These are Scratch and Dent XV-21 vacuums. They may have blemishes. Rest assured these are only cosmetic issues, and do not affect the unit’s functions.
Color Options: Blue, Black, Black/Grey, White/Purple, Green
Designed for pet owners and allergy sufferers
Removes all kinds of dirt and cleans: carpets, rugs, hardwood, laminates, tile, and stone
Schedule automatic cleanings via simple user interface
Automatically returns to charging base when vacuuming is concluded
Although I certainly welcome our new robot vacuum overlords as much as anyone else, I managed to pass on years and years of Woot Roombas, and will continue to pass here. Meh.
This is decidedly un-meh of me but I own this vacuum and want to testify. I love this vacuum. In fact I just bought a replacement battery for this vacuum. Why buy a new one when this one is working great?
I would highly recommend this little bot over the Roomba any day of the week. If you need a little robot vac, buy it. If you're even on the fence about it, buy it. Best robot vac ever!
I've owned it for about 3 years. When it works it's great, but the other 2 out of 3 times you'll have to deal with the dreaded "My brush is stuck" error. For everyone who buys one, please copy and paste the following:
I have the answer to the 'brush is stuck'! The motor shaft under the brush that attaches to the turning belt will get clogged with hair. You need to purchase a seam removal tool. The one I bought has a long curved blade and a long thin handle. It is called 'Havels Ultra-Pro Seam Ripper'. Use this tool gently sawing back and forth, slowly rotating the hub with the belt after the brush is removed. Then use long tweezers to flip the cut debris out. It takes some work and patience, don't cut the belt! But once you are used to this maintenance you can fix the 'brush is stuck' error message.
These vacuums are awesome. Neato, keep up the good work. If I didn't already own one of these, I would be getting one today. But I have one. And it's awesome.
Being the proud companion of a bright shiny new Roomba 790, I feel obliged to say that the "Neato" is trying just a little too hard and her bony angularity is entirely unattractive. She's got nothing on you, Roomie.
I would love one but.... Even our Dyson (model 14, and they're up to what - Dyson 367's?) gets clogged with fur. We have newfoundlands, who constantly shed entire tumbleweed-sized wads of fur.
Have one. It works well, although it has a tendency to move its own powering station by hitting the cord - so tie the excess in that baby up!
It fills itself about halfway daily, just cleaning where my dog dozes (and he's a shorthair). However, my bedroom doesn't have a sheen of dog hair everywhere, anymore!
So I worked in a robotics lab last semester and we used these. I have no idea how good of a vacuum it is but I can comment on what it's like to program it.
These Neatos don't support ROS out of the box and require a bit of fiddling (software-wise) to get them to work. But after that you can fairly easy program them in Python. They have this 360 degree spinning laser sensor that is fairly accurate and great for mapping/navigating. We had these and the much cheaper iRobot Creates (Roombas without vacuums) and the Creates were much easier to develop for but these were way more powerful because of the sensor.
There's my story of the day. Hope everyone enjoyed it.
I had to buy it... my brother just bought the Roomba 530 on woot and paid tax. I got this little beast (which rivals the 700 series roomba) for $155 TAX FREE. Meh.... we're gonna get along you and I.
I got mine yesterday. Set it on the charger, almost right away it said it was fully charged but wanting the most out of the battery I left it on the charger 24 hours. I turned it on it made a hard turn stopped hard turn in reverse. I moved it to a carpeted area hard turns, seems like 1 wheel is stuck. Now battery is dead. Ran for 3-5 Minutes. Any advice?
Hmm it arrived today, but it doesn't seem to want to charge at all. The power brick in the charging base is powered on, and I slide the bot up against the charger and it powers up. The screen stayed on and it kept beeping and never died, but never charged.
Tried taking the brick out and plugging it in directly, no beeping but after a few minutes of low battery warnings it shuts itself off.
Put it back into the charging base and slid it against it, the screen is off and the button is blinking but im not sure if its charging or not.
Can't get mine to work either. Took it out of the box, plugged in the charging station, placed the unit up against the bumpers, and pressed the power button. The LED goes green, orange, off very quickly. If I hold it down it'll go to red and slowly die as if I'm choking it to death.
Left it over night and still the same exact results. I tried disconnecting the batteries for a while then replacing them. I also tried swapping locations (I knew this wouldn't work).
Any advice? Is there something else I should be doing?
Received mine. It is pretty beat up with scratches all over especially the flat part that sticks out on top - as if someone dragged it against rough concrete. No biggie I suppose.
