Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Update: I had to send it back. It would not stay connected to WiFi. I wanted and loved the WiFi capability, but if does't work it is useless to me. I continually had to reset and for the premium price it ended up being no better than the Roomba. So this one goes back and I'm going to try this one: Eufy RoboVac 11. Got good reviews and half the price. I read through all the reviews and it is well loved. ============================================== I have had quite a few Roombas. I dearly loved the little guys. They did a pretty good job for me until I compared them to the Neato. I was so close to getting the new iRobot Roomba 805 Vacuum Cleaning Robot from Costco when I found the Neato D3. The price was about the same and it was one particular review here on Amazon that tipped me to the Neato side. He had both the D3 and the Roomba 805 and he said the D3 kicked the Roomba 805 to the curb. So I took a chance because Amazon is SO WONDERFUL with returns if I made a mistake. Here's my comparison: PROS D3 is faster. The cleaning algorithm is more logical. Roomba consistently bounces off the walls, furniture etc. D3 does a better job. Roomba took longer to clean. When I see the clean rug path from the D3 is a very logical up and back path. D3 Price. The same. D3 deployed without issue on the scheduled cleaning times My Roomba Scheduler always had an issue and wasn't consistent. D3 works with the iPhone. The older Roombas did not. I can't speak for the newer ones. Neato tells me when it is stuck. D3 did not get hung up once. Wish I could say that about the Roombas.... Cons Neato cleaning device. Makes me mad when a company can't throw in an essential cleaning tool which costs about 2 cents to make. Roomba always includes a small almost-letter-opener type cutter that quickly cuts any string-like debris that gets in the brushes. Luckily I have one from my Roomba stash, but shame on Neato for not including this with their $400 robot. You get it with the high unit....D5...arrgh! Pairing Issues. I had some pairing issues and had to "re pair" it several times. I was close to sending it back, when finally it seems to remember the connection. This was critical because I have it set to deploy at 10:30 every day and with that lost connection it would not self-clean. Other users had the same issue, but eventually the Neato "learned". It's cleaned 30 times now and no issues after the first pairing issues. Filter. I swear Neato put the crappiest, lowest-quality filter in the delivered machine.. I looked at it and saw it was a piece of crap. It worked okay, I could tell it was not a long-term, quality filter. I bought two different filters advertised on Amazon. Although much more expensive, I felt that the Neato Botvac D Series Ultra-Performance Filter (2-Pack) for $27.17 were far superior. As another reviewer noted, this filter also has a small screen to help filter debries that the other filters didn't have and I have found it superior to the cleaning and most importantly being about the clean afterwards. I believe you should clean the filter after every use as it does help improve pickup ability. Again, shame on NEATO for NOT INCLUDING the DECENT filter. I also did try the 4-pack High-Performance Filter replacement + 1 Side Brush for all Neato Botvac Series models, 70e 75 80 85 1 that were 10.45. These were good because they had the pleated filter, but didn't have the screen as mentioned above. If money is tight, these are better than that crap original filter, but the Neato ones are still the best IMHO. One last note...take a close look at the picture with the 1 cup of debris collected. I had an old toothbrush devices that had long bristles attached at the top that I use to clean the pleated filters. It works perfectly. I can't for the life of me remember where I got it, but this is what you need to quickly keep the filter clean. That crappy filter included with the D3 originally seem to be like a magnet and once used I couldn't get the majority of the dust particles off the filter. For that reason, I really questioned the quality of the filter. The pictures of the filters: BOTTOM original filter, MIDDLE "High Performance Filter" TOP Neato filter. After a month, I'm still happy with my purchase. The one unknown right now is the longevity of the battery. The Roomba batteries cost about $25 and lasted a year. There was a trick to "refreshing" a dead battery. Take battery out, press START and hold it for 10 seconds. Then replace the battery. Don't know if it will work for the NEATO, but the robot guts are similar so I can't imagine this trick wouldn't also work for Neato. Also, put the date on your battery so you can see how long it lasts.