21.12.2016

If you're thinking of buying your first robotic vacuum cleaner there are a few things you should know in advance. If you've already used a robovac then you can skip the intro and go down to the bit where I talk about this one. Let's look at their disadvantages first:• They're expensive compared with manual vacs.• They're comparatively low-powered. There's not much suction available so they don't do a really deep clean. You'll need to keep your full-size vac for dealing with big spills or ground-in dirt and any corners a robot may miss.• The dust container isn't very big and needs emptying pretty often.• You have to reserve a place for the docking station.The robot needs clear access to and from it so it can recharge after a cleaning run.• They can only clean one floor at a time. Like early-model Daleks they can't go up stairs. They do, however, have sensors to prevent them accidentally tumbling back down.• They're not as smart as people, so they'll happily chew shoelaces, phone charger cables and rug tassels (they usually stop themselves before any damage is done). You may need to reorganise your home accordingly.This sounds like a long list of reasons not to get a robovac, but there are upsides to adopting one:• You can set them to clean while you're out. It's undeniably cool to come back to a freshly swept home without having to lift a finger.• They're great if you have trouble managing a full-size vacuum.• They can get into places - like under the table, sofa or sideboard - that are hard to reach with a conventional upright vac.• There's no reason not to do a cleaning run every day. The cumulative effect of a gentle clean seven days a week is similar to one big weekly clean.• Perhaps not the most important feature, but they're fun to watch.There are basically two kinds of robotic vacuum cleaner. The simpler and less expensive ones are rather like old-fashioned bump-and-go toys. They trundle over the floor in a semi-random fashion, eventually covering the whole area several times. They work around obstructions like table legs using infrared sensors and bump plates. The smarter ones scan the area and build an internal map of it. They then navigate an optimal path around the floor. That's a lot more efficient, not to say quicker.The Neato Botvac D3 Connected is one of the clever ones. It has a laser scanner turret mounted on the top which spins up at the start of a run and maps the room. once it's done that it goes up and down the floor like someone mowing the lawn. It can make a tour of the whole floor and still remember how to get back to where it started fromIt's Wi-Fi (2.4GHz) enabled so you can download an app onto your Android or IOS phone or tablet and control it remotely. Setup was simple on my HTC phone and worked first time. You get push notifications of the machine's progress and you can stop, start and pause it as you like from anywhere in the world you can get an Internet connection. However, you do need working Internet and good Wi-Fi in your home and you have to be happy about Neato monitoring your use of the robot. If the Internet connection fails or Neato's servers go down or are hacked then the app will stop working even if your local Wi-Fi network is OK. The robot is still usable without the Wi-Fi connection by means of a control button on the top.If the battery gets low during a clean the bot returns to its base to recharge and then carries on until the job is finished. If you want to keep it out of a room you can either shut the door or buy boundary marking tape from Neato. I don't think this is as good a solution as the lighthouses that other bot manufacturers include. If you want to clean another floor you can take the bot there and start it. It will do its job and return to the place where you put it down.So much for the techie stuff, how well does it clean? Pretty well actually. The powered rotary brush has bristles and flaps that work well on various floor surfaces. It's quieter in operation than an upright vacuum, although still a bit too noisy to operate at night-time. The dust container is easy to lift out and empty and it's a good idea to brush down the filter at the same time. Unfortunately it has no edge brushes so it tends to leave an dusty margin around its cleaned area.It's got a few glitches. I've had the bot get stuck or fail to find its charging dock a few times and the messages it sends to your phone aren't always helpful. It'd be nice to be able to put its dock under a piece of furniture to save space, but you may occasionally find yourself having to return the robot to base manually as the return to dock function isn't always available in the app (it doesn't appear until the bot has built a complete map of its working area). It's not as good at recovering from problems like swallowing shoelaces (other machines can reverse their brushes to unwind them) or getting stuck in corners as other robotic vacs I've used. Its shape is behind this - a round machine can always rotate on the spot while this D-shaped one may not be able to. Lastly, the mains cable is absurdly short at little more than a foot long so you may have to rearrange your floor space or buy an extension.In summary, this is an effective and smart robotic vac that, while still pricey, is a lot less expensive than some other manufacturers' equivalent models but isn't quite as good at avoiding or getting out of trouble as it might be. It's worth considering whether you need Internet connectivity or if a non-connected model would do. It's nice to have, but the bot would clean every bit as well without it.

