In the meantime, vacuuming and mopping robots have reached the masses. But although they ensure that you can safely leave the vacuum cleaner and mop in the utility room, they still require a little cooperation from their users. After all, you don’t just have to empty the dust bin every few days. On top of that, you have to replenish the fresh water supply and clean the mops. A suitable suction station is the solution to this problem and, thanks to fully automatic cleaning, provides an extra dose of convenience. Meanwhile, the advanced base stations can not only vacuum the collected dust from the robot. On top of that, many of them clean the mopping unit and supply the smart household helper with water for the mopping function. In today’s Roidmi Eva review, we want to take a look at another promising representative of this favor. It promises a lot of performance for a comparatively low price. We put it under the microscope!
Technical data
| Navigation | LiDAR sensors, ToF camera, camber sensors, carpet sensors |
| Suction power | 3,200 pascals |
| Dimensions | 33 cm x 33 cm x 10.6 cm |
| Battery | 5,200 mAh lithium-ion battery for up to 200 m² |
| Suction levels | Four different suction levels |
| Wipe levels | Three different intervals |
| App support | Xiaomi Home and Roidmi App |
| Wipe function | Yes, two rotating mops |
| Price | € 681.32 * |
Scope of delivery
As a Xiaomi subsidiary, Roidmi is known for offering lavishly packed package contents. The Roidmi Eva is no different.
Inside the cube-shaped package are:
- Suction and mopping robot (mops and side brush pre-installed)
- Suction station (dust bags already installed)
- 2x mops
- 1x side brush
- 4x dust bags
- 1x HEPA filter
- 1x cleaning tool
Roidmi Eva review: design and workmanship
- Combination of black and white
- Square design with rounded corners
- Two rotating mops on the bottom
When it comes to design, Roidmi takes a slightly different approach compared to other manufacturers. Instead of the now common circular design, the Xiaomi subsidiary relies on a square shape, which has rounded corners. The upper side is more classic. The LiDAR technology, which is responsible for laser navigation, is located under a small tower.
On top of that, you’ll find a rudimentary control panel, but it only consists of three haptic buttons (home, power and spot cleaning). If you turn the robot vacuum over, you can not only see the main brush and the suction shaft. On top of that, it becomes clear here that Roidmi does not rely on a simple wiping surface, but two rotating mops.
This is reminiscent of upper-class models like the Ecovacs Deebot X1 OMNI (test) as well as the Dreame L10s Ultra (test). For this reason, we will encounter these more often as comparison objects in the course of the test. The look of the suction station matches that of the robot vacuum cleaner perfectly. Especially when the smart household helper parks in the station, the red thread becomes clear.
There is a small display on the suction station itself. This provides information about the current status of the station. Like the robot itself, the suction station also has a few buttons for operation without a smartphone app. Since the Roidmi Eva is also quite large due to the suction station, it is difficult to hide it in a normal-sized apartment.
It is all the more important that the smart household helper does not catch the eye in a negative way. It succeeds in this with flying colors. I like the combination of white and black very much. The build quality is also good and does not give any reason for criticism. Consequently, the Roidmi Eva can be placed in the living room without hesitation.
Roidmi Eva review: navigation capability and sensors
- LiDAR sensor on the top
- ToF camera on the front is overwhelmed with flat objects
- Fall sensors and carpet sensor on the bottom
In order for the Roidmi Eva to skillfully maneuver through your home, a reliable combination of different sensors is essential. The Xiaomi subsidiary also relies on a combination of LiDAR sensor and a camera at the front for this. While the laser technology ensures that the Roidmi Eva can find its way even in poor lighting conditions, the ToF camera is supposed to be able to detect small objects on the floor. To prevent the robot vacuum from falling down stairs, there are suitable fall sensors on the underside. To protect the furniture in your home from damage, there is also the classic bumper on the front.
