Neato Robotics Reviews

by Draco The Blue

After the firmware and app upgrades in the first quarter of 2020, one of my two D7 robots would stopped responding to NeatoRobotics ; it always showed up as off-line even though it was connected to Wi-Fi (I could tell by looking at my access points and the blue light on the robot). The Neato support team told me to delete the missing robot from NeatoRobotics and re-add it. I deleted it, and have been unable to re-add it ever since. I have spent hours on the phone with Neato tech-support, and they aren’t able to offer me any useful assistance. I received an email from Neato telling me they are sorry, they don’t know what the problem is, and that’s why I haven’t heard from them. So I have a vacuum for which I paid several hundred dollars sits useless because NeatoRobotics and/or firmware update have rendered them that way. I did manage to reconnect the vacuum to the Neato servers once (I could not control it with NeatoRobotics , but at least it was following its previous programming), but Neato insisted I needed to disconnect the robot and try again. I once again have an expensive robot vacuum that does nothing. It is, essentially, bricked!

by Theajus

The vacuum itself does a great job in terms of cleaning and navigation, but NeatoRobotics is absolutely awful. It constantly shows an “updating new map” notification whenever I want to start the vacuum, and stays on that screen for 15-20 minutes—sometimes longer. More times that not, I’ll also get an error notification without any explanation as to what might be the problem. On the days that I can get past those app issues and actually run the vacuum using the “invisible lines feature”, occasionally it’ll just drop the WiFi connection and stop vacuuming in the middle of a room. All of these things combined make this vacuum more of a hassle than manually vacuuming myself. It’s clear that the vacuum had a lot of potential, but after Neato was purchased by a larger company, it’s blatantly obvious that they have no intention of fixing the bugs on NeatoRobotics (considering they have recently responded to several reviews without addressing any of the problems many people have mentioned). They’ve also recently come out with a new line of robotic vacuums (under the same Neato name), and have a separate app solely for those new products. Absolutely 10/10 would NOT purchase a vacuum by Neato ever again, solely based on how poorly NeatoRobotics was developed and maintained.

by RDHLCSW

This review has nothing to do with the actual vacuum cleaner, which works really well. The problem is entirely with NeatoRobotics which continuously drops connection to the Internet requiring frequent re-boots. I’ve had the vacuum for over a year and probably have to reset it at least once a week. I have no problems with connection to the many other devices I have in my home. I have a very strong Wi-Fi connection. NeatoRobotics is definitely the issue. After the latest update, it dropped connection to my vacuum as usual. I have been unable to get connected again. As you go through the steps to establish connection, I was able to connect the vacuum after following the set-up instructions. The next step, NeatoRobotics does not even show my router or any other router. My phone, computer, TV and everything else has a connection. I manually typed it in and then it will show up. At this point, I think I’m home free but I cannot get past the part where I name the vacuum. I typed in the same name I’ve used in the past and it stalls.

Don’t waste your money getting a Connected vac because you really get very little use out of that part of it anyway. Just buy the best vacuum and don’t worry about the Connected features. Until they over hall NeatoRobotics entirely it is not worth it’s time.

by Yah Copo

Crazy to just stop supporting your customers that have been using your product the longest. NeatoRobotics is making the hardware obsolete with bugs, dropping saved maps, losing Wi-Fi and being unable to reconnect.

Most often the failure occurs for me if Wi-Fi goes down. If I have to reconnect my vacuum to Wi-Fi NeatoRobotics UI makes it impossible to do so. Do you really think someone would purchase a new and more expensive botvac just to use your new app? Why would anyone upgrade to a new Neato botvac to use your new app when their experience with this one is so bad? The “new” app has just as bad reviews and people see that.

When my Neato is completely useless (and I can tell that will be sooner rather than later) I’ll buy a different brand. Would never give Neato any more money when other brands show they actually support their products and customers. Fix NeatoRobotics and you may salvage some customers, if not they will move on to better brands like iRobot, Robovac, and Roborock. It’s clear these companies have widened the gap in quality and support and left Neato behind. I’ve convinced several friends and family members to buy robot vacuums and never recommend Neato based on my poor experience with NeatoRobotics .

by Busy CEO

I own 4 of these Botvacs due to having a multi-level house. I will say that my floors are cleaner than they’ve ever been. So, here come the “but”... the Botvacs lose wi-fi connection a lot for no reason, as I have excellent wi-fi coverage throughout the house. As far as NeatoRobotics goes ... Getting push notifications is mostly a miss. Getting maps of what was cleaned rarely works. In some cases the most current maps are over a month old. Reconnecting to wi-fi can be time-consuming.

