I bought one a few weeks ago when Woot had them on sale, and I’m very happy with mine. We have one floor, one cat, and one chow chow (who blows chunks of coat year-round and bring in lots of leaves, small sticks, etc. from the yard daily).
Mine runs daily and while it’s not perfect in getting everything sucked up, it is far superior than our failed attempts at daily vacuuming (I have bad wrists, which makes this challenging for me), or the more realistic weekly vacuuming which leaves the floor unappealing 6 days out of 7. When the Neat-O fails to vacuum something up, it’s been because that something was flush against a wall, so follow-up with a vacuum wand would be useful (or sweeping out from walls in non-carpeted areas).
It successfully picks up my chow’s fur clumps, which is the #1 thing that has destroyed my vacuums over the last 10 years. It also, for some reason, seems to be a bit aggressive and will follow the dog around if he is in the house, with the cat watching from a safe distance.
The bin is easy to empty, and the brush/roller is easier to remove and clean than I’ve experienced on any other vacuum I’ve owned. I am a happy Neat-O owner.
Re bizonik: Does anyone know how well it navigates the strips inbetween different types of flooring? Going from the living room to hallway is 1/4 inch or so, I suspect it can handle that. but from the kitchen to living room is about 3/4" eeek
Neato has legs, actual legs that help him climb those ridges.
I like the one I got a few weeks ago, but he does seem to get stuck in all the spots I want him to work – under the bed and coffee table.
Mine hasn’t mapped the main floor very well yet, he does seem to bump around quite a bit.
Used the spot-cleaning last night after a bit of popcorn spillage and though it took some time, he got it all
I bought one the last time Woot offered it, and it arrived quickly. My wife had been asking for a robotic vacuum for a LONG time but I thought they were some stupid gimmick and wouldn’t buy. She is very happy with “Elroy” her short, little “boyfriend.”
We have a large house with hard surface (hardwood or ceramic tile) in the majority, carpeting in some bedrooms. We have two large dogs that like to shed. Constantly.
Elroy is awesome, but not perfect. He has trouble sometimes making the transition onto a wool area rug with pad (maybe 3/4 inch up from hardwood) and he once got tangled up in a lamp cord and pulled it off the table and broke it into a bazillion pieces. We forgave him. You have to do some preparation before he vacuums, but overall he does a great job. For the big rooms, he often has to go back to his base for a recharge before he finishes, but he somehow manages to do a very thorough vacuuming even if it seems less logical than I might approach the task. Who cares? It works.
Noise? Somewhat annoying but not intolerable. We go in another room or otherwise run Elroy unattended and this isn’t an issue.
My wife thinks he does a great job with our carpets. And she loves that he cleans under the beds (although you have to pull up the dust ruffle first. She did buy some additional magnetic strips to section off our open style house so Elroy can focus on the areas She wants cleaned.
One other thing. We have a 3 story house with open staircase, so there are huge openings where Elroy could fall to his death. We have had NO PROBLEMS although the instructions say to pay attention to the sensors under the front edge so they don’t get dirty and fail to detect the drop-off.
Dust canister? We empty it after every use and clean the filter. It isn’t huge capacity, and I don’t expect it to work well if it is clogged or full. Yes, Elroy will call us if he gets too full, but after the first couple uses, that is no longer an issue. Amazing how much dirt the little guy can collect.
If you’re on the fence, BUY one and be happy.
Good little unit as my brother bought one last time around and I checked it out and like it more than my Roomba 560 , but I just fixed my 560 last week for a mear $16 (replaced the left side wheel motor) ; otherwise I’d be all over this deal .
Kinda makes me wish I did not fix my 560 now and still may grab one , …
Bought mine at the same price a few weeks back when it was on Woot. Great little vac. I had to learn to move a few cords out of the way and find a place to put its base where it could find it, but after a little trial and error it works great.
I also wanted to mention that customer support is fantastic. They are 24/7. I called for advice on placing the base unit and ended up talking to them for almost an hour. They had a lot of good tips on how to use it and make it more effective. They even offered to replace it if it didn’t start working right away.
