Neato Botvac 80 Robot Vacuum

Updated 09/22/15. See section at bottom.I've had a number of robot vacuums over the years, starting with a Roomba. While the Roomba did a good job, there were some things I never liked about it:* The random cleaning "pattern" that misses as much as it finds.* The loud noise. It is very annoying if you're in the same room, trying to concentrate on anything.* Its high maintenance. I have pets and was constantly having to clean the brushes, remove the side brush to get rid of hair that got stuck and matted underneath it and ultimately having to replace that brush every few months because stuff got in where you just couldn't get it out again and the motor would burn out. Further, it rarely finished a cleaning cycle without needing help. Either it got caught on something or just never managed to find the way home again.* Trouble with certain rugs. Any black in the rug could cause it to think it was going over a cliff. And rather than doing the smart thing, backing up so that it could go in another direction it would just freak out and stop, refusing to move. This was part of the reason it couldn't complete a cleaning cycle without help.For these various reasons, I was always looking for a better robot. Unfortunately, I was never able to find one. That includes the Neato XV-21 Pet and Allergy model. Neato had some great ideas, but also some glaring flaws. The worst of these was that its internal drive mechanisms were partially exposed to the brush compartment, allowing pet hair to get pulled inside and jam up the works where you couldn't do anything without disassembling the robot. Bad news for a vacuum billed as being pet friendly!Thankfully, the Botvac series has fixed those issues and emerged as the best robot vacuum I've ever had. I've been running it for several days now and am nothing short of amazed. Here are the "Pro's and Cons" for this vacuum:Pro* It really sucks! And for a vacuum, that's not a negative comment. When it is running the majority of the sound that you hear is from suction rather than from a noisy fan. In fact, when the robot is moving away from me I can feel the filtered air being blown out the back from five feet away. It's vastly more powerful than the Roomba. The down side is that I HAVE to empty it after every time it runs because its bin is always full. But that means it's doing its job! With the Roomba I only had to empty the bin every few days because it simply didn't pick up as much.* Smart cleaning pattern. The Neato makes a cycle around the room's perimeter to map it out, then proceeds with a back-and-forth pattern across the center of the floor. As a result, it gets the entire room, every time. This is vastly superior to Roomba's philosophy of "if it goes randomly often enough, it'll get the whole floor eventually."* There is a side brush on the Botvac series, which addresses one of the major complaints that people always had with the Neato brand. The square front lets it get into corners really well and the side brush grabs stuff that is right on the edge of the room. The brush design is also superior to the Roomba. For one thing, it's held on magnetically rather than with a tiny screw. It stays put without any problem, yet is easily removed when you need to. The mounting post that it slides over is thicker, which makes it more durable and its overall design doesn't accumulate hair underneath like the Roomba. I doubt the brush will ever have a problem.* Speaking of trapped hair, Neato addressed the problem with the beater brush compartment. None of the internal components are exposed anymore and in fact that way that the brush inserts into the unit is even less prone to accumulating hair than the Roomba. The result is better operation, less need for maintenance and fewer potential problems. Neato didn't simply address the problem with the old model -- they resolved it completely.* It finds its way home. Every time, so far. The first day I ran it I had two issues with places that it got hung up, but I think it has actually learned from that experience because it hasn't run into the problem since. It goes for almost two hours on a charge, then the vacuum and brush turn off and it quiety heads back to the home base for more juice. When it's ready it heads back to where it left off and finishes the job before returning home for the day. It doesn't always take the most direct route home but it DOES always get back.* It doesn't have trouble with my rugs. The same places that made the Roomba think it was going to die are no problem for the Botvac.Con* Its smart pathing isn't always smart. On the first day, I had decided to stop it mid-cycle. It was close to done and I really didn't see a need for it to finish so I took it near its home base and told it to go home. It proceeded to go right past its base, trucking off down the hallway to return to where I had picked it up. From there it was presumably going to return home again. I just picked it up and set it at its base rather than waiting. This isn't a major issue by any means but it does show that it still needs to be taught a few tricks. (Incidentally, this "con" is something that won't necessarily remain. After all, Neato vacuums can be updated and become smarter over time. Unlike the Roomba, which can only get smarter -- maybe -- by buying a new one.)* It MUST clean the whole house every time. Unless you use the magnetic strips to block off parts of the house, it will just keep right on going until it's done. If it runs low on battery, it recharges and then continues after. As a result, the Roomba would run for about an hour a day and that would be that. The Neato runs from 7:15 am to around 11:00 am, counting its charging break. How much of a negative this is depends on personal preference. After all, it IS getting the whole floor every day and you are buying it to clean, right? But I wouldn't mind a bit more flexibility.* No light houses or virtual walls. To block an area off you need to use the magnetic strip. They're ugly and not nearly as convenient as an IR "wall".* Smaller bin. With as much more suction that the Botvac has vs. the Roomba I really wish it also had a larger bin like is available for the Roomba. It's big enough for a single day's cleaning, but not enough for even two days. If you don't have pets or if you have a smaller home this probably won't be as important to you.At the end of the day, the Botvac has had none of the issues that the Roomba has. It cleans better and with less need for maintenance. That doesn't mean it's perfect but it is the undisputed best of the many robot vacuums I've tried. It's definitely what I will recommend from now on if anyone is interested in a robot vacuum.UPDATE 9/22/15: After about 18 months of use, the robot developed an issue where the bearing ring that holds one end of the brush bar had managed to get a little clogged and create enough friction that the heat warped the housing. This bent it to where it was putting pressure against the bumper from inside, causing it to permanently trigger and render the unit unusable. After a call with Neato customer support it turned out that the unit was out of warranty. However, they chose to replace it anyway, with me only needing to pay a little under $30 for shipping. Oddly, they wanted not only the robot (with bin and brushes installed) but also the charging base.Less than two weeks after shipping it out (FedEx Ground), I got the replacement and was totally shocked. They sent me a brand new, fully boxed unit just as if I'd bought it. All the accessories, etc. Not only that, but they had upgraded me from a Botvac 80 to a Botvac 85, which is the top of the line model for that series.So now, not only do I still think it's the best robot vacuum on the market, I'm also thoroughly impressed with their customer service. This is a company that truly stands by their products and appreciates their customers.