14.1.2017

I received this D3 Botvac to test and review and have used it at every opportunity.So, robotic vacs have been around for may years now and I've never felt the need to get one as the cost was quite high compared to a standard upright/cylinder vacuum and I had doubts about the effectiveness. How could something the size of a shoe box clean the carpet? Based on my experiences, very well it seems.When it was delivered, there was the amazon box, the manufacturers shipping box and then the retail box. Unpacking was like a game of pass the parcel where you know you would win and knew the prize.Visually it is rather disappointing with shades of grey. Perhaps a slash of colour would be nice (will consider a personal paint job)to break up the grey. After finally getting to the prize I quickly assembled the charging base and let it fully charge up before taking for a test drive. While waiting, I gave the carpet a good going over with my colourful upright to if anything was missed. Once fully charged, I downloaded the Neato app to my iPhone and connected it to my Wi-Fi network. The instructions are pretty simple and although no completely required, it does make life easier.Once the set up was complete, I put the D3 down, closed the door and using the app, started the cleaning cycle.Once started, you can leave it to it's own devices and when it thinks it has the room, it will stop and the app will tell you it has done. If you so wish, you can then use the app to tell it to return to the charging station and recharge. It will do this (mostly) without any help. When docking, it will give a rather sweet wiggle to ensure the contact is fully made. It will then sit there until you call it into action again, or via the app, create an automatic schedule. You can also set it to spot clean an area, again, via the app. Spot cleaning involved putting the Botvac down in the centre, select the option in the app and start. It will automatically criss-cross the area and stop. The app will also alert you if it gets stuck anywhere. I've only has one and that was where it managed to get stuck between a table leg and the a wall.So, after finishing my test area, the moment of truth came and I opened the dirt box (no bag). To my surprise (and a little disgust) it was nearly full of dust, hair, a few crumbs and a computer screw I thought was lost for good and my upright had missed. That may be down to the Botvac can fit under furniture where the upright won't fit unless you get the wand out etc. Next test was to take it upstairs and see if it can avoid a destructive attempt to do the stairs while fighting gravity.The Botvac uses sensors to know when it hits something and a sensor to 'see' the room. Hoping it would avoid crashing down, it set it off while sitting a few steps down in position to catch as needed. As it approached the drop I made ready but it successfully avoided the trap and just changed direction and carried on. If needed, you can buy boundary markers that it will detect and not cross. This is ideal for keeping it out of rooms without the need to close doors etc.Unlike modern vacs, there are a few disposable items with this. The dirt box filter and the rotating brushbar need to be replaced periodically but other that, it seems pretty maintenance free. You can upgrade the filter to high performance versions if you wish.ProsCompletely automated and will carry on without any interventionMeans you can leave it while you get on with other jobsNot as noisy as you think but you can't run it while watching TV in the same roomAbout 3 hours runtime from a full charge but that may improve with use.A very useful app to control, but as pointed out, not needed for basic functions.Transitions easily from carpet to hard floors and back again.Seems very good at picking up dust and hair, but as no pets, I cannot speak to how will it copes.The shape allows access to corners.ConsFor best results. large rooms, relatively free of obstructions are needed.With the charging base, it does take up some room on the floor.Might be distressing to pets if running in the same room as it 'chases' them around.Extra running costs from filters etc.Very dull to look at - needs jazzing up a bit.The D3 does not have to-the-wall-cleaning as there is no edge brush. It is fitted to the D5 though.Overall, a very nice addition and help to the household chores. I plan on sticking a MP3 player and speaker to the top and call it DJ Botvac. It can then clean while playing some banging tunes.

