LG Hom-Bot 1.0
A new challenger approaches!
Can it go back and forth between carpet and hard flooring?
Vacuum wars!
I have the neato 12. and LOVE IT!! It is a thousand times better than the 2 Roombas I’ve had. It gets hung up occationally (duh) but other than a couple places where it seems to miss the edge (not everywhere, just a couple areas) it does a great job.
Not all that impressed with the Neato.
I bought the XV-21 edition from Woot for the upstairs level of our house. It gets stuck on something almost every day! It is also extremely picky about where you put the base station. We have it in a bedroom between a dresser and a small bookcase. It has PLENTY of room to maneuver back to its base, but often feels the need to display the message “Please clear my path” and stops trying to make it back. This usually causes it to run out of batteries only a matter of feet from the charger!
Neato is the best. We have two. They go from hardwood floors to carpeting without problem. I had a laser problem in one of the units just a week shy of the warranty period and the replaced the vacuum for free. Very happy. Does a good job.
This is a cool video…you can see the Neato XV-21 Scanning the room using a infrared camera.
I bought the Scooba when it was first offered here on Woot a couple years back. I went through 3 then, none of which worked. They simply wouldn’t pump any water and I had to go through a ritual while on the phone with iRobot support to get any functionality out of it for very brief periods.
Last month I upgraded (for an extra $160) to the model for sale here and it arrived with the exact same issue. When support sent me through the exact same spiel I packed it up and returned it. I suggest avoiding this product.
The Roombas are great, I’ve been a fan since 2004. Though I might try the Neat-O next, they do get great reviews.
Got my XV-21 for the holidays and I love it. I have 2 big dogs that used to leave tumble weeds of fluff around the house. Having the entire floor vacuumed every day has made a world of difference. Sure there are some small annoyances but it still rocks & I would recommend it anyone 
neatos sold on walmart seem cheaper. An xv-11 is $220.
I bought a Neato XV-21 from woot back in February and I do not regret it one bit! I have three chinchillas and while they are typically caged, their fur and poop still end up all over the floor. The Neato cleans it all up without a problem! I run it every day and every day it manages to pick up stuff you can’t even see. I live in a three bedroom appartment and there is a lip between my living room and hallway and Neato has no problem getting over the lip. He also cleans under my bed which, lets face it, I have never bothered doing. I love how low maintanence he is and how clean my floor looks with basically no work. Sooo happy I finally decided to get one!
Neato XV-14 vacuum on sale at Costco for only $249
http://www.costco.com/Neato-Robotics™-Pet-Series-Robotic-All-floor-Vacuum.product.100036196.html
Ibought the Scooba and found that the rubber squeegies that dry the floor left black marks on the vinyl tile. Any help?
My take on this event is this: I have invested hundreds in Roombas and a Scooba, purchased from Woot! What do I have to show for it? I have one (1) working Roomba (only because I just recently purchased a replacement battery), a broken Roomba and a broken Scooba. I also have a (literal) pile of expensive dead batteries. The mess is a sight to see.
I also have an inexpensive stick vacuum and a Hoover wet floor cleaner. The cost of the two combined was about the price of a refurbed Roomba. These manual units never give me any trouble, are easy to clean and do a great job at cleaning my hard floors … but they are manual.
I have a relatively small house. Cleaning the floors using the Roombas/Scooba (when they were working) would take many hours as the Scooba requires multiple refils of cleaning solution and a recharge between cleanings. Cleaning with the manual vacuum/floor cleaner takes about 2 hours total … but it is a manual operation. In this case I do not have to wait hours for the robots to recharge and monitor them so that they do not get hung up of something.
I tried to be objective with this post. I’ve tried both and come to the conclusion that the novelty of having my floors cleaned by robots is far-and-away outweighed by the extra effort and expense associated with them. My manual floor cleaning techniques are easy and efficient … and cost a fraction of the time, effort and money of using the iRobot floor cleaners.
Try rubbing a tennis ball on the spots. That’s how they get scuffies off floors in schools.
I feel like I say this every time the robot vacuums come up, but: my Neato XV-21 was purchased about 3 months ago and it is my favorite thing. He runs every day, and after we set him up for success we seldom ever find him stuck. Although, now that I’ve written that I’ll find him wedged behind a side table. Oh well, it’ll be the first time in weeks so I can’t complain. I’m genuinely shocked at how well it works.
I will say: buy an extra roll of the magnetic boundary. You’ll probably need it. Extra filters are nice, too.
Got a Scooba here last time it was on sale. Kind of a pain to use; the parts really don’t fit together well. The key is to snap the battery in ALL the way so that the tank can fold down and make full contact with the hose. Otherwise you end up with a big puddle of water on the floor. Too bad the internal sensors don’t notice this.
I hope they’ll eventually come out with a model that resolves these issues, but it’s fine for now. The floor in my kitchen has never been cleaner.
Wait just a cotton-pickin’ minute! The Roomba is sold out after just ONE customer? The stats show one person bought one Roomba in one state. What the heck? That’s not cool!
Has anyone else who bought the Neato XV-21 Pet and Allergy Robot Vacuum have problem with the battery? It only runs for 15-20 minutes and then charges for 3 hours. Is it suppose to run for such a short time?