Neato XV-11 robotic vacuum unboxing video

Ok, I know what many of you are thinking having looked at the title of the post but no I haven’t gone mad. As you know I love all things gadget but even I have to admit that when I got the email asking if I’d like to review a new vacuum cleaner I was a little hesitant but figured what the hell lets give it a whirl.

Now these robotic autonomous aren’t a new idea, they have been around for a while but this Neato XV-11 is one of the latest to appear. The XV-11 was previously only available in the USA but is about to go on sale here in the UK. I believe that it’s going to be the XV-15 in the UK though.

So what’s special about the XV-11 then? Well first of all it’s a very cool gadget. It has its own power dock that it returns to after cleaning your room/house and puts itself back in charge. Unlike other robotic cleaners the Neato has an array of laser sensors that it uses to create a map of walls, furniture and other obstacles once it knows the layout of the room it works out the most effective way to vac the whole of that area before moving on to another room.

I’ve tried the Neato XV-11 out a few times already and have to say I am impressed. I honestly thought it would get stuck in places or need help but it’s very effective in methodically cleaning the whole of the downstairs of our house, a process that takes it around an hour. As cleaning can be scheduled we’ve got it set up to make one pass every day. As a cleaner it’s very effective and does a great job and while it isn’t a complete replacement for a human driven vacuum cleaner it does help to keep human vac-ing to a minimum.

We’re going to let this bad boy run for a few weeks and will report back later.

Posted by: Matt