However, it seem to work just fine so far! Plugged in the base, put it on the base, and let it charge. Set up the time and a schedule. Then made it do a spot clean which worked fine. Then made it clean. I let it run until it had to return to base to recharge. Cleaned out the filter and turned it off since we were going to bed. Overall happy so far (except for the hopefully only superficial scratches.)
Mine arrived defective: it does nothing but give me the solid amber light and the "problem with battery" message, and won't move at all after 24 hours of charging.
1) their rooms will never need vacuumed anyway as the dust will never even find the floor based on how much crap is in there already on the floor - the floor stays clean under all that junk
2) If it is a household chore tied to say, computer, phone, etc. use or driving and you say "take as long as you want to do a good job vacuuming and when you are done you can drag race down main street or put a smoke bomb in the high school ventilating system the friday afternoon before a 3 day weekend" they will fly through the task doing a reasonably decent job.
So I got mine...unboxed it and charged it overnight. Ran it once and it worked like a charm. Amazing! After it was done, it actually found its way back to the charger. Then, deep sadness set it. I got the dreaded battery error 0002 - goggled it and found out it's fairly common. Apparently, the way the battery connects to the unit (with those plastic plugs with wire "tubes" and pins) is severely prone to faltering. And falter they did. I'd have to do several manipulations (holding down the power button, unplugging the batteries, resetting the battery status (to new battery selection on the unit's menu). I contacted Meh...who I knew going in would not be helpful (no offense...well...OK, some offense), and got the proverbial "not our problem...contact Neato". So I did via chat, and they promptly ran through some troubleshooting (which I already did on my own)...which of course didn't help. They quickly agreed to send me a new unit for $25 shipping...and all I said in reply was "Ouch...that stinks"...and he immediately waived the shipping charge. So within 1 week, I should get a replacement unit for free, and will ship the busted one back. Slight hassle-factor, but I'm optimistic so far. I DO VERY MUCH like the job it did whilst it was running.
This is how it worked out of the box... Received with minor blemishes; obviously a refurbished robot. I let the battery charge fully, it ran for about 10 minutes before a message displayed saying it was returning to base to recharge. It made it to about 1 meter shy of the base. So, like a puppy that was kicked too hard, I picked it up and crammed it onto the base. Once fully charged, it ran for about 20 minutes, then repeated the aforementioned failure to return to the base. Third time was a charm, it fully charged, cleaned several rooms of carpet and hardwood and successfully returned to base. Ran beautifully for a week until the dreaded 002 error appeared. The fix was to remove both batteries (there are two; one by each wheel) and reattach them.
This is how it presently works... So far so good, it automatically cleans several rooms on a single charge. When the battery does run low, it returns to its base, recharges, then restarts where it left off. Amazing.
@Ranneyd Since you have worked on them in the lab and @harrison since you have demoed one of these little guys, I am looking for a software/ techy/ genius. If neither of you are would you see if you have one in your pocket? Smile Are there any geniuses amongst us in the MEH community that want a challenge? I love the idea of my Neato. I have always wanted one ever since my brother had a rumba! This is my problem… I am blind. I have a problem when it comes to the feedback that Neato gives as to his state of mind. Do either of you think that it would be possible to add components to him that would make his error message voice aloud? It already has a sort of speaker since he makes noise with beeps and such. If it could be done I would gladly try the experiment. When the bot is doing its thing it is wonderful but… when he has problems I have to guess as to what his problem might be. Kinda like figuring what is wrong with the new born baby (which I don’t have).
They seem to make nearly everything talk these days why not a robot vacuumed? I always wanted my own Rosey from the “Jetsons”! Any ideas? Thanks for reading.
@silverqueen If I remember correctly (the parts aren't in front of me right now), the screen is its own separate module, so it may be possible to intercept the messages being sent to it and route them to a text-to-speech interpreter and a speaker. I'll do some research and let you know.
@silverqueen unfortunately I don't think I'll be helpful. What we did, basically, is we wiped his little Neato brain and then told him to do stupid stuff like using his laser to create a map of a hallway or we put a long pole on him and tried to make him use an elevator. But we didn't MODIFY his software. In fact, no one in our lab even did anything with the vacuum part. So even if I knew off the top of my head how to make him talk (which I don't. I'd have to think about it or do some research like @harrison) I wouldn't be able to modify the Neato software. The best I could do is rewrite it and I doubt I'd be able to do that as effectively as the Neato people.
