Skylane81E
Final Approach
Want to borrow Jack?
iRobot
- Thread starter Van Johnston
- Start date
Want to borrow Jack?
When we first had it, it would do the whole upstairs (probably 400 sqft, oddly shaped) without difficulty, and repark itself when it was done. Long time, no running (just parked in the charger) seemed not to help.
Skylane81E
Final Approach
...
denverpilot
Tied Down
Well after a week with Neato Xv-21 cleaning up the basement great room and master bedroom and anywhere else it can get to, I'm impressed.
It's gotten stuck once when it ate a dangling cord off of one of Karen's dresses on a low hanger bar in the master bedroom closet, but unroll the cord and put it back and it took off and finished. It sat and whined for help I the walk-in closet. Took a few minutes to find it since we were away when it got stuck. LOL.
It is set to start at 07:15 daily right now and it takes until about 13:00-14:00 to finish with two long charges in the middle. By evening it's back to fully charged and can be taken upstairs and locked in a room for more duty. Grabbed it before making dinner and locked it in the guest bedroom and upstairs bathroom and it finished before dinner was over.
In the upstairs living room it tried to eat the Christmas tree skirt. Have to block it from getting to the tree.
Locking it in a room is effective. I even put it on a large footstool and on one of the couches to test its ability not to fall off. It didn't. It also removed the majority of the dog fur on there. Heh.
The more interesting thing is how grossed out I am that the floor was THAT dirty. Heh. We vacuum regularly and it's finding crud still. Bin is full after every docking. It supposedly has a full bin sensor but it's tricked by dog fur and doesn't think it's full until it's completely full even the input pipe from the beater bar. Best to check it while it's charging. Folks say that slows down after a couple of weeks. It's going under the bed and finding all the dust bunnies, etc. Yay!
We have floor rugs everywhere. Not a problem. Even the fringed one. It did find a couple of loose threads in the regular carpet and lengthened them. Nothing a sharp pocket knife wouldn't fix.
The great room is big. The algorithm is interesting. It follows any walls or obstacles with its right outside sensor up against them for about 15' then turns and make that a squared off corner. It then goes around that keeping the wall or obstacles to its right. After it finds it's way back to where it started that "square" it makes standard back and forth slightly overlapped passes inside the square. After it finishes that square it starts tracking where it made that corner and does another one.
If/when it runs out of battery power it shuts down the beater bar and vacuum and heads for its base. It has only not made it there once and that was Day 1 when it was still conditioning and learning its battery. It got within two inches and gave up whining for help. LOL.
The bathroom trash can and kitchen trash can are full of nastiness. We've been emptying the bin into the ones that have bags. Wow. Dog fur, dirt, crud. Unbelievable. Gross.
I have to agree with the sentiment that I wish it could do stairs now that we have it. The stairs always look shabby compared to the rest of the floor! It's a contrast thing. So that'll be a chore this weekend.
Here's some shots showing what kinds of patterns it leaves which also shows the tracking algorithm to some extent.
It's gotten stuck once when it ate a dangling cord off of one of Karen's dresses on a low hanger bar in the master bedroom closet, but unroll the cord and put it back and it took off and finished. It sat and whined for help I the walk-in closet. Took a few minutes to find it since we were away when it got stuck. LOL.
It is set to start at 07:15 daily right now and it takes until about 13:00-14:00 to finish with two long charges in the middle. By evening it's back to fully charged and can be taken upstairs and locked in a room for more duty. Grabbed it before making dinner and locked it in the guest bedroom and upstairs bathroom and it finished before dinner was over.
In the upstairs living room it tried to eat the Christmas tree skirt. Have to block it from getting to the tree.
Locking it in a room is effective. I even put it on a large footstool and on one of the couches to test its ability not to fall off. It didn't. It also removed the majority of the dog fur on there. Heh.
The more interesting thing is how grossed out I am that the floor was THAT dirty. Heh. We vacuum regularly and it's finding crud still. Bin is full after every docking. It supposedly has a full bin sensor but it's tricked by dog fur and doesn't think it's full until it's completely full even the input pipe from the beater bar. Best to check it while it's charging. Folks say that slows down after a couple of weeks. It's going under the bed and finding all the dust bunnies, etc. Yay!
We have floor rugs everywhere. Not a problem. Even the fringed one. It did find a couple of loose threads in the regular carpet and lengthened them. Nothing a sharp pocket knife wouldn't fix.
The great room is big. The algorithm is interesting. It follows any walls or obstacles with its right outside sensor up against them for about 15' then turns and make that a squared off corner. It then goes around that keeping the wall or obstacles to its right. After it finds it's way back to where it started that "square" it makes standard back and forth slightly overlapped passes inside the square. After it finishes that square it starts tracking where it made that corner and does another one.
If/when it runs out of battery power it shuts down the beater bar and vacuum and heads for its base. It has only not made it there once and that was Day 1 when it was still conditioning and learning its battery. It got within two inches and gave up whining for help. LOL.
The bathroom trash can and kitchen trash can are full of nastiness. We've been emptying the bin into the ones that have bags. Wow. Dog fur, dirt, crud. Unbelievable. Gross.
