Eufy RoboVac L70 Hybrid: Ankers first vacuum robot with laser

In the field of vacuum robots, the well established tech brand Anker was lagging behind for years. The model RoboVac 30C couldn’t survive us in our test. Then they (finally!) dared the long awaited leap with laser space measurement: The RoboVac L70 Hybrid vacuum robot review.

• eufy RoboVac L70 Hybrid Vacuum Robot
  • at Amazon for $400 
  • soon also available in blue

Technical specs: Comparison with Roborock S6

Every new model with laser navigation has to undergo a direct comparison with one of the current top models.

Scope of delivery

A typical carton awaits us, here you can neither make concessions nor emphasize anything particularly positive. I guess a creative cardboard design is not high on the agenda of the vacuum robot manufacturers.

The scope of delivery includes besides the vacuum robot:

• Charging station with charging cable
• 0,2 l water tank
• Mopping attachment with microfibre cloth
• Water catching mat (exemplary!)
• Operating instructions in several languages

With a manufacturer like eufy I would have expected some spare parts, but at least you can get them from Amazon or eufy’s own shop “Eufylife“. These are comparatively affordable, but of course with a 400$ model you would expect a little more in the package. You can also see in the app in which condition each part is (wear and tear etc.).

The included water catching mat is exemplary: The charging station can be placed on it so that the floor is not getting wet through the robot after mopping.

Design and workmanship

The first eufy model with LDS comes in a white plastic housing.  In future, the robot will also be available in blue. The plastic is certainly of high quality, but not quite on par with the plastic used by Roborock or Xiaomi, for example. The design aspect is of course a matter of taste, but personally the model reminds me too much of Chinese competitors and has no real unique selling point in this respect. Sure, the shape of the vacuum robot does not leave much room for manoeuvre, but the similarity to other models is too great for me here.

On the top side there are two operating elements that light up blue during operation. With one button you start, stop and switch on the robot, with the other you send it manually back to the charging station. Above it there is a WLAN display, which also lights up when a connection is established. With the dimensions of 35,5 x 35,5 x 10,1 cm, the robot belongs to the higher models, an aspect that should be considered before buying. The L70 will not get under furniture with a height of less than 10.5 cm, I would even expect 11 cm due to the obstacle detection. Otherwise it can happen that the LDS bumps and scratches the underside of the cabinet or similar furniture pieces.

Design and workmanship are fine, but for a $400 model it is not industry standard. And somehow I don’t really like the choice of colours, but of course everyone sees it differently.

Working time and charging station

The charging station is strongly reminiscent of the Xiaomi/Roborock stations, not only because of the black and white colour choice. On the underside we have rubber surfaces that make sure that the station does not slip – for example when the robot drives onto the charging contacts and should not push the station away with it. The charging cable can be rolled up on the back and is therefore not in the way of the robot or the human. As on the robot itself, there is a mark for the CE certification on the bottom of the charging station.

Autonomous finding and returning to the charging station after cleaning is no problem thanks to the laser room measurement, provided it has also been started from there. However, the latter is also absolutely necessary for the mapping to work without errors. After a working time of a solid 2.5 h, the robot returns to the station and stays there for 5 h loading time (depending on how long the cleaning of all rooms took).

The working time in combination with the working speed also makes it suitable to use for large areas of up to 200 m² – of course this value varies depending on the complexity, degree of soiling and other conditions in the rooms.

Navigation and operation: The first eufy with LDS

The company Anker eufy is always a welcome manufacturer – Amazon mail order, product variety and quality of the products are impressive. Only in the case of vacuum robots did we dislike  the previous models. These came along with the no longer up-to-date chaos principle as a navigation method, then eufy (finally!) dared to take the next step and installed laser space measurement in their latest model. Moreover, it can vacuum and mop at the same time – hence the nickname “hybrid“.

