I’ve tested many of robot vacuums in my time, and whilst they’ve gotten a lot better over the last few years, in a home with two sausage dogs and endless amounts of tech coming in and out which often involves cords and little dongles and attachments on the floor, I’ve never been able to use them reliably until now.
I’ve been a huge fan of DJI over the last few years, so I was extremely eager to see how its navigation and camera tech faired in a robot vacuum and as a first attempt, they’ve done a very, very good job.
The DJI Romo P is fantastic across the board, but It’d be amiss to not start with the design which is unlike anything else on the market. On the most high-end model, the entire docking station is transparent as is the robot vacuum which I actually really like, both as a way of setting it apart from other models on the market, and I think it just looks really high-end as well. I find that white robot vacuums often show dirt, and black ones show dust, so this seems to be the best of both worlds, and you can watch everything that it picks up get sucked up in real time too.
Really though, the navigation is what sets this apart though. With dual fisheye cameras, a solid-state LiDAR system and the use of DJI’s drone path-planning algorithms, DJI says that it can avoid cables as thin as 2mm and I believe it. I genuinely think that this is the first time I’ve ever used a robot vacuum without having to worry about what’s on the floor or having to intervene once, and this is just after moving houses with lots of stuff in every room.
Similarly the Romo P did a really great job of mopping the rooms and then automatically going between vacuuming and mopping based on the rooms, and again, given I’ve just moved houses and now have a mix of carpet and hardwood floors, being able to just set and forget knowing it can go between both whilst also avoiding anything on the floor provided a level of ease of use and comfort that I could let it do its thing without having to worry about it.
With 25,000Pa of suction, this is one of the most powerful robot vacuums on the market, I’d say that there’s some other more expensive robots that maybe surpass it in the cleaning department, but again, I think I’d take the better navigation and obstacle avoidance over a few crumbs left here and there that can easily be picked up with a second pass.
In what is fairly standard at this point, the dock provides up to 200 days of hands-free maintenance with an auto emptying dust dispenser that has UV sterilization, and the ability to wash the mop pads and dry them with hot air so they’re ready to go for the next run. There’s also a floor deodoriser in addition to a floor cleaning solution as well.
THE CHEAPEST PRICE: $2,229 FROM DJI STORE
The last thing that is really important to me with a robot vacuum given I’ve got a long haired dog is how it can keep hair getting stuck from the roller, and DJI includes two with the Romo P including an anti-tangle once, and after maybe 20 or so uses, there is literally no hair inn the roller os it gets a big dick on that for me.
The app support given this is a new category for DJI is basic in some areas, but has everything you need including the ability to set no-go zones, set schedules, quickly spot clean and view the camera, which is an important feature for me with two pets.
Outside of an early security issue, I’m extremely impressed with the DJI Romo P. I really hope that this is a succesful category that DJI continues to improve, which it does so well in every other category at the moment, as this is absolutely a winner and an easy recommendation to anyone that looking for a robot vacuum that does it all without you having to intervene.
