REVIEW – The Lefant Robotic Vacuum Cleaner (T700 1800Pa) lives up to its claim as a super quiet cleaning system, with good suction and sensors.
What is it?
The Lefant T700 is a robotic vacuum and mop system.
What’s in the box?
- Vacuum
- Charger with homing port and cleaning brush
- 2 mop pads
- Extra filter
- 2 extra brushes
- Removable dust bin
- Removable mop pan
- Interchangeable suction/roll-style vacuum
- Quick-start and troubleshooting guide
- Remote control
Hardware specs
- Product Dimensions: 12.6 x 12.6 x 3.2 inches
- Item Weight: 6.17 pounds
- Shipping Weight: 11.02 pounds
- Batteries: 1 Lithium Polymer batteries required (included)
Design and features
Setup
Setup was very easy. The dust bin or mop tray pop right into place. You just need to charge it completely before the first use.
Similarly, it was quick and easy to pop open the dustbin to empty it. Or to change it to the roller-style vacuum attachment, which we only used for vacuuming carpet, and the suction-style attachment, which we used for tile and hardwood vacuuming, as well as mopping.
Performance
I despise vacuuming, and mopping is a close second. Our house is a tri-level, with a sunken sunroom, making for a fourth level. For me, traditional vacuuming involves moving a heavy canister model up and down lots of steps.
Since I was in a car accident 10 years, I suffer from back pain that’s often triggered by lugging the vacuum around and the vacuuming motion itself. I’ve been in the market for one of these for ages but always hesitant because of our multi-level home. Then again, we have white carpet and tile (not my choice) with two boys and a black dog. It was time to get a handle on my gross floors!
With the Lefant, I just carry it from floor to floor. At only 6 pounds, that’s really not a problem. Moving it wasn’t the hassle I anticipated.
We let it run until it ran out of batteries, which took nearly 2 hours on vacuum mode! Impressive.
For actual cleaning, my opinion gradually changed on this. At first, I was disappointed. However, in all fairness, my baseline was pretty low. Boys. Dog. A hate for vacuuming. Plus, knowing this was in the mail, I was admittedly slacking on housework, not that my house was a beacon of tidiness to begin with. I think if I would have done a big baseline clean first, with an old-school vac and mop, I would have been happier with the initial performance.
It took a few sessions to get my floors where I wanted them. And, of course, in this household, it’s a constantly moving target.
Now I’ve now set up a rotating schedule, where the Lefant hits at least one level of my house each day (with one round to vacuum and one round to mop in the kitchen and bathrooms). And I gotta admit, after seven days my floors are cleaner than ever. In fact, by comparison, my counters and windows are somehow looking dirtier!
Our house has a lot of weird ledges, and we were all set to create barricades. However, the sensors thoroughly impressed us, and worked almost every time! Now I just set up barricades between the carpet and hardwood, so that I don’t accidentally get my carpet mopped.
Note: Cardboard boxes might not be your best bet for barricades. I watched the Lefant bust right through one! It was the one and only time the sensor didn’t seem to work. Hand weights and cases of Gatorade worked a whole lot better as borders.
It did get caught in a few little spots: the carpeted top of our steps, the track of the sliding glass door, and under the lazy susan in our kitchen. So I’ve started blocking those off, so she doesn’t get stuck in an endless loop and burn out her batteries under the lazy susan.
She’s also extremely quiet. (Notice the female pronouns? We named her “Rosie.”) One morning, my son was finishing some homework over breakfast. He asked me to “turn it off” and I thought he meant the vacuum. He laughed and said, “No! The TV.” It’s true, you can barely hear the vacuum. Really, how often can you watch TV or talk on the phone and not even notice a vacuum running? Well, with the Lefant you can!
Programs
There are three choices for programs: spiral from the middle, start at the edges and work your way in, or press the power button for a basic back-and-forth pattern.
We didn’t have much use for the spiral or edge patterns. In fact, in our small square sunroom, we tried the spiral pattern and it basically cleaned a spot in the middle of the room and then decided it was done. The edge pattern left too much dog hair and dirt to be effective. But simply pressing the start button and letting it do its own thing, just a simple back and forth, worked by far the best.
App
We downloaded the app, which says it’s compatible with IOS and Android 4.0 or above. My son is the phone person in our family, and with his Android 7.0, he had trouble getting it to work. Even after deleting and redownloading it a few times, he kept getting the message: Sorry the program is abnormal and will be withdrawn. We’ll post an update if we get the app working.
What I like
- Extremely quiet
- Great sensors
- Long battery life
What needs to be improved
- App doesn’t work
- More effective program mapping
Final thoughts
The Lefant Robotic Vacuum Cleaner (T700 1800Pa) may take a few sessions to clean the messiest of floors, but it’s very quiet and easy to use, has a long battery life and accurate sensors.
Price: $299.99
Where to buy: Amazon
Source: The sample of this product was provided by Lefant.
Filed in categories: Reviews
Tagged: Cleaning, Home and Kitchen, Vacuum
Lefant T700 Robotic Vacuum Cleaner review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on April 22, 2019 at 9:00 am.
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