Yeedi Cube robot vacuum and mop review: lots of features on a budget
Yeedi Cube: One-minute review
The Yeedi Cube comes among a litany of combo robot vacuums capable of both vacuuming and mopping. In that regard, it’s one of many. What sets it apart then is the fact that it comes with a self-emptying base station for a much lower price than much of the competition.
Whether it ranks among the best robot vacuums for you depends on whether you can accept its quirks. After all, there are a few issues here that might make you reconsider as the virtual mapping is not as good as it could be (though that should be fixed with a firmware update) and assembly can be involved to the point where, if you don’t hit every step correctly, you could end up with an issue. Of course, the issue with getting edges and corners is inherent in this type of vacuum. So, if that’s a concern, you can look at one of the best vacuums for something able to do a deeper clean.
That said, the Yeedi Cube is a cheap way, relatively at least, for a hands-free vacuuming and mopping experience that will leave your floors clean.
Yeedi Cube: price and availability
- List price: $699 (about £559 / about AU$1,054)
- Available in the US only at the moment
At $699.99 (about £559 / about AU$1,054), the Yeedi Cube is decidedly cheap for what it offers. Sure, you can find robot vacuums capable of mopping for less. For example, the Bissell Spinwave R5 costs $549.99 / about £455.19 /AU$799 and it has both functionalities. What the Bissell doesn’t have that the Yeedi Cube has is a base station that not only empties the debris that’s been vacuumed up but the dirty water as well.
A better comparison then is the iRobot Roomba Combo J7 Plus, which goes for a much higher price tag of $1,099.99 / £999 / AU$2,199 and also includes a self-emptying base station. Though the iRobot’s mopping ability is a bit better, the self-emptying functionality only applies to the dust and debris the Roomba picks up. Anything mopping-related is done manually. The Yeedi Cube’s base station also sucks out the dirty water.
That said, an area that both the Bissell and iRobot robot vacuums as well as that of most established brands have over Yeedi is the fact that the Yeedi Cube is currently only available in the US.
- Value: 4 / 5
Yeedi Cube: specifications
Yeedi Cube: Design and features
- Completely flat on top
- Self-emptying base station
- Lots of assembly
There are a few intriguing elements of the Yeedi Cube robot vacuum unit that stand out compared to other models I’ve seen. To start, the clean water tank sits on top of the vacuum instead of being shoehorned into the back with the dustbin. Because of its placement, it can store quite a bit of water (one liter specifically).
Also, the vacuum is completely flat, instead of having a raised area for mapping purposes. Because of this, the Yeedi Cube can get under couches and some furniture that might be out of reach for other units.
As far as attachments go, the Yeedi Cube has two side brushes (many especially cheaper models have one) and a single large brushroll underneath. The brush roll uses bristles so it is susceptible to getting tangled up, so you’ll have to check it somewhat regularly if anyone in the house has long hair.
The mop pad covers the back half of the vacuum and vibrates up to 2,500 times a minute to clean. Though you can easily remove the mop pad to clean it, the base station will wash and dry it every time it docks.
Speaking of the base station, it’s sizable but not too bulky. As it measures 15.74 x 17.72 x 14.76 inches, you’ll have to set aside a good amount of space, especially as the actual robot vacuum likes to do a three-point turn to back into it from about four feet in front.
The base station takes up this much space for a couple of reasons. As soon as the vacuum is docked, the station will suck the debris out of the dustbin into a disposable bag inside the base station, so you don’t have to regularly empty anything. Since having started testing for this review, I have not needed to replace the bag despite cleaning up after two dogs.
The base station also has a dirty water tank that’s big enough (1.2 liters, specifically) that it rarely needs to be emptied. Also, as mentioned above, when the vacuum docks, the station will wash and dry the mop pad to keep it clean and free of mold.
This is all well and good once you have it all set up, but it requires a little bit extra in terms of assembly. Namely, there are a lot of different areas where you have to remove tabs and stickers for correct operation.
To that end, I had trouble with the base of the base station as I thought it was properly installed, but because it didn’t fully click into place, all the dirty water that was supposed to go into the dirty water tank ended up leaking out of the base station. While I’ll admit that it’s user error, it’s something that I checked more than once trying to troubleshoot. And, if you’re not careful and fully push in that base when assembling this vacuum, you might end up stepping in a puddle of murky water as well.
- Design: 4 / 5
Yeedi Cube: Performance
- Solid vacuuming ability
- Object avoidance is okay
- Mopping is good
As far as vacuuming ability goes, the Yeedi Cube is as capable as any robot vacuum I’ve tested. It has two side brushes to the single one that most models have so that it’s able to feed all debris towards the brush roll instead of kicking debris out.
