Review: Neato Robotics XV Signature Pro Vacuum

Ever since I mentioned this product on Twitter I have had a lot of questions, also lots of friends and other people visiting my house asking about it so I thought I'd write a full review here and hopefully answer all the questions.  I feel this might be long so I'll try to break it up with headings.

I will probably use all the wrong terminology (and make some up) but this is a truly real review.  This is my experience of owning it and using it in my home.  I will give the pros and cons.

The Neato Robotics XV Signature Pro (named Shnuffles in my house) has been with us for about 3 months now.  I wasn't convinced at first, in fact I think I said I categorically didn't want or need it - so my husband went ahead and bought it.  It took about 20 minutes for me to fall wholly in love.

So, out of the box I think it needed to charge for a while then run it's battery right down a few times.  I remember the very first use only lasting half a room or so and I was on my way to putting it back in the box but after another charge it cleaned for ages and really can clean a whole 4 bed house between charges.

How I use it

It has a charging base plugged into the mains in the corner of my lounge, and that is where it lives.  When I am ready for it to clean a room I firstly tidy the floor.  This is only tidying in the same way as you would before any vacuuming or mopping, but paying extra attention to any cables that make be straggling as these can be problematic and I also tie up any long curtains so it can get under them.  

Once I'm ready, I press the 'on' button to wake it up and then the 'on' button again to set it going.  It leaves the base, and twirls, which I assume is scanning the room, it then sets off.  It follows a fairly logical route, it usually traces the outside of the room and then sets off back and forth up and down.  In a large room, it seems to divide the space and clean a section at a time and move on.  

Types of floor

I have hard floors downstairs in my house (Karndean) and it cleans them brilliantly, it really reaches to the edges and corners because of the 'D' shape.  The only other thing I do sometimes is to sweep up any crumbs from the very edge of under the sofa as it is too tall to get under the sofa and can't reach.  I do the same in any other tricky corners.  

I have a deep pile rug in the same room and it moves effortlessly from hard floor to rug and back and has no problems picking up crumbs etc from the deep pile.  

The only thing it struggles with in the downstairs of the house is the dining area (it can get lost in chair legs) so I tend to either lift the chairs or section it off (see later about sectioning).  This isn't really a con because its exactly the same with a regular vacuum or mop or brush.  It's just something to be aware of if you leave it to run unattended. 

Upstairs in my house is carpeted and it works really well, again in rooms with carpet and rugs its transitions seamlessly (and leaves fun patterns in the rug pile).  

I previously thought my house was clean, I vacuum, I dust; it's no show home but I thought it was pretty clean - until the first time the robot ran over the carpet.  The dirt bin was full of fluff and dust.  It was amazing/awful and I feel quite ashamed.  I ran the robot over each carpeted room 3 or 4 times until it stopped filling the dirt box.  My previous vacuum was one for cat and dog hair with a turning brush head so I thought it was doing a good job - apparently not!  The robot gives a seriously deep clean.

It doesn't do stairs (yes, someone asked) and while I do keep a baby gate across the top of the stairs to keep it safe, I did once forget and it didn't fall down the stairs.  Which I was so impressed and grateful for!

Sectioning

The Vacuum will clean everywhere it can get to until it finishes, is stopped, gets stuck or you section the area off.  The Pro model came with strips that you can lay on the ground to stop it, say to keep it away from some cables, or out of a room, away from something tall that may be knocked over, etc.  Saying knocked over is probably a bit misleading, the robot doesn't crash haphazardly round the room, but it does nudge right up to all the edges in order to clean to the edge so I think it could topple something with a really high centre of gravity.

In large areas it will section itself, and where it is doing several rooms round corners it will divide it into areas too, which can look really odd because it seems to start a room and then go away for a bit like it's bored. 

I find it sections downstairs which is fairly open easily but upstairs where there are more obstacles and a more divided layout with the bedrooms it is quite slow and I wonder if it ends up repeating itself.

Spot Cleaning

There is an option in  the menu for a spot clean which is where you take it to an area of mess and it cleans a rectangle of maybe 5ft by 3ft (ish) and is super useful for crumbs or other areas of mess, or if you don't have much time.  This is the best thing ever for the zone around where my 4 year old eats.

The Dirt Box and Filter

As I said above, this is a real eye-opener!  I empty the dirt box after every full house clean and clean the filter by brushing it over a bin.  It's really easy.  When the rug was brand new the dirt box did overflow with fluff and dirt so I had to empty mid job but other than that the dirt box is plenty big enough to hold a full clean, probably 2 or 3.

Problems

Nothing is perfect, there are only a couple of minor niggles, one being that sometimes it will find a space that is big enough to get into but not quite big enough to get out of.  A bit like a naughty cat.  When this happens, it can raise up to try to climb out but generally beeps until either you rescue it or it gives up and just runs out of battery.  Sometimes it gets its vision blocked by dust and needs to be cleaned and reset.  There are other issues that are user error, but like I said, Im a technophobe and shouldn't really expect it to charge up when the charging base was unplugged!!

Timer

The model I have (and I don't know about other models) has a timer, which can be programmed to clean once a day.  I was really impressed with this feature initially, but it didn't last long.  You either have to leave the house prepared (floor areas clear) if you want it to run while you are out or I found that I set it for the evening and it always set off when I was watching TV or had friends over.  I wouldn't want it to run at night as there is a chance it will get stuck and beep or make noise and wake me.  Thats just personal preference.

Does it save time?

So I've established that it does a good job, so the next important question is does it save time and the answer after 3 months is yes.  

In the first week or so, no, because you spend all the time watching it.  It is completely mesmerising, how it twirls and the zooms off, it never seems to take the same path twice but never misses anywhere.  Once that novelty has worn off, I set it going and get on with something else, sometimes I will set it off and go on the school run (it doesn't set the house alarm off) or sometimes I just get on with something else, whether that be cleaning the bathroom or working at my desk.

Summary

As I have carpeted stairs, this could never fully replace a vacuum for me.  It is in addition to a regular vacuum and as such the value is questionable.  It's never going to be a necessity, it's a luxury, it's a time-saver and it does a very good job.