Every now and then you’re given an opportunity to review something that’s a little out of your wheelhouse. It’s both a way to challenge yourself and to grow, to branch out and also to explore other areas. It started with me reviewing the Oukitel K7 mobile phone, with a further phone (Poptel P10) review to be published soon. I mention this because another item I’ve been given the chance to try out is the 360 S6 Robotic Vacuum Cleaner.
Given this opportunity, I was inevitably going to jump at it. Not only does it greatly amuse the childish side of me, but it also intrigues the part of me that loves to see any technology in action. In this case its the use of Lidar. It’s not exactly a self-driving car, but I can’t help but watching a robotic vacuum cleaner find its way around my house and confusing my relatives dogs. All while doing a more thorough job than I can ever be bothered to do.
– Related: [Review Opinion] Smart Vacuum Cleaners – Do We Really Need Them?
The 360 S6 Robotic Vacuum Cleaner – Starting to Clean
That is inevitably the selling point of any robotic machine. Be it a vacuum cleaner, a lawn mower or the inevitable expansion of self-driving cars. Ease of use – or the actual lack of use – is a huge selling point. Machines that do a job on their own, one that is otherwise a drain on either your social or work time, are a huge benefit whichever way you look at it. Either it improves productivity by giving people more time to work or it makes you happier as you get to play a game, read a book or even go outside with friends while your robotic pal cleans the house.
Or at least I should say part of the house. Naturally, there are caveats with any technology. The shape of the cleaner and, naturally, the fact that it’s controlled solely by the onboard AI offers limitations. While it does have brushes that move dust and dirt to the suction area, not everything can be picked up as effectively. This is particularly true at the side of any walls and any furniture that reaches the floor. It detects everything by gently bumping into everything and, if used near stairs, it prevents itself from falling off using sensors at the base of the machine.
The Hoover of Doom, my future robotic overlord, as I like to call it is very persistent at getting around the bottom floor of the house – moving from the living room to the entrance hallway and the bottom of my stairs, then into the kitchen, storage room and more. Not all of this is visible on the map I’ll post below, but the map does indicate how thorough the vacuum cleaner likes to be. There’ll be more on that later.
Other features of the vacuum cleaner are also very good. It has an attachable mop, which can contain 150ml of water. It’s a great little feature and perfect for my wooden living room floor and non-carpet kitchen floor, giving a nice shine. It doesn’t, however, have the ability to shift any stubborn stains. The other feature is the ability to climb small surfaces, letting it get onto any thick carpets up to around half an inch in size.
Control, Communication Clearing
One of the more interesting parts of the 360 S6 Robotic Vacuum Cleaner is the app, its usage and also the information you can get from it. Houses are, naturally, full of obstacles. This is particularly true of living rooms, where you’ll have your TV, chairs, sofa and possibly bookshelves and more. If there are any obstacles that you think could be an issue for the machine, you are able to zone areas off so it doesn’t go into them.
Other features from the app include a remote control mode, letting you directly control it yourself. This isn’t the easiest thing to do, that I have to admit, even now I can’t get the hang of it. You can schedule the cleaner to work at particular times or also to tell it to clean up specific areas. The options at your fingertips help to provide a thorough and safe cleanup, all without you actually having to do anything.
What you may notice is that when using the app, you can also change the mode of the vacuum cleaner. Standard mode is, in reality, more than enough. It is smart enough to judge the texture of the surface it’s cleaning and, as such, increases suction on carpets. Personally, I tend to keep it on powerful mode as my ground floor isn’t too large – around 25 metres squared with doors being open. It gets the full power out of it and the battery doesn’t fully drain, though it is quite noisy in an enclosed space.
The map in the app mostly allows you to see where has been cleaned. You’ll notice that in the room where the charger is placed, it circled around and under the table in the centre of the room, also moving around the sofa and chairs. Then it headed into the kitchen, again, under the chairs in place, circling the legs. Due to the more open nature of the kitchen, it was able to make the most of the area by looping backwards and forwards as fewer times as necessary, so as to not waste battery.
Features and Specifications
Features
- Powerful 1800Pa large suction, attention-to-detail cleaning, no leakage
- LDS lidar scanning, SLAM algorithm for drawing accurate maps, multi-sensor collaborative obstacle avoidance
- APP control available, get the status of cleaning progress in time, and can remotely control and set the prohibited area through your mobile phone
- H11 grade washable high-efficiency HEPA filter screen, blocking 99 percent of dust impurities, avoiding secondary pollution of indoor air
- Self-protection, built-in cliff sensor, will not fall from a height
- Automatic recharge, continue to clean the house and then sweep, will not get lost
- First sweep and then mop, once clean, the double cleaning effect
- With the environment-aware system, smart cleaning without dead ends
Specifications
- Charging time: 120 – 150 minutes
- Continuous use time: 90 – 120 minutes
- Battery: Li-ion battery ( 3200mAh )
- Noise: less than 65dB
- Dust collection capacity: 0.4L
- Charging type: automatic recharge
- Detection mode: Lidar
- Cleaning route: planning
- Mopping function: Yes
- Voltage: 110V – 250V
- Rated power: 30W
Standard Package Contents:
- 1 x Robotic Vacuum Cleaner
- 1 x Power Adapter
- 1 x Filter
- 1 x Charging Base
- 1 x Water Tank
- 1 x Mop
- 1 x English Manual
- 1 x Cleaning Tool
Cleaning Up – The Conclusion
I’m probably more amused than I am impressed by the 360 S6 Robotic Vacuum Cleaner. This isn’t to say that I’m not impressed, because I am. Performance, in general, is far beyond what I expected it to be. Particularly so on carpet, rugs and mats. My regular hoover was always terrible at picking up dog hairs from small mats, so this has been incredibly useful, even if only for that. It’s true that it struggles with flat surfaces, but it’ll certainly give it a go.
All in all, I have to say that for $350, or your local equivalent, the 360 S6 Robotic Vacuum Cleaner is more than worth the cost. You don’t have to do any of the work yourself, you don’t even need to be at home. To be more precise, you don’t even have to be in the same town. Just how useful this is, is hard to fully explain. True, the limitations it has of only going on a (reasonable) level surface is there, but so long as you haven’t closed the doors, you’ll find your floor clean with no work needed.
Note: Gearbest is currently running a promotion, offering the 360 S6 Robotic Vacuum Cleaner for $329.99. If the flash sale ends, you can use the coupon code GB-APS6 to bring the price down from its original price of $350.
The 360 S6 Robotic Vacuum Cleaner is a high powered and smart cleaner with the ability to offer a thorough cleanup without you having to even be in the same town. It offers a great deep-clean for carpets, though does struggle against walls and other flat edges. Corners, in particular, can be left needing a bit of manual cleaning. All in all, the cleaner is excellent value for money as it’s priced fairly for what you get.
