what's up guys i'm ben from Authentech,
and today's video super interesting we're gonna be comparing to the current
top-of-the-line robot vacs in the industry right now I'm talking about the
Neato Botvac D7 versus the iRobot Roomba i7 plus first I want to cover all
the unique features and benefits of each model and then at the end we'll cover
the pros and cons the major differences between the two let's dive right in and
check them out first massive shout out to both Neto and iRobot for sending me
the review units let's start with the d7 from Neto in the box includes the d7 bot
vac charging base extra filters cleaning tool and a 2 meter magnetic boundary
marker the d7 has a D shaped design which is quite unique compared to other
robot Mac's out there the main idea is so that it can get straight into corners
better which is clever in my opinion another feature I really appreciate in
which more robot VAX would adopt is that massive size of that main brush
underneath it's 11 inches I believe it spans almost the entire width of the
whole unit and this simply makes sense right it's more efficient just like a
normal vacuum the less times needed to go back and forth there's wider coverage
area and it's great to have on a small note I wish that little side brush was a
bit larger it seems just so tiny especially compared to competing models
and then there's been times that a larger side brush would have caught a
few things that it scooted past the overall design of the d7 looks sharp and
nice to empty the dirt bin is easy and straightforward and that bin can hold
quite a bit of dirt and debris I also appreciate the built-in carrying handle
it makes it easy for carrying around when you need to manually relocate on
the sides and bottom are tons of sensors and up top is lidar or what nito calls
their laser smart technology it scans and mattes your entire house creating a
floor plan for the robot vac to follow this allows intelligent navigation and
creates those beautiful straight lines in the carpet which is always a favorite
of mine another major benefit of the laser it allows the vac to run in the
dark so entering rooms that are dimly lit or even run
late at night or early morning this won't affect the laser navigation at all
now I'm getting a little ahead of myself to set up is fast and easy
you download their app create an account connect the bot back to your home Wi-Fi
and that's basically it it features over-the-air firmware
updates seamless and painless the app is slick and clean there's just a few small
but nice touches I appreciate like tap the battery gives you exact percentage
plus time remaining to fully charge they say the battery life can last up to
two hours on a full charge you can view a cleaning summary where the VAX cleaned
on your floor plan plus detailed and historical date of cleaning time area
cleaned etc under cleaning options you can select full house spa or manual also
choose eco or turbo mode with extra care available as well you can schedule
cleaning days and times my very first impressions the back is
not very loud at all I could be on a phone call with the vac cleaning in the
room no problem the suction and cleaning power also seemed very nice and
sufficient when you first set up the d7 needs to complete a full cleaning run
and then return to base and then you save your created floor plan then it
comes one of my top favorite features of the d7 and that's what they call no go
lines they're basically invisible barriers or lines drawn on your floor
plan to prevent the robot from entering that room or area this is perfect for
creating digital boundaries around those shag rugs or cords on the ground areas
you don't want the vac to go adding these no-go lines on the floor plan is
easy and straightforward a very helpful feature to have another cool one you can
add multiple floor plans as well perfect for multi-level homes with a recent
update they added a quick boost feature which means if the BOTS vac runs low on
power mid cleaning it'll return to the charging base get the right amount of
charge needed to resume that cleaning job to finish the job fast very clever
ok so no product is perfect here's a couple hiccups I found one small issue I
had with map creation is having to run a full complete thorough job run in
order for that map to be created this took me a couple of tries as one time it
got hung up on a shag rug and messed up the map or a doorway was accidentally
closed mid cleaning a feature request I love to see allow me to remotely drive
the bot vac around my house using my phone as a remote it'll bounce that
laser all around let me watch that map being generated it in real-time and then
BAM easy-peasy it's done seems way faster in my opinion another issue I ran
into once your map is created it's currently a difficult task if you move
that base station for example we just got our Christmas tree so I need to move
the base station over a little bit well I first tried a perpendicular wall
approximately eight feet away no go when it goes out to clean that
stays frozen mid spot like a lost puppy I then tried to move it back to almost
where it originally was about three feet away right next to the Christmas tree
but unfortunately still no good could not proceed in the app it says that no
floor plan match is found so unfortunately my only options are to
cancel the cleaning create a new floor plan or clean without no-go lines I feel
like I should be able to just set the new base station location on the current
map or it should be able to automatically figure this all out that
laser system is measuring all around right
fortunately almost all of these items could be fixed with a future software
update one big upcoming feature on the nido is called zone cleaning the feature
isn't available just yet for me right now but it should be coming this fall
2018 we'll be able to draw zones on our map name them and then we can target
those specific areas hopefully we can set custom schedules per specific zones
as well that'd be awesome ok so let's jump over to the Roomba i7
plus this is a robot's latest and greatest and not to worry it has some
awesome unique features of its own first starting with a quick unboxing inside is
the i7 robot vac one clean a base automatic dirt disposal – dirt bags
virtual wall barrier one extra filter and 1 spare side brush design is always
super premium and top quality with the Roomba series they have a built-in
carrying as well which is convenient a few
capacitive touch buttons on top there app and setup is all very similar you
basically connect the Roomba to your home Wi-Fi fast and easy also in the app
you can select Auto one or two pass for deep cleaning job history with analytics
and maps speaking of maps unlike the lidar system iRobot has
decided to stick it out with their patented iadapt navigation and a/v slam
technology by combining an assortment of sensor data like wheel movement optical
floor sensor and the camera on top which is looking for landmarks and patterns
not taking pictures like some people think it paints it all together to
create a virtual floor plan okay so the i7 mapping process is slightly different
as well you send the room out to clean your home and as they say after 2 to 5
