Airrobo T20+ review: Don’t let its small size fool you

Price When Reviewed

$499.99

Best Prices Today: Airrobo T20+

Airrobo is a smart home appliance brand that offers a small selection of robot vacuums. The T20+ is its first self-emptying model, a 2-in-1 vacuum and mop.

Where self-emptying robot vacuums have been trending bigger, with some base stations the size of a small refrigerator, the T20+ has gone in the opposite direction with a scaled-down dock that takes up considerably less space than many competing products.

Design and features

The T20’s aesthetic is minimalist, with clean lines and a smooth matte finish that doesn’t draw too much attention, allowing it to blend seamlessly with your home decor.

This review is part of TechHive’s in-depth coverage of the best robot vacuums.

The robot measures about 13.8 x 3.8 inches (WxH). The top of the unit houses a simple control panel, with clearly marked power and home buttons, along with a turret that houses its LIDAR navigation system.

Michael Ansaldo/Foundry

Michael Ansaldo/Foundry

Michael Ansaldo/Foundry

The vacuum’s main brush is a floating rubber roller that stays close to the floor and resists hair tangles. A secondary spinning edge brush assists in gathering debris along edges and in corners. The vacuum has 4 adjustable suction levels with a max suction of 2,600 Pa.

Airrobo simplified the design—and probably saved some space to keep things compact—buy using a 2-in-1 dustbin that has a 340ml compartment for solid debris and a 350ml tank for clean water. A mopping module equipped with a microfiber cloth attaches to the bottom rear of the robot when you want to wet-clean hard floors. You can choose from three levels of water control, managed from the Airrobo app.

The T20+ docking station measures a compact 13.7 x 10 x 7 (HxWxD) inches. It empties the robot’s dustbin with 26,000 Pa of suction power into a 3.5-liter dust bag that’s good for about 60 days of hands-free cleaning.

The T20+ also comes with a physical remote control and an extra side brush and dustbag.

Michael Ansaldo/Foundry

Michael Ansaldo/Foundry

Michael Ansaldo/Foundry

Setup

Both the robot and the docking station come fully assembled, so you only need to set the dock against a wall and plug it in, then power on the robot and place it against the dock’s charging contacts.

While the remote control allows you to operate all the robot’s basic vacuuming functions, the Airrobo app is required for mopping control and to access additional features such as mapping, scheduling, and cleaning records. Once you download the app and create an account, the app will scan for the T20+ and initiate the Wi-Fi connection process, prompting you for your login details.

The T20+ combines LiDAR with Airrobo’s new USLAM Air 5.0 algorithm for mapping and navigation. On its initial run, the robot maps your space. There’s no quick mapping option, so it performs a cleaning cycle at the same time which stretches out the initial mapping process. It took the robot over an hour to map my home; vacuums with a quick-mapping option typically take 10-15 minutes.

The completed map will display rooms with generic names. You can use the app’s editing tool to give them proper names and correct any map inaccuracies. You can also create no-go zones, no-mopping zones, and virtual walls to constrain the robot’s movements. You just select the type of boundary you want to make, drag it to the desired spot on the map, and resize it to your requirements.

Michael Ansaldo/Foundry

Michael Ansaldo/Foundry

Michael Ansaldo/Foundry

Performance

I first did a vacuum-only run on laminate flooring and an area rug. The vacuum cleaned in a steady up-and-down pattern and managed to pick up all types of household debris, including dust, food crumbs, and pet hair without clogs or tangles. On visual inspection, my floors were mostly clean, with some stray particles along some wall and furniture edges.

I also ran a controlled test by spreading a quarter cup of rice on each surface. The suction shined here, capturing all the rice from the carpet and all but three grains from the hard floor.

The mopping performance wasn’t as impressive. With the mopping module, the robot is essentially wiping a damp cloth across the floor. That’s adequate for surface grime, but it doesn’t provide any agitation to remove deeper dirt or stains, and it just spreads gloopy spills around as it did when I smeared a teaspoon of jelly on the hard floor.

Obstacle avoidance

The T20+ leans heavily on its bump sensor to maneuver around obstacles. While that was usually effective, there were a couple of mishaps.

During the initial mapping run, the robot tried to push through a guitar stand, knocking it over hard enough to break a guitar string. Another time, while it was attempting to maneuver a cat cubby that it had bumped into, the robot abruptly reversed into the wall behind it with enough force to leave a small mark.

The robot particularly struggled with smaller or softer objects it couldn’t bump into. Several times it sucked up socks and got ensnared in charging cables, causing the cleaning job to stop until I freed it. Given that, I found it’s best to do through decluttering of these types of objects before running the vacuum.

App control

The Airrobo app allows you to monitor the robot’s movements in real-time and shows the cleaning path it took after each job. Cleaning modes—Auto, Room, Area, Pin & Go, and Spot—are displayed below the map, and the map management tool and settings menu are also accessible from the home screen.

In addition to remote control, the app provides a scheduling tool, detailed cleaning records, and a consumables manager that lets you track the life of the filter, brushes, and mop pad.

The T20+ supports Alexa and Google Assistant integrations and the app offers an easy way to connect to these services.

Specifications

• Robot dimenions: 13.8 x 3.8 inches (WxH)
• Base station dimensions: 13.7 x 10 x 7 (HxWxD)
• Max suction: 2,600 Pa
• Room mapping: Yes
• Self-emptying: Yes
• Navigation: LiDAR and USLAM Air 5.0
• Dustbin capacity: 340ml
• Water tank capacity: 350ml
• Smart home integrations: Alexa and Google Home

Should you buy the Airrobo T20+ vacuum?

Selling for an affordable $499.99, the Airrobo T20+ delivers impressive vacuuming performance while boasting a feature set that rivals vacuums twice its price. The T20+’s small footprint should particularly appeal to apartment dwellers, or anyone else who doesn’t have the space to accommodate a larger cleaner.

The mopping function is a notable weakness, but it’s no worse than other 2-in-1 vacuums that rely on static mopping modules rather than rotating mop heads.

Given all that, the T20+ is worth considering if you want to keep both your household dirt and household budget under control.