I have to agree with the sentiment that I wish it could do stairs now that we have it. The stairs always look shabby compared to the rest of the floor! It's a contrast thing. So that'll be a chore this weekend.
Here's some shots showing what kinds of patterns it leaves which also shows the tracking algorithm to some extent.
DaleB
Final Approach
I hate you people.
UPS just delivered my Neato XV-21 last night. Costco has them cheapest. I stashed the box in the workshop and haven't opened it yet, I think Santa is going to leave it for the house.
Hmmm. I bet it would suck up dropped rivets from the garage floor too.
UPS just delivered my Neato XV-21 last night. Costco has them cheapest. I stashed the box in the workshop and haven't opened it yet, I think Santa is going to leave it for the house.
Hmmm. I bet it would suck up dropped rivets from the garage floor too.
denverpilot
Tied Down
Oh. The dog. He's a typical Great Dane mix. Leery of anything new.
He whined at it and followed it around at first, keeping a close eye on it and sniffing behind it carefully to see what his nose told him about the newcomer. He's pretty much over that now.
It came right at him while he was lying down and he took it as a bit of a challenge, jumped up and backed up, looked at me, and then "woof"ed at it, as if to say, "Hey! I was lounging there! Jerk!"
He doesn't seem to have any desire to actually touch it, paw at it, or even put his nose directly on it. He just stands a few inches away eyeballing it and trying to sniff out what it's doing.
This morning when it ran it woke him up through the closed bedroom door. He then proceeded to be a pest until one of us got up and let him out. Ha.
Oh yeah speaking of that, we have louder floor fans than this thing. It has a distinctive sound but I wouldn't have even known it was running outside the bedroom door unless it was working right up against the door or you catch little whooshes as it passes the door that aren't obnoxious at all. We've left it running in the great room while watching TV and not really noticed it other than lifting our feet as it passes in front of the couch or a chair. Also have to be careful or get out of the recliner so you don't rock and squish it. Ha.
Very impressed. This version has NiMH batteries. I can see why they'd wear out over time. Easy replacement. Supposedly the German version has Lithium Ion batteries. That would be better. But both will eventually wear out. There's a "New Battery" calibration option in the menu so they obviously planned for this reality.
Other fun stuff. Spot clean mode puts it in a mode where the rectangle becomes 4' x 6'. Used that for cleaning around where a trash can sits after moving the can. Works well.
It needs a name. We haven't come up with one yet.
He whined at it and followed it around at first, keeping a close eye on it and sniffing behind it carefully to see what his nose told him about the newcomer. He's pretty much over that now.
It came right at him while he was lying down and he took it as a bit of a challenge, jumped up and backed up, looked at me, and then "woof"ed at it, as if to say, "Hey! I was lounging there! Jerk!"
He doesn't seem to have any desire to actually touch it, paw at it, or even put his nose directly on it. He just stands a few inches away eyeballing it and trying to sniff out what it's doing.
This morning when it ran it woke him up through the closed bedroom door. He then proceeded to be a pest until one of us got up and let him out. Ha.
Oh yeah speaking of that, we have louder floor fans than this thing. It has a distinctive sound but I wouldn't have even known it was running outside the bedroom door unless it was working right up against the door or you catch little whooshes as it passes the door that aren't obnoxious at all. We've left it running in the great room while watching TV and not really noticed it other than lifting our feet as it passes in front of the couch or a chair. Also have to be careful or get out of the recliner so you don't rock and squish it. Ha.
Very impressed. This version has NiMH batteries. I can see why they'd wear out over time. Easy replacement. Supposedly the German version has Lithium Ion batteries. That would be better. But both will eventually wear out. There's a "New Battery" calibration option in the menu so they obviously planned for this reality.
Other fun stuff. Spot clean mode puts it in a mode where the rectangle becomes 4' x 6'. Used that for cleaning around where a trash can sits after moving the can. Works well.
It needs a name. We haven't come up with one yet.
jmp470
Line Up and Wait
The dirt does slow down, but now I notice how dirty the floor gets if it doesn't run for 1 day. Also, make sure you clean it regularly, as hair gets stuck on the vacuum piece and it's efficiency reduces.
denverpilot
Tied Down
Yeah I flip it over once in a while and see if it has anything wrapped around the brush. Said pocket knife again comes in handy.
Really it's only been a few threads off of unknown things so far and the beater bar was still rotating fine.jmp470
Line Up and Wait
3 women in my house. Hair always has to be cleaned off the brush part.
DaleB
Final Approach
Well, Santa left a Neato XV Signature at our house. Wife said she was quite unimpressed when she opened it, but since then has decided "[she] loves this thing!" This morning she turned it loose and it did the kitchen, entry and would have attacked the living and dining rooms, but we blocked them off due to the post-Christmas clutter.
It does a bang-up job on carpet, that's for sure, and gets under furniture I would have sworn would trap it. On wood floor I give it about an 8.5 out of 10 score - it doesn't get everything. Overall, though, Im seriously thinking about another one for upstairs.
