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I own a Neato Robotics Botvac Connected, and with Neato shutting down, my robots cloud-dependent functions will be useless(remote start, iphone app etc) Unfort

I own a Neato Robotics Botvac Connected, and with Neato shutting down, my robots cloud-dependent functions will be useless(remote start, iphone app etc) Unfortunately it’s incompatible with Valetudo. The Chinese $Mi bots I’ve come across lack the suction power I loved about the Neato. I’m in search of a no-nonsense replacement. Any solid suggestions? Dyson one seems nice but way to expensive.

zzleeper 3y ago
I'm on the same boat. My neato is already a bit old (needs new battery and I had to replace a broken belt) but I've been procastinating in finding a replacement as there's just so many options, most of which suck.
- malfist 3y ago
  > most of which suck I'd hope so, that's kinda the point. But seriously, my house hold just replaced the Roombas with roborock and couldn't be happier
  - mehuln 3y ago
    Yep, roborocks have done a great job maximizing disc bots. And like any other Xiomi product, they tend to do slightly better job with software/app.
zamalek 3y ago
I've generally been happy with roborocks, and a few are compatible with valetudo. I haven't used it yet, though, because the rooting process is incredibly complex.
alexdns 3y ago
Take a look at vacuum wars on youtube
manmal 3y ago
Last year I did a lot of research on Reddit and other sites and finally settled on the Roborock S7 Pro Ultra. Some learnings I had along the way: - Software quality is crucial, and new models are often iffy. Badly programmed vacuums (and almost every brand has those) are incredibly annoying, because they get stuck constantly, fall down stairs, leave dirty areas, can’t find the way to the base station, etc. Roborock seems to be one of the few who nails this. - Suction power should be maximized, or you’ll spend time cleaning up after the robot. The S7 I bought has 5100Pa and I think that’s acceptable, but I still need to do two runs sometimes (which is low effort for me, but it means more noise). - Since we wanted a vacuum that also mops: Those mops, if not managed well, get moldy and start to stink after just a few days. Build layout and engineering quality are big factors here - ours almost never stinks even though it has no drying fan (some do). - A base station is needed for real hands-off usage, and those are damn expensive when bought afterwards. And do change the water tanks regularly, they can get quite smelly, fast. It’s the one non-negotiable maintenance we have to do every week. - I was looking for vacuums with explicit mention of HEPA filters, but it seems the more expensive ones have decent filters without ever mentioning HEPA. I’m still not sure what grade the S7 filters really are, but it seems allergy friendly (likely also owed to the mop and the usage of a filter bag in the base station). - Even if the manual says to wash the filter, don’t; they will often degrade. Better to use compressed air (carefully) to clean instead. Overall, we are still happy with the S7 Pro Ultra after a solid year of usage. It’s been a time saver rather than a time sink, and apart from getting stuck sometimes laying around, it has always done a solid job.
- mehuln 3y ago
  Checkout Matic at maticrobots.com. Few things: 1. We have HEPA bags - each bag acts as HEPA filter. 2. We found that more than suction power, the brush roll is more import for effective sweeping and vacuuming. It picks the dirt way better… so we have designed first of its kind to hair tangle-free brush roll. It is designed to be effective on all kids of surfaces. 3. We further improve efficacy with actuating cleaning head so it adjust the height for each type of surface with diff thicknesses. 4. The HEPA bags last a month if just vacuuming and about a week if daily vacuuming and mopping. It collects both wet and dry messes. It even has version of diaper salt and charcoal powder so it doesn’t smell or get moldy. 5. But the most important is completely Vision first perception with precision 3D system so that it doesn’t get stuck, chew wires, etc. Indoor world is entirely built by humans, for humans, to fit our vision first perception system. So we have given it a very similar perception system. 6. Private by design. It was built to work completely w/o internet connection.
viraptor 3y ago
Similar for my proscenic. While the company exists in theory, the app can't register a new device on Android anymore. Since my last phone update I'm just left with hoping that I never need to change the schedule and it will keep running until it dies.
louwrentius 3y ago
I wasn't even aware that Neato is shutting down. I owned two Neato's, one is dead, the other one is dying (screen broken). Still sad.

