LOVE IT!! I have a six month old bullmastiff puppy who tracks in mud/dirt/rain/snow all day long. I can put her down for a nap, run "Alfred" and the mess is gone in no time. We have two different types of hardwood floors as well as textured tile.
This is essentially a Swiffer on steroids. It does not get the textured tile scrubbed, but it does get the surface grime gone. Run it once with the dry cloth (got all the dustbunnies from under the couch), then load the scrubbing pad with whatever you normally use to clean your floorvinegar and water, Bona, Armstrong, Mr. Clean, whatever. Turn on the mop feature and off it goes. About half way through the cycle, I remove the pad (it just pops off held in place with magnets, takes all of 15 seconds) and turn it the other direction, which gets both sides of the cloth working. It is is sooo quite!
I''ve had no problem with it finding the cube, it covers most of the floor, it occasionally misses some spots, but nothing drastic. The charge holds for both sweeping and mopping the living room (24'' x 17''). Then I recharge for about two hours and it will do the kitchen (same size) and the foyer.
The only down side is you pretty much have to use their cleaning/mopping cloths. I tried using some other microfiber cloths and they were too thick and too big which covers up the sensors, causing the robot to essentially spin in circles. I''ve been trying to find an additional three pack of just the scrubbing cloths with no luck. You can use Swiffer and other cleaning cloths with it, but I like the idea of the reusable. Cloths go in the washer with other cleaning rags, then into the dryer.
I''ve had the unit for about two weeks, I''ve run it probably ten times, thrilled with the product.
Updatehave now had the unit for three months and it''s still going strong. Starting to get a little scuffed (going under the Christmas tree was hard on it), but still love it. I did get additional cloths and they wash up great. I''m running it a couple of times a week. It stays on my dryer in an upright position, plugged in, so it''s always ready to go. Highly recommend.
First let me start off by saying we have a family of 3 very active boys and 3 very active dogs. Needless to say I cannot keep up with every drop of something that gets on the floor. That''s where this little miracle comes in!!
I couldn''t be happier with the Mint Plus. I didn''t purchase this one with the charging cradle, however I did purchase the turbo charger separately. Still waiting for that to come in so i will update my review after I use it! It comes with a mop pad and a dry pad. I didn''t know that when I bought it so I also purchased the set of 3 (2 dry, 1 wet) for $19.95 so now I''ll never run out I guess! It was so easy to set up and get started. It did take 4 hours for the initial charge, however it lasted for over 2 hours going non stop! (and it was in a large area) It evens comes with an easy set-up instruction card. I''m usually horrible when it comes to electronics and I figured it out with no problems! I was kind of skeptical at first with running something around the dogs that looks like it could be a toy for them, but after some sniffing and following they were bored with it. :)
We live in Arizona (sand, dirt, dust, sand...and did I mention sand?) so consistently clean floors doesn''t happen unless I vacuum and mop every day and who has the time for that these days? For those of you who think this should work like a steam mop or a scrubber, you''re going to be disappointed. This is made to keep your floors looking clean in between deep cleaning and it works just as advertised in my opinion!! It took off all dirty paw prints and daily foot traffic off my tile and left it streak free with just water! (Something my steam mop doesn''t even do) I have a dog kennel, table and chairs and other nooks and crannies in my kitchen/dining area and it didn''t beep once because it was stuck. Does a great job on its own navigating difficult areas.
Like I said previously I only used warm water in the tank, but I think next time I might put in a few drops of scented floor cleaner. Just for the smell. The tank isn''t large so I did have to add water after an hour or so. If you have a smaller area it should work fine on one tank. Also I already washed and dried the mopping cloth in my machines and it came out perfect! No pilling, snagging, shrinking or anything that I noticed. It says on the box that it''s compatible with Swiffer dry pads. Haven''t tried them yet, but the way they hook in is just like on my old swiffer so I bet it works.
If you''re looking for some extra help around the house that will pay for itself in the long run, I would highly suggest the Mint Plus!! Worth every penny!
Buy Mint Plus Automatic Floor Cleaner with Charging Cradle Now
Pros:
It is quiet.
Like the tracking system.
Easy to use.
Would be good for people with limited mobility when it is difficult to vacuum and mop.
Economical if you use the washable cleaning pads.
