The ongoing WFH culture has surely provided people with opportunities to work from their comfort zones and skip commuting altogether and in fact, every other pain point that came with it. Now that there are people around the house 24/7; it becomes imperative to keep the floors clean especially if you have pets around. You can still mop or vacuum the surfaces but that’s a continuous process which is frustrating.
The advent of robot vacuum cleaners can really bring joy to your faces as they can mop or vacuum (or both) the house or office 24/7 without any human intervention. All you have to do is to clean their sacks after an interval and that’s all.
Still, feeling perplexed about choosing the best robot vacuum for yourself? Let’s dig into what the robot vacuums can do, the functions they can perform, the pricing in India; and more that you can find in this vacuum robot buying guide.
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Vacuum Robot Buying Guide
1. Pick Your Type of Robot Vacuum Cleaner
When trying to figure out buying a robot vacuum cleaner in India, you need to understand that there are multiple types of robot cleaners available. Let’s see the three major types of a typical household.
Robot Vacuum Cleaners: Contrary to ordinary manually operated vacuum cleaners; a robot vacuum cleaner has a suction mechanism that it uses to pull dirt and debris off the floor. You can set a route for the robot to follow and it will cover the floor space as allocated repeatedly until the battery dies or as per your programming. This is the most basic type of robot cleaner available in the market.
Robot Mop Cleaners: As against a robot vacuum cleaner, a robot mop cleaner uses water as a spray or drip to clean the surface in a wet cleaning mechanism. You have a water reservoir to fill, set the route and let the robot mop cleaner do its job automatically. Mopping is a secondary function followed by sweeping or vacuuming as the primary function.
Vacuum-mop Robot Cleaners: If you are looking for the best of both worlds quite literally; a Vacuum-mop Robot Cleaner uses both vacuuming and mopping functions. It does all your job from vacuuming the floor, sweeping the dirt, and mopping in a wet condition. Allowing it to better clean the surfaces giving you a pristine look at all times. It also eliminates the need to spend more to buy separate robots for vacuum and mopping.
2. Vacuum Robot Buying Guide: Type of Surfaces
Vacuum robots can vacuum or mop the floor surfaces on an automated basis based on the routes entered. However, there are only some models that can work on any type of surface be it hardwood, carpet, or rugs since the requirements on any of these surfaces are variedly different.
The hardwood is easier to clean and thus, you will find a wide range of robot vacuums to offer excellent vacuuming and mopping of these hard surfaces. The same is for vinyl and tile surfaces where mopping can do wonders too. Some higher-end robots can amplify their power for surfaces such as carpets and rugs as these need higher suction power. Some factors such as the type of surface are important to keep in mind while making a purchase. And make sure the one you are buying supports all types of different surfaces available in your home.
3. Analyse the Surface Area and Bin Size
Even before you can start checking out Amazon or other eCommerce platforms for the best robot vacuum cleaners, you should consider a few things first. The surface area is the first and foremost thing to consider. A robotic vacuum can easily clean up a moderately-sized apartment at around 2,000 sqft. with a decent bin size. Since it isn’t just the surface area a machine can handle; you need to take the battery life and bin size into account as well. You can read more about this peripheral information in their respective sections.
Talking about bin size, you will find robot cleaners from 0.25 litre to 1 litre in capacity. If you go for a lower bin size, it will run out of space to suction dirt and debris and will need a manual cleaning asap; unless you have an automatic self-emptying bin. Scheduling cleanup programs for robots with higher capacity is ideal since the ones with smaller bin sizes will run out of space quickly.
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4. Battery Life is Important
When choosing any of the robot vacuum cleaner offerings available in the market, you need to keep the battery capacity in mind. A robot with a 5,000mAh battery can work up vacuuming a 1,500 sqft. home or say a moderately-sized apartment. As these robots run on battery, they must be charged after a run in order to reuse them for the next cleaning session. Some smart robots can dock themselves to the charging station automatically; meaning they can charge themselves and resume work where they left off.
