Discussion
My mother recently bought a Roomba and I've got to say I'm quite impressed and toying with the idea of getting one. However on the Black Friday thread HornetRider just pointed out the Neato Signature is a lot cheaper and seems to get good reviews, so what's people opinions?
- The Roomba 800 series apparently has way more suction than the 700 series but any comparisons I can find are on older model Roombas.
- The Roombas have the brush on the side to get into the edges, the Neato's look like they might miss the edges a bit
- Reviews suggest the Roomba's are quieter
- Neato's have a bigger dust bin so less emptying
- People seem to make a fuss about the Roomba's random pattern vs the Neato's more structured pattern, does it really matter?
- Neato signature is about half the price of the Roomba 880, but does it do a good job?
- Are there others worth considering?
I have a Neato - had it about a year now I think.
Yes, it's noisy - sounds like a jet taking off as it gets up to speed but to be honest, it's no different from a "normal" hoover.
It does miss the edges a bit, and that is something I've noticed.
But overall I've been very impressed - I'd buy another, and I couldn't justify paying twice as much for Roomba. The biggest negative is - it obviously doesn't do stairs, and since it does do the rest of my house it means I do my stairs a lot less often than I used to!
Yes, it's noisy - sounds like a jet taking off as it gets up to speed but to be honest, it's no different from a "normal" hoover.
It does miss the edges a bit, and that is something I've noticed.
But overall I've been very impressed - I'd buy another, and I couldn't justify paying twice as much for Roomba. The biggest negative is - it obviously doesn't do stairs, and since it does do the rest of my house it means I do my stairs a lot less often than I used to!
AJB88 said:
How do they deal with stuff like getting between chair legs when they are all tucked up under the table and over the room seperators?
Depends how narrow the gap between the chair legs is. Our Roomba seems to manage OK, though the presence of a lot of chair legs causes a lot of collisions so it can get a bit stuck for a little while as it keep colliding with them.What do you mean by room separators ? They can't open doors.
If room separators means carpet rods, mine is fine. It also navigates from the hall (carpet) onto the bathroom (tile) which has a step of about half a centimetre no problem.
Regarding the noise - yes, I would say it is about as loud as a regular machine. But I tend to put it on downstairs while I'm getting ready upstairs, and upstairs when I'm downstairs so it's never really a problem (does make an awful racket when it's going over the tiles upstairs though).
Oh, and mine sets my house alarm off in case that's relevant to anybody so I can't use a pre-programmed schedule on mine.
ETA : I don't have a table / chairs so can't really answer that - however the Neato does do a good job of navigating around other stuff so I don't believe it would be a problem.
Regarding the noise - yes, I would say it is about as loud as a regular machine. But I tend to put it on downstairs while I'm getting ready upstairs, and upstairs when I'm downstairs so it's never really a problem (does make an awful racket when it's going over the tiles upstairs though).
Oh, and mine sets my house alarm off in case that's relevant to anybody so I can't use a pre-programmed schedule on mine.
ETA : I don't have a table / chairs so can't really answer that - however the Neato does do a good job of navigating around other stuff so I don't believe it would be a problem.
t? Same thing happened to them 
I so want one of these, well perhaps two, one for downstairs and one for upstairs.
How does the Neato deal with the top of the stairs i.e. stopping before it plummets wheels first down the stairs? I noticed on amazon that there are some borders that come with it? Do these need to be hidden under the carpets?
How does the Neato deal with the top of the stairs i.e. stopping before it plummets wheels first down the stairs? I noticed on amazon that there are some borders that come with it? Do these need to be hidden under the carpets?
n3il123 said:
I so want one of these, well perhaps two, one for downstairs and one for upstairs.
How does the Neato deal with the top of the stairs i.e. stopping before it plummets wheels first down the stairs? I noticed on amazon that there are some borders that come with it? Do these need to be hidden under the carpets?
It stops fine at the top of the stairs - has sensors which sort that out.How does the Neato deal with the top of the stairs i.e. stopping before it plummets wheels first down the stairs? I noticed on amazon that there are some borders that come with it? Do these need to be hidden under the carpets?
Yes, there is a magnetic strip border, which you can put somewhere if there is an area you don't want it to clean. I guess it would probably work under a carpet - I've never used mine, not even sure where I've put it!
davek_964 said:
It stops fine at the top of the stairs - has sensors which sort that out.
Yes, there is a magnetic strip border, which you can put somewhere if there is an area you don't want it to clean. I guess it would probably work under a carpet - I've never used mine, not even sure where I've put it!
Ah thats great, I thought you had to put the strip all around the area, like a play pen, if you don't then that's awesome!Yes, there is a magnetic strip border, which you can put somewhere if there is an area you don't want it to clean. I guess it would probably work under a carpet - I've never used mine, not even sure where I've put it!
J4CKO said:
Someone posted on Facebook that they had a cat, and said moggy got caught short so parked its breakfast, then their automatic vacuum did its thing......
Not sure how true but I am sure it could happen.
One of mine threw up, then the roomba vacuumed it up. Did a fairly decent job of it, too.Not sure how true but I am sure it could happen.
Then it stopped and docked, as it was full.
It took a minute or two to get the wheels clean, but everything else only took a few seconds, it's completely straightforward to clean out.
Cat crap is usually pretty dry compared to dog crap, you won't have the issue of it being tracked into the carpet - which was minor as it docked after picking up the worst of it; the route was obvious.
My Roomba 886 showed up Friday, and so far I'm impressed. It's done a really good job on every room we've let it lose in so far, and (the deciding factor vs the Neato for me) it's quite quiet. Had to empty it 3 times doing the lounge and kitchen but that's more down to our lack of previous cleaning than the small size of it's bin. The idea is that this will mean the house gets vacuumed a lot more often than it ever did when it relied on one of us getting the Dyson out.
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