Neato Botvac

[Miskkie]

Botvac 70e's for 479€ spotted on sale today at a retailer in Finland. Maybe we'll get some user experiences soon enough.

[invenio]

Botvac 70e's for 479€ spotted on sale today at a retailer in Finland. Maybe we'll get some user experiences soon enough.

479 euro = $660 USD,.... holy smokes. I certainly hope they come down in price soon.

[Miskkie]

Thats with all tax included and it's pretty much the same price it's listed on amazon.co.uk. Expensive but I guess it's what price it'll be for now.

[invenio]

I'm sure the price will drop in time. The question is how quickly. Unfortunately, I wasn't looking into Neato's when they first came out so I don't remember how quickly the prices dropped into the low $200's for their XV units. I wonder if the newer bots will follow a similar timeline when the discounts start coming in.

[gapone]

Hi guys! I bought the Botvac 70e here in Finland today. It's on charging now and tomorrow is the day it shall clean my house... I hope. Price was that 479€ but I got the VAT refund so that's not so much. I have 90 days to test it and decide if I wanna keep it. I bought it with my silver mastercard so I got 5 years extended warranty for free because I've heard that these things happen to come apart.

[gapone]

Do you have any info about the firmware updates for Botvac. Is it updateable at all or?

[Miskkie]

The stores site says updatable via USB but wouldn't know would there be anything to update yet.

[a4refillpad]

Still a good deal cheaper than a vorwerk which retails at £649. ($1079)

[invenio]

Still a good deal cheaper than a vorwerk which retails at £649.

I really wonder how they come up with these prices. I think they just pull them out of a hat, there doesn't seem to be any correlation with cost of production and selling price. Especially when you look at the huge price differences for the same robot at different stores.

[a4refillpad]

Unfortunately in the UK we just pay more for everything. Partly because of a smaller market and less competition.

[gapone]

The stores site says updatable via USB but wouldn't know would there be anything to update yet.

Ok good to know. I didn't notice the port but I will check it again more carefully.

[overdose]

I'm sure the price will drop in time. The question is how quickly. Unfortunately, I wasn't looking into Neato's when they first came out so I don't remember how quickly the prices dropped into the low $200's for their XV units. I wonder if the newer bots will follow a similar timeline when the discounts start coming in.

where you can get those units for 200$? usa?

Even used the price were around 170 to 250$ cad.

Got mine to 339$ cad, with pet option accessories.

[invenio]

I bought my XV-11 for $230 (free shipping) from walmart last year.
I think walmart lists the XV-12 with pet stuff for $250 currently.
I have seen refurb XV units for $150.

Some current examples:
http://dealnews.com/Neato-All-Floor-Rob ... 15596.html
http://dealnews.com/Refurb-Neato-All-Fl ... 12812.html

[overdose]

I bought my XV-11 for $230 (free shipping) from walmart last year.
I think walmart lists the XV-12 with pet stuff for $250 currently.
I have seen refurb XV units for $150.

Some current examples:
http://dealnews.com/Neato-All-Floor-Rob ... 15596.html
http://dealnews.com/Refurb-Neato-All-Fl ... 12812.html

^

Wow we get screwed here : http://www.walmart.ca/search/neato

[invenio]

I bought my XV-11 for $230 (free shipping) from walmart last year.
I think walmart lists the XV-12 with pet stuff for $250 currently.
I have seen refurb XV units for $150.

Some current examples:
http://dealnews.com/Neato-All-Floor-Rob ... 15596.html
http://dealnews.com/Refurb-Neato-All-Fl ... 12812.html

^

Wow we get screwed here : http://www.walmart.ca/search/neato

How far are you from the border?

[overdose]

I bought my XV-11 for $230 (free shipping) from walmart last year.
I think walmart lists the XV-12 with pet stuff for $250 currently.
I have seen refurb XV units for $150.

Some current examples:
http://dealnews.com/Neato-All-Floor-Rob ... 15596.html
http://dealnews.com/Refurb-Neato-All-Fl ... 12812.html

^

Wow we get screwed here : http://www.walmart.ca/search/neato

How far are you from the border?

Not that far, less than an our, I'm from montreal. For big part it worth it, but sometime we get cut and pay about 50% of taxes. Or I have to do the customs clearance myself.

Anyway, even when the dollar was equal, we always paying more, even on local products, thanks to high tax rates.

[Kolenka]

Still a good deal cheaper than a vorwerk which retails at £649.

I really wonder how they come up with these prices. I think they just pull them out of a hat, there doesn't seem to be any correlation with cost of production and selling price. Especially when you look at the huge price differences for the same robot at different stores.

There is a correlation, but there are margins along the way for everyone involved that are all baked into the final MSRP. A margin for the manufacturer, margin for the distributor, and margin for the retailer. The retailer margin can be pretty fat, especially for "premium" products that a retailer might use to make up for loss leaders and small margin items. And they can afford to cut a bit off depending on volume and how they sell to customers. Amazon not having to pay for B&M stores, as an obvious example, means they don't need the whole retail margin.

So with the Neato and Roomba both considered premium products, I wouldn't be surprised if the margin for MSRP is set at a healthy amount. I would be surprised if the margins were much bigger than the high-end Roombas, to be honest. Roomba might just be better at getting MAP agreements from retailers than Neato. Maybe Neato doesn't care about MAP, and will let retailers discount below MSRP however they see fit since it makes it more affordable and competitive. Hard to tell unless we have the actual numbers (BOM might help, but it is only part of the story) about the costs and margins available in the distribution chain. But in general, I suspect that without MAP, you will continue to see some deep discounts from retailers that cut their costs (sometimes to the bone) in order to undercut their competitors.

[3kgt]

So i have just bought a Botvac 70e.. Only 1 store have the botvac in Sweden and Only the 70E modell..

Its on charger right now, and here is first thoughts.

1: Its almost a completly new robot! All parts! On/Off switch

2: Overall better design, but the plastic hat isnt fun with orange colour!

3: It feels like cheep plastic, the parts are far from premium feel..Even the wheels..

4: Touch buttuns. and 2 new buttons on the front

5: Side brush dosent look so promising! 2 damn short.

6: Much louder menue sound and buttons sound

7: I still think that dustin will be stuck in the sucktion part wich leads to the dust bin.. its a bit redisgend, but still not enough and 2 damn tight! We will see later in action.

8 Cleaning the brush is easier now!


Overall some good stuff, some not so good! But we will be needing months of using to se quality and other stuff.
I have it now beside my XV-25 and will be comparing air flow too

[piokrza]

Hi 3kgt, could you please took some pictures and post here? I'm especially interested in the inside part when dustbin is removed from Neato body and the roller brush is out of the socket. As well, bearing parts on brush ends are interesting parts to see!

[mfortuna]

I never thought of the Neato or Roomba as having high quality plastic. My Neato survived a trip down a full set of stairs and my old roomba Discovery survived a drop on a hard floor from about 4 feet. Neither bot was damaged in any way. The Neato blower made a tic noise when starting up that went away quickly.

It will be interesting how the botvac's mechanisms and electronics hold up.