Roidmi EVA: Better corner sweeping, better scrubbing, and self-cleaning

The Roidmi EVA is another top-of-the-line robot vacuum cleaner for 2022. I'd like to immediately thank the iChehol store, which provided a sample for review. At the end of the review, I've included a purchase link where you can actually order this model with a local warranty and fast delivery across Russia. Speaking of the robot, it's equipped with lidar for navigation, a modern combination station for self-cleaning and rinsing, and an effective cleaning module featuring a central and side brush, as well as two rotating mops at the back. For such a comprehensive set of advanced features, you'll expect to pay between $875 and $1,150, which is generally on par with most similar models. Below, I'll thoroughly test the Roidmi EVA and then express my opinion on which conditions it's best suited for and whether it's worth the money. So, let's get started!

Equipment

In addition to the robot and station itself, the delivery kit includes:

1. Power adapter.
2. 4 spare bags for the station.
3. Two spare wipes for the robot.
4. Spare side brush.
5. Spare HEPA filter.
6. Spare sponge for the clean water tank.
7. Operating instructions.

The kit is well-equipped. The manufacturer took the time to include all the necessary consumables for the first few days of operation. That's a plus!

Appearance

Let's take a look at the Roidmi EVA's design. Let's start with the robot vacuum itself. Its body has an unusual shape: square with rounded corners. This design solution should improve the cleaning performance in corners. In our tests, we'll see how well the robot vacuum performs.

The height of the case is greater than that of its analogues and is about 11 cm.

A wall sensor is mounted on the right side of the mechanical bumper, while at the front we see something resembling a sensor system for detecting objects on the floor. The promotional materials claim the robot can detect objects, which will also be tested.

The robot has three mechanical control buttons on top. A lidar sensor is used for navigation. It is equipped with a spring-loaded cover to prevent it from getting stuck under furniture.

The dust container is located under the top cover, conveniently storing the robot's cleaning tool. The manufacturer doesn't specify the container's capacity, but it appears small. I'd estimate it's no more than 350 ml. The filtration system uses a mesh filter and a HEPA filter. The robot doesn't have a water tank. The cleaning cloths are only moistened at the cleaning station.

The robot has six fall protection sensors installed underneath. A carpet detection sensor is located next to the swivel roller, which is a plus. There's a single side brush: a three-beam brush secured with a screw.

The central brush frame is floating, while the brush block itself is fixed in place. This isn't a very clear solution. The turbo brush has bristles and petals. It can be disassembled on both sides to remove tangled hair and fur.

The cleaning pads are held on the robot by magnets. The pads themselves are quite thick, thicker than those of other robots I reviewed. They don't lift up on carpets, which is important to keep in mind. It's also worth noting that the pads extend closer to the edges of the robot's body, so I predict they'll be better at cleaning dirt along baseboards compared to similar robots. I'll definitely test this out in my tests.

Now let's take a look at the station itself. It features touch-sensitive control buttons and an informative display. A convenient solution. Under the top cover are tanks for dirty and clean water, as well as a waste bag.

The tanks are quite large compared to similar models, holding up to 4 liters of water each. The bag is also larger, holding up to 3 liters of dry waste.

The platform where the self-cleaning wipes are placed is equipped with a removable module. It's a shame the tray isn't completely removable and isn't flat, but it does make cleaning easier. Another nice feature is the storage for the station cleaning brush. It's conveniently mounted above the robot's drive-in platform.

The last thing I'd like to highlight is that the station not only self-cleans and rinses wipes, but also dries them. However, drying the wipes only uses cold air, which is less effective.

Overall, both the robot vacuum and the station have some strengths compared to similar models from other brands, but there are also some caveats. I'm currently gathering all the points, which I'll detail in my conclusion.

Technical specifications

The main characteristics of Roidmi EVA, as stated by the manufacturer, are listed below.

Robot vacuum cleaner:

• Li-Ion battery 5200 mAh.
• Suction power up to 3200 Pa.
• Cleaning area up to 180 sq.m.
• Dust collector capacity ≈350 ml.
• Obstacle clearance up to 20 mm.
• Dimensions: 330*110 mm.

Station:

• Power consumption: up to 850 W.
• Clean water tank: 4 l.
• Dirty water tank: 4 l.
• Bag in the station: 3 l.
• Dimensions (L*W*H): 382*400*465 mm.

