So I have to start this out by saying WOW.  I was the guy that was actually excited about Roomba.  I wrote about it and talked about how great it was (when it first came out years ago).  I said in the review that if it were square it would without a doubt be a better device.  In the back of my head I was always concerned about Roomba and the random-ness of the cleaning cycle.  You could never truly know if it got everything without pooring powder all over the place and watching what happens (which is actually what we did to do the review back then).  It didn’t actually get everything in the room but it came close sorta and I was so excited about the whole concept I was personally willing to over look the fact that it didn’t really do a great job.

I have no idea how the new Roomba’s work, I haven’t reviewed them in years, but I have a feeling that not much has changed.  That said after awhile the novelty wore off and I didn’t use the Roomba becauase eh… I could do it faster and better so why bother?

Now moving forward many years, when the editor threw this Evolution Robotics Mint review at me I wasn’t exactly thrilled by the idea that I would have to throw powder all over the floor again :)  Before I opened the box I did a little research and started to get excited about the review.  There is a lot of differences between the Roomba and the Mint.  For one… the company that makes the Mint designs some of the systems that handle the robotic visual systems in the Military Drones that have been used in the War.  So from that perspective alone, I was thinking there has to be some pretty impressive technology driving this little robot.  The next thing I was excited to see is that it is square!  You can’t really get into corners well (as a robot) if you don’t fit well inside a 90 degree angle.

I brought the Mint home and set it up.  The Mint comes with 3 microfiber clothes, 1 for mopping and 2 for sweeping.  While you can definitely (and easily) use Swiffer products with the Mint, I guess the question I have to ask is why?  Not only are they kind of expensive if you think about a re-usable solution, but you are locked into whatever cleaning solution they use.  Which means you are locked into that Swiffer scent and nothing else.  I personally love the smell of Pinesol so that is what I want to smell, it is what my mother used when I was a child, and when cleaning is to be done it just doesn’t smell clean unless it smells like it did when my mother mopped.  The Mint accomodates this and I instantly took a liking to the little guy because of it.

The Mint does NOT clean randomly like the Roomba.  As Big from the Rob & Big show says…. “DO WORK”… the Mint DOES WORK.  You setup the nav system in the room (it is a small box you just need to hit the power button on, it needs to have a clear shot of the ceiling) and turn the Mint on.  You have two choices sweep or mop (and yes it has enough battery to sweep and then mop so this is cool).  Put your dry cloth on and hit the sweep button and walk away.  It will figure out what needs to be done and where by mapping the room out and handling business.  Once it is finished it will go around and do the edges of everything in the room, including around your chair legs, everything.  Then it will return to the spot you turned it on and stop.  If you interupt it and pick it up it will remap and return back to the spot you put it down the second time.

Once it is finished you can take a little pinesol or whatever you like to use and put it in a cup, mix it with some water and soak your mop cloth.  Squeeze it gently and put it on the Mint.  Press the power button again and hit mop and walk off.  It will DO WORK again :)

I suggest you sweep and mop your floor really well the first time manually.  Once you are finished every couple of days just let the little bot go and you won’t have to sweep and mop again for another month.  It turns a 2 – 3 times a week job into a once a month job.  The reason I say this is because you are bound to get something on your floors that is going to stick there, and while it tries to use a scrubbing motion it is limited to the amount of force it can reasonably use on your floor to get something that is dried up or gummy off.

For $200 USD it is a god send.  If you don’t have a lot of time on your hands, or you are sore, elderly, lazy, tired, whatever… it’s just a great way to keep your floor maintained without the fuss.  I want one of these for my parents; while they are still able to clean very well it will free up time for them and everyone has other things to do.

I rank the Mint with a full 5 out of 5 stars.  It is an outstanding device.  I’m also going to nominate them for an award.  Down below you will find a youtube video I found that shows the Mint in action.  (We had nothing to do with the creation of the video).

