I hate washing windows, so I love robot window washers. Most robot window washers are very simple: you strap a special cloth to a little robot that sticks to the window using a vacuum seal, and it drives around while periodically spitting out some cleaning solution. What separates the various models is how thick they are, if they have a base that cleans or organises, how they tether, how they navigate, and how far they can spray cleaning solution. I have yet to find meaningful differences between the end cleaning result of any of these robots.
That’s why it’s so exciting that Ecovacs has now introduced a $249 Winbot Neo Mini model at Aldi. It’s small, and it doesn’t have the latest tech. But, unlike robot vacuum cleaners where price correlates with performance (to a point), this is a device where the clean is almost identical, and you just pay for extras.
That said, is the Winbot Neo Mini worth picking up from the Aldi Special Buys aisle?
Table of content
- First impressions
- Specifications and price
- Cleaning indoor windows
- Cleaning outdoor windows
- Cleaning awkwardly shaped windows
- Storage
- Who is the Ecovacs Winbot Neo Mini for?
First impressions
My first impression of the Ecovacs Winbot Neo Mini was that it reminded me of the original Winbot, just smaller and cuter. It’s just a small, square robot with a long tether and an even longer power cord. Super simple to set up: just put the included cleaning solution in the robot, plug it in, turn it on, put it on a window and then walk away.
Ecovacs Winbot Neo Mini specifications and price
| Robot size (mm) LxWxH | 215x215x55 |
| Suction power while moving (to stay attached to window) | 3200Pa |
| Min. glass thickness | 3mm |
| Min. window size | 22cmx25cm |
| Water tank capacity | 60ml |
| Spray width | 8.5cm |
| Spray length (front) | 10cm |
| Price | $249 (during Aldi Special Buys promotion) |
| Warranty | One year |
| Manufacturer’s website | Ecovacs Australia |
Cleaning indoor windows
The limitation with almost every window cleaning robot I’ve used is that it doesn’t scrub; it just wipes a cloth around the window, which is great for smudges and dust, but does bugger all for windows that are actually dirty.
A good example is my window near the dining table. I have a toddler, so everything in my world has honey and pasta sauce on it somewhere. Because the Winbot Neo Mini is essentially an autonomous damp rag, of course it’s just going to spread wet pasta sauce, and it doesn’t have the scrubbing power to remove honey or candle wax.
What I love the Window Neo Mini for is its ability to remove smudges, fingerprints, and that fine layer of grime that you get from opening your windows near a busy road.
Because the Winbot Neo Mini is (as the name suggests) quite small, it does take a long time to clean my giant windows. However, given it is cleaning the window and not me, it’s welcome to take as long as it wants.
The only big issue is that it’s very loud, and because it doesn’t moisten its cloth as much as the bigger, splashier Winbots, it occasionally makes that unpleasant dragging sound that can be a bit like nails on a chalkboard. That’s standard across cheaper window-washing robots, but because it’s smaller and takes longer, the noise goes on longer. It’s not a dealbreaker, because it doesn’t require constant supervision on an indoor window. Rather, it’s just something to be aware of.
My other, smaller issue is that when it finishes its clean and I take it off the window, it leaves a wet mark from where it’s been sitting. I wish there was a way to mitigate that footprint somehow, and there has to be a clever design feature that could be implemented. Expensive robots do this too, so maybe they just haven’t found a solution yet.
Cleaning outdoor windows
I live in a high-rise apartment building on a floor that is a long way off the ground. Every time I test one of these window-washing robots on my outside windows, I hold my breath and await the screaming. So far, though, everything seems to be fine.
The process was the same as doing the indoor windows; it held securely, cleaned well, and let me know when it was done so I could remove it.
I did have to send it around a few times on the particularly dirty windows that I could reach, and the clean was noticeably not as good as the fancier, $1,300 Winbot W3 Omni on the first go. However, if the W3 did a 7.5/10 clean, the Winbot Neo Mini did a 6/10 clean. For a saving of more than $1,000, I can live with that, and it’s a better clean than the nothing I would have done otherwise.
Cleaning awkwardly shaped windows
The problem with houses and apartments is that they’re generally designed by people who don’t have to clean them. My apartment is one of those ones that has floor-to-ceiling windows for all my external walls. In my corner apartment, that’s 21 floor-to-ceiling windows, some with weird angles at the corners and (for some reason) a sliding balcony door to nowhere with a short glass wall in front of it. Coupled with all the hallways, I think someone needs to have a word with the architect.
These tight corners have meant that the original Winbot and the W2 Winbot model would occasionally get stuck in the corners and I’d have to use a lot of force to remove them. Because the Winbot Neo Mini is so thin and has bumpers that don’t compress as much, it didn’t get stuck there even once, including in an area the W3 Omni got stuck.
Sadly, it’s still not thin enough to clean my dirtiest sliding door (RIP), but it was thin enough to do an excellent job of cleaning the other hard-to-reach areas.
Storage
This is where being small is both a blessing and a curse. Where other Winbots have had large cases to store, this is small enough to unobtrusively fit on a shelf. Unfortunately, because it’s so small, there’s nowhere for its cables to coil up in its tiny body, so storing them can get a little messy unless you’re excellent at cable organisation. I wish it had a little case or something to make it a bit neater. For a $249 device, though, you can just grab a tote bag.
Who is the Ecovacs Winbot Neo Mini for?
This is the perfect window-washing robot for the vast majority of people considering a window-washing robot. The Ecovacs Winbot Neo Mini cleans almost as well as the Winbot W3 Omni for less than a 5th of the cost (during the Aldi promotion).
While it’s perhaps not the right choice for huge properties, people who want to clean outdoor windows away from power (like a pool fence), or places with a lot of large windows, it is the right choice for everywhere else. It’s small, it gets into places bigger robots cannot, and it’s priced in a way that it’s less of a risk if you just want to give it a go. It’s the one I would buy.
The post Ecovacs Winbot Neo Mini review: Great clean in a small package appeared first on GadgetGuy.
0 (mga) komento:
Mag-post ng isang Komento