This will be the 5th bot vac I have owned. Previously I had 2 models from Neato (vx and 85 pet series) and currently still using 2 models from Eufy (RoboVac11 and 11slim (pre-release demo I got to keep))
Over the past 5 years I have run all of my vacuums a lot. Most of this time has been with 1 or 2 Labradors retrievers and occasionally a Dane/Lab mix, so there is always plenty of dog hair and dander to be picked up along with my own crumbs and dirt I drag in.
My setup is around 1200 sq ft mix of hardwood, tile and 3 low-pile area rugs.
First impressions:
This unit is slightly larger (diameter and height) and wee bit heavier than the 2 Eufy units I am currently using. This is not a bad thing, it feels sturdy. The rotating sweeper arm appear to be the same as other units I have used. The dust bin appears to be larger than the 11slim for certain and comparable to 11. I do like that the dust bin lid has a plastic seal and there are no other moving parts or pieces. Other products hingers have had metal pins that inevitably work there way loose and fall out (in the garbage can!) hoping this plastic-snap-in hinge holds up and digging through the trash with a magnet is a thing of the past
This is my first vac with lidar and right away I was impressed with how quickly it began to find the outside area of my room/house. My house has an open layout (load bearing wall removed) with a hallway that leads to 2 bedrooms in the rear of the house. Looking at the map that was drawn on the first attempt 1 bedroom was missed but was able to navigate around the kitchen island, couch, dining room table, end table and rowing machine just fine. I left a couple dog bones and an medicine ball lay around as obstacles, the vac was able to navigate no problem.
My box included a quick start guide and a manual (another user posted they did not?) I am in the WyzeBeta program so I admittedly am familiar with how to add a new product already. But I did a quick glance over of the quick start just to make sure there were not any special instructions, everything was easy peasy to get started.
I am a little over 1 hour into the cleaning with all 3 vacs running simultaneously. I found the three suction settings (quiet, standard and strong) and opted to start on strong as I already know Labrador dog hair and dander is a pain to deal with… MORE POWER!
The vac was charged to 100% battery and ran for 1.2 hours (down to 6% battery) using the strong suction setting before it started to return to the charging base. I emptied the dust bin every 20 minutes or so. I noticed this bin had similar amount of dog hair collected but FAR MORE dander than the other 2 units. Brand new unit, brand new filters should be better at collecting, but I just cleaned out the other 2 units last week with an air compressor so I know those units are pretty clean.
Return to charging base did not go very well. For whatever reason the unit kept trying to go behind the couch, after a few minutes I manually relocated to the base.
The first couple times I emptied the dust bin, I got shocked every so slightly. Perhaps some left over static charge from static-cling packing materials?
I am going to let this unit charge its battery back to 100% and run a timed cleaning with the suction set to normal. I am also going to leave the other 2 units off so they are not jousting. Perhaps that will allow the 2nd bedroom to get found/mapped.
Obviously this is only day 1, hour 1, cleaning 1… but it did a much better job than the other units I am currently using. At the 199.99 price point, it is a no brainer, I just tried to buy another unit but they are on back order, doh!
Ultimately the longevity and reliability over the life of the vacuum will tell the full story but like other Wyze products so far, this appears to be a winner