30.12.2016

I had read about robotic vacuums but had never seen one in action. I was, therefore, excited about being given the opportunity to try one out. You can use it via an app on a smartphone or computer tablet or can simply switch it on manually. I can see that the app would be very handy if you were out at work all day and could start the vac remotely and then come home to a freshly vacuumed home. I opted to simply turn it on manually and found it extremely easy to use. I did experience a few teething problems initially (more on this later) but when these were resolved, I thought it was amazing. You need to plug the charging unit in somewhere that leaves the unit with 1 metre space clear in front and on either side of it.This is so that the vac has clear, unblocked access to the charging unit. I initially located the charging unit in the hall but subsequently moved it to the living room. Because the vac starts from the charging unit and returns to it when it has finished, I felt it was more convenient to locate it in the room which will be vacuumed most frequently, hence the living room.The vac will vacuum every room on one level if you leave the room doors open. If you only want to vacuum a single room, simply keep the door shut. When you switch the vac on it moves away from the charging unit and systematically moves across the carpet. You should prepare the room beforehand by lifting any cables out the way and moving anything spillable (such as a dog's bowl) out of the way. The vac moves quite slowly and has bumpers at the front with which it gently nudges anything it touches. It then moves away from the object. You can buy boundary markers to prevent the vac entering certain areas but I found this unnecessary. I had a Christmas tree with presents. underneath it and the vac negotiated this without any problems. I wondered how it would cope with rugs on top of the carpet but it coped with these easily. It even vacuumed my sheepskin rug which my conventional vacuum can't handle. The vac was low enough to vacuum under my coffee table and even vacuumed under my electric fire (make sure this is switched off). If the vac's battery runs low before it has finished, it will go back to the charging unit, recharge itself and then go back and finish the job! I was very pleased with its performance. Obviously it is much slower than a conventional vacuum but you can be getting on with something else while it gets on with the job. This morning it vacuumed most rooms in my house while I sat with my feet up and read the paper!Now for the teething problems which I mentioned. There is a light on the vacuum which indicates the state of the battery. If it is green, then the vac is ready to go. If it is amber, the battery is low and needs to be charged. After using the vac for the first time, I left it to charge for 24 hours and the battery still hadn't charged. I moved it to another location and suddenly it started charging. However, it only vacuumed one room before the amber light came on again and as before I couldn't get it to charge. I had emptied the dust bag after its initial vacuum, but decided now to also clean the brush. I disentangled some hairs from the brush and lo and behold it started to charge up! How can a few hairs stop the battery from charging? When the dust bag needs to be emptied a red warning light comes on but this does not happen when the brush needs cleaned. There is absolutely nothing in the manual about this, nor is it mentioned on the website. I feel that that the manual needs to be expanded to cover problems such as this. I would also mention that the manual shows a hair/fibre cutter which can be used to clean both the brush and the filter. I did not receive this item. Since this experience, I now check the brush after every use (as well as emptying the dust bag) and I have had no further problems.In spite of these teething problems, I loved this robot vac and thoroughly recommend it. Yes, it is expensive but if you can afford it, it is worth buying. One doubt has just occurred to me - this is a sophisticated piece of equipment and I wondered about maintenance and longevity. Will it be repairable if I encounter problems in the future and will there be someone local to me who can repair it? Just a thought.