It does a bang-up job on carpet, that's for sure, and gets under furniture I would have sworn would trap it. On wood floor I give it about an 8.5 out of 10 score - it doesn't get everything. Overall, though, Im seriously thinking about another one for upstairs.
clear_prop
Pre-takeoff checklist
I've had a Neato XV-11 for almost two years now. It works great and my then-gf loved it so much, I got her a VX-21 to deal with her cats.
The battery is getting a bit weak and it has to charge half way through the house, but it still finishes before I get home from work, so I haven't bothered replacing it yet.
The battery is getting a bit weak and it has to charge half way through the house, but it still finishes before I get home from work, so I haven't bothered replacing it yet.
denverpilot
Tied Down
Follow up on mine. We've had it now a number of weeks and I can only say I wish I'd known about Neato and bought one sooner.
The crap it pulled out of freshly vacuumed carpet was incredible for the first couple of weeks. All we can attribute that to is that it moves a lot slower and more deliberately than even the most patient human vaccuming with a standard vac.
Gobs and gobs of dog hair and dander and ick. After about two weeks of daily runs this settled down and frankly the carpet even feels better underfoot when barefoot. I have lowered the schedule from daily to M W F now or have the scheduler off altogether at times and just go hit the start button whenever. Depending on mood.
It also wanders under things that usually only get cleaned during a "Spring Cleaning". I recently had to crawl under our bed to re-route some power cables and it really hits home that you aren't crawling around in the usual dust bunnies under there.
Only complaint would be that it really dislikes the large sized Dog Kongs. It always finds a way to climb on top of those and get hung up. I've taken to saying that I found Neato "Kong Humping" again whenever we forget to pick the Kong up or take it somewhere Neato can't go. LOL!
I'm really impressed with the silly thing. I love that you can tell it got everywhere unlike the random pattern of a Roomba. It handles rugs fine even fringed ones, and the ability to carry it somewhere and lock it in a room for a quick cleanup is awesome too.
It couldn't handle the living room because of the Christmas tree skirt. It liked getting caught on that. And it didn't come with quite enough of the magnetic strip stuff that blocks it from going somewhere to fence off the tree. Can buy more of that stuff but the tree will be packed away relatively soon.
We also found it whining once that it needed help under the aforementioned bed because it had tangled itself up in power cables. Thus the under-bed spelunking expedition. A few tie-wraps and that area was baby proofed for Neato's excursions.
It has even run into the dog once when he was distracted. He have it a disapproving look and moved out of the way. No harm to him or Neato.
Another minor complaint is that the top of the robot gets covered in fine dust/dirt because of the top-loading dustbin. After a while he looks like pigpen running around carrying some of the dirt he's picking up, but a damp paper towel takes care of that. Probably unavoidable really.
All in all, totally impressed. And I haven't said that about a techno-gadget in quite a while. You do build up a few weird habits like glancing at his charging dock to see if he's there, and if you don't hear him in another room running and he's not there, you know you need to launch a mini rescue mission to go find him and help him out of whatever jam he's in. Once he got everything done but the walk in closet and ingested a shoelace of a show sitting on the floor of the closet. Now we find ourselves tucking shoelaces inside the shoes sitting in there just to help him out.
A quick technical word. The first three days he had quite a bit of trouble making it back to his charging station before his battery died. Selecting the "new battery" menu option on day two and letting him re-learn his battery on day three (he still didn't quite make it) and ever since he's successfully docked and run multiple times. Our downstairs usually takes him two full charges and part of a third and the firmware will only do three total before docking and stopping for the day. So it worked out perfect. Even if your house was bigger, he seems to take off fairly randomly at the starts and he'd hit everything eventually just not all of it on the same day. Or just cordon him to an area he can complete in a single charge and then toss him in a room that's left over and shut the door and the roughly 40 minutes of run time will easily do a room.
I've even stuck him on the staircase landings. He doesn't fall off and cleans those up in just a few minutes. Too bad he can't do the stairs themselves. I have stuck him on an individual stair and he doesn't fall off and can do it, it's just kinda silly. I was just playing around with him.
I'm tempted to sweep out the garage on a nice day and then turn him loose on the concrete. Also kinda stupid but it'd be interesting to see how much dirt/whatever else he picked up off the garage floor. Would have to make sure there were no oil spots to get on his wheels so he wouldn't track that in the house later, if doing that stupid experiment.
If you put your head on the floor you can see his spinning LIDAR head working. Of course looking at lasers isn't too bright but I'm a moron and had to see if they used a visible laser. They did.
Come to think of it, it might be interesting to turn out all the lights and watch him work in a completely darkened room. May try that some night this week. Heh. See what the laser pattern actually looks like on the walls and furniture.
Most entertaining way to clean the house I've had in years.
The crap it pulled out of freshly vacuumed carpet was incredible for the first couple of weeks. All we can attribute that to is that it moves a lot slower and more deliberately than even the most patient human vaccuming with a standard vac.
Gobs and gobs of dog hair and dander and ick. After about two weeks of daily runs this settled down and frankly the carpet even feels better underfoot when barefoot. I have lowered the schedule from daily to M W F now or have the scheduler off altogether at times and just go hit the start button whenever. Depending on mood.
