iClebo Arte

Best value out there. Great customer service. I did my research before investing in a robotic sweeper/vaccuum cleaner and feature-wise this unit beats the Roomba 880 for hundreds of dollars less. I was afraid that this unit would give me trouble and I'd get no support because I'd read the comments from others who purchased the unit. Still, the price difference compared to the Roomba was great enough that I thought I would take a chance. *I'm glad I decided to try the iClebo*. Here is my experience: I purchased this unit and it arrived on time, very well packaged. The instructions for assembling and using it are transliterated Korean. That means not very good instructions, even with the pictures. I had to make a little mental exertion to assemble it and ensure that it was ready for operation, but not too much. The penultimate step is installing the transformer/power supply into the charger base which worked fine except that I discovered they has shipped the wrong power cord from the power outlet to the transformer. I was put out for sure. It was an "American" plug with the 2 paddles/contacts (not 3, grounded) on one end but the other end that plugs into the transformer had two contacts and the transformer requires a three-pronged plug. On the literature included with the iClebo was a customer support toll-free number. I called it - it was answered immediately by a professional young lady "Rebecca" who politely listened to my problem and notified me her manager could help me with that but he was out at lunch and he would return my call later. With some skepticism I provided my phone number. I borrowed the cable from my laptop and plugged in the unit so that it would charge for the day. Before the end of the day the iClebo manager did indeed call me back and apologized. He took my mailing addressed and said he'd send the correct cable by UPS. Lo and behold, three days later UPS delivered the correct cable. So customer server gets 5 stars. How did the unit perform? Fantastic. I have a large house with most of the 1st floor being dark hardwood (pic included). I also have 2 cats and a Great Pyrenees dog (pic included). For those unfamiliar, the Great Pyrenees breed is white and between 80-160lbs - its like a giant, constantly shedding polar bear. That's why the iClebo. I have seen this dog and these 2 cats destroy 2 Dyson vacuum cleaners in a few short years so it was with a healthy dose of skepticism and equal amounts of trepidation that I set the iClebo to the task. I was pretty convinced that it would clog and choke on all the dog hair but to my astonishment it did not! The first day I had to run it twice because the catch-bin filled up. After that it runs once a day and I empty the catch-bin every day. The iClebo picks up *all* the long white Great Pyrenees dog hair without problems. Once a week I do need to pull some of the dog hair off the brush because it gets wrapped around it. It literally takes me about a minute. I am a career software developer so I'm critical of substandard software but also appreciative good software. The software in the iClebo is very good. It is very smart about cleaning, not missing spots, not getting stuck when encountering obstacles. Once, in 10 days of use, it got stuck on the tail of my cats' toy mouse and shut itself off after a couple of beeps. I extricated the cat toy and set it on its way and all has been well since. It hasn't got lost yet and always finds itself back to the charging base. I have four rooms and the iClebo navigates itself around everything every day and does its work. Its not as fast as a human - it probably takes about 80-90 minutes to complete its work but I'm off working or doing something else. I've been watching these gadgets for years, amused by what a futuristic a cute idea they are but never believing that they'd work worth squat, but faced with over a thousand square feet of hardwood floor and some carpets (I'm a solo act for a few months) and all my other responsibilities I figured that I'd give it a shot. Best thing I ever did. My wife was right again, despite my misgivings :-) In summary, this is a great unit and very good value. According to Consumer Reports the operating time of this unit is 50% longer than the Roomba 880. The Roomba manufacturers warranty on the battery is 6 months; iClebo's batter warranty is 12 months. I purchased the SquareTrade extended warranty for 3 years for an additional $35 just because iClebo is not as well known as the Roomba in the USA. So even with my (4-year total) warranty I saved $300 compared to the Roomba and got a better unit with a replacement warranty four times longer. I have not used the Roomba brand robotic sweeper and I'm sure it is a very good unit also, but IMHO you just can't beat the value of the iClebo.

I bought this July 15th and used it maybe 12 times. It's broken now. One of the wheel motors seized up and quit working so it just turns in circles now. I can't return via Amazon and called the support and got a very broken English speaking person who told me to email him. Email was returned 3 times. Then I called back and he said email: [email protected] and promptly hung up on me. Not sure if I'll ge a replacement or my money back. Also, the cleaning option doesn't work at all. It's just a pad you manually wet and it dried up fast. It won't get dirt/dust prints off of my concrete floors in my house. It DOES suck up dog hair but nothing of actual weight/substance.

I was impressed with results based on the knowledge that this is a consumer robot with limited capabilities. First of all the house: 2500 sqare feet, 90% hardwood floors (engineered), 8 rooms + 3 bathrooms + 2 hallways. Several architectural features like multiple archways which provide posts in the room for iClebo to manuver around. Considering the obsticles, I felt that it did a very good job of cleaning all the area. The things that I noticed that made it less efficient. 1. Once it makes a turn that is not 180 degrees (and thus at an angle), it never recovers. It seems to "pull to the left" so in a large room it starts out stright with the wall and ends up with a considerable pie shape on the other side. 2. In it's "search" for a way around an obsticle, it seems to stop one try too soon on the final path, meaning that it leaves some areas untouched. After just a couple of weeks of use however, I still am happy with the purchase. It saves my wife and I (ok mostly my wife :)) a lot of time keeping the floors swept. I will agree with others though, thick/deep carpets are not it's strong point.