But how do the sensors work in practice? After the Roidmi Eva has internalized the floor plans of your apartment, it drives purposefully through the rooms. Room after room is reliably scanned. In the process, the Roidmi Eva hardly leaves any areas behind that are not reached. The Roidmi Eva reliably detects furniture and other large obstacles. Once it has detected them, it drives around them on further rounds. However, somewhat smaller objects that get in the way of the vacuum robot are problematic. In the test, it overlooked small Lego bricks and unfortunately drove over them. This did not cause any damage, but could lead to scratches on sensitive floors. Consequently, you should be more careful with flat objects like cables. However, suitable updates could still provide for improvement here.
A very practical feature is the automatic carpet detection. The corresponding sensor technology worked exceedingly well in the test. As soon as the Roidmi Eva ran over my long pile carpet, it increased its suction power to effectively clean the carpet. It is a pity that the Roidmi Eva only cleans the edges of the carpet when mops are mounted. This is to keep the carpet from getting wet from the mop unit. If the entire carpet is to be cleaned, the mops must necessarily be removed. A liftable mop unit like the Roborock S7 (test) would be the solution to the problem here.
Roidmi Eva test: cleaning performance
- Very good results on hard floors
- Good results on short pile carpets, satisfactory on long pile carpets
- Very good mopping performance
The Roidmi Eva is a robot vacuum cleaner with a mopping function. This may not sound impressive at first glance, since even inexpensive entry-level models now offer a wiping function. However, unlike the rigid wiping surfaces that even inexpensive robot vacuums offer nowadays, the Roidmi Eva uses two rotating mops. Since these can rotate up to 180 times per minute, they come pretty close to working with a classic mop. During mopping, the Roidmi Eva presses the two rotating mop surfaces onto the floor with a force of 12 Newtons.
Preparation in the suction station
Before the Roidmi Eva starts its cleaning tour, it is prepared for cleaning in its station. First of all, the two mops are moistened. This is necessary because the Roidmi Eva does not have its own water tank. Since a single moistening will rarely be enough for the entire apartment, the robot vacuum cleaner has to return to the station at regular intervals to ensure that the mops are moistened again.
How long the intervals are, you can set yourself. Here you have the choice between six, nine and twelve minutes. The shorter the interval, the wetter the Roidmi Eva also wipes the floor. Consequently, this is the alternative to the water flow rate, which can be regulated in models with an integrated water tank.
Suction power
Let’s start with the suction power. The Roidmi Eva offers a suction power of 3,200 pascals, which is definitely a good value. On hard floors like parquet and tiles, the robot vacuum can score with very good results. As the owner of two longhaired cats and a dog, the Roidmi Eva mainly had to deal with hair on my floors. It was able to suck these up reliably.
When it came to carpeting, the smart household helper delivered a variety of results. My long-floor carpet in the living room presented a big challenge for the Roidmi Eva. A few more pascals of suction power would certainly have suited it well here. My second, short-pile carpet, on the other hand, was no problem for the vacuum robot.
Mopping performance
Thanks to the two rotating mops, the Roidmi Eva’s mopping performance is on a completely different level than that of other models with a rigid mopping surface. Thus, the vacuum mopping robot reliably freed my floors from stains. Even a slightly dried ketchup stain was wiped away by the Roidmi Eva. I chose the shortest moistening interval, which certainly produced the most effective mopping performance. However, a jam stain, which I allowed to dry in for a day, was too much of a challenge for the squeegee.
Here I had to do myself to wipe away remnants. However, I don’t really want to criticize the robot for this. After all, not even top models like the Deebot X1 Omni can do this. After the smart household helper had completely wiped and vacuumed my apartment, I was really surprised how dirty the water in the dirty water tank was. This is probably the best way to see the good mopping performance.