The laser distance sensor on the top of the robot, in combination with the installed SLAM algorithm (Simultaneous Localization And Mapping), enables it to create a visual map (mapping) that can be called up live in the app. Thus, on the one hand, the user always knows (even when on the move) where the robot is and what is currently occupying it, and on the other hand, he can also place virtual walls, no-go zones and no-mop zones on the map. These can be easily drawn on the smartphone with a finger movement.

The robot navigates in a room from the outside to the inside – in the form of quadrants, which it then travels along in straight paths. If you are wondering what is meant by this, have a look at the mapping below. 😉

Mapping: yes, Room Division: no

But what is missing is the room division. For example, the RoboVac L70 Hybrid does not automatically recognize which room it is in, does not divide the rooms and thus does not allow its owner to determine a sequence for cleaning. By the way: When you bring the robot to life for the first time, you will be reminded by a very loud welcoming melody in English, but fortunately the “language” of the robot can be turned off or turned down in the settings.

A V-shaped main brush and a single brush head operate on the underside. The single brush is not necessarily a disadvantage, as the top models from Xiaomi and Roborock all work with a single brush head. Since the robot travels through the premises in straight paths, it orientates itself laterally and pushes dirt and dust with the brush towards the main brush, from where it continues on to the dust chamber and various filters. Whether another brush head is working on the other side is irrelevant if the robot is well oriented sideways.

The eufy L70 Hybrid works slower and louder (more so) than many of its colleagues. But on the other hand it is very precise, gentle on furniture and efficient (wherever it goes). Wherever it finds dust and dirt, it also hunts it down (or to the 0.45 l mopping/dust chamber).

Carpet detection, volume and suction power

At Anker’s SmartHome subsidiary eufy, the carpet recognition system is called “BoostIQ“. The vacuum robot increases the suction power to 2200 pa when it detects a carpet underneath itself. This does not always work reliably in practice, but it also depends a bit on the carpet. However, the suction power is sufficient to pull out some dirt and dust (not completely) from thicker carpets.

However, the carpet edge may only have a maximum height of 1.5 cm, otherwise it will not be able to overcome it. Unless the slope is rounded off, in which case 2 cm will work as well. Carpets are not shown on the visually created map in the corresponding app, as is the case with the Ozmo 950 from Ecovacs.

Fortunately, the suction power and thus also the operating volume can be varied (Quiet, Standard, Turbo, Maximum mode). Why fortunately? In maximum mode, the vacuum robot manages to achieve a volume of 75 dB. Dang it! You can do without a little suction power. For comparison: We humans talk at an average volume of 60 dB. Feel the difference.

App integration and control

The heart of a suction robot with laser room measurement is the associated app, in the case of RoboVac the EufyHome app (Android, iOS). After registering via spam mail address, a tidy interface awaits us, the app automatically asks if you want to set the language to English.

As always at this point the note: Like most suction robots, the L70 Hybrid can only be integrated into a 2.4 GHz network.

Surprisingly, the integration into the WLAN also works with a 5 GHz network switched on at the same time, which does not apply to all robots. In general, the connection process only takes about as long as the registration, i.e. one to two minutes. Step-by-step instructions for the integration (robot must be switched on):

1. Press the “Add Device” button.
2. Select “vacuum cleaner robot” from the possible smart devices.
3. Select RoboVac L70 Hybrid from the rich model overview
4. Select WLAN and enter the corresponding password.
5. Device will be found automatically.
6. Connection is established.
7. Yay! If you want, you can now give the robot a name.

Conveniently, the robot also sends push notifications to its owner’s smartphone via app. This allows you to follow what the round helper is doing while on the move.

Functions within the app

As beautiful as the app is designed, it quickly becomes clear: As far as the functional aspect is concerned, there are some vacuum robots with more variety. The same applies to the setting options.

