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.

Value your own house (UK)

It's something I think all home owners wonder, how much is the house worth, has it gone up or down in value?

There are of course websites (which I won't name) that claim to tell you the current value of every house based on formulas and rough market data.   I personally have never seen a correct one, but feel free to go off searching (and probably laughing).

There are some more accurate ways to find out the value and I'll try to explain the pros and cons of each.  

The truth is there is no real hard and fast way to value property.  As the saying goes, its only worth as much as someone is willing to pay and more importantly these days, as much as a bank is willing to lend on.

1.  What are similar houses on the market for?  Take this as a 'ball park figure' as situations and therefore prices vary but it will be a good idea of the value of the area.  Good schools can drive up prices, planning permission for a big development of new houses can bring down prices.

2. What did the similar houses in the street sell for?  The more specific the better for an accurate answer.  There are several websites that tell you sold house prices.  Beware that this information isn't completely accurate and not all sales seem to make it to the free websites and some figures are just wrong.  Rightmove is my favourite as it sometimes links photos of the property from when it was last on the market so you can see how similar a property is.  If you need to know the accurate figure that a property sold for, you can pay to find out from the land registry.  Zoopla sometimes shows the marketing price for a house alongside the sold price, which can be useful too.

Also remember that the sellers situation can affect price; sometimes properties are sold quickly e.g. after a divorce so the property sells for a bit less or maybe a house was part exchanged, this can give a false value.  Sometimes properties are bought cheaply because they need a lot of work and put back on the market, maybe for rent, and the 'done up' photos replace the old ones. 

3.  Ask a local agent.  Most estate agents offer free valuations with no obligation to put the property on the market.  I don't advocate wasting their time if you have zero intention of selling but definitely a good idea if you are thinking of selling in the not too distant future.  Agents have access to much more detailed information about local properties, such as what price they were marketed at, how long they were on the market and what price they sold for.

As a warning about agents, I once had a property valued by 4 agents (all on the same day so nothing at all changed).  The valuations were...£165,000 £190,000 £200,000 and £215,000.  It was marketed at £190,000 and a sale proceeded at just over £185,000 and a surveyor for the lender was happy.  I don't believe a surveyor would have agreed much over £195,000, and would have laughed at £215,000. Remember that if your buyer can't get a mortgage, chances are they can't buy your house!

4.  Ask a surveyor.  This option costs (unless you know a surveyor) and can cost a few hundred pounds.  The funny thing about surveyors, is the their fee depends on the value of the property, so at the start of the conversation you tell them the value and 9 times out of 10, their value comes back the same.  It's like magic!!  Obviously sometimes they will find a problem such as damp or subsidence and reduce the value dramatically.

With a bit of detective work and a sprinkling of common sense, you can work out what your house is worth.  Remember that there is no set formula.  If you can't compare like for like in your area, take the closest you can and add or subtract value.  For example, a bigger garden, an extra bedroom (as long as it is a good size), downstairs toilet would almost always add value, a tired kitchen or no garage would have less value than a similar one that did.

Country Cottage Mood Boards

Country cottage style is something I've always loved but never had a property that would match.  This is a scheme that I would use if I had a county cottage.

This is a bright and fairly neutral take on a country cottage, since cottages are typically quite dark, keeping the decor light and bright is important.  It has clean lines with rustic accents.

Autumn Accents

I am loving this season change from Summer to Autumn and feel ready to change up my decor to reflect it.  Obviously I'm not going to make major changes for every season but it occurred to me a few years ago that we have decorations that we bring out for December, but why only December?!  I'm not talking about anything so major as Christmas trees but a few changes to make the decor feel new are always nice.

For me, Autumn is about getting the candles and snuggly blankets out and getting ready for winter.  It's a time for eating home made soup by the fire.  I just love it!

Thinking about how few autumn decorations I have (by now I am usually fully focussed on Christmas) I thought I'd put together a few ideas for Autumn Accents.

This is just a selection of items from a wander around the internet.  I feel like October time is a good time to introduce a few gold cushions - they can stay right through to Christmas (or all year if you don't get easily bored of decor like me) and keep you safe from of terracotta and orange overload.