EDIT: I was immediately contacted by Neato Support with “iTunes Connect - Low Review” in the subject line. After a week of back and forth emails, the end of the line was for me to go into my router and modem settings to change a bunch of settings, which they would only give me sketchy instructions, and they weren’t willing to go any further than that. I’m a techie kind of guy, but even the things that they wanted me to do would require professional help, and I can’t imagine the average person being able to do what they asked. In other words, they’re not sure what to do and they’re asking me to make some global changes to “see” if that will work. So, I’ve gotten nowhere and will limp along until they get it figured out. Apparently I’m not the only one with app issues. It’s a shame.

by 

Update: my review was first written two months ago. It took me about 3 weeks to get NeatoRobotics to work at that point after owning it for over a year with no problems. It then worked for about a month and has quit again. I am doing all the resets and checking my router, etc. It hasn’t worked with NeatoRobotics in 12 days now. After working seamlessly for more than a year and now constantly having problems for 2 months, this is frustrating. We actually changed internet providers in early November and have better service so I would expect less problems (though i never had any before). NeatoRobotics gets stuck on the “name your robot” screen and then won’t move on to the next screen. I have wasted HOURS trying to get NeatoRobotics to work.

Original review: I have had this model for over a year and have loved the vacuum and NeatoRobotics . I had a previous Neato that didn’t have an app, and the addition of NeatoRobotics was amazing. When I updated the vacuum and app, as NeatoRobotics told me to do a couple of weeks ago, NeatoRobotics has quit working with my vacuum. I have literally spent over 2 hours trying to reprogram it this and last week week and it still won’t work. I’m frustrated that I paid more than other brands to get features that now won’t work.

by Travelingcyclist

When our Neato D4 actually connects to clean, it does a nice job — a fairly strong vacuum, thorough, gets in tight spaces. However, it’s highly unreliable. It loses the Wi-Fi connection often, an issue that’s nonexistent with the many other Wi-Fi connected devices in our home. It forgets the floor plan we created, so I have to be home to run a new plan & keep the vac from getting stuck in places where I had “no go” lines drawn for previous floor plans it forgot. This issue and the Wi-Fi issues mean I often cannot run it when away from home and come home to clean floors, the whole point of a connected robot vac. It tells me NeatoRobotics requires an update, despite having the latest version available in NeatoRobotics store…requiring deleting NeatoRobotics , reinstalling, and starting over. This lack of reliability renders the device nearly useless. And it’s not just an issue with this particular device; we’ve had two previous D4s replaced under warranty (one a battery defect, one these same issues), so the lack of quality seems endemic to Neato. Great idea, poor execution. We’ll surely get another robot vac, but from a Neato competitor with a better track record.

by L$),?&&(,

I’ve been using the Neato for some
Months now. I’m fairly disappointed with NeatoRobotics and robot.

- NeatoRobotics is often slow to respond
- error messages appear when adding zones to the cleaning map stating that is cannot be saved, although the newly added zones are saved.
- often there are weird problems. For example: today it states it is “ready to clean”. But when starting it, it immediately switches back to “ready to clean”. Restarting NeatoRobotics is not helping.
- I really miss an option to let it do multiple zones of my choice at once. (Or combining zones).
- zones can only have rectangular shapes. Combining multiple into one is not possible.
- the option to operate manually is really unworkable, apart from being a fun gimmick on your first day. It’s nerve wrecking slow.
- robot seems to completely lose its orientation after being moved my less than cm
- I miss an option to help the robot know it’s approximate location and orientation, after it got lost
- the software does not learn how to navigate furniture legs it has trouble with. (One table and bar stool with shiny legs that seem to disorientate the navigation in such a way that it keeps hugging the legs. Another set of chairs that have a thin metal pipe on the ground which keeps trying to cross but fails. )
- I miss the option to send feedback about type of furniture it has major trouble with so the developers can improve the software.

by Kaleb Peaden

The IOS application was down due to technical difficulties and the only way I could find out was calling your customer service line and waiting to get a hold of a live person. There wasn’t even a prerecorded message when I called their customer service.

When the application was logged in already when I first opened it, NeatoRobotics couldn’t find my neato vacuum. I kept getting errors like “something went wrong”. I then started to troubleshoot my vacuum. I thought maybe there was something wrong with the vacuum and I reset it. That didn’t fix it. This is a brand-new vacuum I thought, not even two days old there shouldn’t be anything wrong with it. I’m starting to get ideas like did I get a lemon and I need to swap it out? Maybe it’s NeatoRobotics on my phone since this is my second neato and I did not uninstall NeatoRobotics when I added this new Neato D7. So I uninstalled and reinstalled NeatoRobotics . Making several unsuccessful attempts to login i thought maybe I forgot my password and tried to reset it and had problems with that too. So I called customer service to find their app is down.

