Lately, Xiaomi is characterized by bringing refritos and product refritos to the market regardless of the range or niche of its vast catalog. The Xiaomi Vacuum 1S is a small variant of the first vacuum cleaner of the Asian firm.

Xiaomi Vacuum 1S In-depth Review

Currently, Xiaomi has three models under its brand in the market. The Mi Robot Vacuum, its 1S version presented in April and the STYJ02YM model just a few months later in this 2019 that presents the third evolution jump including mop.

The rest of robot vacuum cleaners, whether they are from Roborock or Xiaowa, are also commonly called by mistake or bad faith of Xiaomi for the mere fact of being sold through its Youpin Marketplace. Causing many occasions of uncertainty and erroneous purchases among fans of the brand.

On this occasion, we have been able to test for a few weeks the ” version 1.5 ” of the Xiaomi vacuum robot. A device whose improvements are found more than in its hardware, in the software thanks to its integration with Mi Home.

Unboxing of Xiaomi Vacuum 1S

The 1S version of the Xiaomi Mi Robot Vacuum includes the same as its first version. In this model, there has been no change in packaging or content.

Apart from the vacuum itself and its charging base in the box, the aerial cable with Chinese connection is included, which we can change without any problem for one with global, perfect instructions in Chinese and the accessory to cut the hairs that are entangled in the roller.

In counterpoint, they do not include any type of extra spare whether brush, roller, or replacement filter. Accessories that it would be good if at least the filter included it since it is the accessory that we must change before to keep our vacuum working properly.

Characteristics

The Vacuum 1S Robot Vacuum is roughly the same as its first version. Physically the only difference in broad strokes is its optical sensor that is located just at the top of its keypad, eliminates the sensor on the front, and has more rounded edges.

So that you can get an idea in broad strokes I have compiled in the following table comparison between the first version and the 1S that I will detail later.

Broadly speaking, this new version that they have called 1S retains its dimensions, decreases 200 grams in weight while increasing its suction power by 200 pascals, maintaining its autonomy, being able to aspirate a surface of up to 250 m ².

Another improvement focuses on its noise ranging from 50 to 65 decibels depending on whether we configure it in Silent, Balanced, Turbo, or Maximum mode. Its new internal design has reduced an average of 6 decibels.

The great novelty is centered on its new optical sensor that is integrated into the navigation system complementing its 360º laser distance sensor that has also been renewed. This new sensor allows scanning the walls of our home to detect the doors.

In total, the Mi Robot Vacuum 1S integrates 12 sensors among which are: anti-collision sensor, anti-fall, compass, speedometer, or dirt sensor among others, which are distributed throughout the body of this vacuum cleaner to offer optimal operation.

But Xiaomi has not focused solely on hardware. The great improvements have been reserved to offer a very optimized firmware. The navigation algorithms have also been improved allowing the vacuum cleaner to create more precise maps increasing their efficiency thanks to the calculation of better cleaning routes.

Besides, its integration with the Mi Home application has also been redesigned. The vacuum 1S plugin allows us to create virtual barriers to block device access to those rooms that we don’t want to enter. This allows us to save ourselves having to install the virtual wall that had its first version as an accessory.

It is also able to save several maps and can define each of the rooms in our home. This will allow us to be able to schedule cleaning by rooms in the same way as high-end vacuum cleaners. This improvement is due to the integration of the optical sensor that allows us to detect when we enter or leave a room in our house.

If you have a 2-story house, this version allows you to save several maps, and you can configure it according to the plant where you are. Another plus to taking it into account.

The rest of the functionalities are maintained compared to the previous version. Schedule automatic cleaning, control from our smartphone, vacuum cleaner maintenance, or configure the voice pack work the same.

User experience

With more than two weeks of use behind the back of the Mi Robot Vacuum 1S, I have to say that the improvement is substantially remarkable especially in terms of the noise level. Normally, with version 1 I had programmed its use for those hours that I was not at home.

But still, on general cleaning days, I put it into operation while at home. It is in those cases when you realize the improvement of ambient noise, especially if you put it in silent mode. In the other cleaning modes, the difference is not so noticeable.

Another novelty to highlight is its cleaning by rooms. To configure it, I needed a couple of cleanups to save the map. Once stored we can configure the ” virtual walls ” to prevent it from entering those areas that we do not want to access.

If the divisions of your house are clear enough for the robot, once the cleaning is finished you will highlight in different colors those areas that you consider to be the different rooms of our home. In my case, I only detect 3 of them correctly, but for this, we can edit the map allowing us to divide or join each zone in addition to naming each room until we have it to our liking.

Once this is done we can make the most of this device and can configure the cleaning of each room at a different time. Instead of configuring it to clean the whole house at a certain time and having to close the doors in those rooms that we don’t want to clean.

Conclusions

If you have come here, you may ask, is it worth changing my vacuum? Or, what model did I buy the 1, the 1S, the Roborock …? 

If you already have a robot vacuum cleaner in full faculties similar to the first version of the Mi Robot, I don’t think it’s worth the investment. If instead, you are thinking of purchasing a new device to keep your home clean, the Mi Robot Vacuum 1S is a very good option.

It has the same features as other high-end devices such as the Roborock S5 or S6. A very good suction power, map storage, and a completely customizable cleaning schedule of products with a price up to two times higher.

The only drawbacks that I have found are the lack of Spanish language that many will have very necessary and the way of scrubbing, which we all know that they do not scrub, but to pass the mop and leave the floor cleaner it never hurts.

Without a doubt, it is a more than recommended purchase. The first version was the best Xiaomi gadget that I bought so far when I tried the 1S version. Without a doubt, it will meet the needs of the most demanding at a very contained price.

You can do with it from Spain on AliExpress for a price of around $ 310, if you want to import it from China it is now in flash offer from GearBest for $ 280.