A couple of years ago, I bought a Neato Botvac to help with the daily vacuuming required on our hardwood floors due to the dog hair from my chihuahua and pomeranian, not to mention the five people living at home. It was great, but also a bit of a pain, because long magnetic strips had to be laid down to prevent the vacuum from crossing into areas with thick carpets or fragile items that could break when bumped.

The new Neato Botvac D7 Connected improves significantly over my older model with laser mapping, smartphone controls, and smart home integration.

The Botvac D7 Connected brings Neato FloorPlanner that uses Neato’s LaserSmart technology to map your floor plan so you can establish No-Go lines in the floor plan to prevent the vacuum from entering those areas. I plan to use these No-Go lines for designating areas where I have a very thick floor rug, another area where we have dog pens, and an area in my dining room where chairs that don’t like to get bumped reside. These No-Go lines are also useful for areas where you setup a Christmas tree, areas that are being used as play areas with lots of toys, and more.

The new D7 Connected also has two different suction modes, an ultra-performance filter, and an improved brush system. The LaserSmart technology helps the robot vacuum navigate rooms successfully, even in low light environments.

The top informational LEDs on the vacuum provide glanceable status of the vacuum. The top dirt bin is easy to remove, clean, and reinsert. The bumpers are quite sensitive too so you won’t be trashing the legs on your furniture.

I am particularly interested in the iOS and Android support where you can setup, configure, and manage this vacuum. There are also Apple Watch and Android Wear apps so you can control the D7 Connected from your wrist.

You can also setup and control the Neato Botvac D7 Connected with your voice through Amazon Alexa and Google Home. As a Google Home household, this capability will be used by my family much more than the smartphone app.

The Neato Botvac D7 Connected is available now from Bed Bath & Beyond and Best Buy with a MSRP of $799.

A review unit arrived a few days ago, and after a couple weeks of testing, I will post a full review here on ZDNet. Please let me know if you have any questions on this new vacuum as I test it out.

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