Samsung - POWERbot™ Wi-Fi Connected Robot Vacuum with Visionary Mapping™ - Neutral Gray

Pros Short enough to get under most furniture Edge cleaner Very quiet on normal mode Sound is not unpleasant even on max Large easy to clean and washable dust bin Washable/reusable filter Brushes don’t tangle easily Room mapping means more consistent vacuuming Integrates with Smartthings Integrates with Alexa Capable of vacuuming higher shag carpets than most Automatic recharging WiFi connectivity for remote status and control WiFi connectivity allows for automatic software upgrades and improved intellegence Automatically recharges and continues Mapping camera works in the dark Doesn’t require any remote sensors Can be set to automatically clean when you are away via SmartThings Doesn’t easily get tangled Doesn’t randomly bump into furniture to determine when to stop Vacuums around items left on floor instead of trying to run over them Cons Low slope on front often means transitions between surfaces are awkward Sometimes misses spots of a room or entire rooms No sensor to report full dust bin No dirt sensor to improve cleanup of heavier spots Tiny secondary wheels can build up hair and are hard to clean Cleaning brush has a bearing which can get clogged with hair and is hard to clean Instructions are not comprehensive and are partly in book and partly online Instructions for connecting to SmartThings at the time of review are incorrect Limited scheduling at time of review. No unique daily options or Normal/High suction programming Recommends an open 6-foot area for base station Not recommended to have base station under furniture for discreet storage Rams into black furniture Sometimes tries to edge clean corners diagonally Sometimes randomly loses app connection for short periods Short run time before needing recharge Sometimes acts as if it is avoiding obstacle that isn’t there in the middle of a room Can miss half a room if the door is in the middle No option for random vacuuming to bring up carpet fibers No handle to pick up Picking it up while charging during cleaning cancels the cleaning Robotic vacuums have been around for many years now and each year they seem to get even closer to replacing the need to manually vacuum. The Samsung Powerbot R7040 is a long way towards that goal. It doesn’t require any special remote sensors or excessive rearrangement of a room to function, although a light pickup of items on the floor wouldn’t hurt. It has a cleaning roller that, although not self-cleaning, requires little cleaning. There are no regular maintenance parts to replace as the filter is washable. The one issue with maintenance is there are some rollers that don’t come apart that hair tends to get stuck in. The Powerbot R7040 uses multiple sensors to navigate your house and has a base station to return to when it is time to charge. Vacuuming only has the options of S pattern or spot clean spiral. There is no option, at least at the time of the review, for a random pattern to help with your carpet getting matted. Where it stands out is with the included edge cleaner. When the it detects an edge, it can extend a brush to help get more out of the crease. This really helped in getting dust at the joint of the baseboard and floor. It offers a remote like many others as well as app connectivity as more do but it also includes SmartThings and Alexa integration. Unfortunately, at the time of writing this review the instructions for connecting to SmartThings were incorrect as it instructs you to press a button on your remote which does not exist. Once this issue is corrected you should be able to leave your house and SmartThings will automatically tell the Powerbot to clean your house. Until then, you can just open the Smart Home app and say goodbye. Alexa integration instructions were not included but possible. Connecting to Alexa does not function through the app or any modern browser. In fact, the connection only worked when performed using the Alexa app website and Internet Explorer. The Samsung pairing website failed to function on other browsers tested including Edge and Chrome. This does not appear to be an isolated incident as the overall rating for the Smarthome App for Alexa is 2 stars with multiple complaints about pairing devices and browser support. Once connected to Alexa, you just tell it to turn on the Robot Vacuum and off it goes. Strangely, when activating via Alexa the Powerbot only cleaned one room. Hopefully, with an automatic internet updates this could be corrected in a future update. In fact, some issues have already been resolved since the vacuum was first installed. Initially, the vacuum would only run for one single strip and the moment it tuned around the brushes would continue but the vacuum turned off. After leaving fully charged overnight to update, the next day the Powerbot got some smarts and could navigate and vacuum correctly. It has taken a lot of the day to day pickup out of the to-do list and is quiet enough to run while in the house. It is best to keep in mind that just like other robotic vacuums, there will be oddities of randomly missed spots and small amounts of debris sometimes missed. Typically, the next time the vacuum runs it seems to find those missed spots. If you have black furniture or other black items you may run into some issues. Normally the Powerbot senses furniture and gently comes up and cleans near it without bumping it. In testing, it would come full speed to black furniture and ram into it. It also ran on top of a black floor scale and became stuck. This can be prevented in most cases by using the boundary marker that is unfortunately not included. The Powerbot takes a lot of the small cleanup out of the daily routine. A standard vacuum would still be a good idea for periodic heavy cleanup. Although capable, the Powerbot doesn’t have the brush strength of suction power of a manual upright to get the deep cleaning. Even though it can automatically adjust suction power depending on surface it does not have a dirt sensor so generally expect a single pass over dirt no matter how thick. Using turbo mode can help pick up more but be prepared for it to spend more time charging than vacuuming. What it does do is allow you to extend the time between deep cleanings and enjoy an overall cleaner house day to day. This is especially helpful where small bits of dirt on a tile, laminate, or wood floor can make for an unpleased barefoot experience. It is also nice to see carpet less matted down between regular vacuuming. Hopefully Samsung will leverage the automatic WiFi updates to further improve the intelligence of this smart vacuum in the future. If you are in the market for a relatively affordable smart vacuum and features such as SmartThings integration, low maintenance, and automatic cleaning based on what you do then this might be the one for you. Assuming Samsung continues improving the software, which they usually do, this rating could be a 4.5 stars considering the price versus features. Just be sure to give it a night or two on the charger to update before passing judgement as it seems the shipping software has some bugs but the updated software is much better.

