Tuesday, December 12, 2017

Product Review: Hoover - Rogue 970 App-Controlled Self-Charging Robot Vacuum in Black

I received this unit from Hoover, it's a lovely addition to take care of daily vacuuming in our family room that was once just an attic, on our third floor of our 140 year old home. This floor is all carpet and houses quite a bit of furniture and is oddly shaped. I did try this unit on our first floor that has hard woods with area rugs throughout, and it did not play well with the variety of surfaces, it would get hung up on the rugs while it was going over them and launch into the air, thus confusing it's position in the room, making the mapping of the room nearly impossible. I love that this unit will actually map out the floor plan giving you the ability to draw in smart walls keeping it out of where it may get hung up. It's mapping is not as accurate as I would like, and maybe it has to do with our family room and it's furniture. I do feel it would do better in a completely empty and  regular shaped room, which is not realistic, but it tries really hard to get the mapping right. Due to this inaccuracy, it occasionally won't find it's home/charger and just quits in the middle of the room. It is my hope that it's mapping of our room will get better with time, as I have noticed it will modify the map data as things are moved, added, or removed. The vacuuming technology of this unit picks up well, the dirt cap has dirt in it every time it is run. I feel this is great for animal lovers, as it picks up the extra dirt, fur, and other stuff that comes with pet ownership. I appreciate that it has three different levels of cleaning, Stealth, Normal, and Beast, for a variety of situations. I initially used the Apple iOS app and was disappointed that Hoover's Android app was not ready for release. The iOS app was horrible, there were several parts of the app that just did not work. Much to my surprise, a few days into my review, I happened to check back on the Google Play Store and found that they had released the app and I am happy to report it is fully functioning and may only need a little work in the mapping and smart wall category. I feel I could recommend this unit to a family or friend, but with reservation. I think this particular design is on a case by case basis. It may work well for you home layout, and it may not. All in all it is a pretty slick design that needs a little work on it's mapping features. If it can't find it's home it's really no that smart. But with some updates in both the app software and the robots firmware it could really shine.

*Update*
This past week both the firmware of the robot and the app were updated, and I can say that it now finds it's home every time, and the app is much less buggy. Good job Hoover!!!

*I do have a material connection regarding this piece of equipment or its manufacturer*

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