Neato Botvac 80 (Scratch & Dent)

Updated 09/22/15. See section at bottom. I've had a number of robot vacuums over the years, starting with a Roomba. While the Roomba did a good job, there were some things I never liked about it: * The random cleaning "pattern" that misses as much as it finds. * The loud noise. It is very annoying if you're in the same room, trying to concentrate on anything. * Its high maintenance. I have pets and was constantly having to clean the brushes, remove the side brush to get rid of hair that got stuck and matted underneath it and ultimately having to replace that brush every few months because stuff got in where you just couldn't get it out again and the motor would burn out. Further, it rarely finished a cleaning cycle without needing help. Either it got caught on something or just never managed to find the way home again. * Trouble with certain rugs. Any black in the rug could cause it to think it was going over a cliff. And rather than doing the smart thing, backing up so that it could go in another direction it would just freak out and stop, refusing to move. This was part of the reason it couldn't complete a cleaning cycle without help. For these various reasons, I was always looking for a better robot. Unfortunately, I was never able to find one. That includes the Neato XV-21 Pet and Allergy model. Neato had some great ideas, but also some glaring flaws. The worst of these was that its internal drive mechanisms were partially exposed to the brush compartment, allowing pet hair to get pulled inside and jam up the works where you couldn't do anything without disassembling the robot. Bad news for a vacuum billed as being pet friendly! Thankfully, the Botvac series has fixed those issues and emerged as the best robot vacuum I've ever had. I've been running it for several days now and am nothing short of amazed. Here are the "Pro's and Cons" for this vacuum: Pro * It really sucks! And for a vacuum, that's not a negative comment. When it is running the majority of the sound that you hear is from suction rather than from a noisy fan. In fact, when the robot is moving away from me I can feel the filtered air being blown out the back from five feet away. It's vastly more powerful than the Roomba. The down side is that I HAVE to empty it after every time it runs because its bin is always full. But that means it's doing its job! With the Roomba I only had to empty the bin every few days because it simply didn't pick up as much. * Smart cleaning pattern. The Neato makes a cycle around the room's perimeter to map it out, then proceeds with a back-and-forth pattern across the center of the floor. As a result, it gets the entire room, every time. This is vastly superior to Roomba's philosophy of "if it goes randomly often enough, it'll get the whole floor eventually." * There is a side brush on the Botvac series, which addresses one of the major complaints that people always had with the Neato brand. The square front lets it get into corners really well and the side brush grabs stuff that is right on the edge of the room. The brush design is also superior to the Roomba. For one thing, it's held on magnetically rather than with a tiny screw. It stays put without any problem, yet is easily removed when you need to. The mounting post that it slides over is thicker, which makes it more durable and its overall design doesn't accumulate hair underneath like the Roomba. I doubt the brush will ever have a problem. * Speaking of trapped hair, Neato addressed the problem with the beater brush compartment. None of the internal components are exposed anymore and in fact that way that the brush inserts into the unit is even less prone to accumulating hair than the Roomba. The result is better operation, less need for maintenance and fewer potential problems. Neato didn't simply address the problem with the old model -- they resolved it completely. * It finds its way home. Every time, so far. The first day I ran it I had two issues with places that it got hung up, but I think it has actually learned from that experience because it hasn't run into the problem since. It goes for almost two hours on a charge, then the vacuum and brush turn off and it quiety heads back to the home base for more juice. When it's ready it heads back to where it left off and finishes the job before returning home for the day. It doesn't always take the most direct route home but it DOES always get back. * It doesn't have trouble with my rugs. The same places that made the Roomba think it was going to die are no problem for the Botvac. Con * Its smart pathing isn't always smart. On the first day, I had decided to stop it mid-cycle. It was close to done and I really didn't see a need for it to finish so I took it near its home base and told it to go home. It proceeded to go right past its base, trucking off down the hallway to return to where I had picked it up. From there it was presumably going to return home again. I just picked it up and set it at its base rather than waiting. This isn't a major issue by any means but it does show that it still needs to be taught a few tricks. (Incidentally, this "con" is something that won't necessarily remain. After all, Neato vacuums can be updated and become smarter over time. Unlike the Roomba, which can only get smarter -- maybe -- by buying a new one.) * It MUST clean the whole house every time. Unless you use the magnetic strips to block off parts of the house, it will just keep right on going until it's done. If it runs low on battery, it recharges and then continues after. As a result, the Roomba would run for about an hour a day and that would be that. The Neato runs from 7:15 am to around 11:00 am, counting its charging break. How much of a negative this is depends on personal preference. After all, it IS getting the whole floor every day and you are buying it to clean, right? But I wouldn't mind a bit more flexibility. * No light houses or virtual walls. To block an area off you need to use the magnetic strip. They're ugly and not nearly as convenient as an IR "wall". * Smaller bin. With as much more suction that the Botvac has vs. the Roomba I really wish it also had a larger bin like is available for the Roomba. It's big enough for a single day's cleaning, but not enough for even two days. If you don't have pets or if you have a smaller home this probably won't be as important to you. At the end of the day, the Botvac has had none of the issues that the Roomba has. It cleans better and with less need for maintenance. That doesn't mean it's perfect but it is the undisputed best of the many robot vacuums I've tried. It's definitely what I will recommend from now on if anyone is interested in a robot vacuum. UPDATE 9/22/15: After about 18 months of use, the robot developed an issue where the bearing ring that holds one end of the brush bar had managed to get a little clogged and create enough friction that the heat warped the housing. This bent it to where it was putting pressure against the bumper from inside, causing it to permanently trigger and render the unit unusable. After a call with Neato customer support it turned out that the unit was out of warranty. However, they chose to replace it anyway, with me only needing to pay a little under $30 for shipping. Oddly, they wanted not only the robot (with bin and brushes installed) but also the charging base. Less than two weeks after shipping it out (FedEx Ground), I got the replacement and was totally shocked. They sent me a brand new, fully boxed unit just as if I'd bought it. All the accessories, etc. Not only that, but they had upgraded me from a Botvac 80 to a Botvac 85, which is the top of the line model for that series. So now, not only do I still think it's the best robot vacuum on the market, I'm also thoroughly impressed with their customer service. This is a company that truly stands by their products and appreciates their customers.