16.7.2017

OK, so this isn't my first foray into robotic vacuums. This is replacing my Vileda A3 147271 Cleaning Robotic Vacuum Cleaner (UK Version) which I bought for £70.03, roughly 13% of the RRP of this thing (18% of the current deal price).At £579.99 (or £387, if you benefit from the extended Prime Day discount) you'd be within your rights to expect the pinnacle of robotic vacuuming as we know it - a genuinely awesome product with little or no room for improvement without further technological advancements.On paper - you've got that. The laser room mapping system is amazing. The little guy barely ever bumps into anything and can comfortably navigate through tight spaces with ease.The dock asks for 1 metre clearance to each side so the device can easily find it's way back home. I tucked it in a corner with barely 10cm clearance to the left & right (because I didn't want the thing sticking out like a sore thumb) and it hasn't held it back at all. When the cleaning is done the suction turns off and he scoots back to base for a charge - amazing.The actual cleaning is great. It leaves marks in the carpet and seems to suck up as much dirt as my Dyson does. It's got a fairly large dustbin too for something so little, and it seems to navigate between hard floors and carpets with ease.You can schedule him to fire up over night so you wake up to freshly vacuumed floors in the morning, blissfully sleeping through all the scurrying around.Is it perfect? No. For all the laser room mapping will keep him away from walls and most furniture, it seems fairly inaccurate at judging height. One of the main causes of the “I’m stuck” push notifications is a low-hanging TV unit that the little fella consistently wedges himself under.“That’s OK”, I hear you say - “because the electromagnetic strip in the box will give him guidance on tough to navigate areas”. Fine in principle but it looks ugly if you leave it out, and if you’re digging around in the cupboard to lay it out before he does his thing, you’re getting dangerously close to the effort involved in just pushing a hoover around yourself. On occasion too he seems to just push the strip out the way - not a foolproof system.The small metal strip that runs under a doorway between carpet seems to either be taken in it’s stride or deemed a fatal drop by the drop sensor and given a wide birth with absolutely no rhyme or reason whatsoever. It is a total lottery to see whether the thing has done the whole house or just the room it resides in.Lighter furniture (small chairs with thin legs) on harder floors seem to trouble the laser sensors too, and usually take a bit of a bashing around. Not too much of an issue until the little guy traps himself in, and then in his new pen sends a notification to say “I’m done cleaning!” rather than the usual “I’m stuck” as if the room has suddenly closed in around him and the whole thing is now done (which is funny until you realise as a result he’s forgotten where he’s been and has to do the whole house again)To summarise: I love the thing, I really do. I tell a lot of people about it and always sing it's praises. But you've probably guessed from the fact that I've owned two robot hoovers in my lifetime that I'm the kind of guy that's going to. It costs 8x the price of the Vileda linked above, and the big question is: is it 8x the product?The answer to that unfortunately is no. It's not even 2x the product. They both have the same net result (a marginally above average vacuuming done), the only real difference is the tech in the middle - and even then that often fails! The luxury of it returning to its own dock and being controlled from a phone is not worth the £300+ price difference - even if you do luck out and it doesn't get stuck, you still have to empty the bag!My verdict is wait for technological advances. If you absolutely need one now, go cheap. It's not going to help anyone who's mobility impaired, it's still too flawed to completely replace your usual vacuum - for now they are just a (fun) gimmick.EDIT: If you put it on in the night and it gets stuck it will beep until you help it. Might wake someone up especially if you have a downstairs bedroom. Try and time it so it finishes just before alarm clocks go off.

28.12.2016

I was lucky enough to get the chance to review the original Neato vac a couple of years ago which was not WiFi enabled. It was simple to use though, with a screen on the top via which you programmed it's cleaning schedule and it conveyed messages such as needing it's dustbox emptying.I was really impressed with its cleaning ability as in our living room which had quite a thick-pile carpet, you could even see the tramline marks where it had been.... no compromise in suction ability. And though we had it set to clean every day, in those early days we used to empty the dustbox every day just out of curiosity and it was shocking to see how much it was collecting in just one day. We had cats,and it was picking up a surprising amount of cat hair each day.I have since moved out of the family home and 'Monty' as we named him, is still going strong, but I really did miss having him here in my new apartment so was over the moon to be offered this newer version!Monty #2 is the same size and shape, but sleeker looking, and is controlled/programmed via an app on your phone or tablet.Pairing him up to my iPad was simple enough, you download the App first, register your details, including the model's serial number (on the underside) and give him a name (Monty #2).Via the app, you can programme the days of the week you want him to clean and the exact time of day you wish him to clean. These can be different times on different days.When you first set him off, it does take him quite a long time as he goes around the house, mapping out the rooms and doorways and he does do a lot of repetitive to-ing and fro-ing as he checks and confirms his mapping data. This is only necessary on his initial journey as the info is stored and on subsequent cleans, he knows where he's going!He's excellent at getting really close to the edges of the carpet where it touches the wall, and at going under things and he's remarkably nifty at turning around, even wriggling and lifting his bum to help himself to turn around out of a corner or dead end.While the dust box might need emptying more frequently than a conventional vacuum bag, I actually prefer to empty out a small neat plastic box of dust into my garbage bin than mess about with huge expensive vacuum bags and even emptying out my old Dyson often resulted in dust flying up and out of the cylinder. With the neato it's just a quick, simple and clean job.I love getting home every night and the floor is spotless and I can't help finding him quite cute, and the little notification messages he flashes up on my iPad like when he got a bit tangled up in a monkey soft toy's long arms and said "help, I'm stuck!" .He charges his battery via a docking station that you need to keep plugged into a wall socket, it's about 10.5 inches long, by 2 inches wide, and needs to be on the floor where your vac can sit with its back against the charger. It will sit here until it sets off on its programmed cleans, and will return here when he's finished.A great little gadget that really works and my old one is over 2 years old and still working perfectly!

