Neato!!!

Neato….

With the holiday shopping period fast approaching, the TV commercials are in full swing.  And I am sure that they will only be getting worse as time gets closer.

I have noticed that the robot vacuum cleaners are getting some primary play time.  I thought I would talk a bit about them.  They have fascinated me since they first came out.  In the beginning they were intriguing but not very good.  But over the years they have improved and improved.  This year, I finally took the plunge to get a robotic vacuum cleaner.  It is not the better known brand, but instead it is a brand called a Neato.  And it is indeed neato.

I have always hated to vacuum.  There were times when I might not have done it for weeks at a time.  Rudy would comment from time to time when he just could no longer tolerate the bits and pieces on the floor and I would then try to do a better job of running it for a while.  Just one of those things I really did not and still do not enjoy.

Early this year on http://www.woot.com/ one of my favorite shopping places, they offered the Neato and I decided to give it a try.  When it arrived, I was surprised at the size of the unit.  It really is about as wide as the standard upright vacuum cleaner.  As you can see from the picture, it lives against its charging unit when it is at rest.  It has sensors on the top (the little turret tower looking thing) and when it starts up, Neato pulls away from the charger, circles in place to get an idea of where the furniture is and then sets out to clean.  The ideal situation is to have lots of open space to run around in but in my house, that is a dream.  But there is a method to its journey around my floors and it takes about an hour but will basically clean the majority of my floors, both carpet and tiled, before returning to the charger to charge back up.  I have it set to automatically clean at 11PM on Wednesday night and 2PM on Sunday.  So, even if I am not at home, when I come back, my floors are neat and tidy.  I can also just hit the main button twice to activate the unit and it will pull away from the charging station and head off on its cleaning journey.

The first few times, it would return to the charger with the dust bin full to capacity.  It was awful.  But since it now goes twice a week, Neato can do two or three sweeps before I have to empty the bin.  Once in a while I will come home to find the charger empty.  I just have to wander through my rooms until I hear Neato twiddle and I will find that it has gotten stuck in a tight space.  Not often, but once in a while… most of the time it can wiggle its way out of any tight space.  There are even some places where it goes that I could not get my fancy vacuum in.

So, if you are thinking about taking the plunge, I say… go ahead.  It works well in my little one story house.  If you have a two story you either have to get two or actually carry the robot to the different levels.  But it is very much like having a tiny, little maid who comes in from time to time just to vacuum! Ahhhhh, luxury!