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Yeedi Vac Max & Vac Station: test / review
Published on: 21-09-2021 / Modified: 13-12-2021
I have tested about ten Chinese vacuums this year with mainly products from Yeedi and Dreame. So far I have never been disappointed by their products and with each new test they bring some new features to make the product more interesting than the previous one. Today I'm going to take a look at the Yeedi Vac Max and its docking station, this product is a competitor to the Dreame Z10 Pro which I also tested, this will make the comparison even more interesting.
Yeedi is a Chinese manufacturer that specialises in the marketing of robot vacuums/cleaners, it is neither an entry level brand nor a brand that is content with the minimum. After testing several Yeedi products, I can now get a more global idea of the quality of the products. Yeedi produces products with a clean and successful aesthetic, they have also developed their own application to manage their product via a smartphone and this application is frankly successful. So Yeedi is not a Chinese manufacturer that has just made a Chinese product for the rest of the world, they have thought about a global approach from the start.
The Yeedi Vac Max consists of a robot vacuum cleaner/cleaner that can be combined with a docking station that will suck up the contents of the vacuum cleaner's tank to give it greater autonomy of operation. This means that you can leave the vacuum cleaner running without having to intervene to empty its tank. This may sound trivial but it is actually very useful. Robotic vacuums are small and their tanks cannot hold much dust. Robots without a station are autonomous but sooner or later they will call you to help empty the tank and the point is for the robot to work for you and not the other way around!
The docking station along with the vacuum cleaner costs £499.99 (introductory price):
Official Yeedi.com website
On Amazon
You can also buy the robot without the station, you can choose between the Yeedi Vac and the Yeedi Vac Max (tested model)
Price of Yeedi Vac Max at launch = 349.99
Promotional price on Amazon = 254,99€ (See the promo on Amazon)
Yeedi Vac price at launch = £299.99 (See price on Yeedi.com)
Technical specifications
Here is an overview of the technical specifications of the Yeedi Vac Max and its docking station.
Suction force: 3000 Pa
Battery: 5200 mAh
Theoretical autonomy: 3h30
Dust tank size: 0.4l
Water tank size: 240ml
Station dust tank size: 2.5l
The Yeedi Vac (without the Max in the name) is a lighter version with a suction force of 2500pa and a lower battery capacity.
Here are the characteristics of its competitor, the Dreame Z10 Pro for comparison
Suction force: 4000 Pa
Battery: 5200 mAh
Theoretical autonomy: 2h30
Dust tank size: 0.4l
Water tank size: 150ml
Dust tank size of the station: 4l
On paper, the Dreame is more powerful and has a larger capacity for the docking station but the Dreame comes at a higher price.
Unpacking
I received the Yeedi Vac Max in two boxes but I think there is a version where everything is packed in one box if you order from the official website. The Yeedi Mop Station came in one box so I guess it's also possible for this model of robot.
The robot comes with a small charging station, a brush, a mop and 4 spare cloths for the mop.
The main brush is removable, just remove the cover to take it out of the vacuum cleaner. This brush is easy to clean, the hair tends to curl up in one place and I use a scissor to cut the tangle of hair so I can remove it all at once. This suction system does not require much maintenance. The toothed wheels literally lift the vacuum cleaner up and over a difference in level, it can go up almost a centimetre. In practice I think it can do a bit better because I have a level difference in a room in my house and I think the difference is more than a centimetre and the robot passes without any problem.
This model of robot is only equipped with one brush to bring the dirt to the suction area, this is a bit of a shame as Yeedi also produce robots with two brushes, this allows it to go faster as it has to go through the same area less often to cover the whole area.
The tank at the back is quite small but well integrated into the vacuum cleaner. It can hold 240ml of water and unlike the dust tank, you have to fill it yourself. This robot is not designed to clean the floor very effectively, it should be seen as a device that will drag a wet cloth across the floor. If you want an alternative that actually cleans, you should opt for the Yeedi Mop Station.
The dust tank has a capacity of 400ml and is equipped with a row of cleanable filters to capture the finer particles. The tank can easily be removed but if you buy the station you won't even have to deal with it except for filter maintenance.
