This is a review of the Neato Robotics D6 Connected Laser Guided Robot Vacuum.
The Setup:
Getting a robot vacuum can be very exciting and you’ll want to get out the quick start guide and get it up and running quickly. Please take a moment to read through the quick start guide and visit neatorobotics.com website to see their how-to-videos; they are really informative and helpful. After leaving the D6 plugged into the charging station overnight, I was excited to get started with it. However, I didn’t heed the above advice and dived right in with just a cursory examination of the quick start guide (mistake). This led to me failing the pairing process and delaying the setup. I had to reset the pairing process multiple times. I was too impatient wondering why it wouldn’t connect to my wireless network. Finally, I read through everything clearly and looked at the how-to-videos online and just waited patiently as it finally connected to my wireless network. Once the pairing was done everything worked perfectly and it was ready to go.
Features:
The laser and bumper guided allows for squaring to walls, giving a less random and more purposeful vacuuming path. It has a very accurate tracking system so that it knows where it’s been and where its base is at all times. The Neato robotic vacuum has amazing problem-solving logic - I repeatedly found myself thinking it was stuck between two chair legs or some other obstacle and couldn’t get itself unstuck, but as I watched it work itself free, I saw how many different methods it used. It has a lot of different ways it can get unstuck and its logic in doing this is fantastic. If you see your D6 struggling, just wait, if it can’t get free it will send you a notification on your smart phone with a map of your floor plan where it is stuck. When you free it, simply place it a maximum of 2’ from its stuck location and press the resume button to let it continue working.
The built in memory that can hold up to 3 different floor plans.
The Docking/Charging station - is another one of its great features. My floor plan is nearly 1200 s/ft. and the D6 on a single charge can get about ¾ of way through the floor plan. When its battery is nearly depleted it stops vacuuming and returns to the charging dock, recharges, then returns to the spot it left and continues vacuuming. This was a must to limit the need of scheduled human interaction.
The Dust bin - because of its small size my initial take was wondering how convenient it is if I have to frequently empty the D6 dust bin. When I did the first run, I didn’t empty it and when it was done I found the dust had backed up into the brush and was very dense and thick. I had to run it multiple times on the floor until it stopped having dense amounts of debris in the bin. It’s then that I realized I don’t vacuum the floor but once a month. But putting the D6 on a schedule of twice a week it really never fills up the bin I just have to empty it between runs. Our floor has never been cleaner.
It also has a WiFi and a corresponding smart phone app that keeps you in communication with your D6 even, if you’re no longer on the same WiFi network.
Only one time did the D6 drop off of WiFi, even though this happened it still finished cleaning and then returned to its dock to charge. To get it back on WiFi I just turned it off then back on (funny how that is the fix for almost all tech) and it connected back onto the network automatically.
The smart app is not just a start and stop the vacuum app, it has a lot of its own features like:
• Cleaning options: whole house cleaning, spot cleaning
• Cleaning profiles: Eco (Quieter, longer cleaning run) and Turbo (Super powered cleaning with maximum pickup)
• Navigation mode: Extra Care (Gentle navigation)
• You can set your D6 to clean on a schedule; time, day and repetition.
• Can create a “My Floor Plan” that sets your D6 exploring throughout your home all the time making a map of it as it cleans. Once it’s done, it will allow you to create “No Go” lines that will keep the vacuum from going into areas where you don’t want it.
Whole house cleaning is exactly what it sounds, the D6 will travel everywhere it can as long as its path isn’t impeded (closed doors or other obstructions) cleaning back and forth and around objects in the room until it has gone over every surface it has found.
Spot cleaning is when you have a specific area of either 4’ x 6’ or 13’ by 13’ (option) you place the D6 in the middle of the long side facing the center of the cleaning spot then start it. It turns right and does a boundary cleaning of a 4’ x 6’ or 13’ x 13’ virtual area and then cleans the interior using a back and forth straight-line pattern.
