Would it be great if you have someone at home to mop the floor for you?
I’m not talking about your child here but that’s good training for them.
I’m talking about a robot that will do this task for you. With the Mint 4200, iRobot allows home owners to own a robot mop that will do this for them.
The Mint 4200 does not have suction or a motorized brush. It relies on a damp or dry microfiber towel to pick up dirt, pet hair and dust.
Since this doesn’t have any suction, you can’t use this on carpet. It’s purely a hard floor surfaces only like tile or linoleum.
Since it doesn’t have a vacuum motor, the run time will be impressive at around 3 hours.
Run time is long enough to clean a 800 square foot home in dry mode and 250 square foot in wet mop mode.
For navigation, it uses the so-called “NorthStar Navigation System” that works like an indoor GPS to navigate the robot.
Tech Related News: iRobot purchased Evolutions Robotics in 2012 for $74 million dollars.
Pros
- Long 3-hour run time
- Two cleaning modes – mop and dry sweeping
- Low profile will clean under furniture
- Quiet
- Less moving parts = less maintenance
- Easy to use
Cons
- Only cleans hard floors
- Doesn’t dock on its own – you have to manually recharge it
- Can be prone to streaking depending on the type of wipe used
- You cannot schedule this to mop
- May have some trouble working in a large open area
- Can’t detect if surface is carpet
- No cliff sensor
What to expect from the Mint 4200?
Out of the box, you’ll find two white microfiber towels that you can use for dry sweeping and another grey one for wet mopping.
Also third party wipes such as Swiffer wipes can be used but if those are too expensive for your liking then cheaper alternatives like Clorox or Lysol will do.
It doesn’t have any navigation system built in the robot. But it uses a separate device called the “NorthStar Navigation System” that according to the manufacturer works like an indoor GPS.
This will accurately control the navigation of the robot.
Other features
- Has two modes – dry sweeping and wet mopping
- 3-hour run time
- Uses the NorthStar Navigation System cube to control where the robot goes
- You can use third party disposable cloths
- Since it doesn’t use any suction, it is quiet
- Comes with 2 white microfiber towels for dry sweeping and 1 grey microfiber towel for wet mopping
Complete specs can be found here.
Navigation
The robot does not any sensors that control dictate where it goes instead it uses a separate device called the NorthStar Navigation System that uses signals similar to a GPS to directly control where the robot will go and what obstacles to avoid.
Take note it doesn’t use global positioning per se, it uses a technology similar to it – product description was lacking in specifics about how this works.
Here’s a short video on how the navigation system works…
It isn’t state whether or not it has a multi-room function but as long as the robot can detect the signal of the navigation cube it will continue to work so experimenting with the placement of this is essential in maximizing the floor area it covers.
Will it clean stairs?
No.
Scheduled cleaning
No scheduled cleaning option available.
Charging time
It’ll take 3 hours.
Filter clean up
This mop doesn’t have any filter whatsoever. You can wash the microfiber cloths by hand or machine in warm water. But don’t use a fabric softener or bleach as this will ruin the fibers that pick up dirt and absorb water.
Run time
On a full charge, it’ll give you approximately 3-hours.
Customer service and warranty
Although there were some complaints about bad customer service, particularly the expensive replacement parts and the need to pay for the freight of the replacement unit, it was generally positive. The key here is putting this robot to its paces right away after receiving it to see if it is working properly.
This comes with a 1-year warranty and a 30-day replacement warranty from Amazon.
Bare Floor Cleaning
There are two modes here – the wet and dry mode.
Microfiber is great at “grabbing” dust which is why the manufacturer use this. This is really great for dusty areas.
But since it doesn’t have any suction whatsoever, don’t expect it to clean anything larger than a speck of dust.
The wet mode is great for removing pet hair and other small debris that the dry mode can’t clean.
But don’t expect it to clean up spills, scrub the floor, clean large bits of debris like cereal and remove stains because it doesn’t put enough pressure and it has no suction whatsoever.
Not a standalone cleaner
Don’t rely this to your primary cleaner. Think of this machine as a mopping machine that will keep your floors clean.
Some have discouraged the use of Swiffer wipes because it can leave some streaking, they recommend to dip the microfiber cloth in a 50-50 vinegar/water mixture or a water/detergent mixture.
Make sure that the towel isn’t dripping – wring it until it isn’t dripping anymore before attaching it to the robot.
Another concern in the mop mode is the tendency of the towel to dry out or getting too dirty before finishing the cycle. There are complaints about this in reviews which brings me to my next concern.