The box containing the station includes the station divided into two parts, just fit the tank with the vacuum ramp and with a click everything fits together easily. This model of station is equipped with a transparent plastic access ramp in addition to the access ramp of the station. This is the first time I have seen this kind of accessory and even if it is meant to facilitate the work of the robot, it takes up space at the front of the station. So more space is needed in front of the station for the robot to position itself on the ramp.
The dust collection bag is attached to the suction tube of the station by a piece of card, which can be slid off to retrieve and change it. The station comes with several spare bags. I understand that using a bag is more convenient so that you don't have to clean the station, but it does mean that you have to buy a new bag from time to time.
The Yeedi products have a nice design, the products are covered with a white lacquered plastic where Dreame has chosen black. I find that white has the advantage of being less messy, fingerprints or dust are more quickly visible on black. Yeedi vacuums are quite wide but also quite flat. They may not fit between the legs of a chair (it depends on the chair, in my house it doesn't fit) but they will fit under low furniture where a Dreame will be limited because of its Lidar system which artificially increases the height of the device.
Application / Setup
This Yeedi robot is my third robot from this brand, so I've had the opportunity to test the app a few times and I actually still use it on a daily basis as my main robot is a Yeedi Mop Station. This application is quite successful, it is very simple but it is possible to configure many things. The procedure for configuring the robot is very simple, the application generates a QR code that you have to show to the robot's camera (the one on top of the robot). The robot is then immediately recognised and can be started right away.
I've made a short video demonstrating the app by going through the essentials of the menus:
Obstacle detection
The Yeedi uses its camera to scan its surroundings and map your home. This camera is accompanied by sensors on the front of the vacuum cleaner to detect nearby objects. The robot uses a kind of bumper at the front to touch different obstacles and judge whether it can push them. This allows it to better navigate around obstacles in its path.
Here's an example of going under a chair and coffee table. The Yeedi is not very tall, so it can easily get under low furniture. It detects the edge of the coffee table and will lightly touch the coffee table and then turn around and continue its path.
When the robot encounters a narrow obstacle it will try to go around it so that the brush cleans around it. Here we see that the robot assesses the size of the chair leg and goes around it, taking care to get the brush around the leg.
The Yeedi Vac Max has a carpet detection system that prevents carpets from getting wet when the mop is mounted on the vacuum cleaner. Here you can see that the robot climbs up the carpet to the level of the mop, detects the carpet surface and then backs up to go around it. This feature is also available on the Yeedi Mop Station. If you are looking for a cheaper alternative to the Vac Max, you can opt for a Yeedi 2 Hybrid but this one doesn't have this carpet detection capability.
The Yeedi detects most obstacles correctly, however, it needs to be made easier by clearing as much of the space as possible to clean as it sometimes has to touch the obstacles to better get around them, it may push the lighter objects (e.g. children's toys).
Video test
I've put together all the videos I've made into one edit to show everything I've tested. This video is intended for a YouTube audience, so it goes into less detail than the text below.
Auction test
The Yeedi Vac Max uses a parallel line pattern to clean your home, so it should start in a straight line until it hits an obstacle and then it will return to a parallel line to continue its journey. It can also resume its course in lines on the other side of the obstacle once it has reached that location. The software of this robot is quite efficient as it does not leave any area without passing through it at least once.
With a suction force of 3000 pa this robot vacuum cleaner can easily get rid of small everyday dirt like crumbs, hair, fur, feathers, ... etc. The operating noise will also vary depending on the suction force, I will come back to this point a few paragraphs later. The suction force will also define the autonomy. I had put the robot on max mode to establish the first mapping and it completed an area of about 45m² in 1h30 and the battery was down to about 50%. The autonomy will probably be around 3 hours but my house is not big enough to give it work for 3 hours. Incidentally, the robot comes back to recharge itself if its battery level gets too low.
Cleaning test
The Yeedi Vac Max robot is primarily a vacuum cleaner, cleaning is not its primary purpose but that doesn't mean it's not effective. The mop mounted on the back of the robot will dampen the floor (the water flow is adjustable but the tank is small) and pick up surface dirt. Although this mechanism is less effective than rotating brushes like on the Yeedi Mop Station, it still picks up quite a bit of dirt as can be seen in the following photo:
When the mop is installed, the robot will not venture onto your carpets, this is clearly a strength of the product.
