I bought an XV-21 from woot October 2014 and it still runs great. I did have to replace the battery recently though which is to be expected. I had a Roomba before this and while I had no mechanical issues the randoms bouncing pattern seemed pointless.
Hopefully one of the newer Neatos comes up for sale and if so I will definitely buy it.
In all honesty I wouldn’t bother buying with version for the asking price. You can get a D3 for the same price on ebay.
…soon destined to become a refurb.
Wow, that’s a lot of work. Never had the LIDAR motor poop out? Trust me, it will.
We have a Miele Twist and a Roomba 880. Both reliable and will suck the chrome off a door knob.
STAY AWAY! I’ve had 2 of these. Didn’t learn my lesson from the first one. Thought I must have gotten a lemon. I was wrong. Both were lemons. Neither lasted once past the warranty. Lousy customer service and support if not under warranty. Even bought extra batteries as part of troubleshooting. Stick to Roomba.
I own two - an XV-21 purchased here a year ago and an XV-Signature (not the Pro) we got a few years before that. These things clean like nobody’s business.
These XV-Series are older bots, and have the issues that have since been corrected with the later models, including reliability, battery life and dust bin size. I can’t speak for customer service issues since neither of mine have had problems, but that is because I did the two things I feel you MUST do right away to make them reliable from the start.
The first is replace the stock nickel batteries with lithium units (widely available from Amazon). The nickel batteries had both poor capacity and voltage regulation which caused confusion (especially in the navigation as they became depleted) and short intervals between recharging. Now, the lithium batteries have fixed both issues and can do my entire house on a single charge. Plus lithiums are rated for 800 charge cycles versus 200 for the nickel units.
The second thing I did was replace the standard beater bar with the Pet and Allergy version. The new beater runs MUCH smoother and quieter (especially on hard floors), whereas the older bar was very noisy and caused excessive vibration to the point I was worried about loose electrical connections, breakage, etc. In my view, smoother running yields less wear yields longer life.
Lastly, I can say that I am scrupulous about keeping them clean. I use my compressor to blow out any accumulated dirt and will clean them off with the brush attachment on my upright vac when I use it. No bot will ever replace a full-size and full-power upright but it will help extend the time between uses.
I believe that the older XV bots such as this one can be reliable but it will take some knowledge, time and participation.
Wow… here we go. One bunch hates these things with a passion. Others swear by them. I hate Honda Accords because I owned one and it was a pile of junk. Sadly, at the time, I had a much older VW Jetta and a little new Plymouth minivan that was way better but that goes without saying. And there are those who will argue and almost go to fists over the brand.
I have a XV21 (had a 11 but after 4 years, it was retired after throwing RPS errors). The 21 was moved to the basement (all carpet) while it was replaced to do my 1700sf of hardwood floors on the 1st floor (with some area rugs) with a Samsung VR9000 series. I also have a 450 series scooba. You people with the iRobot products must not value your furniture much because as far as I’m concerned, iRoobt should be charged with furniture cruelty. Mine beats my stuff to death. Why does it slam into my chair legs, back up and do it again, then makes a few circles and returns to beat it down again?
I have talked to Neato CR’s and iRobots clowns. They presented themselves about the same. But in most peoples attitudes toward what is good or bad customer service, it’s good when your issue is fixed, you are given 2 free round trip tickets to the moon with complementary space food sticks in order in order to get you to say you had a pleasant experience. In my own PERSONAL experience of owning 3 different products that are designed to do basically the same goal, Neato is nr 1, Samsung then iRobot. Just like cars, these things require some hands on upkeep. Neato, expect about 1 to 1.5 years of battery life before it takes 5 trips to do what it use to do in 2. Or, like my XV21, it throws a right wheel stuck error about once a trip. Time to take it appart. But the one that gives me the biggest headache is the scooba. Doesn’t clean as well as it’s older model, beats the living crap out furniture (fwiw, the older model did too).
Thanks for this info. I have both issues with mine and have tried cleaning everything to no avail. I will open her up again and really get in there and see if it works. Mine too has been a doorstop for about a year. Had s roomba with issues too that is also a doorstop ( just kept spinning) . I like the Neato because it doesn’t bump into everything like the roomba. Much easier on baseboards and furniture. Also has an actual vacuum, unlike the roomba. Loud though because of it.
