Roomba or equivalent?

Atomic Pineapple · 14-03-2019 8:55pm

Blacktie. wrote: »

I think you're being naive if you believe Apple isn't doing the same thing.

Oh, of course, they definitely extract data and share it with 3rd parties. However, they aren't as beholden to the prediction imperative as a company like iRobot seem to be. The CEO of iRobot has had no qualms about being dismissive about their own customer's decision rights. I was wondering if the other "smart" vacuum companies are the same or at least espouse a more privacy-friendly policy.

august12 · 14-03-2019 9:08pm

Ush1 wrote: »

Looking at the E20 myself, not sure the extra suction justifies the extra cost of the E35.

Have you found a site to purchase, I'm only seeing geekbuying for the e35.

Shaunoc · 15-03-2019 11:32am

ordered s50 on March 9th aliexpress Cz warehouse and arrived today
currently charging.....

Clareman · 15-03-2019 11:39am

The plans of almost every house in Ireland is available online so I don't know what data mining the layout of my house is going to benefit anyone, but if it means technology gets cheaper and easier accessible let them have it.

eyeball kid · 15-03-2019 2:52pm

Shaunoc wrote: »

ordered s50 on March 9th aliexpress Cz warehouse and arrived today
currently charging.....

Ordered the same on the 8th from Aliexpress CZ as well. Mine didn't arrive yet.

Did you see any movement when trying to track your delivery? Mine still seems to be in the country of origin.

Atomic Pineapple · 15-03-2019 2:57pm

Clareman wrote: »

The plans of almost every house in Ireland is available online so I don't know what data mining the layout of my house is going to benefit anyone, but if it means technology gets cheaper and easier accessible let them have it.

It maps the layout of your rooms, not your house. A basic example being it can detect if you have a cot in a room and therefore that you have a child (The inferences are actually much more sophisticated - even how you place your furniture is an indicator of something to advertisers).

Anyway, I wasn't trying to raise a debate on privacy, people are free to leak their personal life to algorithms if they wish. I was asking if there is an option available from a company that at least pretends to be interested in protecting its customers from data extraction.

Shaunoc · 15-03-2019 3:03pm

eyeball kid wrote: »

Ordered the same on the 8th from Aliexpress CZ as well. Mine didn't arrive yet.

Did you see any movement when trying to track your delivery? Mine still seems to be in the country of origin.

no movement in the tracker last night even.
just turned up with An Post this morning. surprise

alec76 · 15-03-2019 3:08pm

Shaunoc wrote: »

no movement in the tracker last night even.
just turned up with An Post this morning. surprise

What seller have you bought it from ?

eyeball kid · 15-03-2019 3:10pm

Shaunoc wrote: »

no movement in the tracker last night even.
just turned up with An Post this morning. surprise

Ok, thats what I was hoping. Never know it could be waiting for me at home this evening.

Shaunoc · 15-03-2019 4:02pm

alec76 wrote: »

What seller have you bought it from ?

1st time using aliexpress but from this store
https://www.aliexpress.com/store/344208?spm=a2g0s.12269583.0.0.790a6449lHSwic
hopefully i gave u correct info.
i used a link someone posted a couple of pages back in this thread

alec76 · 15-03-2019 4:07pm

Perfection technology, same as me .

Shaunoc · 15-03-2019 4:35pm

alec76 wrote: »

Perfection technology, same as me .

maybe I got yours

it works great already

alec76 · 15-03-2019 5:19pm

I've only ordered mine yesterday, so unlikely

eyeball kid · 15-03-2019 6:11pm

Mine arrived today as well. Now to try and get it working.

eyeball kid · 15-03-2019 8:24pm

Had its first run out. Very impressed. The amount of dust and dog hair it picked up was brilliant. Seemed to map the rooms out in a very logical manner. When finished, just went straight back to charging station.

Just can't get the Mi Home app to connect. My phone does the scanning but doesn't find it. Anyone else have that issue and how did you resolve it?

