Samsung Powerbot VR9000 review

The top-mounted camera is just one of the sensors used to help the cleaner navigate your house. It also has cliff detection sensors in the underside of the unit to stop it from taking a tumble down the stairs, an IR detector for spot cleaning, and something Samsung is calling a FullView Sensor for detecting obstacles like furniture. This worked well in practice, slowing down for table legs and coffee tables rather than bashing into them at full speed to avoid damage. Rubber bumpers around the edge of the vacuum will also soften the blow.

Like any robot vacuum it will take some time to learn the layout of your home, and during this settling in period you’ll likely need to dislodge it from anywhere it gets stuck, but after a while it was perfectly comfortable cleaning our living room, hallway and bedrooms. We did have some trouble getting it to locate the kitchen, but after a few passes of the living room and bedroom it was happy enough to venture further afield.

Our main irritation is there’s no way to see a map or visualisation of the VR9000’s route, to see if there are any sticking points or problems with your furniture layout that are causing it to trip up when cleaning. We came home one night to discover it had trapped itself on a clothes horse, and another to find out it hadn’t actually made it into the kitchen at all – despite all the doors being open and there being no obstructions on the way. A smartphone app could alert you to these errors, or even give you manual control over the internet to help it get back on track. This could possibly be something for Samsung to consider for 2015 and beyond, unless the company wants to fall behind the likes of Dyson.

Once it does eventually learn a sensible route, you may need to stop it from entering a particular area. Thankfully Samsung also includes VirtualGuard IR emitters in the box; as the cleaner detects stairs automatically, these are best used as invisible walls to prevent it from knocking into plant pots or disturbing your pets. Each one projects around 2.5m outwards, which should be more than enough to fence off a door should you want to limit cleaning to a particular area of the house. Each emitter takes two D batteries, so you won’t have to worry about running power cables around the room.

Suction, arguably the single most important function for a vacuum cleaner, was without a doubt impressive. The VR9000 collected more dust than a handheld stick cleaner, with fewer passes. It wasn’t perfect, losing out to a full-size vacuum when it came to more stubborn spills and larger debris, but for fine dust it worked brilliantly. Unfortunately the design of our suction meter meant we weren’t able to measure the VR9000’s performance empirically, but it certainly performed better than other robot vacuums when it came to collecting dirt and dust. The brush bars will need to be cleaned regularly if you have pets in the house, however, as it can get quickly tangled with hairs and other long threads.

The VR9000 certainly isn’t quiet enough to leave on while you’re watching TV, even on the standard suction setting. Rated for 75dB on the Max setting, it’s noticeable throughout the house, albeit at a lesser volume than a standard vacuum cleaner. It’s quieter when returning to the docking station after finishing, and there is a low noise Silence mode should you want to avoid disturbing anyone, although the suction drops off to the point that we would suggest simply waiting until everyone is out of the house and send it round at the regular setting.