Product Description
Product Description
The Mint Automatic Floor Cleaner from Evolution Robotics is designed exclusively for sweeping and mopping hard surface floors for you. Using dry and pre-moistened cleaning cloths, Mint picks up the dust, dirt and pet hair that constantly accumulate on floors. Mint’s compact design gets into tight spaces, under furniture and into other areas that are hard to reach with traditional mops and sweepers.
Guided by the NorthStar Navigation System cube, Mint tracks where it cleans so it doesn’t miss a spot (see larger image).
The easy-to-use controls (see larger image).
Guided by the NorthStar Navigation System, Mint methodically cleans open areas by moving back and forth in straight lines, working around furniture and rugs, and cleaning along baseboards.
Mint is easy to use. Simply attach your cleaning cloth of choice, choose sweep or mop and let Mint clean for you. Since Mint is not a vacuum, there are no bins to empty or filters to replace. So you can enjoy hassle-free clean floors every day.
Intelligent Navigation
The NorthStar Navigation System works like an indoor GPS that helps Mint keep track of where it has been and where it needs to go. Specifically, the NorthStar Cube projects a signal that Mint uses to determine its location. Then as Mint starts cleaning, it builds a map of the area as it goes, marking walls, obstacles and drop offs as it encounters them. After Mint finishes cleaning open areas and around obstacles, it performs a final edge cleaning along walls and furniture and then returns to where it started so you know right where to find it.
The dry (above) and wet (below) microfiber cleaning cloths(see larger image).
Mint can map and clean up to 1,000 square feet either in a large open space or by discovering adjacent rooms. In mop mode, the cleaning area is restricted to 250 square feet to optimize cleaning while the cleaning cloth is wet.
Sweeps & Mops
Mint’s dual modes let you easily maintain all your hard surface floors with one device. In Sweep mode, Mint uses a dry sweeping cloth to pick up dust bunnies, pet hair and grit from your floor. In Mop mode, Mint cleans with a pre-moistened cleaning cloth and a special back-and-forth mopping motion to pick up deeper dirt and grime. All it takes to switch modes is a fresh cleaning cloth and a press of a button.
Cleaning Cloths
Mint works with commonly available disposable cleaning cloths or with re-usable microfiber cloths. Mint’s specially designed microfiber cloths can be re-washed and re-used hundreds of times. Different cloths have been developed to optimize both sweeping and mopping. Flat white microfiber cloths are ideal for attracting dust and dirt while dry sweeping. Textured grey cloths hold water and help loosen and grab deeper grime when mopping. Mint comes with a starter pack of 1 mopping and 2 sweeping cloths.
What’s in the Box
Mint Automatic Floor Cleaner, NorthStar Navigation Cube with 2 C batteries, 2 dry sweeping microfiber cloths, 1 wet mopping microfiber cloth, power adapter, quick start guide, user manual. Backed by a 1 year warranty.
Care Instructions To keep your cloths in good shape for hundreds of hours of cleaning, please follow these laundering recommendations:
- Machine wash warm.
- Tumble dry low or air dry.
- Do not use fabric softener or bleach as these can degrade the cloth fibers over time.
Wet cleaning with microfibers is safe for sealed floor surfaces including tile, vinyl, laminate and sealed hardwood. Disposable pre-moistened cloths are usually safe for the same floor types, but always check the package to make sure they are safe for your floor type.
This review is from: Evolution Robotics Mint Automatic Hard Floor Cleaner, 4200 (Kitchen)
We have been using the Mint 2 days and I will update this review with more information after owning it longer!
Our home has 3 levels – bottom floor is carpet, middle floor is engineered hardwood, and top is carpet again. We have a Roomba and it does a great job of the vacuuming, especially on carpet. But it can’t mop, and I hate to mop – HATE it! iRobot sells Scooba for hard floors, but with hardwood and engineered wood the manufacturer says it can only be “damp” mopped never wet. Water could seep into the joints and destroy the wood finish. So no Scooba for us, and no steam mop which was my old standby.
Along comes the Mint! Now remember that this is not a vacuum and it won’t do your area rugs and can’t pick up large debris. It is a SWEEPING and MOPPING robot.
So, we run the Roomba first on the hard floor once a week (while we are out, it takes a while and is loud) to get the area rugs and pick up any large debris. Then we run the Mint dry sweeper to pick up fine dust and edges that the Roomba misses. If you have one of the new Neato vacuums, I understand they do not vacuum to the edges very well so following up with the Mint is ideal for use in conjunction with them as well.
When we run the Mint right after the Roomba, it picks up a lot of dust and stuff that the Roomba doesn’t get as well on hard floors. We are using the Swiffer brand electrostatic dry cloths. I have allergies so it is nice to have the dust picked up instead of blown around by a vacuum.
The Mint does meticulous corners and edges. It goes back at the end of the cleaning cycle and carefully goes around every edge it is physically capable of reaching. Due to its small size – short and narrow – it is able to fit into small areas you can’t get easily with your broom or swiffer mop.
Then we run the wet mop function with Mint. We are using the reusable cloths dunked in Bona hardwood cleaner diluted with distilled water, then wrung out and placed on the Mint. The reusable cloth stays wet much longer than the disposable type and you can use plain water, vinegar/water, Bona, or whatever cleaner you want. I like this because the smell of Swiffer wet cloths makes me sick and the smell lasts forever and they leave a film that makes floors get dirty faster. The Mint does a much more thorough job than I do at mopping, covering the entire room and under furniture!
The Mint is virtually silent. It does make “thunk” noises when the bumper runs into something it did not detect from a distance – when it’s sensors detect a wall coming up the Mint slows down and touches it gently. But it can’t see legs like chair legs from a distance so it bumps them with the spring-loaded bumper. The nice thing is we can run Mint while at home (since the Roomba runs during the day while we are out). It’s so quiet you forget it is on.
The nice thing about Mint is that there are so few moving parts – very little to break or clean. With the Roomba we bought extra brush sets and we swap clean brushes in every day, and then on the weekend clean all the sets. With the Neato it’s too new to know what maintenance issues might come up, for example it has a belt drive. But the Mint is just a little driver for a swiffer cloth. It seems over-priced at that, but then again the navigation is excellent and I suppose we have to pay for that.
The navigation is great, we have a large open space so that may be ideal for it, but it has not yet become lost or stuck. We also have a loft condo so the main room is a 2.5 story ceiling and the Mint has no problem in there. I would love to see Evolution make a vacuum robot, I think it might beat out both Roomba and Neato!
For the reviewer who thinks we 5 star reviewers are fake because we are not “verified purchases”, that’s because most of us bought Mint directly from Hammacher to get the lifetime warranty, or from BB&B where they have a 20% off coupon. Also the Mint can’t replace a vacuum for rugs and large debris, it’s meant to replace your broom, swiffer and mop. Yay for floor cleaning robots!!
PS search on youtube for “Evolution Mint Floor Cleaning Robot” if you want to view more video of the Mint cleaning my home.
*** update 01-05-10
I just wanted to add kudos to Mint’s customer service. Last week my Mint started giving me a 3 beep error when I tried to start it. I called them and the engineer walked me through some troubleshooting steps, it turned out that I only needed to power it off and back on again and it was all better. Apparently this happened because I had stopped the Mint in the middle of a cleaning session and plugged it back in to the charger without first powering it off (normally I let it finish and it turns itself off, I put it away and plug it in when I get home). They also called back 2 days later to follow up and ask if it was working fine. Excellent support!
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