Neato Botvac 80

Review: Neato Botvac 80 robot vacuum

I originally wrote this review of the Neato Botvac 80 a few months ago. Since that time I have had the chance to work with a different robot vacuum model and I’m expecting to receive yet another model to test out soon. To this day, the Neato Botvac 80 stands out as the best robot vacuum I’ve used.

Here is what I wrote about using the Neato Botvac 80:

Some people collect coins, or stamps. Some people collect baseball cards. In our home, we seem to collect pets (two dogs, six cats, four rabbits, and some random selection of freshwater fish), and vacuums. I may have finally found a vacuum I am truly impressed with, though, in the Neato Botvac 80.

We’ve gone through a number of vacuum cleaners of all shapes, sizes, and price ranges, so we’re sort of vacuum connoisseurs at this point. After I had an opportunity to test out the Moneual Rydis H68 Pro, other vacuum manufacturers began to reach out to see if I’d be interested in seeing how their devices stack up. That led to my review of the Dyson DC59 Motorhead, and to this chance to take a closer look at the Neato Botvac 80.

As I pointed out in previous vacuum reviews, our home—with its vast menagerie of fur-shedding mammals—is an extreme environment. Asking me to try out a vacuum cleaner is definitely a trial-by-fire. The good news is that any vacuum that can even remotely handle my home is almost certainly capable of handling any normal household.

Let me start with the TLDR (too long, didn’t read) synopsis: the Neato Botvac 80 is easily the best robot vacuum cleaner I have used.

Now, let’s move on to how I arrived at that conclusion, and also talk about one issue I’ve run into recently with the Neato.

The Neato Botvac 80 is a little different than the other robot vacuums I’ve used right out of the box. Rather than the standard circular unit, the Neato is shaped like a letter “D”—with one flat side. It’s also different in that rather than regular tires it uses more of a caterpillar track for propelling itself.

The real difference, however, began when I first turned it on. It turned to the left, and turned to the right to scan its environment, and then proceeded to vacuum…in a logical pattern. The website describes it, “Patented laser-guided technology scans and maps the room, plans, and methodically cleans, automatically moving from room to room.”

The other robot vacuums I’ve used seem to bounce around randomly with little rhyme or reason, and I’m not sure how those devices ever determine that the entire floor has been cleaned. The Neato, on the other hand, actually divides the room into sections, and cleans each section by going back and forth in straight lines. What a novel concept!

Read the full review of my experience with the Neato Botvac 80 on Forbes: Neato Botvac 80: This Is The Robot Vacuum You’ve Been Looking For.

Have you used a Neato Botvac 80? What about a different robot vacuum like a Roomba, Moneual, or Deebot? What do you like about robot vacuum cleaners, and what do you think vendors really need to fix to make a “perfect” robot vacuum? Share your thoughts in the comments below. 

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