@Harrison Oh, that is so cool of you! Thanks for looking at it! I love my little toy and want to be able to do it all by meslf but.. What wonderfull news to hear. If there is anything you want me to look up let me know. I'll try!
@TheYoz Thanks for looking. How do you like your little friend? I do love mine. I am so happy when I come home to find him back under the table where he lives and find his dirt bin loaded. So cool!!! I hate to vacuum and now I have my own little bot to do it for me. Kinda like those ferries that are supposed to show up and do the stuff I leave at work but… they never do!!! This guy will, so long as he hasn’t had any problems. He gets stuck under my kitchen table a lot! HaHaHa Howeve4r my dog ABSOLUTLY HATES him! He can’t decide if he wants to kill it or run away! He barks and growls while backing away. Hilarious to watch him! I don’t get it . He doesn’t behave like that with the old vacuum or the Swiffer vac. Why is a robot different?
Dang it all! I came home to find my bot stuck and bleating it's heart out. Only to find out the plastic part by the wheel on its right hand side was broken at the screw heads. Out of my warranty. Boo hoo. Any one know if the parts can be bought seporately? Or does MEH have one from the demolitions? Smile I realy do want to know if the parts can be had. I guess I could try to tape it up? The whole door fell off.
@silverqueen is it the battery cover that broke or the actual outer casing? I haven't seen any of those extra parts for sale, but you could probably call Neato support and ask them. They were super easy to deal with when I had to call
@silverqueen I'm not familiar with the Neato, so can't picture the part you are talking about. However, I'd recommend ebay for parts. When I needed a plastic part for my Dyson, I was able to find it easily on ebay. A quick look shows that there are plenty of Neato parts, too. A lot of the parts are recycled, but as long as it's in good shape that doesn't phase me.
@Kleineleh To be quite honest, I don’t know what it is covering. I just know that if you flip it over so wheels are up and the brush side is facing you, the door on the right hand side by the wheel broke on both ends at the screw heads. I can’t figure out how that might have happened unless the screws were over tightened. It is right now taped closed but I don’t expect that will work long. When I first got this little guy I wrote to them and got the canned “Thank you for contacting us… you are important to us…”response email but never got the follow up answer from a real employee. Maybe I should try calling them?
@silverqueen Well that's disappointing that you never heard back. Yeah, maybe try calling. That's what I did and they were incredibly friendly and helpful. At the very least, maybe they can help you figure out exactly which part you need so you can look for it on ebay like, @gio said, or just order it from them if it's cheap enough
Well, my Neato has now been dead for over a week now. As some might have heard, the Neato gets this sort of "Dim Green Light" on the button without the LCD displaying anything. Some suggest pulling out the batteries overnight. I was experiencing this frequently before and used that technique. Now it appears it no longer works.
I hate to say it, but these Neato refurbished products are so popular because Neato gets so many new returns that require repairs. The repairs are only good temporarily as their warranty shows (the item they constantly have problems with is their batteries which they only cover for 6 months).
If anyone ever sees another Neato offer on Meh or Woot or any other site please please please DO NOT PURCHASE. So far I have not received any support from Neato and I am waiting to see what Meh says. This product has been ok for about 8-9 months (keep in mind I have had to reset this device several times in the past month).
Too bad this was such a bad purchase. I was really hoping it was going to work better than this.
@Phenomenon101 I was fortunate to receive a working Neato scratch and dent in a Fuku. It's battery life is very bad, thouhgh, and while I really like the unit, I am torn over spending $40 on a set of replacement batteries because of stories like this. Don't want to take an amazing almost free thing and make it a money pit. But, I suppose $40 is still very good.
@Phenomenon101 I've had some success plugging a cell phone charger into the service port on the back of the unit while it is docked. Hold down the start button until the green light goes off. Unit restarts. Unplug cell phone charger and replace rubber plug. If battery life is bad, select new batteries from the support menu and the unit will recalibrate. May not be a fix, but at least a band aid.
@Unclebeard No, in the end it was a faulty capacitor which Neato was fixing them with. I had to order them and replace it myself. Not too bad (just need a soldering iron and the capacitors), but still pretty stupid that Neato was refurbishing them with the same capacitor that burnt out for all other version. Since then, it works like a champ though. Good luck if this happens to you though. It's like a green ring of death for Neatos.
@Phenomenon101 Is this a repair someone could do with moderate soldering experience? I've got a new multi-meter coming in this week to check the batteries when they are fully charged. If the batteries look good, I'm guessing this capacitor is my problem too.
