Editor’s Note: after months of this little robot cleaning up after us in the office, pet names, pronouns and all manner of ridiculousness ensued, so for the purposes of this review, if we say “he”, “his”, “lil Euf” or “little guy”, we are indeed talking about the Eufy 11+ robot vacuum.
The Eufy 11+ is a Robocop-looking vacuum cleaner that serves as an upgrade over Eufy’s popular model 11, and that “+” comes with some nice features. The 11+ model automatically boosts the suction power when the unit is going over thicker carpet (it turns off this boost automatically to save power when back on low ground), and the 11+ has a HEPA filter that is 24% bigger than the previous model, meant to pick up more pet hair, dander and other allergens. This version also has a better battery (up to 100 minutes of life), a larger capacity dust bin (.55L), bigger wheels, and a sweet remote. Eufy is very easy to program, and the instructions are printed simply, and on a single page, which makes for a quick and easy setup. Now that the description is out of the way, how well does this bad boy work?
Overall, I am quite pleased with Eufy’s performance, albeit with a couple gripes. In our office, we have linoleum, wood flooring (part of it covered with a thick-ish rug) and medium-light carpet, all of which Eufy tends to do rather well on. He shines the most on flat surfaces, doing great in our kitchen/living room combo, and even though there's a lip separating the two areas that Eufy has to climb or descend, he generally handles it with aplomb (and a bang). I was also happy with the collision detection on the whole, and seeing the little guy carefully maneuver around the table and chair legs in our dining area is always fun to watch, kind of like a blind robot using itself as a cane.
Another plus is how pleasant Eufy is to look at, and coupled with the fact that I swear he sometimes follows me around the office, it can seem like having a pet in the house, so if you don’t have a pet, Eufy can double as a furless companion. In fact, unlike your shedding pet, Euf cleans up pet hair like a champ! After bringing in a few dogs for a couple days, Eufy 11+ cleaned up really well over both carpet and linoleum, his dustbin stuffed with dog hair. Long haired humans, however, are a bit of a different story.
Eufy does pick the hair up, no problem, but if you or someone you live with has long hair, you can expect to be cutting it out of the roller brush (normal for most vacuums, robotic or otherwise) with scissors, and you'll also be unwinding it from either side of the roller, where it seats into the unit. In short, if you live in a household with long-haired individuals (or really, just one individual), you’ll need to check the roller and brushes often, but luckily, Eufy is simple to dismantle and snap back together for quick cleaning.
The 11+ claims to have fall prevention, but I’ve seen this guy try to commit robocide many times, although the death-defying leap does require him to climb a rather steep lip (which is impressive to watch) before flipping himself over the drop, so his sensors might just be unable to tell that there is a two-stair drop into the abyss in front of the lip. Usually, I just shut that particular door, but sometimes I’d forget, and I have to say, after watching lil Euf take this tumble a number of times (including the times I’d just find him upside down, howling in robotic agony) he has held up remarkably well, with just a few scuffs for his trouble. I can confidently say that the no-scuff finish is the real deal.
Eufy is usually pretty good about avoiding obstacles, but there are two trouble spots that he consistently gets stuck on; under the (closed) fridge door, and under one particular recliner. Usually, I would just need to remember to pull the lever on the leg rest, which would make the chair too high up for Euffy to get stuck under, but the fridge was a constant source of trouble for the little guy. Also, he’d go at that thing like a dervish, smacking into it with force, jamming the front of the unit under there, then beginning his familiar beeping wail, like Lassie telling me that Timmy is stuck in the well. It was easy to just pick him up and turn him back on, but it happened frequently enough to be annoying. Something about that fridge would just confound his sensors a good amount of the time.
You can purchase a Eufy 11+ here, or get more information at their website, here.