It also wanders under things that usually only get cleaned during a "Spring Cleaning". I recently had to crawl under our bed to re-route some power cables and it really hits home that you aren't crawling around in the usual dust bunnies under there.
Only complaint would be that it really dislikes the large sized Dog Kongs. It always finds a way to climb on top of those and get hung up. I've taken to saying that I found Neato "Kong Humping" again whenever we forget to pick the Kong up or take it somewhere Neato can't go. LOL!
I'm really impressed with the silly thing. I love that you can tell it got everywhere unlike the random pattern of a Roomba. It handles rugs fine even fringed ones, and the ability to carry it somewhere and lock it in a room for a quick cleanup is awesome too.
It couldn't handle the living room because of the Christmas tree skirt. It liked getting caught on that. And it didn't come with quite enough of the magnetic strip stuff that blocks it from going somewhere to fence off the tree. Can buy more of that stuff but the tree will be packed away relatively soon.
We also found it whining once that it needed help under the aforementioned bed because it had tangled itself up in power cables. Thus the under-bed spelunking expedition. A few tie-wraps and that area was baby proofed for Neato's excursions.
It has even run into the dog once when he was distracted. He have it a disapproving look and moved out of the way. No harm to him or Neato.
Another minor complaint is that the top of the robot gets covered in fine dust/dirt because of the top-loading dustbin. After a while he looks like pigpen running around carrying some of the dirt he's picking up, but a damp paper towel takes care of that. Probably unavoidable really.
All in all, totally impressed. And I haven't said that about a techno-gadget in quite a while. You do build up a few weird habits like glancing at his charging dock to see if he's there, and if you don't hear him in another room running and he's not there, you know you need to launch a mini rescue mission to go find him and help him out of whatever jam he's in. Once he got everything done but the walk in closet and ingested a shoelace of a show sitting on the floor of the closet. Now we find ourselves tucking shoelaces inside the shoes sitting in there just to help him out.
A quick technical word. The first three days he had quite a bit of trouble making it back to his charging station before his battery died. Selecting the "new battery" menu option on day two and letting him re-learn his battery on day three (he still didn't quite make it) and ever since he's successfully docked and run multiple times. Our downstairs usually takes him two full charges and part of a third and the firmware will only do three total before docking and stopping for the day. So it worked out perfect. Even if your house was bigger, he seems to take off fairly randomly at the starts and he'd hit everything eventually just not all of it on the same day. Or just cordon him to an area he can complete in a single charge and then toss him in a room that's left over and shut the door and the roughly 40 minutes of run time will easily do a room.
I've even stuck him on the staircase landings. He doesn't fall off and cleans those up in just a few minutes. Too bad he can't do the stairs themselves. I have stuck him on an individual stair and he doesn't fall off and can do it, it's just kinda silly. I was just playing around with him.
I'm tempted to sweep out the garage on a nice day and then turn him loose on the concrete. Also kinda stupid but it'd be interesting to see how much dirt/whatever else he picked up off the garage floor. Would have to make sure there were no oil spots to get on his wheels so he wouldn't track that in the house later, if doing that stupid experiment.
If you put your head on the floor you can see his spinning LIDAR head working. Of course looking at lasers isn't too bright but I'm a moron and had to see if they used a visible laser. They did.
Come to think of it, it might be interesting to turn out all the lights and watch him work in a completely darkened room. May try that some night this week. Heh. See what the laser pattern actually looks like on the walls and furniture.
Most entertaining way to clean the house I've had in years.
timwinters
Ejection Handle Pulled
Our bedrooms have a plush, cut pile carpet in them. The Roomba leaves tracks in the carpet so it's easy to see if it missed anything. It doesn't.
That said, I like how the Neato goes about it better and might have to look into one if/when our Roomba goes tango uniform. Because, even though I can see that the Roomba covered everything, I suspect that some areas were gone over just once while others were cleaned a half dozen, or more, times. Not the most efficient way of going about it.
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WakeNCAgent
Pre-takeoff checklist
You know it's winter time when we're sitting around talking about robotic vacuums. Sigh.
denverpilot
Tied Down
Definitely. Woke up to four inches of snow and a forecast that says it won't be much above 10F at night for the rest of January.
I'm already sick of winter. Which is kinda odd for me. I'm usually a polar bear and just keep doing stuff.
I'm spending a lot of time in front of the pellet stove with a hot cup of coffee this year.
Is this why old people move to Arizona?
DaleB
Final Approach
Nate, I hear you about doing little things to help out the robot. I find myself paying more attention to keeping stuff picked up and put away, which is a good thing. This week my goal is to get my office cleaned up enough that I can turn her loose in here.
The living rooom is the only place Rosie has a real problem. We've got one chair she can get under, but it's just low enough that she gets stuck in the middle. Then there's a coffee table that has a lower shelf almost exactly at laser-scanner height - so she can't see it, but can't get under it. If it were a quarter inch lower or half an inch higher, it wouldn't be a problem. I'm debating how to deal with that, but since that area gets very little traffic I may resort to just using the regular vacuum, or moving the table while the bot runs.