17.1.2017

I have never owned a robo-vac before, or even seen one in use, so I was pleased to get the opportunity to try this one. My attitude previously was that it was just a gimmicky item that would be an expensive novelty, not do the job properly, and be consigned to a cupboard along with other household gadgets that seemed good at the time. How wrong I was !!Of course, there are some drawbacks, but generally speaking, this vacuum performs well. It can be operated either manually or remotely, using an app on a smartphone. To me, the App function is pointless- how much trouble can it be to bend down and push a button ?- and operating it from, say, your workplace may be well and good,but if it sends a message saying it has hit difficulties you are'nt there to do anything about it. The unit goes about it's task perfectly well while you're there - providing you don't trip over it of course. Once activated, it leaves the docking station and moves around the room, smartly avoiding obstacles and sliding under furniture wherever it can. Of course, it is a good idea to make sure that cables, etc. are tucked away as it might chew those up, as well as shoes, etc. which will obstruct the machine. Leaving doors open will allow the vac to do all rooms on one level. In my case, it does the entire upstairs- 3 bedrooms, a bathroom and toilet- and automatically recognises the top of the stairs so that it won't tumble down them. The suction is quite powerful and picks up dust and loose hairs, etc. . I was surprised at how much dirt it had picked up on the first run...less now that it is everyday use. The dust container is quite small - of course, it has to be. But again, how much trouble can it be to empty that regularly, especially considering the work this machine is saving you ?Once the cleaning is done, the vac returns to the dock to recharge until needed again. There has been a couple of problems intitially with this, but a bit of trial and error will find the best place to situate it.The only drawbacks with this unit- as there is with any upright vacuum too- is that some corners are too tight to fit into, and edges alongside skirting boards and furniture are missed. Other than having automatic R2-D2 type of extending tools, this can't be helped !. Even manual vacuums need tools for this, and you will need to use your old upright probably, to ensure all corners and edges are at regular periods of time.I have grown quite fond of my robot vacuum cleaner. It is still fun to see him going about his job. I hear it cleaning upstairs (though it is not too loud at all), while I relax with a coffee downstairs knowing that one chore is being taken care of. If I could afford it I would get one for the downstairs too ! It is a good, practical use of technology that I would recommend highly. I don't know how household pets would react to one though...so if you have Dogs or Cats you may need to think about this. For everyone else though - especially those with, say, mobility issues, this will be become an invaluable household aid.

