I love a clean home. A clean home puts me at ease. When I see dust on the furniture or kitty litter on the kitchen floor it literally stresses me out. I’m not a “neat freak” (my hubby is). I don’t mind a home feeling and looking “lived in” but I do hate it when my places looks messy. The problem is that I truly do not like to clean. I know some people find it relaxing. Not me. I dread it.
I used to love to watch the cartoon The Jetsons when I was a young girl. I still watch it whenever I catch it on TV.
I love how the Jetsons had all these great automatic features in their home where at the press of a button dinner would appear. Or they could have their maid Rosie dust and vacuum for them. I WISH I had a home like the Jetsons. At the very least I would love to have a robot like Rosie who can clean for me.
Technology has come a long way. I have no doubt that Rosie-like robots will be available for ordinary people someday.
A company called Neato has a product that is not quite Rosie, but it will automatically do some cleaning around your home – specifically vacuuming. It’s called the Neato XV. It’s a robotic vacuum for your home.
I am sure you have seen similar robotic vacuums on the market. You may even own one.
Other robotic vacuums are not really vacuums. They are more like sweepers. None of them can compare to the suction power of the Neato XV.
I was sent a Neato to review. I cannot tell you how super excited I was about reviewing this product. I was stalking the delivery guys until the day is showed up. 🙂
I will admit that I can be “technologically challenged” at times. I was worried I might have to wait for my husband to get home to help me set it up. Surprisingly the unit was super easy to set up. In a matter of minutes I had the device charging with the included base. Shortly there after it was ready to go.
The Neato vacuum is not that large. It’s about the size of the top of the dining room chair (where you rest your butt). The charging base is about the size of a loaf of sandwich bread. Both are lightweight and easy to move around.
You will need to find a location in your home to house your Neato. It’s recommended that there be a few feet around the base free from furniture and other things. The location of our Neato doesn’t have the recommended amount of space, but it works fine none the less. We’ve had no issues. Since we live in a small condo space is limited.
Once you set up things like the language, time, date and schedule the times/days you want Neato to run you are ready to go. You can program the vacuum to run when you are home, or not at home. It’s totally up to you. Since I work from home it doesn’t matter to me.
I cannot even begin to tell you how incredibly impressed I am with this little robotic vacuum. I figured it would do “OK” picking up small things like kitty litter and crumbs. NEVER did I expect it to suck up the ton of hair that gets all over the place from our cats and dog.
To give you an idea of what I am talking about, look at what the Neato vacuum picked up just in our living room.
That is as much hair as our full size $$$$ vacuum picks up. In fact, this little robotic vacuum works just as well as our full size vacuum with one huge exception – I don’t have to physically touch it. The Neato vacuum does it all on it’s own.
Here is the same space vacuumed with our pricey brand name vacuum, wit the exception that this one has baking powder mixed in. I sprinkle baking soda in the carpet to freshen it up.
Because the filter fills up with hair and other debris I make it a point to stop the Neato vacuum a few times to empty out the filter. If you don’t have a problem with pet hair you shouldn’t have to worry about it. We have five cats and a dog, so we must empty it frequently. The “bin” inside the Neato that traps the hair and dirt is not that big. So frequent disposal of the contents is a good idea.
The Neato runs entirely on it’s own. It knows where it needs to go.
I thought the unit would get caught or stuck on things. Only once did it get stuck and that was when it rolled over one of the cat scratchers and one of the wheels couldn’t move properly. Aside from that it has never got stuck anywhere. It can even manage to get over the little “bumps” between the carpeted and hardwood floors (those little “strips” between them).
Neato works on all floor types – carpet, wood, laminate and tile. You don’t have to change any settings on the machine either. It does each floor type flawlessly.
I was concerned about the Neato missing areas in my home. I was shocked to see that it covers each room fully. It even finds it’s away around table and chair legs.
