Neato for $299, so this has never seemed like a good deal for me.


[MOD: Different Model. That's All Floors. We're selling the Pet & Allergy]

The robots are all the same. the brush and filters really determine the model. The costco has the rubber style, where as the 21 includes one of of the rubber style and one of the brush style brushes.

Is it as loud as a full-size upright vacuum?

No. Not as loud.

Will it bother my apartment neighbors if I set it to run daily?

No. We live in an apt and run it daily during mid-morning, when most people are out of the building anyway.

I purchased the XV-12 from woot.com and the one sent to us was defective. The Neato customer service is great! They gave me some tips for troubleshooting it and when nothing worked, they replaced it for free and sent me a prepaid label to return the other one. The replacement was brand new and was running 3.0 of the software, which isn't even available for download on their website yet.

The robot is able to go under my bed and most furniture, places which are hard to vacuum.

I have a $80 hoover bagless and I would say the neato may be louder.
However it's kind of deceiving because the Neato has a higher pitch than my Hoover, so it may just be all in my head.
And finally, since you are not walking around with the Neato, it does get quiet when it goes into another room you're not in and you don't have to listen to it.

kmurphy4000 wrote:Every time this thing comes up on Woot, I debate the pros and cons all day and eventually chicken out because $300 for a tiny vacuum seems steep to me. Even if it's half off MSRP. (Nothing sells for MSRP these days anyway)

But every time I let it pass me by, I feel like I should have bought it. I feel like I'm missing out. I felt the same way about the garment steamers, then I finally bought one and I couldn't be happier. Of course $40 for a garment steamer is a lot cheaper than this thing.

Alright fine, you talked me into it... I'll buy it if someone can answer this one question:
Is it as loud as a full-size upright vacuum?
Will it bother my apartment neighbors if I set it to run daily?

I live in an apartment and every time I vacuum I feel like neighbors can hear me three doors away. I'm pretty sure my rickety old upright vacuum is louder than most lawn mowers.

EDIT: ok that's 2 questions. I can't count.

kmurphy4000 wrote:Every time this thing comes up on Woot, I debate the pros and cons all day and eventually chicken out because $300 for a tiny vacuum seems steep to me. Even if it's half off MSRP. (Nothing sells for MSRP these days anyway)

But every time I let it pass me by, I feel like I should have bought it. I feel like I'm missing out. I felt the same way about the garment steamers, then I finally bought one and I couldn't be happier. Of course $40 for a garment steamer is a lot cheaper than this thing.

Alright fine, you talked me into it... I'll buy it if someone can answer this one question:
Is it as loud as a full-size upright vacuum?
Will it bother my apartment neighbors if I set it to run daily?

I live in an apartment and every time I vacuum I feel like neighbors can hear me three doors away. I'm pretty sure my rickety old upright vacuum is louder than most lawn mowers.

EDIT: ok that's 2 questions. I can't count.

It's a lot of money for this small thing but it sure is a time saver. If you're like us and have a busy life, kids and pets, this thing is a godsend.

It's loud but not nearly as loud as an upright.

I don't think it will bother the neighbors. I don't even think they would hear and if they did, who cares? You're paying rent and you're running the vacuuum for 30 - 40 minutes. Not like you're playing the music full blast at 2am.