There are a number of robot vacuums under $300, even some good options like iLife A4s under $200. Then what’s the point of spending under $500 on Neato Botvac D4 connected?
That said, this robot vacuum offers some features which are not available in budget-friendly robot vacuum cleaners like personalized cleaning maps, app control, laser navigation, robust scheduling, virtual boundaries, smart home integration through IFTTT, smart charging, powerful suction, voice assistant compatibility using Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant.
Neato Botvac D4 Connected Review
Table of Contents
Let’s discuss the Neato Botvac D4 Connected Review in details.
Design and Features
The D shape of D4 connected allows the vacuum to clean near the walls efficiently. The top is made of black stubble textured finish, it measures in at 3.9 by 13.2 by 12.6 inches (HWD) and weighs around 7.4 pounds.
It’s bit taller and due to the raised turret which contains laser technology, it’s not capable to get under low-clearance furniture. But the excellent navigation system makes it a fair trade.
There’s a start button near the front bumper and two indicator lights. One light shows Wi-Fi connectivity, other shows battery life. In the center, there’s a top-loading dirt bin. It’s easy to remove and empty compared to connected D5 but has a small capacity of 0.7 litres.
At the bottom of the vacuum, you will find swivel wheels, two main threads, charging contacts, wide combo roller brush. For the accessories, there’s an extra filter, spare combo brush, and a charging dock.
Setup and App
The Neato Botvac D4 is ready to use right out of the box. When you receive the box, you have to download the Neato app for Android or iOS, create an account and keep following the wizards to establish a connection with Wi-Fi. Make sure you have a 2.4GHz connection as it won’t work on 5GHz connection.
Furthermore, it’s very easy to hook the vacuum into the voice assistant. Using the Google Home app or Amazon Alexa enable the Neato skill, then link your accounts. Now you can issue commands to start or pause the vacuum, or to check the battery life.
Similarly, you can integrate the vacuum with If This Then That (IFTTT) applets; after this, you can set it to clean right after you leave the house. Neato offers an app for Apple Watch allowing you to control the robot through the wrist.
The mobile app is simple and easy to use. There are several buttons on the home screen to switch between cleaning modes, check battery life, view cleaning maps/statistics, start cleaning. Similarly, at the top left the corner, a three-bar icon houses options for scheduling, floor plans for virtual boundary lines.
If you have shag carpet then you can choose your best vacuum for shag carpet and if you have hard floors then you can choose best vacuum for hardwood floors.
Mapping
The cleaning maps are pretty straightforward. It sketches a complete floor plan of your house, and the blue lines indicate the areas where the robot has been. The red line with a D-shaped dot shows successful docking. Similarly, a yellow icon indicates when it ran out of battery.
In addition, you can see the date and time of cleanings, the total area covered by the robot, and the total time it took to clean.
The D4 supports Neato’s No-Go boundary lines, they are also available in D7. Once the bot passes an initial exploratory clean by creating the aforementioned map, you can draw red lines to cordon off the areas where the vacuum is not allowed to go.
That said, this robot is intelligent enough to avoid obstacles, desk chairs, and tangled power cords. It can handle the mess of power cords, different floor types, the treads helped the D4 crawl over carpeting, vinyl, and raised edge with minimal effort.
With the help of laser navigation, it can clean precisely in a methodical pattern. The bumps against walls or furniture are rare but gentle enough that it won’t leave scuffs. But to avoid these minor bumps you can use Extra Care navigation feature if you are curious about your antiques or delicate pieces you don’t want to be damaged.
It offers impressive suction power that sucks up every straying pet hair, dust, and other dirt particles. Though the dustbin is small it can provide space to clean up a very large area.
Here’s the best part…
You also receive a push notification when the dirt/dust bin is full, so you can empty it before you put it back out to finish the work.
The battery life is not that impressive but a mid-range.
In a single charge, it lasts for about 75 minutes and can clean about 875 square feet. It also features a Quick Boost charging feature that allows the vacuum to return to its base when runs low on battery and after refill, again starts where it left and finish cleaning and repeats this process twice in a session. For large or small homes it’s a perfect choice.
As for noise, this vacuum is on louder and you won’t be able to listen to your TV shows while the vacuum is operating around and you will end up raising the volume of your TV or stereo to mask the noise.
Final Words
This vacuum offers top-notch features like laser navigation, virtual boundary lines, voice commands and cleaning maps for a relatively moderate price. But mobile app and voice assistant compatibility have become common in less-expensive vacuums like Ecovacs Deebot N79S.
But D4 connected still wins the game with it’s higher-quality build, virtual walls, cleaning maps and better app. These are the features that you will most probably find in more expensive high-end models.
Overall, Neato Botvac D4 Connected is an expensive vacuum that offers virtual walls, customized cleaning maps, scheduling, voice commands using Google Assistant and Alexa.
- Excellent laser navigation
- Comes with cleaning maps
- Virtual Wall
- Smart charging
- Voice commands capabilities
- IFTTT integration
- Short battery life
- Noisy
This Neato Botvac D4 Connected Review ( Pros & Cons ) Updated article show pros, cons, and other options of this vacuum cleaner to help you make a better decision.
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