Neato Robotics D4 Laser Guided Smart Robot Vacuum - Wi-Fi Connected, Ideal for Carpets, Hard Floors and Pet Hair, Works with Alexa

Update:I took away another star because of several issues that just seems like lazy engineering:- like other users said this thing will bump and push everything out of the way quite strongly and I cant enable gentle mode on a schedule for some reason. Easily remedied by allowing gentle modern schedule- the robot will fail to return home about once a week on average which is strange because it looks like it tries to ping a beacon back to home base- the robot requires more attention than I'd like for something that's supposed to make my life easier. I don't want to have to spend time babysitting it usually for things like my bin is full or when it is failing to return to home base- the robot will not continue on schedule when it thinks the bin is full and that is a constant problem because of the way the bin is designed everything gets clogged at the filter before entering the bin so the robot sensors pick this up and assumes the bin is full and I have to clear the congestion before it will continue cleaning. I have to do this about once a week which is annoying as the filter is messy to clean and the bin is near empty- trash bin design, c'mon people... this problem has been solved by other vacuums years ago. My shark filter is water cleanable and is hepa rated and easy to clean and things get trapped and filled up in the bin like it's supposed to. All neato engineers had to do was follow a similar design. Any QA testing would show there is a problem with congestion in the filter. It's an obvious flaw and cant believe it was overlooked. It's like releasing a chair that will collapse the moment someone sits on it. Its that obvious.Original review:The robot, like most IOT devices (cameras, etc), only connects to wifi 2.4ghz not 5ghz, so if you want to set it up you need to connect your phone to the 2.4ghz wifi of your home. I didn't see this in the manual. I chose this over the roomba in the same price range because of its mapping feature, superior suction power, and orderly straight line pattern cleaning vs purely random cleaning. It's rated best in its price range in tech reviews. The most important thing is that a robovac should make your life easier, not harder, if it accomplishes that and can do that for years then I consider that a win. This neato bot is half half for me, as it does require more frequent attention than my dumb vac mostly due to it being too smart - notifications - and its poor filter congestion, but it also is great at cleaning large areas and provides me mapping and virtual barrier features that a dumb robovac just doesn't have in this price range. It also has easily available cleaning parts replacement for purchase on amazon. Overall it's a win for me, but I'm still in search of that perfect robovac at an affordable price range if it even exists. I've only had it for a few weeks on a daily cleaning schedule and its needed manual intervention at least 4 times. But it did a much better job than my dumb robovac which gets stuck everytime (thanks to virtual barriers in the neato app). To my knowledge you cant really expect these robots to be perfect, they will get stuck and will require attention from time to time. At this point, technology wise, there are no perfect robovacs unless your rooms are debris free and relatively easy to navigate with a flat surface and no obstacles. For what it is it is worth the sub $300 price for me for the smart features + great cleaning power.The good:-Has mapping feature- uses lidar instead of a camera means it can find it's way and map even in the dark-wifi notifications with map of cleaned areas-Will clean 80-95% of the specified areasStrong suction removes most dust, hair from the floors and keeps your areas clean- Can run on a schedule. And it can have multiple schedules-Cleans about 700sqft in about 1hr-isnt completely dumb like other robovacs that just bumps everywhere, it does seem to detect edges most of the time and avoids some of the bumping but you'll need to enable care mode for this using the app- you can modify the map on your phone to put virtual barrier lines to limit cleaning area of the robot without using physical barriers- is able to get out of most tough situations like stuck in a corner or on a small curb by itself- app is relatively easy to use- it will notify you via app if it gets stuck, needs emptying, or any kind of help- easy to clean and empty- the robot will recharge itself and continue its floor cleaningThe bad:- the manual and instructions is totally lacking. My first time emptying the bin they had instructions on how to take it out but not now to put it back in, the filter was not installed correctly and if I had forced it back in it would've broke the bin or the filter. There are other things like wifi setup that is totally lacking in instructions.- requires app to use full functions, I cant imagine configuring this without the app as it has no LCD screens or menus- it still gets stuck sometimes- initial mapping requires it to bump everywhere first before creating the floor plan- only 1 floor plan allowed- if you modify the floor plan and save you cant seem to revert back to the original or undo your barrier lines on the map. you probably have to delete the existing floor plan and remap your entire floor again and use a new map- it will try to go over everything that is even slightly sloped like light stands etc- scratched easily- the battery seems to run out way faster than the 70 minutes it advertises- the robovac will only do 2 maximum recharges and cleaning before it declares the job is done not based on the coverage of the floor plan.- the floor cleaning coverage it generates after cleaning seems to be somewhat inaccurate so I cant tell if it actually cleaned those areas- it seems to ignore the virtual barrier lines sometimes- on turbo/power mode it is really loud, probably twice as loud as my other robovac-The trash bin is really small compared to other robovacs so expect frequent emptying-The robot will complain about the bin needing to be emptied when the filter is congested not when it's really full - it will always tell you to empty the bin before the bin is anywhere near full due t ok filter congestion-The filter design has no mesh protection so all the debris and dust gets trapped between the folded crevices making it hard to clean and a mess to empty. You'll need a small and hard brush to brush the crevices to clean the filter and even then its impossible to clean entirely with just brushing and the dust it has trapped will spew out so wear a mask or do it inside a container or outside of the house.-Due to the design of the filter it will get congested before the bin really fills up.-It still gets lost sometimes and can't find it's way back to the charging station which is surprising for a robot with advanced mapping capabilities that can tell you where in the house its located and where the charging station is. But the slightest change in the house arrangements throws it off-The changing nature of the rooms , chairs being moved, shoes in the way, a loose power cord, will throw off the robots trajectory and routine causing it to be inaccurate in its routes or get stuck/lost.Will update this review if I think of anything.

