Neato XV-11 Robotic All-Floor Vacuum Cleaner
Spring is here. Hope you’re prepared to face the reality that nobody will take off their shoes for the next six months. Sure, just track that dirt right on in here. I don’t mind at all. Oh, those are new shoes? So they came with little gritty bits of crap embedded in them right from the store? Interesting.
The Neato XV-11 robotic vacuum has its own laser eye that creates and analyzes a constantly-updating visual map of each room, promising that it’ll not only cover every square inch of vacuum-able space in a straight-line pattern, but that it also won’t bump into objects or fall down stairs.
I found that the vacuum did a pretty good job covering the limited amount of exposed floor space I have in my Boston apartment, but it definitely still bumped into things from time to time. And it’ll absolutely get itself all tangled up if it rolls over exposed cables, so we had to make sure to get all the laptop charging cords and whatnot off the floor first. We also have a rug in the living room with little tassels on it that tripped up the Neato a few times but generally didn’t cause too much trouble.
Those minor details aside, it worked as advertised. You can program the vacuum to clean on a recurring schedule and once it’s done, it’ll find its way back to its charging base—so it’s a set-it-and-forget-it mentality provided YOU don’t forget to make sure that there’s nothing on the floor besides dirt.
The vacuum is an investment at $400, but you may find that the time you save and the reduced stress levels that come about from not having to yell at your friends and loved ones about their dumb shoes to be totally worth it. Plus when robots take over the world, it’ll be nice to have one on your side—unless it doesn’t like cleaning. In that case, you’re on your own.
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