The latter has been acquired by Amazon, so there is a high chance that it will not remain competitive for long which is a shame considering that the Roomba is pretty much the icon for robot vacuum cleaners. But things are the way they are and we see that many new competitors are ready to take its place, the Yeedi Cube being one of them.

I tested the Vac 2 Pro some time ago and it seems that the Yeedi Cube is built on the same foundation, making use of the VSLAM technology, ignoring the potentially better LIDAR tech, and it also uses an oscillating ‘sonic’ mop for deep scrubbing. It worked somewhat decent on the Vac 2 Pro, but it’s been an year since then and I assume that both the hardware and the algorithms got better. Most likely the most appealing aspect is the large base which serves three purposes.

One is the self-emptying of the dust bin, then there’s the self-washing of the mopping cloth, followed by the self-drying process, minimizing the risk of forming bacteria (and foul smells) close to zero. You’ll realize how important it is after using a wet and dry hard floor cleaner (UWANT X100) which required constant cleaning and maintenance. There are lots of things to like about the Yeedi Cube, so let’s put it to the test and see how it performs.

Design and Build Quality

Despite being called Yeedi Cube, the shape of the robot vacuum cleaner remains circular, and what’s rectangular is the docking station (not really cubical, but it’s a good name). I have mentioned some similarities with the Vac 2 Pro, but they’re more tech and software-deep, while the design and look are pretty much different.

I suppose the size of the robot vacuum cleaner unit is similar considering that it measures 13.4 x 3.1 inches (34.0 x 8.0cm) and yes, it’s a bit on the larger side, but you’ll see in the next section (the teardown) that no space is left unused. The unit that I got is completely made of plastic and it’s covered by a white matte finish on the top part, while the bottom is black. At the same time, the top section is dominated by the transparent water tank and it’s a fairly large one.

It’s a 1L (or 34oz) container and the manufacturer calls it a UFO water tank – I mean, it does kind of look like the Starship Enterprise. The way to detach it is by operating the locking switch and then using the handle to raise it. It’s worth mentioning that the Yeedi Cube has hands-down the largest water tank I have seen on a robot vacuum cleaner, so let’s hope that it can properly clean a larger surface than its competitors. Also at the top, there’s a trio of buttons, Home, (Auto) Clean and Spot cleaning – these buttons surround the upwards-pointing camera used for the VSLAM tech.

It’s a bit curious that unlike the Trifo Lucy, the camera is pointing up, but it was the same on the Vac 2 Pro which worked fine. The camera is used alongside the front-facing laser (that shines through the black section) in order to form what Yeedi calls the Vision and Laser Fusion Navigation System. I always hated that some robot vacuum cleaners did not have an On/Off switch, but it seems that the Yeedi Cube does have one on the side, and if we look around the frame of the device, we can see some exhaust grilles, the charging pins, as well as the dustbin release button.

The dustbin can easily be opened by another button and we can see that there is a HEPA filter already installed (there are no extras in the package). Putting the Yeedi Cube upside down, we can see that the mopping cloth is already attached (can be detached easily), the main brush, the two side brushes, a 360-degree wheel and the cliff sensors.

There is also a carpet detection sensor and a floor tracking sensor to help the navigation system to be better (than its predecessor). Lastly, there are two large wheels which can raise or lower depending on the type of surface that’s detected by the aforementioned sensors.

Yeedi Cube Teardown

Robot vacuum cleaners are not easy to open and can be even more difficult to be put back together, so equip yourself with the right tools and a lot of patience. The first thing I did was to remove the 10 screws from the rear side which then allowed me to detach the plastic cover, exposing the battery. And it seems to be identical to what we found on the Yeedi Vac 2 Pro – we’re dealing with a 5,200mAh battery with the rated capacity of 4,800mAh. On the next step, I decided to detach the bumper and then took out the screws which kept the white top part connected to the black bottom section.

But even after removing the 6 screws, I still couldn’t detach the two parts. And that’s when I remembered that Yeedi likes to put screws under silicone covers. What do you know, there were a couple of screws underneath two silicone covers at the top of the case, underneath the ‘UFO’ water tank. After that, I could finally see the PCB and some of the motors. I was able to identify the Xinchuang XCR380SH21140 12V DC motor which operates the main brush (apparently used also by the Deebot 900) and, as for the brushless motor, all I could tell is that it’s a Nidec (no number was written on it).

Considering the similarities with the Vac 2 Pro, there is a high chance that we’re dealing with the same 1X04MRT 20N709S130 (12,000 rotations per minute). I did see a fan on the other side of the Yeedi Cube vacuum cleaner and, from what I could gather, it seems to be for the motor that operates the Sonic mop. Lastly, on the PCB, I was able to identify the Fn-Link 6223A-SRD WiFi and Bluetooth combo chip.

The OMNI Station

I do think that the self-cleaning stations are a mandatory accessory to a robot vacuum cleaner since this way, the entire system is as close to autonomous as possible.

But the Yeedi Cube has taken things to a whole new level. The OMNI Station (as they call it) is very large, measuring 14.7 x 10.4 x 9.5 inches (37.2 x 26.5 x 24.0cm), but this doesn’t mean that it’s going to occupy more space than the ‘regular’ self-cleaning station. The footprint is obviously larger and there is a platform where the Yeedi Cube can rest on, but it doesn’t go farther out than the robot vacuum cleaner unit. So, if you replace an older unit, the needed space is pretty much the same. The OMNI Station has a few particularities that we need to discuss.

First, the detachable base needs to be pushed within the station until the side buttons activate to hold it in place, and it’s here where you can see the electric scrubber – the OMNI Station does clean the mop. This is the lower part, while the upper part of the Yeedi Cube station is home to a couple of containers. The one on the left is the dirty water tank which has a detachable top and the inner mechanism reminds me of the system within the toilet tank – it relies on a floater to let you know when the water tank is filled. The dirty water tank just sits on the base, so it’s easy to remove and clean it.

The second container consists of a large plastic cover which, once removed, it will expose the 2.1L dust bag (easily removable and universal). There are a few other sections underneath this cover that hold the necessary circuits that ensure all the functions of the OMNI Station. On the sides, I noticed that there are some IR sensors, most likely to help the robot vacuum cleaner to find its way back more quickly. There is also a status LED which shines on the Yeedi Cube robot vacuum cleaner and it’s really well placed, increasing the overall aesthetic value of the device.

The Installation

The first step is to connect the OMNI Station to a power source (the LED will slowly flash a light blue color) and then switch the side button on the Yeedi Cube unit to on. At this point, a voice prompt will let you know that you can scan the QR code from the app – and they tell it once which is excellent (I hate it when they repeat it ad nauseam). It’s a good idea to insert the robot vacuum cleaner unit into the station so it recharges – you can do it manually or just press the Home button.

The required app is called Yeedi and I have used it before with the Vac 2 Pro. Even so, I was asked whether I allow the app to track my activity across other apps. Why exactly would it need that, I don’t know, so I said no. Then, it will want to send notifications (again, it’s up to you whether you allow it or not) and it does seem that the app forgot about the Vac 2 Pro. It didn’t really matter since we need to tap on the ‘Add a robot’ to open the camera and scan the QR code.

I was then asked to allow the app access to the location while using the app. I am not a fan of that, but decided to set the Precise to off just for some minimal privacy. The app did not take that kindly, it NEEDS to know where I am precisely and there is absolutely no reason for it to demand it. The Yeedi Cube maps my home, not my neighborhood. For the sake of this review, I had to give it free use of my location. But that’s not all because it now demanded access to my local network. Seriously guys, I can select my network manually and enter the password (who needs privacy..).

Anyway, after that whole process, I was asked to power up the Yeedi Cube and, after the music and the aforementioned voice prompt, I had to press on the Home and Spot button at the same time to return the device to its factory settings. After that, it wanted access to Bluetooth and then I could select the 2.4GHz network from my router (again, offer a manual option to the user). Next, I could enter a name for the Yeedi Cube and I could immediately update the firmware. I should mention that there is a third-party software (called Valetudo) available for some Xiaomi robot vacuum cleaners, but it’s unfortunately not compatible with the Yeedi Cube.

The Mobile App

To get the full experience that the app can offer, I let the Yeedi Cube take a quick stroll around the house and map it. After that was done, I was actually surprised about the accuracy of the rooms and the divider was also spot on. It is possible to edit the map or save it so the Yeedi Cube can use it as a reference for future cleanings.

Obviously, multiple floors (maps) are supported, as expected at this price point. Above the map, I could see the status of the robot vacuum cleaner and swiping left showed the History, Status and Accessory info tab. You can see that there is a small arrow on the right and tapping on it will allow you to set Virtual Zones on the map where the Yeedi Cube is not allowed to enter. But, be aware that you can choose between No-Clean and No-Mop zones, and only up to 10 such areas are supported at a time. You can also Divide or Merge rooms, as well as label them.

At the bottom, there’s the Start button to enable the cleaning process and on the left side, there’s the Robot icon. Tap it to enter the Settings section which is divided between Basic and Advanced. Under Basic, you get to either set a Spot that needs to be cleaned or leave it on Auto. It’s also possible to choose between Vacuum and Mop or just Vacuum mode, set the suction power (Quiet, Normal or Max), the amount of water that will be used when mopping (Low, Mid or High) and whether the process will be Quick or if the Yeedi Cube will clean the Full house. Tapping on Advanced will summon a new suite of options.

It is possible to enable Customized Rooms Cleaning where you can choose the Suction Power and the Water Flow by room, you can also set the Cleaning Sequence (which room will be first) or Schedule when the cleaning will occur. You can select the time, set it on Repeat and whether a certain room will be cleaned or all of them. Next, we see the Do Not Disturb function that’s enabled by default and it will make sure that the LEDs are turned off, the cleaning is done as quiet as possible and that the ad OMNI Station will not clean the robot vacuum cleaner (it’s a very noisy process) – it is also possible to select the preferred time.

Lastly, we can see the Resumed Cleaning which will make sure that in case of low battery, it will return and clean a room after it has fully recharged. There are a few Station settings as well, also divided between Basic and Advanced. The Basic functions allow you to manually Empty the dust bag, Wash the mop cloth and Dry it. The Advanced settings allow you to choose the Preferred Drying time (either 3 or 5 hours), as well as the Preferred Washing time (every 10, 15 or 20 minutes). There is a Cogwheel icon at the top right corner which will let you see the status of the Accessories, the cleaning History (a log), you can choose the Area Unit, how loud the Robot Voice will be, as well as the spoken Language.

So, overall, it’s a well thought-out layout and I have no complaints about the software experience. But I do need to complain about the necessity of always being online. Yes, if your Internet goes down, so do the functions of the app and, again, there is absolutely no good reason for a robot vacuum cleaner to be always communicating with its parent servers.

The Navigation: the Vision and Laser Fusion Navigation System

Let’s immediately address the elephant in the room. LIDAR is proven to be an excellent system that can accurately map a house, so why do so many manufacturers prefer to go with VSLAM? Yeah, it’s a budget thing. The VSLAM technology relies on cheaper components, so it costs less to implement than the LIDAR tech. At the same time, I have tested some VSLAM robot vacuum cleaners and in most cases, the navigation experience would walk a fine line between acceptable and downright awful.