Robot works well enough, has some issues at times finding its home but overall we are happy with it. the main reason for the low score is my issue with their customer service. Our Robot stopped working after a month , it kept asking to be put on the floor when it was already on the floor. I wasn't too worried, Its a complex machine I'm sure there's gonna be glitches. as along as they replace it, no problem. We called and the first guy was great and was ready to have us send it back for replacement.I didn't have my receipt handy so a few days later I called again with it and instead got Carol, the unpleasant worker drone. She made me do the same reset procedure I told her i had already done. She then wanted me to take out the battery and reset it but having it complete 3 drain-charge cycles. Uh hello the f ing machine doesn't work!!! How could it drain the battery. AND it would have to take more than one day. I was pissed. I told her that I had paid $500 dollars for this thing and if it doesn't work it should be replaced. I shouldn't have to take it apart and do all this BS. Your robot is not working , not my problem to fix , it is yours. So hung up and called back 2 days later and got the first guy , he got the replacement order ready to go BUT I had to pay the 20$ shipping charge. Am I old fashioned? Am I crazy to be pissed that I had to pay shipping twice for a product that didn't work and was 500$? my wife buys 5 or 6 clothing items online and will usually send back 70% of the order. I asked how much they charge to send back the clothes. Nothing, they charge nothing. I understand the robot costs more to ship, but I did sent out a defective robot? no, they did. If this replacement starts acting up I will ask for a full refund and probably have to pay a third shipping fee.So I do like the robot despite it's one failure. It really does do a good job cleaning, I am just very upset at their return policy and procedure. I guess If you do have to return it for any reason , don't deal with Carol she will just waste your time.So I wrote the earlier post in january after we got our replacement botvac- here we are in June 1st and our robot friend is having problems. It will start up its vacuum and then get just about ready to go when it shuts down and says "press ok(3000) you hit ok and it repeats this cycle endlessly. Called got jefferson, good guy. Did the whole reboot bla bla, apparently this resets the battery so my fully charged battery registered as empty and i had to wait for it to charge up again. I'm gonna just go ahead and move on from the obvious wtf of a fully charged battery suddenly losing all its charge cuz it got "reset". Waited a few hours and it was set to go and surprise surprise it kept doing the same crap.Called back and got Sarah. She said I was eligible to pay for shipping to send it back...AGAIN!!!! Asked for them to cover the shipping for this second lemon and she then couldn't find my earlier information. I then asked for what the refund process was. Apparently the POLICY is that the robot has to be sent back twice before a refund can be issued. WTF!!!! If your product sucks you need to refund it. I was floored. Then I asked if the warranty resets each time they send a new robot. NOPE my original purchase's warranty is in effect so I have until this November for my botvac to die before I'm stuck with it forever.I like the vacuum when it works. The neato "Family" that they are so thankful I am a Part of, sucks soooooo much. They are the worst, Jefferson is cool, but their return and replacement policy is horrid, pray your robot never breaks

