Yeedi Mop Station Pro review. A better cleaning robot vacuum

A robot that both vacuums and mops sounds like a dual-tasking dream appliance. Who wouldn’t want to put their feet up while one of these home helpers first sweeps debris off the floor and then cleans up all the traces? However, in practice, we’ve found that these hybrid floor cleaners are usually better at vacuuming than mopping. The problem is, the cleaning method most of them use—dragging a damp microfiber cloth across the floor—doesn’t provide the elbow grease or back-and-forth motion necessary to remove stains and stubborn dirt. These cleaning robot vacuums also require a fair amount of manual assistance, as their small reservoirs need frequent refilling and their mop cloths tend to quickly become covered in dirt.

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

The Yeedi Mop Station does things differently. Instead of a microfiber cloth, it uses a pair of rotating cleaning pads that scrub, rather than just wipe, hard surface floors. And its port doubles as a water tank and self-cleaning station. Yeedi Technology is not the first to take this approach. we’ve seen a similar design with the Dreame Technology W10 and the Narwal Robotic Cleaner. And like those products, the Yeedi Mop Station delivers superior cleaning compared to many other mop/vac hybrids.

The robot itself looks a lot like the others, with a mapping sensor on top and a roller and edge brush underneath. It comes with separate cleaning and cleansing ingredients. The first is a 750ml bin which is pre-installed and is only used for vacuuming. The second is a similar bin that has posts on the bottom where cleaning pads are attached. You change this component when you want to vacuum and clean together.

Michael Ansaldo / IDG

The charging/self-cleaning station looks like a small trash can grafted onto a standard dock. It measures 17 x 15 x 16 inches and contains a pair of 3500ml containers for clean and dirty water. Each has a handle attached to its latch lid so you can easily carry it back and forth from the sink. Also included is a second set of cleaning pads and a tank cleaning brush tool.

Setting up the Yeedi Mop Station Pro is simple. You need to download the Yeedi app and follow a series of prompts to connect the robot to your Wi-Fi. Little assembly is required other than attaching the edge brush to the bottom of the robot and filling the clean water tank. The only potential challenge is finding a place for the bulky charging station, as it needs a few feet of clearance on both sides and in front of it to allow the robot to maneuver in and out.

The robot moves in a methodical up-and-down motion while in vacuum, pausing briefly when it senses or encounters an obstacle before maneuvering around it. In my testing, it went smoothly between hard floors and carpet and was able to get under the couch and out again without getting stuck. During these vacuums, it completely absorbed dust, food crumbs, and pet hair from hard floors without difficulty. On the carpet, which automatically detects and boosts its suction, sometimes some debris remained in the fibers even after multiple passes.

Michael Ansaldo / IDG

The spinning pads clean much better than a stationary cloth, although you should still keep a stick mop handy for tougher stains. It probably won’t need to be taken out as often. The Yeedi Mop Station Pro was able to handle everyday dirt and even light spills on its own. Even when my floor looked clean before cleaning, I was surprised to see how dirty the sewage was.

The robot returns to its docking station approximately every 10 minutes during the cleaning process to clean the pads and refill the built-in water tank. This takes a minute or two, and then the robot resumes cleaning where it left off. After the job is done, the pads are cleaned again and then air dried. You should also clean the waste water tank after each use.

Some robot functions, such as starting and stopping cleaning operations and calling the robot to its dock, can be controlled by buttons on the docking station or on the robot itself. But the Yeedi app provides complete control through a simple, attractive interface. The current map is displayed at the top of the main screen, along with real-time data on the current cleaning performance. You can scroll through several widgets below the map to access control of suction power and water level, schedule cleaning jobs, and customize cleaning settings.

Michael Ansaldo / IDG

Customization options include the ability to create virtual borders on maps and apply them to vacuum, sweep, or both. There is also an option to create specific cleaning areas where you can send the robot. Currently, the app can only store one map, so if you want to use the robot both upstairs and downstairs, you’ll need to recreate the map every time you change floors.

That flaw will almost certainly be fixed in a future update to the app. Either way, it’s a minor flaw on one of the better cleaning robot vacuums we’ve seen. Comparing it to the two similar models previously mentioned, it has the ultimate edge over the Narwal Robotic Cleaner, which is thwarted by an abysmal application. I’m tempted to say it’s on par with the Dreame Technology W10, but here again, the app is the deciding factor; The W10 can store up to three maps, making it a better choice for multi-level homes. If that’s not a concern, the Yeedi Mop Station Pro is worth a look.