Blacktie. · 15-03-2019 8:29pm

eyeball kid wrote: »

Had its first run out. Very impressed. The amount of dust and dog hair it picked up was brilliant. Seemed to map the rooms out in a very logical manner. When finished, just went straight back to charging station.

Just can't get the Mi Home app to connect. My phone does the scanning but doesn't find it. Anyone else have that issue and how did you resolve it?

Are you trying to connect it to Google Home? I had to change the language to Chinese to be able to do this!

eyeball kid · 15-03-2019 11:13pm

Blacktie. wrote: »

Are you trying to connect it to Google Home? I had to change the language to Chinese to be able to do this!

No, not using Google home, just the Mi home app. I'll try again in the morning.

Roen · 16-03-2019 11:09am

Roborock S50 arrived yesterday and it's eating up the dust at the minute.
Genuinely impressive.
€375 with spares kit from AliExpress roborock gshopper Store. Spanish warehouse selected and shipped to AddressPal UK.
Ordered on the 6th, arrived in the UK on the 12th. Landed in my house on the 15th.

I heart Roborock!

eyeball kid · 16-03-2019 9:21pm

Got it working. Had to have location visible on my phone. I normally have it turned off on my phone.

Shaunoc · 18-03-2019 11:52am

s50 - so far so great overall.
downstairs floor is laminate flooring and a few rugs.
it could not do a thick rug in one room.
the mop feature is average imo - floor size is too big here and with 2 hairy dogs with grimy paws regularly. s50 doesnt beat a quick rub of the regular microfibre human powered mop.
but it does capture their endless retriever hair supply very well, which is main reason for splashing out. Dogs gave up interest after a few minutes as long as it doesn't threaten their food supply, they could't care less.
probably will set it to once in afternoon and once early morning (5am ish).
Got stuck a couple of times, but learning in that for me. positioned hub more centrally and removed phone chargers from low sockets.

Brought it upstairs to all carpeted area and it did quite well (set on max power), did leave some stuff behind but it had been a while since it had been vacuumed properly before hand to lift the accumulated dust/hair etc... Had to free the main brush a few times in its first cleaning cycle upstairs. gets under furniture like a champ.
will lift it upstairs now weekly.
It left some pleasing Nazca lines - shame to trod on them

A 9/10 from me

Edit:
the ability to set barriers to rooms/areas from the App is very useful.

Jofspring · 20-03-2019 9:59pm

Jofspring wrote: »

Ordered the S50 yesterday afternoon from AliExpress. The German warehouse option wasn't available any more so I chose France. It was dispatched last night and showing from Germany. Cost was €360 and a few cents.

I'll update when I get it.

Just to update this. It arrived today and went for its first spin. Great yoke. I reckon I would have had it a day earlier if it wasn't for the Bank Holiday.

Ordered from France as I say but it was the same seller as the other orders here and was dispatched from Germany. Tracking didn't update until Sunday and then again last night to say it was in Portlaoise.

Reasonable price and dispatched and delivered in a week. Happy out.

Clareman · 21-03-2019 10:55pm

I just noticed today (yes I'm that stupid) that the quiet mode is the weakest setting, set it to max today when I was out and was amazed how much extra stuff was taken up, so I played with the extra settings in the app and have the different modes set for different times of the day.

august12 · 21-03-2019 11:18pm

Is this the S50 model?

Ok, just read back through the threads and it's the S50 you have, is the dust box really small on this?

Shaunoc · 22-03-2019 7:29am

august12 wrote:

Ok, just read back through the threads and it's the S50 you have, is the dust box really small on this?

Its not big. However after couple of initial rounds, what it then captures daily is small and regular. So easy to empty it. I'm away for couple days and just checked it and it did all downstairs yesterday

Entonces · 22-03-2019 12:35pm

Very tempted to pull the trigger on S50. Any ideas how it would manage if couches were moved once or twice a week to allow for cleaning under them? Would this confuse the mapping feature?

Roen · 22-03-2019 12:42pm

Entonces wrote: »

Very tempted to pull the trigger on S50. Any ideas how it would manage if couches were moved once or twice a week to allow for cleaning under them? Would this confuse the mapping feature?

