When I got a Dyson, I thought it was the Ferrari of vacuum cleaners. Since then I have also lived with a Tineco steam which has a place in my heart.
But an auto cleaning robot? Go To the Ecovacs site and you will be bamboozled with cleaning time, battery life, suction power and more. Buying one can be hard work. We gave our ‘Nemo’ the Neo 2.O a spin and this is how it fared:
Unboxing
It’s a breeze. The main unit comes wrapped in a soft cloth pouch. Attach the little brush at the front, fill the detachable dispenser with water, connect the base to the power supply, and place it on its base. Voilà!
Design
Compared to others in the range, like the Deebot N10 Plus, this is a more compact unit with no big, bulky, knee-high auto ‘dustbin/charger.’ Instead, it has a small charging station that’s slim, compact, and unobtrusive in our lounge. Neo boasts a solid, sturdy design, hugging the floors and remaining stable over rugs while being easy to pick up and maneuver.
Setup
The app controls rooms and ‘no go’ zones + remote tracking It’s smart – oops that’s a stair!
I download the app and Bluetooth-connect our Neo. The first run out of the block for NEO is to map out the lounge downstairs, then it’s upstairs to do the same. The app lets you name and order the areas for cleaning. I especially love the ‘virtual boundary’ feature, allowing me to keep it out of Georgia’s (our nervous greyhound’s) safe retreat, aka upstairs office. While I’ve been home for all the cleaning sessions, you can set a timer and track its progress via the app.
Operating the NEO – functionality and features
There’s a lot to unpack here, so let’s break it down feature by feature:
- Suction Power: The Ecovacs entire range goes from 4300pa to 18500pa. This model sits at 5000pa, offering modes of quiet, standard, strong, and max+. With two greyhounds, strong was best for downstairs, and max+ for upstairs. Battery life takes a hit on max+, but it’s worth it.
- Mopping: Four functions—lo w, medium, high, and ultra-high—make it perfect for everything from wooden floors to bathrooms and laundry.Again the ultra high modes were needed for things like bathrooms.
- Running Time: It handles my house easily with 180 minutes (around 350m²). If it’s running low, it returns to base and remembers where it left off. With dogs, the 400ml dustbin can fill up quickly especially on carpet, but the 300ml water tank is perfect for our small inner west townhouse.
- Wooden/Tiled Floors vs Carpet Recognition: This feature is brilliant. It navigates carpets upstairs, following mopping mode, and adjusts suction for carpets.
- Navigation: The Smart Navi 3.0 LDS laser navigation system continuously scans the rooms, avoiding stairs and updating maps in real-time. It did get stuck a few times on sections of rugs and greyhound futons, but overall, it’s quite efficient.
Price Point
RRP of $699. DEEBOT NEO 2.0 sits on the lower end of the offerings. It is a good all rounder for value. See the Ecovacs for more details.
What we are addicted to? The slimline design is a winner. It fits under sofas, chairs, my beloved Peloton, and behind yoga mats and beds. The easy switch from mopping to cleaning is handy, and it always does what it’s told—unlike some others in my household. For the price point it’s my new bestie household warrior. In short it has a place in my home. Great value.
What do we need to be more addicted? With two dogs: Georgia our nervous one is a bit wary of it, the other (Maggie) isn’t sure whether to play with it, or kill it. If you have dogs, your cleaning needs double. The suction on our carpets would be the thing I would potentially pay more to upgrade as it didn’t get our upstairs as clean as our Dyson. Also things like stairs it can’t clean along with getting stuck in a few areas which were a bit tricky.