If you don’t have a smart robot vacuum cleaner that can do it; the easiest solution is to keep a track of how long it could run on a single charge. And you can plan its process accordingly. If you haven’t bought the robot yet it’s the right time to discuss the battery capacity and if it will be able to clean a section or the whole apartment on a single run. Remember that the robot vacuum will take a few hours to charge fully so you need to consider that too.
5. Do you have pets?
Be it a cat as a pet or a dog, your furry friends are amazing as they can help beat any kind of stress with cuteness. However, they shed hair, and to be honest; a lot of hair that you should probably clean several times a day to keep your house from becoming ‘hairy’. Well, automated vacuum robots aid in such situations as they suction hairs and collect them in a dustbin that you throw once the bin is full.
You will find a ton of vacuum robots that specialise in suctioning hairs be it on hardwood or carpets with ease. Some models have filters and brushes that keep the hairs away from breeding into food items or others.
6. Decide on the Pricing for Robot Vacuum Cleaner
The prices of these tiny gadgets may differ greatly depending upon the features it packs in. You will find abundant options at the sub-10K INR pricing all the way to INR 80K and more. You can search for options ranging from makers such as Xiaomi, Realme TechLife, iRobot, Viomi, and Eureka Forbes among others.
Some of the popular options in India include Realme Techlife Robot Vacuum (Rs. 24,999), Xiaomi Mi Robot Vacuum-Mop P (Rs. 20,000), iRobot Roomba 91 Vacuum Cleaning Robot (Rs. 25,000), Roborock S5 Max Robot Vacuum (Rs. 44,000) among others. Amongst the ones listed with the pricing above, you will get features such as LiDAR Smart Mapping, 4 levels of suction, and multi-directional sensors, among others.
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7. Features To Look Out For In Robot Vacuum Cleaners
Just like any electronic appliance or gadget, robot vacuum cleaners aren’t created equally. There are some features that you should look out for in these tiny robots that will eventually make your experience delightful.
Obstacle Detection: As simple as it may sound, these tiny robots have the built-in capability to detect obstacles. Of course, depending on how much you are willing the pay, the degree will differ since higher-end robots are better at detection than entry-level ones.
App Integration: Most robotic cleaners come with app integration allowing users to simply control them via a dedicated app.
Cliff Detection: By all means, it doesn’t mean that the robots will steer away from actual cliffs. Rather, it detects stairs or uneven surfaces where there’s a risk of toppling or the robot might break apart. The cliff detection will actually keep your robot vacuum clear of such incidents.
Noise Level: If you haven’t seen a robotic vacuum cleaner yet, you should know that they produce noise too. It is better to stick to a cleaner with the least noise on the highest available settings so that you aren’t bothered by the constant noise when it is working behind the scenes.
Self-Emptying Capability: As we have already mentioned above, you need to manually clean the dust bin on a robot vacuum every time it fills up. However, thanks to the evolving technology, now we have robot vacuums with self-emptying capability that works as the name suggests; they empty their dust bins from time to time to keep them moving.
Home Mapping: To enhance the efficiency of a robot vacuum, home mapping is a must-have feature where you can map dangerous spots that it should avoid. Depending upon the model you buy, it could be using magnetic strips or sensors and cameras to keep away from certain regions in a house or boundaries.
Schedule Cleaning: Want the robotic cleaner to kick off at a certain time, say before you arrive home? With ‘Schedule Cleaning’, you can simply set up the time and the machine will automatically start working just in time to welcome you. Since the latest models are connected to the internet, you can schedule cleanup on your smartphone itself, including alerts if the machine runs into some kind of issue.
8. Check the Maintenance guidelines and pricing
It isn’t surprising that the robot vacuum cleaner you would buy requires maintenance to keep it working effectively. It involves emptying the dustbin from time to time unless you have the smart function to empty it. Apart from that, you need to clean the brushes from time to time to ensure it works properly in the next run.
If you fail to clean the brushes underneath the robot vacuum cleaner, it would work as usual. If you don’t empty the dustbin, it will eventually stop working unless you empty it. Many companion apps alert you when the robot needs a clean so pay attention to it. Apart from that, ensure that your robot has a warranty and access to spare in the market available at your disposal in case something goes wrong.
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