-- 2 year reviewMuch like my review below, this vacuum is excellent. After 2 years with it, I couldn't imagine not having one of these robot vacuums. The battery is still going strong, but it does need to recharge a bit sooner than usual. Not a huge deal as it still only takes 2 trips to clean the entire house.All in all maintenance has been super easy, and the Neato continues to be a beyond excellent product. I am particularly waiting for the D9 or D10 to release so I can compare the features and potentially upgrade. In the event that I do upgrade though, I will still hold the D4 in very high regard. It's an excellent vacuum, and i'll be gifting it to a friend afterwards who I'm certain will learn to appreciate this determined little worker.--- 4 month reviewSo now I've had the Neato D4 for a good while, and I've docked my original score to 4/5 instead of 5/5 stars. I'll start by saying I am still very happy with the little bot, but a few issues have cropped up with it.Pros:1. Big Succ. This thing CLEANS like crazy, im talking full dust bins on the regular in a fairly clean house already. I've gone through like 3 filters in 4 months because this thing is just dutifully scooping up years of hidden dust build up in places where they were missed.2. Dope app. Tell the little robot to clean while you're out at work, store, or halfway across the planet. Setup no-go lines and it will ignore specific rooms, spots in rooms, etc. I use this a lot to have it dodge electronics whenever possible. The neato team really did a great job with their hardware/software integration.3. Lidar and Mapping abilities are 10/10 excellent. I've had this robot re-map the house about 3 times now (I was re-arranging a lot of stuff) and it did it with amazing accuracy everytime. It knows where your stuff is, and it's easy to spot furniture, walls, obstacles within the app and draw no-go lines that it will with perfect accuracy avoid.4. Not afraid of ledges or bumps. I have quite a few bumps, and small ledges in the house that I was worried the bot would get stuck on or not be able to traverse over. Just rest assured this thing will clear most obstacles below 2 inches without any issue. I have one particularly large ledge that's about 2 1/2 inches tall that it needs to clear, and while it sometimes doesn't make it on its first try (going too slow), the robot will back up and do its best to clear that ledge a second time. Basically i've never had it get stuck trying to clear any bump or ledge in the house and that's very impressive.5. It fits in places you'd never expect. This thing cleans under the bed, tables, chairs, my bathroom sink and never gets stuck under there. It has managed to clean areas that have not been touched in years. I guarantee if you have an idea of where it will be able to clean, this thing will manage to go a step farther and surprise you.Cons:1. It gets stuck, a lot. I use no-go lines always, i re-update them fairly frequently to try and make it more efficient. Reasons that the bot get stuck are things like cords, stray clothes/fabrics, and my favorite: It managed to push the door closed and get itself stuck in a room. I have a cleaning schedule for Monday, Wednesday, Friday for this thing and at least once a week it gets stuck and doesn't finish a cleaning. It's an annoyance I am willing to put up with, but I can definitely say for people who are less forgiving this will probably drive them mad. I do my best to keep clothes and cords and other debris out of its way, but you kind of have to accept there are times where you'll forget and the robot will find it and get stuck on it everytime. Luckily the app will send you a map of its last reported location so it's not like im searching my whole house for it, but still.2. Sticky sensors/buttons. More than a few times in less than 4 months this thing has told me it has a problem with the dust bin and it took me a while to realize it was a little rubber button that the bin presses down on that got stuck. Kind of have to jiggle it to get it to go back to operating normally.3. Pushes its charging stand all over the place. Neato says it needs 3 feet of clearance from all sides to be able to dock properly. Ok no problem, I gave it all the space it needs. I've had probably 3 situations in the last few months where it went to dock and pushes its charging stand into the wall which then causes it to move slightly and get turned around at times. This isn't a huge deal really, but I see the app tell me "Something's Wrong" and that its not charging just to see its pushed the dock out of its spot. Seems like a bug, and design issue with the dock.4. No side brushes kinda sucks. I know I could have bought the model that had side brushes, but the price jumps for Neato bots are high so I went with what I felt was the best value one. I'll say the D4 is an excellent value, but not having a side brush definitely shows. Overtime it manages to push/accumulate small trash/debris in corners and right underneath kitchen cabinets where it can't reach. This just means once in a blue moon I sweep those areas, and the rest of the room is kept well clean by the bot. I just didn't realize how much those side brushes mattered, so if I had the choice now I would probably buy a model that has those.