Never had those issues in 3 years of use with a refurbished Neato!!
My first Neato lasted almost a year. My experience with Neato customer service was horrible. Lack of response, multiple “canned” responses that asked for the issues that were already disclosed. It dragged on until it was out of warranty. It took an email to the folks listed as company officers that included copies of the earlier emails to get a an offer to pay $60 for a refurb as a replacement.
I got it from Costco. Took it to the desk and in 15 minutes got a full refund. Ordered another one from Costco and it’s been running for 3 years with no issues.
When they work, I’ll take a Neato over a Roomba any day…and one of my first Woots was a Roomba.
Sell it on ebay as a non working item. Others can use the parts to repair theirs.
I don’t think we’ve had a LIDAR failure yet. The one error I could not fix was a “Please put me down on the floor” message which would not go away. I think it was a faulty cliff sensor, so I sold that XV to a more capable tinkerer than myself. Our other two robots are still running.
With the dustbin issue, I had to clean the switch surface with some rubbing alcohol. The gunk was visible to the eye, and it came off pretty easily.
For the stuck brush issue, if it doesn’t go away after a complete rebuild and cleaning, maybe something has gotten inside the motor housing. I’ve never had to go that far to fix mine.
I currently run a Roomba 800 series, love it. Had a pair of 500’s, got about 8-10 years out of each, and they all ran pretty much daily. Years back I had a Neato, XV11 maybe, cannot remember. i do remember it having weird navigation issues from the start. Replaced under warranty with one that was great for about 6 months, then the belt that drives the brush broke. They don’t sell them, could not find one anywhere, plus the area is not easily accessible, Neato confirmed that this part is not replaceable - by anyone. So you are supposed to trash a unit because of a lousy brush belt? However, my year warranty was still in effect, so, got a 3rd unit. DOA. It took a month, and about 25 emails and a call or 2 to make them understand that DOA means it does not work or even power on, no matter what. Got a 4th which could not navigate from day one. Warranty still in effect, but they told me to pound sand, no more replacements. They insinuated it must be my fault. They have apparently become worse by some reports, although I do note that we have some folks saying they get good products and service.
I’m just too happy with the latest Roomba to even think about trying another Neato, because I’m not close to comfortable that the product or service is close to acceptable. My roomba I use, dump the bin, and use again, day after day after day, for years. That’s what I expect. Having a machine that does not work, or work right, is not a good thing even if CS is fantastic. You want something that just works, rather than eat up all the time saved to keep the thing going.
This is essentially a Roomba 880. Neato has the LIDAR tracking which is much better than Roomba’s camera, from my research.
I researched and researched and ended up purchasing the wonderful and awesome (although Chinese knock-off iRobot/Neato combo) Xiaomi Mi Robot Vacuum from gearbest.com, as they only ship from China. Combines the best, of the nearly thousand dollar, Roomba with the LIDAR and best features of the Neato. Works great and it does have English for the app and the robot, which was an issue in the past.
Although, this is a great price on the Neato. =)
Bought one for my in-laws and it worked so well that I bought one for myself. However, both worked for about 9 months, then both needed to be refurbished. Takes a LONG time to get back from refurbishing, but happily it is back up and running…hopefully for longer.
Unlike Neato each generation of Roomba improves. I love my 880 and like you bought a Bot from Costco and took it back after it failed. That was my 3rd Neato having gone thru the XV11 and 21. Never again!
The Roomba 880 cleans like a champ thanks to the high tech dirt sensors, bumps into furniture very gently, has basically no maintenance (by design) and the battery is strong and long lasting, and very quick to re-charge. It’s HEPA which helps with my allergies but does have a small dirt bin…which I can live with.
Can’t live with a pile of junk though and that’s what Neato has become.
To be fair, you can’t really compare a Roomba 880 to any of the Neato XV’s because they are generations apart. While Neato did make changes on the XV models, they were generally pretty minor and incremental and I don’t seriously believe that they will be a major player in the coming robot uprising, but their current models have all the benefits of what they have learned over the years and are comparable to current Roombas.
If you are seriously looking at today’s offering then you should clearly realize that it is NOT a recent model - but you shouldn’t expect it to be at this price, either.
My waste and recycling center has an e-waste bin. It belong there.
These things really suck.