The object of our next review was the Panda i5 robot vacuum cleaner. This is the new model of 2017, which stands out among its competitors with its striking design, the absence of a turbo brush and the presence of functions that are not specific to a vacuum cleaner. All this will please fans of high-tech innovations and people who wish to purchase a universal thing for cleaning and monitoring the house.
Equipment
Panda i5 Robot Vacuum Cleaner Package Includes:
- Vacuum cleaner robot;
- charging base from a network 220V;
- network adapter;
- two spare side brushes;
- remote control;
- remote control batteries;
- Kingston 8 Gb memory card;
- washing panel with water tank;
- two microfiber rags;
- spare HEPA filter;
- simple and clear instruction in Russian;
- coupon with a guarantee from the manufacturer (2 years).
Specifications
Panda i5 has a number of distinctive technical characteristics that distinguish it from competitors.
| CHARACTERISTIC | Panda i5 | iClebo Omega | iRobot Roomba 980 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Power | 85-125 W | 45 watts | 40 watts |
| Cleaning area | Up to 240 m² | Up to 120 m² | Up to 100 m² |
| Dust box volume (ml) | 500 | 650 | 500 |
| Noise level (dB) | < 46 | 68 | 60 |
| Battery | Li-Pol 7000 mAh | Li-Ion 4400 mAh | Li-Ion 2200 mAh |
| Thickness | 6 cm | 8.7 cm | 9.2 cm |
| Cleaning / Charging Time | 140/180 minutes | 80/180 minutes | 120/180 minutes |
| WiFi Connection App | there is | Not | there is |
| Side turbo brush | Two | Two | One |
| Camcorder | There is. Active | there is | there is |
| HEPA filter | There is. Triple filtration | there is | there is |
| Wet cleaning | There is. Full with water tank | There is. Flooring | Not |
| Programming ability | there is | there is | there is |
| Anti-obfuscation system | there is | there is | Not |
| Cartography and Navigation System | there is | there is | there is |
| Smartphone Control | there is | Not | there is |
| Automatic return to the station | there is | there is | there is |
| Touchpad | there is | there is | there is |
| Guarantee | 2 years | 1 year | 1 year |
We have devoted a separate article to the comparative advantages of the Panda i5.
Appearance
The design of the case is what is the first thing that catches your eye when choosing any device. The Panda Clever i5 robot vacuum cleaner conquers with its bright red color and glossy surface. Girls will definitely appreciate its appearance. The build quality and durable plastic will be appreciated by the stronger sex. And everyone will appreciate the presence of a touch panel on the body of the robot vacuum cleaner, with which you can run this assistant.
The thickness of the case is only 5.9 cm, which cannot but rejoice, because now the dust under the furniture will have no chance. This wonderful assistant is able to climb even the most remote corners of your home and save you from hated dust and dirt.
Functionality, cleaning modes
Now, cleaning the house will be fun, not a duty. Thanks to the wide range of functions, the Panda Clever i5 robot vacuum cleaner can handle various types of cleaning, whether it is a complete cleaning of the room or mopping.
For cleaning rooms, the robot vacuum cleaner has 4 types of programs:
- Auto mode: the robot moves along the constructed route.
- Delayed start cleaning mode: The robot vacuum cleaner starts cleaning at a specific time and day of the week programmed by you.
- Spot cleaning: The robot vacuum cleaner cleans a specific surface area in a spiral, increasing the suction power to completely absorb the smallest particles of dust and dirt. The minimum power is 1000 Pascals, the maximum is 1200 Pascals.
- Cleaning along the walls and contours of furniture: allows for a little cleaning, usually pet owners use this to collect pieces of six.
The dust bag for these programs is 500 ml and has a fill sensor. This is quite enough for daily cleaning of the apartment.
The robot vacuum cleaner, in addition to the usual functions of a vacuum cleaner, has another very useful one - mopping. Now you can entrust this time-consuming cleaning element to him and be sure that he will cope with it 100%.
To do this, the i5 has a 280 ml water tank and a special microfiber cloth 28 cm wide. All this allows it to wash any coating without leaving any streaks due to the “remove excess fluid” function. Parquet owners will appreciate this functionality.