Bought one of these last time it was wooted and have been really happy about it. Works great, rarely has issues, and if you run it every day on a schedule it really does keep your house clean. It’s not perfect but it’s a huge step up from the once-a-week vacuuming I was doing.
[QUOTE=upariver, post:32, topic:350463]
LOVE my Neato. Owner of 2 Roombas. Neato is far superior. Actually maps the rooms and hits all of them. Almost always returns to home. Occasionally confused by reflective stainless steel refrigerator, and always gets stuck on my ironing board (climbs up the angled leg and gets lost. Good thing that ironing is NOT a common task.) Roomba randomly bumps around the house, but Neato attacks it with purpose.
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If you think Roombas “randomly bump around the house” then I don’t believe you’ve ever owned a Roomba.
[QUOTE=TehCaspia, post:68, topic:350463]
If you think Roombas “randomly bump around the house” then I don’t believe you’ve ever owned a Roomba.
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Hmmm… is that why there’s even a name for the random bumping around that Roomba dose?
"It will also randomly turn and drive as far as it can until it hits something.
Computer scientists call the Roomba’s behavior a “random walk.” The big advantage of this approach is that the Roomba doesn’t need to map out your living room and then keep track of where it’s been. Roomba’s walk isn’t guaranteed to cover an entire floor, but in practice it does a very good job."
So actually the Roomba not only DOES randomly bump around into things, that’s part of it’s programming… so that it doesn’t “have to” map out a room and actually clean all of it. Big advantage! Not.
What about a warranty? Is there any kind of return policy for this product? If there is does it go through Woot or Neato? This is my first big purchase from Woot and I don’t want to regret it! Thanks for any advice!
Never mind! Just read that Neato has a 1 year warranty!
Got one of these last time Woot offered it. It works wonderfully. I have it set to vacuum every morning at 10AM. It starts itself up from its charging station, cleans the rooms, and then it will actually navigate back to its station. Having it on a regular schedule has worked really well, considering I live in an apartment with two cats.
Hmmm… I’d really love to get one. But that would mean I’d have to pick up all the clothes off the floor, I have a system! Dirty, slightly dirty, and clean! XD
I picked this up on the last offer. Used it the first time after a carpet cleaning service - and hat to empty the bin 3 times! Amazing how thorough it is. Much quieter than I expected - less than a regular vacuum IMHOP. Even my scaredy cat isn’t bothered, and he HATES the vacuum. Do it!
[QUOTE=ciozszmloes, post:74, topic:350463]
Is it just me, or does this vac look like it is paying homage to the original NES? It is because of that, I really like the look of this little thing!
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I should have read the entire thread before posting this. Oh well, at least I was not the only one. It is tempting to buy, especially with all the rave reviews on here.
Picked up one on the last go-round. I already own two Roombas (upstairs and down)and wanted the Neato to take over the upstairs. It did a fantastic job vacuuming, picking up a LOT that the Roomba missed, but it consistently choked on tassles from an accent rug. I downloaded the software update that should’ve corrected this, but it wasn’t any better. I now have it doing the downstairs floors, and it works better and much faster than my Roomba ever did. Finding a place for it to dock was a bit of an issue, though; Roomba used to live under a tall chair, out of the way, but Neato can’t find it’s way back there. Other than that, Neato is FAR superior!
So I know from having Roomba that I need to keep as many cords out of the way as possible. However, I still have 2 areas where cords do stretch across the floor. How is Neato with these? I’ve read that it is more powerful, so I’m worried about it getting totally stuck or even chewing up the cords.
I got one of these during the last Woot-Off. I’ve now put my Roomba away for good, as it doesn’t hold a candle to this fantastic vacuum. And, yes, I have almost completely replaced my normal vacuuming duties with this little guy. It doesn’t get 100% of the dirt, but it does well enough to manually vacuum about 1/3 the amount I did before. It also does great on dog hair. I do have to empty it every day though, it amazes me how well it does for what it is. Only negatives are that it doesn’t seem to stick to it’s programming very well. I’ve had to restart it a few times during the week for it to keep to it’s daily schedule. Not sure what that is yet, but it’s probably something simple.