Neato Robotics - Botvac D3 Pro

I can get behind the idea of buying a vacuum that is already cloud free with the features of valetudo vs buying on to convert if that was the argument that he wanted to make but one of these two things actually exists today. I would make the argument that the one OP is suggesting exist too though they are much cheaper than what is being suggested, there are some really cheap robot vacuums out there that are IR controlled and I have very mixed opinions on mapping features. The old neatos with the mag strip no go zones were reliable, the mapping ones have been hit or miss and really create missed spots for me.

Maybe I am odd man out but I don't need maps, the only cloud or connected feature I really care about is being able to start it from home assistant when I leave the house, preferably when I leave with the dog too. Seriously, maps and my shark losing the map has been a bigger issue than my olllld neato that just mapped every time and used the mag strips for no go areas. That can be done with even IR on the really cheap vacuums from china. My house isn't big enough to or enough hard surfaces to warrant a mop. So you're not looking at getting an upcharge on me. You need to cut the price. I already have broadlinks in a lot of rooms so I can send the stop command too

Mine delivers tomorrow, so yea this was exciting. Coming from a Neato Botvac D3 sooooo yea should be insanely different.

late to the party but i bought a Neato Botvac D3 back in 2017 and i still use it to this day. i've replaced the battery once and the filter a couple of times but that's about it EDIT: nevermind i just read that Neato went out of business haha shame

damn maybe i got a unicorn but mine is still in use, literally used it yesterday! the app still works great too

I think most companies have realized that features sell. Self emptying, mopping, fancy cameras, etc. are easy things to market. Raw cleaning performance is NOT sexy and apparently most consumers don't really care about it. The **one** thing that a vacuum cleaner needs to do and most companies just don't bother because ADHD consumers are so easily distracted by flashy features. I have a Neato D3 botvac and of course the company is long gone and so I have been shopping for replacements for a few years now. Every 6 months or so, I will read new reviews here or watch a Youtube video that will convince me that xxxxx model robovac is the best ever. I will buy it (often spending well over $1000 each time), then do a basic cleaning test. I have measured the amount of debris my Neato picks up every day for years and have a good baseline for how much dirt my household makes every day. I use a gem scale and weigh the bin before and after emptying and it is fairly consistent every day. So I do the same with the new robovac by weighing the new bag/bin and then weighing it after every run to track how much it picks up over time. I have yet to find one that can pick up more than about 1/2 the amount my ancient Neato does. The mapping, apps, etc. are way way better on the new models. The new ones are faster and quieter and don't get stuck.... a million improvements over my old Neato! But the ONE thing I need them to do well, they all suck at. As others have mentioned, CFM, sealing, and airflow are the key to effective dirt pickup. These are hard things to measure and market and even if you did manage to make a fancy graphic explaining how your robovac has the best cleaning performance, most people won't read it. People like simple numbers and feature lists which make comparison easy. I really think all the review sites and Youtubers are bought and paid because I have purchased nearly every robovac that VacuumWars has recommended and every single one failed my basic test. Even though the reviews said the new model has the very best cleaning possible, just look at all the graphs and numbers! Yeah, well a basic scale doesn't lie. I have given Dreame, Roborock, iRobot, Eufy, etc. a fair shot. I measured their performance over the course of 2-3 weeks and average it and if it can't even pickup as much as a busted old robot from 10 years ago, I'm gonna return it! My house isn't large, it's almost all hard surfaces, and I have only a few pets so it's not like my usage is particularly difficult or unusual. I just got an email that the Neato servers are finally shutting down. This means my scheduled daily vacuum won't run and I will have to actually hit the button to make it run. I don't want to do this because I like the vacuum to run on a schedule while I am out of the house during the day. So I am now looking to spend a lot of money to try the newest and best models available.... I am pretty sure it won't be great, but what choice do I have.

A used Neato D3 through D7. Should be on eBay for almost nothing since the cloud was turned off. They still work if you push the button and they have lidar. If you push the button and it doesn't start cleaning, open and close the dust bin. The dust bin reminder was cloud based so you wouldn't realize they are waiting for someone to check the dust bin.

I run 11 Neatos 90 minutes 5 days per week in our house while we swim in another part of the house. Been doing it for 10 years. Not always the same Neato's though they are very repairable and I've made many repairs on them through the years.

Neato was the first with lidar. It was D shaped so it got edges and the aggressive brush was full width. Unfortunately it was over engineered like they were building a rocket ship with all kinds of sensors to make sure everything was working perfectly and sometimes sensors went bad throwing an error stopping it from running when it was perfectly fine. Company was purchased by a German company that destroyed it and they went out of business 2.5 years ago but kept the cloud servers running until recently. They can still be used manually by pressing the start button. But lots of features are gone. We use 11 so they are all done while we are swimming. We are retired and don't want to listen to them running for 8 hours per day if we just ran 1 per house level.

Currently have the Roborock Qrevo Master on the main level. Vacuum and mop, with auto-empty for both the dust bin and the mop water. Have to refill the water about every week, week and a half, dust bag replaced about every month. Basement, we've got a Neato Botvac D3 (which is currently out of service, wating for me to pull a drive wheel out of the D7 that had been running upstairs until IT broke down two months ago). They do a good enough job that we break out the upright vac maybe every 4-6 weeks, and mop the kitchen once a month.

Similar requirements from my side: not Chinese, only vacuum (don't need mop), has LiDAR, available in Europe (sorry Matic...). I had a Neato Botvac but it needs repairs and I understand the company doesn't work on robots anymore. What about Hobot (made in Taiwan I think) or Miel (made in S. Korea I think)? Both companies are absent from all tests I see online? Why? Any opinions on these two?

I used to have a Neato bot vac and it was awesome but I enjoy my Dyson with a freakin laser more, way quicker to do it myself

Hot take: it was the Neato botvac. First widespread implementation of lidar mapping. I’ve had mine 7 years now with regular maintenance and it’s been reliable. Only recently has the servers gone down and death is imminent.

neato actually used lidar and had good product.  the only issue with neato is reliability and high price