I'm also amazed at the amount of crud she sucks up from a floor that was just cleaned a day or two before. At first I thought the robot tracks in the carpet would bug me, but it doesn't. It just makes it look freshly vacuumed.
The living rooom is the only place Rosie has a real problem. We've got one chair she can get under, but it's just low enough that she gets stuck in the middle. Then there's a coffee table that has a lower shelf almost exactly at laser-scanner height - so she can't see it, but can't get under it. If it were a quarter inch lower or half an inch higher, it wouldn't be a problem. I'm debating how to deal with that, but since that area gets very little traffic I may resort to just using the regular vacuum, or moving the table while the bot runs.
I'm also amazed at the amount of crud she sucks up from a floor that was just cleaned a day or two before. At first I thought the robot tracks in the carpet would bug me, but it doesn't. It just makes it look freshly vacuumed.
denverpilot
Tied Down
Reviving thread. Now Spring time and we've had ol' Nintendo colored Neato for a while now. I'm still impressed with how much crud it picks up. I think the bin on the thing was full for two or three weeks, every time it stopped. Now that it has settled in, we run it M, W, F during the day when we aren't here, and it just keeps things nice and clean.
Every once in a while we'd take it upstairs and cut it loose in a room, but most of the time we'd forget to drag it up there. Upstairs rooms are much less trafficked than the downstairs great room, but they weren't getting vacuumed up very often. Karen would sweep up the tile in the kitchen and bathroom and one of us would run the big vacuum once in a while.
I finally caught another refurbed Neato on Amazon. Looking at the photo and model number, I figured we'd have another Nintendo running around. It arrived today at slightly over $200 and I was pleasantly surprised to see it was one of the newer models that really are exactly the same, but are done in black plastic. Of maybe it's dark gray. It's a little Darth Vader version. LOL.
It now lives upstairs and the original is downstairs and vacuuming is generally a forgotten chore. Every once in a while you notice it isn't sitting happily on its charger and you go hunt it down, usually stuck in an odd place, but frankly, most of he time they make their way back just fine. Every so often the firmware gets confused and gets within a few inches of he charger and gives up. Ha. I just nudge it into the charger and it charges up and goes back to work.
Apparently Neato has updated their design and has different units now, so if you haven't done the whole robot cleaner thing, maybe now is the time to watch for the older Neato models back from refurbishment. Dunno.
Saw a video of a really cool one from Germany that has a base with a big huge dustbin and its own vacuum in the base. When the robot returns, the base empties the robot's bin into he bin at the base unit. That's a really cool idea. Not available here yet and $1000 (?!). Base is also huge, of course. Looks like a futuristic very short trash can sitting in a corner.
Cool stuff. Methodical little grunt workers. The "upstairs" one is sneaking under the chair I'm sitting in as I type this.
Every once in a while we'd take it upstairs and cut it loose in a room, but most of the time we'd forget to drag it up there. Upstairs rooms are much less trafficked than the downstairs great room, but they weren't getting vacuumed up very often. Karen would sweep up the tile in the kitchen and bathroom and one of us would run the big vacuum once in a while.
I finally caught another refurbed Neato on Amazon. Looking at the photo and model number, I figured we'd have another Nintendo running around. It arrived today at slightly over $200 and I was pleasantly surprised to see it was one of the newer models that really are exactly the same, but are done in black plastic. Of maybe it's dark gray. It's a little Darth Vader version. LOL.
It now lives upstairs and the original is downstairs and vacuuming is generally a forgotten chore. Every once in a while you notice it isn't sitting happily on its charger and you go hunt it down, usually stuck in an odd place, but frankly, most of he time they make their way back just fine. Every so often the firmware gets confused and gets within a few inches of he charger and gives up. Ha. I just nudge it into the charger and it charges up and goes back to work.
Apparently Neato has updated their design and has different units now, so if you haven't done the whole robot cleaner thing, maybe now is the time to watch for the older Neato models back from refurbishment. Dunno.
Saw a video of a really cool one from Germany that has a base with a big huge dustbin and its own vacuum in the base. When the robot returns, the base empties the robot's bin into he bin at the base unit. That's a really cool idea. Not available here yet and $1000 (?!). Base is also huge, of course. Looks like a futuristic very short trash can sitting in a corner.
Cool stuff. Methodical little grunt workers. The "upstairs" one is sneaking under the chair I'm sitting in as I type this.
denverpilot
Tied Down
P.S. Right after I hit send on the post, he decided his battery was low and shut off his vacuum and went into "haul ass for the base station" mode, which was three rooms away.
As I type this, he's found it and he's wiggling his butt into the charger contacts. Just amazing. He kinda parked crooked this time...
As I type this, he's found it and he's wiggling his butt into the charger contacts. Just amazing. He kinda parked crooked this time...
Mine tends to get hung up on something and go "uh-oh" and shut down. The funniest time was when it managed to get into the little powder room off our living room and shut the door behind it and it spent twenty minutes bouncing around in the tiny room before it gave up.
brentee
Pre-takeoff checklist
I am pleased to announce that "Kong humping" has been added to my vocabulary. 
denverpilot
Tied Down
I am pleased to announce that "Kong humping" has been added to my vocabulary.