The Yeedi Vac 2 Pro did perform better than the Trifo Lucy, although the latter did have a few interesting features, such as object detection which were not present on the former. So, are the algorithms truly better on the Yeedi Cube? Surely, the robot vacuum cleaner does rely on a camera for navigation, but it also has included a few laser pointers (I assume it’s IR) to help avoid near-by objects.

And I think it worked surprisingly well even if a few quirks are still present. The Yeedi Cube will begin by trying to get a quick outline of the area and will also try to get an idea about where the doors are – it managed to find the doors quite accurately. Then, I saw that the robot vacuum cleaner will go several times in a straight line, finishing with a very close-to-the-wall stroll. So, it’s a bit better than the LIDAR vacuum cleaners when it comes to corner cleaning. I saw that it does a decent job at avoiding shoes and other similarly-sized objects, but do not leave cables or shoes strings on the floor, otherwise it will try to eat them up.

There is one weakness that pretty much all robot vacuum cleaners have and it’s the handling of pet poop. The Trifo Lucy did try its best at adding it to the map, only to forget about its existence when returning to the base, so did the Yeedi Cube perform better in this regard? As you can see from the video, after finishing the cleaning of the hallway, I intentionally put a toy in front of the robot vacuum cleaner and it both detected and avoided the object before returning to the base. So, it will work as long as it’s tall enough to be ‘seen’ by the Yeedi Cube.

A Lidar system will work fine during the day and during the night, but a VSLAM robot vacuum cleaner does need light to navigate a dark room. The Trifo Lucy relied on night vision (IR LEDs), but the Vac 2 Pro wondered around, being unsuitable for night-time cleaning. What about the Yeedi Cube? Since it also relies on lasers, it will be a bit better, but it is advisable to map the rooms before allowing the device to run during the night (for better accuracy).

Is the Sonic Mopping effective?

I have mentioned that the Sonic mop module is similar to the one I saw on the Vac 2 Pro, but there are some notable differences. First, the cloth is patterned, allowing for a better scrubbing and then there’s the 2,500 times per minute movement which makes the whole system vibrate more than oscillate (as it did on the Vac 2 Pro). It’s a different system, so let’s see it in action. The way I test the mopping abilities of all robot vacuum cleaners is that I take a few berries and just crush them on the floor. Then, I leave the whole mess to get dry and let the robot vacuum cleaner do its magic.

Here’s the deal, superficial, fresh spots will be cleaned quickly and effectively by the Yeedi Cube, but I am more interested on the stubborn, old spots. As you can see from the video, it will more likely require several scrubbings with a regular mop to get everything properly cleaned up. Even so, the Yeedi Cube did better than expected and yes, it did not clean it completely, but it’s a viable alternative to the traditional mop. To get a perfect result, just let it run again. I would have liked some sort of spot detection system where the robot vacuum cleaner would return by itself to finish the job, but I suppose we’re still not there technologically at this price point.

We’re not done because we need to talk about what happens after the Yeedi Cube returns to the OMNI station. The scrub, wash and dry process takes a lot of time to finish. And I mean it, it will take at least three hours before the low humming noise will subside (the drying), so bear in mind that there is a slightly higher power consumption than on other brands.

But the end result is worth it, right? We do get a fully dry and clean cloth, right? It actually did a very good job because the cloth was completely dried after 3 hours and while I wouldn’t call the cloth perfectly clean, I would say it’s decent considering the ordeal it went through (the raspberries are no joke).

The Performance

The Noise

There are three suction levels and as we saw from the app, they’re labeled by the amount of noise the Yeedi Cube will produce. I took a sound meter and, after setting the robot vacuum cleaner in the Quiet mode, it seems that the average noise was around 60dB, while I was about 3 feet away from the unit. So it’s not really that quiet and I suggest you don’t run the Yeedi cube during the night at all. The next mode is Normal and surprisingly, the noise level doesn’t seems that much different from the Quiet mode – I measured an average of 63dB.

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Mark B

Mark is a graduate in Computer Science, having gathered valuable experience over the years working in IT as a programmer. Mark is also the main tech writer for MBReviews.com, covering not only his passion, the networking devices, but also other cool electronic gadgets that you may find useful for your every day life.

www.mbreviews.com

But, while I am happy to see these new technologies making their way to the more affordable robot vacuum cleaners, new is not always better. I know that a lot of manufacturers are always chasing the next new thing, but there is a difference between change and improvement. It’s true that the VSLAM technology has a lot of potential, but I have already seen it in action on another ‘affordable’ robot vacuum cleaner (the Trifo Lucy) and what I got from that experience was that I need to praise the Lidar technology more.

Obviously, I am very curious about how Yeedi made use of this tech on its Vac 2 Pro, but I do think that a combination between Lidar and VSLAM will have a far higher rate of success for both correctly mapping the house and to easily avoid objects that may be in the path of the robot vacuum cleaner.

The oscillating mopping system is designed to add the scrubbing motion into the game, so it’s not just a cloth imbued with water that slides over your hardfloor. But is it actually effective? There’s only one way to find out and that’s by putting the Yeedi Vac 2 Pro to the test.

Design and Build Quality

The robot vacuum cleaner has kept the same look for more than a decade, ever since the circular Roomba was roaming and cleaning houses. And it makes sense considering that the circular chassis is useful for moving around obstacles (thanks to the 360 degrees wheel), so the manufacturers didn’t feel the need to change it. The Yeedi Vac 2 Pro also sports a circular case made of plastic that’s covered by a white matte finish and, after seeing that I could open the lid at the top to expose the Power button and the dust bin, I was afraid that I got another Roborock clone.

After seeing the top-facing camera and the bottom side of the robot vacuum cleaner, it does seem a slightly more unique device. But don’t get me wrong, the Yeedi Vac 2 Pro is still a bit of ‘a Frankenstein’s monster’, as we’ll see in a minute. When I tested the Trifo Lucy, the manufacturer has positioned the camera to point forward, which made perfect sense for navigation purposes, so why did Yeedi decide to point it at the ceiling?

I am fairly sure that we’re dealing with something resembling a fish-eye camera lens which tries to map the surrounding areas at a 360 degrees angle. And it’s an interesting approach with the only issue being that it won’t be able to avoid cables or socks, something that the Trifo Lucy did with incredible ease. Still, the Yeedi Vac 2 Pro does have IR sensors to avoid obstacles (positioned around the case) and I saw that I could detach the rear section.

It doesn’t seem to serve any particular function with the exception of being a place holder for the oscillating mopping system module. The bottom of the Yeedi Vac 2 Pro is populated by a couple of height-adjustable wheels, a rolling brush that can be detached and properly cleaned, and there are cliff sensors near the edge of the case. I also noticed that there was a carpet detection sensor positioned next to the 360-degrees wheel and there is a connector for the single side brush. It was also interesting to see the two flaps from the dust bin.

Returning to the top, next to the camera, there is an Auto Mode button (starts and pauses a cleaning cycle – I didn’t see a return home button) and under the lid, besides the red Power button, I saw a silicone cover. After removing it, I was able to see an eight-pin connector and a microUSB port – I assume that both are for diagnostic purposes and maybe for changing the software.

The way you can remove the dust bin is a bit unique because it doesn’t rely on a spring operated switch, but on a handle that helps raise the container. The dust bin does have a HEPA filter installed which can be easily removed and replaced – unfortunately, there are no spare filters inside the package.

Yeedi Vac 2 Pro Teardown

Before removing any screws, it’s advisable to take out the dust bin, the rolling brush, the side brush and the mop assembly placeholder (or the mopping system itself). Then, remove the screws from the bottom part and carefully detach the plastic cover.

Doing so, will expose the battery which needs to be removed in order to continue with the teardown process. You will see the metallic piece next to the battery – remove the screws and take it out, then detach the connector to the battery. The manufacturer says that the Yeedi Vac 2 Pro is equipped with a 5200mAh battery and I can confirm that this is indeed the typical capacity, while the rated capacity is 4,800mAh.

Then, take the remaining screws out and proceed to detach the bottom piece on the bumper – I saw that there are no sticker that threaten to void the warranty if teared, which is great. Afterwards, you can detach the top portion of the case which sits on the Start button (next to the camera) – use a prying tool to do so. At this point, I was a bit confused because I couldn’t move forward, so I decided to disconnect the large top section.

You can do the same by removing the screws and carefully detaching the springs. Doing so, I finally realized that there were an extra pair of screws underneath two silicone covers.

Remove these as well and you should be able to finally detach the entire top section, but be very careful when doing so because the camera remains connected to the main board. There is a secondary smaller PCB for the camera and, after removing the metallic cover, I could identify the 512MB of RAM from Samsung (SEC 143 K4B4G16) and 512MB of storage memory (PN27G04ABGITG), so Yeedi has been quite generous with the components.

There is also a Rockdip RK3826 NACKW33017 main chip covered by thermal paste. Before putting everything back together, I checked the brushless motor and it’s a Nidec 1X04MRT 20N709S130 which seems to be able to go up to 12,000 rotations per minute.

The Docking Station

The Yeedi Vac 2 Pro comes with a small docking station that’s similar to every other non-self-cleaning docks out there. The manufacturer did cover it by a white matte finish at the bottom, while the top is glossy black on is sides, so, overall, it’s a nice looking docking station. It will also sit into place due to the two silicone feet and the sponge-like piece on the bottom of the device. I do have to mention though that this charging base was actually made by Reecoo, as written on the label.

Yeedi has made available a self-cleaning station as well which you will need to purchase separately. This does rise the overall price tag of the robot vacuum cleaner quite a bit. The self-cleaning docking station comes disassembled, but it’s easy to put together. There’s the main body of the dock which sits upright connected to the flat base and there’s an additional transparent ramp extension which is an optional piece that’s going to be useful when you leave the base station on a carpet.

Even if it may seem so, it’s not truly a plug and play system because you will have connect the three screws underneath the base to tighten the upper part of the charging base to the lower part. What I immediately noticed is that the bin doesn’t seem that large and, after checking the specs, it uses 2.5L dust bags, so my intuition was right, it’s a bit smaller than what the Roidmi Eve Plus offers. But, as the manufacturer says, it should still handle a months-worth of dirt and the last couple of weeks of testing have confirmed that it should last close to that number.

I really liked the way you open the bin – just push on it to lock and push again to unlock, and the way Yeedi designed the base, it does allow the robot vacuum cleaner to sit properly in place.

I need to mention the front-facing LED which is solid white while the lid is closed and becomes red when the lid is open. Before moving forward, let’s address the Frankenstein monster aspect a bit more. I said that the default base station is from Reecoo, but the self-cleaning charging station resembles so much the Ecovac’s Deebot N8 Pro+ station. And it’s not a coincidence that I mention this brand because the mopping module is also almost identical to what the Ecovacs has to offer.

The Oscillating Mopping Module

As I mentioned in the previous section, the mopping module is almost identical to the module offered by the Ecovacs (Omzo Pro), with some differences in terms of color, but the design is the same. This means that they should be inter-changeable as well.

That being said, the module attaches easily to the Yeedi Vac 2 Pro (you do need to remove the placeholder) and its capacity is 6.1oz (180ml) which may not seem that much, but it’s actually a bit larger than what other robot vacuum cleaners have to offer.