cleaning runs your smart map will be Auto generated so as I set my now I
could see the percentage grow with each run which is pretty clever they also
suggest to run the room by at different times of the day so it can learn those
visual landmarks in different lighting conditions and this reveals one small
negative of the V slam technology Roomba can't see in total darkness I know it's
not a large percentage of people but if you're one of the few who like to run
the Roomba in the middle of the night it might have some trouble visually mapping
out your house in the pitch-black just keep this in mind on a positive note of
the Roomba nav system they say if you pick it up or drop it off on any floor
it'll figure out where it's at on the i7 they say you can save up to ten at
different floor plans which seems more than enough interestingly I believe the
laser systems have a more difficult time with this specific task like I just
mentioned if we're moving that base station around it sort of breaks the map
though it all seems software base right either way there are pros and cons of
each nav system ok so back to the features and benefits one of my
favorites and the most obvious feature of the i7 plus is that automatic dirt
disposal and charging station so the Roomba climbs up the station not only to
recharge but then with a massive suction sounds like an awesome jet engine it sucks up all the dirt and dust and
nasty debris straight out of the roomba and right into a disposable bag that
holds up to 30 bins of junk so for a quick math let's say you have a Roomba
automatically run twice every week that's gonna last you about 15 weeks or
over three months for one bag that's pretty good
on the underside of the i7 is probably my favorite roller system they use these
two rubber brush is designed to stay in constant contact with the floor from
hard floors to carpets picking up dust dirt even hair and then always staying
at tangle-free those other brush rollers always seem to tangle up over time with
hair and strings which is just gross to clean out now yes if you choose to
manually empty the dirt bin on the i7 Roomba you can just press the eject
button to pull it out empty clean the filter or whatever I have to say though
the freedom and efficiency of that automatic emptying bin system is just
amazing I can set the schedule and forget it it'll automatically clean my
house Auto empty the dirt bin all I need to do every few months is effortlessly
pull out that bag of debris which conveniently closes down when you pull
it out great attention to detail you toss in the trash and insert a new bag
one small and I mean a very small bummer of that Auto emptying a base station
well you don't get that satisfaction I've seen exactly how much the robot vac
just cleaned up on its last run again not really a negative it's just
sometimes fun to see how much junk that robot actually picks up on a cleaning
often it's a lot more than you think the Roomba i7 cleans up very well good
strong suction again not too loud which is nice and has a slightly larger side
brush for edge sweeping on to my other favorite feature of the i7 is
room-by-room tagging navigation and cleaning with voice control Alexa or
Google assistant scheduling or through app control I can tell the Roomba to go
clean just the kitchen area and bam that's it so here's how its fleshed out
once your smart map is created we're able to label and create sections to
areas and rooms then we hit clean choose specific rooms or the whole house and
hit go and that's why it's so awesome because how
Dhin is my formal dining room or maybe my extra guest bedroom actually really
dirty and needs a cleaning well not every single time the room that goes out
for a clean that's just a waste of time and energy so under scheduling I can say
every Tuesday Thursday and Saturday go out and clean just these higher traffic
areas and rooms I really need the cleaning then add a second scheduled
every single night right at 8:00 p.m. go clean the kitchen as it will probably be
a bit messy from cooking and eating dinner the ideas are pretty endless and
I really enjoy this clean up by room feature now unfortunately the Roomba
isn't perfect either and here's a few wishlist items I found on both the
Roomba and neato there's no real-time mapping or path generation in the app
this was found on my me vac that I reviewed previously make sure you check
it out in case you missed it and it's slightly bigger deal than you might
think to pull up a real-time location tracking of your robot vac to see where
in the house it's already cleaned or see where it has to go maybe it's missed an
area or an object it's struggled to navigate around or its cleans just
enough of the house so we can send it back home these are just a few small
examples of why I miss real-time at map tracking and I'd really like to see the
software feature come to both nieto and Roomba it's definitely not a deal
breaker for either model just something I've really missed coming from the me
vac thankfully this is all software based so hopefully we can see it in a
future update another small negative the Roomba does
not yet have those no-go zones or in-app virtual barriers like the neato
technically I found when you edit the floor plan I could create a zone or
section of a room like this area right here it's a thick shag rug that hangs up
the room but sometimes so instead of no-go lines I call that zone rug and
then simply tell the Roomba to never clean that area so it's kind of like a
workaround I also hear these at no-go areas might be pushed out and they
feature update for that Roomba so stay tuned okay so those are just some of the
key unique features and benefits pros and cons of each robot vac on one hand I
really like the neato super wide cleaning head those no-go lines that
upcoming zone cleaning features going to be
awesome it too has voice and smart home control through a lexan Google assistant
it uses laser tech firm mapping and navigating all around for all lighting
conditions on the other hand the Roomba has those a dual rubber brushes that
never tangle that auto emptying a base station is super convenient and awesome
to have on the neato and other robot VAX out there I always hate having to pull
out that dust bin manually shake all that dust and dirt into the garbage can
particles are flying up everywhere it's pretty disgusting and somewhat of a
hassle as I always forget to do it I like their room by room at mapping
technology and voice control to say Google go clean the kitchen and it sends
the vac right there it feels a little futuristic coming down to price well
it's always fluctuating so keep that in mind
the neato is currently on sale might be a cyber monday deal 600 bucks which kind
of seems like a steal though it's normally around $800 the Roomba is quite
a bit more up at 950 but that's the i7 plus if you don't want or need that
clean base station that Auto empties the dust bin well you could get just the i7
with odds other smart features for $700 so what do you guys think which one do
you prefer and why I'd love to hear your thoughts down in the comments and if
you're new around here consider subscribing and ringing the bell to stay
up to date on all my future tech videos until next time let's live authentic