I use the Eco mode when I’ve been doing regular cleanings and I’m doing them at night; in this mode the D6 is so quite that you can be in the same room while its working and not really notice. I used Turbo mode when I’ve run it during the day and want deeper, quicker cleaning.
The navigation mode Extra Care is very important if like me, you have delicate furniture like a piano or small speaker stands (that could be easily tipped over). Much of its navigation around objects is done with the front bump sensor on the front of the D6.
With the app I scheduled my D6 to vacuum twice a week on Wed and Sat at 10pm in Eco mode. I didn’t schedule this until I knew the D6 could run that program repeatedly while I was monitoring it.
In creating a floor plan I made several mistakes the first was that after doing a cleaning a map is generated and I mistakenly thought that I could just select that map and make it my floor plan and then from there add the no-go lines to that floor plan. But actually, to do this, you have to follow the “My Floor Plan” initial setup before you can do any no-go lines. The second mistake was that I had moved all of the small furniture out of the room like chairs and pet toys. What I didn’t realize was that after the Floor plan was done and I moved the small furniture back into the room it errored out whenever it started with the no-go line floor plan. Thus, I had to re-do the whole floor plan with furniture in place. It only cares if more objects suddenly appear on the floor plan not if they are gone. So, if you do want a really thorough cleaning job you can move the chairs and larger pet toys out of the room and still have the no-go lines floor plan work.
No-Go Lines: The D6 comes with a magnetic strip physical “No-Go” line that you can place on the floor and the D6 will vacuum up to it but not cross it. But the better “No-Go” feature is that once your floor plan is created you can draw your own “No-Go” lines right on your floor plan and if you use the app or a schedule a cleaning it will use those “No-Go” lines as though you dropped the physical strip down. I used this feature on one of our desks, it was just low enough to allow the D6 vacuum under it before it got stuck. So, I drew a “No-Go” box around the desk and the D6 vacuum just went right around it and didn’t try to vacuum under it.
Because you can easily add and remove “No-Go” lines, you can use them to temporarily block off areas of your floor plan that don’t need regular cleaning.
Works with Alexa: it has built in Alexa support with their supported Alexa skill that you can enable. But for best performance and to allow floor plans and “No-Go” lines to work you will need to initiate the D6 from either the Neato app or the scheduled job.
Performance:
One of the final tests was to vacuum the floor with my standup vacuum after the robot finished to see if it really was completely cleaning. When I was done the standup vacuum had no dirt in the dust bin.
Support:
I did have an odd issue with the vacuum I had scheduled it for an 11pm night run. I got a notification that I didn’t read until 1:45am that it was in trouble. I found it with the battery and “I” icon flashing red. I thought it had run out of battery and didn’t return to the dock to charge. I started a chat session with Neato support and went over the problem she said that might have been stuck and ran out of battery power prior to it getting free. I re-ran the cleaning cycle and but with the suspected object it got stuck on moved out of the way. It ran with no issues and returned to the base to charge and then back out to finish cleaning. The support agent followed up multiple times to make sure that it was working as expected.
Price and Value:
I recognize that the hefty price is really high for a vacuum cleaner but to be honest with you, I hate vacuuming as you can tell since I only do it once a month. However, just the idea of having my carpets and bare floors cleaned automatically twice a week is amazing and liberating and it’s once again comfortable doing floor exercising without doing them in month old dog hair (I know, it’s gross.) For me that price tag is completely worth it.
My Final Take:
Neato’s D6 robot vacuum will be one of the most amazing purchases you’ll ever make. It is clear to me that Neato’s R and D has created and tested it thoroughly for every possible vacuuming issue that the D6 could face. After just simply picking up the small items like pet toys the D6 robot vacuum does its job without failure moving around and under chairs and coaches. The “No-Go” feature allows you to make the D6 robot vacuum as close to autonomous as possible—your only job is to empty the dust bin after every cleaning and occasionally clean the roller of pet hair and carpet fibers. Also, because it cleans bare floors, I don’t need to sweep the kitchen or bathrooms anymore. I only need to make sure the floors aren’t wet when the D6 robot vacuum starts cleaning.
