Tag: robotic vacuum cleaner UK

Robot vacuums are fast becoming a household staple, offering the convenience of hands-free cleaning. When I decided to purchase the Lefant M320 Robot Vacuum Cleaner With Mop, I was excited about its features and the glowing reviews I found online. The last robot vacuum that I have had (well actually, my parents had!) was around 15-20 years ago when iRobot Roomba was launched, that was before the days of having an app to plan things out on your phone, and you’d have little block sensors to stop it from going to places you didn’t want it to go and they were always bumping into things and not working right.

Here’s my personal experience with the newly released M320 and why I’ve decided to send it back after four days of use.

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First Impressions

The arrival of the Lefant M320 was eagerly anticipated – I tracked the delivery man to my door. It arrived just as my kids returned from school, and together we unpacked the box, set up the app, docking station, and popped it on charge.

Setup and App Features

The setup process was simple, and the app, while basic, offered some useful features:

1. Alexa Integration:
   • The Lefant M320 works well with Alexa. I have seen a few reviews/comments of people who say “It doesn’t work with my Alexa!!”. However, the key is to ask Alexa to start or stop with the name you have given your vacuum cleaner on the main Lefant app. I named my vacuum “the vacuum” and used commands like:
     • “Alexa, start the vacuum”
     • “Alexa, stop the vacuum”
   • Both worked flawlessly, making it a breeze to control the vacuum hands-free.
2. Cleaning Modes:
   • The vacuum offers three modes:
     • Quiet Mode
     • Standard Mode
     • Powerful Mode
   • You can easily switch between these modes depending on your cleaning needs.
3. Scheduling:
   • You can schedule cleaning at specific times and choose the desired mode. I set mine for:
     • 5:00 am to clean before we woke up.
     • 1:00 pm to clean while we were out at work and school.

Operating Modes

The Lefant M320 provides the following cleaning modes:

1. Whole Area (Arranged): Supposedly follows a linear pattern, but in practice, it felt as random as the “Random” mode.
2. Whole Area (Random): Moves unpredictably around the room.
3. Along-Edge: Focuses on cleaning along walls and edges.
4. Spot Focus: Cleans a small, circular area about 1m x 1m.

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Why I’m Returning the Lefant M320

While the Lefant M320 had some positives, it ultimately didn’t meet my expectations. Here’s why:

1. Cleaning Performance:
   • The vacuum’s suction port is only 6cm x 1cm, and it lacks a roller brush to lift dirt effectively. Despite 89 minutes of cleaning (claiming to cover 45m²), the results were disappointing. Dirt and debris were often left behind.
2. Battery Life:
   • The battery life was not as advertised, which they claimed is 200 minutes paired with ineffective cleaning, the runtime felt irrelevant.
3. Lack of Mapping System:
   • The absence of a mapping feature means the vacuum only cleans the room you place it in, with no ability to plan efficient routes. This led to areas being missed or repeatedly covered.
4. Questionable Reviews:
   • Despite its high ratings online, my experience left me wondering if all those reviews were genuine. It simply didn’t perform as promised.
5. Questionable Price:
   • The Lefant is on sale at the recommend retail price of £299.99, which given the competition in the robot vacuum world, seems a lot for what it provides, without mapping, a roller bar or emptying base.
   • I did get it on sale for £135.99 which seems better, so maybe the RRP is just a marketing tactic. However, there are ones on the market with a solid mapping system for this price.

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What’s Next? My Replacement Choice

After returning the Lefant M320, I’ve decided to try the BPMIO Robot Vacuum Cleaner with Mop 5000Pa. Here’s why it caught my eye:

1. Self-Emptying Station:
   • The dock automatically empties the vacuum, reducing maintenance time.
2. Room Mapping:
   • The app includes room planning, ensuring more efficient and thorough cleaning.
3. Roller Brush:
   • While it has 1000Pa less suction than the Lefant (4000Pa vs. 5000Pa), the roller brush should compensate by lifting dirt more effectively.

• Link to see it here:
  • Amazon UK

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Conclusion: Is the Lefant M320 Right for You?

While the Lefant M320 Robot Vacuum Cleaner with Mop has some useful features, it fell short in cleaning performance and efficiency for my home. If you’re looking for a basic, budget-friendly robot vacuum and don’t mind its limitations, it might work for you. However, if you value thorough cleaning and advanced features like mapping and self-emptying, investing in a more capable model like the BPMIO could be a better choice.