Of course with Autumn comes harvest and Halloween so I like this reference to a pumpkin (available on etsy).  As I said before I love candles and blankets.  I also think that changing up the artwork would be fun and a good chance to get the kids involved.

I fell in love with Autumnal wreaths but I'm not sure the UK is on board with wreaths for anything other than Christmas.  I might be standing a wreath up beside my fireplace rather than on my front door!!

Disney Snow White themed home office

Heigh-ho-heigh-ho it's off to work we go so it might as well be reminded of Snow White. 

Halloween - Disney Style

Yes, it's still September and Halloween is over a month away but the Parks have started Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Parties, which means the decorations are up and I just love them.

If you follow me on Twitter you'll know that I've love all the seasons but I've been longing for crunchy leaves and chunky jumpers for a few weeks now, so I'm ready to embrace Autumn and Halloween.

I only decorate my own house for Halloween on the day. I know in other parts of the world decorations for Halloween are more like decorations for Christmas and go up weeks in advance but my neighbours would just think I was confused or really strange.

On this basis, I don't want to spend too much money on something that only comes out once a year although I found these lights on the Disney Store (US) website and I love them. Plus, I've just found a way to get them shipped to the UK - this is dangerous and certainly going to mean a lot of online shopping. 

I especially like these because they look so friendly, having a small child, I don't want Halloween to be too scary. 

Another favourite activity to Disneyfy (is that a word??) is pumpkin carving.  There are lots of fab templates and stencils out there and I've tried a few.  This one is definitely my favourite.  This was last years effort.  I also did Mickey and Minnie but they didn't turn out too well.

I also have a bit of a cheat which is a Jack Skellington tea light holder.  It comes out every year (about 5 years now) and it so much less time, effort and mess than a pumpkin.  

A little flower arranging weekend

This past weekend was the local village fair and I like to support it by entering a couple of flower arrangements.  So, I thought I'd share some photos of them here.

The first category was arrangement for a wedding, this was mine, a rose topiary ball mounted on a champagne bottle.  I won't do a full tutorial but I'll go through it quickly.  

This is a 16cm topiary oasis, I found the bottle I wanted to use, but for stability I had to mount the ball on sticks which went into the bottle. (Special thanks to my dad for drinking the contents of the bottle so that I could use it - what a hero!!!).  I added the foliage (and I should know what it is, but it was just a plant in the garden) I added roses all over mixing the colours and then filled the gaps with a little gypsophila.  I stuck labels over the bottle to show a table number and date.

The slight shock was how many roses it required - 60 small rose heads went into this one ball! 

A few people asked me about the costs to make at the show so I'll try to break that down.
Oasis - £5 (think this was discounted)
Roses - £12 (6 packs from supermarket)
Gypsophila £1.50 but only used about half
Foliage - free from the garden
Sticks - £1
Bottle - had already but I know you can buy empty bottles online or buy a drink you happen to like
TOTAL: £17.50 excluding bottle, which isn't bad as DIY for a wedding.

The next category I chose to enter was a flower arrangement depicting a song.  Here is mine.....guess the song.

 Got it?  Here is a little close up that might help!

It's "We're Off to See the Wizard" more commonly known as "Follow the Yellow Brick Road" from the Wizard of Oz (helpfully the category was depict a song, not song title, so I got away with it).  

The yellow roses to depict the yellow road, the foliage at the back (with leaf shine although that doesn't really show in the photo) to represent the emerald city and red shoes as an extra clue that Dorothy might be visiting.

My favourite part of this, of course, is the red shoes.  Although they were by far the most difficult part.  My daughter refused to donate any of her dolls shoes, so I bought a doll (shhhh, daughter will be getting a shoeless doll from Christmas) and tried to coat them in PVA ready for glitter.  This is where I learnt that plastic doll shoes are totally repellant to PVA glue. Even after thorough soapy washing and even after submerging in glue, it just ran straight off.  So being the girl that I am, got some hairspray from my bag and that stuck the glitter on.  Hairspray worked brilliantly and I did a couple of coats to make sure it was truly covered.  I used a hot glue gun to stick cocktail sticks to the shoes to secure them to the arrangement.

I was super pleased that these both won first prize in their category and the Yellow Brick Road one won Best in Show. It's only a small village show but it's still always nice to win something.