Here is a comprehensive review of the Samsung POWERbot R7040. Overall, set up was pretty easy out of the box, however there is one small "quirk" I have to mention in my review. Many people tend not to read the manuals and if you are one of those people, pay attention here and you will be set. As with most products, this vacuum needs to be fully charged first before you set it to clean your house. First of all, make sure to turn on the emergency switch located on the bottom of vacuum. I wish the manufacturer found a way to bypass that switch all together as an average consumer may not be able to charge the vac unless of course they read the manual. Once that is done, just place the vac manually in the charging dock (make sure the dock is on a level floor and flush against the wall). Good thing about your next charge is - "It's on the house!" meaning that when your vac runs low in Auto Mode, it will automatically return to the docking station to recharge! And what's more if for some reason it did not finish its original job, it will return to the cleaning area after it got enough juice. Samsung calls this feature Smart Charging. Getting your vac to work is also easy. There are two ways to initiate it to start cleaning your room: via a touch button on the unit itself or via its provided remote control. There are four cleaning modes: Auto Clean, Spot Clean, Repeat Clean and Manual Clean. Personally, I have used Auto Clean more often as it sets off to clean your intended area, gets job done and returns to recharge all on its own. However I had to use Manual Clean mode a few times too, which pretty much puts you in control of where your want your vacuum to go and clean by simply using the remote control navigational buttons. I found that this vacuum does a pretty good job in picking up all kinds of debris off your floor or carpet. Just make sure your carpet does not have fringes. Yes, this vacuum does not deal too well with fringes and gets stuck on them easily. Another plus to add, this vacuum is not loud! There are three suction power modes available: Turbo, Normal and Quiet. Advanced options: Connect your vac to WiFi and it'll update its software. With the help of Samsung Connect App, now you can schedule it to clean even when you are not home! You also get all the remote control functions on your phone. Overall, very impressed by this vac. Easy to operate, good suction power, lots of smart options, affordable most important part it leaves your house clean! This review has been completed as a part of the Insiders Program.