A lot of effort for a customer when you could of just had a notice that your servers are under maintenance when I first opened NeatoRobotics . I’m sure I’m not the only one who’s troubleshooted their vacuum like this when they’re having issues starting their vacuum because your servers are down.

by Rare_Reviewer70

I didn’t have any problems until the recent update. Now, on my iPad 9.7 (iOS 13.4.1) the Manual mode doesn’t work; my Botvac Connected operates perfectly in Manual mode with my iPad Air (iOS 12.4.6) BECAUSE IT DOESN’T HAVE NEATO LOCATION SERVICES. NeatoRobotics keeps disconnecting/reconnecting and gives a false “ Please clean my brush” error when initiating movement of the Botvac only while in Manual mode; if no movement is initiated, Manual mode just stops and NeatoRobotics returns to the status screen that shows “Ready to Clean.” Also, Location Services must be set to “While Using...” or “Always” for Manual mode to even start. Otherwise, the error “Manual Clean Not Available: Connect your robot and iPhone to the same Wi-Fi network“ will be displayed. And, according to the website’s FAQ’s, “you can pair your robot with up to 10 different Wi-Fi networks from the same Neato app.” However, NeatoRobotics doesn’t have the Wi-Fi option under Robot Settings as described and shown in the screenshots.

by Seneschal

I like Neato vacuums far better than my previous iRobot ones. Unfortunately I’ve found they only last about 2 years before either the lidar stops spinning, or the wheels just stop moving. $600 for 2 years is a little under a dollar a day. I’m sure there are better value’s out there, but overall I really do like the Neato system.
Just a few issues other than the longevity of the hardware….
1. The initial setup is brutal. I had to keep restarting my new Neato vac 4 or 5 times in order for the setup process to complete. I didn’t do anything different, just kept on trying.
2. When doing the initial floor map… just make it so the vacuum goes around and focus on just making the floor map. My first floor has a higher square footage (and I have a Labrador that sheds everywhere), so in just trying to map this floor, I’ve ran out of batteries, and another time I’ve run out of dust bin space. Just have the thing drive around and map.

by BrandonNTaylor

I’ve had the D7 for about a year. While it occasionally gets stuck under furniture or in the middle of our closet (that it found the way into) that is probably more the robot’s issue not NeatoRobotics .

However there are a number of issues with NeatoRobotics that I have run into:
1. It will warn you that the dust bin needs to be emptied, which is great. But it does this before a cleaning cycle instead of after one. That means when you leave for work and it’s full, the cycle triggers while you are away and then gets stopped because it’s full so it doesn’t run. Would be much better to prompt for service AFTER a cycle.
2. There is no option to pause operation, pause the schedule, or return to base based on your location. It would be great if I came home during a cycle if it would either ask me what to do or automatically return to base.
3. You can’t schedule or manually start multiple zones at once. You can have overlapping zones which partially solves this issue, but you can’t just say clean the kitchen, bedroom, and front hall in that order. Nor can you delay a cleaning, IE: Clean the kitchen starting in 30min. So if you are trying to clean say 3 zones overnight, you have to schedule them so that the robot returns to base in between and the times do not overlap.
4. NeatoRobotics hasn’t been updated in a year. Apparently they just abandoned all the previous generation vaccum owners. Not great. I would have expected at least a few more years of improvements.

by Bot Frustration

Just purchased Neato D5 connected and have been unable to pair with my iPhone. After lengthy discussions with Neato support that unit was returned and a new unit tried....again unable to pair. Modem, router all meet specs, the only criteria not met is that NeatoRobotics requires the vacuum to be 4.0 version. After speaking with support that version has only been available a couple of weeks and without NeatoRobotics there is no other means available to upgrade the software on the D5. What an oversight on Neato’s behalf. I am still reeling that such a sophisticated vacuum can have such a limited App and a single method for upgrades in this day of amazing technology. There should be an older version of NeatoRobotics available to at least get it to pair with phone and then have the capability to download the update for the vacuum and then move on to the newer version of App. Has no one else experienced this? I am so impressed with this vacuum, it’s smart and does an impressive job cleaning. I just need it paired. Any suggestions would be so appreciated.