Doesn''t catch on furniture like Roombas.
Seems to be cleaning well if you do it over and over and over.
Using it does allow me to do other things and leave the mopping to Mint.
Probably good for apartments or condos, not homes over 2000 square feet.
Cons:
I think it is very Overpriced for what is does.
Slow slow slow, even on tile floors.
Have to change pads, charge, clean, change pads, a few times just to clean my large living room.
Cannot add cleaners to water solution so it cleans with only H2O in its little water tank. Option is to buy those expensive Swiffer pads.
Needs to change cleaning pads often to make sure it isn''t just smearing dirt.
Not suitable for large rooms because battery runs down before finished.
I have owned a Roomba for another house and it did great vacuuming carpet for in-between house cleaning days. I prefer Roomba for vacuuming my house over the Mint, but Roomba is too noisy on tile. Since I loved Roomba, I researched reviews on the Scooba, but it scores very low. Mint had a higher customer rating overall.
I guess robotics have not mastered mopping floors.
I was going to return it because it just isn''t fast enough to clean all my tile floors and I certainly don''t want to buy two of them to try to get the job done. The return policy is only good if package is unopened. If I had bought it from Walmart.com and had this disappointment, I could have returned it.
I am a Prime subscriber and love shopping Amazon. I frequently order items from Amazon and this is my first disappointment. I ordered Mint because of so many positive reviews.
I agree with another customer, if you accept that you are paying $$$ for a robotic Swiffer and not a technological breakthrough for house cleaning, it won''t disappoint. If you don''t like Swiffer cleaning you will be disappointed with this.
Good concept, but not there yet.
Read Best Reviews of Mint Plus Automatic Floor Cleaner with Charging Cradle Here
Listen guys I made a REAL thorough search for a decent robot before I got it I mean I did this 24h/d for like 2 weeks I went to a billion of friends and listened to all their robots and saw how they all work.. I decided to go for the mint for reasons I will soon provide. Just let me start and say that my wife was skeptic and didn''t want to hear about a robot but now she adores Alfred our Mint plus makes me feel like batman ;).
I found several reasons why I''d rather use this and not any other robot, this is individual but it fits us like a glove:
Advantages
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1. Quiet [!!!] we have a 1.5yo daughter who makes all the mess and spill all the liquids in the world all day everyday. since we can''t clean when she''s up, we clean when she''s asleep and Alfred cleans just about a billion times quieter than we do. plus he work in complete darkness so he enters her room and cleans it too. it does make small sounds when it bumps into stuff but this isn''t enough to wake her up :D by the way with the roomba and its lookalikes there are no bumping sounds the vacuum sounds is oh so unbelievably loud you can hardly hear anything ;)
2. Quick it doesn''t move quickly, but it works efficiently I had to say I watched roomba and its lookalikes in all my friends'' houses and I was just so annoyed with how slow it works I haven''t watched the Neato which I heard should be efficient as I figured its too loud for us anyway but all the others seem to just test my patience they take ages to clean a room.
3. Wet Clean after Shabbat the floors look just about like hell :) there are many many stains all over the place. the first time we gave him such a task I couldn''t believe we''ll see any results I even waited to see it couldn''t handle one of the stains and went to the computer room all frowning about the bad purchase but boy when it gave the finish tune and I got to the living room I was A-S-T-O-N-I-S-H-E-D it appears the stain I spotted was just impossible to take off (I tried with my finger and couldn''t do it too) but all the rest was sparkling!! this really made me trust Alfred more and made my wife crazy in love with it!
4. Not-Too-Complicated one of the things I don''t want to happen is malfunctions! the way mint works is very simple and very understood and seems the least malfunction-potent of all the vacuums and even the scooba it simply is a smart moving robot you can do whatever u want with it if someone made a nice domino dropper with it he could fill his house with domino cubes and make an awesome domino effect :D I like to know how stuff work
5. Goes below furniture this really is great! we don''t like Alfred''s dry-cleaning function as we can quickly sweep ourselves but we do let it go below our bed and take the huge masses of dust hiding there :)
Disadvantages:
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Doesn''t go to it''s charging cradle scooba doesn''t do that as well but its nice how the roomba and likes do it
No scheduling this is really reasonable since I wouldn''t like it to clean with the same cloth twice :P
No smart room blocker sometimes when we want it to clean only a certain area we close the doors leading to others
No huge range our house is relatively small so a good position to the cube gives me full coverage but largers houses need to buy extra cubes don''t try running without the cube it doesn''t work too well..
