bObi Pet Robotic Vacuum Cleaner, Silver

After 3 Years, Still My Most Worthwhile Investment in a Household Appliance!
I first submitted this review over 2 years ago, but never noticed Amazon rejected it, probably because I named a competitor. I am resubmitting this after running my bObi for almost 3 years. I still consider it the most practical and worthwhile investment I’ve ever made in a household appliance.I had been monitoring robo vac technology for years, since the inception of the first product. For nearly as many years, I considered the robotic vacuum a trendy gadget that was more of a curiosity than a functional machine. I had begun exploring another highly-advertised brand model, and read dozens of reviews. But the reviews unexpectedly ended up steering me away, and ultimately pointed me towards the bObi, which hadn’t even reached my radar. When I made the decision to purchase this, I was still skeptical of the good reviews and the comparatively low price. But I purchased it with the firm confidence that I could quickly return it, as I expected to give it a trial run which it would promptly fail. I was so wrong.The Good:The bObi was beautifully packaged and easy to set up. Its robust ability to clean surprised me. It has a true beater bar underneath, similar to a regular vacuum. One of my concerns with a robotic vac was that it wouldn’t reach all areas adequately, but it does a better job than I do. Unlike my upright vac, bObi gets under the kitchen cabinets and the bathroom vanities and doesn’t smack into table legs. I love that it gets under cabinets into the toe-kick space. It’s quite adept at getting under side tables and chairs as well. The little revolving brush unit looks somewhat useless, but actually works effectively at getting into edges and corners and kicking debris into the vac. Its cleaning path is mysterious and seemingly random (maybe it is), but examination of the carpeted areas proves that it has reached every section of the floor. It manages to get back to its base every time, despite having to turn a corner or two to receive its signal.I hate machine noise; to the extent that I wear earplugs to run my blender. Noise tolerance is relative, but I could comfortably talk on the phone while the bObi is running. As others have mentioned, this decibel level doesn’t record accurately. If you video the bObi in action, the recorded noise is higher-pitched and far more grating than it actually is. Bear this in mind when reviewing videos.My house is ideal for this machine, as it’s a single level with tile and wall-to-wall carpet floors. There are several low-profile, braided rugs on the tile which the bObi has no problem with. This surprisingly strong little vac pushes my wrought iron upholstered chairs away from the table and sometimes a chair foot catches under the rug and bObi gets stuck there. The master bath has a throw rug which I simply remove when the bObi is in there. Side benefit of the robotic vac: I keep things picked up better. For these same reasons, I don’t recommend running bObi on a schedule or when you’re not home to intervene if it gets into a jam.Another benefit is that since bObi is just sitting there ready to go, I can run it every day. I have a free-range house rabbit who seems to be in a state of perpetual shed, and it is such easy maintenance now to just let bObi go. My bunny’s fur is very fine and soft, and ends up everywhere. I empty the dust chamber every time I run bObi, and am always surprised how much debris – and huge amounts of bunny fur – accumulates in two days’ time.bObi runs roughly an hour and change on a charge. There is about 1200 sf of floor space, and it takes 2 – 3 charges to clean the whole house. I run bObi around the main living area every few days and sometimes trap it in the bedrooms so the entire cleaning session is spent there. When I trap it in a bedroom, the air is noticeably fresher upon re-entering – it has a sweet smell reminiscent of the way my home smelled when I used an ionic air purifier. I don’t notice it in larger rooms, but it’s nice to know it’s happening.The Not So Good but I Can Live With It:bObi can get stuck and, unable to get out, keeps cleaning where it is trapped. The major trap location is a guest bathroom, where it can’t exit over the marble threshold, which is about 3/4 inch high and angular. It manages to get its front edge over, but then one wheel gets caught on the threshold while the base is unbalanced. It doesn’t waste it’s time trying to escape its dilemma though; it just continues to clean the room furiously until I rescue it. I find that an efficient alternative to running down the battery while literally spinning its wheels. This is easily remedied by simply closing the door.My charging station is located in the open kitchen/living area, and this is where bObi does a great job cleaning. It seems to have a propensity for turning left over right. It will travel down the hall and hang left into the guest bathroom repeatedly, but is not as willing to hang right at the same juncture and enter the guest bedroom directly across the hall. I think it’s important to leave its base in one place, as it does seem to “learn” the layout, and if I run it several times consecutively, it will travel to different areas and ultimately cover the entire house. You can’t expect it to hit the entire house in one cycle though.I haven’t determined exactly how much time it needs to recharge in the base, but I’m estimating it’s 3 -4 hours before I can send it out again.bObi works very hard in my house, and over the years, I’ve had various mishaps: A small plastic hinge holding the swinging door on the dustbin broke after about 3 months of use. At one point, the wheels stopped turning properly. After nearly three years of use, the battery needed to be replaced. These should have been irritating incidents, but thanks to stellar customer support, they were not. Support is incredibly responsive, friendly, polite, and English-speaking; and in my case at least, I have had the same support rep over the 3 years I’ve had bObi. This is fantastic, because this person has my bObi’s entire history. In each case, the company promptly sent me a replacement part, except for the time bObi had to return to the “hospital”, and returned clean and shiny with new parts. Most of this was at no cost to me. These are still leading-edge products, and still a nascent and expanding technology. When dealing with a newer technology, customer support is EVERYTHING. This is where bObsweep truly shines.In identifying these not-so-good points, I want to stress that I’m trying to be balanced about this, but none of them are annoying enough to diminish the bObi’s value in my household. I am honestly surprised at its effectiveness and convenience, and am so glad I took the time to read through the reviews to assist in my original selection. Even the bunny dealt with this new household member better than I expected, and this was a huge plus. I was concerned he’d be terrorized by it, but I’m afraid he’s more inclined to terrorize bObi, as he follows it around. bObi will sometimes locate him in the midst of a snack, and clean up his mess in progress.In summary, as you might have guessed, I never thought twice about sending my bObi back. This is a total win, and a complete life-changer for me. I would be miserable without bObi in my house!

