This is a cross post from the Kitchen Forum:
I know the drill. I should since I've been a member since, what, 2002? Check my membership status to make sure I didn't just register today to spam this product :) NO WAY affiliated with the company. Just LOVE the product :)
OK, now that I've got that out of the way, I want to share with ya'll Evolution's Mint Robotic Cleaner. This is not a vacuum (like the Roomba). It's not round like the Roomba. It's not loud like the Roomba. It's a GPS navigation driven, square (for corners), low profile (to get under furniture) robotic dry sweeper and wet mop for all hard surfaced floors. I accidentally stumbled across it on the www this past Tuesday. After reading countless reviews (4.5 stars on Amazon) and watching dozens of You Tube Videos, I bought one from Bed Bath and Beyond for $173 (after using a 20% coupon). Amazon and other on-line sellers have it for $199. Mint was awarded Good Housekeeping's VIP award in Jan 2011 and one of the Top Tech Picks from CES showcased on the Martha Stewart show. Ellen gave them away on her show during Christmas. The "tech" sites don't rate it as highly as non-tech sites and homeowners. Not bad, just not stellar.
Mint uses Northstar GPS navigation to map out a room and cleans every single inch. Using dust mop mode, the charge lasts up to 3 hours. Two hours for wet mopping. It first cleans the center of a room and then goes back and cleans the edges. You don't have to move chairs but I chose to move the barstools (in the kitchen). I left the grandchildren's little table but picked up the chairs. When I cleaned (again in dust mop mode) the dining room (15'x16') I left the dining room table chairs but pulled them away from the table so Mint could get under the pedestal. It also went under the side table/buffet. It's A-MA-ZING how well it cleans! Cleans better than I do using a microfiber dust mop. Takes longer but A) it does a better job B) saves my bad lower back from added pain C) allows me more (pain free) time for more important things like GRANDBABIES and does it all super quietly. After using it the first time, I walked barefooted in my kitchen for the rest of the evening, just to feel the clean velvety smoothness of my tile :) My microfiber dust mop doesn't do as good a job. It would take my broom vac to get it that clean. It had that same feeling as it does after steam cleaning (there was no sticky spills of any kind). Next I dusted the wood floor in the office. Same results. In fact, most of the videos you see are using the Mint on hardwood floors.
Then the bathrooms. This is the only spot where it ran into some trouble. In both bathrooms, it could get in between the toilet and tub/wall but was having a dickens of a time backing out. It could have backed out the same way it went in but it kept trying to turn around. That needs fixed! It was making (slow) progress but I didn't have the patience to watch it struggle and didn't want to waste the charge so I helped it out :) The Mint didn't get powder out of my grout lines in the bathroom, but neither does the Swiffer. It takes my Bissell broom-vac that has non-rotating bristles on it to remove the powder. BTW, Mint comes with a USB port for software updates. This isn't mentioned in the manual.
Then I tried the wet mop mode in the kitchen. Like I said earlier, there were no sticky messes or dried on food on my kitchen floor but there were some dried spots. Honestly, I didn't have high hopes for the wet mop mode. It cleans using a "Y" movement and overlaps for better cleaning. I was pleasantly surprised :) It did a better job than I anticipated! And yes, the dried spots were gone However, it will NOT take the place of my Bissell steam mop. It's just DH and I for the most part. If we had kids in and out and helping themselves to the fridge, I don't believe Mint would have performed it's wet mopping as well...unless you ran it often. In both modes, you can stop Mint to change cleaning pads if needed. I have MS, Fibro Myalgia and a bad lower back. I'm not wheelchair bound by my MS. Fatigue is my biggest daily issue with MS. This little robot is a life saver for me! I've learned a lot from my years here at Garden Web's THS. I've been introduced to products I would have never know about. My two favorites are the Tapmaster (one in kitchen and one in the master bathroom) and from the Bathroom forum, the Toto Washlet. Both products are HGs (Holy Grails) and in the "how did I ever live without them" category. I would put the Mint right under those two products. But, if push came to shove and I had to give up one, I'd have a hard time deciding :o Hope it never comes to that!
Monica
jomuir
downtowner
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