It’s official, I have more rooms than smart vacuum cleaners. It would be much harder to get this achievement, if not for the fact I moved houses and the room quote per vacuum has changed significantly. What hasn’t changed is the fact, that I tried around 10 different smart cleaners and I know what to expect and what to wish for. SwitchBot has released two vacuums to expand their quirky ecosystem – SwitchBot S10 to handle your mopping needs and SwitchBot K10+ (AmazonUK, AmazonUS) to deal with other scenarios.
SwitchBot K10+
SwitchBot K10+ comes with a charging base. All arrived in a pretty big box. It’s almost comical how small the cleaner is compared to the size of the box it came in. Most of that space is filled with a self-cleaning station. A gadget, I’d consider getting for all your smart vacuum needs if your wallet allows it. While we are speaking about wallets, SwitchBot K10+ will set you back $499. You can get it from the SwitchBot store even cheaper ($399) if you buy it at launch – which makes it an absolute steal!
For such a big box, there was very little to unbox. The kit includes a vac, a spare filter, 2 dust bags (sadly not reusable) and a spare rotary brush. Unlike other brushes, this one features bristles to clean the vacuum too. The self-cleaning station is massive in comparison, but not as big as the one from yeedi. The cord can be managed at the back – an option I like, as it allows for the clean deployment – and that’s all!
Except, there is a pack with wet wipes. I was confused at first, as to why I needed these until I discovered an extra floor-cleaning attachment that is stored on the inside of the station’s lid. I only wish the station provided storage for spare filters and parts too. That would be awesome.
Sensors
SwitchBot K10+ uses LIDAR to map the area. It has additional sensors (front sensor array to avoid obstacles actively), a mechanical bumper with side sensor arrays for more efficient avoidance and 3-floor sensors that prevent the SwitchBot K10+ from going suicidal on staircases. In my “run it on the desk and see what happens” test, SwitchBot K10+ didn’t plummet down to its demise – they are working fine.
SwitchBot app
After playing with smart vacuums I knew what to expect. The app is very clear and easy to use. The first clean will create a map which then can be named and edited to your preference. These areas then can be used to select spot-cleaning (area) or individual rooms. No-go zones can be added too, if you have areas you’d rather skip or are problematic to the vacuum.
The app provides access to schedules, reports and even RC mode in case you want to ferry your lazy cat around. You can also change voice packs as several languages are available to fit your needs. It’s nice to see a child lock, to prevent kids from playing with physical buttons on the device. It’s nice to see a dedicated carpet mode as well, however, if you already running your smart cleaner on max setting, this won’t make any difference.
Voice controls are limited to setting power levels and starting/stopping a general clean. I’m not sure why it’s so hard to get options to pass commands to clean individual rooms. I’ve not come across a smart vacuum which would support this via Alexa/Google Home
Cleaning performance
The business end isn’t innovative – a rotating roller brush to sweep dust into a cleaning compartment and a rotary brush to sweep corners. SwitchBot K10+ finds its way around the house with no problem thanks to the lidar. The mapped area looks very familiar to my surroundings. I don’t have any thresholds in my flat, so I could not test these, but any no-point SwitchBot K10+ had any issues with driving over cables or avoiding my slippers. It’s a skilled navigator.
I placed the SwitchBot K10+ on my desk to see how it behaves and how well it cleans. The fall sensors were working great and kept the smart cleaner on top of the surface. It should not fall down the stairs. Vacuum swept the entire desk and returned to the dock without missing anything.
Carpet
After spreading some flour and sugar on a hard surface and my medium-length carpet (or mat to be precise), I released the SwitchBot K10+ to do its thing. After 6 minutes the area was completely clean and I took a closer look to investigate.
I have to say that despite the size SwitchBot K10+ is a brilliant cleaner. All the flower and sugar were completely removed from the hard surfaces and the carpet. There was nothing left. I was using it at the max setting, but I have to say I’m impressed.
If your carpets are relatively clear, then you can make SwitchBot K10+ very quiet. It won’t be as good at picking up stuff, but if you run it frequently enough – that’s enough. My only worry is that the built-in dust compartment is very small. Tacking a 2 bedroom flat is about all it can do on a single pass. Anything else will require extraction and possibly a recharge.
Mop
From the get-go, the idea felt bad to me. To turn the SwitchBot K10+ into a mop, a thick wet wipe has to be attached to a plastic pad which is then mounted over the roller brush. If you at this point share my doubts, you are right. SwitchBot K10+ when transformed into a mop, can’t sweep dust whatsoever. It can only push light dust around in hopes that everything will stay attached to the wet wipe.
After testing it with some sugar and flour on my desk surface I discovered two things. All particles are swept into a bunch and left randomly across the desk as SwitchBot K10+ is unable to suck it up. My desk surface would become as slippery as ice once wetted with the wipes and SwitchBot K10+ would constantly lose traction. The controlled test on my desk was a fiasco on all accounts.
To SwitchBot K10+ credit, the cleaner is almost silent in mopping mode, and if you get the cleaner to clean your floor first before a mopping pass is performed – this actually could work. I just don’t see much convenience in waiting until the cleaner is done, to manually change it into a mop and run it again (especially since it would require a charge at this point).
If it weren’t for the excellent carpet performance, I would be more disappointed. Mopping on SwitchBot K10+ is a gimmick and you are better off waiting for the S10 model.
Shop for Switchbot
Get Switchbot devices in the following stores:
Final thoughts
I can wholeheartedly recommend SwitchBot K10+ (AmazonUK, AmazonUS) to anyone with carpets. Considering how well it performs on carpets and hard floors is enough of a sell to skip the mop section entirely. SwitchBot delivered on the promise, and SwitchBot K10+ may look small, but it’s as powerful as devices twice its size. The inclusion of the self-cleaning station is a strong point as well, so if you need a new cleaner – you get my seal of approval. Let me know what you think in this Reddit post.
🆓📈💵 – See the transparency note for details.