I bought two of these on Boxing Day 2017. I am consistently amazed by how much they collect even when the floor appears clean. Disclaimer: I have a cat and both her fur, and my wife’s hair, add to the mix… but there’s a lot of dust as well on every sweep (once a week).Bobi’s search pattern appears to be random. Sometimes she’ll sweep exclusively on the North side of our first floor, and sometimes, only on the South. Sometimes she finds her way back to her charging station… sometimes not. I have seen her sweep right by her Bobi Block; it appear to be an optical warn-off so she might already be going around a corner before her sensor “sees” the Block’s LED. I suspect she has no “learning” function built into her search algorithm (which would allow her to eventually discern where her charger is rather than rely on the station’s wireless signal strength – a notoriously unreliable metric – to get close enough to let her optical sensor take over… sometimes I’ve seen her head in the completely opposite direction from her station while in her “Juice” charging mode).As others have commented, this will really only work in a house with limited obstacles. Upstairs Bobi deals with carpet and is particularly useful for getting under the beds where I can’t use a real vacuum; I use her as-needed. Downstairs Bobi works on hardwood every week overnight. Both will get tangled on any cords etc… so pick up any obstructions before starting her (or before she starts a scheduled run).Her general build quality seems to be pretty good, and the Pet version is pretty powerful – not just the vacuum, but the drive motor. I once found her “trapped” between the four legs of my office chair, which is on wheels, and she was “driving” the chair around like she was wearing a hat, while still cleaning. However, I do note a couple of things which I would consider mechanical design deficiencies. Some of the parts are anchored to each other by small plastic tabs and hinges, and these can break (see right side hinge photo); I’ve also seen plastic “stress” lines on some points that are subjected to leverage. I am not sure how Bobi’s going to hold up over a couple of years of normal use, and replacement parts are quite pricey (OTOH, people rave about the company’s customer service, so points for that). Also, she does not have any way to upgrade firmware (maybe the company’s philosophy is that there is only one simple sweep algorithm and they have no need to change that). Battery life is excellent, and for such a powerful motor, it’s quiet enough downstairs that it can be on an overnight schedule while we are sleeping upstairs (unless she runs into trouble, which is signalled by a slow-cycle beep).I think the product is an optimal balance between cheap robots source from China with dubious build quality, and premium brands like the Roomba. What sold me was that the company’s origin from Canada and their reputation for live customer service, which I shall put to the test Monday about the afore-mentioned damaged hinge.Update: A bObsweep customer relations rep contacted me quite shortly after I registered my purchase, and I mentioned the problem. Given the “young age” of the BoBi, he sent a replacement tray even with a new vacuum unit and filter as part of the package assembly. It was taken care of very fast, and with absolutely no hassle. I can confirm that the reputation that bObsweep has for attention to live customer service is 100% deserved.

We’ve had this thing a couple years now. We have retired it to the Rec Room.This unit is dumb as a stump. Any piece of furniture that does not touch the floor all around, it just keeps bumping in to. Like a couch. Our coffee table has a board across the near bottom. Keeps bumping into it. Walls and boxes for example it sees and won’t bump into. And black carpet is a laugh. It thinks its a edge or something and wont go on it.Only has a tiny dust compartment. Fails to FIND the charging station about 25% of the time, backing out at the last inch.Loop pile carpet it seems to clean ok. But cut pile seems to clean the sweeper.Seriously for the price…

I love this vacuum, it does a decent job of cleaning but it’s not perfect; it’s a budget vacuum so don’t expect it to file your taxes. It did a good job of cleaning; i live in a two bedroom apartment so it took two charges to clean everywhere as it does not have mapping, but keeps the floor and air clean as i have a very shed-tastic pet so it saves me from having to vacuum at least once a day, plus the cat seems to like it – he meows pathetically at it when it goes back to its docking station and gets the zoomies when it turns on.Flaws; it now and then stops mid-vacum for no reason, and the remote is a downside as when the batteries are low it messes with the clock and schedule so ive had it go off at 3AM a couple times, I would not buy it at its full price as there may be better models (i got this on sale), but this one was one of the only ones that could deal with higher carpets and ridges and designed for pet hair