Mint Plus Automatic Floor Cleaner

Here’s what I have to say about the Mint Plus floor cleaner: It has changed my life. I debated whether or not that was a bit dramatic to profess, but in the end I decided to go with the truth. Let me give you a little background on the situation …
Like everyone else in the world, I’m incredibly busy. Between work, family, and all our various commitments, it’s hard to find time in my day to tend to housework. I do my best, but I always seem to be a chore (or 10) behind. My least favorite duties are sweeping and mopping, and unfortunately that means they often don’t get done until our floors are visibly unclean. (Hold your judgment, please.) Crazy as it sounds, give me a toilet to scrub any day. I HATE cleaning floors.
Here’s where the Mint Plus automatic floor cleaner showed up to save me. Imagine if you could push a button and have your floors magically clean themselves while you do other things. You just turn it on and walk away. And when you walk back (assuming enough time has passed), your floors will be clean. Heavenly, no? It’s really that easy.
The Mint Plus can be used to do a dry sweep or a wet mop. Everything you need for either option is included; you can also use Swiffer pads in place of the included reusables if you’re so inclined. I use the reusable pads because a) it’s cheaper, and b) I’m trying to be a little more eco-minded. Now, it should be noted that this is NOT a vacuum: It’s only to be used on hard floor surfaces. (It works great on our hardwoods.) One of our biggest problems is an abundance of dog hair, and Robo Dude (as the Mint Plus has become affectionately known as in our home) takes care of it like a boss. I want to kiss him every time I detach a filthy pad from his grips that required zero effort from me.
The big question for a lot of people is, how does a robotic floor cleaner work? How does it know where to go and what to clean? The Mint Plus uses NorthStar Navigation technology—which, quite frankly, is something that interests my husband a lot more than it does me. I don’t care how it works; I just need it to work. In a nutshell, though, you place a navigation cube in the center of the room, and the cube and cleaner work together to make sure all the ground is covered. (Read more about it here.) We haven’t had any problems with missed corners or the like, so I think it does a pretty good job of covering the floor completely. A bumper keeps the Mint Plus from scratching up objects it bumps into. I’ve only used it in one room at a time, but I’ve read good things about the room-to-room navigation feature. (This feature does require the purchase of additional navigation cubes, though, which are about $40 apiece on the Mint website.) Perhaps my favorite feature: You can pause the cleaning process to change the pad, and it will resume right back on the same cleaning path when you’re done. (Yes, my floors get dusty/dirty enough to need a change mid-cleaning. We’re living lives over here, people.)
As far as battery life goes, the Mint Plus can run for about 4 hours in sweeping mode and about 21/2 hours in mopping mode. Charging time is about 4 hours. In our small kitchen and dining room, we can usually sweep and mop in one charge; in our larger living area, we have to charge between a sweep and a mop, which isn’t always ideal. (But it’s still better than me having to sweep and mop on my own!) The Mint Plus doesn’t pick up larger chunky objects—say, a dropped piece of food—so those typically get pushed into a corner, which requires a little post-sweep maintenance. But overall, this is a great product for busy moms. Like I said, I’m a changed woman because of it!
Price: $300
Buy it: mintcleaner.com