SauRoN
Active Member
- Joined
- May 2, 2020
- Messages
- 492
So it's been just about two weeks since I've had it running around the house so I figure now I have the right to talk about it.
Unit in question and where I procured it from - https://mia.africa.com/za/mi-robot-vacuum-mop
Quite happy with them as a whole, shipping was quick and everything went very smooth COVID and all things considered. I was a bit miffed that it listed on Takealot two days after I ordered for R200 less as I could have scored some money and eBucks but the stock was so low likely would have missed that anyway.
Just a note that this is my first robot vacuum of actual ownership, but I've been monitoring this topic quite seriously for years now. In that light I might throw some commentary in regarding surprises of actual ownership.
Form Factor
So everyone is stuck on the fact that this unit doesn't have the Laser (LDS) based navigation and I can understand that as a concern as I had my own reservations about it. However, the problem with the LDS is that it adds considerable height to the unit and after some very guesstimation this was the difference between it being able to go under my couches or potentially getting stuck.
What I didn't anticipate however is that my original idea of having the Mi Robot living "under" the couch was thwarted by the fact that the docking station is still quite tall and therefore wouldn't work for my purpose as I would need to move the couch away from the wall to make it fit and the area that is open at the back doesn't have the required clearance of 0.5m to the sides and 1m in front of the docking station as per the manual.
Fortunately, I found a cupboard in another room that was easily tall enough for the docking station and while technically not having enough clearance to the sides it hasn't proven to be any problem and maybe it navigates a little bit more to get in there but hasn't really had a problem docking after initially finding itself.
What I did find problematic the first couple of times is that the docking station would slip on the floor as the robot came home and then it would change its orientation and mess around a little bit. Easily solved by cleaning the floor by hand with a wet cloth and it has stood the test of time over two weeks so far, but I may very well use some thin double-sided tape down the line to make it more permanent.
I guess I've read enough comments about people being astounded at how large these things are, but when I received it I thought if the box is this small then the unit can only be smaller and that seemed pretty accurate so I wasn't all that surprised by the size. What I was surprised by however is just how heavy the little bastard is, it really feels like a solid piece of kit and where I expected to need to baby it and take special care with it, after an extended period with it running around I've discovered it's quite robust and hardly need to worry about it.
What I have noticed is that the front "bumper" has a bit of scuffing on the top edge where it repeatedly forces itself under one of my couches and I could probably wipe it off with a bit of hard cleaning but kind of don't see the point. The more glossy white surface of the actual top of the unit remains perfectly untouched, so it appears to have been specifically designed this way as a bit of a buffer and I wouldn't be surprised if the entire front bumper is available as a spare part.
Overall I haven't felt like I've needed to clean the actual unit yet, it seems pretty pristine overall and I'll probably make an effort once a month or so just to give it a once over cleaning the brushes and things by hand much like I go about emptying the bag on my "real" Karcher WD4 vacuum cleaner.
Cleaning
So interestingly enough this cheaper/lesser non-Pro version of the vacuum has more suction power on paper than the Pro units also sold by MiA. I doubt it makes much of a real-world difference and likely you'll find on Silent mode they are the same which is what I'll likely be using the unit most of the time.
To say that I was deeply impressed with the overall performance of what this little guy can do is an understatement. It's not like I didn't expect it to work at all like many in the "gadget camp" are, but I didn't expect to be thinking that maybe my house is filthy going by how the dust bin was filled up after the very first pass that didn't even cover the whole house.
Let's be honest you aren't going to get away from still needing a conventional vacuum cleaner to at least tackle your house with a proper deeper clean off floor level and into the corners and crannies properly at least once a month. However, that vacuum cleaner may only need to be a handheld vacuum now and after getting this one I've put the Xiaomi handheld vacuum on my wishlist as a potential future purchase as I can see it happily covering my needs overall and a handheld is infinitely more accessible than a massive industrial german.
I guess between the brushing action and the suction it simply gets more off the floor, but more importantly it ejects very little unlike just about everything other than a water-based vacuum system. When the mopping function is added to this it does an even better job as the mop sits at the back and drags up behind the vacuum brush whatever has been loosened.
The mop function is a bit manual as you need to fill the 200ml tank then wet the cloth and attach it to the housing. The mop is already becoming finicky to slide into the channel so I can see this thing wearing out rather quickly. They recommend you take off the mop and rinse it out every 30min but quite honestly it’s not worth the effort. The 200ml tank lasts an hour and a half or so which is near a full house clean for me. Xaiomi advises to remove the tank before it docks but it will also dock regardless and doesn’t stop to ask you to take it off so kind of don’t see the point. They also advise not to let it go on carpets while mopping but I suspect this has more to do with its ability to climb than any worry about water.
I was deeply confused by the Low/Medium/High “water level” in the app as I reckoned why would you ever half fill the thing? Then I realized it’s a typical Chinese English translation and actually what they mean Is how strong the water pressure should be. I just left it on high which did the job just fine and never bothered with anything else since.
Emptied the bin on the second day after the first full clean and then about a week later and both times I was astounded by the amount of stuff it’s picked up and amazing how much it’s compacted it in there. To date I’ve tried to let it go until it asks me to empty it but it’s just never happened and I always cave first and just empty the thing.
Ultimately I’ve set it to run Mon/Wed/Fri and will probably run it manually if I expect people over on the weekend or have a specific spot clean to do after the kids made a mess. It’s actually been pretty damn useful in the kitchen when I’ve done a lot of cooking and cleaning up counter with crumbs and stuff everywhere to just send in the robot overlord to sort it out after the fact.
