The Good:
Price
Works as
advertised
Useful
remote
The Bad:
Difficult to
get
No Warranty
No App or
Wifi control
Price:
Php 2,500 in
HMR or OLX
Verdict:
Do you hate vacuuming?
Are you as lazy as me? Then maybe a robot vacuum might be just what you need?
Stirling may not a household name. This
is the first time I encountered the brand. Stirling is an Australian brand
which sells washing machines, microwaves, and others home appliances. Their
robot vacuum cleaners are overstock items imported from Australia and sold
locally through warehouse dealers like HMR. I was able to get mine through an importer from OLX. Usually, the starting price for a decent robot
vacuum is about Php 7-10 thousand so when I saw the price of Php2,500 I just
had to give it a try.
In the box
you get the vacuum, extra brush, charging base, remote and a sensor
for places you want the vacuum to avoid. Setup is straightforward. However, I urge you to read the manual as the remote control setup requires you
to pair it with the vacuum using a unique code. This is very important because using the remote makes this vacuum more
efficient.
I’ve been
using this vacuum for over a month, and I
must say that I’m very impressed. Using it is very easy, it has sensors and AI
built-in so it will find the best way to clean. While it does like to take its
time cleaning, I
discovered that auto mode works best at the same time using the remote to point
it in the right direction. It does tend to get stuck under low objects like chairs if the height is
just tall enough that the sensors think
that there is no obstacle. Also, it works best on
hardwood floors. One nice feature is that will return to its charging base
automatically once its battery gets low or you can also use the remote.
It’s
difficult to find faults in a product that does so much but costs a fraction
of the price of other robot vacuums. There is no APP or WIFI to control this device, and you can’t integrate it with Alexa or Google Home, but it does what it’s supposed to, which is to
clean automatically. It may not have the
all the bells and whistles of a Roomba, but
if you want
a cheap and straightforward robot vacuum, it ’s hard to find something
better than this.