Our machine needs to recharge 1-2 times per session. Usually it recharges for a short period of time then it’s back to vacuuming. The cool thing is that no matter where the vacuum is in your home it knows exactly where the base is and returns to the base for charging. Once recharged the Neato goes back to where it was vacuuming before it needed charging. It’s the craziest thing! It’s like it’s alive. In fact my kids keep telling me I need to name our Neato because I refer to it as a “he”. Once you have seen it in action you would swear it’s alive. It’s hard to believe that this little vacuum is so intelligent.
It’s fascinating to watch it move around the room. When it encounters something it finds it’s way around it with no problem. It also runs close to the wall and around furniture so as not to miss vacuuming any space. It even vacuumed around the toilet in the bathroom and partially under my kid’s beds (the kids have a lot of stuff under their beds there so it couldn’t go all the way under).
I love that I can set it to run any day of the week and at any time. Currently I have ours set at 1:00 PM Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
When the unit starts up to vacuum your house it sounds like a mini-airplane. It’s loud initially (not TOO loud). Once it starts working it’s not loud at all. I would say it’s quieter than a typical vacuum.
I still use our regular vacuum once or twice a week just to get up most of the pet hair so that the Neato doesn’t have to do all that work. Prior to owning a Neato had to vacuum pretty much every other day to keep on top of things. I rather Neato take care of crumbs, litter and dust bunnies and I’ll let the bigger vacuum tackle most of the pet hair. Neato clearly handles pet hair, I just don’t want to have to empty the bin too frequently.
If you don’t want your Neato to vacuum a certain room you can close the door. The unit also comes with a magnetic strip that you can place around areas you don’t want it to vacuum (such as under a Christmas tree or near a set of stairs). Our condo is all one level so I can let our unit vacuum our entire place. If you have a multi level home you will have to put the magnetic strip down to make sure it doesn’t fall down the stairs.
Neato finds it’s way around your home with special lasers (you can’t see them). It is able to scan the room so it knows where to go. It doesn’t just bounce around either. It methodically cleans the room back and forth. It’s really fascinating to watch. It can even go under your couch!
Check out this brief video that tells you more about the Neato vacuum.
I cannot praise the Neato vacuum enough. I was a bit skeptical at first but all my doubts went out the window the very first time I let Neato vacuum our home. I honestly cannot think of any “negative” about Neato, which maybe the exception it could have a bigger bin. But for those of you without a mini-zoo at home that would not be an issue.
Speaking of my mini-zoo, only one of my cats is not too keen about the Neato. He runs away from it. My other cats are not phased by it at all and our dog likes to follow it around.
Neato is available in different models that range in price from $379.99 to $449.99. It might not be “budget friendly” for most people, but when you think about the cost of other vacuums the price is comparable. Plus with the Neato you can have the device do the work for you and even have your home vacuumed before you get home from school. Try that with a regular vacuum.
I love my Neato. I truly do. It’s an awesome piece of household equipment. Once you try a Neato its hard to go back to regular vacuuming.
Now if only Neato can create a product to dust my house I’ll be all set. 🙂
Fore more information about Neato visit www.NeatoRobotics.com. They can also be found on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.
Kimberly
*I received a free product sample in order to do this review. There was no compensation. The opinions expressed are my own and not influenced in any way.
M.Clark says
Wow!! I must say, I am impressed. I have seen the advertisements for similar vacuums and I didn’t think they could actually clean your home, but based on you r review of the Neato Robotic Vacuum, I may just have to change my thinking on this. Thank you for this review.
Tammy S says
I need one of these!! I have 2 cats and 2 kids, so you know what I am talking about. My floors need to be cleaned everyday! This sounds like it does a great job. I really need to look into getting one of these. Great Review!!
stephanie hodges says
Awesome! I looked at getting something like this once I am done remodeling. Looks like it does a great job. I would like a follow up of the review after awhile to see if you still like it, still efficient and recommendation (continuance of being pet owner friendly).