1.9.2016

I had thought about buying a robot vacuum cleaner years ago when the first Roomba ones came out, but I then saw one in operation, bouncing around like a pin ball and getting confused by a patterned carpet so I shelved the idea, but we now own a bigger house and 2 dogs so vacuuming once a week wasn't enough, I decided to revisit the idea and started looking at prices/reviews etc on all the types that are around now.The "connected" version of the Neato came out as the winner really, I was put off Roombas by the high price, tiny dust box, tiny rollers, reviews saying they did not function well at night because use a camera(I wanted to use the vacuum on timer at night),also they are apparently bad at doing multiple rooms in one run, the other manufacturers ones all seemed flawed in similar ways.I got the D85 instead of the "connected" version because the wireless capability and app seemed a gimmick and other than this there seemed to be little difference between that one and the D85 for the £100 higher price.I bought the D85 in february and its now 1st Sept, when I first ran this I was amazed how good it was, it does 3 rooms in my house in one run, the lounge is very large with brick floors and rugs, it takes about an hour to finish, the battery does not run out and the dust box does not overflow during the run, it always finds its charge point at the end, as mentioned I originally planned to run it at night but it then dawned on me that although the dogs hardly ever have "accidents" during the night, it would only have to happen once and it doesn't bear thinking about what will happen when the robot runs over it and then continues throughout the house!Since Feb I have been running the D85 on mon,tue,thurs and fri every week, I do have to go around the house first moving certain items that cause it problems first, 2 swivel chairs with wooden bases have to go onto the sofa as it seems to think those bases are carpets and keeps trying to climb them and gets stuck, most other stuff I move so it can vacuum where they were, each time I use it I empty the box and clean the brush which is easy enough, then start it up while I'm out with the dogs, 7 times out of 10 Ill get home and its done and back at its base, those other 3 times Ill find it stuck somewhere, although I remove items which I know cause it issues, on these occasions it has become stuck in a random place where the other 7 times its been fine, the fact of the matter is that they will get stuck from time to time, one the whole its ability to navigate around objects and chairs is very much better than I expected.Although the robots cleaning ability is not as good as a Dyson or similar upright, I find running it 4 times a week is a bit like wearing away the stone, it makes up for its lack of power by operating more often than you would vacuum yourself, one of my dogs is a German Shepherd and those shed their entire coat twice a year, during this time I ran the D85 every day for a month or so to compete with this, it was touch and go and the dust box was brim full every day but it managed to cope, we have not manually vacuumed the 3 rooms the D85 operates in since Feb.My big concern with buying this type over a Roomba was reliability, since having this I have had one issue, in the second week of owning it the D85 began behaving oddly, it kept backing away from objects and shaking violently from side to side, then it would stop with an error saying its bumper was stuck, I would free it, then a minute later the same thing again, making the robot unusable, in the end I fixed it myself by removing the bumper and compressing 2 of the 4 springs on the micro switches that the bumper presses against, for some reason those 2 springs were slightly longer than the other 2 and this was causing the switches to stay pressed when there was no load on the bumper, this completely fixed the problem and its not happened since, I am aware that it would have been more prudent to contact the manufacturer and return it under warranty rather than fix it myself but I'm quite good with this sort of stuff so I chanced it, I'm not recommending to anyone to do what I did in this situation!!On a couple of occasions the robot has lost power and even its clock has reset, I'm thinking this was a battery issue(as have read about such a problem), but as it was fine again once I put it back on its base unit, I don't regard it as a big deal.I thought about giving 4 stars in this review on account of the above things and the fact it gets stuck every now and then(which would be more annoying if I had the "connected" one and was starting it remotely so unable to free the robot and start it again), but the fact is that this has really out performed my expectations, its not just a fun toy, it really does the job, defeating the massive amount of hair a German Shepherd can shed really proves that.