zzleeper 3y ago

I'm on the same boat. My neato is already a bit old (needs new battery and I had to replace a broken belt) but I've been procastinating in finding a replacement as there's just so many options, most of which suck.

malfist 3y ago
> most of which suck I'd hope so, that's kinda the point. But seriously, my house hold just replaced the Roombas with roborock and couldn't be happier
- mehuln 3y ago
  Yep, roborocks have done a great job maximizing disc bots. And like any other Xiomi product, they tend to do slightly better job with software/app.

zamalek 3y ago

I've generally been happy with roborocks, and a few are compatible with valetudo. I haven't used it yet, though, because the rooting process is incredibly complex.

alexdns 3y ago

Take a look at vacuum wars on youtube

manmal 3y ago

Last year I did a lot of research on Reddit and other sites and finally settled on the Roborock S7 Pro Ultra. Some learnings I had along the way: - Software quality is crucial, and new models are often iffy. Badly programmed vacuums (and almost every brand has those) are incredibly annoying, because they get stuck constantly, fall down stairs, leave dirty areas, can’t find the way to the base station, etc. Roborock seems to be one of the few who nails this. - Suction power should be maximized, or you’ll spend time cleaning up after the robot. The S7 I bought has 5100Pa and I think that’s acceptable, but I still need to do two runs sometimes (which is low effort for me, but it means more noise). - Since we wanted a vacuum that also mops: Those mops, if not managed well, get moldy and start to stink after just a few days. Build layout and engineering quality are big factors here - ours almost never stinks even though it has no drying fan (some do). - A base station is needed for real hands-off usage, and those are damn expensive when bought afterwards. And do change the water tanks regularly, they can get quite smelly, fast. It’s the one non-negotiable maintenance we have to do every week. - I was looking for vacuums with explicit mention of HEPA filters, but it seems the more expensive ones have decent filters without ever mentioning HEPA. I’m still not sure what grade the S7 filters really are, but it seems allergy friendly (likely also owed to the mop and the usage of a filter bag in the base station). - Even if the manual says to wash the filter, don’t; they will often degrade. Better to use compressed air (carefully) to clean instead. Overall, we are still happy with the S7 Pro Ultra after a solid year of usage. It’s been a time saver rather than a time sink, and apart from getting stuck sometimes laying around, it has always done a solid job.

mehuln 3y ago
Checkout Matic at maticrobots.com. Few things: 1. We have HEPA bags - each bag acts as HEPA filter. 2. We found that more than suction power, the brush roll is more import for effective sweeping and vacuuming. It picks the dirt way better… so we have designed first of its kind to hair tangle-free brush roll. It is designed to be effective on all kids of surfaces. 3. We further improve efficacy with actuating cleaning head so it adjust the height for each type of surface with diff thicknesses. 4. The HEPA bags last a month if just vacuuming and about a week if daily vacuuming and mopping. It collects both wet and dry messes. It even has version of diaper salt and charcoal powder so it doesn’t smell or get moldy. 5. But the most important is completely Vision first perception with precision 3D system so that it doesn’t get stuck, chew wires, etc. Indoor world is entirely built by humans, for humans, to fit our vision first perception system. So we have given it a very similar perception system. 6. Private by design. It was built to work completely w/o internet connection.

viraptor 3y ago

Similar for my proscenic. While the company exists in theory, the app can't register a new device on Android anymore. Since my last phone update I'm just left with hoping that I never need to change the schedule and it will keep running until it dies.

louwrentius 3y ago

I wasn't even aware that Neato is shutting down. I owned two Neato's, one is dead, the other one is dying (screen broken). Still sad.