If you want to change cycle mid cycle, it will not be smart enough to start where it left off. It will start a new cycle!
One solution would be spraying cleaning solution before turning on the robot. Doing this
Make sure NOT to overdo this and spray too much cleaner.
In essence this is a very good complement to a robot vacuum since the robot vac does the heavy lifting and sweep up dirt and the mint will do what it does best and mop hard floors to a glossy shine.
Carpet Cleaning
Unfortunately it doesn’t clean carpet.
Rugs
It cannot clean rugs.
Pet Hair Removal
For this to effectively remove pet hair, use a damp cloth on mop mode so that it’ll “grab” hair off hard floors but don’t rely on this as your primary pet hair cleaner since the microfiber towel can only carry so much.
See it in Action
Product Specifications
| Features | Evolution Robotics Mint 4200 |
| Battery type | Nickel Cadmium |
| Charger type | Plugin Charger |
| Charge time | 6-8 hours (according to reviews) |
Run Time  | 3 hours |
| Net weight (with battery) | N/A |
| Shipping weight | 7.2 pounds |
| Width | 9.6 inches |
| Height | 3.1 inches |
| Multi Room | As long as it has connectivity with the Navigation "cube" it'll continue to mop floors |
| Self docking |  |
| Remote control | |
| Hepa filtration | |
| Cliff detection | |
| Self adjusting | |
| Edge cleaning |  |
| Full bin indicator | |
| Stair Cleaning | |
| Cleaning sessions per week | |
| Containment | |
| Accessories included | NorthStar Navigation Cube (with 2 C batteries) 2 dry sweeping microfiber cloths 1 wet mopping microfiber cloth Adapter Quick start guide Manual |
| Voltage | 110v |
| Manufactured in | USA |
| Warranty | 1-year |
Customer Reviews
Overall it received positive reviews and currently over 400 gave it the maximum 5-stars.
These consumers were happy with the performance of this robot mop. And they where happy how it kept their floors dust and pet hair free. It is especially useful for cleaning
These consumers were pretty satisfied on how it kept their floors dust and pet hair free, especially floors under furniture – particularly beds. One thing they liked is the simplicity of the machine, since it had a few moving parts, it was simpler to maintain.
And while some consumers have complained about the short battery life, a lot of people who left 5-star reviews said it gave them 3 hours of run time.
Some have suggesting buying extra microfiber cloths rather than Swiffer refills because it saves you money in the long run.
Several consumers used this in combination with robot vacuums and happy with the results. Some even replaced their robot vacuum with this.
There were over a hundred though that gave bad reviews, most complaints about the Mint 4200 are about connectivity issues with the navigation cube – it would lose its signal thus the robot runs in circles without a pattern.
Others were quality control issues about the shot battery and broken wheel which is normal for electronic products as manufacturers will have lemons coming out of the production line but they want to keep it at a minimum.
Reviews from other sites
Walmart
Over 90 people left a review and close to 60 gave it the full 5-stars! Surprisingly a lot of them had pets and was satisfied how this robot was able to remove pet hair off their floors. It was quiet enough not to frighten their pets. A lot of owners were happy with how it kept their hardwood floors shiny.
Out of the box it was easy to use, just wrap the microfiber towel on the holder and attach it on the robot and press a button to start.
Some of the negative reviews here were a result of misinformation, one consumer thought that this is a vacuum cleaner but it was disappointed when he found out that it didn’t.
Where can I buy this?
You can buy this in Amazon but it isn’t available brand new. A better option would be looking at the iRobot Braava.
Conclusion
This would be great for robot vacuum owners who’d like an automated floor mop to well mop their floor to a nice shine after their robot cleaners clean all the nasty’s out.
Remember that this isn’t meant to clean dirty floors. It will work best for cleaning fine dust where a damp microfiber does its best work.
Think of it as a motorized Swiffer – especially if you use Swiffer’s wet or dry refills.
This will also work best on flat and even surfaces. If you have uneven flooring like Saltillo, don’t buy this because it will get stuck often because it will not do the job well.
It will not clean grout or scrub tiles since it only has a mop attachments not brushes. This will help keep floors shiny and dust free.
If you need to deep clean tile try to use a machine like the Hoover FloorMate.
Because of its shape and edge cleaning feature, it does fairly well on corners and edges plus it’s low enough to go under most furniture.
It does have a tendency to get stuck at times. Remember to remove all obstacles out of the way like rugs to ensure a smooth operation.
The key to maximizing this product is using it like a mop and not a vacuum while the microfiber cloth can pick up dirt, it won’t hold very much so you may need to change it fresh one mid-cycle.