2.7.2017

Meet Basil, or at least that's what we've christened it in our house. My wife hates technology, but is beginning to change her opinion as a result of our little friend here.Measuring about 13" x 12" and made of dark grey plastic, the robot does take up a lot of space if stored in a small room. The instructions also require that the charging station is placed near a power socket that has a metre of clear space in front and to either side of it, to allow the robot to negotiate its way back to the charger. This can be an issue as the supplied mains lead is only about 2 feet long, and most electrical sockets are towards the corners of a room.When activated, the robot pootles slowly about the room,seemingly randomly at first as it maps out its surroundings, quietly and gently sucking dirt from the floor. The suction isn't the most powerful in the world, and it doesn't get everything in one pass, but that's not a problem. This is similar to the robotic lawnmowers that, basically, graze the grass regularly, removing a little each time, but keeping things neat by how frequently they are used.This robot requires no effort from the user, and can be ordered (via a mobile app - which we've yet to try) to operate when the property is unattended. Over the course of several cycles, the robot will collect almost as much dust as would a single session with a human-propelled vacuum cleaner that has enough suction to take the pattern off the carpet.Because the robot is designed to regularly "graze" on the dirt, the dust container is small and will need emptying after pretty much every cycle, especially if you own pets that shed hair. Fortunately, emptying the container is very straightforward.When the robot has completed a room (or rooms), it will return automatically to its charging station, wiggling itself into position onto the magnetized charging contacts. As you might expect, it can't negotiate stairs (or clean them), so has to be carried between storeys. In that circumstance, once the cleaning is completed, the robot returns to the location it was in when it was activated.Alongside the robot in the box are replacement dust filters (the manufacturer recommends swapping them after 3 months), a replacement beater/roller, a brush to clean the roller and a flexible strip that you can put across a doorway or across the floor if you want to restrict where the robot can go. Keeping the room doors closed is another way of doing this.While the beater/roller is unlikely to damage trailing cables, it's worth moving them off the floor before vacuuming, as they could get caught in the roller and cause damage to the robot. The robot can have difficulty in driving over cables as well, and if unable to pass, can assume it has reached the edge of the room and so miss cleaning the floor beyond them.

18.1.2017

I've had a Roomba for about ten years, and always thought it excellent. Yes it would get stuck behind the telly, or trap itself under the dining room table. Yes, it would constantly moan about having it's brushes replaced. If a robot could go senile, then my Roomba probably was.Ten years is a long time in technology, so I was very interested to see how well this competitor to Roomba would do. Short answer? Completely blows (sucks) it away.But, I'll start with the downsides. Firstl is the stupid power cable that comes with the dock. Mine is literally 30cms long, and barely reaches from the socket to the floor, let alone to the dock itself. Completely useless, and I had to immediately buy a replacement.Fortunately it's a standard DIN 'kettle' lead, so easy to get hold of one, but still..And that's pretty much it. I thought I would miss the Roombas voice messages, and it's plaintive cries of 'please stop and clean my brushes' but I actually prefer the Neato approach of sending messages to my phone via the app. You get a message saying the Neato has finished cleaning, or it's stuck, or it's run out of battery because you can't plug the dock in with it's silly short cable.It's has a much more predicatable pattern in cleaning that a Roomba too. The Roomba would aimlessly meander all around the room, with no sense of real purpose. It gets to everything eventually but it can be strangly annoying to watch it roam all over the place randomly. The Neato is much more satisfying in its methodical approach of going around the edge of the room first. This allows it to 'map' the room internally, and then it finishes off by criss-crossing across the room, once in each direction. The sensors are more effective than the Roomba too, in that it usually detects an obstacle before it touches it, rather than the Roomba's drunk man in a china shop approach of just bouncing off everything. It's also intelligent enough to know where it is, so if you move it for any reason, you can put it back where it was and it carries on where it left off.It has considerably more power the Roomba, and stands up pretty well in comparison to a proper manual vacuum. It has a scheduling facility where you can tell it to do the cleaning at a certain time every day. Be warned though that you will need to tidy a bit if you do this, as it will cheerfully tangle itself up in any loose leads or bits and pieces on the floor. It copes with hard floors very well, but doesn't like tassles or loose edges. It also plays nicely with Alexa if you have a Echo or a Dot, just activate the skill and tell it get going.So, I'm delighted with it. It's a massive step-up from my old Roomba, and it does a great job. Very pleased - except for the stupid short cable.

