Xiaomi Robot Vacuum E10: Who is it good for?

Xiaomi Robot Vacuum E10 is a good choice if:

• You need to clean and mop a small apartment or office space
• You want a budget-friendly robot vacuum cleaner
• You want a vacuum that can be controlled remotely and synced with other smart devices
• You don’t have pets, children, or many obstacles

Pros and cons

These are the things I like about the Xiaomi Robot Vacuum E10:

• Very affordable
• The accompanying Mi Home app is easy to use and understand
• Excellent suction power in Turbo mode
• The robot can vacuum and mop at the same time
• It can clean places that are hard to reach for more advanced robot vacuums

There are important downsides to consider as well:

• Slow cleaning speed because it lacks a LIDAR navigation system
• The dustbin is small and needs to be emptied frequently
• The autonomy and charging speeds could be better

Verdict

Xiaomi Robot Vacuum E10 shines through its very attractive price, which is affordable to many households. However, it lacks an advanced laser-based navigation system, so it’s slower at cleaning your home, not great at dealing with obstacles, and can’t clean large living spaces in one run. On the upside, Xiaomi Robot Vacuum E10 is efficient at cleaning and mopping your home, especially if you schedule regular cleaning runs while you’re away. Controlling it is easy, and the Mi Home app helps it integrate well into Xiaomi’s smart ecosystem. If you need to clean a small apartment or office space, Xiaomi Robot Vacuum E10 is a good choice that’s easy on your wallet.

Unboxing the Xiaomi Robot Vacuum E10

The Xiaomi Robot Vacuum E10 comes in a sizeable cardboard box, which uses white and gray as its main colors. On the front, you see the product name, a large picture of the robot vacuum you just bought, and the Mi logo.

On the sides of the box, you see other pictures of the robot vacuum and its most important features. When you start unpacking everything, you find the following items inside their protective packaging: the robot vacuum cleaner with its main brush, 2-in-1 water tank, and dust container preinstalled. The mop pad is preinstalled on the mop frame. Alongside all of that, the box also includes a side brush and brush cover, the power adapter, the charging dock, the user manual, warranty details, and other leaflets.

The unboxing experience for Xiaomi Robot Vacuum E10 is straightforward. The packaging is basic and does a decent job of protecting its contents. When you take everything out, you find all the items and information required to set up and start using the robot vacuum immediately.

Design and hardware specifications

Xiaomi Robot Vacuum E10 looks similar to other devices in its class: it’s white and round, with a size of 12.79 x 3.14 inches or 325 x 80 mm in diameter and height, and weighs around 7.05 lbs or 3.2 kg. Unlike the more expensive robot vacuums, this one doesn’t have a LIDAR dome on top. This is because it lacks a laser distance sensor for precise positioning. Instead, Xiaomi Robot Vacuum E10 relies on the following sensors: a gyroscope, an infrared obstacle sensor, a wall sensor, a recharge receiving sensor, and a cliff sensor. On the top, there are two buttons which, depending on how they are pressed, can be used to turn the robot vacuum On and Off, reset its Wi-Fi, or send it back home to its charging station.

The buttons can light up in different patterns and colors, indicating the robot’s actions, like charging, returning to the docking station, encountering an error in its functioning, upgrading the firmware, or getting disconnected from Wi-Fi.

When you turn the Xiaomi Robot Vacuum E10 upside down, you see the cliff sensors, charging contacts, and the top wheel. Next, you have the removable side brush, the main wheels, and the main brush, protected by its cover. The dust compartment is made from transparent plastic. It can also act as a water tank for the mopping function.

It’s easy to take out the dust compartment, revealing the system through which the dust is collected.

The 2-in-1 dust compartment has a hole for the water tank on its side, and it also includes a brush you can use to keep the robot clean.

The mop holder with the attached cleaning pad should be inserted in its dedicated slots on the bottom of the 2-in-1 dust compartment. You’ll be happy to find out that the mop pad can be easily removed, washed when required, and placed back with little effort.

The dock is 5.75 x 4.8 x 3.44 inches or 146 x 122 x 87.5mm in size. It charges the battery of the Xiaomi Robot Vacuum E10, which has a capacity of 2600 mAh. While the battery capacity is not exactly generous, Xiaomi claims that this robot vacuum can offer up to 110 minutes of cleaning using the standard vacuum and mop mode.

Xiaomi Robot Vacuum E10 has a suction power of 4000 Pascals, which is quite a lot for an entry-level model. However, this suction power is reached only when using Turbo mode, and the downside is a much higher energy consumption than in the Standard mode. For more specs and technical information, visit the product’s official page: Xiaomi Robot Vacuum E10.

Xiaomi Robot Vacuum E10 is an entry-level vacuum cleaner with a price and specifications to match. If you’re a pretentious user or need to clean a large home, you may be disappointed by the lack of a laser navigation system and its lower battery capacity.

Using the Xiaomi Robot Vacuum E10

Unless you’ve used a robot vacuum before, it‘s a great idea to read the user manual and see how to mount all its accessories correctly, set them up, and maintain them in good condition. Then, decide on the spot you want for the docking station: ideally, it should be in an area children and pets can’t easily access. Then, install the Mi Home app from the Play Store (if you have an Android device) or the AppStore (if you have an iPhone or iPad). Open the app, create a Xiaomi account (if you don’t already have one), and add the robot vacuum cleaner. Wait until the Xiaomi Robot Vacuum E10 is detected, connect it to the Wi-Fi, set the room it’s placed in, and its name. This vacuum cleaner can only connect to 2.4 GHz wireless networks.

After configuring the basics, the Mi Home app asks you to accept the user agreement and privacy policy. It displays a Cleaning guide with useful recommendations on placing and using the vacuum cleaner. Pay attention to these recommendations because this specific robot vacuum cleaner doesn’t have as many sensors as more expensive ones, and following this advice will allow you to have a positive user experience.

You can start using the app and the Xiaomi Robot Vacuum E10 when everything is set. You’ll quickly notice that you need a map of your home. However, there’s no option to create a map, like for the Xiaomi Robot Vacuum S10 and other more expensive models with a LIDAR navigation system.

Because the Xiaomi Robot Vacuum E10 has a more limited set of sensors, this robot has to recreate the map of your home each time you use it. This means that it takes twice as long to clean up your home than with other more expensive models equipped with an advanced navigation system. It also means that you can’t store a map in the Mi Home app, and that you can’t create no-go zones for this robot vacuum cleaner. It will always try to clean the entirety of your home. If you don’t want it to go to a specific room, you must close its door or block its access by placing some unpassable obstacles.

Another downside of this robot’s limited sensor system is that it has more difficulties finding its way around obstacles and dealing with cables or human interventions during its use. In the days I’ve used it, I noticed it got stuck a bit more frequently than more expensive robot vacuums, and it required my intervention.

On the upside, because it has a basic sensor and navigation system, it lacks the LIDAR dome found on the top of many other robot vacuums. As a result, its height is smaller than other models, and it can clean places in your homes which are difficult to reach. For example, I was happy to see it clean under my kitchen cabinets.