Nope, did that first day, not a bother. Copes very well with moving furniture.

Jofspring · 22-03-2019 1:21pm

Entonces wrote: »

Very tempted to pull the trigger on S50. Any ideas how it would manage if couches were moved once or twice a week to allow for cleaning under them? Would this confuse the mapping feature?

It seems to be mapping every time it goes out so it will just judge by what's in front of it.

Grassey · 22-03-2019 1:28pm

Entonces wrote: »

Very tempted to pull the trigger on S50. Any ideas how it would manage if couches were moved once or twice a week to allow for cleaning under them? Would this confuse the mapping feature?

Seems to remap every time it leaves the dock. I've move it between floors the whole time.

Only issue is that after each floor you need to dock it again before restarting, otherwise it gets confused mapping new floor on top of previous floor, and goes in circles

Clareman · 22-03-2019 1:32pm

It maps the whole time for me, goes to the edge of every room and then does the middle back and forth, not hassle moving chairs or anything like that. Normally for upstairs I'll pause it when it's returning to base and carry it upstairs and it does the job no problem, it even worked around 1 of the bedrooms where a quilt was thrown of the floor.

The Black Oil · 22-03-2019 2:24pm

I thought mine (S50) had a burnt type smell coming from it, like when a hair dryer has hair caught in it. That nasty toxic stink. Looked at the brush and untangled some stuff. I did also wonder if the motor was struggling a little at times, but it could have been max mode going at full tilt.

Entonces · 22-03-2019 8:44pm

Thanks for feedback I'll probably join the club next payday then. Sounds like the answer to all my floor cleaning woes

alec76 · 25-03-2019 3:17pm

alec76 wrote: »

I've just ordered S50 at Perfection Technology Ali store, paid $399 ( €353 with Revolut) , Czech warehouse,
had 1st version of the Xiaomi robot working tirelessly every day for 2 years .Main brush motor after giving up, unfortunately.. Couldn't find spare motor with decent price ( only one offer for $45) so going for the second version instead.

Mine arived today , found and ordered spare motor too (€13.60 delivered)

The Black Oil · 25-03-2019 7:47pm

alec76 wrote: »

Mine arived today , found and ordered spare motor too (€13.60 delivered)

Re the motor...one of these sort of yolks?

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/New-Engine-Ventilator-Fan-Motor-Vacuum-module-for-Xiaomi-Vacuum-Cleaner-Roborock-S50-S51-S53-Repair/32974572381.html

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Original-Robot-Vacuum-cleaner-Spare-Parts-Fan-for-XIAOMI-Roborock-S50-S51/32972859370.html

Mine's still got a bit of a toxic smell and just doesn't sound healthy. I gave it a good clean overall. I was thinking of doing a video of it and sending this to the support email.

alec76 · 25-03-2019 8:18pm

Nope , one above would be the "Nidec" fan which creates suction up to 2000 Pa.

I was looking for the main brush motor ,
Standard Motor ® PR 390-st.
https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/DwkVuo6

The Black Oil · 26-03-2019 9:53pm

Thanks alec.

I made a video and sent it to Roborock. They responded over night, to be fair.

Hi TBO,
We are sorry for the trouble you are facing.
We guess something may enter the fan unexpectedly.
You could refer to video in link to see if it could solve the issue.
https://drive.google.com/open?id=17mOVnVn7aNj_k2IRSDsfvd5WwSrluSg-

Could you tell us where you purchase the product? You could send us the link of product.
If it was from amazon, could you send us product link or amazon order number?

Sincerely

The video suggestion they provided didn't dislodge any debris, small or otherwise and the bad noise is still there. I've mailed them back with where I ordered from, etc.

alec76 · 26-03-2019 10:36pm

There is a metal mesh at the back of a fan , I presume something got stuck in to it .
Taking robot apart and clean the fan ,obvious solution ,unfortunately it’ll void the warranty ( if there is such a thing)

The Black Oil · 26-03-2019 10:47pm

alec76 wrote: »

There is a metal mesh at the back of a fan , I presume something got stuck in to it .
Taking robot apart and clean the fan ,obvious solution ,unfortunately it’ll void the warranty ( if there is such a thing)

Thanks, bit wary of doing that tbh, in case I run into an issue putting it back together.

