Technology has long since crossed the door of our house with the excuse of making our lives easier. The dishwasher, washing machine or refrigerator are examples of household appliances that in recent years have evolved into devices that are already as connected to the Internet as our own mobile phone.
It is true that they have never ceased to be household appliances that perform a function as basic as washing clothes or keeping food cold, but at the same time in recent years we have seen how these household appliances have begun to be surrounded by all kinds of additions that make all these tasks so basic of the day to day are carried out in a way that , in theory, is much more effective.
Vacuum robots are a good example of this trend change. The lifelong vacuum cleaner has been relegated to the background to make way for small robots that suck the floor of our house by themselves: we press a button and the robot runs through the entire house from corner to corner to leave no corner uns aspirated.
It doesn’t matter that we’re not home for much of the day, or that on a particular day we’ve been late for work, or even that we have to make general cleanliness and we haven’t prepared the next day’s meal yet. In all these situations, the vacuum robot allows us to get out of the way without giving up household cleaning. But do robots really replace the vacuum cleaner of a lifetime? Do they clean the same, better or worse? Are they worth it for the price they have?
In this analysis of the LG Hombot Turbo vacuum robot (model VR9647PS) we wanted to solve those and many other questions about robots to suck the house. The model we have been able to test is a variant of the popular LG Hombot Square that costs about 416 euros on Amazon, only in the case of the model that has passed through our hands we are talking about a higher-end robot whose price shoots above 1,000 euros. Why? Let us explain in this review.
Cornerless design with side brushes to reach any corner
To start the review of this LG Hombot Turbo, and before entering fully into our opinions about its operation, the first thing we should do is know a little more thoroughly this robot vacuum cleaner. To do this, let’s talk about its design and all the accessories that we find in the box in which LG distributes this robot.
Starting with the design, what we have in front of us is a cornerless robot that, to give us an idea of its dimensions – and allow us to make such a disparate comparison – is about the size of a wall clock of generous measurements. The exact dimensions of the Hombot Turbo reach up to 340 x 340 millimeters, with a height above the ground of 89 millimetres. It is large, yes, but at the same time it has the ideal width to be able to pass between – for example – the legs of the chairs.
As for its finishes, you will agree with us that in this LG Hombot Turbo jumps at first sight that we are talking about a vacuum robot that is not exactly cheap. It has a metallic silver finish that at first glance can give even the feeling of being brushed metal, although we anticipate that it does not really cease to be a plastic casing painted with an eye-catching metallic finish.
If we start analyzing its design from the top (i.e. looking at it as we would see it standing if we left it on the ground), the first thing we will see is the camera near the front of the robot. It’s not really a camera but a sensor, and it’s in charge of recording the dimensions and shape of our home to optimize cleaning. The really interesting thing about the design is under this sensor, going towards the center part.
For starters, we have the screen. The Hombot Turbo has an LED display (very simple, with red text) that shows basic information about the operation of the device: we can see from the cleaning mode in which it is currently up to the remaining autonomy. A fairly simple screen that, in addition, is accompanied by voice messages (available in Spanish) that can be activated to know remotely the situation of the robot.
Below the screen are the touch buttons. We have the power button, the Turbo button, the Cleaning Mode button and the Return to Base button, all of them tactile. Of course, we don’t have to duck every time we want to use the robot: we can make use of the remote control that comes in the box or, as we will explain in depth later, we can even control the robot from the mobile (also if we are away from home, yes).
Although we are still in the section of the design, we can advance that the LG Hombot Turbo also speaks (it tells us basic information about its status – for example: «Returning to the loading base»-, and in total it has more than 120 voice alerts), and if we keep pressed the «Home» button for three seconds we will be able to choose one of the seven languages -Spanish included- in which it is able to communicate this vacuum cleaner.
It’s time to open the hood. The lid containing all these buttons in turn does the function of «hood», and opens upwards making before a little force on its surface, a gesture that allows us to access the vacuum tank.
What we have under this lid is a transparent tank of 0.6 liters of capacity quite easy access and cleaning, although of that we will also have time to talk as we progress in the review. To say that the tank is removed very easily, and it comes accompanied by a small brush to facilitate the removal of dust that accumulates in the corners.
But that’s enough introductions. Now that we have some confidence, let’s turn the robot around to see what it’s hiding under its housing. In these devices it is important to know the distribution – and the quality, eye – of the brushes, which are ultimately the ones that have the responsibility to leave our house clean.
In the case of this LG Hombot Turbo, what we have are three different brushes: the two side brushes that are responsible for cleaning the corners (and that stand out in 1.5 centimeters outside the robot) accompanied by the main brush. If we continue to analyze the bottom of the robot, we will also see that it has two other smaller «guide» wheels, as well as incorporates different sensors responsible for recording the distribution of our house.
We are reaching the end of this design section, but we cannot yet move on to the operating sections of the cleaning without first mentioning also the components that the box of this product brings. In short, what we find in the box – in addition to the vacuum cleaner itself, of course – of this LG Hombot Turbo is:
- An additional special pet brush
Two additional side brushes
Extra filter
Instructions (both on paper and DVD)
And this is where the design section goes. The gallery of detailed photographs that we attach above is ideal in case you have been left with any doubts about the finishes of this robot; but if you are already clear about this part, let’s move on to the next section, the «Start-up and first minutes of use».
Start-up and first minutes of use
This second section, the «Start-up and first minutes of use», is rather oriented towards people who have never had the experience of using a vacuum robot at home. The one that has already had in his hands such a product, it is best to go directly to the next section, that of «This way the LG Hombot Turbo works at home».
Unlike some people might think, a robot like the LG Hombot Turbo doesn’t require any initial setup to start working. Our first few minutes with this product can be summarized in taking the robot out of the box, connecting the base to the current and clicking on the «Cleaning» button. Thus, in less than a minute we already had the robot sucking all over the house without having pressed a single additional button – and without having to install a single piece: the robot is already factory-assembled.
Of course, the first aspirated is actually more of a contact than a thorough household cleaning. In the first cleaning, the robot uses its sensors to store in its internal memory a plane of our house: it locates all the obstacles, memorizes the different rooms and delimits the limits of each room so that in the future not leave a single corner uncleaned.
It is the most «clumsy» part of all its operation: during its first cleaning it can even run into some obstacle (a piece of furniture that leaves a small opening above ground level that at the same time is not high enough for the robot to fit, for example), but for the next cleaning you will have already learned that you should not even try to pass under that piece of furniture.