Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I have used three of the Neato vacuums for several years, and found them decent, but not a replacement for regular vacuuming with a good upright on carpet. The Neato's "intelligent" mapping of the room was somehow appealing. The Roomba is *much* better at cleaning carpets, and I think it could replace a good upright. I am using two of the Roombas and they are all-around excellent. The seemingly stupid random wandering of the Roomba seems to actually contribute to the cleaning power because it is constantly going over the same spots, and from different angles. The downside is that it takes much longer than the Neato to complete a room, but since you don't have to be there, I don't see that it matters. Also, the battery life of the Roomba seems to be three or four times greater than the Neatos, which often had to recharge during the job. The Roomba can do a 1,000 square foot carpeted area without recharge and do it really well. It also gets hung up on objects only very rarely, much less often than the Neato. I did have to buy two "Halo" units to prohibit its entering some very tricky places. The one modification to the Roomba that I would suggest is to add material to the front bumper, which is the entire front half of the machine. I used one inch-wide, self-adhesive Velcro, only the soft (loop, felt-like) strip. I have one strip all the way around the top of the bumper, another along the bottom (over the original rubber bumper). This modification not only saves furniture, baseboards and door jambs from scuffing or impact damage, it almost completely silences the operation of the machine. Amazon sells the Velcro as "VELCRO Brand - Industrial Strength - Extreme - 1" Wide Tape, 10' - Black."