With Eureka J15 Pro Ultra, the company that is elbowing its way into the world of household cleaning appliances, presents a robot vacuum cleaner equipped with rotating cloths for washing and with a new generation base. It is certainly not compact, but it integrates within it some technologies designed to make the suction and washing system even more autonomous.
The devil is in the details
A problem emerged with previous generation washer-vacuum robots: maintenance. Those who purchase one of these devices tend to neglect them over time, and the result is that inside the washing base, in the tank where the water is introduced to wash the rotating mops which then clean the floor, dirt residues accumulate which are too heavy to be sucked up by the small pump which discharges into the dirty water tank.
With Eureka J15 Pro Ultra, however, the base also takes a step forward with the aim of achieving complete automation: on the plate where the mops are washed there are two propellers that scrape away residues both from the clothes and from the bottom of the base itself. A separate collection area is therefore created for the heavier debris which, once dried by the integrated hot air system, is sucked into the dust bag via a system that is more powerful than the pump which sucks up the water.
The base, which contains the two clean water and dirty water tanks and the dust bagacquires a much higher degree of autonomy, and the user will only have to worry about emptying the tanks.
How it vacuums and how it washes
By now Eureka has managed to achieve excellent results and with Eureka J15 Pro Ultra we are faced with a top of the range that combines vacuuming and floor washing. In suction it takes advantage of the latest innovation introduced, the system FlexiRazor which prevents hair or longer hairs from getting caught in the central roller of any pets: inside there is a series of blades, very similar to razors or hair cutting machines, which takes care of chopping up everything that the robot vacuums up.
The field test confirmed it: after a home party with the presence of several people with long hair and a dog with medium-long hair, J15 Pro Ultra took care of the cleaning, collecting the abundant residues on the floor, making it even more dirty from the food residue that inevitably accumulates during a home buffet, and the roller was actually free of tangled hair.
In addition, there is also one maximum suction power of 16,200 Pawith the classic four-level system that It also allows you to choose the quietest mode: useful for daily cleaning if yes smartworking for example, so that you can live with a quieter noise than that emitted by the robot during the most powerful operating mode.
Even for washing there are some innovations on this new generation: Eureka has chosen to use two counter-rotating mops on the J15 Pro which, being in continuous rotation, exert a cleaning action on the floor to remove stains, liquids and food encrustations such as example. Of the two mops, the one on the right side is capable of extending thanks to a small actuator so as to clean even the edgesthus overcoming the limitations of floor cleaning robots without this technology. The system works very well and is so effective that it is enough to limit yourself to a fine manual cleaning every one or two weeks to reach those (few) points where the robot was unable to pass.
Note, then, that the system not only extends the arm with the mop, but also apply mop pressure to the floorwith a maximum force of 7 Newton which serves to better clean any older stains.
Increasingly intelligent robots
Artificial intelligence has now arrived in every product, and manufacturers often abuse this technology without it making practical sense. On washing-vacuuming robots, however, the use of AI is truly an advantage and represents an extra asset to make cleaning increasingly automatic and efficient. Thanks to the video camera, in fact, Eureka J15 Pro is able to recognize objects and act accordingly: during the various tests, J15 he successfully managed to identify pedestals, chairs and shoes on the floor.
It may seem like a useless exercise, but it actually has practical implications: on low pedestals, previous generation robots often got stuck because they climbed onto the obstacle and then couldn’t get off, getting stuck with one or two wheels off the ground. Result? If no one was home, cleaning was interrupted, negating the benefits of having a robot clean for us throughout the day. Tested with the same pedestal that had blocked so many in the past, Eureka J15 Pro recognized it and avoided it without problems.
AI is not only used to avoid obstacles, but also changes the operating logic of the robot in cleaning mode. If a liquid is spotted on the floor, the J15 Pro will address it in reverseso as to use the rotating cloths to absorb and clean the liquid, avoiding dirtying the front brush with dust which would otherwise risk spreading that liquid throughout the house. This system, however, still has limits and is less effective if you have dark stains on a dark colored floor, while for all other situations (terracotta or light stoneware floors and parquet for example) the system is able to correctly identify the stain .