It’s easy to fill it with water and it’s also not that difficult to detach the cloth – it’s held by Velcro strips. Unfortunately, there are no spares in the package and these pieces of cloth easily get dirty, so they need to be washed regularly. Is it a bad thing that they used essentially the same parts from other brands? For the other brands, maybe (unless they made some sort of agreement), but for the end user, it means that you can get better access to spare parts, hopefully at even better prices.

The Installation

The Yeedi Vac 2 Pro lacks a remote control, so it relies solely on a mobile application for both the initial installation and the control + monitoring process. The app is called Yeedi and, after installing it, I had to choose the Country and the Language. After that, the app will ask that you agree to their User Agreement and especially to the Privacy Policy. Let’s talk about their data collection for a bit.

After roaming the very lengthy page their provided, I could see that Yeedi collects your email address and country from the registration process, the app functions and the way you use the app, the smartphone (or tablet) info, the IP address and the location information (which is why you never use precise location).

There is more because the manufacturer’s server will also store the ‘cleanable outline drawing’ (referring to the map of the rooms?) and the operation weblog. The way Yeedi uses this data is for diagnostic purposes, but I saw that there is data collection for extended business functions which include user surveys, to improve their products and services (in this case, they may collect Cookies and web browser Beacon info), as well as to display and push marketing information.

Anyway, I had to move on, so I accepted these terms (which are not very privacy-friendly) and then I could finally register an account (does not require a phone number). On the next step, I could Add a new Robot which is a process that requires the scanning of the QR code located underneath the top-placed lid and the app did ask for my current location, as well as for the network access.

Now is the time to power on the robot vacuum cleaner (use the switch underneath the lid) and to quick press the Reset button. After the voice says that the Yeedi Vac 2 Pro has entered the ‘Network distribution mode’, press Next and insert the credentials for your home network (it should be a 2.4GHz network). The app will then generate a QR code which you will need to scan using the top-facing camera.

And that’s about it, enter the Name for the robot vacuum cleaner, wait for the device to Download something (the app didn’t mention what) and you should now be able to run the initial configuration. It’s going to ask if you want to enable the DND function, so that the device will not run, nor speak between certain hours and you will also be able to enable the Resumed Clean function, so that the robot vacuum cleaner will remember the last task if it was interrupted.

The Mobile Application

The functions of the app are well laid out, with the map of the house covering the upper two thirds of the screen (including the Area Cleaned and the time it needed to). And if you tap on the icon underneath the cogwheel, it will summon the Map Display set of options where you can adjust how you see the map. At the bottom of the screen, there are various sets of options that can be pulled upwards, the first allowing you to adjust the way the robot vacuum cleaner maps the rooms, then, you can Edit the Map and return the device to its charging station.

What was interesting about the map editing option was that it did not care for the previously-made map (on my first run), it wanted the process to start from the beginning. Another bug that I found was that the Start button didn’t work – I can pause a cleaning section, but can’t start it from the app, only using the physical button. I did find a fix for both aforementioned problems – restart the app.

Indeed, after restarting the app, I was able to see the map and edit it – set Virtual Boundaries (No-Go Zones), Divide the Rooms in other ways (if the algorithm messed it up – in my case, it didn’t), Merge rooms or Label the Areas. Moving to the next section, I could set the Vacuum Power (four levels) and the Water Flow Level (three modes).

I could also set a Cleaning Schedule for a particular time and if it’s going to be only on certain days of the week. And it was also possible to select the rooms that are going to be cleaned from the map, which is excellent. Further down, I could change the voice of the Robot (the language), as well as the volume of the speaker and going further down, I could change the Cleaning Settings which include the DND mode, the Auto-Emptying function, the Auto-Boost Suction mode (when it detects carpets) and the 3D Obstacle Avoidance (which requires mapping the house).

Going to the Settings menu (the cogwheel at the top right corner of the screen), you can check the logs for any past cleaning cycle, the status of your accessories, you can update the firmware and set the Time Zone.

Note: The Yeedi app needs constant access to the Internet, otherwise it won’t let you operate the robot vacuum cleaner at all.

The Navigation: Top facing camera

I have tested three types of robot vacuum cleaners so far. There’s the basic type which relies on IR sensors to determine where to go next and usually isn’t able to create a map of the room, it’s just roaming around for a long time until it decides to lose its way to the base station (Kyvol E20).

Some are still able to create maps, although still have a hard time navigating around the rooms (Ultenic D5S Pro) and then, there’s the robot vacuum cleaners that use Lidar to quickly map the rooms and properly clean them up. But there is a shortcoming to these devices because they’ll eat up socks, cables and anything you may have left on the ground. That’s why Trifo Lucy put a camera in front of the chassis, so it would identify what it sees, therefore avoiding pet poop, cables and socks (it failed in some aspects, but that’s besides the point).

The mapping of the rooms is also less accurate and the device tends ‘to forget’ about certain rooms. So, when I saw that the Yeedi Vac 2 Pro has pointed a camera at the top and uses the VSLAM technology to navigate the rooms, I was more concerned than impressed. The app does try to make you do things in a certain way as to maintain its accuracy, so I followed the guidelines. The first thing that needs to be done is to map the rooms.

This means that I should not leave any cables, socks or other small objects around that may interfere with the accurate mapping of the house. And I followed the robot vacuum cleaner around to see how well it handles stairs, furniture and corners. As you can see from the video, the cliff sensors work wonderfully well and there is no chance that it will fall down the stairs. It also navigates well around the furniture and when it’s mapping the house, it goes slow and gentle, but on the second run, the robot vacuum cleaner does move significantly faster.

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Mark B

Mark is a graduate in Computer Science, having gathered valuable experience over the years working in IT as a programmer. Mark is also the main tech writer for MBReviews.com, covering not only his passion, the networking devices, but also other cool electronic gadgets that you may find useful for your every day life.

www.mbreviews.com

Up to a certain point because the Trifo Emma is able to create maps even without the two aforementioned technologies (in a similar manner to the Ultenic DS5 Pro) and yes, there is an app to control the behavior of the robot vacuum cleaner. Furthermore, the Trifo Emma Pet comes with the same type of mop assembly which I wasn’t really fond of when I tested the Lucy, but I think it will make much more sense on this vacuum cleaner.

And there’s also a very large 600ml dust bin. It is one of the largest I have seen on a robot vacuum cleaner so far and, paired to the 110 minutes runtime (if true), it should ensure a thorough cleaning of a large house. The suction power is 3,000Pa and I saw that the Trifo Lucy had some trouble with pet hair, so the manufacturer tried to remedy this behavior by inserting a special element to replace the rolling brush. That’s why the device is called Trifo Emma Pet, since, this way, it should handle per hair far better than other robot vacuum cleaners. That being said, let’s put the robot vacuum cleaner to the test and see if it can actually replace the good ol’ broom and dustpan.

The Design and Build Quality

The Trifo Emma may follow the usual (proven) design for robot vacuum cleaners, but it’s far bigger than most other random-navigation-type of devices, measuring 14.2 inches in diameter and it’s 3.3 inches tall. And yes, it’s just as big as the Trigo Lucy, but the manufacturer also took the opportunity to keep the 600ml (21oz) dustbin as well. The device is mostly covered by a black matte finish, with the exception of the bumper that needs the transparent plastic for the IR sensor (to find its way back to the charging station).

At the top, Trifo decided to use what looks like brushed aluminum and there’s a cut-out for the two main buttons (with LEDs). The first button powers up the robot vacuum cleaner (press and hold it to turn it off) and the second one is used to finish the cleaning cycle and return the device to its charging station. If you open the top cover (revealing that it’s made of plastic), you’ll see the same layout as on the Trifo Lucy. There is an additional way for charging the robot vacuum cleaner via the USB-A port (interesting addition), a Reset button (you need to long press it to return the Trifo Emma Pet to its default settings) and a WiFi LED (it becomes solid blue after pairing the device to the app).

Underneath the cover you can also access the dustbin and it’s easy to remove, just push on the dedicated button to pop it out. After turning the Trifo Emma Pet upside down, I realized that there’s a very similar layout to what we saw on the Trifo Lucy, so expect the two charging pins, the six cliff sensors and the same type of wheels + the 360 degrees wheel. What was missing was the optical track sensor (which works great in combination with the camera module). Furthermore, the two Velcro pads were also present (to attach the mop) and the non-removable side brush.

In the middle, there is the rolling brush which can easily be removed and, since we are using the Pet version, this brush, along with the brushguard can be replaced with the pet hair extractor. This new part looks very similar to what you get when buying a regular vacuum cleaner (where you can choose between various available heads). And in this case, there is no rolling brush to capture the hair, but a silicone flap which pushes it towards the dust bin. The hair pet extractor along with a fairly high suction power should be successful at removing hair from carpets, but we will put it to the test in a minute.

Internal Hardware: Trifo Emma Pet Teardown

I saw conflicting info on the website since the specs page showed 4,000Pa, while the main page suggested 3,000Pa, so I decided to check for myself what type of brushless motor they have added inside the case. So, it’s best to remove the bumper and the side brush before anything else, followed by the bigger screws all around the case.

Be aware that there is a seal on top of one of the screws, so the manufacturer will most likely void your warranty in case you break it. Afterwards, the bottom cover will just easily pop out. The first thing that I was able to identify was the 2600mAh battery and, again, I was impressed by the modular approach that the manufacturer adopted with its robot vacuum cleaner line since it’s far easier to upgrade or change faulty parts (far easier to repair).

It was also very easy to navigate through the sections since there is a small amount of cables, almost everything uses direct connectors (to the board) – the same concept can be found on the Trifo Lucy as well. After that, make sure to remove the rolling brush motor (the section where you add the rolling brush) because there are a few screws underneath that you need to take out before being able to detach the entire upper section.

Doing so will expose the PCB and here, it’s possible to identify the ARM Cortex-M4 STM32F407ZGT6 CPU clocked at 168MHz and the ESPRESSIF ESP-WRQM-02D WiFi module. It was interesting to see that on the PCB, there was also a microUSB port. Lastly, after removing the screws on the other side and exposing the suction motor, I could see that it’s a Nidec 22N708R010. I checked the web which has confirmed that the suction power is indeed 3,000Pa.

The Docking Station

The Trifo Emma Pet does not have a self-emptying station, so it can be charged using a small dock. And it’s pretty much the same as the one we saw on the Trifo Lucy, just a bit less fancy looking. The upper part is glossy black with an LED flashing at the top, while the lower section is matte black with the two metallic connectors lowering to get in contact with the robot vacuum cleaner. At the bottom, the manufacturer has kept that detachable cover that allows an easier cable management.

The Mobile App

While most robovacs, especially in this price range do come with a remote control, Trifo decided against it, so the only way to control the Emma Pet is via the mobile app. And this came with some problematic consequences that we’ll briefly explore. The app is called Trifo Home and it’s the same for (currently) all robot vacuum cleaners from this brand. After logging into the account that I made when I tested the Trifo Lucy, I tapped on the Plus sign and selected Emma.