7.4.2018

It is a good robot in theory, however D3 is a very basic model lacking many good features. Cleaning performance is relatively good, but for the price you can't expect less. Yes, it does scan the room and navigatives quite efficiently, but this adds nothing to the functionality. You can't point it to a specific place or create virtual borders. Or even tell where it is. The room map appears only after cleaning the room and it doesn't look D3 learns much about the room from doing it any second time.Update: it does seem that consequitive cleans are getting somewhat faster, so it might be using some learning, though it can't be confirmed.There are few features making it annoying and wishing you had bought a more advanced version.1.

27.2.2017

"This is the first time you've ever shown any interest in vacuuming," said the wife, as I pulled this out of the box and spend a few minutes setting it - this consisted of connecting to its private wi-fi (Yes, a vacuum with WiFi!) and connecting it to our home's wifi. You also need to setup an account with the manufacturer. Once done, you get a simple UI to control the device both from inside the house or out and about.Once fully charged, and with the floor cleared of clutter, I set it off. You press GO on the app and it pops off its charging unit, spins around a few times and then proceeds to clean.I spent more of the time watching it to see how it worked out where to go.

29.6.2017

First off let me say this is my THIRD NEATO Robotics cleaning robot. I have been extremely impressed with all of them and they basically keep my house spotless. I have 2 dogs and the whole of downstairs is wooden floors or slate in the kitchen. These robots perform brilliantly on short carpet built their finest performance is wooden floors.There are a number of NEATO robots in the range and I would STRONGLY suggest you check them out as they all have different functions, range and cleaning areas and the price between them isn't that great. To be honest given that the price between the lower end of the robots and the upper end is less than 100 I would go for the bigger robot every time.This particular robot for example has a much smaller cleaning area.

15.7.2017

Pretty much love this little Hoover. Very easy to use. Only couple of minor points that loose one star.Difficult in finding a place where there is a metre either side of charging base as per instructions so we gave up on this and it hasn't been a problem.We found that we had to move it from its original location as it found it hard to get back on to charge for some reason. Perhaps uneven ground although didn't seem that bad and looked like it made connection. We had to reboot the robot after each use via our mobiles. We moved it after 2nd time and it's now not an issue. On the plus side instructions on how to reset were easy to follow and was quickly done.After moving Neato it didn't have a problem charging but it did seem to measure out room a bit strangely.

30.6.2017

I had formed an opinion about robo vacs long before this Neato unit arrived. I thought that they were no more than glorified toys for the lazy.Could I be proven wrong?Yes I could.First impression when you unpack it is that it has a good weight and that the wheels offer it a great deal of mobility. Then you feel the weight and the general construction which is really good on both counts and not the poor lightweight construction of a gimmicky toy.With your smartphone you download an app to control your cleaning bot and to set it up. The app is simple to use, and the set up was quick.About our home: 2 Adults, 1 child, 2 dogs and 4 bikes. Lots of walked in sand from our local beach.

29.6.2018

Had the Neato 2 weeks now and have had 18 cleans from it. I have to say that it works better than I expected.We've had no wifi problems at all. When I first powered the Neato up it needed to update the software, I was then asked to reconnect to the wifi, but since then it's not dropped the connection once.Neato doesn't get right into some of the corners and often doesn't follow the skirting board closely, however, that doesn't seem to be a real problem. We've gone around the edges of each room with a hand held vacuum every few days, which takes minutes.Neato is really quiet, we've had him run around a few times in the night and the noise hasn't disturbed us sleeping upstairs at all.We bought

12.3.2017

This is quite simply the best thing I have in my home! (apart from my family and dog!) It is absolutely brilliant!There are many reasons why I love this.1. it does a fantastic job and leaves the floor absolutely immaculate and that is with loads of dog hairs and stour on the wooden floor.2. you can lie in your bed while it cleans your house!3. you can even set it through an app in your phone and it cleans your floor while you are at work so you come home to a perfectly clean floor.4. It is so intuitive and clever. I am fascinated to watch it doing its thing. It seems to just randomly go about the room and i keep thinking it has missed a bit but then it realises when it has covered every bit of floor and goes back to its base.

Neato Robotics Botvac Connected D3 - Reviews

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