Part of Myer's Mid Season Sale, was something ridiculous, now $584 $599. The cheapest of the Botvac series on Ebay is around $650, although you may find an older Signature series for cheaper.
Also note that Neato has recently released a better looking D series, but it doesn't look like it was much of an improvement as the Botvac was compared to the XV series. So, for Australian stock, you can probably do without the D
So, for Australian stock, you can probably do without the D
better make sure my wife doesnt see this…must be an impressive vacuum cleaner
Easily the best robovac series for the money.
The D series fixed an issue with the bearings on the brush, these ones aren't sealed and tend to get clogged with hair etc whereas the D has sealed bearings. However, I believe you can change the bearings to sealed ones.
You'd really want to get a combo brush for it as well especially if using on carpet (and it's much quieter on hard floors) as I think this only comes with the blade brush.
Of course, soon to be released is the BotVac Connected, with smartphone control (remote start over the internet also), lithium batteries and easier to clean filters. Obviously not going to be anywhere near this price though.
That bearing you mention is literally a 30sec changeover.
I've had my botvac 75 for over a year now and been going great, to be honest I haven't even changed that bearing yet as I haven't had an issue. I pulled it out just the other day to check it, I will do it when I can be bothered getting a replacement though, about $2 off ebay.
I have a 70. I bought the replacement sealed bearing and put it in but there was nothing wrong with the one it came with. In fact I've only cleaned my Botvac once and even then there was barely anything stuck in there. If you have pets or are/live with females it's probably going to be different. I agree with all the comments on the blade brush and might pick up a combo one day.
I got my Botvac and bearing from http://aurobo.com.au/ .
what specifically are the bearings called? i just purchase one and having the correct bearings sounds like a good idea
If the blade brush is anything like the XV-21's then it is extremely noisy. Definitely worth investing in the combo brush.
I have one of these - they're pretty good. Only thing is the brush it comes with was super loud in my hardwood floors so I replaced it with the other type (bought through Amazon)
Does anyone know a Neato authorised repairer in Perth. Purchased a Neato through Amazon. It was over 12 months ago so warranty period is over. The LCD panel has gone bust but machine still working. Just don't know what it says! Looks like it needs a replacement.
Great price. Bought one too. Thanks.
How does this compares to IROBOT 880 Roomba ?
Pretty different beasts, really. There's a fairly good infographic on it here
The biggest difference is that a Roomba trawls around randomly until it hopefully gets the job done, whereas a Neato will scan the room, plot a path, and go over each spot once. Neatos also suck harder, which means that it's noiser and has a lower battery life
Thanks for your help. Based on your useful info, I bought a Neato BV-75 from Myer. I have been looking for a robot vacuum cleaner for 3 months, and hope this is good.
Time to buy a combo brush for this BV-75 :)
hi, any chance you could post where you find the combo brush as the best i can find is 40 usd plus shipping from amazon
@nickl1986: I bought it from Amazon about 2 weeks ago and expecting to be delivered by tomorrow.
Combo brush's normal price is US$40 on Amazon, but it was on sale for US$35 when I placed order. I checked Australian online stores, and it costs about $95-$100.
Best robot vacum in the market, better than Dyson eye.
Thanks op. Which is better? The iroomba 630 also on sale or this neato one. Would like to buy a robot vacuum but so hard to choose.
Neato.
Roomba trying to play catch up with a mapping bot, but I think you still can't beat the Neato. (Note the Roomba mapping bot is slated at US$900..)
Th e one thing I keep hearing about these is that you still need to vacuum now and again, does this go for this as well? 600 is still a lot to pay to have to do it over again from time to time
I have the old XV-11 without side brush, so I have to run a handheld around the edges of the room. This has the side brush and better reach to the edges with the main brush, so probably not necessary. My hard floors are clean though, never had the need to do manually.
I don't run it on the carpets often enough, so probably some stuff deep down but I think the frequency of cleaning whether manually or by bot is going to be the key here.
I have the Botvac, it does edges very well but won't get right in to corners still. I'd say once every month or so I'll go around the house and do a touch up on the corners, I don't need to do anywhere else. I run mine on a schedule 3x per week and does a great job.
Personally I'd have a vacuum no matter what. I like to vacuum my curtains, window sills, back of tv, etc.. I mean I'll wipe them down with a wet cloth too but vacuuming saves a lot of work. I also would always have a vacuum to clean my car. What you notice with a robot vacuum is that your floors are always clean. Always. If anything I'm maybe slightly more messy / less fussy because I know that any dirt or crumbs will get picked up the next day or the next after that.
Anyone know when this deal is available till? I'd like to purchase it on the New velocity amex card when it comes in
does it worth to spend another $150 for a 4 year extended warranty from david jones.
Consider the worst case value if the unit died just outside the standard warranty. If you operate the robot 3 times a week that's 150 times a year. If you have a house and require two charge cycles then we can double it to 300 cycles a year. If you paid $584 and it died just outside of the warranty then that's $3.9 (150 cycles) or $1.95 (300 cycle) for every vacuum cycle. Say one cycle = one full charge.
You are saying that for only $150 more you get an additional 4 years warranty? This brings the total price to $734 with 5 years of warranty. We can then confidently calculate a cost per cycle over 5 years. Three times a week for 5 years is ~ 750 cleaning cycles of a unit or ~ 1500 cleaning cycles in a house. That is $0.97 per cycle. If you have a house then it's $0.48 a cycle.
You are paying for convenience so you need to weigh the 'cost per cycle' against the perceived value that you get from the device - time saving, labour saving, convenience, constantly clean floors that you get from the device. The more often you use the robot the cheaper it gets. The longer the warranty the more you can use it. You might even operate it 5 days a week since you are not so worried about overusing the unit?
If the warranty is any good I would definitely buy it. Maybe the unit will last 5 years without extended warranty. But it probably wont. The longer it lasts, the more value you get from it. You want it to last as long as possible.
(Obviously batteries will never be covered under the warranty but you should treat them rechargeable or not, as a consumable.)
(I live in a unit and my Botvac just manages to make it on one charge with ~ 35 minutes vacuum time. I assume a house would need to recharge once to finish. A big house would need to recharge twice to finish.)
tldr;
if it dies after 12 months you and you operate 3 times a week for 1 year = $3.90 every time it vacuumed for one full charge.
if it dies after 60 month and you operate 3 times a week for 5 years = $0.94 every time it vacuumed for one full charge.
buy warranty.
Appreciate your effort to provide both the conclusion and reason behind it!
The only problem of these robots is that they need another mini robot to clean them. Robot needs to be clean very often and it's not as easy and quick as you may think. The D model has some advantage if it's better protected.
I followed this guide on YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B1g0LqmYtys. It took about 5 minutes the last (and only) time I cleaned mine. I had a can of compressed air already but you can get it at Bunnings or Jaycar for example.
But I live in a unit alone with no pets. If there were pets / females then it would certainly require more cleaning.
I usually empty my dust bin by vacuuming it out with a regular vacuum cleaner when I'm going to vacuum my car or other parts of my unit that are not the floor :).
But on the robot emptying / cleaning subject that is why these Karcher cleaners were so cool - https://youtu.be/owfAEOqIp7Q?t=48, https://youtu.be/Fg5ZT0hW_dU?t=100.
+1
Ours is probably 2 years old (XV-11), same deal - screen no longer works, batteries have had it but I can't select the 'New Batteries' option and trying to use the force (or reading that it's down 4, then down 2, then enter) doesn't work…
expired >.>
Bought one thnkx.