14.8.2015

After 6 months' use I have increased the number of stars above this review from 4 to 5. Everything I wrote below still stands, but I really am delighted with it - even though the novelty of watching how it goes about its work has worn off (mostly!).This machine will change the way you vacuum your home, and provide you and your friends with plenty to watch and talk about.For the areas that it is able to cover (which doesn't include stairs or any surface that is not down on the floor) the Neato is good enough as a vacuum cleaner - on bare floors and reasonably secure mats and rugs as well as carpets - and it does succeed in finding and covering all the places into which it will fit.So it goes round table legs and under sofas and beds more diligently than we ourselves might if vacuuming by hand.The amount of code it must have to deal with every eventuality - including calling for your help if it gets stuck - is amazing; and the amount of data it must gather about the shapes of rooms and position of obstacles is absolutely mind-boggling.It can be set to work at specified times, including when you are out or asleep, but I wouldn't recommend that as it does sometimes get stuck and it would be disappointing to come home (or get up) and find it had not been able to complete its job.Instead of moving furniture as you go, pushing toys, etc. out of the way with the vacuum cleaner itself - as you would if vacuuming by hand - you will get into the habit of clearing floors as much as you can before the machine starts, even putting chairs on tables (seat-down) as some of us of a certain age once did at school. And you will move small items of furniture such as coffee tables so that the bit of carpet that was not vacuumed yesterday gets done today.But you will still need your conventional vacuum cleaner, especially if you have stairs; and the old fashioned way is much quicker for spot treatments. Also, although this machine does its best around the edges of rooms, from time to time you will need to run the nozzle of a conventional vacuum around the skirting boards. The Neato only claims to get within 10mm (3/8 inch) of the edges and the rotary brush that sticks out a short distance from its right hand side (also 10mm, 3/8 inch) really doesn't add up to much. I have also found my conventional cleaner handy for sucking a blockage of carpet fluff out of the Neato cleaner.Lifting out the dust box is very simple, as is emptying it into a dustbin and brushing off the filter. Neato provide a sort of plastic comb for that, but I find the end of a dry scrubbing brush with the longer bristles does the job very effectively. Neato provide a couple of spare filters to help you through the first few months. After that they will cost you £6 to £10 each, depending on the quantity bought at once. (A replacement combo bar - the bit that beats as it sweeps as it cleans - is £30, and side brushes £10 each. Four metres (13 feet) of magnetic strip for creating boundaries that the machine must not cross is £25. So nothing is cheap.)The filter is effective - the machine doesn't put any noticeable dust or smell into the atmosphere. The shiny black upper surface of the machine shows every finger mark arising from when you empty the dust box, but a quick rub with a duster soon fixes that.

1.1.2016

I researched robo vacs very carefully before opting for the Neto. I'm all too used to products stating claims which they fail to deliver on, but from my experience the NeatoD85 is not one of them. Having owned it now for about ten days I feel able to write a comprehensive review based on that time and my own personal experience of the product.The machine arrived the next day (thank you Amazon prime!) in a very sturdy box. It was very easy to open and setup for the first time use. I followed the instructions regarding charging carefully and ensured the vac was charged overnight before first use - frustrating as I wanted to test out our new purchase but in order to get the best out of the productI avoided the temptation of using it straight away.On the first use I pressed the clean house button to wake up Neato and then once again to set it off on its maiden cleaning voyage. I couldn't help but follow it around the ground floor of our five bedroom house watching in sheer amazement. We have a mix of carpet, laminate and tiled floors downstairs and Neato coped with all of these with ease. It navigated around chairs, tables, dog bowls and even the Christmas tree! It didn't much care for the sloping chair bases of our kitchen bar stools but some slight repositioning of the stools cured the problem.Neato isn't noisy - quieter than our dyson by a long way. After cleaning the dining room, lounge, hall way and kitchen I emptied the waste bin which was full of dog hair, dust and other bits. It didn't ask to be emptied but it's such a simple task and plus I was next to unleash it ustairs. I've placed Neato and its dock under a table in our hallway where it sits neatly and unobtrusively taking up one standard plug socket.I carried Neato upstairs (it can't climb stairs...but maybe one day!) and placed it at the top of our stairs and set it going again, nervously hoping it didn't decide to dive down the stairs lemming style.....it didn't. Instead the bot negotiated the upstairs landing and four of the bedrooms the ensuite plus the bathroom with no issue, even vanishing under a cupboard and a bed only to return and carry on! I didn't unleash him on the box room due to it being full of rubbish!All in all, Neato did all this cleaning on one charge and two empties of its bin. The finished job was excellent. Is it a replacement for a proper vacuum? In my opinion, it's darn close but not quite there, but then I didn't expect it to be. We have a dog who sheds hair at a rapid rate so Neato goes around on a Monday, Wednesday and Friday to keep the place spick and span with an occasional whip round at the weekend with a dyson to do the bits Neato can't, such as the tops of skirting boards. It also leaves nice lawn style stripes in our lounge carpet!Quite simply amazing and I would thoroughly recommend based on my experience. This isn't a gimmick gadget, it really does work. Sure, at £370 it's certainly not a whimsical purchase but considering how well it works I feel it offers value for money if you are lucky enough to be able to afford the purchase. Everyone who has seen it in action has been equally impressed.Never did I think I would offer visitors to our house to view our new vacuum in action!