Suction station makes for easy maintenance
When the Roidmi Eva has completed its cleaning tour, it returns to its station. Here, the robotic vacuum cleaner goes through the same procedure every time. First, the station vacuums the dust bin of the Roidmi Eva. The vacuumed debris lands in the dust bag. The suction process is quite loud (84 dB), but that does not bother much since the whole thing is over after a few seconds. Once the robot’s dust bin is empty, the station sets about cleaning the two mops.
For this purpose, fresh water first runs into the basin containing the two mops. Then both rotate so that they are freed from the dirt that has stuck to them. Once this is complete, the dirty water is sucked out and ends up in the dirty water tank. Once both mops are cleaned, the station activates a type of hair dryer to dry both mop surfaces. This is to prevent mold. Unlike the Deebot X1 Omni, the air emitted in this process is not really warm. Therefore, it also takes a correspondingly long time until the two mops are dry again.
The suction station provides a lot of convenience in practice. After all, you only have to do hand to maintain the device at regular intervals. So, not only do you have to fill up the fresh water in the 4-liter tank every now and then. On top of that, you have to empty the dirty water tank. Dirt also accumulates over time in the basin in which the wiping pads of the Roidmi Eva are cleaned. This should probably also be cleaned regularly for reasons of hygiene. It is practical that you can easily remove and rinse them.
Battery life
The Roidmi Eva proves to be a persistent vacuuming robot in the test. For my apartment of just under 83 m², the smart household helper needed a little more than an hour. After that, the battery of the vacuum cleaner was still about half full. This roughly corresponds to the information from Roidmi itself when extrapolated.
The robot is said to be able to clean areas of up to 200 m² with a full battery charge. How long the battery lasts depends on various factors, of course. In addition to the suction level, the interval for moistening the mops also plays a major role. The more often the Roidmi Eva returns to the suction station, the longer the travel distances, which of course also gnaws at the staying power.
Roidmi Eva test: ease of use thanks to practical app
Similar to Dreame, you also have the choice between two different apps for the Xiaomi subsidiary Roidmi. On the one hand, you can choose the Xiaomi Home app, and on the other hand, the Roidmi app. Once set up, I got along very well in the Xiaomi Home app, which I know very well as the owner of a Roborock S7. As usual with vacuum robots, the first ride of the smart household helper looks a bit awkward. The reason for this is that the robot first has to grasp the layout of your apartment.
Once the maiden voyage is complete, you can view the recorded map and make settings in the app. Conveniently, the Xiaomi Home app automatically makes a subdivision into different rooms. In my apartment, this worked very well. However, those with a rather atypical floor plan can easily make manual adjustments and assign rooms themselves. The other settings in the map match those of common applications. For example, you can set up no-go zones or send the robot to specific locations.
Furthermore, you can make individual settings for cleaning in the app. In addition to the suction strength, you can also regulate the intervals at which the Roidmi Eva should move to the suction station to moisten the wiping pads. There is the option to make different settings for each room. For example, it makes sense to schedule two cleaning tours in the bathroom and kitchen. An individual cleaning schedule ensures that you don’t notice the Roidmi Eva’s cleaning tours. Thus, it is a good idea to let the vacuum robot drive every day at the time when you are at work anyway.
Roidmi Eva review: conclusion
When the Roidmi Eva was announced as a crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo last December, the project already sounded promising. The final result, which we were now allowed to put under the microscope, turns out to be a really good vacuum cleaning robot with suction station. This already starts with the looks and build quality. However, the Roidmi Eva also performs well in practice. While the suction function is very good on hard floors, the suction power is a bit lacking on carpeted floors.
The mopping function, on the other hand, was very convincing and was only overwhelmed with heavily dried stains. Considering the price, it is surprising that Roidmi includes a suction station with the feature set of a far more expensive Ecovacs Deebot X1 Omni. If you can do without upper-class features like a 3D detection and drying via hot air, you’ll get a real value for your money with the Roidmi Eva.
Roidmi Eva Test
Design and workmanship
Suction power
Wiping performance
Value for money
90/100
The Roidmi Eva is a really good all-rounder at a bargain price.
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