Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I've been putting bObi pet through her paces week 1 and here's what I've discovered. First, I'm the perfect candidate for this little robot: I have shiny white floors that are impossible to keep clean, live in an indoor/outdoor home in the tropics where it rains constantly and my yard turns into a mud pit, I have two fluffy, slobbery dogs that shed a sweater's worth of fur a day, and I entertain a lot with weekly game nights that usually involve some kind of alcoholic beverage getting spilled on the floor. Most people would run screaming. Before bObi Pet, I'd resigned myself to daily floor cleaning and a routine of sliding around with my socks on, constantly, mopping and dusting with my feet wherever I went. (I may or may not have also bought my dogs booties with dusters on them.) After reading the positive reviews here, and comparing them to those of the competition's robots, all priced hundreds of dollars higher, I decided to take the plunge and try out my first robotic vacuum. I had realistic expectations: having to clean a little less, maybe, and figured if the bot didn't work well, at least I hadn't paid as much as the crazy people shelling out close to a grand for a roomba that you can text from your iphone. (I already have a "smart" thermostat/security system that texts me more than all my friends put together. I don't need another device blowing up my phone in the middle of the night to say it's stuck on the carpet and needs a hand.) I expected to like having to spend less money on swiffers and socks. I did not, however, expect to immediately develop such a strong attachment to this little bot that I'm struggling to remember how I lived without her. After a few days of watching her figure things out (she's a fast study) I woke up to a freshly cleaned home this morning, bObi having successfully woken herself up in the middle of the night to perform her scheduled cleaning. She was so quiet that not even the dogs woke up to stare at her, terrified, before backing away slowly like they did the first time I set her loose. True, the "mopping" function isn't stellar; there's only room on bObi's enviously-slim body for a damp microfiber towel to be attached & dragged underneath her, but the "waffling" method helps tremendously to get stubborn muddy patches to lift away, as I discovered this afternoon during our usual post-rainstorm dog pawprint battle. This isn't going to replace a human with a wet vac, a stick vacuum and a set of human eyeballs who can methodically clean every inch of a room-- bObi is better for maintenance than a deep clean. But allowing her to have the run of the house each day for a cycle or two has reduced the number of dog hairs on my swiffer by almost 90%, which is huge. The reviews are true regarding her decibel levels-- she's quiet enough that you can listen to music, have a conversation, or watch TV while she's cleaning. And honestly, to see that zippy little silver disc zooming everywhere, sensing her way around the furniture, makes me feel like I'm living in the kind of flying-cars-for-everyone-Jetson's future I dreamed I'd be living by now when I was a kid. I haven't experienced any of what some reviewers have called her deliberate re-organizational attempts, i.e. her bumping into things with such vigor that she moves them from room to room. And, thanks to her minimalist, unintrusive looking "block" I've become an expert at focusing her attention on whatever size area I need her to clean most-- and I love that there's no hideous, messy tape to lay down like some other brands. Her suction isn't that of a full-size vacuum, but then again, she's not a full-size vacuum. The design itself is chic, as far as robots go, and thus far I'm loving how intuitive all her features are. I'm not the most technologically savvy person on earth, so if you're like me I suggest you take advantage of the owner's section of the bobisweep website. If you're more of a visual learner, the company has all the assembly, how-to, and troubleshooting info you need, sectioned out into short little easy-to-follow videos. It took me about ten minutes to set everything up after watching them. Above all, the thing that sets this bot apart from the pack is the company's customer service. I received a thoughtful, honest reply (from an actual human, ironically) within hours of submitting my warranty info, and I've never experienced such lightening-fast, no-BS responses from a company regarding their products' strengths and shortcomings. That alone makes me feel secure in my purchase, and will keep me recommending bObi pet to my friends and family. I worked in customer service for a large online retailer, so I know how rare it is for a company to spend the bucks and take the time to make sure their customers are getting real, well-informed answers from agents willing to deviate from some kind of pre-written script (nevermind the automatic robo-menus that have you screaming I WANT TO SPEAK TO A PERSON over and over like some kind of deranged astronaut lost in space.) These guys are the real deal; you get the sense they actually want you to enjoy their product, and are interested in constructive feedback. Kudos to them, and to bObi for getting those paw prints out. Now, if only I could convince her to do my laundry...