20.7.2015

This is pretty much the only vacuum I've been using now almost a year. I do have to supplement it with a hand vacuum in places but I don't actually feel the need to use a regular vacuum, even though this is only 45 watts. I just vacuum more regularly – or rather it does.It will go right up to the edge providing it doesn't sense anything in its way.I've had to get rid of certain pieces of furniture doesn't like. No big deal. I'd rather the furniture goes than the vacuum cleaner. I still haven't worked out how it navigates round. It does occasionally miss bits but I just sent it round again. It's no great hardship.The battery life is sufficient to do three carpeted rooms.I also use it in the bathroom and the kitchen which has lino.It picks up everything in its path. Just recently, it picked up a huge great screw.Operation-wise, there are just two switches. You can also program the machine to come on at a certain time of day every week, or even every day. One button sets the machine off. The other button you can program to clean a 4 x 6 square in front of the vacuum. This is if you spill something on a clean floor.It's fairly quiet. Certainly no noisier than a regular vacuum cleaner.It's a fairly tough little machine. It will happily bump into things and bump off with no damage. It has trouble finding its way out of chair legs and the top of splayed legs you sometimes get on reclining chairs. It will sometimes find its way in somewhere and diligently tries to get out again. Therefore some rooms you can leave it to do its thing in and other rooms you have to supervise it. It will try to manoeuvre itself out of trouble but if it runs irrevocably to ground, you hear a bing-bong and a written message plea for help.Boundary marker: You're provided with a boundary markers which you can cut to size. If you lay this strips at the threshold of the door, for example, it won't go into that room. But you don't have to use them. Actually, I just use a magazine rack or the like. If it senses there's something in the threshold, it won't go there.Advantages: it is great at getting under or behind furnishings. You probably have furniture where you can just about thrust the vacuum nozzle beneath and whip it left and right. This trundles in and systematically cleans the area more thoroughly. Behind the back of a heavy sofa which is close to the wall, for example, it is very good at.Disadvantages: it does try its hardest to get everywhere. But there will inevitably be places it's just too big to fit into. These are the places you have to vacuum a with a hand back.The dust holder is, out of necessity, quite small and you will need to empty it after each use. It recommends that you replace the filter every 1 to 2 months. This is a potential expense even though they do give you two spare filters. But I reckon, if you're careful with the filter, you could probably make it last longer. I am asthmatic and I have no trouble emptying this as long as I keep it an arms length.Big advantage: I do love laying in the garden, reading a novel while vacuuming. You can't beat that!I'd absolutely recommend this for anyone with health or mobility issues.If this bust I would replace it.

22.8.2015

So, we don't have personal jet packs yet. Driver-less cars are still in their infancy. And a whole host of things predicted for the 21st century have as yet failed to materialise - apart from maybe mass surveillance. What we do have here though is a slice of that futuristic world we were promised, in the form of the Neato Botvac D85 robotic vacuum. And what a revelation it is...The D85 arrives, appropriately enough, in a neat box containing of course the vacuum itself (more of that shortly), a nice instruction booklet, the charging base, a different brush, some spare filters, a cleaning tool and the all important boundary tape.Once unpacked the vacuum requires a full charge before you start using it,so that gives you plenty of time to read the instructions - something you'll need to do in order to get your vacuum operating properly and avoiding any areas in which you don't want it to suck! Once that's done and you've placed the charging station in a clear area with plenty of space around, and up against a wall, it you're good to unleash the Botvac!Initially it startles you to see the vacuum carefully map out your rooms all by itself when you first press "CLEAN HOUSE" and let it go. You use the included boundary marking tape to stop the D85 going anywhere you might not want it to. In use I found things like the edge of rugs, cables, and steps (obviously) troublesome and worth marking with the posts so the Botvac knows not to go there again. The unit takes some time carefully mapping out every nook and cranny of your room including awkward areas around tables, the legs of furniture etc. You then programme when you'd like the Botvac to clean up and leave it all to itself from then onwards. It adapts to things you may have left on the floor too, constantly re-mapping as it goes.At the time you specify, the vacuum leaves its station, does the cleaning job efficiently without getting stuck (a miracle really when you think about, considering the angles in an average household) and then happily returns itself back to the charging base. It really is that simple and effective. If it runs out of power during a clean it returns to the base, charges, then carries on. Also, if it does get stuck (and it hasn't in my home yet) it will stop and alert you that it needs help.In use we really haven't had a problem with the vacuum. Once or twice it has got a bit annoyed that something was caught in its brushes (a really long thread of cotton, a plug and the frilly edge of a rug) but it beeps and gives you an explanation on the screen so you know exactly how to sort it. In operation it is quiet and effective, as good as most vacuums apart from of course, the incredibly expensive models.Unless you've an incredibly dirty house, or stairs, I'd imagine this unit is really all you need for your vacuuming. As I say there though, it can't do stairs, obviously!All in all I am really, really impressed with the Botvac D85. I was worried it would be a bit fad-ish or that like some other "future technologies" it would be a let down. But no, this really does work and works well at that. So step into the future and let a robot take the strain of the vacuuming. At last...

21.7.2015

Much heavier than I was expecting, it arrived well packaged and with multi lingual instructions that thankfully were in small leaflets rather than the epic 'War & Peace' I was expecting.Once unpacked, I was initially disappointed to realise that my 'bot' needs to charge overnight before first use but that's just my impatience and not a criticism of the bot.You need to have a plug socket that has a 1 metre clearance zone in front of it, so that the charging base can sit there and the bot can locate it and dock itself for charging when necessary.This was our first dilemma as none of our downstairs sockets had that clearance, however,we've got around it by plugging in the charging base and then positioning it slightly away from the socket but still against a wall. It needs to be against a solid surface so that the bot can but up against it and not end up just pushing it around the room!!You can programme the bot to vacuum your house on any given day at any given time, so we programmed ours to clean every day at 7:15pm.... mainly so we could all be home to watch it on its maiden voyage!Just brilliant! It carefully maps each room, 'learning' where the walls and furniture are before doing the actual clean, and then moving onto the next room. Fascinating to watch.It goes right up to the edges and is brilliant at turning around and getting itself out of corners, even rearing itself up at the back to help turn around! Whilst obviously not as powerful as my Dyson, it did a very respectable job. There were only a couple of specks it missed.I intend to let it do its thing once a day every day from now on, and just use the Dyson once on a weekend if I really need to, but, to know I can come home from work every evening now and know that the floor has already been cleaned is just brilliant.Incidentally, at the end of cleaning, the screen says "I've finished and am returning to docking station" however the instructions tell you to allow the battery to discharge fully the first few times, so we have interrupted the docking for now to stop it re-charging. The fact that it will in the long run, do this for itself however, is also genius!Emptied it after the second run, just lift the top panel and the dust is collected in a clear Perspex box. My husband who thought the floor didn't need cleaning two nights in a row had to eat his words when he saw how much dust had actually been picked up. We were all a bit shocked!! Just took the box outside to the wheelie bin and emptied it out there, could also tip it out into a plastic bag or just into your kitchen bin, there was no problem with dust flying around as it had all compacted pretty well.I am totally in love with this brilliant machine !Edit:4 months on, and 'Monty' as he is now known, is still going strong! He cleans the whole of downstairs every evening, 7 days a week, still doing a fantastic job of it, and no problems.

