ECOVACS N79S ECOVACS DEEBOT N79S Robotic Vacuum Clean

We live in a large restored antebellum home that was designed and constructed in a very compartmentalized manner. The home is 90+% solid hardwood flooring with the remainder sealed brick, tile, and short nap rugs. Each room has a 6-8 inch wide bevel-sided 1 inch high wood threshold divider at each of its doorways. We resisted buying a robot vacuum as we were unsure whether any robot vacuum cleaner would be able to successfully move unassisted throughout the several rooms of each story and be able to negotiate the wood floor thresholds. Nevertheless, we wanted one to help with the floor vacuuming chore. We did not want a room mapping (memory) type system as our home has so many rooms in the 2 stories and the mapping systems appear not to remember a room map when moved by hand to another room (as we must do). After studying the reviews we chose the Ecovacs N79S as our test subject. Since arriving we have run the robot completely throughout the house several times. To our surprise and delight "Rufus the Robot" went through each room and was able to climb right up and over the threshold obstacles. The one exception is the threshold to the family room which is about a 1.5 inch sheer drop to a brick floor. Rufus correctly sees this as a low dropped off area and turns around in another direction. From the lower brick side the vertical threshold profile is sensed as a obstacle. This we expected. The slim profile allows Rufus to get under several tables we previously had to move to vacuum and fits under the kitchen base cabinet recessed areas without a problem. The amount of dust and odd bits this vacuum picks up is astonishing. We vacuum regularly with a good canister unit but this thing still manages to find lots of dust. The twin side brushes are especially good at getting dirt and dust from not only baseboards, but from around furniture legs and large low items as well. Our observation is this aspect of the Ecovacs is superior to the single side brush units in that as the vacuum passes close to an item in either direction a brush will move debris. Thus twice the opportunity to clean around a furniture leg, cabinet edge, etc. There are several cleaning modes to select from but on "auto" the vacuum moves randomly but appears to make 2 or more passes over a particular spot. That said, because it is random in motion it most likely will miss a small spot or two but should get it next time. The remote is small and works well when you are line of sight with the unit. It is nice to pause cleaning using the remote if you need to move something or find the robot going somewhere you don't want. Steering with the remote is easy and if the unit traps itself (under a desk behind the chair) you can steer it out rather than have it spend 2 or 3 minutes until it lines itself up just right. The charging station is very light and easy for the unit to displace while cleaning. A little velcro is your charging stations friend. Finding the charging station is sort of luck that depends on how many rooms/doors away the station is when the unit wants to go home. If it is line of sight then usually it will find it and dock. Our walls are very thick so we are not a good test case for a more modern construction type home and perhaps it might work better. Its not a problem - just pick up Rufus and put him down where he can sense the charging station signal. We just usually let him run about 90 minutes then go find him so he won't run down under the desk or bed. Pros: 1. Battery life is very good. Almost 2 hours on hardwood floors. 2. Dust bin is large enough that unless things are very dirty you need only empty every return for charging. 3. Quiet. Much quieter than others - especially on solid floors. 4. Cleans up easily after use (and you need to clean it each time after full use) 5. Very good brush action and suction- even on brick flooring with grooved joints. 6. Seems gentler than Roomba on items it bumps into. 7. Good power to get over thresholds. 8. Price - this would be a good choice at full Amazon price. A bargain when on sale. Cons: 1. Pleated paper filter is small and will need replacement sooner than most. (Not expensive). 2. Beeps for problems/service are hard to hear from other rooms. 3. Slows down slightly on carpet. Lots of carpet may affect run time. 4. Smaller filters require filter cleaning after each use. (Easy to accomplish) 5. Not for longer carpet, however works fine on our short decorative rugs. (No long fringe) Summary: We will have to see how Rufus holds up as time goes on but we are very satisfied with the Ecovacs for our home and its somewhat unique requirements. Our daughter has a very expensive Roomba in her home (with dogs and mostly carpet) and it works exceptionally well. We think on our solid surface floors and for our house type the Ecovacs is every bit as good at cleaning. If you have hard surface flooring and short nap rugs we recommend you give the Ecovacs N79S a through investigation. If your home is mostly carpet, particularly if it is thick or somewhat longer napped, you might look at another model. Disclaimer: We have no affiliation with Ecovacs or any other home product company.