iRobot Roomba 980 vs Neato Botvac D7 – In-depth Comparison

iRobot is the pioneer company in the robot vacuum industry. Neato Robotics is one of the most innovative domestic robot brands. Won’t you agree that the iRobot Roomba 980 vs Neato Botvac D7 is bound to be full of cool features?

 

The Roomba 980 used to be the most advanced offering from the stables of iRobot. As at the time of writing this, iRobot has released the Roomba i7 and i7+.

These two are supposed to be an upgrade to the Roomba 980. The i7+ definitely is an upgrade to every robot vacuum, it can empty its own dust cup! However, you will still be getting great performance out of this Roomba 980.

Neato D7, on the other hand, is one of the highly intelligent robot vacuums from Neato Robotics.

This is a robotics company with the aim of ensuring every home has a helpful robot.  The brand commits so much into its products which is evident in how smart the D series is.

It is the first to use laser navigation in its robot vacuum. That’s not all, these robots are said to be able to clean your floors as well as you would.

Are you getting excited yet? At the end of this comparison, you will be able to decide which one of them is best for your needs.

If you’d like a comparison between two Roombas, check out the iRobot Roomba 960 vs 980 comparison.

 

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iRobot Roomba 980 vs Neato Botvac D7 – Comparison Overview

The brands that made these vacuums are enough reason to expect great performance from both robots and we hope you get it.

The Roomba 980 can detect dirt and concentrate on it to clean it thoroughly. It also automatically boosts its suction when it gets on carpets. You also won’t have to bother yourself with cleaning hairs off the brush roll.

The Neato D7, on the other hand, has an efficient virtual boundary demarcation. The shape of the robot also helps it clean better in corners. Lights on or off, its laser navigation keeps it going and continues to clean.

Both robot vacuums are smart and have advanced features that make them perform exceptionally well. However, their price tags are a bit hefty.

If you are more concerned with value for your money rather than pinching, either of these robots is a good choice.

 

Comparison Table – iRobot Roomba 980 vs Neato Botvac D7

	Roomba 980	Neato D7
Battery Life	120 minutes	120 minutes
Navigation	iAdapt + Visual navigation	Laser Smart Mapping and Navigation
Filtration System	High-Efficiency filter	Ultra performance filter
Weight	8.7 lbs	8 lbs
Dimension	13.9 x 13.9 x 3.6 inches	12.9 x 13.2 x 3.9 inches

 

 

 

 

 

 

Who’s Each Best For? – iRobot Roomba 980 vs Neato Botvac D7

Roomba 980	Neato D7
If you have pets in your home, you know how much time and effort you spend cleaning their hairs off the floor.   Having a robot vacuum that can help you clean up your floors without your intervention is a solid plus. But then, cleaning out hair tangles on the brush roll is a job most people don’t like to do.   With the Roomba 980, you won’t have to do that. The robot uses a dual brush roll but they are both rubberized. Without the bristles, there will be no hair tangles and nothing for you to deal with afterward.	Edge cleaning is still a bit of a problem for vacuum cleaners. Even upright vacuums still have issues cleaning edges.   Most robot vacuums are circular in shape. If you imagine it in a corner, you will notice there is a big gap the vacuum will miss.   That is where the Neato D7 stands out. Its shape is somewhat a semi-circle. The flat side of it will allow it to get smack dab into corners to clean it out.
If you have areas in your home that are highly trafficked, the Roomba 980 will serve you well.   This feature will make the Roomba 980 concentrate and put in more effort on areas with more dirt than those with less.	The Neato D7 is a great option for those who have multiple floors in their home.   With this robot, you might not need to get a robot for each floor. This one can memorize the plan of up to 3 different floors.   All you have to do is to help the robot up and down different floors.   That’s not all, you can also zone the areas you want the robot to clean. The flexibility and freedom you get with how you can use this robot are far-reaching.
The Roomba 980 can clean on both hard floors and carpets. One good thing about this model is that it will automatically detect when it is on a carpet.   In that case, it will increase its suction power and spin its brushes faster so it can deep clean your carpet.	You can schedule the Neato D7 to clean at any future time you program into it.   If you want, you could just set it to clean when you have gone to bed. The best part is that you won’t even need to leave the lights on for it. The laser navigation will allow it to work perfectly in the dark!

 

Which Features Do They Have In Common? – iRobot Roomba 980 vs Neato Botvac D7

Since all robot vacuums are technically meant to do the same things, they are bound to have some things in common.