The functions and setting options listed:

• Vary suction power (Quiet, Standard, Turbo, Maximum mode)
• Adjust  IQ-Boost (increases the suction power on carpets)
• Schedule working hours (cleaning once a day is possible)
• Zone cleaning (Go-To-Zones, send robots to predefined positions by means of “square drawing)
• Send the suction robot back to the charging station
• Adjust water delivery (Low, Medium, High)
• Set volume of the robot’s language, change language (English, Spanish  and more)
• Find robot (makes noise where it is)
• Remote control incl. spot cleaning (rotates around itself in increasing circles)

In addition, the cleaning process can be traced with the completed journeys and also the condition of the individual parts. The latter is useful to be able to understand when to look for spare parts.

Voice control via Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant is also possible. Accordingly, the robot can be started, stopped and sent back to the charging station by voice command (“Alexa, start the robot”).

Mapping

Theoretically my favourite part of a review, unfortunately there is not much positive to report about the L70 Hybrid. Without the selective room layout you have some possibilities and a good overview, but you get this kind of mapping even more precise for about $250 (Mi Robot). See for yourself:

The robot replaces the previously used map as soon as it detects only minimal differences in the apartment. It should actually update it as soon as it discovers a new obstacle – but in this case, the map storage in the functional scope is missing. Accordingly, the robot does not become smarter over time and does not optimize its cleaning path. In addition, no-go zones are quickly lost, and in some cases are not even saved properly. Or saved, if you didn’t want that in the first place!

After all, it is also possible to specify zones in which the robot should neither mop nor vacuum. You also have to give the robot the benefit that its laser distance sensor really works very precisely. It makes a turn at the start of a cleaning job – and knows almost all the outlines of the apartment. It’s only annoying if it lets a 1.5 cm high door sill block its way – and thus skips the other rooms. Uh, there was also a fight with the clothes horse – which ended in a rescue operation on my part.

As far as mapping is concerned, it definitely needs a proper firmware update, which fortunately is possible. However, experience shows that eufy is not too generous with updates for their vacuum robots, but would rather launch a new model onto the market.

The mopping function

The dust chamber and water tank (in this case a hybrid construction) can be easily removed and replaced on the underside (also commented on by voice message), but cleaning it is tricky. The filter at the dust chamber must first be removed before dust and dirt can be emptied. The filter is also quite tight, which can quickly cause a mishap on the floor if you are not concentrating. For dust allergy sufferers (I know, it’s not the technical term, but it’s understandable) like me an absolute no-go.

Similarly challenging is the removal of the water from the water tank – hardly feasible without much shaking. This is because the rubber lip above the opening has not been placed in a corner of the tank, so that the remaining water does not find its way out of the tank too easily.

Well, enough complaining about it. One nice thing about the wiping function is that the app lets you adjust the amount of water that drips from the water tank onto the mop (low, medium, high). And that you don’t run the risk of getting the floor wet later on at the charging station with the included water catching mat.

The L70 Hybrid automatically detects that it needs to wipe by means of the attached mop on the underside. It even sends a push notification when the tank is empty. In general, however, the conclusion about the wiping function is again as often with hybrid models: It reduces the frequency of manual wiping within a month, but cannot completely replace it. At present, robots simply do not exert enough pressure on the floor, which is controlled by humans using biceps power.

Conclusion: Buy Anker eufy RoboVac L70 Hybrid?

Yeah, not bad at all for the first LDS model. The biggest flaw here is definitely the price of almost $400. For such a price, you can expect the maximum of features, like the Deebot Ozmo 950, and the fact that there is no automatic room division is probably due to the production cycle, which was to bring a model with laser room measurement to the market as soon as possible, and the L70 was not released fully developed.

I am personally very pleased that a manufacturer so respected in other fields is now finally trying to catch up with the other manufacturers and I expect a lot in the future. With the eufy L70 Hybrid I would be happy to buy it for 250-300$, but not for 400-500$. I hope for future vacuum robots from the manufacturer (all beginnings are hard), here I can’t give a buying recommendation yet.

What do you hope for from the next Anker model?