We could earn a fee from hyperlinks on this web page.
One of many foremost issues that forestalls robotic vacuums from being fully autonomous is the necessity for us people to empty the occasional vacuum bag or water tank. Switchbot’s latest robotic vacuum, the S10 goals to automate these duties—and it really works fairly effectively.
The Switchbot S10 ($1,199, however you will get a further $100 off with promo code LIFEHACKR100 at checkout till June 12), the brand new robotic vacuum from one in every of my favourite good firms, permits you to tie the water inlet and outlet for the mop straight into your water line, enabling the robotic to fill and empty itself. Should you decide to the work of creating the water line connections (it’s non-compulsory, however really useful), this bot can go for months with out human intervention.
Whereas I’ve some nitpicks about just a few issues, I used to be nonetheless impressed by the S10 and what it means for the way forward for robots within the house.
Set up requires some primary plumbing
Earlier than you even purchase the S10, you need to use Switchbot’s compatibility verify to make sure you have someplace to make the water connection correctly. Fortunately, you’ll be able to tie the S10 into nearly anyplace water comes into your house, whether or not it is the bathroom, the washer, or a faucet, and the S10 ships with each sort of connection you might presumably want.
To get an thought of how the S10 works, it is useful to think about it as having 4 elements: the robotic itself; a vacuum dock the place the robotic fees, empties the vacuum, and dries off; a dock to hook as much as wherever it will get and dumps water (extra on that in a second); and water tanks, which you will want if you happen to forgo hooking the S10 as much as a water line. In contrast to different floorbots, these docks aren’t all one giant piece of {hardware}—they’re separate, and whereas every is smaller than most robotic vacuum docks, I might have most well-liked solely having to dedicate flooring house to 1 factor.
Again to the water tank scenario: Ideally, the S10’s water station is attached to the water line, however you need to use the non-compulsory water tanks as an alternative, if that is not an choice. Should you do determine to skip the water line set up, it is essential to know that these tanks are smaller than most you see in trendy robots. Due to this fact, utilizing the tanks would require you to empty and fill the tanks fairly often, thus eliminating a whole lot of the automated comfort that makes the S10 so good.
Switchbot has achieved the whole lot doable to make set up of the water line one thing the typical individual can do, but it surely’s nonetheless primary plumbing, and also you may run into the identical downside I did: too many gadgets demanding the water line. To tie the S10 into my rest room plumbing, I needed to both select between my bidet and the Switchbot or have a plumber add a connection. (As good tech continues to proliferate, I believe the issue of tech demanding entry to our waterline will change into more and more frequent.)
Simple setup and fast mapping
Setup for the S10 was easy. First, the Switchbot app prompts you to map its two stations (water and vacuum particles). Subsequent, you ship the S10 out to map your flooring, and like most different bots that use LiDAR (a laser technique measuring gentle and distance), this was an correct course of that occurred shortly.
As soon as mapped, you’ll be able to start to play with the assorted settings to customise it to your liking. The characteristic I take advantage of most on robotic vacuums is the depth setting, which lets you management how a lot suction the vacuum makes use of, or how a lot water and vibration the mop makes use of. The S10 has restricted customization right here, so you’ll be able to’t mop solely, for example. The mapping additionally felt restricted: I could not add furnishings to my rooms, which is useful in organising zones. These aren’t large misses, although, and could possibly be handled in a future software program replace. Many of the options I like, together with distant management, the power to see the upkeep standing of elements, and the power to tie into most voice assistants have been all there—and because the S10 has help for Matter, there is a lifeline for Apple HomeKit customers.
The S10’s mop is nice, however its measurement may cause issues
One in all my favourite robotic vacuums ever was the Switchbot K10+, which was a spectacular vacuum each by way of how effectively it sucked up particles, and in addition in its tiny measurement. As a result of it was so diminutive, the K10+ acquired into areas no different bot might, making tight turns round chair legs, and so forth. Sadly, the mop on the K10+ sucked.
The S10 has the other downside: it’s large. At 14 inches broad, the S10 can’t make these tight turns or get into corners the identical manner because the K10+, and with out extending arms that some opponents have, it left corners all through my home with particles in them. Nonetheless, the S10 was capable of get most small- to medium-sized particles, though it flunked my canine toy floof check. (When attempting a brand new robotic vacuum, I like to depart a bit of floof from a canine toy to see if the bot will suck it up or learn it as an impediment and keep away from it. The S10 surfed very close to the floof, however prevented it.)
On the S10, the mop is actually the headliner right here. This mannequin is a part of a brand new class of robotic vacuums that don’t simply deploy new water on the ground—just like the Eufy S1, the S10 cleans the mop whereas it’s out and about, making certain there’s solely clear water on the ground and the soiled water is suctioned away. However in contrast to the S1, which didn’t mop very impressively in my house, the S10 cleaned up moist particles and dug into dried particles on the ground. I used to be impressed at how a lot much less dingy my white tiles taken care of a move, and two passes removed most dried stains, too.
Nevertheless, this all led to a minor subject with the S10—the whole lot we’re asking this robotic to do drains the battery, and so the bot would often should put itself in outing on the dock to recharge. This meant that huge jobs hardly ever acquired achieved . This is able to be an even bigger downside if the robotic wanted intervention from me to clear particles or refill the water, however typically talking, the robotic and I’ve led separate lives, which is kind of the purpose.
Backside line: good worth, and a whole lot of promise
The S10 is the gadget I anticipated most this 12 months and in some ways, it lived as much as the hype. I had no points in any respect with the refill and empty station, and I stay up for the extra units that Switchbot will provide sooner or later to work with the S10 (the app already has humidifier settings out there in it, however the {hardware} just isn’t out there but).
As mops go, I used to be impressed, and whereas the vacuum wasn’t pretty much as good as a few of my favourite Roborock fashions, it was nonetheless fairly good. You could have some endurance with the S10, each in coping with the a number of docks, and the way it might want to recharge typically. However as a tradeoff, you’ll nearly by no means must intervene within the robotic’s life.
