Proscenic Floobot X1 review: An adequate robot vac/mop hybrid

Price When Reviewed

$499.00

Best Prices Today: Proscenic Floobot X1

The Proscenic Floobot X1 is a modestly priced robot vacuum and mop combo with a self-emptying dustbin. It’s a solid performer chock-full of options for customizing your cleaning experience, but its unique laser-navigation implementation compromises its cleaning efficiency in my testing.

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

Design and setup

The Floobot X1 and its auto-empty base have a sleek aesthetic, with eye-catching designs and glossy black finishes. Indeed, the Floobot X1 received the 2023 Red Dot Award for Innovative Design. These shiny surfaces, however, readily capture fingerprints and dust, so you’ll want to keep a microfiber cloth handy to keep them as clean as your floors.

The robot vacuum’s base measures 12 inches tall and just over 13 inches wide, making it one of the most space-saving base stations I’ve come across. It also features an LED display panel, another first in my experience, that provides various status indicators ,such as when the dust bag is full, blocked, or not installed correctly, or when the cover is not closed. A plastic mat attaches to prevent the robot’s mop from dripping water on the floor after mopping jobs.

Michael Ansaldo/Foundry

The robot itself also has a short profile, measuring about 3 inches tall. That’s because it eliminates the LIDAR turret many robot vacuums have on top for laser navigation, instead integrating PathPro Laser-Assisted Navigation right into the robot body. A 240ml dust box slots into the back of the robot, and a mopping module with a 250ml water tank attaches to the bottom of this to vacuum and mop simultaneously.

To set up the Floobot X1, you just need to attach its drip mat to the auto-empty station, then set the robot on it to charge. The auto-empty base comes with a 2.5L dust bag installed, with a spare one in the box. You can control the vacuum with its physical remote or with the Proscenic app, which will let you take advantage of the Floobot X1’s mapping capabilities. Connecting the app involves a typical pairing process for a smart device, which will prompt you to connect to the robot’s Wi-Fi and then to your home network.

Performance and app

The first time you run the Floobot X1, it will create a map of the space and divides the area into rooms. You can edit this map to make the room divisions more accurate and add no-go zones, no-mop zones, and custom cleaning areas. You can also create custom cleaning profiles room-by-room, assigning specific suction or water levels to each. You can specify that rooms be cleaned in a particular order, and you can designate rooms and areas for second cleaning passes. The app can save up to five maps, enabling you to save separate maps for each floor of your home.

Michael Ansaldo/Foundry

During the first run of my downstairs level, it became clear that the Floobot X1’s integrated LiDAR is a mixed bag. Most laser-navigated vacuums house a rotating module in a turret on top of the robot. That allows them to scan 360 degrees, but it also adds height that can cause the robot to get stuck under low-profile couches and other furniture. The Floobot X1’s LiDAR module is set into the front of the robot, which removes the need for the trap-hazard turret but requires the robot itself to turn 360 degrees to scan its entire surroundings and locate its position within it. That frequent stopping and spinning means it takes longer for the robot to move through the room and, in larger spaces, it requires more trips than other robot vacuums need to recharge their batteries.

That annoyance aside, the Floobot X1 navigated my home well, if a little roughly—it routinely bumped into chair and table legs, in one case hard enough to knock a plastic cup onto the floor. On the bright side, it didn’t get stuck on any of the throw rugs or floor thresholds in my downstairs space. It also found its way back to the auto-empty base after each cleaning job without issue.

Proscenic rates the Floobot X1’s suction power at 3,000Pa, which is about right for a mid-priced robot vacuum. It was enough to capture dust, small debris, and pet hair from my hard and carpeted floors, though the last of these often got wrapped around the rubber-and-bristle roller and needed to be detangled with the Floobot X1’s cleaning tool. The robot cleans in an orderly S-shape pattern for general cleaning, and in a back-and-forth motion over a square area for spot cleaning.

The Floobot X1’s mopping feature is a modest improvement over that of many competing 2-in-1 robot vacuums and mops. Its mopping pad vibrates up to 3,000 times per minute, enabling it to lift gunk and spills more effectively than simply dragging the mop across the floor. You’ll still need a stick mop for larger messes, but the Floobot X1 provides enough mopping power for small daily spills and for regular freshening of your hard-surfacer floors.

Michael Ansaldo/Foundry

Should you buy a Proscenic Floobot X1?

The Proscenic app provides plenty of tools to customize your cleaning experience, and it’s fairly intuitive to get around. A status bar at the top of the home screen displays the current battery level, cleaning duration, and area cleaned. Cleaning modes are clearly labeled and the Start and Home functions have nice large buttons. The settings menu is well organized and makes it easy to manage your maps, set cleaning schedules, view cleaning history, and modify settings such as the frequency of dust box emptying and the robot voice prompts language and volume.

Priced at $400, the Floobot X1 is a good value, offering strong vacuuming and mopping performance and an attractive design. But it lacks the polished navigation you get with higher-priced models. If that compromise is acceptable, the Floobot X1 will provide everything you need to maintain the luster of your floors with a mostly autonomous experience. If it’s not, consider the Yeedi Cube, which delivers the luxurious hands-free cleaning of higher-end 2-in-1 combos. It is, however, a more expensive vacuum.

Proscenic Floobot X1 specifications

• Cleaning modes: vacuum and mop
• Charging dock type: auto-empty station
• Navigation: LiDAR
• Suction: 3,000Pa
• Dustbin capacity: 240ml onboard, 2.5L in base station
• Mopping type: microfiber cloth with sonic vibration
• Onboard water tank capacity: 250ml
• Carpet detection: Yes
• App control: Android and iOS
• Voice control: Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant