Review on 🧹 Neato Robotics XV-12: The Ultimate Automatic Vacuum Cleaner by Ben Karlen

UPDATE (see old review below) After a few years of ownership I like this robot a lot less than my warm initial attitude towards it. After about 1 year I kept getting RPS errors. Also, after about 1 year, there will be many docking and reloading issues. Despite both front contacts touching the dock's spring-loaded tabs, the Neato just wouldn't charge. In the end, all I had to do was remove the dock and manually plug the Neato into the charger. This makes automatic suction impossible. It doesn't bother me too much, it's actually not that hard to just turn the Neato on in the morning when I leave the house, but it also never fully finds its way around the house. When I get home it's usually stuck in some corner of the house. It's better than nothing, I mean even if it saves me a few minutes or vacuums under my bed it will help but for something I paid $400 for it was complete rubbish. Since then I've also changed the battery and changed the filters regularly, but they don't collect as much dirt as they used to. I also updated the firmware to the latest model. Neato's customer service is terrible. I don't think I'll ever buy anything from the Neato line again after this experience. ______ Some people are very enthusiastic about this vacuum cleaner. I think many users are interested in seeing it in action because of its novelty and are willing to overlook its functionality as a robotic tool. I'm less impressed because I work in industry and we made toys that looked like this robot at school. I bought it hoping it would reduce cleaning time in my apartment. I didn't expect this vacuum to be perfect, I've read about dust spots it might leave in corners or near chairs. I wouldn't have a problem if it worked moderately well and left a few small stains here and there. I've only run Neato a few times and while I can update my rating, it's far from a 5 star product so far. My experience is this: - When it works, it's LOUD. In a way, that's good because the suction is strong, but it also means I don't always want to carry it when I'm at home. It would still be nice if it was reliable and I could be sure it wouldn't get stuck when I'm away. Despite the robot's "mapping" functionality, it is difficult for him to navigate between ordinary household objects. I have a wheelchair in my apartment. The catcher struggled to "see" the chair with the range finder and kept bumping into it. It would push the chair across my room a bit. It would also push a small trash can around my room. It hasn't tipped over, but I can think of a situation where that could happen. It also behaves poorly near power cables. To be fair you're warned about this, but for practical reasons I can't imagine anyone unplugging everything or moving cords every time the vacuum is used. As a workaround, I might consider taping strips of their "forbidden" tape, but that's a bit ugly and I'm not keen on leaving tape on my floor semi-permanently. She came into my bedroom. Closet (I left the door open) bypassed the door and got stuck. He spent 15 minutes cleaning the same spot, pacing back and forth, but couldn't find a way out. I had to move him before he finally found a way out. - The display function does not cope well with the repositioning. The power went out after he exited the closet, so he tried to find his docking station. It would move in the completely wrong direction through different rooms for about 10 minutes until I finally manually docked it again. He never came into my bathroom even though I left the door open. With all of these downsides, I have to say that he did a pretty good job on the areas he cleaned (which was most of my living room, kitchen and bedroom). It also cleaned certain areas (like under my bed and some crevices) that I personally clean much less often and did a good job. At the end of the cleaning, the trap was completely filled with debris, although I thought I had a fairly clean apartment. Here are my impressions so far: 1) Neato needs a little prep before it can take effect. Don't leave things on the floor. If you're really ambitious, you can carefully tie all the power cords in your house together or put no-go strips in certain spots. 2) It gets stuck in certain regions. I set it up for scheduled cleanings. When I get home and find it's stuck, I can start closing some doors or laying out duct tape. 3) The areas it cleans clean well. website and requires a special USB cable that is not included with the robot). I hope the performance improves and I learn more nuances. worth $400? Probably not this time. Something closer to $250 would be a much more reasonable price given its current capabilities. Of course, with software updates, this has more time-saving features.