Then, I powered on the device to hear the usual uplifting song and the charging voice notification which is less startling than on the Trifo Lucy. The app instructed me to press and hold the Home button for 5 seconds and the voice notification will say “Let’s connect me to your home WiFi”. At this point, the app wanted access to your Location and, I said no, so the app simply threw me out. Here we go again. I decided to let it have an approximation of my location and I had to connect my phone to the 2.4GHz network. And then I had to enter the credentials by myself regardless (wow).

After that, I had to manually connect to the EMMA_ WiFi and, I got the error that the connection to the network had failed. I tried again from the start (with the precise location – sigh) and it failed once more. I started to assume that maybe the battery was too low, so I let it charge up before trying again. A snack later, I returned and tried the process to see it failing once again, even after I restarted the phone that I was using. At this point I realized that maybe it’s the phone. So, I put the iPhone 12 on the side and tried the same steps on an Android device. It got paired in 30 seconds. I have no idea what is going on considering that I could pair the Trifo Lucy using the iPhone, but the Emma stubbornly refused to install.

In any case, after adding it via an Android smartphone, it appeared in the list of the iPhone and I could use all the available functions. Another problem is that the app will not work at all if there is no Internet connection – a remote would have allowed offline house cleaning. That being said, the app GUI is very similar to what we saw on the Trifo Lucy, just with less options available. Most of the window is occupied by the map (multi-floor maps are not supported, as expected), while towards the bottom left, there is a small icon which will enable the Manual Mode (you should be able to move the Trifo Emma Pet by manually using a virtual joystick).

Further down, you can see the Cleaning Area and the Time it took, as well as the Remaining Battery. Then, there’s the action buttons, the first starting the Cleaning process, the next will return the Trifo Emma to its base to Recharge it and lastly, there’s the option to change the Suction Setting. If you tap on the three dots from the top right corner, you can change the language and the volume of the Voice notifications, set a Cleaning Schedule (you can also view the History), update the software, check the location of the device (in case it gets lost) and more.

The Performance

The Noise

As, I saw with the Lucy, the Trifo robot vacuum cleaners are noisy and the same is true for the Trifo Emma Pet as well. I think that the reason is the powerful exhaust mechanism, which is why even if I moved through various suction levels, the noise didn’t actually rise up that much, especially at the lower levels.

Also, know that there aren’t 3-4 fixed levels (as on other robot vacuum cleaners), you move along a slider which breaks the suction speed into about 10 levels. The lower levels (up to one third of the slider), the noise levels ranged between 53 and 56dB, while the middle suction levels showed that the noise went up to 58dB (about 2 feet away from the robot vacuum cleaner). Raising it further to about 2 thirds of the slider showed that the noise ranges between 60 and 63dB, and the last two portions of the slider (the maximum suction power) showed that the noise levels can go past 70dB, up to 73dB.

This means that there is no chance to sleep while the Trifo Emma Pet is vacuuming the house and that it’s about as loud as the traditional vacuum cleaner. Also, there’s the loud voice notifications which can be silenced and I do need to mention that the the speaker is less clear on the Emma than it was on the Lucy.

The Navigation

I am always wary of robot vacuum cleaners that lack the Lidar or the vSLAM technologies since, during my tests, the implemented algorithms aren’t that great at creating a proper map, so the devices end up vacuuming the same area obsessively and then they have trouble returning to the base station. Is that also the case with the Trifo Emma Pet?

In general, no, but it does have it’s own set of issues. As expected, you should not leave any cables or shoe laces around since they will be eaten up by the Trifo Emma Pet. But, I was surprised to see that the device was able to create a fairly accurate map and it would also show in real-time the position of the robot vacuum cleaner. It’s quite the feat since the Ultenic D5S Pro struggled with it. Then, the cliff sensors worked wonderfully well and there was zero chance that it would fall down the stairs, as can be seen in the video. But, the robot vacuum cleaner does have the tendency to go over the same spot multiple times (I counted between three to four times) which is good for thorough cleaning, but not so great for battery life.

Then, I saw that it failed to detect that there were other areas available where it could have gone and cleaned. Furthermore, probably the worst offender was the fact that the charging station was detected in the map and the icon was properly set. But the robot vacuum cleaner would move and toss it around while cleaning that space. It actually took me by surprise since it happened twice during the same cleaning cycle. Probably an IR issue, but then again, after the cycle was done, the device went straight to the docking station and carefully attached to it. The algorithm clearly needs some fine tuning in this regard. At the same time, as I mentioned, the Trifo Lucy is the first robot vacuum cleaner that I tested which quickly and accurately returns to its base even if it uses the random-type navigation system.

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Mark B

Mark is a graduate in Computer Science, having gathered valuable experience over the years working in IT as a programmer. Mark is also the main tech writer for MBReviews.com, covering not only his passion, the networking devices, but also other cool electronic gadgets that you may find useful for your every day life.

www.mbreviews.com

After testing quite a few robot vacuum cleaners, both relying on Lidar and pure contact sensors for navigation, I could not leave cables or shoelaces around the house, otherwise the device would try to eat them up, blocking the brushes and then the inevitable cry for help. So, I do welcome a solution to this problem especially since some home owners have encountered a new problem that involves pet poop and robot vacuum cleaners (with stories edging between comedy and horror). The camera-based navigation is not really new (it’s called vSLAM) and I have seen it on some iRobot Roomba models, as well as the Roborock S7 MaxV.

But the aforementioned robot vacuum cleaners are more expensive than the Trifo Lucy (at the moment of writing), so was the manufacturer able to create a balanced implementation of the VSLAM tech at a lower cost? I am going to put the Trifo Lucy to the test and find out if their version of the vSLAM can also be compared to the LiDAR systems from other vacuum cleaners in the same price range. And, of course, whether the device can actually properly clean the house. All these technologies are amazing, but the reason of existence of a vacuum cleaner is to vacuum the house, so let’s check out the built quality of the Trifo Lucy and its cleaning performance.

The Design and Build Quality

Ever since the Roombas were roaming the rooms of our homes, the design of the robot vacuum cleaners hasn’t really changed. The case is still circular and made of plastic moving around thanks to the three wheels and cleaning the house with the help of a rolling brush + side brush/es. It’s a proven design and the Trifo Lucy also follows it, so expect a fairly large cylindrical case covered by a black finish (the top is glossy, while the sides are partially matte) and I did like that the manufacturer has added a golden ring for the two buttons. One button allows you to Power On/Off the device, while the other can be used to return the Trifo Lucy to the charging case.

And it’s nice to see that they went for a different button layout, since with the other devices that I tested, I was starting to feel trapped in a Roborock clones nightmare. The top is not made of glass, it’s plastic and you can open it to see that the buttons are actually on the inside (the cover has some extensions), but there are a few other elements that are worth mentioning. There is a Reset button (long press it to return the device to the factory settings – the Power LED will start flashing white), a WiFi LED and a USB-A Charging Port. I suppose this port is useful if the dock malfunctions.

Still under this cover, there is the dustbin and it’s fairly easy to remove it by operating a switch that releases the 21 ounces (600ml) bin. So, it’s a big dustbin, probably the largest that I’ve seen on the robot vacuum cleaners that I tested so far. The device itself measures 14.2 x 3.3 inches, which makes it a slightly bit bigger than the Lydsto R1. On the front of the Trifo Lucy, there is the usual bumper with the contact sensors and in the middle, we can see the two cameras, one for day view and the other for the black and white night vision. After turning the device upside down, I saw the two charging pins which sit next to the optical track sensor (to help guide the vacuum cleaner) and in the middle, there’s a rolling brush.

It can be removed and thoroughly cleaned, and it uses the expected combination between silicone pads and soft bristles. On the left and right side of the rolling brush, there are two spring-operated wheels and towards the front of the Trifo Lucy, there’s a side brush (can only be removed by taking out a screw) and the 360-degrees wheel. Towards the edge of the case, there are six cliff sensors. Overall, I do think the Trifo Lucy is one of the most robust robot vacuum cleaner that I have tested so far, but let’s take a look inside the device as well.

Internal Hardware: Trifo Lucy Teardown

Before anything else, know that there is a seal on one of the screws on the bottom of the Trifo Lucy, so, if you open up the device, it will void the warranty. But, if that doesn’t matter to you, then remove the screws and don’t forget to detach the side brush as well. Then, you should be able to take off the bottom panel.

At this point, you will be able to see the battery (it’s indeed 5,200mAh) and another plastic cover attached by screws. Remove these screws as well and, after having removed the wheels motor, it’s going to be clear that the manufacturer made everything very modular. And removing the side brush motor and the wheels revealed that there are very few wires, mostly just modules connected to the main board – it’s a very nice and satisfying design.

After finally detaching the top of the vacuum cleaner, you will be able to see the PCB and it’s possible to identify the STM32F407ZGT6 CPU which is ARM-based and it’s clocked at 168MHz. Then, there’s the Realtek RTL8822BS 802.11ac highly integrated single-chip for the wireless connection and a Rockchip RK808-D HFADN6287 power management IC. Moving forward, I detached the suction motor and it had written 22N708R010 on the label – next to it, there was a speaker.

The brushless motor was developed by Nidec and it seems to be able to go up to 27,000rpm. I also need to mention that I saw a small fan which seems to run at a lower RPM all the time and it will sometimes ramp up for a bit, making itself more audible (so, it’s never completely silent).

The Docking Station

The Trifo Lucy model that I currently test comes with a small docking station that’s suitable only for charging up the device, so there’s no self-emptying option available. And the charging station looks very similar to the docks that I got with other non-self-cleaning vacuum cleaners, but the manufacturer has added a few design elements to make it stand out from the crowd. There are some gold accents around the dock, as well as on the charging pins, and I also liked that at the bottom, there is a plastic cover to make cable management easier. And that’s all, connect the provided charging cable and the robot vacuum cleaner should be able to juice up using the pins.

The Mop

I almost missed the fact that the Trifo Lucy has a mop assembly inside the package and I have to tell you that it’s a very weird implementation. We’re dealing with a very small container (100ml or 3.5oz) and it attaches to a couple of Velcro parts on the bottom of the Trifo Lucy.

Then you get one of the cloth pieces from the package (they’re cut to fit the robot vacuum cleaner, so very much proprietary) and it also gets attached to some Velcro spots. I think the idea of the mop attachment came later in the development cycle and this is the engineers’ way to add it to the device. And it works, for now, but not very sure about long-term use. Furthermore, there is very little amount of water available and it would definitely not be enough to cover my entire house. Maybe it will work with smaller homes. Lastly, the Trifo Lucy has zero control over the water flow, so the water will continue to drip through the cloth until it’s gone from the container.

Additionally, the robot vacuum cleaner leaves a lot of water behind, especially if you wait too long until starting the cleaning process, allowing the cloth to get soaked with water. Overall, I think Trifo should have just left the mop out with this robot vacuum cleaner.

The Mobile App

Installation

The Trifo Lucy uses the app called Trifo Home which is available on both iOS and Android, and, after installing it, I got the usual requirements to allow some permissions. First, it wanted to know the exact location to obtain the WiFi list, so I said no; then, it wanted to send me notifications which I allowed because apparently the Trifo Lucy can be a veritable home security device. Lastly, there’s the perpetual need to collect data and it’s the same as on other devices, only that the info was in French! Anyway, after agreeing, I could see that the default server was from Belgium (the French made sense, but they should put the terms and privacy policy in English by default).