I have wanted a robotic vacuum for many years now -- ever since Roomba released their first vac. I just love the idea of having an automated system clean your house while you do something else. The problem I've had with this type of device is the cost. Some of them cost more than a professional-grade computer. So, I was thrilled when this one from Samsung became available. Not only is it a much more affordable price, but it's 'smart' and very easy to use. Getting started with the vacuum is pretty easy. It comes pre-assembled with the exception of putting the batteries in the remote and unwrapping the power cables for the charging dock. I do advice any future users to read through the manual before getting started. It makes the process much easier. Can you 'feel' your way through it? Yes, but you will probably spend more time doing that then it takes to read through the instructions. That said, I wish the vacuum came with a quick start guide. It has a full manual that includes a lot of background and warning information that is good for reference, but not really necessary when you are trying to just get it started. The first step in the process is to set-up the charging dock. This is simple as it just requires plugging the dock into power. There is an instruction that states it must be "turned on at all times." This step can be confusing because on my model (the 7040) there is no power button. The manual is meant for more than just my model so I wonder if maybe that instruction was meant for other models. It's a good idea to install the dock on a level surface so that the vacuum can latch onto it easily. After you get the dock plugged in and powered on, you should add the batteries (included) to the remote and then place the vacuum on the dock. When you first unbox it, there may be some charge to it, but I would recommend letting it get a full charge before you try to use it. This could take up to 3 hours, but it's well-worth the wait. There is a manual power switch on the bottom of the vacuum that much be turned on in order to use or charge the vacuum. It's an 'emergency' switch that I'm guessing is a kill switch in case the vacuum gets out of hand when it's cleaning. This switch is hidden behind a semi-transparent covering. If you refer to the diagram in the manual, it does show you just where to look for it. Once the vacuum is done charging the word "FULL" will appear in the display on the unit. Now, you can use the Powerbot without connecting it to your smartphone, but that's really part of its charm. This is really the only place where I encountered a major problem with the vacuum. It wouldn't show up as a network for me to connect to it. After about 10-15 minutes of attempts to connect to our home WiFi, I was finally able to have a signal to the vacuum. We have a mesh network in our home so it has a strong signal everywhere it moves throughout the house. Along these lines, I need to mention how incredibly bad the app for the vacuum is. While I was setting it up, it crashed on me more than 4 times and it really set me back on the set up process. One time I was nearly done and it crashed forcing me to start at the beginning again. I've heard that many other people have had the same issues. If the app gets its bugs worked out it might be really nice to use, but until it does, it's unusable. Please remember the vacuum is wonderfully built and works great. It's the app that needs a bunch of work. If the vacuum didn't have a manual remote it would not be useable. There are some vacuums that you have to 'train' before getting started, but the Powerbot has a great edge-sensing feature that causes it to autocorrect anytime it finds a border. This is pretty cool because it means you can say, "Go," and it cleans without needing direction. The only downside to this is that the vac can get caught places or it misses areas because it hits a piece of furniture and thinks it's a wall. We ran into this a few times, but for the most part, the Powerbot does a great job making it through the entire house. It's powerful enough on the standard setting that we haven't even had to use the 'turbo' setting yet. It picks up plenty of dirt, dust, pet dander, and hair during its trip throughout the house. Cleaning out the collection bin is very easy as is clearing the rotating brush. I empty the bin after every trip through the house and clear the brush every 3-4 days. I have been very happy with the vacuum's performance and even though we still use a standard vacuum a couple times a week (we are more accurate than the Powerbot) but I love being able to have this little guy run through the house every night to pick up the day's dirt. I can definitely recommend this for anyone in the market for a robotic vacuum.

I bought this on with an early Black Friday discount. I works well if you use it daily. I set it on a schedule and it does a good job but the small container is full everyday. Pet hair seems to block the opening to the larger containment area.

Once again, my skeptic tenancies were proven wrong with the Powerbot. I honestly thought it was going to be a gimmicky thing that would in no way replace my current vacuum but my husband wanted to try it out so I went ahead and "took the plunge." Firstly, I have not used my standard vacuum since I got the Powerbot not too long ago. I can put it on a schedule DIRECTLY FROM MY PHONE from anywhere in the world via the SmartThings app; not to mention it is compatible with Google assist and Alexa. It has a ton of sensors that sense baseboards, obstructions, and "Cyclops"(my kids named it) quickly learns his surroundings and develops an general floorplan the more he cleans. By the way, it has a Cyclone force wall so that's why my kids named it Cyclops. I must also say, I have a ton of stairs in my home of three levels; I just knew this thing was going to "cyclone" right down the stairs sooner or later ---- well that has not and won't likely happen as my Powerbot has all these sensors that really prevent it from such a fall. It would be nice to have some of those of my own! I also have the ability to create boundary walls, to stop him from going into places I don't want him, I can auto command spot cleaning either from my remote (yes it even comes with a remote!) or directly from my phone just by pointing to the spot I want to clean. He even learned how to hop right onto my area rug, my carpet, and my hardwood floors just after the first time I turned him on. My husband has gotten to the point where it is an event in the house when the Powerbot is running because it's like we have this assistant that cares about dirt, dust, and crumbs all over the floor and with three kids we get plenty of that! One last thing --- this is truly a SMART bot. It senses exactly what the problem is whenever it encounters one. For example, its awesome suction sucked up a tiny little trinket toy of my daughters. I then got a notification on my phone that a "foreign object" was in the Bot; so then I went and removed it, and he went back to his normal routine. This is almost a personal assistant for us! If anyone were wondering what difference the Powerbot makes, just take it from me ---- I am a mom who ran her vacuum cleaner ever single day. I have not touched it ONCE since getting the Powerbot. Case closed!

