Neato Botvac D7 Connected Review – Botvac Flagship Release Date and Specs

The Neato Botvac D7 Connected is the next generation robotic vacuum cleaner.  It is a smart robot for the home, and Right Now is On Sale from March 13, 2018, on online. The available country is in North America and Europe. On the 31^st August 2017, at the IFA Showstopper Event in London, Neato Robotics launched this smart robotic vacuum and collected the Innovation Award for Smart Home and Appliances by IHS Markit 2017.  That really is how good this vacuum is.

Neato Robotics has its roots in Stanford’s Annual Entrepreneurs Challenge, and in 2010 released its first robot vacuum cleaner. Since then, it has been pioneering the way for a whole host of firsts:

• 1^st to use Smart Laser Navigation (Lasersmart™)
• 1^st to announce WiFI Connection
• 1^st to ship with smartwatch support
• 1^st to support Amazon Alexa and Amazon Echo
  
• 1^st to support Zone Cleaning

This really is only the tip of the iceberg though. Recently Neato Robotics, operating as an independent company from California under its new owner Vorwerk, launched something a lot more interesting – Lasersmart™ Mapping and Navigation with Floor Plan Mapping. The Neato Botvac D7™ Connected is really going to map your floorplan and find the most efficient way to clean your home.

What Features Can You Expect on the Botvac D7™ Connected?

The list is sizable when placed alongside other well-known models like the iRobot® Roomba® 980. The Neato Botvac D7™ Connected boasts a 50% larger bin, a Turbo and Eco mode and Ultra Performance Filters that filter the air down to .3 microns.

 

The D7™ Connected is also sporting a hard-wearing metallic shell. Its familiar D shape is able to clean closer to corners and skirting boards due to its flat front edge. The brush, of which there are two types, is almost the entire length of the longest edge and is able to get within 14mm of walls and that is before the Neato side brush is considered.

Here is a list to show clearly some of the features of the Neato Botvac D7™ Connected Vacuum:

• Spinflow™ Power Clean
• Zone Cleaning which let you could set the cleaing area via app
• Lasersmart™ Mapping and Navigation
• Floor Plan Mapping
• No-Go areas
• Neato Connected App and smartwatch compatibility
• Alexa, Google assistant, and even Facebook Chatbot connectivity
• Up to 120 minutes cleaning on a single charge in eco mode up to 90 minutes in Turbo-mode)
• Weighs less
• Larger Bin
• Wider Brush
• High capacity Lithium-Ion Battery
• Auto return to base and resume functionality

No-Go Lines demonstrations:

The Botvac D7™ Connected is very well suited to its environment, and with a length of 12.5in (31.9mm), depth of 13.2in (33.6) and a height of 3.9in (10mm), this robotic vacuum can fit into most places. What’s more, it only weighs 7.7lbs (3.5kg), so is more than capable of being transported around your home with ease.

Detailed Features of Neato D7 Connected:

What’s in Box

Items Warranty:

Robot Vacuum: 1 Year Limited

Lithium-ion Battery: 6 Month Limited

How well does it Clean?

Of course, you don’t purchase a robotic vacuum to sit in the corner and look pretty though. It is designed to complete a job and do that job as best it can.

The Neato Botvac D7™ Connected is fitted with a Spiral Combo Brush roller at the front of the vacuum. This has been described by many users as being highly effective in picking up hair, whether human or pet.  Designed with maximum suction in mind to deep clean your floors and carpets.

The D7 is the flagship witch comes with the new feature Zone cleaning, you could set the area you want to clean on the app. Very easy to clean and smart.

The D7™ also features a powerful motor which can be adjusted to Eco mode for lighter regular cleaning or placed in Turbo mode for more deep cleaning routines.

The Botvac D7™ Connected uses the Ultra Performance Filter, removing more dust and mold spores from your home. Many users even review the product expressing that the quality of air seems to be better when using the Ultra Performance Filters, removed small particles down to 0.3 microns. Perhaps the D7™ should be a consideration for allergy sufferers.

The D7™ is capable of moving over most floor surfaces, moving from carpet to wood and tiles with ease. The D-shape allows the vacuum to get closer to corners and walls to maximize its suction and cleaning ability too. That, together with the larger bin, will make easier work of your normal cleaning routines.

Once fully charged the Botvac D7™ Connected will get to work initially mapping the room with its Lasersmart™ Mapping software and then using an efficient algorithm, it will plan the best way to clean your room. The D7™ will do this for each room throughout your home. Best of all, the Neato App will even show you a personalized floor plan of your home and where the D7™ has been cleaning.

If the Botvac D7™ begins to run low on power it will head to the charging station, recharge and the continue cleaning where it left off. As it cleans more regularly, it develops better and better paths around your obstacles and furniture to maximize cleaning.

