I have no shame in admitting that I can be lazy at times. Not so much with work for any of my higher-ups reading this, but around the house I often let things slide a little bit too long.
And that’s never more evident than with hoovering. Much to my partner’s disappointment, I can live with a few crumbs on the floor. Or at least, I used to be able to…
Now that I’m the proud owner of a robot vacuum cleaner, the floors are spotless, my girlfriend is thrilled and I’m just disappointed it took me so long to join the tech revolution.
I was lucky enough to try out the SwitchBot S10 and it’s safe to say I’m a convert. Offering both hoovering and mopping capabilities, the SwitchBot promises “100% automated cleaning” which makes the process “truly hands free”.
It heads back to its hub to charge
Over the last month or so, I’ve put it to the test around the house and the results, while not perfect, are hugely impressive.
After unboxing and setting up the little robot’s home hub – where it goes to recharge and empty its contents into a discreetly-concealed dust bag – you can let the SwitchBot loose.
Using cameras all round the vacuum and “AI obstacle avoidance”, it will head off to map out your house, learning the routes, the layout of rooms and any no-go areas for future visits.
And to really bump up the laziness, you can activate a full cleaning cycle from an app on your phone, or even sync it up to Siri, Alexa or Google Home for voice-controlled commands.
The bag is hidden away inside
When it comes to actual cleaning power, I was sceptical, but it really packs a decent amount of suction into such a small device.
Hair, plastic and even a couple of tactically-placed Skittles fell at the hands of my new robot sidekick and it works well across both carpet and hard floors.
The only slight issues I noticed were a propensity to get caught up in wires and an occasional inability to get past doormats or table legs.
But having to go and rescue my SwitchBot once in a blue moon is nothing compared to the hours of time it’s saved me. There’s still a place in the world for our trusty Henry Hoover, but for day-to-day stuff, the robot revolution has officially arrived.
It flies across both carpets and hard floors
If you do want one however, they don’t come cheap. The SwitchBot S10 that I was given is currently retailing on Amazon for £1,099.99.
If you’re after a cheaper alternative, you could try out this Shark , currently on sale for £441.71 or you could go for the budget option of this Lubluelu , available for £169.99.