To
call ourselves "the robotic floor cleaner people", we used and tested almost all robotic vacuum cleaner that you can find in the market as well as many that never
see the light of the day.
They
were operated under varying conditions and challenges typically found in our
part of the world; various floor types within the same level; print from sweaty
feet; warm and humid weather; odd-shaped layout conforming to 'feng shui'
practices; insect droppings and dead bodies; split-level floors; area rug(some
just call it “carpet”); precious antique furniture; pets indoor, etc, etc.
Most
of them clean relatively well when operating on trouble-free space.
However,
in real life test under typical home setting, the difference between moderate,
good and great machine become apparent.
As
users ourselves, we are looking at:
Effectiveness – when cleaning up dust,
dead skin cells, dander, hair, fur, lint is the order of the day, vacuuming
robot is the runaway winner. If sweeping is what you prefer, ‘sweeper-vac’
would do the trick. Depending on the design, all robots would pick up varying
amount of dust considering all things equal.
Efficiency - everyone likes a truly smart robot that know
where and how to clean the most efficient way. Instead of moving randomly for 3
hours passing through the same spot repeatedly while missing out others, we
expect the robot to clean methodically without missing a spot, finish cleaning less
than half the time. Sweeping randomly like when we are being blindfolded, disoriented
and keep knocking into obstacles should be a thing of the past.
Reliability and durability - mainstream branded machine brand owners are
naturally eager to upkeep their hard earned reputation. Product quality,
engineering designs, relentless research, development and testing are major
parts of their operation to ensure high reliability and durability.
Imagine the trouble if you have to bring in a machine to service multiple times
within a few months of normal use.
After sales support – not only do the brand
owners have to be strong, the local flag bearers/distributors have to earn
their reputation of providing good after sales support. After all, these
machines are not meant to be user serviceable.
Price – a product is considered
expensive when it scored lowly on the listed 4 criteria. That is, benefit/cost
index of a machine must be as high as possible to be termed “cost effective”
and worth investing in.
It is absolutely fine when people bought low cost machines so long as they
understand what they have paid for and do not hold too high expectation for
such machine. They just need to know that there are better robots that works a lot
better should they feel disillusioned with these machine.
We
hope you making the smartest choice to best help with your floor cleaning chore.
Wishing
you a clean floor day!