iCLEBO Robotic Vacuum Cleaner

good post. you know as someone who’s been wooting for years and years and years… I still don’t own a Roomba or neato or this thingy. Though I’ve held out for all this time and for all these woots, I don’t have any delusions, I know it’s only a matter of time.

About five years ago I bought a no frills roomb a, four hundred series I think, anyway it lasted about three years good with once or twice a month usage, then eight months ago bought the neato, I feel the neato is the best at cleaning.

Don’t know but I have two Neato’s (and a scooba). I have one of the original units and the pet version. Other then color and the bigger filter and brush roller, they do the same work. Wife loves them. We don’t drag out the whole house but every other week and that’s just to vac under things the neato can’t reach. I’m not a fan of the beater brushes. They seem to “throw” more crap then pickup. JMO

I can see that the roomba and others have very different spins on the already very covered ground of robot cleaners, so to me, I would wonder what the point of purchasing one of these when you can buy an iRobot roomba (that this seems to be basically modeled after) for around the same price?

Having owned a roomba for a few years now, you need to remember that you will require spare parts/batteries etc. For one of these, I’d be concerned that they wouldn’t be available as easily or as cheaply.

Perhaps others who may own this could comment on that aspect?

Personally I say Neato or irobot are much better built, cleans better and are better values. I have 4 cats and a dog and 3 kids and it could not do a very good job. Had to clean brushes every use and left sand behind. My Neatos and my irobot clean better, are more thorough, and I do not need to clean brushes every use. I hated this do much I trashed it after two weeks of use as woot would not let me return it due to my dissatisfaction only.

My Neato has not needed its brushes cleaned in 2 weeks (10 runs), filling its bin with dog hair daily. So, a vote for Neato’s superiority there.

this company has small presence. my friends has got irobot so I kind of know what to expect… I’ll post review after first use. I dont think it will get rid of need to clean floor once a month!

i donno. i’m tempted just because this thing looks cooler than my roomba that doesn’t work anymore…

I received my iCLEBO this morning and I am trying to temper by buyer’s remorse but it is difficult. To give some background on my experience with these robot cleaners, I bought 2 Neato XV-12’s from Woot back in February, 2012 and I had a Roomba in my college apartment before that. The XV-12’s have survived daily usage since I purchased them. Other than a battery replacement that each has undergone once, they have been absolutely amazing at controlling my house from a constantly shedding Siberian Husky.

I set up the iCLEBO to charge as soon as it was delivered this morning and left the house to go to work. I just messed around with it for about an hour before giving up. Here are the problems I see so far:

  1. I can’t get the side brush to install. The side brush is marked “R”. There appear to be 2 places for side brushes to be installed on this robot. One is marked “R” with a picture of the side brush and the other is marked “L” with the same picture. Common sense would tell me that the “R” brush goes on the “R” side. On the robot, the “R” side has a plastic cap over it and the “L” side does not.

I popped the cap off and tried to install the brush on the R side. It isn’t going to fit. The diagram on the quick start guide does not match what I am seeing under the “R” cap.
http://download.sears.com/docs/spin_prod_923734512.pdf page 9 top of page. Shows a D shaped metal pin that the brush is supposed to fit over. That metal pin does not exist under the “R” cap.

So I said screw it. I CAN see that metal pin on the “L” side (that side didn’t even come with a cap in the first place). I try to press the brush down on that side, but it doesn’t go. I have the pin and brush lined up perfectly, but it will not go all the way in. It fits better than the “R” side did (which was not at all), but it seems like the plastic protruding from the brush was cut a bit unevenly and it is preventing it from going all the way in. The directions say to apply firm pressure, I have applied enough pressure that I am concerned any more will break it.

  1. So I gave up on the side brush. I just decided to let it run without the side brush and see if the rest of it works okay. I started it up and it started traveling around my room (hardwood floors BTW). My floors aren’t covered in dirt or anything like that, but I do have a few loose pieces of dog hair that I could see, and I could clearly see that it just is driving right over them without picking anything up. The volume that the vacuum is putting out makes me think that there isn’t any suction at all. It sounds like what my Neato sounds like when it is traveling back to home base when it’s done cleaning. The wheels are turning, but the vacuum is off.
    (Update: After watching a few youtube videos, I am pretty sure the sound level of my iCLEBO is normal)

I read some more of the user manual. I do notice that the robot is throwing an error “side brush overload” (Auto + 90 lights lit up) which isn’t that surprising given that I can’t install the side brush, so maybe that’s why there isn’t any suction. Not sure.

I don’t have more time to mess around with it until later tonight or tomorrow, but so far I am regretting this one. If anyone has any ideas what is wrong with my side brush, please let me know.

I have just finished playing around with the iCLEBO some more. My disappointment in this product is extreme. Either I have a lemon or this product is just that pathetic.

The rotating side brush will not stay on, period. I don’t know if those “D” shaped pins were supposed to be on both the right and left sides (I assume they were), but mine only has the pin on the left. Coupled with the fact that I was provided a brush for the right side, there seems to be no way to secure the side brush at all. It stays on the left side for about 3 or 4 rotations before falling off and the robot driving over it.

I also am convinced that this thing isn’t even vacuuming at all. It seems like the tiny bit of dust that has actually made it into the dust bin has actually been shoveled in there by the rotating middle brushes.

This cleaner does not even deserved to be mentioned in the same sentence as a Roomba or a Neato. Horrible.