For connoisseurs of cleanliness not only surfaces but also air, Panda i5 has a HEPA filter for cleaning air from allergens and bacteria, a carbon filter and a fine filter. Together, they allow you to make the air in the house much cleaner, and the floors - sparkling.
It is worth noting the powerful robot battery - the latest generation lithium-polymer battery, has a capacity of 7000 milliampere-hours. Panda i5 can work continuously up to 240 minutes without recharging. Charging time is approximately the same 240 minutes.
The unique shape of the side brushes will avoid such a problem as winding wires or hair on them, which the owners of robot vacuum cleaners constantly encounter, and the presence of 6 cleaning elements at once in the brushes ensures cleaning of impeccable quality.
The Panda i5 robot vacuum cleaner independently changes its power depending on the type of flooring and the degree of its pollution, so cleaning will always be ideal.
Regarding the safety of the robot vacuum cleaner from falling from a height, it can be noted that it has 4 groups of sensors that allow it to timely detect a change in the height of the working surface and the need to immediately stop or change the trajectory of movement.
The navigation system of this model is an echolocation collision avoidance system that minimizes the risk of colliding with something (or someone) during cleaning. Most models of robotic vacuum cleaners move randomly, crash into obstacles and illogically try to avoid them. The same model of a robot vacuum cleaner builds a map of the room and performs cleaning taking into account all its features.
Upon completion of cleaning or in case of battery discharge, the vacuum cleaner is sent to the base station, and it finds it error free.
The charging station is tiny, can be installed along the walls or in the corner of the room. On the back wall there is a double-sided tape for those who are ready to fix charging seriously and for a long time.
But for some reason the manufacturer made the wire of the power supply unit in white, probably black would have been preferable in most interiors.
Unique features
As for the newfangled stuff, there are a lot of them:
- Widescreen HD camcorder, which allows you to observe what is happening in the house, being anywhere in the world.
- Special smartphone app, installation instructions for which you will find in the documentation for the vacuum cleaner.
- Remote control. Through the application, you can see everything that happens in the house in real time, control the route of movement of the robot and even make a video call home.
- Video recording. The data obtained using the camera will be stored on a flash card with a capacity of 8 GB or more, which is included in the standard package, and they are always accessible from a mobile phone. If the camera is not needed, it can be turned off via the smartphone application or manually close its lens with a special shutter.
- Night vision system, allowing you to create a picture of objects imperceptible in the dark. The camera works even when the vacuum cleaner is completely discharged.
- Security mode. Also, thanks to the presence of a camera in the Panda i5, you can activate the security mode by setting the time for monitoring the house. In case of any movement in the apartment or house, you will receive a notification in the application on your smartphone.
- Wi-Fi Availabilitythanks to which you can control the robot - vacuum cleaner remotely. You just need to connect to the vacuum cleaner using your home router, select the appropriate cleaning mode and watch on the smartphone screen how cleverly and quickly the Panda i5 brings cleanliness.
Smartphone app
The smartphone application turned out to be a nice addition to the above features.
The application allows you to enable the cleaning mode from anywhere in the world. On the screen you see all the possible commands for your assistant - auto-cleaning, cleaning along the walls, in a circle, increasing power, moving forward, backward, left, right. Also, the team “find the base” in order to get up to charging, and a delay in cleaning for 24 hours.
It seemed to me quite convenient, because now it is not necessary to look for the remote control from the robot to start it in work, or to set the time for the start of cleaning. Now it can be done from anywhere in the world.
And you don’t have to go to the rescue of the robot if it’s stuck somewhere - through the application you can help him get out using the “forward”, “back”, “left”, “right” buttons.
You can also connect to the camera to track the situation in the room and use it to record video or take a photo. You can listen to what is happening in the room or give instructions to those present in it. With the latter, I advise you to be careful, because You can scare a person very much. To date, few are prepared for the fact that a vacuum cleaner will talk to him :). But to play a man and take a photo or video of his surprised and frightened face - sometimes you can!
These videos and photos will be stored in the application memory, if necessary, they can be downloaded to your phone or computer.
You will find a link to the application and detailed instructions in the documentation set for the robot vacuum cleaner. She paints step by step what and in what sequence must be done to get full access to all functions. The main thing is not to forget to turn on Wi-Fi on the robot itself. The application is already available on the App Store and will soon appear on Google Play.
