Clean Your Floor like the Jetsons: In March of 2011, I finally gave in and invested in the Neato XV-11 All Floor Robotic Vacuum System. I’ve had it for almost a year now, and no one is happier than my husband, who is the sole voice of tidiness in our little family of three. The burning question: Does Neato really work?
Bottom line: Neato is amazing. Aside from the obvious joy of having a ROBOT at your house, it actually does a good job of cleaning a room while you’re not looking. I like that it cleans systematically, rather than just bouncing around, so that it actually covers the entire floor. Perhaps its biggest advantage is the fact that it cleans under the beds, sofas, chairs, and tables, which I never manage to get to myself.
While it’s not as powerful as my Dyson, it is more powerful than several traditional vacuum cleaners I’ve owned, and because I can set it to go and shut the door, the more needy rooms of my house now get vacuumed every other day instead of every other…hmmm, we won’t go there. It has genuinely reduced dust and lint in our house, so we sneeze less.
A few months after we adopted Neato, we adopted a cat, and they are fast companions. Phoebe the cat loves following Neato around, and Neato loves cleaning up her cat hair. And it leaves those cool vacuum stripes, so when people come over they think I’ve been working very hard to maintain domestic order. If they only knew.
The dustpan is very easy to remove and empty, and the filters last a couple of months with heavy use. I usually let Neato vacuum two rooms with rugs or carpet before I empty it. If you’re running it on hardwood or other non-carpet surfaces, you don’t need to empty it as often. The charge seems to last for three large rooms of vacuuming.
Bonus fun: when the Neato finishes a room, it backs right on up to the recharging station, hooks up like it’s party time at the robo disco, and makes a little musical sigh of contentment. I can’t tell you how sexy it is. Really, it’s like the Neato is doing some robotic mating ritual right before your eyes.
I would highly recommend this product to anyone who doesn’t have the time or inclination to vacuum as often as the house needs it. I’d also recommend it to anyone with allergies, and anyone whose children insist on eating popcorn on the couch. Before Neato, our house looked as though a small family of movie theatre elves was running around distributing popcorn kernels to their elfin friends. No longer. Hallelujah, Neato does popcorn!
Other things Neato does: cat hair, lint, sequins, glitter, Easter basket confetti, dust, Cheerios, dirt, those annoying carpet fibers you end up with any time you buy a rug from Ikea, leaves, cookie crumbs, chocolate chips, hair, earrings. As for that last one, as with any vacuum, you should try to pick up the jewelry off the floor before you run it. But if you DO lose something, it’s much easier to sift through the Neato filter for your, ahem, wedding ring than it is to sift through a traditional filter.
Convinced? Go forth and vacuum.
Looking for something cheap, cordless, and light? The Eureka 96B Quick Upright is only $68.99. Not as powerful as Neato, and you have to, um, hold it yourselfn (that’s so Joan Jetson!), but it’s great for daily cleaning of cat litter & kitchens. Works much better on hardwood than carpet.