Neato Robotics Botvac 80 Vacuum Cleaner With Scheduling; Grey (Renewed)

Cleaning area:- Currently only set to run upstairs. 3-bedrooms and one large Loft area, all carpeted. 2 bathrooms, tiled floor.Concerns:- HVAC Floor vents may, over time, prematurely wear the brush out. We will see.Pros:- In one cleaning session, picks up about 70% of what our upright vac currently does. So running it 2 or more times a week equates to, or out performs what our current once-a-week upright vac cleaning does.- Quieter than I expected. I work from home, and it's not so loud that I can't get work done, or have phone conversations (except if it's at my feet while I'm on the phone.)- mapping logic is pretty good overall - seems to map out the area very well.- Dust bin holds a lot! So far I have not received the "Clean my dust bin." alert in the middle of a cleaning cycle. I clean it out right before I start each session.Cons:- You do need to 'baby-proof' the rooms (and make sure bathroom floors are dry) before you start a cleaning session. I don't have our Bot on a schedule, but manually kick it off about twice a week. I do a quick room-check before that.Not a major issue - would rather do that (takes 2-minutes) than spend MY time doing the actual vacuuming!Overall observations:- Unit arrived on time and in great condition. Looked like a new, never used unit to me!- As recommended by the Manual, I initially charged the unit overnight, then I ran 3-4 concurrent cleaning sessions to 'condition' the battery. First few sessions the bot was bumping into everything, but by the 3rd session, it was able to find it's way back to the charging station and was doing a lot less bumping into things. Did very well near the stairs - never fell down. Did seem like with each session, it got more 'confident' working near the steps and it's cleaning approach was increasingly more aggressive. A few times I thought for sure it was going to do a rocket launch off the top step - but it stopped short and turned around!- Our Loft area is partially marked off by a wood stair railing, so it looks at each gap in the railing as an opportunity to enter a new space. Not really a problem - helps with cleaning in-between each rail but does slow down the progress a bit as it tries to slip between each rail. (I'm sure a 6" high cardboard strip along the bottom would fix that right up!).- My Bot runs for about 1.25 hours before needing to return to it's station to re-charge. This initial pass cleans about 95% of the upstairs area. The 1.25 hours of battery run-time seems to be within the 1 to 1.5 hours most folks are reporting with their Bots. Once re-charged (takes about 2-hours), the Bot returns to where it left off to complete the cleaning cycle.- The mapping logic doesn't always make sense. It can break up rooms into 'virtual' rooms - it does this for the space under my desk in the Loft, cleaning 95% of the loft, then running off to clean one of the bedrooms, them coming back to the loft to clean this section under the desk.(PS - it did this on one cleaning session, but not on the next one. I'm hoping it's learning to be more efficient as the layout mapping/navigation is improved upon with each subsequent cleaning session. On it's last cleaning session (#8), it completed a full cleaning session on the initial Battery Charge without the need to re-charge and return where it left off.)Summary:- Very happy and impressed with this unit! Thinking about picking up another one for downstairs (Kitchen, Dining Room, Living Room). Wife is amazed by the navigation technology and it's cleaning ability.Suggestions:- Don't run your Bot an hour before bedtime unless it's able to clean 100% of the area without re-charging. Otherwise it's likely to scare the $%^& out of you when it wakes up and returns to where it left off just as you start to doze off!! (Our Docking Unit is right next to the bed, so learned that lesson the hard way!)[Update - 06/01/18]:- It's 6+ months later, and we still love the BotVac. Have run into some quirks with it. About 2 months ago, it would not charge when it returned to it's base. I tried cleaning the contact bars on the base and the Unit - that didn't help. Sometimes the unit would start charging if I just opened and closed the dust bin lid. Several times I had to resort to running the 'New battery' menu option. As of the last 2 weeks, it seems to be doing better with charging - not sure why. Had one cleaning session where it seemed 'angry' - normally if it bumps into an object, it will back up a few inches, turn slightly left or right, then move forward - repeat until it bypassed the obstacle. During this session, when it encountered an obstacle, it would just dig it's heels in and try to push it out of the way. If unsuccessful, it would backup about 6-inches, and make a wide sweeping turn around it. It took another 'New Battery' reset process to return it back to normal.It did fall down the stairs once on us so far (10 carpeted steps) - amazingly it survived intact and without a scratch - even though it put a nice dent in the drywall at the bottom of the stairs. I make sure to clean the sensors before every other cleaning session now.The latest quirk - going on for 3 weeks now - it no longer drives off and away from the charging station before it starts cleaning, but starts cleaning while ON the station. Once it figures how to get off the station, it does the rest of the house fine. A 'new Battery' reset process hasn't fixed this one, so we're just living with it for now.