Sent from my iPhone

by Hiitechpower

NeatoRobotics lets you start cleanings, notifies you when the dust bin is full, if the robot has any troubles, and lets you setup a floor plan with no-go lines. For all that it does it’s job wonderfully well.

Gotta call Neato out though, NeatoRobotics can have much more expanded functionality. Since most parts between robots are the same and they run on essentially the same software you guys really should unlock features dedicated to higher end models to also be available to the lower end. I can’t imagine there’s any good reason to hide “clean a specific room” to just the D7, and I’d challenge anyone from the Neato team to tell me otherwise with a non-BS explanation.

These robots are really exceptional at their job, and NeatoRobotics can be a tool to elevate that experience. Making “gentle navigation” not available for scheduled cleanings is also baffling. There’s just some very basic software functionality that isn’t being utilized when it could be. Would really love to rate NeatoRobotics higher but I’m sensing there is some pushback from those who are making NeatoRobotics to not allow all the functionality to be available to users.

by Volvated

I wish both NeatoRobotics and robot had more functionality. For NeatoRobotics I wish i could: 1. better design zones with something more than rectangles. 2. have a mapping function that would skip the vacuuming so u could map without waiting for the battery to recharge to almost 90% before finishing. 3. wish i could define how much re-charge to do to finish an area so i didn't have to wait so long. 3. wish i could see current locations the robot is on demand (that way i could see if i want to allow finishing off a zone out just sending it home. 4. Wish the robot could re-find its location more easily by noting certain landmarks (on the map) so it could lidar and find its way. 4b. Wish i could help it finds it way through NeatoRobotics map by pressing on its relative location in the map (it thinks it's here but i let it know it's over there).. Happens with tables and chairs and kids. 5. Wish it could handle higher ply rugs. 6. Wish I didn't have to re-map a whole level b/c of small furniture change i could re-map the area.

by Miss.Prudent

I love my robot!! It's so much easier now that it cleans for me. It cleans very well, although it does get stuck on my frilly carpet once in a while. It would be nice if the filter can open so I can clean it, but since it doesn't I put a tissue over it so the filter doesn't get super dusty. Also, the wheels of the robot aren't large enough to roll into one of the bathrooms I have that's about 2-3 cm talkers than the regular floor. So it constantly gets stuck and tries to go into the bathroom. Maybe they should upgrade the size ? Oh! And I noticed that when the wheels get stuck, the plastic things on the wheel falls off and leaves some remains on the floor, maybe if the material of the wheels were different it would be better as well. I believe that NeatoRobotics should have a function where I can click return to the base. Sometimes the robots done cleaning but it doesn't go back home, so it's quite annoying when I have to walk to the robot and drag it back to the base. It would be nice if NeatoRobotics had an upgrade where you can control where your robot is like a remote, although I don't think that'll be happening anytime soon. Overall, my robots been really helpful with cleaning, but there are things that should be fixed by the creators of NeatoRobotics and robot.

by Wikoli_vms

This Neato apps is simple to setup and connect to your robot vacuum. But it needs a fairly strong Wifi connection, especially if you want to maintain progress reports & location updates. So if you have dead spots in your home's Wifi coverage and your Neato bot happens to be in it then you will lose connection. All you can do is wait for the bot to re-enter a strong Wifi area and you will be re-connected. You can employ a Wifi extender like I did, and have the bot stationed near the extender. Just don't make changes to its setting while the bot is working like changing its name, then you will have to reset the connection and start all over in setting up the bot's schedule. When it came to stopping the bot in its vacuum run the Dock button in the apps would not work for my D5 Neato after I remotely stopped it, and I had to physically shut off the bot and carry it back to the charging base. The mapping feature is accurate but as I mentioned it needs a strong Wifi connection to create a complete image. In future updates to this apps I would like to see a feature that allows the user to program the bot to vacuum selected areas of the floor layout, after the bot has completely mapped the home. Overall this apps great!

by 2008 CRNA

*** Updated, based on developers comments, to 4 stars. However virtual borders should be a simple software implementation for BotVac Connected and newer vacuums. Again, not yet worth the upgrade due to no definitive must have upgrades in the latest BotVac vacuum. If you are new to the market, it is the best one out there for quality and money.