If anyone is wondering, I bought a set of $40 "Powerextra" replacement batteries, which were the best reviewed replacements, including OEMs, I could find.
One of them got very hot and started to melt through its casing after their first use. YMMV, seems like a bad solder joint on the battery. Not sure what I'll do now for batteries. Waiting on a return label from the seller (ebay).
Has anyone tried the spendy lithium replacement batteries? They have limited reviews, mostly good, but at least a couple look like shills. My concern is if they're really lithium cells and if they overheat.
Yes definitely. Its just two contacts to unsolder. Of course be careful when taking it apart to not cut any ribbon cables or mess with the guidance lenses.
Specs
Manufacturer’s Specs
Condition - Manufacturer Refurbished
Warranty - 90 Day Neato
Ships Via - FedEx SmartPost
What’s in the box!?
Pictures
Green
Black
Black/Grey
White/Purple
Blue
With Accessories
Back
Price Check
$299.99 on Amazon (new)
$219.00 on Amazon (refurb)
Find a relevant price comparison? Please share it in this thread
Warranty
90 days
I purchased one of these from the site that shall not be named a few years ago and it is awesome.
Wow this deal really sucks...GET IT!?!?!
It doesn't suck, it vacuums. ;)
Sounds dreamy...
Wow, today's meh is really meh. Kudos.
meh......knockoff
I hope this one gets taken apart. Please.
Nope, it's too expensive. There is definitely not one sitting in pieces on my living room floor right now.
In case it wasn't abundantly clear that I was lying
That looked kind of MEHticulous
Although I certainly welcome our new robot vacuum overlords as much as anyone else, I managed to pass on years and years of Woot Roombas, and will continue to pass here. Meh.
Can small pets ride on these safely?
-=C=-
Is it just me or does the purple model look a bit like a nintendo product?
It definitely gives off that Super Nintendo vibe.
Does that mean we have to blow in it for it to work?
@juwi911, I'm sure it wouldn't mind the gesture...
Getting blown has always been motivation for me. As far as you know, though, I'm not a robot.
I got this model. will print some custom decals like a Nintendo logo and controller ports to stick on it.
@bph Soooooo... Did you get it? I want to see the pics of your Sucker Nintendo!
(see what I did there with the name? GENIUS!)
@curtise Got it yesterday but it is not holding a charge, so I don't want to customize it yet. Have files and plans ready though.
@curtise So I got my RMA today, and they sent me the all white model. It is charing though. Might paint the purple parts to make it match.
@bph I'm pleased it's charging. I'm sad it's not actually the SuckerNintendo version. But I do want to see pics/vid when you're done!
Hoping for something more exciting on my birthday, but it's meh.
♪♫Meh birthday to you... Meh birthday to you... Meh birthday, not-very-dear-to-us @Cynamon... Meh birthday to yoooooooou.♫♪
@curtise great, now we're going to get sued because I sang that in the correct melody.
Happy birthday @Cynamon!
Happy Birthday @Cynamon, in the spirit of meh I got you absolutely nothing...*awkwardly stares at you.
Thank y'all for the birthday wishes and try not get get sued @jont. Maybe that's something that bothers irk more than it should.
My birthday is tomorrow, and I'd like a new car instead of a toy vac or a stupid meh song. Oh, wait, I have a new car. Ok how about a boat?
way to set the bar, @cynamon. Meh, my birthday is Friday and I expect AT LEAST the same level of meh.
https://www.facebook.com/NeatoRobotics/photos_stream I'd just like to point out their facebook page is filled with totally ridiculous pictures.
These are absolutely mehtastic.
Does this scan your receipts for expense reports?
If you lay them out on the floor, the Neato's Receipts function will file them for you under G for garbage.
Shockingly, this robotic floor sweeper costs $30 less than the actual Neat Receipts scanner and software.
All of the writeups have been great but this is my favorite so far.
I was just saying I needed a robot to clean up after me at my new place, my dog likes to leave little fur doglings about.
How very unmeh of me.
That's funny I use my dog to vacuum up after my robot
This is decidedly un-meh of me but I own this vacuum and want to testify. I love this vacuum. In fact I just bought a replacement battery for this vacuum. Why buy a new one when this one is working great?
I would highly recommend this little bot over the Roomba any day of the week. If you need a little robot vac, buy it. If you're even on the fence about it, buy it. Best robot vac ever!
I've been using one for about two years and I completely agree. This device is worth every penny. I might buy a spare.