The Neato App offers a feature which is also cutting edge too. Based on the Coverage Map that the D7™ has produced for you, you can draw ‘No-Go’ lines instructing the D7™ to navigate away from those areas you don’t wish it to clean. Placing no-go lines around your pet’s water and food bowls or your antique furniture become easy as drawing invisible lines on the app.

Clever or what!

This little robot vacuum really can keep your home clean and functions very well with dirt, debris, and hair. It is even a master in the dark since it is laser guided so the lights don’t need to be on during cleaning!

Together with voice commands through Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant, Neato Robotics even integrated Facebook Chatbots to work with your D7™ meaning you can talk to your robot cleaner and have it clean when you want it to, without leaving Facebook at all.

And that’s not all. Neato has integrated with the IFTTT service, so soon you can even plan it to start cleaning when all the lights go out or when the house is empty. These really are exploring the boundaries of what a Smart home could look like.

The D7™ keeps up to date too, by connecting to Neato servers and updating wirelessly to the latest version of its software without the need for the user to go through a long-winded process of downloading and installing any new updates. This robot is becoming truly automatic!

Neato Botvac d7™ Connected vs the iRobot® Roomba® 980

The Roomba® 980 is iRobots® top of the line version of the robot vacuum and offers an amazing host of options that are similar to the Neato Botvac D7™ Connected Vacuum, but it also has some glaring differences.

The Roomba® 980 comes with an auto Boost Mode for when it’s on carpets that are a slightly thicker pile than your normal one, and it is fitted with Tangle-Free Dual Multi-Surface Brushes, something that iRobot® is particularly proud of.

It is also updated to the new iAdapt 2.0 navigation and mapping software, that visualizes your home and then plans an efficient cleaning pattern, though this is done through sensors and not through Lasersmart™ technology like the D7™ has. This allows for a good clean of around 120 minutes maximum before it will return to its base and recharge and then resume where it left off.

The differences though are what stand out at this price range. On the Botvac D7™ Connected the Lasersmart™ really works efficiently to map out a floor plan, but the D7™ does need help with cables and tassels that are on the floor. It doesn’t have the Tangle-Free Brushes the 980 has, nor is it able to untangle itself from cords either like the Roomba 980 can.

The Botvac D7™ does have quite a considerable difference over Roomba® 980 filtration system too. It is able to remove particles down to a mere 0.3 microns, whereas the iRobot® 980, with its Aeroforce® High-Efficiency Filter can only manage 10 microns. This must also impact on sound quality, as many users claim the D7™ to be quieter in eco mode compared to the 980 which continuously appears in reviews as noisy.

Another important consideration is the ability of the D7™ to understand ‘No-Go’ areas based on where a user draws a line on a map. The Roomba® 980 is only able to provide this functionality through its use of physical ‘Lighthouses’ currently, which stand in the way blocking access to objects.

Finally, the options for voice commanding the Roomba® 980 via Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant is only available currently in English, in the US, but the Botvac D7™ is available in the US, UK and soon Germany, and has FB chatbot and IFTTT capability. Click Neato Botvac D7 VS. iRobot Roomba 980 to get more comparison detail information.

Which one should you choose for your home

The Botvac D7™ has very little that can be said against it when comparing it with the iRobot 980, but there are considerations.

The D7™ is expensive but so too is the iRobot® 980. Robotic vacuums with this much Smart technology come at a price. However, you would expect with a price tag so high that the Botvac would have included some kind of program that allows it to untangle itself from cables or carpet tassels. This is where the iRobot® 980 is pretty nifty.

The better filter on the Botvac D7™ wins hands down over the iRobot® 980, as does the larger bin. All certainly important considerations in keeping your home clean and the air of a higher quality.

The efficiency in mapping and then planning its route through your home is also a major plus for the Botvac D7™ except for one major flaw. If you live in a multi-story house, the D7™ will only map one-floor plan at a time. So, moving it between floors will require it to again re-map and for you to then re-enter all the no-go areas. This is something the iRobot® 980 doesn’t need to worry about as it maps through its sensors as it goes.

There is a weight difference between these two robotic vacuums and the roller technology really does seem to offer slightly different options, with the D7™ providing two solutions for your home, making hair or dirt a thing that you need not worry too much about.

The website for Neato is easier to navigate around too, offering handy video tips and a great support section for users to gain the most use from their D7™ and that, paired with a great robotic vacuum seems to be the best option currently.

In Conclusion

When deciding on an automatic vacuum cleaner, we all have our preferences, but if you are choosing one that is in a high price bracket it would be logical to purchase one that has improved mapping technology, easy invisible ‘No-go’ lines, efficient cleaning and great connectivity from within an app or even smartwatch. With those specifications, the Neato Botvac D7™ Connected really is a superior choice in our opinion.