Next, I had to create a new account either using my phone number or email (I chose the latter) and, after entering the code, I could log into the app’s GUI. And, it was obviously empty, so I tapped on the Add Device icon and selected Lucy from the list.

Now, I had to power up the robot vacuum cleaner and, after doing so for the first time, I got a very uplifting song and then silence. Suddenly a quick, but sharp “charging!” gave me both a small scare and a good laugh. Next, I pressed on the Home button for five seconds, after which I was asked again, to enable the location. I decided to enter the WiFi manually and it seems that the Lucy Trifo supports 5GHz which is very rare with these smart devices. Afterwards, a QR code appeared on the phone’s display which I had to scan using the robot vacuum cleaner front camera. A few seconds later, the installation was complete and I could roam the app (I could also update the firmware).

Note: The app requires a continuous connection to the Internet, which is annoying considering that the mapping is done locally, the videos are shot locally and there really is no need to constantly be connected to the home servers.

The User Interface

The app will show the latest map, covering most of the view and, underneath it, you can see the Cleaning Area, the Time and the Remaining Battery life (which is updated in real-time). Going a bit lower, there are four icons. There’s Clean which starts the cleaning process, followed by Recharge which returns the Trifo Lucy to the charging base and then there’s Start Video. This option will open up the camera, so you can see what the robot vacuum cleaner ‘sees’ – there is a voice notifications that the camera is enabled (or disabled). This way, you can switch between Day and Night Time vision, mute the microphone, capture a picture or start recording. The last tab is More Features and it allows you to clean a certain room only, a certain designated area (that you outlined before) and then there’s the Map Management.

The Trifo Lucy does seem to support multiple maps, but it’s a very weird implementation. Sure, there are two maps, but I couldn’t really do anything on the second map, so I genuinely don’t get what they were trying to accomplish here. You can also manually control the robot vacuum cleaner and adjust the Suction Settings (there are more than the standard three levels found on other devices). Tapping on the three dots from the top right corner, will summon the Device Settings and here, you can disable the AI object recognition feature, disable the option to Resume Cleaning or the Edge Cleaning (don’t). Furthermore, you can change both the language and the volume of the voice notifications and enable the DND mode.

This last one works along the Cleaning Schedule, where you can set when the Trifo Lucy will start cleaning and the mode (Silent, Standard and Turbo). It’s also possible to see the Cleaning History, check the Maintenance area (suggestions to when you should replace the brushes and the filter) and I also saw that it’s possible to turn on the Motion Detection. This way, you get a notification and a photo of what the robot vacuum cleaner saw when it detected motion in front of the camera.
Note: The Trifo Lucy does work with Amazon Alexa.

The Trifo Lucy as a Security Camera

As I mentioned in the previous section, you can enable the motion detection and set a specific schedule when the camera will alert you in case it detects movement. And it’s a neat idea since the Trifo Lucy essentially works as a mobile security camera.

During the day, the video quality is alright since there is a 1080p HDR lens, but indoors, the light is rarely ideal, so don’t expect some crazy footage quality. Still, all the details are there, the colors are a bit undersaturated and I really did like that the live video had pretty much no delay. I think the reason is the support for the 5GHz radio and, if the Trifo Lucy is near the router, the video feed is pretty much instantaneous. On LTE, things are less quick, but that’s not really the fault of the robot vacuum cleaner. The field of view is not really that wide, but I did like that there were no distortions at the edge of the video.

During the night, the IR LEDs do a really good job to allow the Trifo Lucy to navigate the room. And it doesn’t seem that it needed more time to clean than during the day, nor does it get lost or slam on objects more often (be aware that the black and white footage resolution is far lower than during the day).

The Navigation: Lidar vs vSLAM

After being accustomed with Lidar and the plain-ol’ dumb navigation, the way the Trifo Lucy navigated the house and mapped the area felt a bit unorthodox, but it does seem that the algorithm has gotten better over the last few months. I haven’t tested it before, but others did and there were some minor hiccups. So, I did start the robot vacuum cleaner and I let it do its thing for a few minutes. Then I watched how the map was being created, with all those icons signaling that the Trifo Lucy saw a pair of shoes, stairs and cables. And they were accurately placed on the map which is excellent, with one small exception.

It couldn’t really tell that there were some stairs heading downstairs, but don’t worry, the device had a proper cliff sensing system in place, so it will not fall off the stairs. With Lidar, the robot vacuum cleaner creates the outline of the room and then it moves in a specific pattern (usually diagonally) very close to the edge, so that it quickly and properly cleans the room. The vSLAM system is somewhat similar since it also moves close to the edges of the room, but the moving pattern afterwards wasn’t as straight as with Lidar. But the Trifo Lucy still did a fine job going at least once over the entire area (it also got closer to the cables and shoes than before).

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Mark B

Mark is a graduate in Computer Science, having gathered valuable experience over the years working in IT as a programmer. Mark is also the main tech writer for MBReviews.com, covering not only his passion, the networking devices, but also other cool electronic gadgets that you may find useful for your every day life.

www.mbreviews.com

Even so, the robot vacuum cleaner still manages to create maps of your house and it still tries to move in straight lines as much as possible (although in a less efficient manner). So, it’s not really like the Kyvol E20 that I tested a year ago, but there are some design elements that it has in common with the Ultenic D5S Pro, so I will check out how alike these two device truly are.

In any case, the robot vacuum cleaner does promise a suction power of up to 3,000Pa, which should fare really well with pet hair and there’s also a mop assembly that you can attach to thoroughly wash the pavement. Be aware that there is no self-cleaning station, but the Ultenic D5S Pro does have a remote control and there is also a mobile app, as well as integration with Amazon Alexa and Google Home smart assistants. That being said, I am curious to see how well the vacuum cleaner performs and if it manages to offer a more compelling feature package than some of its main competitors.

The Design and Build Quality

I was excited to see more affordable vacuum cleaners enter the market, but then things got a bit weird since there is essentially an avalanche of this type of devices, mostly from under the Xiaomi umbrella. Don’t get me wrong, I am more than happy to see that these nifty devices are now affordable enough to be owned by most people, but this meant that there aren’t many differences between the available models. And yes, despite seemingly coming from different brands, I did see robot vacuum cleaners that were almost identical. This takes us to the Ultenic D5S Pro which sports a glass top panel and a circular section in the middle that’s there only for aesthetic purposes.

The device is covered by a black glossy finish, with some matte elements on the sides and there is a fairly large button at the top that can be used to Power On/Off the Ultenic D5S Pro and to return it to its base. This button seemed familiar, but I decided to also check out the bumper and the bottom area. The bumper has some IR and contact sensors that should prevent the Ultenic D5S Pro from going full speed into the furniture and, on the other side of the circular case, there is a switch that, when pushed, it will allow you to take the dustbin out.

It has a 16.9oz capacity (or 500ml), which is pretty much the norm with these type of devices and I did like that there is a replaceable filter already installed. Ultenic has also included a water tank inside the package that simply replaces the existing dustbin. Don’t worry, the tank also has a dustbin included, although much smaller and they managed to keep the filter here as well, which is excellent. Besides the mop cloth that is already attached, you do get an additional piece in the package, as well as one spare filter.

Turning the Ultenic D5S Pro has confirmed what I already suspected: it’s not really that different from the Kyvol E20 robot vacuum cleaner. The layout is the same, only the colors are different. There are two spring-loaded wheels, a smaller wheel that spins 360 degrees, two connectors for the side brushes next to the charging pins and there’s also a rolling brush. On the sides, there are anti-drop sensors, while in the middle, there’s the battery pack cover that is held by two screws. Another similarity is the Power button. The rolling brush is detachable and it can be cleaned with the tool provided in the package. This got me more curios, so I had to open both robot vacuum cleaners to see just how similar they are.

Internal Hardware: Ultenic D5S Pro vs Kyvol E20

The tear-down process of the Ultenic D5S Pro will most likely leave you without a warranty, so it’s better to send it to the competent parties if something is faulty with the device. My unit was fine, I just needed to understand the device more, so I removed the bumper screws and detached the sensor connector. Then, I removed the larger screws from the bottom of the Ultenic D5S Pro and took out the rolling brush to find the two remaining screws.

Then, the top section should come off, but do it gently because there are two additional connectors that you need to carefully remove (one for the buttons and the other, I think it’s for the antennas). You’ll be then able to see the motherboard with its myriad of connectors. And, as you can see, despite being very similar, it’s not really the same board as the one on the Kyvol E20. The connectors are positioned the same, the layout is almost identical, but the board version is different and the CPU is different as well.

It’s built on the ARM architecture, but the Ultenic D5S Pro uses a GigaDevice chip, while the Kyvol E20 relies on an STM32F097 chipset. Furthermore, I noticed that Kyvol says that the suction power of their E20 is rated at 2,000Pa, while the Ultenic D5S Pro advertises 3,000Pa, so I decided to check out the DC motor on both robot vacuum cleaners.

On the Kyvol E20, I saw that the DC motor had 20N704P160 0Y04MJT written on a label, so I checked it on the web and found out that it’s a brushless DC motor that has a rated power of 22.2W (1.85A), it has a rated speed of 15,000rpm and it can get quite noisy, reaching 75dB (inside the enclosure, of course). Moving to the Ultenic D5S Pro, the 20N704R310 1905MJTA written on the label means that we’re dealing with a more powerful brushless DC motor, having a rated power of 32W (2.2A), a rated speed of 17,000rpm, while the noise level is the same as on the Kyvol E20, so it’s also more efficient in this regard. This means that we should indeed see a more powerful suction power.

But why is the advertised battery life lower than on the Kyvol E20 (120 minutes vs 150 minutes), is the DC motor really that much more power hungry? Not enough to make such a difference because there is another factor we need to take into account. The battery itself. Kyvol has said that they use a 3,200mAh battery, while I couldn’t find any info about the battery type that Ultenic uses on the D5S Pro. So I removed the two screws from the bottom and took out the battery. As I suspected, the Ultenic D5S Pro uses a 2,500mAh battery. I think it can be replaced to get a better capacity since there is a single connector and the battery can easily be taken out. Then again, two hours should still be plenty, but we’ll put this claim to the test immediately.

The Docking Station

The docking station is fairly small, which is to be expected considering that it does not have a self-cleaning container, it’s just designed to charge your robot vacuum cleaner. So, there are two connectors – metallic wheels, while the rest of the stand is made of plastic covered by a combo between matte and glossy black finish. And, at the top, there is an LED and a space dedicated for the remote control. Yes, it’s pretty much identical to what we get with the Kyvol devices.

The Remote Control

The Ultenic D5S Pro does come with a small remote control which, just like the docking station, is the same as what I saw with the Kyvol E20 and other entry-level robot vacuum cleaners. So, there’s the Auto button which starts the cleaning cycle, there’s the Home button to return the device to its docking station and start charging. Underneath, there are four directional arrows to adjust the way the Ultenic D5S Pro will go (if you switch to manual maneuvering) and there’s also a Pause/Resume button as well.

