We get all the wires out of the way, so you can see clearly that the main PCBA is noticeably more compact than Roomba’s. The front bumper is also attached to the cover panel-This reduces the impact of collision on the main body. It has aluminum foil on its backside to maximize total internal reflection, which can help with color mixing and minimizes losses. That’s nice DFA!Īround the bigger orange button, there’s an arc-shaped light guide. The three little black buttons are unique in their edge notch arrangements, preventing assembly error. Here’s a look at all the buttons that the user interacts with, located in the cover panel. That’s nothing a little hot glue can’t fix though! There are pairs of posts designed into the top cover for this purpose, but it seems like they were insufficient. With all these wires, you have to do some routing. In contrast, Neato chose to use more traditional, connectorized wire harnesses. By using board-edge connectors, Roomba was able to eliminate wire harnesses from the replaceable modules to the main PCBA. The first thing we noticed is that there are a lot of wires. Now that we’re done with external components, let’s see what’s inside! We’ll also note that this fan looks like an off-the-shelf component. The disadvantage is that if the fan goes kaput, it’s not so easy to replace. The advantage of having the fan out of the bin is that replacement bins will cost less. The Neato sounds like a jet engine spinning up and gives the impression of high power and performance. It’s much bigger than the fan found in Roomba’s Aerovac bin-as soon as you turn the Neato on you can hear the difference between it and the Roomba. The fan is located in the body of the vacuum instead of the dust chamber like Roomba.
The motor that drives the brush can’t be removed from the bottom just yet, which makes the brush module less replaceable than Roomba’s. There’s no “dirt detection” feature like the piezo on the Roomba. Neato also comes with a second brush that’s a pure beater brush. The brush that’s installed in the Neato when we got it is a neat hybrid design: it’s both a beater brush and a bristle brush. This means removing the module can be challenging: if the switch goes out, there is no way for the user to replace it.Īs we mentioned before, the Neato uses only one brush, whereas the Roomba uses two counter-spinning brushes. Unlike the Roomba design, the switch and the extension spring are not part of the removable wheel module. This is normally closed (pressed down), and when it becomes open, Neato knows its wheel has fallen off a cliff. In the photo below, the Roomba’s motor is on the left, and the Neato’s is on the right.Īnd here’s the snap action switch under the wheel module. The magnetic encoder (tachometer) on the Neato and the Roomba look like siblings. The motor shaft is geared down three times, instead of four on the Roomba’s wheel gearbox. Here’s a look at the Neato’s wheel gearbox. The wheel module is very similar to the one found on the Roomba, but Neato’s wheel hubs use less plastic. However, a bigger battery doesn’t always mean longer battery life. In contrast, the Roomba 650’s battery pack only has 3000 mAh of capacity in one battery pack. Each 6-cell Ni-MH battery pack is 3200mAh. We found two battery packs after removing the small doors adjacent to the left and right wheels.
Actually, the threads are exactly the same. The tires look very similar to the Roomba. The brush is also longer because it’s not stuck between the wheels, which allows it to cover more area per pass. Fans of Neato say the square nose helps the Neato clean corners much better than the Roomba. the two counter-rotating ones on the Roomba. I gotta say, anything on the light grey to beige spectrum doesn’t do electronics any favors.įlipped on its back, this Neato bot shows us its many screws. Mechanical SystemĪt first look, the Neato has almost a vintage air to it, thanks to its color scheme.
However, it was launched way back in 2012, so you can find great discounts on this model today. The XV-21’s original MSRP was $429, a little bit more expensive than Roomba 650. We are tearing down the XV-21 model, one of Neato’s best selling models. Best Coast competition, but it is what it is now! We didn’t mean for this to turn into a East Coast vs. Neato is headquartered in Newark, California, whereas iRobot hails from Massachusetts. However, it quickly established itself as a worthy competitor: Roomba and Neato are now the two most recognizable brand names for robotic vacuums. Neato Robotics is a newcomer to the robotic vacuum business compared to iRobot it only began shipping products in 2010.
#Neato xv series#
Welcome to part 2 of The Great Robotic Vacuum Showdown! If you didn’t have a chance to check out Part 1 of this series where we took apart the Roomba, go ahead and check that out first.
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