Own impression of work
The design of the Panda i5 robot vacuum cleaner impressed with its brightness and gloss. Its touchpad seemed a very functional solution.
A closer look surprised the lack of a turbo brush. Another robot vacuum cleaner with a similar brush is salvation, because we have a cat whose hair is stuck in the pile of carpets.
The manufacturer of the robot vacuum cleaner explained the lack of a turbo brush by the fact that many owners of robot vacuum cleaners who have pets live with a serious problem: shreds of wool wound around the brush reduced the quality of cleaning or even spoiled robots.
The vacuum hole, which is designed instead of a brush, allows you to suck dirt directly into the dust collector, it is not blocked by stuck hair or wires. I’ll add on my own that this is true, but only if you do not have carpets with a pile above 1 cm and this is the ideal solution for rooms with parquet, laminate, tile or linoleum.
The mopping function is really useful. I do not like to crawl with a rag under the furniture, but because of allergies I had to do this several times a week. Now my Japanese assistant is doing this daily. You just need to pour water into the tank and run the program, and after cleaning, rinse and dry microfiber.
The presence of three filters for air purification, a nice addition from the manufacturer Panda i5. Again, as an allergic person, I praised such concern for consumer health.
The video and video surveillance functions surprised me. This is a nice addition to the necessary functions for which these vacuum cleaners are bought. You can monitor what pets are doing in your absence, and if they are naughty, you can scold them through a microphone located in a robot cleaner. This is a useful thing for people who often travel on business and worry about the safety of their home, because if movement is detected in the room, the robot vacuum cleaner will send you a notification on your smartphone through the application.
Side brushes can be attributed to both plus and minus. The plus is that dust and garbage have no chance, but you will have to help the vacuum cleaner often, because of the slow rotation, they constantly try to climb under the carpets and get stuck there.
Disadvantages
The disadvantages include the following aspects:
Swiftness - it is very, very smart, it negatively affects the quality of carpet cleaning, too quickly he goes the route. At the expense of noise level - it seemed to me quite noisy. Sleeping during his work will be difficult not only for the child, but also for the adult.
In the first week of use, the main drawback of the model was its "talent" to crash into anything and everything. He very persistently tried to get into various places, no matter what. It was a mystery to me why the declared echolocation did not cope with the task - he managed to crash not only into the legs of chairs and tables, but also into people. He moved flower pots, not very heavy interior items, and made all collisions with fairly decent effort and speed. The problem was solved by contacting the manufacturer on the “hot line” - they quickly and competently answered the call, suggested exactly what needs to be done to make the problem go away - restart the robot by simply turning it off and on after 10 seconds. And lo and behold, he stopped demolishing everything and everyone. Now you can start the robot to work and not worry about home decoration. I was very pleased that the problem was solved so quickly and so "painlessly."
Although, one small nuance still remained: it does not always recognize dark objects and thin legs of tables and chairs, especially if they fall between location sensors. In this regard, it does not always give up immediately, but continues to push an obstacle within 2-3 seconds. This does not create much inconvenience.
The cost of the robot can also be attributed to a drawback, because it is high enough for a vacuum cleaner and is approximately 38,000 rubles. (the stock could be purchased for 29,990 rubles.). However, if we consider all its additional functions, then the price balances on the verge of justice. In this context, the promotional price is perhaps quite justified. Yes, he has a lot of functions and chips, he combines several devices - a vacuum cleaner, polisher, video surveillance, video communication - but still the cost of 38,000 for all this, in my opinion, is high.
Video in progress
Conclusion
Who can recommend this model?
- To people who do not have carpets in the house, all the interior items are solid and well fixed.
- Allergic, because this assistant will save you from dust and allergens, making your home more secure.
- Young parents who already have enough worries and want to devote all their free time to taking care of children, and not do cleaning.
- For older people, because with age it becomes difficult to maintain cleanliness in the house, and the Panda i5 robot vacuum cleaner will do this with ease.
- Workaholics who spend a lot of time at work or traveling. Cleanliness in the house will be ensured for you, because you can choose the necessary mode of operation and start it, even when being far from home.
A robot vacuum cleaner is a necessary, useful and practical thing that allows you to keep clean at home, freeing up time for pleasant things. And what kind of model and which functions to choose, is purely personal.