Having had to run the Yeedi Cube somewhat regularly to pick up after two French Bulldogs and a cat (mostly the dogs), it did a great job of getting all the pet hair off the floor. It did have some issues with larger objects since that brush roll uses actual bristles. Long hair and larger leaves will get stuck there as I experienced, requiring some manual clearing of the brush roll and brush roll area before being able to continue cleaning the floor.
Robot vacuums tend to have issues with this in general so it’s not a major point against the Yeedi Cube. You’ll just have to do a little pre-cleaning before running it if you see big pieces of debris lying around.
In the same vein, its object avoidance is okay but not great. It will bump up on objects before deciding to go around. This is a little bit of a frustration as that means it can get stuck on some lower-lying objects. In my case, the robot vacuum has gotten stuck on some floor vents that are a couple of centimeters higher than the surrounding floor, requiring me to rescue it. However, it seems to have learned from the first couple of times getting stuck and no longer does so when being run.
As with many other robot vacuums I’ve tested, the edge cleaning is not nearly as good as advertised and the Yeedi Cube will leave areas along the wall with some dirt and debris that I would have hoped it to pick up.
The mopping functionality is also pretty good. At first, it was a little streaky, but it seemed to find its stride after the first time or two running it. While Yeedi doesn’t offer any cleaning solution or advice on what to use, just using water does pick up quite a bit of dirt. The dirty water tank on the self-emptying base station attests to its ability to go the extra mile with mopping.
That might be from the physical mopping pad. Instead of dragging it behind it, the Yeedi Cube vibrates the mopping pad to physically remove dirt. If you want to take it to the next level, you can use any cleaning solution except for strong acids or alkali-based ones that could corrode the cleaning tank.
- Performance: 4 / 5
Yeedi Cube: App
- Fairly intuitive to use
- Lots of adjustments for both vacuum and station
- Room mapping needs work
The Yeedi app is generally intuitive to use. The main screen depicts the overall map that the robot vacuum has made of your space including whatever room divisions you’ve made. Information about the vacuum such as current settings, battery life and what it’s currently doing is listed at the top of the screen, while access to controls is at the bottom.
The “Robot” tab allows you to select between just vacuuming or vacuuming and mopping, how loud you want its operation (which affects how deeply it will clean), the amount of water you want it to use, whether you want it to do a quick or full clean and more. There are some advanced settings here available such as creating scheduled cleanings, how you want each room to be cleaned, and Do Not Disturb hours.
There’s also a “Station” tab with some base station-specific settings such as toggling on/off the self-emptying functionality and how long you want it to wash or dry the mopping pad.
The one area where the app falls short however is in its ability to subdivide the map into different rooms. After the initial mapping of my space, it all showed up as one big room. I was able to subdivide the whole space into two rooms but not any further than that even though I should have been able to break it down further. That means that I have to clean half the floor space when I want to clean just one room, so I end up just running the vacuum to clean everything.
Now, I run this vacuum in an area that is almost an open floor plan with wide door frames that lack doors and the Yeedi Cube apparently has more trouble with these sorts of spaces compared to a more typical apartment or house layout. So, this issue may not even apply to you. It’s still a major annoyance as well as a consideration when comparing robot vacuums, though I’ve been told that Yeedi is working on this and will hopefully have rectified this issue with a future firmware update.
If you’re on the smart home train, be aware that it is compatible with Alexa and Google Home but not HomeKit.
- App: 3.5 / 5
Yeedi Cube: Battery life
- Long battery life
- Constantly returns to base station
The crazy thing about the Yeedi Cube’s 150-minute battery life is that it’s so careful about emptying its contents regularly and washing that mopping pad before continuing that it never got below 50%.
So, it would run for 40 or 50 minutes, return to the base station to clean, and then return to the job. That said, it wouldn’t wait to fully recharge. So, I never was in any danger of it running out of battery. The only time it did was when it got stuck on something when I wasn’t around to rescue it.
Even beyond that, a 110 or 120-minute runtime is typical so what this robot vacuum can achieve is far above average.
- Battery: 5 / 5
Should I buy the Yeedi Cube?
Buy it if...
Don't buy it if...
Yeedi Cube: Also consider
Not sold on the prowess of the Yeedi Cube? Below are a couple of alternatives that you can consider.
How I tested the Yeedi Cube
- I used the Yeedi Cube for a month
- Tested different settings and features
- Tested on different surfaces with various obstacles
To test the Yeedi Cube Robot Vacuum and Mop Self-Empty XL, I used it for a month to vacuum and mop the hardwood floors in my house. I also tested all the features listed in the app, from mapping to different levels of cleaning.
I took note of how well the vacuum cleaned the edges of a room as well as around obstacles, not to mention running it over different surfaces including two different types of hard flooring.
First reviewed October 2023
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