I've owned it for about 3 years. When it works it's great, but the other 2 out of 3 times you'll have to deal with the dreaded "My brush is stuck" error. For everyone who buys one, please copy and paste the following:
I have the answer to the 'brush is stuck'! The motor shaft under the brush that attaches to the turning belt will get clogged with hair. You need to purchase a seam removal tool. The one I bought has a long curved blade and a long thin handle. It is called 'Havels Ultra-Pro Seam Ripper'. Use this tool gently sawing back and forth, slowly rotating the hub with the belt after the brush is removed. Then use long tweezers to flip the cut debris out. It takes some work and patience, don't cut the belt! But once you are used to this maintenance you can fix the 'brush is stuck' error message.
It works; you're welcome!
You must have a ton of hair in your house. I've used the same Neato for 3-4 years and have never gotten that error.
Plot twist, @dajim92 is Chewbacca.
yep, two dogs!
anybody know if you can get a squaretrade warranty with this?
Doubt it. SquareTrade does NOT cover refurbs - trust me, I've learned the hard way.
These vacuums are awesome. Neato, keep up the good work. If I didn't already own one of these, I would be getting one today. But I have one. And it's awesome.
Being the proud companion of a bright shiny new Roomba 790, I feel obliged to say that the "Neato" is trying just a little too hard and her bony angularity is entirely unattractive. She's got nothing on you, Roomie.
I'm loyal like that.
I would love one but.... Even our Dyson (model 14, and they're up to what - Dyson 367's?) gets clogged with fur. We have newfoundlands, who constantly shed entire tumbleweed-sized wads of fur.
My parents have two newfies, and they go through vacuums like crazy!
We have two too! (had three until this spring...) Either you get lucky like us, or buy a vacuum a year!
Have one. It works well, although it has a tendency to move its own powering station by hitting the cord - so tie the excess in that baby up!
It fills itself about halfway daily, just cleaning where my dog dozes (and he's a shorthair). However, my bedroom doesn't have a sheen of dog hair everywhere, anymore!
I'm guessing you got tired of being used to sweep up every day.
Do these measure body fat percentage, or just weight?
Well I went ahead and bought one. Hope it's as awesome as some people say. Also, why did the black and grey colors have to be sold out? :-)
Unclear if these are products used and returned by customers or if they are production rejects with scratches and dents and never used by customers.
Refurbished units can come from a variety of places, sometimes barely touched and returned or sometimes used and returned broken then fixed
Just bought a Hoover Linx Cordless Stick Vacuum Cleaner on Amazon yesterday or would have purchased one of these.
Oh my god, this is my time to shine! I started a collection of Neat! gifs a month or so ago and now I can actually use them.
In one month you only collected 3 Neat! gifs?
Hey, they can't use all of them at once.
@harrison there's a neat limit?
Woot has it for $199.99 on Home.woot now.
I'm seeing a dyson there
woot is so meh!
http://home.woot.com/forums/viewpost.aspx?postid=5902761&pageindex=1&replycount=3
all those 9s hurt my eyes
I can't believe they left that .01 on the table
So I worked in a robotics lab last semester and we used these. I have no idea how good of a vacuum it is but I can comment on what it's like to program it.
These Neatos don't support ROS out of the box and require a bit of fiddling (software-wise) to get them to work. But after that you can fairly easy program them in Python. They have this 360 degree spinning laser sensor that is fairly accurate and great for mapping/navigating. We had these and the much cheaper iRobot Creates (Roombas without vacuums) and the Creates were much easier to develop for but these were way more powerful because of the sensor.
There's my story of the day. Hope everyone enjoyed it.
How do I see if I bought this thing? I think I did, but I didn't get an email, and I don't see where I can look at my acct history...
https://meh.com/orders
Crap, I now have "painted with poo" in my search history. Should the need arise I may need you to testify for me in court.
I had to buy it... my brother just bought the Roomba 530 on woot and paid tax. I got this little beast (which rivals the 700 series roomba) for $155 TAX FREE. Meh.... we're gonna get along you and I.
I got mine yesterday. Set it on the charger, almost right away it said it was fully charged but wanting the most out of the battery I left it on the charger 24 hours. I turned it on it made a hard turn stopped hard turn in reverse. I moved it to a carpeted area hard turns, seems like 1 wheel is stuck. Now battery is dead. Ran for 3-5 Minutes. Any advice?