The Black Oil · 27-03-2019 6:11pm

OK, Roborock came back again and said.

Thanks for the update and thepurchase info.
According to your description, we are afraid this problem is caused by the wrong suction of the fan.
In this situation, we suggest you contact seller for warranty service. As the manufacturer, we could provide customer technical support and seller is responsible for warranty. We appreciate your understanding.

Sincerely

I had some free time this morning and contacted TomTop (sent them the correspondence I had had with Roborock) and they responded in 10 minutes. I sent them the original video and a second one which is longer. I'm not sure the videos capture the bad sound as it sounds to the ear and it still does move, vacuum, etc. We'll see. They're very apologetic, hopefully I won't have to send it back to them, who knows.

We have already delivered your information to our technical staff and they will work out a reasonable solution for you asap. Please wait for another 48 hours patiently.

alec76 · 29-03-2019 8:57pm

The Black Oil wrote: »

OK, Roborock came back again and said.

I had some free time this morning and contacted TomTop (sent them the correspondence I had had with Roborock) and they responded in 10 minutes. I sent them the original video and a second one which is longer. .

Any news yet ?
DIY Video guide ( void the warranty if any)

https://youtu.be/6AAvcFTTUow

The Black Oil · 30-03-2019 8:55am

alec76 wrote: »

Any news yet ?
DIY Video guide ( void the warranty if any)

https://youtu.be/6AAvcFTTUow

No further response from them.

That translate as 'mistake 18 (i.e. error), disassembly, troubleshooting'

alec76 · 30-03-2019 11:24am

I was taking apart Mi Robot (1st generation) few times, not a rocket science to be honest, some DIY skills required though.(not as difficult as mobile phone disassembly )

The Black Oil · 30-03-2019 5:09pm

alec76 wrote: »

I was taking apart Mi Robot (1st generation) few times, not a rocket science to be honest, some DIY skills required though.(not as difficult as mobile phone disassembly )

Is it obvious what's gone wrong when you take it apart, something a bit off, damaged?

alec76 · 30-03-2019 6:20pm

You might see if something went wrong ( not all the times) .
Even the smallest object (1/5 of rice grain) could cause fan malfunction.
Trickiest part would be the opening fan itself to see if there any small particles, debris in there..
5:00-5:50 timestamp in that video

PS. A bit of a advice for everyone,never flip the vacuum upside down with the dust bin removed .
If you want to clean/remove main brush, make sure dust bin stays in a place.

The Black Oil · 30-03-2019 11:23pm

Did you look at yours within the warranty?

alec76 · 30-03-2019 11:40pm

No, I’ve bought mine 2 years ago , Gearbest ( first time disassembled it about a year ago, just out of curiosity ) .
I am pretty sure ,I wasn’t going to send it back to China for warranty repairs anyway .

The Black Oil · 31-03-2019 10:41am

Does say opening up voids the warranty. Could be €60 or so postage to send it back to China. I've nudged them by email now.

ablelocks · 31-03-2019 3:11pm

for a large floor area, would it be better to have floor mapping as a feature?

(I thought 2 teenagers would be sufficient to keep the floor hoovered reqularly, but the software is glitchy, their floor mapping is rubbish, and often they can't even find the hoover.)

The Black Oil · 01-04-2019 6:27am

From TomTop

Dear TBO,

Thank you for your mail and support. According to the technical staff, There may be foreign matter in the product, you need to clean the product. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Have a nice day!

Best regards,

Already tried that...

alec76 · 01-04-2019 11:21am

Could be faulty fan too.Do they realised it is impossible to "clean the product" without fan disassembly ?
...Chinese aftersales support

The Black Oil · 01-04-2019 1:14pm

TomTop are only suppliers. I'd imagine Roborock will bat me back to them if I try them again. I could make a third video showing how I clean it, but that may not grt the message across

I'm tempted to open it...

Roomba or equivalent?

Comments