So I never have to vacuum or sweep the floors ever again! I (obviously) love it and give it a huge thumb’s up.
I love it! Not sure about the second floor yet with moving. It says it needs another base. NEATO please send a second unit for me to review for my upstairs. And I will show a report for you. As of now. I love my unit. Working great!
I was ready not to like this vacuum. I am such a Roomba lover that I could not envision myself liking another vacuum more. The Roomba is very powerful. Or so I thought. I have two other robot vacuums (ILIFE A4s Robot Vacuum Cleaner, which I keep in my office, and the Roomba 890 for my home)). I also had the very first original Roomba back in the day.
OUT OF THE BOX - It had a charge so I was able to try it right away.
INSTALLATION - It was simple but it took a while for my phone to pick up the wifi signal through the app. I had to try several times. It took over 30 minutes to setup.
CLEANING - The vacuum runs for about 25-28 minutes to clean a 900 square feet apartment. You know when you think you are doing a good job with your vacuum until you use another one and then you see all the dust it collected; the dust the other one was not picking up. I have it set to vacuum every day and I love this. Unlike the Roomba it has not gotten caught on any cables (which is a daily occurrence with the Roomba). It has not gotten stuck under my sofa, also happens with the Roomba. And has outperformed the Roomba in every area. It is better at cleaning, the app actually works.
This is a far superior product. I was really not expecting it. The communication through the app works every time.
I got a couple "dumb" robovacs to clean my tile studio, I say dumb because they just bounce off walls randomly with the idea being by the time they are done they will have gotten the whole room. They actually did an amazing job so I decided to look into something for the house. I almost didnt go through with it, because we have two big dogs that shed like crazy, and every time we vacuum with a standard upright the bin is completely full and usually has to be emptied at least once part way through, so how could a tiny robot vacuum possibly do the job? Well eventually I decided to try it anyway, the thought of the vacuum chore to be automated was just too tempting.
After some research I decided on the Neato D6 (get the D7 if you have multiple floors from what I've read). I vacuumed the entire house with the upright first to give the robot a clean shot at making it's way around without getting clogged up. The first run makes a map of your house through the smartphone app (required for most functions by the way). It was interesting to watch the process and I could tell as it went it was getting smarter about what was where. Unlike the "dumb" vacuums, this one maps out the room and then vacuums in rows after getting the edges, much like a person would. After about an hour it got our entire house mapped out and cleaned. The tray was full of hair but not completely clogged, this is mostly because it was able to go places the upright vacuum can't.
Afterward I let it run every day and it's always able to handle the amount of hair because of the consistency of letting it run daily. The map made in the app after the initial run is very detailed and it's easy to recognize the layout of your house. I used "no go" lines on the floor plan map to keep it away from under desks where there are lots of cords and it worked perfectly. I'm blown away by this vacuum and very glad I spent the money. At this point I feel comfortable letting it run without watching it and every day the carpets are clean and look freshly vacuumed without us lifting a finger to make it happen. I'm very busy with my own business so as a time saver this is a wonderful purchase worth every penny.
Some things to note:
1. The vac requires an internet connection to do pretty much anything, so make sure you have a strong and stable wifi connection throughout the house.
2. Though it saves you time vacuuming be aware it's important to keep the robot clean, so you will need to empty the tray and clean the brush regularly, still it's saved time over vacuuming yourself.
3. A manual vacuuming may be necessary every now and then even with the robot, there are hard to reach places it can't go like crevices, between appliances that are close together, etc.
4. The battery lasts about a year from what I've read, so be prepared to buy those annually along with filters every month or two.
5. The recharging base requires a hard floor to sit on (not carpet), so you'll need at least a small spot somewhere in your house that isn't carpet for the vacuum to dock and recharge every day.