Hmm it arrived today, but it doesn't seem to want to charge at all. The power brick in the charging base is powered on, and I slide the bot up against the charger and it powers up. The screen stayed on and it kept beeping and never died, but never charged.
Tried taking the brick out and plugging it in directly, no beeping but after a few minutes of low battery warnings it shuts itself off.
Put it back into the charging base and slid it against it, the screen is off and the button is blinking but im not sure if its charging or not.
Off to a meh start.
@bph remove battery, replace battery, then set neato in new battery mode (so it thinks it has a new batter) and see if that helps.
Called into support after no luck or email response, got an RMA# after doing a few simple tests I had already tried. Hope the next one works
Here is what I did to make it work.
Please note I did this after it was on the charger for 24 hours, and failed.
@caffeine_dude did you reach out to Neato?
@hollboll No need this is a list of things I did to make Neato work. Sharing for others.
@caffeine_dude Call Neato but try putting your Neato in new battery mode and see if that does the trick. See your manual.
Can't get mine to work either. Took it out of the box, plugged in the charging station, placed the unit up against the bumpers, and pressed the power button. The LED goes green, orange, off very quickly. If I hold it down it'll go to red and slowly die as if I'm choking it to death.
Left it over night and still the same exact results. I tried disconnecting the batteries for a while then replacing them. I also tried swapping locations (I knew this wouldn't work).
Any advice? Is there something else I should be doing?
Maybe give them a shout?
@wezzlewoo bummer - doesn't sound good. let's see what they say about solutions.
Query sent to Neato, after some more research I'm reading about folks that were told to plug in the unit directly for 24+ hours initially hm
@wezzlewoo After you replace your battery you need to set it so it knows/thinks it has a new battery. See your manual.
OK so I opened the docking station and plugged the charger directly into the unit and left it for 12 hours. FIXED
@wezzlewoo What was it doing while it was plugged in directly? I get no lights at all to indicate its charging without the base.
@bph once I removed the power brick from the base and hooked directly to unit. LCD screen illuminated when I returned 12 hours later.
Received mine. It is pretty beat up with scratches all over especially the flat part that sticks out on top - as if someone dragged it against rough concrete. No biggie I suppose.
However, it seem to work just fine so far! Plugged in the base, put it on the base, and let it charge. Set up the time and a schedule. Then made it do a spot clean which worked fine. Then made it clean. I let it run until it had to return to base to recharge. Cleaned out the filter and turned it off since we were going to bed. Overall happy so far (except for the hopefully only superficial scratches.)
Mine arrived defective: it does nothing but give me the solid amber light and the "problem with battery" message, and won't move at all after 24 hours of charging.
@amrorer I have the same problem. Is it battery issue 0004?
@mervyn No - I get 0008 and then 0009. And Meh is making me go through Neato to get a replacement.
@amrorer boo hiss on Meh
@mervyn I have 0004 with mine as well. I just bought new batteries for it and it did not solve the problem.
@wes_duncan I sent mine to Neato within the warranty period and they changed it for me. I can hear it doing its work outside as I type this.
You do not need one of these if you have children
1) their rooms will never need vacuumed anyway as the dust will never even find the floor based on how much crap is in there already on the floor - the floor stays clean under all that junk
2) If it is a household chore tied to say, computer, phone, etc. use or driving and you say "take as long as you want to do a good job vacuuming and when you are done you can drag race down main street or put a smoke bomb in the high school ventilating system the friday afternoon before a 3 day weekend" they will fly through the task doing a reasonably decent job.
So I got mine...unboxed it and charged it overnight. Ran it once and it worked like a charm. Amazing! After it was done, it actually found its way back to the charger. Then, deep sadness set it. I got the dreaded battery error 0002 - goggled it and found out it's fairly common. Apparently, the way the battery connects to the unit (with those plastic plugs with wire "tubes" and pins) is severely prone to faltering. And falter they did. I'd have to do several manipulations (holding down the power button, unplugging the batteries, resetting the battery status (to new battery selection on the unit's menu). I contacted Meh...who I knew going in would not be helpful (no offense...well...OK, some offense), and got the proverbial "not our problem...contact Neato". So I did via chat, and they promptly ran through some troubleshooting (which I already did on my own)...which of course didn't help. They quickly agreed to send me a new unit for $25 shipping...and all I said in reply was "Ouch...that stinks"...and he immediately waived the shipping charge. So within 1 week, I should get a replacement unit for free, and will ship the busted one back. Slight hassle-factor, but I'm optimistic so far. I DO VERY MUCH like the job it did whilst it was running.
