Yeedi Vac Max Review
A powerful and well priced vacuum and mop
Verdict
Considering its so cheap, the Yeedi Vac Max is an impressive bit of kit, vacuuming as well as some models that cost more than twice as much. It’s also an alright mop for lighter stains, although this robot can’t compete with models that can actually scrub. The app is simple, but it gets the basics right. If you want a low-cost robot vacuum cleaner to keep your house tidy, this is a good choice.
Pros
- Powerful vacuuming
- Great price
- Compatible with self-empty station
Cons
- Fiddly to configure no-go zones
Availability
- UKRRP: £399.99
- USARRP: $419.99
- EuropeRRP: €399.99
Key Features
- Type This model of Yeedi robot cleaner vacuums and mops
- Smart assistantsWorks with Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa
Introduction
Yeedi has been quietly redefining what you can expect from cheaper vacuum cleaners and continues to do so with the Yeedi Vac Max: a powerful robot cleaner and mop all-in-one that’s compatible with the optional self-empty station. It cleans well, but mopping is a little more basic than rival models, and the app is a little fiddly to use in places. Still, for the money, there’s little to complain about.
Design and Features
- Vacuums and mops
- Compatible with self-empty station
- Simple app that covers the basics
I struggle to tell Yeedi’s robot vacuum cleaners apart, and the Yeedi Vac Max looks much like the other models in the lineup, such as the Yeedi Vac 2 Pro. Once again, the Vac Max is another circular robot vacuum cleaner with an upwards-facing camera on top.
This camera is for the visual navigation system; it doesn’t offer any fancy object detection and avoidance. For that, you need a robot with a front-facing camera, such as the iRobot Roomba J7+.
Flip open the lid and you’ll find the Yeedi Vac Max’s lift-out 450ml bin, whose size is about average for a robot vacuum cleaner. Depending on the area being cleaned, this bin is likely to need emptying every one-to-two cleans.
Don’t fancy that job? Well, the Yeedi Vac Max is also compatible with the optional self-empty station (€199.99). This takes 2.5-litre bags, and sucks dirt out of the Yeedi Vac Max automatically, so you don’t have to deal with the mess. It’s a useful upgrade, but the price takes this Yeedi model from a budget robot cleaner into a mid-range one.
Flip the robot over and it’s business as usual: a motorised brush bar built for agitating dirt on hard floors and carpets, plus a single side-sweeper brush for teasing dirt away from the edges of the room.
This robot doesn’t come with anti-tangle technology, so the razer tool (located next to the bin) will be required from time to time to cut away any trapped hair.
This is a mopping robot, so includes a 240ml water tank that removes from the rear of a robot. This is a more basic mop than the Yeedi Vac 2 Pro, lacking an agitation feature. Instead, water drops onto the microfibre cloth, which wipes away surface dirt.
Control of the robot vacuum cleaner is via the Yeedi app. Given that Yeedi is owned by Ecovacs, the app is similar between both brands, although a little more basic here. Once the robot was connected to the app, I sent it off on a mapping run to discover my rooms.
This doesn’t take very long and is accurate, bar the system trying to guess the location of rooms. I found that it was easier to name the rooms myself. I could also add no-go areas to the map, which can be enabled when vacuuming and mopping or when vacuuming only.
The former is particularly useful if you have a combination of hard floors and carpets, since the Yeedi Vac Max doesn’t have automatic carpet recognition, so runs the risk of soaking carpets if the mop bracket is attached. If you want a robot that can handle carpets and hard floors at the same time, the Roborock S7 MaxV Ultra is the model for you; it can lift its mopping pad off the floor when it detects it’s on carpet.
Yeedi’s app is a little clunky for adding these virtual boundaries: the text becomes cropped in the drop-down box on my phone.
There’s only support for a single map at the moment, although an update is coming that will enable multi-map support.
The app does deliver full control over vacuuming power, with three power modes to choose from. I found that the middle power mode (Max) was about right for most jobs. There’s also an option to turn on automatic power boost when the robot detects it’s on carpet.
With the mopping cloth attached, the level of water flow can be adjusted. I went with the highest level, since my floors tend to get dirty from the cats coming in and out.
Cleaning can be performed on the entire map, on a designated area (room), or in an area that you draw on the screen. I have found the latter a good choice for spot cleaning – say, after preparing dinner.
Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant skills are available for starting and stopping a clean using voice commands.
Performance
- Excellent vacuuming
- Mopping is basic
Despite the Yeedi Vac Max being a cheaper robot vacuum cleaner, it’s actually very powerful. I started it off on a cleaning session on carpet, with a teaspoon of flour spread onto the middle of the floor. Here, the Vac Max managed to get almost everything, with just a small trace of dirt left behind. Considering the complexity of that spill, the robot did as well as more expensive models that I’ve reviewed.
Moving to the hard floor tests, it was a similar story. The Yeedi Vac Max managed to pick up all traces of flour, leaving nothing behind.
Going for the tricky edge test, I sprinkled a teaspoon of flour right up against the kitchen plinth, and then set off the Yeedi Vac Max to do its job. Here, it got most of the mess, but left behind a small amount. Even so, that’s impressive performance for such a low-cost robot vacuum cleaner.
In general, for day-to-day household dust, the Yeedi Vac Max will collect mess with a degree of accuracy, reducing the number of times that you have to manually clean.
Finally, I added the mopping pad and tackled two types of stain: fresh muddy footprints and tougher stains from the rubber feet on washing machines that I’ve been testing. The former was easy for the Yeedi Vac Max to remove, but the latter proved a challenge too far: some surface stains were removed, but the bulk of the dirt remained. For deeper cleaning, a robot that can scrub will be a better bet.
As it stands, the Yeedi Vac Max is a good choice for fresh surface stains, but you’ll still need to grab a hard floor cleaner for bigger messes.
For noise I measured the Yeedi Vac Max at 62.8dB on its Max power setting, which is pretty quiet. I didn’t find this vacuum cleaner annoying, and would happily be around while it was doing its job.
Battery life is quoted at up to 200 minutes on its lowest power setting. Even on its higher setting, I had enough power to tackle one floor of my house, with sufficient power remaining for any spot cleans.
Navigation was generally very good, too. While visual navigation isn’t as accurate as laser navigation, the Yeedi Vac Max managed to find its way around my home, even avoiding the troublesome office chair legs.
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Should you buy it?
If you want a low-cost robot vacuum cleaner that picks up well and can tackle the odd bit of mopping, this is a great choice.
If you want better mopping, multiple maps and even smarter navigation, look elsewhere.
Final Thoughts
A great budget robot vacuum cleaner, the Yeedi Vac Max is a powerful model and gets the basics right. Mopping is fine for lighter stains, but if you want something that will really scrub the floors then look at the Yeedi Vac 2 Pro, or one of the models on my list of the best robot vacuum cleaners.
How we test
Unlike other sites, we test every robot vacuum cleaner we review thoroughly over an extended period of time. We use industry standard tests to compare features properly. We’ll always tell you what we find. We never, ever, accept money to review a product.
Find out more about how we test in our ethics policy.
Used as our main robot vacuum cleaner for the review period
We test for at least a week
Tested with real-world dirt in real-world situations for fair comparisons with other vacuum cleaners
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FAQs
Yes, but only if you buy the optional self-empty dock.
It used a microfibre cloth with a user-selectable water flow amount.
Full specs
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Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
