In an industry dominated by two players, it can be difficult for newcomers to get even a small piece of the pie.
The robot vacuum industry is just that, and Neato and iRobot have dominated for years with their combination of simplicity, cost, and performance.
Could the Samsung VR9000 make an impact at least in terms of market share with some features not found in the other two brands?
Read this review to find out what those features are. And if that’s enough to convince you and spend a few hundred dollars more on your trusted old Neato Botvac or Roomba 880.
The VR9000 is perhaps the first robotic vacuum cleaner with a cyclone filter, a similar system found inside Dyson vacuums which is a big reason this machine is about 2 times longer than the market leaders Neato and Roomba.
The huge motor will make it difficult for this robot to get under beds less than 4.
And while the larger motor produces more suction power (Samsung claims), tests have shown otherwise.
It was able to keep up with the other two brands I mentioned but didn’t outperform them and the lack of a side brush is detrimental to its edge-cleaning capabilities.
There are some positives though such as the 12.2 inch wide brush width which is a good 5 inch wider than the 880 and the 10 year warranty.
Quick look at the features
- 12.2″ wide cleaning path – about 5″ wider than the Roomba 880
- The mapping system uses 10 sensors that help this vacuum cleaner create a virtual map of the room being cleaned
- It uses a cyclone system called “CycloForce” that prevents fine dirt from clogging the filters
- It introduces a “point-cleaning” system where the robot will follow the direction of the laser pointer from the remote control you point at the ground
- Samsung says this is 20 times more powerful than the leading robot vacuum brand
- Large wheels allow this robot to move from carpet to bare floor and vice versa
- It comes with a 10-year warranty on the motor and one year on other parts
Positives
- Spot Clean makes spot cleaning easier than ever
- The navigation system is very similar to that of the new Neato Botvac – after it detects the layout of the room, it will avoid obstacles and clean with a straight back and forth pattern
- At least a long warranty on the engine
- Large container capacity
- Wide cleaning path
Negatives
- very expensive
- It measures 5.31 inches high, so it may not fit under beds with low clearance
- Without side brush
- It does not come with a virtual wall or barrier to block off-limits areas
- Dark carpets cannot be cleaned
- He will have a hard time getting past the plush rugs and will push the lighter area rug aside
- It will not fit into narrow spaces due to the wide cleaning path
Table of Contents
What do you expect from this high-tech robotic cleaner?
When I first laid eyes on this robot I thought it was a giant Duracell battery, I mean look at the big gold cylinder that houses the motor.
This machine uses a large motor that uses cyclonic forces similar to those of the Dyson vacuum which Samsung claims produces more suction power than other robot vacuums.
Unlike the Roomba or Neato where the dirt cups are located on the side, the VR9000’s dirt cup is visible from above. The translucent shell lets you know when to empty it with just a quick glance.
The large volume is quite large as about 0.7 liters of dry dirt can be stored there.
Even if it uses a lithium-ion battery, the runtime is a disappointing 60 minutes. However, if you switch it to “silent mode”, this number comes to 100 minutes. But it still pales in comparison to the BotVac D7 which runs for up to 120 minutes and the Roborock S5 which runs for up to 160 minutes.
Perhaps my favorite feature is the “Point Cleaning” feature where you use the remote control to point the cursor to the area you want to clean and the robot will follow.
In my choice, this is superior to the remote control for other robot vacuums that allow you to use the arrow buttons to control the robot.
The downside would be a large engine size. This robot is much taller than its competitors like Roomba and Neato.
This product has a height of 5.31 inches which will not allow it to go under beds with an opening of 4 inches or less.
It has no side cleaning brushes which makes cleaning the edges more difficult. The wide cleaning path makes it more efficient to clean because it will need fewer aisles to clean a similar sized area compared to the Roomba 880.
Mobility
Using a combination of the top camera and sensors throughout this device, it actually gets to know the environment it’s cleaning. The overhead camera helps this robot chart an efficient cleaning path for subsequent runs.
You will notice that the first time you turn this device on, it feels its way around the room and in subsequent uses, it will be more efficient because it has detected the optimal path. Now if you move things from one place to another they may get confused and may slow them down.
Here’s the cleaning path CNet’s Tyler Lizenby took with a glow stick installed on the robot. This is a long exposure shot.
Image courtesy of CNet.
Here’s what it looks like to clean a small room with different obstacles (video provided by the reviewer) …
One thing to note with camera-based navigations – they won’t perform well in low-light situations because they need light to know where they are. Unlike Neato who does not use the camera but shoots laser signals to see the obstacle around it.
Finally, I would like to note that there are 5 cleaning modes:
- Auto – automatically cleans the room or the whole house
- Spot – cleans a specific area
- Maximum – This option will clean up a small space until the battery runs out
- Manual – You can use the arrow buttons on the remote control to control the robot
- Point Cleaning – Instead of using arrows, you direct the bot exactly where you want it
Floor cleaning
I’ll use CNet’s controlled test as a benchmark to give you an idea of how it compares to the less expensive bots, the Neato XV Signature Pro, Roomba 880, and BotVac 85.
Overall, it lags behind the Botvac 85 and Roomba 880 in terms of cleaning cedar and sandblasting of hardwood.
This is a demo on tile floors (sorry, not in English) for Botvac 85…
The Botvac picked up more dirt in the same area than the Samsung despite the supposedly more powerful motor and cyclonic technology.