Now let’s dive into some of the features these two dirt eaters have in common.

 

Advanced Navigation

Both vacuums use advanced technology to find their way around your home. Though both vacuums deploy different navigation technologies, they do a fine job covering your floor space.

The Roomba 980 uses the iAdapt navigation system in conjunction with an onboard camera to find its way around your home. So, don’t be surprised if this vacuum ends up knowing your home as much as you do.

The camera scans its surroundings and stores a map of it in its memory. It uses this map to find its way and know exactly where it is going.

On the other hand, the Neato D7 does the same thing as the Roomba only that it uses a laser guiding system to navigate its way around. Of course, it first scans your home and generates a map of your floor too.

Furthermore, both robot vacuums follow a definite pattern of movement. We were not kidding when we said that these two are smart.

They both follow a serpentine type of movement which ensures that they cover the entire floor. With this, you can rest assured there won’t be patches of dirt the robot missed.

There are also sensors on both the Roomba 980 and the Neato D7 robot vacuums that help them detect obstacles.

One cool thing about this is that they don’t just detect them, they will also clean around them the best way they can.

There is also a sensor under both robots that help it detect changes in floor heights. Once these robots get to a stair, for instance, the sensor detects the difference in height and it turns back.

 

Virtual Barriers

There are times and good reasons why you will not want your robot vacuum to go clean a certain part of your home.

It could be because you don’t want the robot disturbing you or you don’t want it to get stuck.

Both robot vacuums have what it takes to keep the robots from where you don’t want them.

You can curb the Neato D7’s movement by using no-go lines on the smart app (more on that later). This will indicate to the robot not to go to the part of the house you have indicated on the map.

As for the Roomba 980, it comes with a device that creates a virtual wall barrier.

This works by placing the device in the area you don’t want the robot to get to. Once the robot notices it, it sees that area as a wall and as such turns away.

 

Smart Home Compatibility

Smart appliances are commonplace nowadays, what a time to be alive! It only makes sense that your robot vacuum too joins the league of the smart things in your home.

Smart homes are getting popular too. If you already have a smart home, you can add these robot vacuums to the list of devices on your smart home hub.

They are both compatible with Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa. Once these vacuums are connected, you can issue voice commands to them.

“Alexa, tell Roomba to schedule cleaning”. “Alexa, tell Roomba to go home”. “Alexa, tell Neato to make me coffee”.

 

Wi-Fi and Smart App

Robot vacuums with Wi-Fi capabilities are now commonplace. What differentiates this feature in robot vacuums is what you can achieve with them.

If you are wondering how Wi-Fi can make a robot vacuum cleaner better, keep reading, you are about to find out.

Wi-Fi lets the robots connect to your smartphone so that you can use it to control and monitor it.

These robots have a dedicated app that you need to download on your phone (available for both Android and iOS).

Once downloaded, you will then need to pair your robot vacuum with the app which is where the Wi-Fi comes in.

With this app, you can use your phone as a controller to issue commands to the robot remotely.

That way, you can have the robot clean your floors before you get back home. You can also monitor the status of the robot and how much of the floors it has cleaned.

That’s not all, for both robots, you can set a future date for your robot to do its job.

For instance, on both robot vacuums, you can schedule the robot to clean at certain times for every day of the week.

With this, you only need to remember to empty the dust cup every once in a while. You certainly won’t have any babysitting duties with these robots.

The Roomba app won’t take up much space on your phone and it is quite easy to use.

The Neato app too is quite easy to use. You can remotely create boundaries for your robot. You can also select a portion of your floor plan that you need the Neato D7 to focus on. That’s not all, you will get regular updates too.

 

Multi-Room Navigation

The Roomba 980 and Neato D7 have the ability to navigate through multiple rooms to clean them. Remember that they have your floor plan stored in their memory.

According to iRobot, the Roomba 980 can vacuum 2,000 sq ft of space. In reality, there is really no limit to how much floor space it can cover but that figure is a guarantee.

The Neato too will cover a lot of ground especially with its long runtime and its advanced charging system.

So, you can be confident that whichever of these two robot vacuums you go for, you can have it clean all the rooms in your home.

 

Recharge and Resume

This feature is one of the best features of the autonomy that robot vacuums have to offer.

Both the Roomba 980 and Neato D7 will spare you the effort of having to worry about charging your vacuum. They will handle that themselves.