Yeah, but that's the neighbor's chihuahua, not the robot, sometimes.
(There's your ear worm for your mind's eye and your imagination for today. Now you can't get that picture out of your head and you need brain bleach to kill it.)
dentonf250
Filing Flight Plan
I have the Neato for several years now. Had one that the brush motor died on it, but got it replaced under warranty. Like has been said, this thing is pretty awesome. Amazing how much it picks up even when the carpet looks clean.
Joe
Joe
AggieMike88
Touchdown! Greaser!
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The original "I don't know it all" of aviation.
Nate... What model numbers are 'Tendo and Darth?
I'm looking on the net and reading up about them.
I'm looking on the net and reading up about them.
denverpilot
Tied Down
'Tendo is an XV-21. Darth I don't know. It was ordered as a 21 and came as a "refurbished equivalent".
Honestly last time I looked the only significant differences between the models was the color of the plastic. They claimed the 21 was better for pet dander but all they did was put a different filter in it. [edit: I see they do a different beater bar too. I doubt there's much difference.]
Supposedly they just released a slightly different shaped model with a shorter "tower" on top for the rotating mirror thing that does the laser ranging.
Yeah. "Botvac". Looks like they updated the plastic look and did a newer LCD screen and moved the buttons to start cleaning to the front. Don't know if the specs are any better.
I bought the one in the center of this screenshot. I received number 2 in the second screenshot. There's zero difference between them other than a $200 price difference.
Vader was attacking my desk chair this morning while I was trying to grab stuff out of the office. Ha.
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timwinters
Ejection Handle Pulled
So, Nate,
How's the Neato holding up?
My Roobma battery is dying after about 5 years and I'm not sure that spending nearly $100 for a new battery to put into a machine that's getting long in the tooth is wise...I've run the p*** out of it (and it's done well).
Looking at a Neato also as a potential replacement.
How's the Neato holding up?
My Roobma battery is dying after about 5 years and I'm not sure that spending nearly $100 for a new battery to put into a machine that's getting long in the tooth is wise...I've run the p*** out of it (and it's done well).
Looking at a Neato also as a potential replacement.
denverpilot
Tied Down
Pretty well. The one I bought new on big sale (the original) has done better than the refurb later model off of Amazon.
Like your Roomba, the batteries age. This is a minor problem now. And eventually they'll have to be replaced. How it usually manifests itself is they make it back to within a few inches of their charging bases and die right there. I can usually "rescue" them by just pushing them backward with my foot until they touch the charging contacts. Plus, they're probably full of crud at that point and need dumping anyway, so it's no big deal.
The refurb however, did have an odd problem, but I think I found it.
Both older and newer models have two batteries on board and the designers appear to have tried to run down one battery first with just enough juice in the other to keep the computer and beeper alive so the thing can yell for help.
On the older model, if you're going to store it and turn it off for a while, there's a switch inside the dust bin bay that disconnects that battery. One he newer ones, they realized no one stores them anywhere but on the charger, so they did away with the switch.
If that battery has a loose connection, the latest firmware displays "Battery problem, I need to reset" and waits until you hit OK button. The refurb was doing this daily for a week or so until I had time to look for clues online. Lots of folks talked about flipping that switch because it must have been "accidentally" switched. But it didn't exist on the newer one.
On a hunch, I grabbed a screwdriver and opened the bays on the bottom and unplugged and re-plugged both batteries. No more failure to charge or request to reset the bot since then.
I was doing some reading on one of the robot fan sites that had a techy bent recently, seeing if there's anything really truly new out now. Not really. Dyson announced a unit that's HUGE and claims it does a better job than the competition, but it uses a camera-based guidance system and needs a huge set of high contrast square flags at its charging station to align on. Very odd.
If you like your Roomba, I'd keep it and look for aftermarket battery *uogrades*. There's larger batteries out now for most of the models from all manufacturers and the options for Roomba are better than Neato thanks to the Neato engineers purposefully using a difficult type and size of cell to discourage such upgrades.
I'll still be putting the larger batteries in one of these as a test when the thing fails to make it "home" consistently or run times drop to where it can't complete he whole floor of he house in the three passes these will do before they stop for the day.
It still amazes me how much pet hair gets collected, even if it is set to run daily. Our short haired big dog's hair blends in really well, obviously.
Most of the time now that I'm not working from home much like I used to, they're set to run three times a week, which seems a good trade off. They find more fur than dirt these days, when I'm not here to track in more dirt.
On the refurb, I suspect the real problem was/is a weak Molex connector to that one battery and when someone sent it back, they just slapped a new battery in it, and called it fixed. When it's running around in the house, the bumps and jars work the connector loose. So far, just a good solid re-plugging has worked, but I have the right tools and connector parts to fix a Molex if it starts acting up again.
cowman
Final Approach
There are aftermarket batteries for under $30 for sale on Amazon. I've had decent luck with them.
timwinters
Ejection Handle Pulled
Thanks, I'll check that out. Roomba wants $69 for a standard replacement and $79 for a high capacity.
