Robot-kun (Robot-君 in Japanese) is our favourite helper whose sole mission is life is to vacuum and mop the floor :)
2. Get more accessories at the same time as buying the robot. At first, I handwashed the mop pad after every use. That was also the time when I started doing all the housework and cooking. The skin on my hands didn't love me much. I bought a set of three mop pads. While I was at it, I found other parts and bought more filters, sweeping tool and roller brush. Later, I bought more mop pads so now I use two each day - one for parquet in the bedrooms and one for tiles everywhere else. I collect the dirty mop pads to wash with floor mats etc in the washing machine every week. Yes, I have a small pail of dirty mop pads lying around in the yard!!
3. Grout lines, corners and edges can get dirtier. My grout lines are not even with the tiles and can trap dirt when helper mopped the floor. Same case with Robot-kun but worse as I don't follow it around to wipe up the dirt so it just dries up and leaves grey spots! The same thing happens at corners and edges. Robot-kun turns on itself at corners and dirt can get left behind. Along the edges of cabinets and balconies, Robot-kun will gently hit the edge as it moves, i.e. turn, mop, move, repeat, so it also leaves some dirt behind. No such issues along wall edges.
5. It takes quite some time to mop. It takes 30 minutes for our four bedrooms and another 30 min for the dining room, living room and kitchen. If I mop myself, it would be much faster. But it's good to reduce manual work on my part! I usually let it clean the bedrooms when I send Monkey to school and iron clothes when it cleans the other rooms.
Would I still get it if I had known more?
Ours is a Xiaomi Mijia 1C. I took some time to read reviews and comments from users on this vs. other Mijia models and other brands, before deciding on it.
After using Robot-kun for some time, I realised that there are various types of product reviews:
- Online ratings. Such ratings may not be about the product itself. For example, when I buy things on Shopee, I see many ratings saying that the buyer has not used it yet. I don't know why they bother to rate *.* I use such ratings to tell me if the seller is reliable, whether the plug is a local plug, etc, but I really appreciate reviews of the product by buyers who have actually used it.
- Professional reviews. I think it's wonderful you can review products for a living, ha! Check out this fantastic review by SRR which links to reviews of other robots as well. I referred to this website a lot during my research.
- Customer reviews. Most of the reviews online are #2. If there are comments, I would read them to understand the product from real users who have used it for some time. Coz only time will tell 🎵
Today, I'm going to give a customer review of Xiaomi Mijia 1C.
Why did I buy this?
Good professional reviews. Good price point. Can meet my need which is to outsource sweeping and mopping.
Is this really what the professional reviews say it is?
Oh yes!
What more would I like to know before getting this?
1. Tips on how to map the floor. It took two or three tries for me. I had some difficulty as Robot-kun got stuck in my kitchen where the cabinet doors happened to be just a wee bit taller than Robot-kun. When I pulled it out, it said it would reposition itself and moved around a bit. Then I heard this: I detected a new area and will start a new cleaning path. This means no map *.* Another time, it went to the yard and couldn't come up due to a small step. I had to run Robot-kun again, starting from the dock. I had to close the yard door so the yard had to stay out of the map. I can always bring Robot-kun to clean the yard - it will tell me to bring it home when it can't find its way out :p
2. Get more accessories at the same time as buying the robot. At first, I handwashed the mop pad after every use. That was also the time when I started doing all the housework and cooking. The skin on my hands didn't love me much. I bought a set of three mop pads. While I was at it, I found other parts and bought more filters, sweeping tool and roller brush. Later, I bought more mop pads so now I use two each day - one for parquet in the bedrooms and one for tiles everywhere else. I collect the dirty mop pads to wash with floor mats etc in the washing machine every week. Yes, I have a small pail of dirty mop pads lying around in the yard!!
Glad to have spares for this - found the lost arm in the dust box last week. Yes, Robot-kun is a cannibal!!!
3. Grout lines, corners and edges can get dirtier. My grout lines are not even with the tiles and can trap dirt when helper mopped the floor. Same case with Robot-kun but worse as I don't follow it around to wipe up the dirt so it just dries up and leaves grey spots! The same thing happens at corners and edges. Robot-kun turns on itself at corners and dirt can get left behind. Along the edges of cabinets and balconies, Robot-kun will gently hit the edge as it moves, i.e. turn, mop, move, repeat, so it also leaves some dirt behind. No such issues along wall edges.
Leftover dirt on grout line and corner
4. Area behind doors still need manual mopping. I keep the bedroom doors open for Robot-kun but I don't follow it around so the area behind the doors remain unmopped. Not a big deal as it's not very dirty back there.
5. It takes quite some time to mop. It takes 30 minutes for our four bedrooms and another 30 min for the dining room, living room and kitchen. If I mop myself, it would be much faster. But it's good to reduce manual work on my part! I usually let it clean the bedrooms when I send Monkey to school and iron clothes when it cleans the other rooms.
I think so. As it stands, I already use a lot of wet wipes for various things. I have never done it myself but I estimate that I would need at least four wet wipes to mop the whole house manually. Not very pocket or environmentally friendly, not to mention having to spend active time mopping it myself.
I might take longer to decide though, as #3 is awful. But since I happened to have a steam cleaner bought separately to sanitise the floors especially the oily parts after cooking and eating, it's not a big deal as it cleans up Robot-kun's trail very nicely. I try to do this once every two weeks.
Anything else?
For my next house:
- Cabinet doors must be tall enough to accommodate Robot-kun.
- Any sliding doors must also be tall enough else I would need to mop under the sliding doors every few weeks like what I'm doing now, and this is dirtier than behind bedroom doors.
- Marble gum grout the floors to eliminate dirty grout lines situation.
And, some tips on maintaining the machine. I do this once a week. If you vacuum and/or mop more than 60sqm every day, you may need to clean this more frequently.
- Put on a mask first. It gets dusty.
- Prepare a bag to contain the rubbish.
- Remove the dust box, roller brush, sweeping tool.
- Use cloth or wet wipes to wipe the body - two big wheels and a removable rotating wheel - and the cavities for the brush and dust box. My white Robot-kun can get scratch marks easily when it gets trapped in the kitchen so I also use a melamine sponge.
- Remove hair from roller brush. Be patient if you have long hair like me!
My long hair needs some detangling...
6. Wipe dust off the orange part of the roller brush. You don't want dust to get into your sink.
7. Wipe the roller cover too. I never knew that dust can stick like this!
All the grey/black stuff? Dust!
8. Empty the dust box. Remove the filter and whack it against the floor through the plastic bag to remove dust. Tie the bag before throwing.
One week of dust!
9. Wash everything with water and let dry, especially the filter.
10. Finally, wipe the dock, put back the accessories and dock Robot-kun to charge.
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