Sent from my iPhone
Unit in question and where I procured it from - https://mia.africa.com/za/mi-robot-vacuum-mop
Quite happy with them as a whole, shipping was quick and everything went very smooth COVID and all things considered. I was a bit miffed that it listed on Takealot two days after I ordered for R200 less as I could have scored some money and eBucks but the stock was so low likely would have missed that anyway.
Just a note that this is my first robot vacuum of actual ownership, but I've been monitoring this topic quite seriously for years now. In that light I might throw some commentary in regarding surprises of actual ownership.
Form Factor
So everyone is stuck on the fact that this unit doesn't have the Laser (LDS) based navigation and I can understand that as a concern as I had my own reservations about it. However, the problem with the LDS is that it adds considerable height to the unit and after some very guesstimation this was the difference between it being able to go under my couches or potentially getting stuck.
What I didn't anticipate however is that my original idea of having the Mi Robot living "under" the couch was thwarted by the fact that the docking station is still quite tall and therefore wouldn't work for my purpose as I would need to move the couch away from the wall to make it fit and the area that is open at the back doesn't have the required clearance of 0.5m to the sides and 1m in front of the docking station as per the manual.
Fortunately, I found a cupboard in another room that was easily tall enough for the docking station and while technically not having enough clearance to the sides it hasn't proven to be any problem and maybe it navigates a little bit more to get in there but hasn't really had a problem docking after initially finding itself.
What I did find problematic the first couple of times is that the docking station would slip on the floor as the robot came home and then it would change its orientation and mess around a little bit. Easily solved by cleaning the floor by hand with a wet cloth and it has stood the test of time over two weeks so far, but I may very well use some thin double-sided tape down the line to make it more permanent.
I guess I've read enough comments about people being astounded at how large these things are, but when I received it I thought if the box is this small then the unit can only be smaller and that seemed pretty accurate so I wasn't all that surprised by the size. What I was surprised by however is just how heavy the little bastard is, it really feels like a solid piece of kit and where I expected to need to baby it and take special care with it, after an extended period with it running around I've discovered it's quite robust and hardly need to worry about it.
What I have noticed is that the front "bumper" has a bit of scuffing on the top edge where it repeatedly forces itself under one of my couches and I could probably wipe it off with a bit of hard cleaning but kind of don't see the point. The more glossy white surface of the actual top of the unit remains perfectly untouched, so it appears to have been specifically designed this way as a bit of a buffer and I wouldn't be surprised if the entire front bumper is available as a spare part.
Overall I haven't felt like I've needed to clean the actual unit yet, it seems pretty pristine overall and I'll probably make an effort once a month or so just to give it a once over cleaning the brushes and things by hand much like I go about emptying the bag on my "real" Karcher WD4 vacuum cleaner.
Cleaning
So interestingly enough this cheaper/lesser non-Pro version of the vacuum has more suction power on paper than the Pro units also sold by MiA. I doubt it makes much of a real-world difference and likely you'll find on Silent mode they are the same which is what I'll likely be using the unit most of the time.
To say that I was deeply impressed with the overall performance of what this little guy can do is an understatement. It's not like I didn't expect it to work at all like many in the "gadget camp" are, but I didn't expect to be thinking that maybe my house is filthy going by how the dust bin was filled up after the very first pass that didn't even cover the whole house.
Let's be honest you aren't going to get away from still needing a conventional vacuum cleaner to at least tackle your house with a proper deeper clean off floor level and into the corners and crannies properly at least once a month. However, that vacuum cleaner may only need to be a handheld vacuum now and after getting this one I've put the Xiaomi handheld vacuum on my wishlist as a potential future purchase as I can see it happily covering my needs overall and a handheld is infinitely more accessible than a massive industrial german.
I guess between the brushing action and the suction it simply gets more off the floor, but more importantly it ejects very little unlike just about everything other than a water-based vacuum system. When the mopping function is added to this it does an even better job as the mop sits at the back and drags up behind the vacuum brush whatever has been loosened.
The mop function is a bit manual as you need to fill the 200ml tank then wet the cloth and attach it to the housing. The mop is already becoming finicky to slide into the channel so I can see this thing wearing out rather quickly. They recommend you take off the mop and rinse it out every 30min but quite honestly it’s not worth the effort. The 200ml tank lasts an hour and a half or so which is near a full house clean for me. Xaiomi advises to remove the tank before it docks but it will also dock regardless and doesn’t stop to ask you to take it off so kind of don’t see the point. They also advise not to let it go on carpets while mopping but I suspect this has more to do with its ability to climb than any worry about water.
I was deeply confused by the Low/Medium/High “water level” in the app as I reckoned why would you ever half fill the thing? Then I realized it’s a typical Chinese English translation and actually what they mean Is how strong the water pressure should be. I just left it on high which did the job just fine and never bothered with anything else since.
Emptied the bin on the second day after the first full clean and then about a week later and both times I was astounded by the amount of stuff it’s picked up and amazing how much it’s compacted it in there. To date I’ve tried to let it go until it asks me to empty it but it’s just never happened and I always cave first and just empty the thing.
Ultimately I’ve set it to run Mon/Wed/Fri and will probably run it manually if I expect people over on the weekend or have a specific spot clean to do after the kids made a mess. It’s actually been pretty damn useful in the kitchen when I’ve done a lot of cooking and cleaning up counter with crumbs and stuff everywhere to just send in the robot overlord to sort it out after the fact.
Sent from my iPhone