After previously owning 2 Roomba vacuums, this one is my favourite. It does not randomly traverse the floor, it maps out the floor and then vacuums it in a grid-like fashion. This completes the vacuuming process in less time, and it does a thorough job too. I have 2 cats and use this machine twice per week to vacuum both upstairs and downstairs. It does a very good job on carpets, hardwood flooring and tiles. Sometimes it gets stuck but if furniture is rearranged a tiny bit to keep a clear path for the robot it will go without getting stuck. I like the magnetic strip which acts like a virtual wall. My living room has 2 entrances and sometimes the robot will come in through the 2nd entrance and think it's a brand new room and do the living room over again. I use the magnetic strip on one of the entrances to stop this behaviour.The only thing I did not like about this purchase is it came from the US and I was charged extra fees having it shipped to Canada. It also went on sale here in Canada and when I asked if they would match the price they would not do it. I do not believe I would shop from this company again, but the Neato BotVac 80 is a good vacuum and I gave it 5 stars based on the machine itself.

This machine is unbelievably useful. We waited for years for the robot vacuum tech to catch up to the demands of having 2 90 pound Golden Retrievers + a cat. This is it. You should see the amount of hair the Neato picks up every day for us. We have a 650 sqft condo and it covers the whole area 1.5-2x before needing to be emptied. We take out a huge hand full of air each time. The room scanning feature is excellent, our place has a lot of areas hard to navigate and not once has it gotten stuck.HIGHLY recommended for pet owners! Save the time, life is too short for vacuuming ;)edit: After 2.5 weeks of every day use the vacuum now displays a "bumper is stuck" message and then proceeds to go around randomly and spinning around, only to stop and repeat the same error message. We've contacted Neato and they are sending us a replacement. I have to say in all my years of buying products, I've never had anything break so quickly. I hope the next one lasts longer!

For a machine that cost this price, you will hope it last a bit longer than 5 years, in this 5 years, i replacement the battery 2 times, and now my machine is stuck in every connor, or chair legs or anything, couldn't find it's way out which mean it couldn't even just vacuum a bedroom , don't buy this brand!!!

This is a great little robot, some things I do not understand though is why did they put a NiMH battery on a $500 robot? For that kind of price they should have added a lithium-ion (or lipo) battery. Battery life is quite good for now. I think it clears and hour and a half per charge. Does a great job of vacuuming the house. It can get trapped easily with cables or shoes on the floor but that was to be expected. It collects quite a bit of dirt even when setting it to work everyday.EDIT:After a year of use, I am happy with everything except the damn battery. One charge now only clears 30 minutes of use thanks to the memory effect of the NIMH battery they put in there. Battery performance gone down to 1/3 of it's original in less than 300 cycles or about a year of almost daily use.Update (2016-08):Battery has gone down to 22 minutes of use per charge which I need not remind is 1/4 of the original performance. Hugely disappointed.EDIT II (2017-08):After having it for two years I'm even more disappointed than before. The socket that holds the ball bearing for the brush has broken off. In order to repair it, it appears that the entire lower shell of the vacuum has to be replaced. Poor design, with awful durability.

Update Nov 2015 - The Botvac failed two weeks before end of the warranty period. It seems as if the internal gear or belt mechanism has jammed and the brush can't turn properly. Neato was initially responsive and indicated that I needed to ship the product back (at my expense) to Neato for a warranty replacement, but they've been stalling for over a month now and still haven't provided return shipping instructions.In the meantime, I've resorted to using my old Roomba 510 which, despite being 3 years old, is still going strong and has never had a problem.Original review:Overall the Neato BotVac has been a far superior product to my Roomba -- it sucks up an almost obscene amount of dirt and pet hair (easily twice what the Roomba picked up), it is much "smarter" in the route it takes through my house (i.e., it doesn't just drunkenly wander from room to room like the Roomba did) and rarely misses a spot in any room. The ability to simply "set and forget" it and have it automatically vacuum the entire main floor of the house each night is absolutely invaluable.That said... if I didn't know better, I'd swear it was getting "dumber" as it ages. I have it scheduled to run every other day at 2am, and for the first week or two, it cleaned the entire house flawlessly each night and reliably returned to its base. Over time we started having "hiccups" where it'd get stuck between chair legs or similar, but they were initially rare. For the past couple of weeks, however, we have found it "stuck" and in need of rescuing nearly every morning.I can understand it getting hung up in tight spaces, but in one case, it was unable to find its way out of the 2ft wide by 5ft long empty space between our couch and ottoman. In another case, it pushed a potted plant about 2ft away from a wall (in an otherwise wide-open area), and then ran in circles between this and another potted plant until it its battery died. Ridiculous scenarios like this are becoming more and more common, and I'm not sure what to make of that.In any case, this product would easily warrant a 5-star review if it hadn't started getting lost on an almost daily basis... it'd be near-flawless if I didn't have to send out a search party each morning to locate and rescue it.