Mystery of the Partial Neato Charge

1-19-2013    XV-15 CLEANS WELL, BUT IN SHORT GULPS

I had high hopes of moving on to something else when Neato #4 came my way.  And, it did have a promising start, but now is making it hard for me to send back Neato #3.  Neato #3 cleaned great, just would not dock and recharge.  When I  plugged it in manually, #3 took a full charge and it would play nice.  I could clean the first floor of my house twice on one charge.  Now it's replacement cleans well, too.  They upgraded me from my Neato XV-11 to  a XV- 15.  It is actually the same machine, only has a few replacement parts included.  The problem with this one is that it will start a scheduled run, with what it says is a full battery charge, and then, five minutes latter come back to the dock, almost out of juice.  After an hour, it will resume cleaning and finish the first floor (only 700 ft2) or may require a third charge to finish.  I thought this might be a battery problem, but switched batteries and it made no difference. That means, instead of one charge on the Neato #3 being able to do my house twice,  Neato#4 needs three charges to do my house once. Has anyone else experienced this?  I have a call into Neato and hope they can solve it.

"What a world, what a world!" - wicked witch in the Wizard of Oz

This is getting a little discouraging.  I need Reverend Al to help Neato #4 to recharge it's battery.

NEATO #4 ARRIVES

1-8-2012       

Neato #3 Welcomes His Sucessor Neato #4

It has happened.  The box was on my door step and Neato #4 had arrived to replace it's brave predecessor. Neato sent me a brand new Neato  XV-15 to replace the, temporarily in short supply Neato XV-11.  Besides the midnight blue color, it is exactly the same machine.

This event came after several back and forth conversations about whether my problem was a battery issue.  I finally bought a battery, and it was not a battery issue - it was a charger issue.  The springs on the silver induction charger rails had failed and the charger strip no longer pushed out from the frame.  They were like the sunken eye of your lizard after it had died.  In retrospect, I could have determined that the battery was still good by opening the charger up and using the manual plug to recharge with.  Oh well, too late, too smart.

I am not to embarrassed to say that  I got so excited that the US Mail lady, my pet and I danced in celebration when opening the Neato box.

I now have this new machine which is operating admirably, so far.  I will keep  you posted. The quality of the Neato's seem to keep getting better.  It is a young company and appears to be learning from its mistakes.  The one mistake it hasn't made, so far, is bad customer service.  You always get to talk to a person, and usually a very nice person.

3-20-2012 NEWS * XV-15 & XV-21 plus Upgrades for the XV-11

Everyone has heard there is a XV-15 Neato and now there is a just announced XV-21.  Least we  XV-11 owners feel we are headed towards the dust bin of history, I have a few facts that should cheer us up.  The Neato XV-11 equipment design and 2.6 operating system are still current.  The mechanical, structural and software systems are identical.

The XV-15 is white, but everything else is the same.  It has been re designated to market in Europe.  The XV-21 is has a different color (misty white and purple), but the internal systems are also identical to the XV-11.  But there have been changes. The latex blade beater bar has been replaced with one that uses  bristles and the filter has been upgraded.  Neato Robotics is referring to the XV-21 as their "Pet Owners and Allergy Suffers" model.

 And the good news is that the XV-21 beater bar and filter will fit your XV-11.  The new roller simply swaps for the latex blade one and the new filter snaps into the XV-11 filter holder.  I have been told that both are available for $60 or $30 for either one.  The below is a link that gives more detail on the Neato XV-21 and the conversion parts.   http://www.geek.com/articles/gadgets/neato-xv-21-bot-20120312/

Other than that Neato #3 has been working great.  I only have two more day to pick up the extended warranty and so am worried that this good behavior may be a trick.

Robby the Robot- The Gold Standard of Domestic 'Bots

   Для тех из вас, в России "привет".

He was a feature player in the 1956 sci-fi movie-Forbidden Planet and later a version was created to star in the TV show -  Lost in Space which proves Robby will do anything for money.  He represented what we hoped future robots would be.  Robby did all of the work, domestic, construction, material creation, was a friend and danger alarm.  He already obeyed the robot rules of what  Issac Asimov would later call-The Three Laws of Robotics.

1. A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
2. A robot must obey orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
3. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.                                                                                                                                                                                                                    

This following has nothing to do with your Neato Robotics XV-11 vacuum, except to say,  like Robby the Robot, if you are attacked by an invisible creature from the ID, it won't help you either.  However, it will do a nice job of cleaning up the mess.  

Robby was developed by a designer who had also created laundry machines made out of clear plastic.  This explains the origin of the clear bubble head that allowed us to watch the simulated robot brain at work.   Robby could even repair himself.  I don't believe anyone will have as good luck with our Neato's.  According to an un-named company source, the Neato (if you get a good one) should last about 3 years. Neato Update My Neato #3 is still doing fine.    It has started giving me a "bumper stuck" message.  Occasionally, this will happen in the middle of the room.  I am thinking the bumper slide has collected some debris and is giving too much resistance for the return spring.   So far the problem is minor. I did buy the 2 year extended warranty, but am attempting to get clarification  if that the 2 year date counts from the start date any replacement that may come as a result of the Neato one year warranty or stays at the original purchase date. I will let everyone know in the next post.

4-26-2012 Fix for Neato XV-11 "bumper is stuck"

Update on the "Bumper Is Stuck" message.   This problem was starting to happen a lot.   So, I followed my original diagnosis that debris was collecting in the bumper slide channel giving the return spring too much resistance.  My remedy was to loosen the two screws on each side on the front bumper and use my compressor to blow debris from the short slide channel.  Then (and this may not be necessary) I squirted a tiny bit of silicon lubricant in channel and tightened the screws (not a lot).   It has been a week now and the Neato #3 has run everyday without a single problem.  Empirically, this seems to be the solution.   I went from 6 to 10 "bumper is stuck" to zero.  Caution-do not dissemble the bumper or put more than a very small bit of lubricant in as doing so could void the Neato warranty (just guessing here).

6-20-2012 Neato Robotics "New" Models- XV-11, 12, 14, 15, 21 - Different Color / Same Machine

Neato's current direction is to come out with what appears to be a new exclusive model for different retailers.  For instance, the new Costco Neato XV-14 is Blue and the Target model XV-12 is white, and the European XV-15 is blue (with 230v charger).  The XV-21 allergy and pet owners model has a blue strip and a new HEPA filter and brush (which you can buy and put in any Neato).  However, color aside, these are all the same machine running on the same software/firmware.  So be assured, your Neato XV-11 is not outdated.  It was just given a new paint job.

So although all models of Neato are essentially the same, the tweaks given to the XV-11 have made it a better machine.  Better software/firmware and control of production quality have produced a smarter, more durable device.                                                                

The one exception to this is the German -Vorwerk Kobold VR100.  This is the only model with a side brush for edges, but the bristle roller bar, but the basic mechanics and software/firmware are the same.

Vorwerk Kobold VR100

The below link gives a great summary of the various Neato models.

http://robotbg.com/robot_buying_guide/neato_model_comparison_which_neato_is_for_pet_owners