Operating noise
In standard mode, I measured about 60 dB a few centimetres from the robot. This is a noise level very much in line with what I've experienced with other robots. If you use the max or max+ suction mode, the noise will increase to 80dB. You will not be able to sleep in the same room as the robot but if you run the robot at night in standard mode and sleep upstairs, the noise level will be low enough not to wake you up. However, you should be careful to keep the voice volume down as the robot is talkative and may well wake you up to tell you that it has finished its work. The charging and vacuuming station, on the other hand, is very noisy.
Docking station
The special thing about the Yeedi Vac Max is that it comes with a docking station that allows you to charge the vacuum cleaner but also to empty its dust tank. This docking station has a capacity of 2.5 litres while the robot's tank has a capacity of 0.4 litres. The robot can therefore theoretically do 8 cleanings before having to empty the docking station. I have tested similar systems from other brands and I find it quite practical but you need to have room to install the docking station in a place where the robot will be able to do the necessary manoeuvres to get into the right position.
The docking station is quite noisy and it does not have a lot of space.
The docking station is quite noisy but in less than 20 seconds it empties the vacuum tank. I just found that the robot's tank was very full and the dirt was very compact, the dock fails to empty the tank completely. So it will be more effective with a more regular cleaning than an occasional cleaning.
Autonomy
Yeedi advertises a battery life of 3.5 hours on their website and I think the battery life is pretty close to that figure in reality. I can see the battery getting more or less to 50% after 1.5 hours of operation sometimes using max+ mode. I don't have a large enough home to run the vacuum for more than three hours and anyway, the vacuum will go to recharge automatically if its battery level gets too low, so battery life should never be an issue.
Voice control
Not yet available.
Conclusion
This robot vacuum cleaner is the third Yeedi product I have tested and I am not disappointed at all. Yeedi has recently expanded its product range and you have to be able to find your way around a bit but you have to see the Yeedi Vac Max as the most successful robot vacuum cleaner as it not only offers good suction power but is completely autonomous thanks to its docking station. You can program it to run continuously without you having to take care of it, so you can run it for about a week before the docking station tank is full. If you have pets at home, you may need to run it more often but the principle remains the same, you don't need to intervene at every cleaning session.
This robot has carpet detection, which is very useful if you don't want to get your carpets wet with the mop. The robot moves forward a little on the carpet (even small carpets) and then backwards to go around the carpet. I don't have many carpets at home so I could have done without this feature but if you have many carpets you will be able to manage the cleaning of the carpets separately (by removing the mop).
The Yeedi app is probably one of the most successful apps, it is very easy to use and allows you to program the robot very quickly to your needs. You can send it to clean a room or an area in a room to intervene punctually rather than having to clean the whole house. The robot is quite chatty I find, it explains everything it is doing or what you need to do, you can turn the volume down if it bothers you.
Obstacle detection works quite well but as the robot has to hit most of the obstacles, it is best to give it a free run and avoid dragging objects as even if the robot is not going to suck up a Playmobile, it might drag it behind it for part of the course.
The robot is not too high maintenance, I think it depends on whether you have pets in your home. The hair will wrap around the brushes, so the brushes will need to be detached and cleaned regularly but other than that the robot shouldn't generate too much work.
Strengths
Size to fit under low furniture
Good obstacle avoidance
Can swallow large bread crumbs without problems, good suction power and sufficient opening for dirt of this size
Low operating noise in standard mode
Easy to use application, many configuration possibilities
Good autonomy
Weaknesses
Although the mop will remove surface dirt from your floors, it will not replace a real cleaning
The water tank is small, so the autonomy for water is very limited
The suction station is very noisy and emits a plastic smell when it rotates
The docking station requires a lot of space at the front to accommodate the vacuum cleaner, the plastic ramp easily takes up 20cm in front of the station
LAURENT WILLENHead of myself on this blog
I share my passions on my blog in my free time since 2006, I prefer that to watching nonsense on TV or on social networks. I work alone, I am undoubtedly one of the last survivors of the world of blogs and personal sites.
My speciality? Digital in all its forms. I have spent the last 25 years working for multinationals where I managed digital teams and generated revenues of over €500 million per year. I have expertise in telecoms, media, aviation, travel and tourism.
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