The same goes for the side brush, the one that conveys dirt and dust, including crumbs or earth for example, towards the central roller brush where the suction inside the robot actually takes place. Here the AI is activated when the robot encounters larger debris which, if the brush rotated at high speed, would be “thrown” around the floor. Thanks to camera detection and the intelligence of the system, when a situation of this type is detected, the brush slows down its rotation so as not to throw the debris but to bring it towards the center of the robot. Once the obstacle has been overcome and the dirt has been collected, it whirls again at a higher speed so as to be more effective against smaller particles such as dust that may have accumulated on the edges of furniture or walls.
The third advantage it’s that with stains and liquidsfor example a glass of fruit juice spilled on the floor or tomato sauce. When the robot encounters these situations, go back to base, do a wash of counter-rotating mops with hot water (to better dissolve encrustations), returns to the stain and treats it. If the encrustation is stubborn, the robot it runs this process multiple times until it removes it.
The application as a control center
Equipped with Lidar, Eureka J15 must be activated for the first time via application. This step is used to create a 2D (or 3D, you can choose) map of the house. The robot recognizes the rooms and enables selective cleaning, for example choosing to wash only one part of the house. You can then use the button on the robot to start the default cleaning, or choose to use the app.
Here, given the presence of Artificial Intelligence, the best way is to choose the smart mode. This uses AI to understand how much and how to clean, whether to moisten the mops more or if it is not necessary. And, if the robot detects that we have not started cleaning for several days, it will automatically set the most thorough cleaning. Otherwise, if we have selected a daily mode with the programming, it will activate faster cleaning (fewer repeated passes on the same area) which, however, does not mean less cleaning power. Even in rapid mode, in fact, if it were to find a particularly dirty area, the robot would apply the final cleaning logic with multiple returns to the base to wash the rotating clothes.
The strengths of J15 Pro Ultra
Trying to sum it up, after several tests, there are several strengths that have a practical advantage in cleaning:
- blade for shredding hair: Works well, avoids most tangles around the main brush. Compared to other robots, from the tests carried out, the result is at least 90% less tangled hair
- base with self-cleaning system against encrusted dirt and debris: truly a useful system to reduce the need for maintenance. With other washer-vacuum robots it was necessary to take into account a 15/20 minute manual cleaning every month (or more frequently if the house gets dirty more easily due to dirt and mud brought in by children and pets). With this system you can (almost) forget about cleaning the dish where the mops are washed, doing simple maintenance of less than five minutes every month
- extendable side mop: Works well for cleaning edges and reduces the need for “fine washing”
- video surveillance: the robot can be activated manually to take advantage of the integrated video camera or it can be activated in “patrol” mode to carry out video surveillance patrols in the home
Conclusions
Eureka J15 Pro Ultra is a complete all-round robot, for those looking for a cleaning-vacuuming robot and who don’t have space problems given that the base still takes up a considerable amount of space and must be positioned in an accessible area. Those looking for a top of the range, without spending the same money as more famous brands but still having the same cleaning capacity available, can focus on this model which list price is €1,029 but it is often on offer. From November 10th to December 2ndIndeed, the discounted price will be only €799.99.
Considering the list price, net of any discussion on promotions, J15 Pro Ultra manages to cost a few hundred euros less than its most famous competitor without however being inferior in the technical features that count. Indeed, depending on the competitive model you choose to compare, Eureka J15 Pro Ultra proves to be even superior in some features, such as suction power, despite having a lower price list.
Only the app still needs some small improvements, but in the end, if it is the effectiveness in cleaning that
matters, the top of the range Eureka is certainly a recommended product for those looking for the best.
Purchasing it at the promotional price, however, allows you to access all the functions of a real top of the range product at the price of a mid-range product.