The dry-cleaning (sweeping) isn''t really effective it works okay but leaves some dust behind
Summary:
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If you''re looking for someone to clean your house with a damp cloth you''re going to fall in love with this pretty toy.
It is great for people who work from home or for housewives as unlike vacuum robots it won''t blow a hole in their minds with noise.
We''re most satisfied with it [!]
Want Mint Plus Automatic Floor Cleaner with Charging Cradle Discount?
Just got my Mint Plus less than an hour ago. Can''t say much yet as it''s charging. It''s packaged extremely well and every part is labeled very clearly and easy to understand in the packing. Very little packaging too! I wish everyone took a chapter from Mints book on using little and smart packaging.
My main point to review this before I''ve used it is to warn before you buy extra cleaning clothes for it the box came w/ a total of 4.
2 dusting and 2 mopping. The description on Amazon failed to mention how many are included in the box.
What comes in the box:
Mint Plus Automatic Floor Cleaner
North Star Navigation Cube (2 C batteries included)
Pro-Clean Reservoir Pad
Multi-Purpose Cleaning Pad
2 Reusable Microfiber Sweeping Clothes
2 Reusable Microfiber Mopping Clothes
I bought this unit (5200C) because it was on a great sale and included the charging station.
What I got was the Mint Plus for the same price with out the charging station. It still charges the same way it would seem but doesn''t have the little cradle you''d just plop it into to charge. Not a big deal as it still stands up and is plugged in the back but I did order the unit w/ the cradle.
Contacted Amazon and we''ll see what happens. If I''ve got to send the whole thing back just to get the cradle I''ll probably just opt to keep it instead.
Mint and Amazon did a terrible job in the description of this little guy. A simple search on it and I found a ton of reviews on it from other people and Mint itself along with some great video demonstrations for it that convinced me to buy it.
Although it''s advertised to clean up to 2000 square feet dry sweeping you have to have an additional cube for that. Otherwise with the included cube it will do 1000 square feet.
I think I''ll save myself the extra $40 and simply move the cube and Mint when I''m ready for it to do an extra room or area and block the first area off w/ a broom or something.
Update;
The silly charging station was included thanks whoever told me to look closer at the box. Yep, there it was stuck on the bottom very well hidden.
We''ve moved into a large house with no carpeting at all. My main reason for purchasing the Mint.
The house was filthy when we moved in. The previous owners had 11, count them. 11 dogs. 9 of them Yorkshire Terriers to boot. Boy those little buggers do like to shed.
Ran my vacuum to suck the major dog hair up before we moved boxes in and try to get the bulk of dog hair up.
In the last week we''ve been here I run "Mindy" at least once a day, she very quietly goes about her business first thing in the morning while I make coffee and breakfast for my 4 dogs and cat. 2 of the dogs are shedders and someone in their infinite wisdom painted the wooden floors the color of milk chocolate so every bit of dog hair shows.
I was amazed after the first run she did how much of the old dog hair she''d found that I''d missed w/ the vacuum. She does her job dutifully and well.
I''m thrilled w/ how well the dust pads work, the dust pads are reversible so you can get quite a bit of use out of one before you need to start w/ a clean one.
The mop pads are not reversible but do have a nice loop to the pad to do a bit of scrubbing.
I''ve had no issue of her getting stuck other than once she found a gap big enough to scoot under and got stuck under a large area rug. Took me forever to notice the big lump under the rug when she was calling for help.
The mopping attachment holds quite a good bit of liquid. So far I''ve only used plain water which was done wonders for the paw prints etc.
She does not navigate the perimeter of the room as the website demonstrated. I don''t know what her deal is there but not a big issue as she does hit every bit of the room.
I run her every day sometimes twice depending on how much the dogs have tracked in and how many shoes have tramped through the house. And mop every other.
She does not replace a good sweeping and mopping but for the maintenance in between she''s a life saver and has kept my free to unpack boxes and put my new house together. I''d kiss her on the lips if she had any.
