Neato BotVac D80 Robot Vacuum
$79.99
$149.99
47% off
Reference Price
Condition: Refurbished
Style: D80, No Wifi
Top positive review
Best purchase I've made in a long time!
By Abarr on Reviewed in the United States on July 12, 2016
We have 2 dogs and 2 cats, and work outdoors constantly. Our floors were always a mess, with 'drifts' of pet hair everywhere. Sweeping only gets so much of it, and vacuuming every day to try and keep up with it just didn't happen in our busy household. I can honestly say that the Neato keeps the floors clean enough every day to have uninvited guests stop in without feeling embarrassed.I researched robot vacuums pretty carefully, since the Roomba is so popular and less costly, and found some very thoughtful side-by-side comparison video reviews which showed the Neato Botvac to be a superior product. Having had it for a couple of months now, I'm thrilled with its performance!Our house is older, and the rooms are in a circle around a central stairwell. I expected to need to set up barriers or guides with the magnetic strips in order to keep the vacuum on track, but the Neato's mapping function works beautifully. Right out of the box, it vacuumed the whole house and found its way back to its base without intervention or incident. I did eventually use the magnetic strip around the base of a plant stand because one of the pots kept falling over, and it works as advertised.In the interest of full disclosure, I will say that we programmed the vacuum to run every day in the early morning. We make sure toys and tools are picked up the night before, if they are small enough to get sucked into a vacuum. Bottom line is, if you were to run over an item with a regular upright vacuum and it would suck it up, then it's probable the Neato would too. We keep cords tied up. The bathroom rug sometimes rolls up while it's being vacuumed, but the Neato usually extracts itself without our intervention.Maintenence-wise, having the Neato vacuum every day, we've found that we need to empty the dirt bin every couple of days. It's easy to do, and if it's full the Neato will chirp at you and remind you if you forget to do it. I use our big vacuum's hose to suck the dust out of the filter every so often. I also check the brush roller for long hair and thread that may have wrapped around it every week or so. The vacuum has never stopped functioning because of it, but it can accumulate.The schedule setting function works great, the menu is easy to use, and the spot-cleaning tool is helpful, as is the ability to interrupt the cleaning cycle and send the Neato back to its base.The biggest difference between the Neato and the Roomba seems to be the Neato's mapping capabilities. In my estimation, it's worth the higher price. While it does make contact with walls and furniture, the Neato actually cleans a room based upon its obstacles and its shape, rather than just bouncing off of furniture and walls to try and cover the area. It does a really decent job on our big short-nap area rug, which our big dog loves to roll and shed on, just goes back and forth in straight lines across it, like it's mowing a lawn.None of the robot vacuums are able to get into all of the hard-to-reach places, so we still have to break out the big upright with the hose attachment every so often to get under really low furniture and other nooks and crannies. The Neato does 98% of the floor cleaning, though, which has been wonderful. Wish I'd gotten one years ago!
Top critical review
23 people found this helpful
DON'T WASTE YOUR MONEY UNLESS YOU NEED A FANCY PAPER WEIGHT
By Richard A. Giese Jr on Reviewed in the United States on October 22, 2015
UPDATE TO UPDATE:DO NOT BUY In case anyone really reads these, I was able to get my not-working Neato replaced with another non-working Neato. Upon attempting to remedy the new situation I was informed that the warranty had expired on the replacement so they would do nothing. Per the email I had 90 days for the warranty on the replacement, it has been under 60 day since I've received the replacement...DO NOT BUY or expect to be screwed out of your money too.UPDATE:Don't waste your money. Less than a year old and it stopped working. Initially it wasn't going out on it's scheduled times (as mentioned originally), then it started sitting on it's charging base in alarm with a message "Turn Switch by dust bin to On position" or something like that. The switch that you pretty much never turn off once you first get it, yeah that one. I was able to force it to go out and clean by holding the "house" button down for a short time which completely negates the "schedule" ability. Next it started with the random stopping, alarm with the message "Press Start to continue", after which it would fire up all the systems and then shut down again. Attempted to contact customer service via email (as that's about all I have time for) but no response. Previously I was on the fence about whether I'd buy another Neato product, but after this..no more.Mixed on this. I had an older model which worked well until someone stepped on it and broke the display. I decided to replace it with this newer model. We had the older model set to go Monday thru Friday at a set time while we were at work. Occasionally I would find it stuck somewhere it didn't belong, but after moving things and using the magnet strips I had pretty much removed all of the obstacles which troubled the bot.This one, however...If I get home from work and find this one on it's base, I have to check it's dust bin to make sure it actually went out and cleaned! It's very rare that I come home and not have to begin the search to find where it decided to get stuck this day. As others have mentioned, it struggles with any round based feet, such as those on tables or fans. It likes to wedge itself into areas it cant fit, both height and width, and when it discovers it can't remove itself, it decides to wedge itself even further (mine managed to dent the blue disk covering it's laser sensors on top). After arguing with my wife I convinced her to allow me to put down the magnet strips in the open, around the objects which it's frequently stuck on. No good. The thing just pushes them out of the way and proceeds to get stuck behind the strips on the object. On our tiled floor I tried taping them down with clear tape...that looked much better, 3ft brown strip on beige tile with shiny clear tape holding it to the floor, I'm sure no one even noticed! Most frustrating place that it continues to get stuck is under the cabinets, just enough space for it not to trip the bumper-sensor but low enough that once it's under the 2in lip, it cant get out. Also, it struggles with small drops. We have 2 thresholds with a 1/2in drop, it goes down with no problem but is unable to return, and of course the magnet strips are useless with this as well.A couple Pro's and Con's:Pro's:Easy setup and easy useQuiet (compared to our previous model)Cleans wellProgrammableAutomated, even if it requires babysitting.Cons:Gets stuck EVERYWHEREMagnet strips, when they work, are still unsightly.Filter/Dust bin -big enough for our house but cleaning is a pain and can get dust everywhere if you bang the filter.The AI and room mapping. I had hoped it would have a room memory at this price or at least the ability to not bang into the wall over and over when it gets confused (as others have mentioned)Overall, I like the convenience but will be skeptical to buy another Neato after this one, not enough has improved mechanically or technologically...or price-ally. I still suggest the Neato brand over others that I've seen but not with the enthusiasm I did with the older model.
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