I bought the Neato D4 and two things it does is vacuum on extremely dark carpet in the entry. On the same carpet my other robot vacuum backs up and stop unless I block the sensors to prevent falling in the stairs. The Neato D4 also cleaned flawlessly my bathroom shag rugs for the sink and toilet. The other robot would always flip the edge and get caught in the mess. However the other robot is better for the edges because of the side brushes. A model of the Neato with a side is much more expensive. If I were Neato I would unblock the multiple floor mapping restrictions completely. It still works without it but won't work with no goto lines in a second task.I had an error signal for the Neato D4 indicating a full dust bin but It was almost empty. The filter grooves were full and packed of dust and hair. I fixed it by using another vacuum to clean out the filter. Then I cut out a rectangular piece of the green material from one of the cheap Dollarama bags. Held it in place with an elastic (from the post man) shown in the pic. Now my bin can fill up without jamming the filter and incurring an error message (see pic of full dust bin). The picture of the full bin is with the green cloth protecting the filter from jams. Without it, the D4 stopped with the error message with the bin containing one tenth of the content of a full bin. Everything was packed directly in the filter.Update: Kept getting an error message to empty the dust bin and clean the drop and mural sensors. Even after doing it and with a very clean filter nothing would work. The D4 kept displaying this fatal error message. Chatted with support the next day and the problem was found to be that the small rubber dust bin button was stuck in the down position. I had to pull it back up to clear the empty dust bin message. Once back in the proper position the D4 worked again. Simple problem to fix when the cause is known, but completely kept the D4 from working before it was found as the cause.

The vacuum is alright, it was better at the beginning, but the suction power is much worse right now. I would see stuff left on the floor when the vacuum has already passed by. I've had too many connection issues that I have given up on using the app now. I had contacted customer service a few times to seek advice on improving the connection issues but they were of no help really. The map on the app does not respond at all anymore. I now only use it on some rooms by placing the vacuum in the room and closing the door so that it cleans inside the room and stops on its own.

This robot vacum does a really good job cleaning. It's extremely smart at navigating and picks up lots of dust, hair, and debris. This for sure an upgrade from those random navigation robot vacuums, and this should be the model most people that live in moderate sized homes/apartments. I love that it shows you a map of where it cleaned, allows you to add virtual no go lines, shows the battery status while it's cleaning, and that there's integration with Google home and Siri Shortcuts. The downsides are that since the front is not round it might have trouble getting into tighter gaps that round robot vacuums can get into though it makes up for this in corners as that's what it does best. Overall it's very featured pack, and is able to updated via software which makes it a smart investment for people looking for their first robot vacuum or people upgrading to something better.

We have a Roomba and a Neato. We started with the Roomba, works great, easy to clean, does a good job vacuuming the floor, but bumps into things sometimes a little hard. My son has the Neato, so I picked one up while on sale. This one is much more gentle when approaching walls and furniture (but can climb up which is a pain as it gets stuck, but easily gets over thresholds), nowhere near as easy to clean the filter and holder as the Roomba, but ALWAYS, AND I MEAN ALWAYS, LOSES NETWORK CONNECTIVITY. It seems like an ongoing problem for at least the last 5 years!!! If you have to choose, I would recommend the Roomba. Not one single problem with that robot. Shame on Neato for not addressing this issue, knowing that it is an ongoing concern for years. Just fix it. The rest I can live with.

Very pleased with the d4 which is replacing my older d80. Suction power is great and the robot seems to navigate around the basement easily. It goes around my poker table and chairs very well, around my couch and table. It completely covered my basement in about 40 min (600 sqft) which consists of office, bathroom, bar (hardwood) and sitting area. Did not get stuck on anything and found it’s way back home without any issue.The setup was easy and it connected immediately to wifi. The app was simple to use and it mapped the basement in one go.Overall very pleased.Edit: The D4 also has the same suction power as the D6 and D7. It does not have multi floor mapping so it will remap (or have to remap) if it is moved around.