Credit: Dhruv Bhutani / Android Authority
Robot vacuum cleaners can get pretty expensive. If you’re on the fence, the price can be a big deterrent towards giving them a shot. Enter the Xiaomi Mi Robot Vacuum-Mop P. Despite its mouthful of a name, this vacuum is the company’s attempt at democratizing the segment the same way it did with smartphones. In fact, the Mi Robot Vacuum-Mop P ties into Xiaomi’s larger smart home ambitions in India and is aimed at bringing more premium experiences to the market.
Now, Xiaomi faces an uphill battle in terms of market acceptance for a product category that is nearly non-existent in India. For a company that offsets low margins with larger volumes, this makes the product a unique challenge. Which brings up the question — can Xiaomi’s astonishingly affordable robot vacuum cleaner live up to the task in a dusty country like India?
We find out in the Android Authority Mi Robot Vacuum-Mop P review.
Mi Robot Vacuum Mop P
The Mi Robot Vacuum Mop P is an affordable vacuum cleaner that doesn’t skimp out on the essentials. It delivers effective vacuuming and mopping at an excellent price making it a great first option for most buyers.
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Rs21999 at Xiaomi
Save
Rs8000
.00
What is the Mi Robot Vacuum-Mop P?
The Mi Robot Vacuum-Mop P is Xiaomi’s take on an affordable robot vacuum cleaner. The model isn’t entirely new. It is a version of the Mi Robot Vacuum that the company introduced in China back in 2019.
It includes both vacuuming and mopping functions which aren’t all that common in this price range. Additionally, the robot vacuum includes a range of sensors for obstacle avoidance, edge detection, and, of course, LIDAR for mapping out your home. Suffice it to say that despite the low price, Xiaomi has not skipped out on the essentials.
How to set up the Mi Robot Vacuum-Mop P
Credit: Dhruv Bhutani / Android Authority
Setting up the Mi Robot Vacuum-Mop P is pretty straightforward. The vacuum ships with the roller brush and sweeper brush pre-attached. There is a spare sweeper brush included in the box too.
Credit: Dhruv Bhutani / Android Authority
Opening the lid reveals a cavity where you can place either the vacuum-only bin or the combination vacuum and mop bin. Finally, the mop cloth bracket slides into a slot over at the rear of the Robot Vacuum-Mop P.
You’ll need the Xiaomi Mi Home app to continue the setup process. Bear in mind, I had to switch over to the Singapore server. since the Mi Robot Vacuum-Mop P isn’t shipping in India just yet. However, at launch, most users will be able to tap the plus button at the top, key in the Wi-Fi data, and be ready to go.
How to use the Mi Robot Vacuum-Mop P
Like most robot vacuum cleaners, the Mi Robot Vacuum-Mop P includes a LIDAR sensor to create a map of your home. It is generated the first time you set it on a cleaning cycle. It took the vacuum about an hour and a half to go through my 2000-square-foot apartment.
Once the mapping is complete, the Robot Vacuum-Mop P does a pretty good job of segmenting out rooms and areas. If it misses an area, you can head over into the map editor to divide rooms or add virtual walls. Additionally, you can name rooms as well.
This might come in handy with the included smart assistant integration, but the feature was not functional at the time of testing. This is likely because of the region mismatch since the product isn’t widely available yet in the country.
Once the initial scan is done, it is a cinch to tap a specific room and hit the start button. If you wish, you can adjust between vacuum and mop modes. Additionally, you can change suction strength or the amount of water used for mopping. You will, of course, need to have the appropriate bin in the vacuum.
Credit: Dhruv Bhutani / Android Authority
Xiaomi claims that the 3,200mAh battery should last you up to 130 minutes on a single charge. That might be true, but you’ll likely get that longevity only on the silent mode that turns down the vacuum’s suction drastically.
You’ll need to bump up the suction to medium or higher in a dusty city like Delhi.
Look, there’s a lot of dust in India, and the silent mode isn’t really going to cut it in most usage. In my use, with the power set to medium or maximum, the Mi Robot Vacuum-Mop P lasted about an hour on a single charge — not enough to clean up the entire house.
Finally, all filters are easily removable for clean-up and replacement.
How well does the Mi Robot Vacuum-Mop P clean?
In short — really well.
The Mi Robot Vacuum-Mop P does almost as good a job at cleaning my apartment as manual mopping and brooming. In fact, it has completely replaced my daily task of sweeping the dust and saved me hours to boot. This is with the vacuum set to medium or turbo, of course.
Credit: Dhruv Bhutani / Android Authority
The robot has been rock solid at figuring out the fastest path to the selected room while avoiding obstacles. It could easily climb over short elevations too.
The Mi Robot Vacuum-Mop P gets a lot better at cleaning if you pitch in a little bit and remove any stray clothes or objects along its path. In my use, I ended up lifting a rug off the floor as the vacuum had a tendency to get stuck on a few tassels.
Object detection was excellent. On the rare occasion that the robot vacuum got stuck, it easily backed up and continued the task.
The good and the bad
Credit: Dhruv Bhutani / Android Authority
There’s little else that can match up to the sheer value that the Xiaomi Mi Robot Vacuum-Mop P offers in India. The 2,100Pa of suction power isn’t the best that you can get but it proved to be sufficient both on marble as well as the wooden flooring.
The water tank is too small to mop an apartment in one go.
The mopping function is satisfactory but not quite enough for harder stains. On that note, I wish Xiaomi had opted for a slightly larger water tank here. The 2-in-1 tank needs a second refill to be able to clean up my apartment, and larger apartments might need a third.
I got in the habit of dividing the daily cleaning session into two steps. Refilling the tank barely takes a few seconds, however, it is an added step that could’ve been avoided.
Credit: Dhruv Bhutani / Android Authority
Finally, Xiaomi is being extremely generous in its recommendation of clearing out the filters every week or so. Now, my home certainly isn’t filthy, but with the sheer amount of dust in Delhi air, the filters and rolling brushes will inevitably need a clean up every few days. You’ll also want to give the mop a good wash to prevent streaking.
Should you buy the Mi Robot Vacuum-Mop P?
Credit: Dhruv Bhutani / Android Authority
Robot vacuum cleaners are still an upcoming category in India, and there’s not too much competition in the market. The Xiaomi Mi Robot Vacuum-Mop P stands apart as one of the few options that integrate both a vacuum and mopping function at an affordable price point.
Mi Robot Vacuum Mop P
The Mi Robot Vacuum Mop P is an affordable vacuum cleaner that doesn’t skimp out on the essentials. It delivers effective vacuuming and mopping at an excellent price making it a great first option for most buyers.
-
Rs21999 at Xiaomi
Save
Rs8000
.00
The real issue at hand is availability. While pre-orders for the vacuum opened back in June with a shipping date of September 15, this was further pushed back to December. It still remains to be seen if the company is able to meet the shipping date and ensure availability for the product.
Talking about price, Xiaomi opted for a crowdfunding model when it introduced the product earlier this year. Early buyers could have got hold of the robot vacuum for as low as Rs. 17,999 (~$245), however, the product is expected to retail at about Rs. 29,999 (~$410). A close alternative is the Roomba 692, priced at Rs. 23,900 (~$313). However, that model has no mopping function at all.
The Xiaomi Mi Robot Vacuum-Mop P might not be the last word on robot vacuums, but it brings all the essential features you need. More importantly, it does the job pretty darn well. You definitely won’t be disappointed — provided you can get your hands on one.