This is how it worked out of the box... Received with minor blemishes; obviously a refurbished robot. I let the battery charge fully, it ran for about 10 minutes before a message displayed saying it was returning to base to recharge. It made it to about 1 meter shy of the base. So, like a puppy that was kicked too hard, I picked it up and crammed it onto the base. Once fully charged, it ran for about 20 minutes, then repeated the aforementioned failure to return to the base. Third time was a charm, it fully charged, cleaned several rooms of carpet and hardwood and successfully returned to base. Ran beautifully for a week until the dreaded 002 error appeared. The fix was to remove both batteries (there are two; one by each wheel) and reattach them.
This is how it presently works... So far so good, it automatically cleans several rooms on a single charge. When the battery does run low, it returns to its base, recharges, then restarts where it left off. Amazing.
@Ranneyd Since you have worked on them in the lab and @harrison since you have demoed one of these little guys, I am looking for a software/ techy/ genius. If neither of you are would you see if you have one in your pocket? Smile Are there any geniuses amongst us in the MEH community that want a challenge?
I love the idea of my Neato. I have always wanted one ever since my brother had a rumba! This is my problem… I am blind. I have a problem when it comes to the feedback that Neato gives as to his state of mind. Do either of you think that it would be possible to add components to him that would make his error message voice aloud? It already has a sort of speaker since he makes noise with beeps and such. If it could be done I would gladly try the experiment. When the bot is doing its thing it is wonderful but… when he has problems I have to guess as to what his problem might be. Kinda like figuring what is wrong with the new born baby (which I don’t have).
They seem to make nearly everything talk these days why not a robot vacuumed? I always wanted my own Rosey from the “Jetsons”! Any ideas?
Thanks for reading.
@silverqueen If I remember correctly (the parts aren't in front of me right now), the screen is its own separate module, so it may be possible to intercept the messages being sent to it and route them to a text-to-speech interpreter and a speaker. I'll do some research and let you know.
@silverqueen unfortunately I don't think I'll be helpful. What we did, basically, is we wiped his little Neato brain and then told him to do stupid stuff like using his laser to create a map of a hallway or we put a long pole on him and tried to make him use an elevator. But we didn't MODIFY his software. In fact, no one in our lab even did anything with the vacuum part. So even if I knew off the top of my head how to make him talk (which I don't. I'd have to think about it or do some research like @harrison) I wouldn't be able to modify the Neato software. The best I could do is rewrite it and I doubt I'd be able to do that as effectively as the Neato people.
@Harrison Oh, that is so cool of you! Thanks for looking at it! I love my little toy and want to be able to do it all by meslf but.. What wonderfull news to hear. If there is anything you want me to look up let me know. I'll try!
Guess what is up on WOOT today?
http://home.woot.com/offers/neato-robotics-xv-s-xv-signature-robotic-vacuum-2?ref=cnt_dly_tl
Not the exact same model and theirs is new but… The wright up mentions a fun fact about upgradeable software. I found it here,
http://www.neatorobotics.com/support/software-updates/xv/
Does anyone know if the refurbished models came out with the latest software? The article tells how to find out but I am not at home to check. Hmmmmm I wonder if they are open for suggestions?
@silverqueen Just checked mine and it's the latest and greatest software.
@TheYoz Thanks for looking. How do you like your little friend? I do love mine. I am so happy when I come home to find him back under the table where he lives and find his dirt bin loaded. So cool!!! I hate to vacuum and now I have my own little bot to do it for me. Kinda like those ferries that are supposed to show up and do the stuff I leave at work but… they never do!!! This guy will, so long as he hasn’t had any problems. He gets stuck under my kitchen table a lot! HaHaHa Howeve4r my dog ABSOLUTLY HATES him! He can’t decide if he wants to kill it or run away! He barks and growls while backing away. Hilarious to watch him! I don’t get it . He doesn’t behave like that with the old vacuum or the Swiffer vac. Why is a robot different?
Mine was DOA. It's my second Neato to die so far.
Dang it all! I came home to find my bot stuck and bleating it's heart out. Only to find out the plastic part by the wheel on its right hand side was broken at the screw heads. Out of my warranty. Boo hoo.
Any one know if the parts can be bought seporately? Or does MEH have one from the demolitions? Smile
I realy do want to know if the parts can be had. I guess I could try to tape it up? The whole door fell off.