The most important thing for me is the actual suction power, which will be verified in tests. For those interested, the station's height with the lid up is 67.5 cm.

Functional capabilities

Speaking of features, Roidmi EVA can be controlled via both the proprietary Roidmi app and Mi Home, even in Russia. As far as I can tell, the functionality is the same. The robot's main features are displayed on the screen:

• Self-cleaning.
• Rinsing napkins at the station.
• Drying napkins at the station.
• Saving multiple cleaning maps in memory.
• Automatic zoning of premises into rooms.
• Selecting areas and rooms for cleaning.
• Virtual walls and no-go zones (and for wet cleaning mode).
• Suction power adjustment.
• Setting the frequency of rinsing wipes (6, 9, 12 min).
• Cleaning log.
• Setting up cleaning according to a schedule.
• Automatic power increase on carpet.
• Carpet cleaning in wet cleaning mode.
• Yandex.Alice support.
• Manual control.

It's worth noting that the cleaning settings aren't as flexible. For example, there's no way to adjust the suction power or the cloth's wetting level individually for each room. Dry cleaning mode isn't possible with the cloths installed, which can also be inconvenient. When setting the cloth rinse frequency, you can't choose to rinse after each cleaned area or by area. But these are more of a nitpick. The basic features are still implemented, and they're generally sufficient for full-fledged autonomous cleaning with the robot.

Testing

A detailed video review of the Roidmi EVA has already been prepared and published on the channel. I recommend watching the video:

Navigation

And finally, let's move on to the tests. First, we'll test Roidmi EVA's navigation in a room with obstacles. First, the robot navigates the perimeter of the room. It got stuck on the legs of a dryer and, unfortunately, couldn't get out on its own. I had to help, which isn't great. Then it started cleaning in a zigzag pattern and returned to the danger zone again, from where it got out on its own this time. Its maneuverability isn't very good, and the sensors on the bumper didn't protect the robot from the dangerous obstacle. At least it cleans around the box and the chair legs separately.

Speaking of navigation, I decided to give the robot a more challenging task, as there were complaints about the previous EVE Plus model's navigation. I opened a new zone for the saved map that the robot hadn't seen before. The Roidmi EVA cleaned room after room, first along the perimeter, then in a serpentine pattern, cleaning the cleaning cloth every 9 minutes. During this process, it scanned the new zones, added them to the map, cleaned them, and saved them. So, this model has good navigation. Test successful!

Definition of objects

The bumper's object detection system was tested separately. The app allows you to turn it on and off as needed. In good lighting, with the system enabled, the Roidmi EVA rammed all six of the six objects. It was a bit of a record. Wires, socks, and simulated animal surprises—its sensors didn't detect anything, so I can say the system didn't detect anything. In its defense, it can at least drive onto fluffy carpets, something many robots with object detection systems can't do. Basically, forget about this feature. It seems there's nothing special behind the black glass. Or maybe that's just how my robot was.

Suction power

The actual suction power was quite average, just like its predecessor, the Roidmi Eve Plus. The robot vacuum was only able to suck up debris from a 2 mm gap. Overall, this power is more than sufficient for cleaning hard surfaces.

Dry cleaning of laminate flooring

However, the dust collection performance on hard floors was almost perfect. The robot was able to pick up various types of debris from the floor and, as expected, thoroughly swept out corners. The amount of dust remaining was minimal, even negligible. So, I can confirm that the Roidmi EVA sweeps out corners well. A few hairs got caught in the center brush, but most of the debris was collected in the dust bin. Test passed!

Carpet cleaning

The carpet cleaning performance isn't perfect, but it's perfectly adequate for everyday use. A very small amount of debris got stuck in the pile, which is due to the weak suction power and the incomplete floating brush assembly. However, compared to similar robots, the robot's carpet cleaning performance is practically on par.

Self-cleaning

Immediately after the dust tests, let's check the self-cleaning performance. You can see that the dust bin is completely full. And now the station empties it without any problems, practically perfectly. The Roidmi EVA's self-cleaning is well-implemented.

Wet cleaning

Speaking of wet cleaning, the robot vacuum cleaner can vacuum and mop the floor simultaneously, which is a plus. The cleaning cloths don't lift on carpets, so the carpet sensor helps here, allowing the Roidmi EVA to automatically navigate around the carpet when mopping. That's a plus.