Then, further down, there’s the Time Setup button (to adjust the actual clock on the remote display) and the Schedule Setup button, where you simply set when the device will start cleaning your house. Afterwards, there’s the Spot Cleaning button which will move the Ultenic D5S Pro around a certain spot to clean it more thoroughly (on a radius of 3 feet) and the Edge Cleaning button that will make sure that the device will only move next to your furniture and your walls. Lastly, there’s the Single Room Cleaning and the option to adjust the Power levels. Essentially, the Ultenic D5S Pro will just clean for 30 minutes and then return to its charging station, hopefully cleaning at least a single room – there is a tip from the manufacturer to just close the door if it tries to move outside of it. Then again, there is a map that outlines the rooms, so no idea what’s that about.

The Mobile App

The mobile application that can be used with the Ultenic D5S Pro, in case you don’t want to deal with the remote control is called Ultenic and it’s available for both iOS and Android devices. After installing the app, it will require access to Bluetooth (to detect the Ultenic D5S Pro), your location (I said no) and to send Notifications, which I again, refused.

And then they put a Terms and Conditions page where besides the aforementioned permissions, they also want access to the camera/album data. Why? No idea. I said no and the app closed :). Apparently I had to say yes to continue with the review. Then, I had to create an account, enter the code that I got from the email and set the password. I was greeted by a cool-looking app where I could Add a device. They really insist with the location permissions and still denied them, so I manually selected the D5S Pro, followed the instructions to power on the device and put it in pairing mode. Afterwards, after manually entering the WiFi network and manually selecting the Ultenic SSID, the app blocked my access completely demanding access to the location.

For the article sake, I gave it, but I then deleted the app since it’s way too invasive. Also another funny thing, the app will not load unless you are connected to the Internet. Very nice. In any case, I could finally move forward and I could see the D5S Pro as an added device in the app.
The functions are pretty much the same as on the remote control, so you can start the Auto Clean mode, there’s also the possibility to enable Edge Cleaning, Spot Cleaning and more from the app. What’s new is that you get to see more info, such as the battery level, the minutes it took to clean the house and the space it covered. There’s also a nifty animation when you return the device to the charging station.

And, I was surprised to see that despite not using Lidar, it’s still able to create a map and it will follow it every time you start the cleaning process. The map is going to appear in the middle of the window so the app does really add quite a bit to the experience, more so than the remote control. It’s also going to be great if you plan to use it from outside your home, just be careful with the public WiFi and that pesky location permission + the necessity to always be online, this doesn’t bode well for privacy.

The Performance

The Noise

Although I look forward to when vacuum cleaners will be able to move silently in the bedroom while we’re sleeping, we’re still not there and the DC motor remains fairly noisy. And the Ultenic D5S Pro has three speed levels, the slower one being the most efficient in terms of power, while the higher level will do better on a carpet. So, I took a sound meter and measured how loud the Ultenic D5S Pro gets at the lowest level (while I was about 5 feet away). It was about about 50dB, so it was audible, but not annoying during the day (not great during the night).

Moving to the mid-level suction power, raised the noise to about 54dB, so it’s not a huge jump, but going to the max level showed about 62dB, which does start to get annoying if you’re trying to have a conversation nearby. There is another thing that you need to take into account and it’s the built-in speaker which can get loud. And if the robot vacuum cleaner gets stuck, you’re going to hear its cries (also, when it connects to the stand, it does play a quick, but sharp sound).

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Mark B

Mark is a graduate in Computer Science, having gathered valuable experience over the years working in IT as a programmer. Mark is also the main tech writer for MBReviews.com, covering not only his passion, the networking devices, but also other cool electronic gadgets that you may find useful for your every day life.

www.mbreviews.com

Indeed, we are witnessing Xiaomi’s path towards conquering the robot vacuum cleaner market and it’s doing a good job because the devices that I tested were still working really well after a couple of months of use (still not yet sure about the long-term reliability). Truth be told, the entry-level and the mid-range segment of the robot vacuum cleaner market was severely under-served for a very long time, so a device such as the Dreame D9 will be very appealing. It’s more than that because the device relies on the Lidar technology to map the house and to move around far better (than the early Roomba models) and it does have a very good suction performance (3000Pa) which should prove useful when vacuuming a carpet.

Additionally, the Dreame D9 comes with a mop, a fairly long lasting battery life and an app. So you get the usual no-go zones, the multi-floor mapping and it does support integration with Amazon Alexa. At the same time, the Dreame D9 does not have a self-emptying station, unlike the Lydsto R1 and the Roidmi Eve Plus, but this was a necessary omission to keep the price a bit lower than its main competitors. That being said, let’s put the Dreame D9 to the test and see whether it deserves a place in your home.

Design and Build Quality

There isn’t that much of a design variety when it comes to the robot vacuum cleaners and that’s because the circular shape and the low profile allows the device to easily move around the room and thoroughly clean it. The Dreame D9 follows the same design blueprint, so expect a fairly large cylindrical case (it measures 13.7 x 13.7 x 3.8 inches, so it’s no larger than the Roidmi Eve Plus) which is covered by a glossy white finish. The manufacturer has decided to put the opening for the Lidar sensor off center (I do like it to be centered, but that’s a matter of taste) and next to it, there’s a narrow band with three buttons with LEDs. The left button will start the Spot Clean Mode (the robot vacuum cleaner will only move around that spot) and the center button can be used for starting the Cleaning process (press and hold it for 3 seconds) or for powering up the device (be aware that in case the LED start flashing orange, it means that the D9 has encountered an error).

If you press the right button, it will return the vacuum cleaner to its base. After checking out the user manual, I immediately understood why the Lidar center is not positioned in the center and that’s because it needed to leave space to easily open the large lid. Under the lid, there’s the dust bin, a recessed Reset button and a WiFi LED (that flashed when the D9 waits to be paired to the app). Yes, this is a curious design choice and a creative way to make cleaning the vacuum cleaner easier, especially since it does not have a self emptying base. I was able to easily detach the transparent plastic case of the bin and, using the provided cleaning tool, I could clean the bin fairly thorough.

I really did not like the way I had to open the dust bin since it felt that I may break it at any moment and I am sure that a lot of people will need to find alternative means to keep the dust bin closed very soon since the two hinges will not hold for very long. On the side of the dust bin, there is a long and narrow HEPA filter that can easily be replaced. You should not take the use of a Lidar sensor very lightly because it’s not yet a standard feature at price tag, even though Xiaomi is strongly pushing towards a more even adoption. It’s worth mentioning that I have tested the Kyvol E20 which lacked the Lidar sensor and it was a pain to watch the little guy vacuuming the same spot 4-5 times.

So yes, Dreame D9 does make use of the Lidar tech for navigation and it has an entire suite of IR sensors for keeping it from bumping into stuff, to detect changes in the surface and to prevent the device from falling down the stairs. The first element is the front-facing bumper which, as with pretty much all robot vacuum cleaners, it will help detect the edges of the room without damaging the case of the D9. Within the bumper, there’s a front-facing IR sensor to return the vacuum cleaner to its base and on the sides, there are two other IR sensors for detecting the edges. Turn the Dreame D9 upside down to see the cliff sensors, a pair near the 360-degrees spinning wheel (where you also get the two magnetic pins for charging) and four other near the sides of the robot vacuum cleaner.

The Dreame D9 also makes use of a single side brush which is detachable and in-between the two fairly large retractable wheels, there’s the main brush. The brush is pretty much identical to what I saw on other Xiaomi robot vacuum cleaners, so expect a silicone base with three sets of soft bristles along with some silicone flaps to better get a grip on the dirt. And yes, it’s removable, you just need to detach the cover and take the brush out to clean it. Lastly, there are two pins that can be used to attach the mop assembly. This part is a tad different than what I saw on the Lydsto R1 and the Eve Plus because the water container is built directly into the mop section itself, instead of taking space from the dust bin. This way, the dust bin capacity is far larger than on the Lydsto R1 and the Eve Plus, while the mop water container is also better.

The Docking Station

The Dreame D9 robot vacuum cleaner does not have a self-emptying docking station, so, inside the package, there is a small stand that has rubber feet to prevent the stand from moving around the house (this is a good tip for Kyvol E20). The vacuum cleaner will go over the two metallic pins and will start charging, but I noticed that I needed to peel off a transparent cover from the glossy black finish that covers part of the stand. I don’t know why I expected the glossy finish on the docking station to actually be a small display, but it was wishful thinking – it’s for design purposes (and for the IR sensor).

The Application

The Installation

Since we’re essentially dealing with a Xiaomi device, the app that you need to download is called Xiaomi Home and, if you decide to scan the QR code from the user manual, it will know that you’re trying to install the Dreame D9. Which is why it will give you personalized instructions – press the Spot and the Home buttons at the same time until you hear the voice confirming that it’s ready to be connected via WiFi. Afterwards, choose a 2.4GHz network (it’s not compatible with 5GHz) and wait until the app ‘sees’ the Dreame D9 robot vacuum cleaner. Click connect and wait a few seconds until you get the message that the D9 was indeed added to the app.

Next, you will have to select the room where the stand will be positioned, choose the name of the device, read and potentially agree to the User Agreement and Privacy Policy (the policies are not that great, but none are nowadays) and then you should gain access to the user interface. Interestingly, I also immediately got a new firmware update available which is always good news with these smart devices.
It’s curious to see that even though I used the same app with the Roidmi Eve Plus, the GUI does look slightly different and I do have access to a few other features and options. I did like that a map of the house was already saved in the D9’s memory even before I paired it to the app (same as on the Eve Plus).

The Functionality and No-go Zones

The main window will display the map of your house, if you have allowed the robot vacuum cleaner to scan it, otherwise tap on Start Cleaning and let the magic happen. Follow the instructions on the display that say you need to remove any small objects since they will be eaten up by the Dreame D9 and it’s best to keep shoe strings or cables out of the way of the vacuum cleaner as well, because these will get tangled in the brush. After you have started the cleaning process, you will be able to see the surface that has been mapped, the amount of time that has passed and the battery life. On the right side of the map, there’s the Map management and the Virtual wall.

You can use the Virtual wall right away to create no-go zones, even on the first run because the Dreame D9 will pause, immediately receive the updated info and then resume the cleaning process. When the D9 is charging, you get a couple more options, such as the possibility to create a Cleaning Restricted Area and even a Mopping No-Go Zone. This option is not that common on these type of devices (only saw it on the Eve Plus).
The Map management is where you will be able to create multi-floor maps, so, if you have a house with more than one floor, the robot vacuum cleaner won’t mess up the previously saved map. Underneath the map, you can select a Room to be cleaned, view the entire map or create specific cleaning zones. These are the main options, but you do get more if you tap on the three dots from the top right corner.

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Mark B

Mark is a graduate in Computer Science, having gathered valuable experience over the years working in IT as a programmer. Mark is also the main tech writer for MBReviews.com, covering not only his passion, the networking devices, but also other cool electronic gadgets that you may find useful for your every day life.

www.mbreviews.com

The robot vacuum cleaner makes use of the Lidar technology to accurately navigate inside your home (there is an advertised smart navigation system that we will put to the test very soon), it has a powerful suction rating, a very large water tank capacity and a fairly big battery to be able to clean a large house with one charge.
So far, it sounds very similar to the Roborock S5 Max or the S6 MaxV and yes, the Roidmi Eve Plus also has a self-emptying station, albeit a smaller one than its competitors and that’s because of the self-sterilizing ability.