I hesitated on the brand looking first at the original but then decided I liked the features on the Samsung. I also purchased one as a gift not knowing if it would even be something that they would like it, but they loved it! If you have a pet in doors then it is the perfect gift! I have a 6 month white highland terrier and while he isn’t supposed to shed the vacuum has proved him wrong, we run it every night and every morning it is parked back on the deck and full! So I have nothing bad to say excerpt wish I had purchased sooner!

I've never owned one of these before but was excited to get one. This has been pretty nice to have around the house just to clean up the floors. I do have hard wood and carpet in my house this this worked great on both. I do vacuum a couple time a week and have a good vacuum cleaner but this still picked up a good bit of stuff. This does have a stair sensor so it will not fall down them in the manual it shows that you need to put tab down to indicate the stairs well in this one you don't have to. You can hear the suction change from the hardwood to carpet so you know the sensors are picking up the change in floor type. I do recommend downloading the Samsung Home app to control the Powerbot it makes programming easy and you can control it from you phone. You can choose 4 types of cleaning Auto Clean, Spot Clean, Manual Clean and Repeat Clean those are nice to have. The wheels on this are big so it does move good if you have thick carpet. I think this is nice to have to just run daily to clean up but you still might have to run your vacuum once in a while just to have a good pick up. It is very easy to clean and empty out that waste. You can change the type of power you want to run on it. The display face is very easy to read and understand. it is WIFI that is nice for the app. Now i did have some issue's with this it did get stuck on some items in the house in a tight space it was able to get into but just couldn't find it's way out of. It didn't always make it back to the home charging station i found it in other rooms out of power. It will get a error and stop if it gets stuck on something like the bed skirt it did once. Now this does have a lot of power behind it i found my dining room chairs that are on hardwood floors to be moved around and loose carpets on other surfaces got pushed. Overall i think this is a good product i have not tried out any others but i do like it and find it convenient to own. Great power Big Wheels Great App to set it up with WIFI Spot Cleaner Stair Detection 4 Types of cleaning Easy Set up Schedule Cleaning Time Very Nice

Several years ago I purchased and ultimately returned a robotic vacuum. We are dog owners and dogs shed, in our case they shed a lot. The vac I tried jammed easily on dog hair and had other failings. When I tried this new Samsung, I had low expectations which were quickly dashed. Here are some of the positives: -brushes do not jam -dog hair does not wind around brushes -incredible power/suction -easy to program -moves easily between hard and carpeted floor surfaces -relatively quiet -programmable -decent battery life (+/-) 90 mins. -overall, very good cleaning, including most edges My 4-star rating (rather than 5) is due to the inherit limitations of any robotic vac, including this very well engineered/designed Samsung. While it can be (relatively) easily programmed to run at certain times, having a small robot running around the house is distracting (but can be a fun game for some pets). The same job can be done much more quickly with a standard vac. In our home, the vac had to stop because the dustbin filled (dog hair) to capacity. (The dustbin is easy to see into [see photo] and also to empty. Additionally, Samsung strongly recommends that the charging/base unit be flat against a wall. In our house, we have a variety of baseboards with quarter-round which made complying impossible [see photo]. When the vac returned to the base for charging, it was obvious why the manual encourages a flat wall, as the base moved and challenged the vac to park itself, which it ultimately did. My final "con" is that "boundary markers" which keep the vac from tumbling down a flight of stairs on going into places where it should not go are an "option" and calls to Samsung Support and then too their parts/accessories supplier were not successful in finding out how to purchase these. In my opinion, they should be included. I think this would be a great purchase for a small house or apartment, especially if it were programmed to run while the occupants were elsewhere. With its camera and sensors, it's a very impressive and helpful piece of technology.