6. Expect a complete vacuum cycle to take an hour or so depending on the size of your house. In other words, much longer than vacuuming yourself. However since it's not you that has to vacuum, I figure who cares how long it takes, I will be doing other things anyway while it works.
7. Last but certainly not least, before you run the vacuum you need to do a small amount of prep work. Open the doors so it can access the rooms, pick up any toys, shoes, etc that might be lying around, and make sure there are no cables sitting around for it to run over. It's really good about going over thick cables without damage or getting caught up, like a coax cable for instance, however smaller cables like phone chargers will definitely get hung up and dragged around possibly making the vacuum stop and give an error.
Is it perfect? No I suppose nothing is, but I'm blown away by how smart and effective this vacuum is. I also love how it saves me time and keeps the house looking clean with me doing next to nothing to make it happen. If you live in a small place with tile floors I would look at a cheaper option, but if you have carpeting, dogs / cats, etc. this worked great for me.
The bad reviews on here mostly talk about the vacuum losing internet connection and then not functioning until it comes back on. I can't say whether they got a defective machine or if their internet is just weak in parts of their house (or both). However for what it's worth, mine works flawlessly. The only other complaint I might have is the price, it's definitely not cheap. For that reason I consider this to be best for people who have very busy lives and consider the time saved vacuuming to be well worth the investment. Time is money after all.
Overall, I love the product and even my wife who did not want me to buy it now says she loves it. Follow the instructions of not leaving any wires or cables on the floor or loose items like socks or small toys and the machine will run great. Some people complain that things get caught up underneath it, but it’s meant to clean up small debris. It’s our job to keep our house tidy when picking things up off the floor. Do your part and the Neato will do it’s.
Feature Product
- Win the battle against pet hair. Capture more pet hair, dirt, and allergens with an improved core brush, side brush, and ultra performance filter
- Navigates with lasers. Genius. Laser smart technology scans and maps your entire house, cleaning in straight lines instead of a random pattern. It even lets the robot see in the dark
- Out of bounds for robots. Set up virtual no-go lines that tell your robot where not to go, so it avoids things like pet bowls and piles of toys
- Create a plan for every story. If you have a multi-story home, you'll love the multiple floor plans feature.* with it, you can create more floor plans and set up no-go lines on every floor. Why limit yourself to just one story
- More power to you. Now get up to 120 minutes of battery life, perfect for even the largest homes.** and enjoy 33Percent longer run times than before.***
Description
We love our pets. But they shed, carry allergens in their fur, and track in dirt and debris from outside. The neat BotVac D6 connected is here to help. With a new core brush that’s up to 70Percent bigger than those round robots1, it picks up way more pet hair than before.2 using an ultra performance filter, it captures allergens and dust too tiny to see. And like all Neato robots it uses laser smart technology to Scan, map and navigate your entire house, leaving nothing but clean lines behind. So let pets be pets. With the neat BotVac D6, Theres no mess too big. OR too small.
Summary: this is the first robotic vacuum cleaner we've owned (after two earlier tries) that actually cleans our entire first floor, navigates obstructions, does a creditable job of vacuuming dirt and pet hair, and returns every time to its base station. Convenient, easy to use, and worth strongly considering if you're in the market for this kind of luxury gadget.
Just for the sake of comparison and expectation-setting, I want to say a few words to compare this to earlier robot vacuums we've owned. In early 2016, we got a similar sort of robot vacuum system (an LG Hom-Bot which, in 2016, sold at approximately the same price point as the Neato D6 sells for today). I was very impressed with the LG unit at the time and gave it 4-stars. Basically it did "fine" at its core job of sucking stuff off the floor without supervision, and was much better at navigating than the even older Roomba we'd purchased circa 2009. My biggest complaints were (1) the LG inhaled data cables and power cords, (2) it tended to get lost, (3) it often failed to return to its base station, and (4) we couldn't tell it to clean only one or two rooms, we had to let it run free until it came home, ran out of power, or got lost and gave up. Don't even get me started on the older Roomba, it basically just ping-ponged off everything and haphazardly did little or nothing.