Wiping off dirt

The robot vacuum does a good job of removing dried-on dirt. It picked up all the dirt from the floor in its first pass, leaving virtually no streaks. It then rinsed the wipes and thoroughly wiped the stand a second time. The wipes do remove dirt closer to the baseboard, but not perfectly. About 3 cm remains unwashed, but the unwashed strip of similar products is wider—4 to 5 cm. So the robot does have a slight advantage.

Removing difficult stains

But the robot performs just as well as its competitors when it comes to scrubbing tough stains. It only managed to remove dried sauce stains on the sixth pass. Although the cloths seem to press harder, are thicker, and absorb more moisture, they're still not enough to quickly and thoroughly scrub away stains. I think the results would be better if you added a specialized detergent to the tank with clean water.

Rinsing the wipes

The wipes' rinsing quality is good under normal household conditions. They are noticeably cleaner, and even under running water, dirt is practically not washed away.

After complex tests, we see that the result is worse, but again – at the level of analogues.

And now I'll show you how to clean the platform at the station. I used the wipes from the robot itself. It's actually quite convenient.

Passability

Speaking of maneuverability, the Roidmi EVA barely moves over a 2 cm threshold with the wipes installed. And remember, it gets stuck in the dryer, so maneuverability isn't great.

Driving on black surfaces

The robot vacuum cleaner is sensitive to black surfaces, detecting them due to differences in height. This is worth keeping in mind.

Noise level

As for the noise level, at minimum power it ranges from 57 to 59 dB. In standard mode, the noise level increases to 60.5 dB, in high power mode it reaches 63 dB, and at maximum power, the peak was 68.5 dB. This robot's noise level is standard.

Some observations

In conclusion, I would like to highlight several important observations that were made during the operation and testing of the robot.

First, it doesn't always follow the wall smoothly. Sometimes it bumps around, like a gyroscope or camera robot. It's as if the wall sensor has stopped functioning properly. Second, for similarly unclear reasons, the robot sometimes drives onto the station platform while cleaning, and sometimes circles around it. Again, the reasons for this behavior are unclear. And third, and most importantly, drying the wipes with room-temperature air isn't very effective. Even after 12 hours of drying, the wipes remain slightly damp.

Personal opinion

The Roidmi EVA robot vacuum cleaner has been thoroughly reviewed and tested. our evaluation system he managed to gain 145 points and enter the top ten The best robot vacuum cleaners testedI'll share my opinion about the robot after getting to know it in detail.

I liked the following:

1. The presence of a combined station for self-cleaning and rinsing of wipes.
2. Simultaneous dry and wet cleaning.
3. It sweeps away debris from corners better than many similar products.
4. Closer to the baseboard, it removes dirt.
5. High-capacity tanks for clean and dirty water.
6. Good quality self-cleaning and rinsing of wipes.
7. Complete set.
8. Russification of the application and voice notifications.
9. Yandex.Alice support.
10. Availability of local warranty and service.

Speaking about the disadvantages, there are the following comments about the robot:

1. Afraid of black coatings.
2. There are problems with passability.
3. The system of identifying objects is not effective.
4. Drying of napkins is not effective.
5. Napkins do not rise on carpets.

In principle, for many, the above-mentioned comments may not be that significant. Overall, given the power, the demonstrated cleaning quality, and the fact that the pads don't lift on carpets, I would recommend this robot vacuum primarily for cleaning hard floors. In this regard, it even has some strengths, compared to Roborock S7 MaxV Ultra And Dreame Bot L10s Ultra – It performs dry cleaning by a few percent, sweeping debris out of corners and removing dirt closer to baseboards. Therefore, the design of the cleaning module and its form factor offer advantages. And for many, the availability of a local warranty and service support from the seller may be an important feature. No critical comments were found, other than the object detection system, so the robot is definitely recommended.

Even against the background Lydsto W2 It looks more interesting, in my opinion. But when compared with Mijia OMNI B101CNHere, I would give preference to Roidmi again if more perfect cleaning on hard surfaces is important, but the Xiaomi flagship will be more effective if there are carpets on the floor.

On that note, I'd like to end this review. If you have any questions, please ask them in the comments. Happy shopping. Bye!