5.12.2017

A sturdy, captivating and very useful gadget. Well built and easy to use, you can set it to automatically start up every day or on specific days. I have two large dogs and 6 cats and it's really good at picking up their hairs, part of the reason for getting this particular robotic vacuum. I have just moved house and the downstairs has stone floors; the Botvac doesn't do as good a job as my vacuum cleaner on these due to the surface irregularities but works very well with the carpets upstairs and doesn't do a bad job on the kitchen tiles. It manages to pick up a large amount of stuff even if the room looks pretty clean and although the storage container is small it can last a few days,depending on the area you are cleaning. I tend to set it to work 3 times a week, daily when the animals are moulting, and empty it every time it's used, it's no hassle and quick and easy to do so just part of the routine and far less hassle than getting out the large vacuum cleaner, which I don't often have to take upstairs since getting thisNot so good with thin rugs as it tends to catch on them as with any other vacuum but can manage to manoeuvre itself up and onto thicker carpets to clean them too. You do need to make sure you clear the way of any tassled rugs, shoelaces, balls of wool or plastic bags etc as it will get stuck with them and can't move on until you've cleared the obstruction.The shape means it does manage to get right up to the edges, it's not as noisy as a standard vacuum cleaner either but loud enough to let you know it's doing its job. The animals and I are fascinated with it when it's in action so is rather entertaining too. It's easy to empty, although there is quite a bit of spillage into the base of the machine so you have to empty that out too and then use the botvac to clean up the resulting mess. One of the best things about it, apart from it's cleaning action, is that it's really simple to dismantle the brush and roller system to remove the longer hairs and clean out any debris so it's not a major hassle doing this. A really useful gadget, expensive but really handy at helping to make the housekeeping manageable and the house presentable with so many hairy animals. I was getting to the stage where the day after spending all day cleaning the house at a weekend it would look a real mess again within a day, to the point that I had pretty much given up even trying to keep the place clean as I work long hours and find it difficult to clean every day. The Botvac maintains some sense of control which gives me the motivation to make an effort with everything else, doing a little bit each day in the areas the Botvac doesn't cover and has removed that sense of despair so, in that way, it is value for money. Would highly recommend it for you if you have a lot of animals and/or work long hours and don't like living in a state of chaos.

14.2.2018

Hello. I bought a Neato Botvac 75 in March 2015 - the model with the lime green coloured laser cover. I chose this model from their range at the time, because the only differences to the more expensive models where the type of brush and filter supplied. I bought the upgraded versions of the brush and filter separately, making a fair saving on the purchase price of the more expensive models! The same can now be said for their D range and D Connected range.The purpose of writing this review regards the longer term wear and tear of the vacuum. In particular, the side brush failed to operate after around 12 months, but because I felt it did little to improve the vacuums performance, I decided not to repair it.More important is the failure of the drive wheels, which occurred 3 weeks ago. The failure concerns the 'plastic bearing' and white plastic drive shaft/gear component housed within each wheel drive module. These are only accessible by taking the vacuum apart and carefully removing several screws to allow removal of each wheel module. The wheel module can then be opened up, once the wheel itself is removed, by removal of several small screws. Examination of this white gear component and it's location within a 'bearing' constructed from the wheel module casing, shows that the white component and it's housing have worn so badly, that the gears no longer mate with the gear ring on the inside of the drive wheel, hence the vacuum is unable to move along the floor.I have not been able to source a replacement wheel module within the UK. I have had to purchase replacements from the USA at a cost of over £120 for new ones, or around £65 for good used ones. These costs include delivery and import duty. Delivery is taking at least 2 weeks.I use my vacuum every day, as I have 2 Golden Retreivers, one of which sheds hair quite a lot each day. So, the vacuum has been used 365 days a year for almost 3 years. Having reflected on the wear of the components, I believe that this may have been accelerated due to the wear of the tread on each wheel. Thereby, reducing grip and putting more stress on the bearing and gear shaft. So, my problem may have been delayed by early replacement of the wheels, but unfortunately these are again only available from the USA at a significant cost.So in summary, I would just like to advice potential purchasers of the Neato vacuums, that this wear issue is likely to affect all their models, including the D range, unless they have beefed up the bearing and gear components. I would be interested to hear if other purchasers have experienced similar problems.I would like to add that before this problem arose, I was very happy with the performance of my Botvac. In particular, it's methodical approach to the cleaning job, room by room, and the amount of dirt and dog hairs it picked up.