For instance, if your robot is going about its chores and its battery falls below a certain point, it will stop and find its way back to its dock. This is where it literally plugs itself in to recharge.

There is another awesome part of either of these robot vacuums. Once it is done recharging, it simply goes back to where it stopped working and continues.

This is an awesome feature especially for those who will schedule the robots to work while they are not around.

 

Highly Efficient Filter

As you already know that the filtration system in any vacuum is critical. This is an important feature to consider if you are allergic or asthmatic.

The filters on either of these robots are advanced. They are efficient enough to trap allergens and dust preventing them from getting back into your home.

The filters in both vacuums are capable of trapping 99% of the dust and allergens that pass through it down to 10 microns.

This is not as efficient as a HEPA filter but it will do a great job preventing allergic and asthmatic reactions.

To put things in context, the average human hair is 50 microns in diameter. So, for these filters to be able to trap something as small as 10 microns, you can rest assured you are well protected.

 

Power Boost Mode

You already know that both robot vacuums can clean on both carpets and hard floors. You also know that it takes more to vacuum on carpets than on hard floors.

This is apparently why both robots have this feature. That way, they can deep clean on carpets as well as hard floors.

The Roomba 980 will automatically increase its suction once it detects carpet. This will help it comb through the fibers of carpets and lift off the loosened dirt.

As for the Neato D7, you can easily switch to turbo mode with the push of a button. In this mode, it takes its job a lot more seriously and offers a deep-reaching clean.

 

Impressive Runtime

Both the Roomba 980 and Neato D7 will wow you with how long they can keep going. These two will keep going for a whopping 120 minutes!

Depending on how large your home is, either robot will clean your entire floor space without needing to recharge.

 

 

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iRobot Roomba 980 vs Neato Botvac D7 – What’s Unique To Each Product?

Features Unique To Roomba 980

Rubberized Brush Roll

The Roomba 980 uses a double brush roll located underneath it. Brush rolls can be problematic when they are often used to clean hairs. This is because hairs often tangle to the bristles of the brush rolls.

In this case, there are no bristles on the brush rolls. Instead of bristles, there are ridges on the brush rolls to comb through carpets.

The result simply is a good clean of pet hairs without tangles to deal with afterward. If you have had to cut through hair on a brush roll, you will be happy with this feature.

 

Dirt Detection

It is a good thing for a robot vacuum to clean floors on its own, it is even better when it can identify a concentration of dirt.

That is something the Roomba 980 can do. Whether it is on carpets or hard floors, it can tell what part of the floor has more dirt on it.

Once the dirt has been detected, it focuses on that area until it is clean. This will make the robot clean all your floors without leaving one part cleaner than the other.

 

 

 

 

Features Unique To Neato D7

Unique Shape

It is almost a standard that robot vacuums are round as most of them are. Although there are few exceptions and other shapes are getting common nowadays.

The Neato Botvac D7, however, is D-shaped. This is not because its manufacturers just want it to stand out. Its shape is actually part of what makes it work so well.

The Neato D7 fits into corners. Its side brush is also strategically placed so that it can reach in to clean it out. How innovative is that?

 

Intelligent Charging

It is possible that the Neato D7 is not able to complete its task before its battery runs out.

Here is the special thing about this robot. We know it will take a while for it to fully recharge and all that time the parts of the home it has not cleaned remains dirty.

In cases like this, what the Neato D7 does is to dash back to its dock to recharge. It will then calculate how much charge it needs to complete its task and once the battery gets there, it will go back to complete the job it started.

That way, the untouched parts will not have to remain dirty until it gets fully charged.

This feature is certainly one you will not find in a lot of the other robot vacuums. However, for this feature to truly work, you must have saved the floor plan.

 

 

 

 

iRobot Roomba 980 vs Neato Botvac D7 – Unique Pros

Roomba 980

i. It automatically increases suction power when it detects carpets.

ii. The robot has rubberized brush rolls that prevent hair tangles.

iii. It can detect a concentration of dirt on the floor.

 

 

Neato D7

i. The shape of the robot makes it easy for it to clean corners.

ii. It charges intelligently to help it complete its task faster.

iii. Since it uses laser for its navigation, it can work as well in the dark.

 

 

iRobot Roomba 980 vs Neato Botvac D7 – Unique Cons

Roomba 980

i. Due to its use of camera for mapping, your home has to be well illuminated to get good results.

 

Neato D7

i. It cannot detect a concentration of dirt but its cleaning performance is great.