@silverqueen is it the battery cover that broke or the actual outer casing? I haven't seen any of those extra parts for sale, but you could probably call Neato support and ask them. They were super easy to deal with when I had to call
@silverqueen I'm not familiar with the Neato, so can't picture the part you are talking about. However, I'd recommend ebay for parts. When I needed a plastic part for my Dyson, I was able to find it easily on ebay. A quick look shows that there are plenty of Neato parts, too. A lot of the parts are recycled, but as long as it's in good shape that doesn't phase me.
@Kleineleh To be quite honest, I don’t know what it is covering. I just know that if you flip it over so wheels are up and the brush side is facing you, the door on the right hand side by the wheel broke on both ends at the screw heads. I can’t figure out how that might have happened unless the screws were over tightened. It is right now taped closed but I don’t expect that will work long. When I first got this little guy I wrote to them and got the canned “Thank you for contacting us… you are important to us…”response email but never got the follow up answer from a real employee. Maybe I should try calling them?
@silverqueen Well that's disappointing that you never heard back. Yeah, maybe try calling. That's what I did and they were incredibly friendly and helpful. At the very least, maybe they can help you figure out exactly which part you need so you can look for it on ebay like, @gio said, or just order it from them if it's cheap enough
@gio What an idea, I never thought of that! I will check it out. Thanks.
@silverqueen This site http://www.robotshop.com/en/neato-replacement-parts.html has some Neato parts. The prices are high, but if they have the right part you could get a part number to use in searching for better prices. Too bad they don't have a bigger selection.
Well, my Neato has now been dead for over a week now. As some might have heard, the Neato gets this sort of "Dim Green Light" on the button without the LCD displaying anything. Some suggest pulling out the batteries overnight. I was experiencing this frequently before and used that technique. Now it appears it no longer works.
I hate to say it, but these Neato refurbished products are so popular because Neato gets so many new returns that require repairs. The repairs are only good temporarily as their warranty shows (the item they constantly have problems with is their batteries which they only cover for 6 months).
If anyone ever sees another Neato offer on Meh or Woot or any other site please please please DO NOT PURCHASE. So far I have not received any support from Neato and I am waiting to see what Meh says. This product has been ok for about 8-9 months (keep in mind I have had to reset this device several times in the past month).
Too bad this was such a bad purchase. I was really hoping it was going to work better than this.
@Phenomenon101 I was fortunate to receive a working Neato scratch and dent in a Fuku. It's battery life is very bad, thouhgh, and while I really like the unit, I am torn over spending $40 on a set of replacement batteries because of stories like this. Don't want to take an amazing almost free thing and make it a money pit. But, I suppose $40 is still very good.
@Phenomenon101 I've had some success plugging a cell phone charger into the service port on the back of the unit while it is docked. Hold down the start button until the green light goes off. Unit restarts. Unplug cell phone charger and replace rubber plug. If battery life is bad, select new batteries from the support menu and the unit will recalibrate. May not be a fix, but at least a band aid.
@Unclebeard No, in the end it was a faulty capacitor which Neato was fixing them with. I had to order them and replace it myself. Not too bad (just need a soldering iron and the capacitors), but still pretty stupid that Neato was refurbishing them with the same capacitor that burnt out for all other version. Since then, it works like a champ though. Good luck if this happens to you though. It's like a green ring of death for Neatos.
@Phenomenon101 Is this a repair someone could do with moderate soldering experience? I've got a new multi-meter coming in this week to check the batteries when they are fully charged. If the batteries look good, I'm guessing this capacitor is my problem too.
@Unclebeard yes very easy. just be careful when taking it apart to not mess with the guidance lenses or cut any cables in error. Fast fix.
If anyone is wondering, I bought a set of $40 "Powerextra" replacement batteries, which were the best reviewed replacements, including OEMs, I could find.
One of them got very hot and started to melt through its casing after their first use. YMMV, seems like a bad solder joint on the battery. Not sure what I'll do now for batteries. Waiting on a return label from the seller (ebay).
Has anyone tried the spendy lithium replacement batteries? They have limited reviews, mostly good, but at least a couple look like shills. My concern is if they're really lithium cells and if they overheat.
@meh I have had no bad issues with the "powerextra high capacity" ones... they are still kicking... but I got mine from amazon...
http://www.amazon.com/Powerextra-capacity-Replacement-Robotics-945-0005/dp/B00MO0UHC0
Yes definitely. Its just two contacts to unsolder. Of course be careful when taking it apart to not cut any ribbon cables or mess with the guidance lenses.