The dust and dirt sitting in the bag usually allows for mold and harmful bacteria to multiply and Roidmi decided that besides cleaning the dust from your house and pushing it automatically towards the dusting bin, it also wants to destroy any harmful particles using what it calls a deodorizing particle generator. It’s essentially using a form of Active Oxygen technology (that can also be found on some dishwashers or washing machines) and this seems to be that one element to help you choose Eve Plus from the large variety of available devices on the market. Of course, there are a ton of other features that we need to talk about, so let’s check out the Roidmi Eve Plus and put it to the test.

Design and Build Quality

The Roidmi Eve Plus sports a cylindrical plastic case that’s covered by a white glossy finish and with a narrow black band surrounding it to help better differentiate the front-facing bumper. Within the white glossy top, Roidmi has added a circular protrusion that’s home to the Lidar sensor and next to it, there’s the control buttons. So yes, it does look very similar to the large majority of robot vacuum cleaners on the market and that’s not a bad thing since this design has been proven to be the best at properly navigating and cleaning the rooms. I have recently tested another device that relies on Lidar for navigation, the Lydsto R1 and, while it wasn’t the most compact robot vacuum cleaner, its size did make sense considering the additional water tank.

The Roidmi Eve Plus has the same water tank capacity (250ml), so it does have a very similar footprint: it measures 13.9 x 13.9 x 3.8 (or 35.5 x 35.5 x 9.8 cm) and, during my tests, the size of the Eve Plus is more than fine for slipping under some furniture.
Besides the Lidar sensors that constantly move around to help the lasers to reach the surrounding objects and create an accurate map of the room, there is also an infrared wall detection sensor positioned on the bumper to keep the Roidmi Eve Plus from bumping into objects too often (it uses a TOF wall tracking sensor, which works great for both close and far away objects, and it isn’t affected by color or reflectance). And, along with the two other IR sensors (also on the bumper), it will help guide the robot vacuum cleaner back to the docking station.

If you turn the device upside down, you will immediately see the two magnetic connectors which help charge the vacuum cleaner and, in-between them, there’s a small wheel that moves around 360 degrees. Still next to the metal connectors, I saw four edge sensors that are positioned around the front section, immediately next to the flexible bumper and they have the role of keeping the device from falling down the stairs.
Unlike the single brush of the Lydsto R1, the Eve Plus has two side brushes, both attached using screws to the device and with long, but soft bristles to help capture the dust. For navigation, Roidmi has added two fairly large wheels that are spring operated, so each wheel can adjust to an uneven surface independently – the wheels are almost identical to those on the Lydsto R1, but I did like the ones on the Kyvol E20 more.

The main brush is well designed, featuring a silicone base with flexible flaps and three sets of thick, but soft bristles that are positioned in a wavy pattern. I have seen this type of brush on other robot vacuum cleaners and it’s a proven design, working really well with both small debris particles and with pet or even human hair. As expected, the brush can easily be removed and thoroughly cleaned (use the release switch next to it). The last element of interest on the bottom of the robot vacuum cleaner is the dust bin + water container which occupies about a quarter of the device. You can remove it quite easily by pushing the button that’s next to the mouth of the container.

It’s worth noting that the Roidmi Eve Plus will let you know vocally of every change in the status of the device, which includes removing the dust/water container (you’ll also get a notification). In any case, the container has three main parts, one is the HEPA filter section that can be detached using the unlocking switch on the side and, after removing it, you get to access to the dust bin. You should clean the filter often since mine got filled with dust after less than a week of use (there is an extra HEPA filter in the package). The third section is the water tank that can be filled by detaching the silicone cover – make sure to properly insert it back to avoid any leaks. Furthermore, you get a mop accessory in the package which can be attached to the bottom of the vacuum cleaner (the device will immediately detect the mop).

There are also a few disposable mopping pads (10) and I know that some people have complained that the mop would not get wet enough which is why they suggested to widen the small hole in the silicone cover to improve the air flow, so the Eve Plus can push more water towards the mop. And this solution seems to work great. Before moving to the docking station, it’s worth mentioning the buttons at the top, the middle being the Power button (long press it to start or shut down the device and quick press it start or pause the cleaning cycle), the right one being the Home button (press it to return the Eve Plus for recharging) and the left button has the role of cleaning a localized area.

The Self-Emptying Docking Station

It seem like the days of the basic Roomba vacuum cleaner aimlessly roaming your house are gone and the manufacturers have been pushing very aggressively against the expensive brands (such as those from Dyson or Roomba themselves), implementing most of the new technologies, while keeping the price fairly accessible. That’s how we got the Lidar system and now, the self-emptying docking station is slowly being seen as a standard feature. I have seen such a system in action from Lydsto and it seems that Roidmi has also added a self-emptying docking station, but with a twist.

The size of the dust collector station is 14.1 x 11.8 x 6.8 inches (35.8 x 30.0 x 17.4 cm), so it will stand out regardless of the place you position it. And Roidmi knew this, which is why the station is covered by a white matte finish and it has a circular display that will make it stand out even more by actively showing the remaining battery life of the Eve Plus.
Underneath the battery level, there are three additional icons that can light up, the first lighting up when the smell ion generator is enabled, the second when the Roidmi Eve Plus is connected to the app and the third will light up to let you know that you need to change the dust bag.

I also noticed that the battery level indicator changes to a countdown from 12 to 0 (12 seconds) when it’s sucking up the dust and dirt from the robot vacuum cleaner. The deodorizing particle generator is one of the highlighted features and Roidmi has made sure that it runs every time the Eve Plus return to the base (unless it’s manually disabled). After opening up the lid, I saw that there is more emphasis on the sealing than I saw with the Lydsto, but the universal dust bag is still positioned near the top, so you can easily replace it. Inside the package, you do get four replacement dust bags (3L each).

Lastly, I do want to point want that I really like that the Roidmi Eve Plus does not take that much space from the room, since the robot vacuum cleaner goes very deep inside a cavity sculpted within the docking station.

The Application

The Installation

The Roidmi Eve Plus can be monitored and configured using the Xiaomi Mi mobile application (works on both iOS and Android) and, although there seems to be a dedicated Roidmi app, this was the app that got pushed forward in their manual, so this is what we’re going to use. The Xiaomi Mi app does require for you to agree to the Terms and Conditions, and it does ask you to join their User Experience Improvement Program (you can agree or reject it). Afterwards, you need to select the Country where you’re currently residing, allow it to access your location info (or don’t) and sign into an existing account (or sign up for a new one). Then, you will be able to see the app main interface which will not be populated by any device.

So, tap on the Plus sign from the top right corner and select the Roidmi Eve Plus from the list. Since there are too many products in the list, it’s best to turn on the vacuum cleaner (long press the Power button) and let the app simply detect it. After the app sees the Eve Plus, it will ask for the router SSID credentials.
I was a bit confused by this page since it seemed like it didn’t detect any WiFi network, but apparently, you need to tap on the Connect to another router which will summon the list of available SSIDs. Select the 2.4GHz one (there is no support for 5GHz) and the app will ask to connect to the device using a temporary WiFi network.

After the pairing has been successful, select the room where the device will recharge and you can also change its name or share the info with your family members. And that’s it, you should now be able to see the dedicated page for the Roidmi Eve Plus. What’s interesting is that the app is not very picky about the connection and will work just fine with an access point network as well.

The Functionality and No-go Zones

The user interface is not complicated and you should be able to understand the available options immediately. If you haven’t ever used the Roidmi Eve Plus, you need to press on Start cleaning and let the robot vacuum cleaner move around your house and create a map. If you did let the Eve Plus move around your home without it being paired to the app, it will still display the map of your home that it has locally stored inside its flash storage. I did just that and after opening the app, I was surprised to see the map of my home underneath the Whole map section and here, there’s the possibility to check other stored maps or create a new one. The Roidmi Eve Plus supports multi-floor maps and you can switch between them at any time.

Returning to the main page, there are a few option on the left, the first having the role of returning the device to its station, the second will display the Map options and the third will show the charging status. We need to talk a bit more about the Map section because here, you can create a Virtual wall or set forbidden zones which are adjustable rectangles that can be applied to the map.
These are all no-cleaning areas, but the app has the option to set No mop zones as well which is a feature I have not yet seen on another robot vacuum cleaner. Underneath the map, there’s are some stats about the latest run and, on the right, there’s the Mode section. Here, you can select the Sweeping suction level (goes up to 2700Pa which is the same as the Lydsto R1), the Mopping water level (up to four levels), enable the possibility to clean two times and enable the Y path mopping.

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Mark B

Mark is a graduate in Computer Science, having gathered valuable experience over the years working in IT as a programmer. Mark is also the main tech writer for MBReviews.com, covering not only his passion, the networking devices, but also other cool electronic gadgets that you may find useful for your every day life.

www.mbreviews.com

And that’s mostly in regards to the WiFi capabilities along with the mobile app support, while everything else is in line with today’s expectations from a reliable, yet inexpensive robot vacuum cleaner. Sure enough, the Kyvol E20 does not use Lidar to navigate the house, but a simple combination of IR sensors (cliff sensors to detect stairs, bump sensors are all there). The device also has a fairly good suction power (2000Pa) – worry not because the design of the brushes has often been deemed a more powerful factor for a good cleaning – and it does have a 3200mAh battery which should ensure more than two hours of cleaning time.

I know that the Kyvol E20 may not take you as close to the fully autonomous house cleaning ideal as other, far more expensive devices (such as the Lydsto R1), but it should be more than suitable for a smaller house where multi-level mapping, a mop mode or any other advanced feature may not be necessary. Even so, The E20 will offer the possibility to create schedules, to set no-go zones (using magnetic bands) and it can return to base when the battery gets low, so let’s check it out and see if it’s a good option when compared to its competitors.

Design and Build Quality

The Kyvol Cybovac E20 sports a fairly minimalist design, featuring a plastic case covered by a black matte finish, with the exception of the top which is covered by actual glass (so, it is a bit of a fingerprint magnet). And yes, the case is round as every other robot vacuum cleaner available, but the E20 does have an advantage that most other devices don’t: it’s not very tall. Indeed, at its 12.6 x 2.8 inches (or 32.0 x 7.2 cm), the robot vacuum cleaner has enough of a low profile to easily go underneath the furniture. As you can see, there are no Lidar sensors or anything of the sorts at the top, but a single round button that you can press to return the device to its docking station or power it on (start the cleaning process).

There is also a WiFi LED which, along with the button LED, will flash orange while the robot vacuum cleaner is charging and will become solid blue after it’s fully charged. The LEDs will get solid orange on low battery and will flash red when the battery is critically low.
On the front of the Kyvol E20, there’s the bumper (it surrounds the device up to 180 degrees) which has some built-in infrared sensors and, next to the bumper, there are a couple of additional IR sensors and air outlets. These are obviously used to detect the surrounding objects and limit the bumper contact to the minimum. On the bottom of the robot vacuum cleaner, there are a couple of anti-drop sensors that work really well at detecting stairs (the device will run towards the steps at full speed, but it has always stopped immediately after the sensors have detected that the ground is gone). There are also a couple of hall sensors which have the role of detecting the magnetic band that can be used to create no-go zones for the vacuum cleaner.