 

 

iRobot Roomba 980 vs Neato Botvac D7 – Pros Common To Both Products

Roomba 980	Neato D7
This robot cleans pretty well on both hard floors and carpets. It does great cleaning all dirt types from powdery stuff to the larger cereals.   Whether on the normal mode or power boost, it still cleans great. Of course, it will take more time in the normal mode.	The Neato D7 performs really well too. However, it turned out to be more efficient.   The Neato D7 cleaned better on hard floors in the normal mode on hard floors than the Roomba 980.
The Roomba 980 has powerful suction. Its suction is so good it performed decently in a crevice test.   One thing worthy of note is that some upright vacuums did not do as well as this in that same test.   The Roomba also did a massive job at our deep cleaning test. It cleaned up almost all the dirt thrown on a medium pile carpet.	Same as the Roomba 980.   The Neato D7 performed better than the Roomba at smaller crevices. They both did great with the larger ones but the little extra only shows that the Neato has a bit more power.   As for the deep cleaning test, the Neato D7 performed equally well.
The navigation of the Roomba 980 is a great improvement on its predecessors.   This one follows a logical pattern to cover your floors and it surely covers it all.   Its sensors are also effective as it is good at detecting obstacles, avoiding it, and cleaning around and under it.	Same as the Roomba 980.   As we mentioned earlier, the Neato D7 uses a different technology for its navigation. Though it approaches its journey in a different way, it still does about the same thing as the Roomba.
If you have been into robot vacuums for a while, you will understand why it is nice for the robot to have a low profile. If you don’t, it is because it makes it easy to get under furniture.   The Roomba 980 is just 3.6 inches tall which means it will get under even low profile furniture.	Same as the Roomba 980.   However, the Neato D7 is 0.3 inches higher. This does not stop it from getting under obstacles, it only makes it squeeze itself a bit with the low profile ones.
The Roomba has an impressive battery life which means that it will clean for a long time. If you have a smaller home, you might not even need to charge it that often.	Same as the Roomba 980.
The Roomba 980 is not so noisy. It is just about 78 decibels in turbo mode and 69 decibels in regular mode.   To put things in context, the noise of a flushing toilet is 75 decibels.	The Neato D7 is slightly quieter in both modes. However, you might only be able to tell the difference if you measure it.
The virtual barrier you can create with the Roomba 980 is quite effective. You can use it to create a circular boundary or a straight line to keep the robot at bay.	The virtual barrier of the Neato D7 can be used in the app.   You can draw as many lines as you want on the map to indicate boundaries for the robot. These boundaries are incredibly accurate and easy to create.
The Roomba 980 can be set to different cleaning modes. You can choose the house cleaning mode or the spot cleaning mode.   The spot cleaning mode makes the robot clean about 3 feet circumference and does that in a circular motion.	The Neato D7 too has the spot clean mode. How it goes about this is where the difference is.   The Neato D7 follows a square pattern. That’s not all, you can expand the perimeter up to 13 by 13 feet!

 

 

 

iRobot Roomba 980 vs Neato Botvac D7 – Cons Common To Both Products

Roomba 980	Neato D7
The Roomba takes robot vacuum performance to a new level. However, you will have to pay for all that upgrade. The robot carries a significant price tag.	Same as the Roomba 980.

 

 

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iRobot Roomba 980 vs Neato Botvac D7 – General Feeling Among Users

Roomba 980	Neato D7
One user who claimed to have used a Roomba before says that the Roomba 980 does a great job with its coverage.   She also said that the virtual wall device is pretty useful and works well.	A certain user who happened to have a Roomba but needed another robot showered a lot of praises on this robot.   She loves how well it cleans on both hard floors and carpets. She also admires how the robot transitions from hard floors to carpets.
Another user admires its filtration system and how well it keeps allergens and dust away.   He also loves the Wi-Fi connectivity for working so well and is also impressed with the efficiency of the serpentine pattern of movement.	One user indicates how much she loves the no-go lines you can create for this robot. Apparently, she has probably had issues with robots going where they shouldn’t.   She also mentioned how well the robot suctions dirt and hair.

 

 

iRobot Roomba 980 vs Neato Botvac D7 – Our Verdict

Roomba 980	Neato D7
With all you have learned about this robot vacuum, does it meet the needs have?   If it does, don’t wait any longer make that buy below.	The D7 has been impressive and users have been loving it.   If all it can do matches what you need a robot vacuum for, then this is going to be a good buy.

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