Before you buy anything, it helps to do some research before you buy anything. But nothing beats the experience of actually using a product before you buy it. I recently had the luxury of testing this at home. Eureka E10s Robot vacuum cleaners and much cheaper models ( OKP Life K2). Note that the word “cheap” in this case does not mean inferior. In fact, the price ranges are quite far apart.
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For starters, the E10s comes with a bag-free self-draining station, mop combo functionality, 4,000Pa suction power, LiDAR navigation, and a companion app. It is designed to use “multi-cyclone separation technology” and claims to help reduce impurities within the HEPA filter and extend its lifespan.
When I registered my email address in the app and connected to Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, a chime sounded from the device and a voice said, “Connecting. Please wait.” Setting up the app took very little time. Also, as long as I didn’t use the mop function, I was able to start cleaning as soon as I read the instructions (more on that later).
How well does Eureka E10s navigate?
The test started with a dry run. That means you haven’t added water to the water tank for mopping yet. This way, we were able to evaluate the app and Eureka’s general navigation features before embarking on our cleaning duties. The first time you run E10 after setup, it will map the floor plan of your home. Unfortunately, we don’t know if this actually happened.
The unit seemed disorganized and would sit in place and rotate counterclockwise more often than cleaning the living room for long. Observing the mapped area view through the app, I could hardly see any logic to the routes given to itself.
The LiDAR sensor is located on top of the unit like a small turret, but in the case of the E10, we did not feel the benefit of this laser guidance system. First, the turret design adds an extra 3/4 inch of height, which probably prevents you from getting under furniture like antique dressers.
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Second, it took me 3 hours to cover 700 square feet of my apartment while mapping. As a result, the views mapped on my iPhone are boring at best.
While mapping my apartment, the power button blinked and suddenly stopped (multiple times). According to the owner’s guide, a rapidly blinking power button indicator means “an error has occurred.” I’m not kidding, but nothing was going to stop me from doing that. Another challenge with the E10 was dealing with the electrical cords under the desk. Expensive LiDAR navigation can’t seem to understand these obstacles.
The $190 OKP Life K2, on the other hand, is no navigation genius. You may struggle with cords or throw rugs. But at almost 7x the price, the E10 is no better at getting stuck/unstuck on obstacles.
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For example, E10 twisted through the bathroom rug (not really causing any harm) and got “stuck” in the bathroom, and this is when I had to pick it up and move it. It was my first time.
Generally speaking, on this first run, the E10 followed an erratic cleaning path, moving several feet and then randomly circling and changing direction, rather than moving in a straight line. It looked as if it was looking for an edge, but the unit repeatedly rotated about 4 inches from each wall, ignoring the baseboards. My guess is that it’s not ideal.
vacuuming
But this time, I needed to test its suction power, so I poured a strip of white rice about 2 feet by 3 feet onto the laminate floor. Initially, the robot kept running away from the spill scene, always escaping into the bedroom. (It was fine for the transition from floor to carpet in my house, though.) But this meant I had to pick it up again, and when this happened, the E10 was on trial. committed a grave sin. It spilled rice everywhere. In fact, it blew it all over the place and spit out some of the rice it had previously sucked up.
Once back in the spillway, the E10 seemed to get its bearings and finally began circling the area in a steady path, as if mowing a lawn.
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When it comes to robot vacuums, you can’t fault the side brushes for kicking dirt from side to side, but the E10 did this in an admirable way. Instead of vacuuming up dirt, you are spreading it around. It soon abandoned its mowing pattern and started moving on a whim. Even after walking around the living room for two and a half hours, I could not pick up 100% of the rice (up to 25% remained scattered within the radius).
Another performance test involved spilled grains next to a dog’s food bowl. As with rice, the E10 had a hard time picking up puppy-sized chunks without going over the same spot over and over again. We watched it rotate 1,080 degrees (three laps) before proceeding to pick up the last piece. No big deal after all, but it does show that the E10s isn’t all that smarter than other robot vacuums.
E10s claims a dust cup capacity of 45 days, but this could be true if the floor is covered with sand of uniform density. However, when it comes to large amounts of pet hair, I think you need to empty the dust cup after every two uses.
Some mopping is better than no mopping
The Eureka E10s takes a simpler approach to mopping compared to its contemporaries. While most robot vacuum mops today come with rotating scrubbers, refillable water tanks, or self-cleaning tools, the E10 relies on an old-school system. Simply pour water into the built-in water bottle above one mop pad, and the vacuum will start, dragging a lightly damp pad across the floor.
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In my experience with the E10s, its mopping capabilities were overwhelming. Deploy a nominal amount of liquid to leave a fine film of water in the striped path. I looked carefully for improvements after mopping, but to no avail. When I turned the mop pad over and inspected it, it didn’t seem wet enough to make a big difference in actual scrubbing or cleaning.
For the purpose of this comparison, the OKP Life K2 does not have any mopping functionality. So this is a feature that you would mostly appreciate if you paid more money.
Docking and automatic ejection
After about an hour of cleaning, the E10 returns to base to unload, working autonomously with audible announcements of next steps. I reconnected it to the docking station and quickly emptied it into the dust canister.
The docking station’s suction power display was pretty impressive and helpful. It was like watching someone make a cocktail with a mixer covered in dust and dog hair. I know that’s awful, but the steps were powerful, loud, and effective. This is one of the features that impressed both me and my friend who came to see the E10 in action.
ZDNET purchase advice
I haven’t written much about myself here, but OKP Life K2 Robot Vacuum Cleaner We spent a week together Eureka NER E10s It is intended to test and evaluate its performance. I have to conclude that aside from its superior docking station and auto-emptying feature, there’s no real advantage to dropping $550 on the Eureka E10 compared to a more affordable robot vacuum like the OKP Life K2 I didn’t get it.
No robot vacuum can truly deep clean your home. Ultimately, we want our self-cleaning tools to be able to simply sweep tracked and everyday dirt onto your floors. Empirically speaking, the OKP Life K2 accomplishes this just as well as the much more expensive Eureka NER E10. Although this comparison is limited to only one make and model, it should serve as a warning when considering purchasing your next robot vacuum.