Still on the bottom of the E20, you can see two, fairly large spring-operated wheels that can retract independently for slightly uneven surfaces and there’s also a caster that moves around 360 degrees. There are also two connectors for the side brushes and yes, there are two of them, while the vast majority of robot vacuum cleaners only have one – inside the package, Kyvol has added four side brushes (so you have two spare parts). There is the mandatory main brush that can be detached and thoroughly cleaned, and it’s surprisingly similar to the brush on the Lydsto R1 (the detachment mechanism is also essentially the same). Furthermore, I noticed an On/Off button which I’m not entirely sure it’s necessary considering that you could simply turn on or off the device using the top button, but Kyvol thought otherwise.

On the bottom of the robot vacuum cleaner, you’ll notice that there is an opening where you can insert your finger and detach the dust bin (again, the mechanism is identical to what I saw on the Lydsto R1). The container is fairly easy to clean and there is a HEPA filter already attached (there’s a spare in the package).
Since I already mentioned the Lydsto R1 a few times, it’s worth saying that it had a built-in speaker that would let the user know about the status of the device. The Kyvol E20 does have a similar system in place, only less sophisticated: there’s a small speaker that will beep once if the right or left wheel is broken or stuck and it will let out two beeps if the side brushes are in abnormal conditions (if the LED flashes red, then the bumper has encountered a problem). Three beeps will let you know that there is a problem with the suction inlet (or the anti-drop sensor if the LED flashes red) and four beeps means there’s a problems with the main brush.

The Docking Station

The Kyvol E20 has a fairly small docking station made of plastic covered by a black matte finish and, at the top, there’s a small holder for the remote control, if you like to keep it next to the vacuum cleaner (so you won’t lose it).

The docking station has two metal contacts that are used to charge up the E20 and, at the top, there’s a bright white LED which will remain operational as long as you have the power cable connected to a wall socket. Since it’s very lightweight and the E20 moves around at elevated speed, it’s going to be thrown around by the robot vacuum cleaner, unless you put it next to the wall.

The Application

The Installation

The Cybovac E20 comes with a remote control in the package and, since it doesn’t have support for creating a virtual map of your house, it could suffice for some users. But, for those that don’t want to go old-school, there is a mobile application available called Kyvol that you can download and install on either your Android OS smartphone or an iPhone. After installing the app, I immediately noticed that it does require access to your device’s location for detecting the network – didn’t really like the idea, but I did try pairing the E20 without this permission and it failed. So, after allowing access to everything the app needed (sigh), I was asked to create a new account (country, email and password) and then I could Add a new Device.

Before moving forward, this is a good time to power on the E20 and to do so, take it out of the package, remove the stoppers that keep the bumper in place and, from the bottom, move the switch to On. Attach the device to its charging station and return to the app.
At this point, I had two options available, one is the Standard mode where the Kyvol E20 will directly pair with the app through the router or by connecting to the SSID broadcasted by the robot vacuum cleaner. I went with the former and, as you can see, I was asked whether the WiFi LED flashes quickly. And it didn’t, it was flashing slowly, so I had to press and hold both the Home and Start buttons at the same time until I heard two beeps. The LED started flashing quickly and, from the app, I selected the 2.4GHz network which lead to the E20 to appear as Online.

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Mark B

Mark is a graduate in Computer Science, having gathered valuable experience over the years working in IT as a programmer. Mark is also the main tech writer for MBReviews.com, covering not only his passion, the networking devices, but also other cool electronic gadgets that you may find useful for your every day life.

www.mbreviews.com

And to quickly capture our attention, Lydsto has decided to keep a mid-range price, but offer some features that you usually find on high-end robot vacuum cleaners. Of course, I am mostly talking about the self-cleaning station which is one of the most advanced currently available technologies available.

The purpose of a robot vacuum cleaner is to fully automate the cleaning process and the Lydsto R1 does take you one step closer to it (than its similarly-priced competitors). Besides the self-cleaning station, there’s also a proprietary app to help you create no-access zones, check the generated map (supports multi-floor maps) and to keep track of various stats. There is also a fairly large rechargeable battery (5200mAh), a mopping mode and the suction power is rated at 2700Pa, so let’s put the Lydsto R1 to the test and see whether it’s capable to rise above its main competitors.

Design and Build Quality

The Lydsto R1 looks and feels like a proper mid-range robot vacuum cleaner, sporting a white plastic case with the top section being glossy, while the rest is matte white (the glossy top does get visibly dusty very quickly). It does remind me a little bit of the Roborock S6, but I did like more the center-placed opening for the Lidar sensors on the Lydsto R1 and the small metallic circle is a nice design touch. The device is also available as all-black, but I do think that the white finish looks more premium. Besides the Lidar sensors, there is also a fairly large button (with LEDs) positioned at the top and it’s a quick way to send the vacuum cleaner back to its base (press the House icon) or to turn the device on. You need to press and hold it for 3 seconds to turn it on or off or short press it to start the cleaning session.

On the front of the Lydsto R1, there is a bumper (with a rubber band to protect the plastic enclosure from wear) which surrounds the device to about 180 degrees; I also noticed an IR camera that faces forward.
This is an interesting addition as it is used to detect objects that obstruct the path of the vacuum cleaner and while it’s below the level of the dedicated cameras that are training the AI on some more expensive models, the IR sensor works really well for detecting nearby walls and, with the help of the PSD sensor, it will also help detect stairs and prevent the device from falling over. If you turn the device upside down, you’ll notice that there’s a lot going on here. The first thing that you’ll see are the two mandatory spring-operated wheels which will do nicely on uneven surfaces (to keep the Lydsto R1 stable) and they have rubber teeth to easily move on any type of surface (very similar to the Kyvol E20).

There’s also the small caster which moves 360 degrees and a single non-removable side brush (it can be detached and replaced by removing a screw). You will also notice the four cliff sensors which do need to be regularly cleaned and the rotatory brush. It is held in place by a removable plastic cover and the brush itself can be completely removed from the body of the robot vacuum cleaner and be properly cleaned. As expected, the rotatory brush has a combination between silicone bands and soft bristles, and it’s ideal for this part to move in accordance with the surface to perform a good deep cleaning of a carpet.

I didn’t really see that much angle adjustment for the brush section, only a very slight depth correction (we’ll see in the test how good it fares). The last interesting part is the mop cloth assembly which covers the dust bin and the water container section.

Inside the package, Lydsto has added one mopping attachment that you can easily connect it to the aforementioned area, as well as 30 disposable mopping pads (the vacuum cleaner will automatically detect if you have added the mopping attachment). To remove the water tank assembly (to add water), you need to identify the plastic hole from the side of the vacuum cleaner and to simply push it downwards.
This way, you get a full view of the assembly and, if you want, you can clean up the dust bin more in-depth (since the dust and dirt will be pushed towards the station anyway) or change the HEPA filter. Here, you should also be able to see a silicone lid that you need to open to add water into the tank – make sure to properly close it afterwards.

Overall, the device seems very well built and be aware that it’s a bit larger than the more inexpensive robot vacuum cleaners, measuring 13.9 x 4.0 inches (35.3 x 10.0 cm).
Note: The Lydsto R1 does have a fairly powerful speaker which will give you feedback on the state of the robot vacuum cleaner.

Let’s talk about the Self-Emptying Docking Station

All robot vacuum cleaners have a small docking station to recharge the battery, but, after the developers figured out how to automate the cleaning process even more, the stations have become larger and, in the case of the Lydsto R1, it’s about 10 inches tall (or 25.5cm). The device is also made of plastic that’s covered by a white matte finish (or black, depending on the chosen model) and, at the top, it has a lid that’s easily opened, remaining into position to allow you to easily remove the dust bag. Indeed, inside the docking station, Lydsto has inserted a moderately-sized disposable bag that will get filled over time by the robot vacuum cleaner (there are six additional disposable bags in the package).

The docking station has a fairly short power cord attached to it and, on the front, there’s an LED indicator which, when in stand-by, will remain solid white and while charging the Lydsto R1, it will flash white. When the internal dust bag gets filled, the LED will turn orange.

Besides the LED, there are two sensor heads (for charging the battery) which sit immediately underneath the two IR sensors that help guide the robot vacuum cleaner towards the suction inlet. The inlet has a soft silicone seal and it is retractable. After the R1 vacuum cleaner gets anchored to the suction inlet, the docking station will quickly suck up the dust from the robot vacuum cleaner using the built-in 1000W motor. And yes, the process is a bit noisy.

The Application

The Installation

The Lydsto R1 can be considered a smart device, so it does have a mobile application for the configuration and the monitoring of the robot vacuum cleaner. The pairing process is very simple with a few steps that you need to follow. First of all, connect the docking station to a power socket and then take the robot vacuum cleaner unit, remove the two limit bars and press the Power button for 3 seconds. If it still has some battery left, press the Home button and let the device find its way to the docking station, otherwise, simply touch the metallic connectors from the station to those on the vacuum cleaner, so it can start charging. The Lydsto R1 has a speaker and it makes full use of it, letting you know what the robot vacuum cleaner is doing at every step. Now you can download and install the proprietary Lydsto app which will work on both Android and iOS devices, and after opening the app, it will ask you to create an account. It will need your country and your email address, and then you gain access to the app GUI.

Since in my case, there are no other paired devices, I tapped on Add Device, selected Lydsto R1 and, after confirming that the LED indicator was indeed flashing slowly, I was asked to connect to my WiFi network. The Lydsto R1 supports only the 2.4GHz band, so I moved to the suitable network and then I was asked to connect to the Lydsto AP hotspot. After waiting for a few seconds, the robot vacuum cleaner paired to the app and would appear as Online – I liked that there was already a new firmware upgrade available (this type of devices need to be supported for a long time).

The Functionality and No-go Zones

Every important option is clearly laid out on the app UI from the beginning, at the top displaying the Cleaning Area (the surface that the device last cleaned), the Remaining Battery and the Cleaning Time (how much it took for the cleaning process to be concluded). Most of the window is going to be used to show the map of your home/room, so, you need to press Start and let the robot vacuum cleaner create a map of your house. It seems that the mobile application is shared with Cybovac vacuum cleaners (from Kyvol), so it’s not really a recently developed software and it shows considering that I was surprised by how well it mapped the rooms, as well as the accuracy of the live tracking of the Lydsto R1.

Indeed, you can check at any time the location of the vacuum cleaner and it will move around the map in real-time (with about one second latency). After the device has mapped the house, it has correctly divided the rooms (based on the smaller openings of the doors, which is a nice touch) and you can now edit this map to your liking.

If you press on the Map Editing tab, it will summon four options: Forbidden zone settings, Edit, Custom mode and My Map (here you will be able to switch between multiple floors if you save multiple maps). The first option will allow you to create No-go Zones by relying on three different tools: you can Add a virtual wall (it’s a small red line that can be adjusted in height and angle), you can also add Restricted sweeping and mopping areas (a red adjustable rectangle) or you can add no-go zones only for mopping.

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Mark B

Mark is a graduate in Computer Science, having gathered valuable experience over the years working in IT as a programmer. Mark is also the main tech writer for MBReviews.com, covering not only his passion, the networking devices, but also other cool electronic gadgets that you may find useful for your every day life.

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