One of my best friends owns a Neato Botvac D80 and has owned older Neato Botvacs in the past. He highly recommended the brand so I figured I'd take a chance on one. Found a factory certified refurbished Botvac 80 and figured it was worth a shot. I almost always buy pre-owned or certified refurb and 99% of the things I buy work fine for me. This vacuum, unfortunately, belongs in the other 1% column. From the get-go, it gave me the 'Please Clean My Brush' message. I have hardwood floors so no tall carpet issues to deal with. After reaching out to Neato, they had me test the unit without the brush installed. It worked fine, indicating the problem was with the brush and not the motor. They were kind enough to send out a replacement brush. A few days later, the new brush arrived and I installed it. After the better part of 45 seconds, I received another 'Please Clean My Brush' message. Unfortunately, I decided to send the unit back. When I see 'FACTORY CERTIFIED REFURBISHED' that is the same as saying it works like new. I don't care if it looks older or scuffed or ugly but it has to work. Otherwise it's not refurbished and the certification is worthless. I really wanted this to work out as I have two dogs and a robo-vac would help me keep my home cleaner between cleaning sessions. I'm going to take a stab at a Roomba next. I've heard good things about Neato but not experienced them. My advice would be to stay away from this troublesome unit ESPECIALLY IF IT'S A REFURB and go elsewhere.

The media could not be loaded.  Amazing product! I researched MANY different types of robotic vacuums before deciding on this one. I almost went with a mid-value round vacuum of a popular brand. However, I'm so glad I chose this one. Here are a few things I was looking for:Scheduling - check!Edge brush - check!Easy to clean large dustbin - check!Works on carpet (this was a huge one!) - check!Cleans in lines instead of randomly (that's what sold me on this particular vacuum!) - check!Powerful suction and large brush - check!I also love the D-shape of this vacuum, as that makes a huge difference in how close it can be to the edges, I believe. And I mentioned it above, but I'm HIGHLY impressed with this vacuum's navigation knowledge - it sits and scans the room before starting, then it divides the room into large sections, outlines one section (getting the edges very well!), then goes in as straight of lines as possible to vacuum within that large section. Also, if it starts to die while cleaning, it will return to its home base, re-charge, and then go back and continue where it left off.This was refurbished. I was expecting it to look slightly used, maybe dusty or something. But this was not! It smelled brand new! Looked brand new! It even had screen covers on the scheduling screen and the charging connectors. It came with 2 side brushes, 2 large brushes, and 2 filters, as well as a roll of magnetic strip to use as room dividers/barriers to block off sections you don't want vacuumed.Would highly recommend, would buy again! Considering purchasing one for my mother.P.S. My kids love watching it! Very entertaining to preschool-aged children. :)

First, it will not do your work for you. You must clean the house , wet cleaning .It will , though, keep it clean!!!It collects dust pretty good!!!It is quiet!!!And most importantly, if you have a baby to feed or pump , it will give you a nice time frame to do so without bothering you with mopping the floor !!!!I absolutely love it .One con is the price. Its not cheap!