Here’s another demo on hard ground about how much of 100g it looks like sand…
I picked up 94 out of 100 grams of sand scattered around the room.
Carpet cleaning
Again, going back to CNet testing, Samsung still couldn’t outpace the 880 and the Botvac 85 in terms of cleaning rice from medium and low pile carpets. In the sand test, it ranked last in cleaning it on a medium and low pile carpet although it slightly outperformed the Roomba 880 in picking up sand off a medium carpet.
Here’s a demo of how it travels on different surfaces just to give you an idea. On the far left are the numerators of the…
It may not be a good idea to remove the lighter area rugs before allowing this robot to clean your room. Also, this robot will not pass over black rugs or carpets due to the cliff sensors.
Pet hair removal
In terms of cleaning pet hair, the VR9000 did a much better job than the Roomba 880 and was tied up with the XV Signature Pro in terms of the amount of pet hair it was able to clean on low, medium, and hardwood carpets as well.
Are you going to clean the stairs?
No, no vacuum cleaner has this feature yet, you will need a wand or a handheld vacuum cleaner for this.
scheduled cleaning
Unlike Neato or Roomba which allows you to set it up to clean at different times for each of the seven days of the week, this bot lets you only schedule once throughout the week.
This means that if you set it at 7 a.m., it will start cleaning your house at 7 a.m. Monday through Sunday, and you can’t set it to clean at a different time on Tuesday or Wednesday.
Shipping time
It will take 160 minutes to fully charge this robot vacuum.
maintenance
For all motorized cleaners, you need to ensure that the sensors, motorized brushes, and filters are clean. This particular model is not equipped with a side brush, so there is not a single item to clean.
Let’s go through them one by one.
the show length
When using the standard cleaning mode the battery will only last for an hour but when the silent mode is activated as the motor reduces the suction run time extends to 100 minutes.
Guarantee
For the robot, Samsung will back it up with a one-year warranty but the motor gets a generous 10-year warranty, the longest yet on the market.
Product specification
| Battery Type | lithium ion |
| charger type | charging station |
| Shipping time | 160 minutes |
the show length  |
60 minutes (100 minutes in silent mode) |
| Dirt Capacity | 0.7 liters |
| Energy | 30 watts |
| Door Crossing | Unavailable |
| net weight (with battery) | 10.5 pounds |
| Purchase Weight | 16.2 EGP |
| Diameter | 14.88″ wide x 14.25″ deep |
| Height | 5.31 inches |
| multi room |
 |
| self docking |
|
| remote control |
|
| HEPA filtration |
 |
| Detecting cliff |
|
| self-control |
|
| Edge brushes |
|
| bin full indicator |
*Transparent dirt box |
| drawer cleaning |
|
| Cleaning sessions per week |
7 (but you can only schedule cleaning at one specific time for all sessions) |
| Extra filter | 1 |
| containment |
Unavailable |
| brush cleaning tools |
|
| Accessories included | charging station
Remote control (AAA batteries included) Combo brush Extra sponge filter cleaning tool |
| Voltage | 110 volts |
| Made in | Vietnam |
| Price | Check Price |
Customer Reviews
Despite it being one of the most expensive automatic cleaning devices on the market, consumers were generally happy with the performance of this machine. Some said it has better suction than Neato, especially when brushing pet hair.
There are some quirks that consumers need to take note of. First, while it’s good on linoleum, tile, carpet, and hardwood, it’ll have a hard time getting past a thick-spaced rug (I’ve previously shared this in one of the videos above), and will often walk around it.
Secondly, there will be instances when this broom will not return to the home base to recharge. This is where you will have to prepare the area that the robot will clean. You will have to remove small obstacles such as toys and wires as well as lighting zone rights that are likely to get in the way and stop this in their tracks.
You will have to remove the chairs because that is another area that this robot will encounter.
Don’t expect this machine to clean the edges well because it lacks an edge brush.
Finally, while the dirt enclosure is large, it does make this robot tall, so it won’t get under beds with low clearance (5.31 inches and under).
One consumer pointed out that while this will cost nearly twice as much as a Neato Botvac, this does come with a remote control that you can control manually when cleaning (if that’s what you want) so whether that’s important to you or not No, you will have to decide for yourself if this is reason enough to spend the extra $$$.
Oh, I almost forgot to mention that this doesn’t come with any virtual wall or containment mechanism that will keep it from places you don’t want it to go so here’s another trick.
Here is a video review from CNet…
Note that the price of the VR9000 has since fallen since CNet published this review.
Where can I buy this?
If you buy this on Amazon, expect to pay close to $900 and it comes with free shipping! Samsung sells it for about $18 more.
BUY NOW FROM AMAZONto finish
This robotic vacuum cleaner has some features worthy of your attention which is the pointer feature that makes manual spot cleaning much easier than pressing the arrow buttons to control it.
But regardless, it still lags behind in terms of performance compared to cheaper options like the Neato Botvac, Roomba 880, and Neato XV Pro despite the cyclone-powered motor that Samsung says produces more power than its competitors.
In real-world performance tests, it could still line up with Neato and Roomba but it couldn’t outperform it.
Combined with the larger motor and larger dirt box, this means that this machine is taller and will not fit under beds with less than 4 inches of clearance, which is a big reason why this is one of the main reasons to buy a robotic vacuum – to clean such areas like this without the need to bend over.
It would be hard for me to recommend this product, but if you like the way it looks and want something different, go about its functionality wisely, I can’t recommend this yet.