Nate, the biggest issue I have with the Roomba is that it doing damage to our furniture with its "bump and run" method of cleaning. Not bad, but all our table/chair/bed legs have little dings at "roomba height". I tried padding the "crash bar" with self adhesive "D" style door weatherstripping and that works well but I can't get it to stay on for over a week so I gave up. The furniture damage is my only complaint.
lionclaw
Pre-Flight
- Joined
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Andy
I used adhesive felt strips. They are approximately 1/4" square and come in strips around a foot long. They came from either Michales or Joaan Fabric. Make sure you clean the bumper well before you apply it.
The last of my Roombas were sold on ebay a few months ago. After the neato sale on meh.com last week, i'm now rocking four xv-21s
They are awesome robots.
denverpilot
Tied Down
Revving the thread. Long term test. Haha.
Both Neatos still rocking the vacuuming jobs. At least twice a week one gets lost somewhere and you know it's 2015 when you're wandering the house going, "Where the hell is the robot?!"
Love the straight lines and patterns of the Neatos... Yeah, I might be a touch OCD. LOL. I don't hold a candle to the Mrs in that regard, though...
Both Neatos still rocking the vacuuming jobs. At least twice a week one gets lost somewhere and you know it's 2015 when you're wandering the house going, "Where the hell is the robot?!"
Love the straight lines and patterns of the Neatos... Yeah, I might be a touch OCD. LOL. I don't hold a candle to the Mrs in that regard, though...
paflyer
Final Approach
About the same time, maybe longer, than it would take to just vacuum manually. That's why the one we have has been on a shelf for 10 years.
Mrs. SixPapaCharlie
Pre-takeoff checklist
I've not heard of the Neato, but we got a Roomba 770 last year, and it is my best friend. I never thought these little vacuums would do anything, but my MIL got one, and I was really impressed. I have it running right now. It does a great job. Also, I don't spend much time cleaning it at all. I empty it, clean the filter occasionally, and pull out the rollers to get the hair out of them about once a week, but it really doesn't take much time.
flyingcheesehead
Touchdown! Greaser!
I have a Roomba as well, but it's not being used since the day it came across the charging cord for my phone and ate it. There's a certain amount of cleanup you have to do before you let the little bugger do anything, so I don't have it going out on its own any more.
Mrs. SixPapaCharlie
Pre-takeoff checklist
Do you have an older model? I know they changed the rollers with the new ones, and they are suppose to go over cords without a problem. Mine does just fine; it's gone over lamp cords, phone chargers, etc.
As for cleanup, the kids are the only ones that have had issues, since the thing has been known to eat a stray lego if it's lying around.
I really am impressed with it's capabilities. With two big dogs, two young kids, and 6PC in the house, it's a challenge keeping it clean -especially since I work fulltime. This thing does such a great job keeping the dog hair and other dirt off the floor.
flyingcheesehead
Touchdown! Greaser!
Nope, I have the 770, same as yours... But when it encounters the *end* of the cord, it does get sucked up!
timwinters
Ejection Handle Pulled
]Nope, I have the 770, same as yours... But when it encounters the *end* of the cord, it does get sucked up!
It'll do the same thing when it encounters the end of your hair too!!!
Don't take a nap on the floor!!!
denverpilot
Tied Down
Well a little irony. Yesterday upstairs Neato "Darth" (because he's the black one) decided he couldn't "see".
Full disassembly tonight after reviewing some YouTube videos on how they come apart, showed that dog fur had gotten inside the LIDAR head and completely filled the underside of the motor spindle that holds a rubber belt that spins the LIDAR head around.
Disassembly was a bit of a pain and of course they've covered a couple of screws with paper tape as a "void warranty" seal. Didn't matter. This one was a refurb and out of warranty anyway.
After all cleaned up and reassembling I noticed the wiring to the right side sensor was brittle and broke off at the connector. A relatively easy fix but I decided to finish reassembly since I don't have that particular connector and see if the LIDAR head spun up. If the LIDAR was working it would throw a different sensor error.
It didn't spin up. So that means the dog fur stalled the motor and the little cheap 5V motor is fried. Another relatively easy fix if I can find the motor.
Anyway. For the moment "Darth" is dead. Well he's blind and can't feel his right side. Ha. He's in sad shape.
Good activity for a snow day. I really should have done it on the workbench though.
I hate being reminded I'm too old to sit on the floor disassembling a robot for a couple of hours. Heh. My back isn't pleased with me. Oh well.
Full disassembly tonight after reviewing some YouTube videos on how they come apart, showed that dog fur had gotten inside the LIDAR head and completely filled the underside of the motor spindle that holds a rubber belt that spins the LIDAR head around.
Disassembly was a bit of a pain and of course they've covered a couple of screws with paper tape as a "void warranty" seal. Didn't matter. This one was a refurb and out of warranty anyway.
After all cleaned up and reassembling I noticed the wiring to the right side sensor was brittle and broke off at the connector. A relatively easy fix but I decided to finish reassembly since I don't have that particular connector and see if the LIDAR head spun up. If the LIDAR was working it would throw a different sensor error.
It didn't spin up. So that means the dog fur stalled the motor and the little cheap 5V motor is fried. Another relatively easy fix if I can find the motor.
