It should come as no surprise, but when hardware shows up at my doorstep for review, I try hard to find its breaking point.
After all, personal hardware doesn’t live in an R&D lab, it lives in your home. And homes are messy, chaotic places that pose challenges completely unforeseen by engineers and QA testers. So when I get a robovac, I might clean up a bit on the first mapping run to give the bot a fair chance but after that? It’s on its own.
Piles of clothes are left where they’ve been dropped. Shoelaces and backpack straps litter the periphery of seemingly every room. Cat toys are everywhere.
All this to say, when a robovac is so self-sufficient and reliable that I don’t think about tending to it for days, it’s performing above and beyond where I expect it to.
That’s why Eufy’s latest crowdfunded mopping robovac, the S1 Pro, has quickly earned its place as the best robovac I’ve ever tested.
What Is it?
Early models will be sold with the Mach branding but will be Eufy-branded after the first run is … [+]
The Eufy S1 Pro (ignore the MACH branding, this was a sub brand that’s being integrated into the main Eufy brand) is a 8,000Pa robovac with a mop roller (instead of a vibrating pad or spinning discs), and dual side brushes. Its dock creates ozonated water that the bot uses to disinfect the roller as it cleans. Don’t worry, if you’re sensitive to ozone, the feature can be disabled.
The dock also features auto-emptying, mop washing, and heated drying. It sports a lot of small, clever details—like the see-through water reservoir integrated into the top of the dock so that you can easily see when it needs to be topped off. The shape of the reservoir also refracts light when full so that the water tube in the back of the tank disappears, which is a fun trick. It even has a spot for a cleaning solution cartridge, though that’s not necessary if you use the ozonated water feature.
The edge-to-edge mop roller makes the S1 Pro an efficient cleaner
The mop rotates at 170 RPM, squeegee-ing dirty water from the roller as it sprays it with fresh water. The result is a continuously refreshed mop. The single vacuum roller is a little small (compared to the whole-body mop roller) but the substantial suction power makes up for it.
The bot uses “human-like” visual navigation to avoid obstacles and pick a path through your home, even able to avoid moving obstacles (like pets). It also has LiDAR built into the unit, rather than in a hump on top, which allows it to easily navigate under furniture and avoid getting stuck. It also has auto-surface detection and lifts the mop roller 12mm when it encounters rugs and carpets, increasing vacuum suction automatically as well.
How Well Does It Clean?
Better than any other botvac I’ve tested.
I’ve reviewed robot mopvacs recently that are more powerful but this is the first one that I’ve ever reviewed that truly delivered on the promise of autonomous cleaning. End of the day, that’s the one metric that truly matters. No one cares if your bot is better on paper if it can’t do its job without assistance. I’ve had to rescue the S1 Pro maybe twice in the two weeks I’ve been testing it and both times it was because of low-profile dark clothing or backpack straps that pose a threat to even the best navigation system.
The S1 Pro is impressively efficient. Every botvac I’ve tested has taken at least one recharge and 3 or more hours to clean my house completely. Eufy’s bot completes the task in less than 2.5 hours, all on one charge. The superior visual navigation means it doesn’t spend unnecessary time trying to find the right path. It navigates each room efficiently and completely.
Noise-wise, the S1 Pro operates in the 50-60 decibel range. It’s really only noticeable when it navigates over carpeting or rugs and activates the full 8,000Pa of suction power it has available. When it’s a couple of rooms away, I have to stop and listen to tell if it’s running (though the early production model I have does have a mop roller that’s occasionally a bit squeaky).
The true evidence of how well it cleans, the dirty water tank, tells me everything I need to know. It’s clear that the roller mop gets more dirt off the floor than any other device I’ve used. The bonus of using ozonated water is that it doesn’t smell as bad as your typical dirty water reservoir, despite the fact that more dirt is obviously being cleaned up.
How Well Does It Clean Itself?
The lighted ozonator ring also acts as a status indicator
The dock is amazing. Full stop. It’s a svelte affair, thoughtfully stacked to take up as little room as possible while offering as much, if not more functionality than other bot’s gigantic square docks.
The heated drying is an absolute must and does the job beautifully. The color LCD on the top of the unit allows for easy control of the bot without the app and also lets you know what the S1 Pro or dock is currently doing. Self-emptying is capacious, with room for nearly 70 days of dirt. The bot sips water. Cleaning around 1,150 square feet daily, I only had to refill the reservoir (and empty the shockingly filthy water out of the dirty water tank) every third day. It is a bit noisy when cleaning any emptying but not any more than its competitors.
The open sides of the dock also help prevent mold and mildew.
That doesn’t mean that the S1 Pro is completely maintenance free. While the dock remains impressively grime-free (though the mop roller sheds a lot when cleaned, it will definitely need regular replacements), the bot itself carries a dirty water reservoir with it (a necessity as it cleans the mop as it trundles along) and the mop filter collects a substantial amount of gunk. So much so, you’ll likely want to clean it before the app reminds you to. You’ll also need to clean hair from the ends of the tangle-free roller on a regular basis if you have pets or someone with long hair in your home.
Is there “ick?” Yeah, you can’t get around it. Even with ozonated water and heated drying, there’s water left in the dirty water reservoir on the bot. That persistent moisture means some funky smells will be produced. However, you’ve got to go looking for them. It wasn’t until I pulled the dirty water reservoir apart to clean it that I encountered any funk at all.
Overall the S1 Pro fares far better than other bots I’ve tested where the whole dock reeks after a few days. Here, there’s a simple solution. If you’re obsessed with sanitation, pull the roller mop out of the bot after it’s been dried to ensure there are no hidden damp spots. Or…just wait for the next mopping session when the S1 Pro will clean the roller on its own with ozonated water.
How Can I Get It?
Right now, the only way to get the Eufy S1 Pro is to pre-order via the crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter. It already has over 2,600 backers and Eufy has said they’re confident that they’ll be able to deliver that volume of product on the wicked-fast proposed timeline of June of this year. Their Kickstarter proudly proclaims that they’ve already produced 5,400 units.
They’re still making optimizations to the hardware and software as well, with improvements to the roller brush for even better pickup as well as Alexa and Google Voice integrations (which will be welcome, I love being able to use voice assistants to direct my bots).
There are just over two weeks left in the campaign and plenty of Early Bird pledges still available. At $999 ($500 off the $1,499 MSRP), it’s a substantial savings.
