#NEATO XV 21 HOW TO#
#NEATO XV 21 PRO#

#NEATO XV 21 HOW TO#

The XV-21 handled most of it fairly well, although it became trapped underneath my exercise bike during one run after it climbed over the leg and couldn't figure out how to get back. My apartment isn't terribly big, but it's far from the perfect rectangles of our test floor, and feature some unique obstacles, including a breakfast nook that divides the kitchen from the living room and a variety of furniture to navigate around. I took the XV-21 home for a night, determined to find out.

The same was true when I tested our sand and sawdust mixture - the XV-21 took a little longer and navigated a little less efficiently. We saw a similar sense of distress with more minor hiccups in the XV-21's navigation - in the end, it would find its way back into a more orderly approach to finish the run, but it always took some extra searching before it seemed ready to do so. Ultimately, it would find its way back into a rhythm, sometimes finishing the run with complete coverage, other times missing large spots altogether. In the XV-21's case, the glitch sent it into a bit of a panic, causing it to circle left and right aimlessly, then wander around the test area in wide curves that seemed decidedly out of character, as if it were in search of something familiar. It stopped, realized something wasn't computing right, figured out the problem, then continued on the correct path, finishing its run as if nothing had happened.

#NEATO XV 21 PRO#

It did, and we noticed something interesting - unlike the XV-21, the XV Signature Pro had no problem recovering after hitting the problem spot. Essentially, the wooden planks that make up the 'walls' of our testing pens were a bit too short in one particular spot, and that, coupled with the fact that there was about 80 feet of empty floor space beyond the plank meant that the Neatos depth perception was getting thrown off.Д«efore correcting the problem and restarting the test, I checked to see if the glitch affected the XV Signature Pro, too. In one instance, we had a small glitch with one of our test setups that we realized was throwing the XV-21's navigation off. It seemed to take longer to map out the perimeter of the testing area, sometimes doubling back unexpectedly, or suddenly swerving as if to avoid a phantom obstacle. Second, I couldn't help but notice that the XV-21 just didn't seem quite as confident or efficient about navigating as I had seen with the XV Signature Pro. Some of the rice had a hard time making it into the bin. I'm not convinced that the XV-21 would be quite so adept at finding its way around that same room - but more on that in just a bit. Throughout our testing, I've been impressed with the effectiveness of both navigational styles, although perhaps not more so than the first time I watched the XV Signature Pro gradually map out a crowded living room, then zoom back and forth across it while nimbly dodging all of the furniture legs and cabinetry in its path. One approach isn't inherently better than the other. This is a dramatic difference between Neato and other robot vacuums - most notably Roombas - which bounce and swirl around the room in seemingly chaotic fashion. It also uses the same laser-guided navigation system to detect walls and obstacles before it weaves back and forth across the room in neat, orderly little rows. This is supposed to help it clean alongside walls and head straight into corners, and in our tests, it hugged the baseboards as promised, just as the other models did when we tested them. Also like the other Neatos, it features a design that's flat in the front and rounded in the back. Like the other Neatos, the XV-21 is a rather noisy little machine, so you'll definitely want to try and use it while you're out of the house.

Neato xv 21