Anyway. For the moment "Darth" is dead. Well he's blind and can't feel his right side. Ha. He's in sad shape.
Good activity for a snow day. I really should have done it on the workbench though.
I hate being reminded I'm too old to sit on the floor disassembling a robot for a couple of hours. Heh. My back isn't pleased with me. Oh well.
asechrest
En-Route
Dug this up to say I pulled the trigger on this deal; a Neato XV Essential with the pet and allergy accessories included, for $199 with a $50 rebate from the manufacturer in the form of a Visa gift card.
I've got a mixture of medium-sized square Mexican tile, floor rugs, and carpeted bedrooms. I'm kind of excited to see how it does and I think it is a good deal.
[EDIT] - Oh, and I spent the $18 on the 3-year care plan on the advice of some comments about the vacuum. I don't typically go for those but did in this case.
I've got a mixture of medium-sized square Mexican tile, floor rugs, and carpeted bedrooms. I'm kind of excited to see how it does and I think it is a good deal.
[EDIT] - Oh, and I spent the $18 on the 3-year care plan on the advice of some comments about the vacuum. I don't typically go for those but did in this case.
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denverpilot
Tied Down
I have three now.
One has problems with the rotary belt drive for the spinning LIDAR head caused by dog fur jamming it up. I found a dude online that sells all the replacement parts and got the motor that burnt out and a replacement wiring harness to the right front side sensor that I broke disassembling it for like $20 shipped to my door, but while I was getting the parts ordered, another deal like the one you mentioned on a refurb popped up on Amazon, so I bought the third one.
The broken one is awaiting some workbench time and it'll be good as new.
When they do break, if you don't have any kind of extended warranty on them, they do all their repairs by basically offering a $200 or so deal on a refurb if you ship the third party that does the Refurbs for them, the dead one.
For the same money I got the third one and got to keep mine to either finish repairing (easy) or for spare parts.
Full disassembly videos are all over YouTube along with descriptions of what usually breaks. Mine have been workhorses and pick up a box full of dog fur daily almost.
Nothing beats a real run with the full size vacuum cleaner but these do a great job of general cleanup without much brain damage. They both usually find some way to get hung up or lost once a week but we have them set to run daily, so we just go on a robot hunt and take them back to their chargers and empty them and they'll go again the next day.
The only "bad" thing one ever did was if you leave a standard Apple charging cable lying on the floor or somewhere the Neato can pull it off a table, it'll chew the end right off the thing and then wrap it around the beater bar and stop complaining the beater is hung up on something. Ha. Yeah.
The "pet and allergy" is nothing more than the filter. All of them now get the upgraded beater bars (one for carpet one more for hard floors you get to choose and install whichever one you like) and you can buy various different qualities of filters online now. We just knock the dust out of the filters and run them for months and months until I finally feel like replacing one with a four pack I got online cheap. With a dirt driveway and 4 acres of more dirt, they pick up so much of it that I don't worry about the filter if I can knock it clean enough to still allow air through it. I just hold it down in a deep trash can and flip my finger across the pleats and the majority of the crud comes out. If I had to replace it every time it was full of dust, I'd be doing that daily out here.
One has problems with the rotary belt drive for the spinning LIDAR head caused by dog fur jamming it up. I found a dude online that sells all the replacement parts and got the motor that burnt out and a replacement wiring harness to the right front side sensor that I broke disassembling it for like $20 shipped to my door, but while I was getting the parts ordered, another deal like the one you mentioned on a refurb popped up on Amazon, so I bought the third one.
The broken one is awaiting some workbench time and it'll be good as new.
When they do break, if you don't have any kind of extended warranty on them, they do all their repairs by basically offering a $200 or so deal on a refurb if you ship the third party that does the Refurbs for them, the dead one.
For the same money I got the third one and got to keep mine to either finish repairing (easy) or for spare parts.
Full disassembly videos are all over YouTube along with descriptions of what usually breaks. Mine have been workhorses and pick up a box full of dog fur daily almost.
Nothing beats a real run with the full size vacuum cleaner but these do a great job of general cleanup without much brain damage. They both usually find some way to get hung up or lost once a week but we have them set to run daily, so we just go on a robot hunt and take them back to their chargers and empty them and they'll go again the next day.
The only "bad" thing one ever did was if you leave a standard Apple charging cable lying on the floor or somewhere the Neato can pull it off a table, it'll chew the end right off the thing and then wrap it around the beater bar and stop complaining the beater is hung up on something. Ha. Yeah.
The "pet and allergy" is nothing more than the filter. All of them now get the upgraded beater bars (one for carpet one more for hard floors you get to choose and install whichever one you like) and you can buy various different qualities of filters online now. We just knock the dust out of the filters and run them for months and months until I finally feel like replacing one with a four pack I got online cheap. With a dirt driveway and 4 acres of more dirt, they pick up so much of it that I don't worry about the filter if I can knock it clean enough to still allow air through it. I just hold it down in a deep trash can and flip my finger across the pleats and the majority of the crud comes out. If I had to replace it every time it was full of dust, I'd be doing that daily out here.