22.7.2015

This is probably the most impressive gadget we have in the house at the moment. It has almost become a family pet, as we like to watch it work, and rescue it on the rare occasion it gets stuck.Inside the box is the vacuum cleaner, the charging base, 2 spare filters, a 2nd (different style) spiral brush, a cleaning tool, a boundary marker and 2 power leads one UK and one European. There are also simple manuals in several languages. I actually went on to the Neato Robotics website and downloaded the manual in PDF format. This is much more comprehensive and well worth reading.After charging overnight in our dining room, we pressed the clean house button and were amazed when it went round the boundaries of the room and then methodically back and forth.

26.9.2016

... in honour of Donald Trump - because both suck.Thankfully, however, my personal version of Donald sucks in a GOOD way.I'll be honest. I bought Donald on a 'tech nerd induced whim'. I just fancied owning a robot vacuum cleaner because ... well ... I wanted to own a robot vacuum cleaner.As whims go, it was a rather expensive one at 'not much change from four hundred quid'.That said, I now find Donald to be a superb addition to the household. He's scheduled to automatically wake up and vacuum the downstairs of the house every Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 4am while I'm asleep. This he has done exactly as required for over a month now without any problem.Honestly,

6.1.2016

We bought this thinking it would be a handy tool to keep on top of our labrador problem. Yes we've got pets, two dogs who's primary goal in life is to create dirt and hair. I spent a lot of time looking into the idea of a robot vacuum, I had my doubts, but they are obviously improving. I figured even if it just pics up the worst of their efforts to make the house a tip, it would be worth it. So then came the decision; which one, how much to spend? There is no doubt, they are going down in price from when I first looked several years ago, but they also seem to be going up, as more tech is crammed into their little bodies. We've got mostly hard floors throughout the house,

1.12.2015

I love a gadget and something like this always catches my attention. However, as is the nature with fancy technology it always feels like a bit of a let down - not so with the D85. This machine is nothing short of amazing!We have 2 long haired black cats and cleaning up after them with hair and cat litter everywhere was a nightmare, I don't even need to think about this any more; Neato starts his rounds in the morning after everyone has left and gets to work. Cat hair on carpet is usually hard work even with a Dyson Animal but the brushes on the Neato (combined with the regular daily cycle) really do pick everything up.

3.9.2016

Had heard about robot vacuum cleaners and was interested but sceptical, and was keen for the convenience, but after reading reviews of them going wrong, getting stuck, not cleaning, etc I was nervous about buying one.The first use made me even more nervous as it bumped around haphazardly.However - one month on - and I'm a total convert.Whilst it appears to move around a bit haphazardly, there is logic to it. It divides rooms into chunks (we have a large open plan kitchen / diner) and works around the edge of the room first then the middle, before moving to the next chunk.It does sometimes get stuck; if your chair legs are wider than about 36cm it sometimes squeezes between and can't get out;

26.9.2016

I sent my Botvac for its first journey today. It took 3 runs around my small flat to fully drain the batteries in order to condition them. After the second pass Neato had picked up an unexpected amount of rubbish from the floor. I'm very impressed with this little robot. Build quality seems good and if it lasts a long time it will be worth every penny. My Botvac came with 2 spare filters and the combination brush, which seems quite quiet on my hard flooring.The Neato seems like a very cleaver robot. It was initially quite clumsy as it mapped out the furniture but after the second run it barely bumped into anything.

14.4.2017

Me and T'werk (as in, 'get T'werk') had an initial falling out. Following the instructions I charged T'werk for 12 hours. He did nothing the instructions said. He had a solid orange light... 'error message, see LCD' said the instructions, but the LCD didn't work.Hmmm. I looked at the website and one of the main FAQ's was, 'if the LCD doesn't work, webchat us'. It was midnight so I thought, 'nope', not webchatting, it must be common enough to put this on your website. Instead I'm just going to discharge the battery (like a shutdown and reboot) and if it doesn't work, I'm sending T'werk back T'mill. (Factory)T'werk's LCD instantly lit up saying 'battery low' (I had just discharged it)

Neato Robotics Botvac D85 - Reviews

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