The Neato is MUCH more effective. It mostly stays on our first floor of our 1927-built house, where it has to navigate a floorplan shaped conceptually like a large number "9": front entry, center hallway, back entry/mud room, kitchen, dining room, living room, sun room, maybe 1000 sf of vacuumable floor space. Some of the floors are tile, others hardwood, and still others hardwood + a few wool area rugs.
Observations:
1. Our kitchen cabinets stand on 6" tall feet over a tile floor. The Neato can get completely under those cabinets and pantries and effectively cleans far into obscure nooks and corners that are a pain to reach or see, much less clean manually. Ditto with two of our couches and the big cabinet in our dining room.
2. The Neato unit is very forgiving with oriental rug fringes and power cords. In my experience, it NEVER gets tangled up in either.
3. We have two dogs: a 55-lb poodle mix that sheds only slightly, and a 40-lb corgi/cattle dog mix that sheds LIKE CRAZY. The Neato does a very good job of picking up their loose fur. If we run it once every 2 days, we never see any sign of fur on the floor, no dust bunnies, etc.
4. Pathfinding is top-notch. the Neato finds its way through our entire living space. It takes around an hour and 45 minutes, but it reaches everywhere and finds its way back home 90+% of the time. Because it can do the entire place pretty reliably, I haven't had much desire to geofence it inside a specific room/s, but it's nice to know the option is there.
5. Alexa integration is nice. We can reliably give a verbal instruction to start vacuuming while we're walking out the door to run an errand, tell it to pause, stop or go home.
6. In my experience, the dust bin gets filled EVERY TIME it runs, unless I run it more than once per day.
7. The dust bin has to be manually emptied, of course. However, I also find that the rotating brush needs to be manually cleaned and disentangled of human hairs (worst), dog fur (not so bad), and other fibers almost every time it runs. Glad to see it's doing such a good job of cleaning our floors, but this process is kind of an unpleasant nuisance.
This thing is great. All my friends complain about how their nock off brands get hung up on things and done clean everything. This thing makes a map of your home, let's you set no go lines on your phone and then vacumes everything in nice straight lines.
I don't have pets so I only have to clean the dirt bin once every three or so vacuumings. The app is easy to use with lots of functionality. It was so easy to set up and packaged really well.
I've had it for two months now and have it vacuum 2 to 3 times a week. I would absolutely buy this again and again. I think it's the most value for the money in the robotic vacuum market.
. . . . . from the same company. No LCD screen to go awry, as it did on the last, high-end Neato model. Too costly to replace the LCD screen, if in fact it was still available - which it wasn't. That Neato (a $600.00 machine) didn't work without the LCD screen to choose operation options.
Ordering, packaging, condition upon receipt were all great. Plugging in and getting it to start vacuuming was a no-brainer. Does a pretty good job of vacuuming hardwood floors and is able to adapt to varied thickness of 3 large area rugs and smaller door mats. We have one long nap area rug though that it is not able to work on.
Some areas not so great include:
1. No real-time reporting on progress - you have to wait until entire cleaning session is complete to get a map of what was done and, if it is stuck, you have to hunt around the house to find it
2. Unclear how to get it to pause, go back and recharge, then complete the cleaning. This would be something you want to do if you have unexpected guests or business to take care of.
3. Despite new software, a lot of the paths seem to be illogical and inefficient
This is a very sturdily built vacuum. It does a great job picking up pet hair that our dog leaves behind. It will sometimes get stuck by one chair in the living room but otherwise it does a great job navigating the entire house. The no-go lines work very well. I tried a Deebot but it wouldn't climb onto a rug from the laminate floor and the material quality seemed cheap.
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