2 stars - When we first purchased our Neato BotVac Connected, it was the latest one at the time, connected to your wifi, you could control it through NeatoRobotics , etc. There were two features in NeatoRobotics that were very helpful. The first was the ability to send the robot back to the base. For some reason they removed it and have not brought that feature back. The other feature was the ability to control the robot with directional arrows. This was also removed without reason. The latest robot only brings virtual borders that you can put in NeatoRobotics . There is no reason this feature cant be implemented on current Wifi connected botvacs. I am not spending another $700 for a small feature after you have taken away others. If you are just buying into the market, maybe it is worth it, but if you are looking to upgrade, you have given us zero incentive.

by Muzzywump

We got the ‘bot about a week ago and are over the moon with its success. It goes places the big vac cannot, and cleans better than the stick vac we normally use. NeatoRobotics makes it easy to schedule and humanizes the bot. We have a Pro6 mesh router, and there were no problems setting up and using the vac in the farthest corners of the house; it has never dropped from WiFi.

There are a few drawbacks: the cleaning zones must be rectangular, which is inadequate for our ‘50’s style home. It wouldn’t be a problem if we could combine areas in software, or even queue a series (eg, “Hallway, mud room, breakfast area”), but that isn’t possible either. Since cleaning times can vary depending on barriers posed by toys and pets, the schedule has to be looser than it needs to be, meaning that time is wasted returning to base, or worse, skipping the area if the previous job runs long. It seems like this should be an easy fix. Otherwise, it is still way easier and better than hand vaccing. Love how clean the house is.

by Jlk_107

I just got a D7 for Christmas and I am in love. The setup was extremely simple and the steps were easy to follow. Had it connected in no time. Once setup, I ran the special cleaning to setup my Floor plan— went off without a hitch! I then setup all my zones— very easy process & renaming for easy navigation is done in a snap. The vacuum is extremely powerful— the housekeeper came just last week, and the amount of debris Fran picked up on her first run was unbelievable. She leaves vacuum lines in my carpet— you can really tell that she’s done a great job cleaning. This first run, I had to empty the bin about 3 times for 1000sqft house. I was happy to empty, because I knew she was removing all of this dirt and dust from my home. I expect follow up cleanings to feature less emptying... I have set the schedule to have Fran clean twice per week, so it shouldn’t get too dirty between cleanings. Thank you so much for a wonderful & exciting adventure with my new D7, Fran!

by Sullymomster

I bought my D3 connected roughly a year ago if not less, I was so thrilled at how it worked and the detailed map of where my bot cleaned while I was sleeping, about 5 months into owning it however NeatoRobotics just quit working and I tried several times to reboot, the bot still worked but wouldn’t connect to NeatoRobotics . I have called customer service several times and wasted hours on the phone to no avail. I have several wifi enabled products in my home and none have ever lost connection outside of obvious circumstances. My Neato is set up right next to my wireless router but cannot find it, meanwhile somehow it finds my neighbors router. I’ve gone and typed in the router name and though ok I’ve got it but no it won’t let me get past naming the bot now... while the vacuum still works quite well the inability to use NeatoRobotics or run it on a schedule is super frustrating. I spent a lot of time looking for the vacuum that was right for me with 4 young kids and a golden retriever and was so sure I’d made the right choice both financially and from a performance standpoint but sadly I’m regretting what feels like money and time wasted.

by GypsyBagelhands

The robot is connected to the internet per my router, but for whatever reason it disconnects at least once a month on average( but often multiple times a month, then will be fine for a few months), some times it will magically reconnect after a few days, others it just doesn’t and requires that I uninstall NeatoRobotics , reinstall, then set up the vacuum as a new device. It’s absurd. Every time I’ve put in a help ticket (it took me a while to figure out exactly what works to fix it) Neato has blamed the issue on my router, despite roughly a dozen other smart devices having no issues with connection at all. I feel confident the issue is related either to their app or their server. I wish there was a way to just have it run via wifi regardless of needing an outside internet connection so it doesn’t require the Neato server to be working properly. It’s so frustrating. I love the device but hate NeatoRobotics /service.

by Sunnysuraj

Updated, since my robot wasn’t connecting but it is connected now: Here and there I have trouble with NeatoRobotics . It has great features — they added no-go lines for the Connected D5 in the last year so I get to make use of that. When NeatoRobotics works, it’s great! It lets me know when the robot gets stuck, where it is, and the scheduled cleaning days make keeping the floors clean easy. If I had any requests, it would be perhaps to make an “every two days” schedule, as right now I have it set to Mon-Wed-Fri-Sun, which means it runs two days in a row out of the week. The interface isn’t perfect but it’s easy enough to understand, and whenever I’ve had an issue the response is always quick. I just wish solving connectivity issues was easier, but that may be my home internet. Otherwise it’s great to leave vacuuming to this! I have two dogs and two birds and there’s always plenty to clean up after.