CleanMate 365 (QQ-1)

 Metapo sent us their Cleanmate 365 for review. Lets see if it can handle the dirt.

• What's Included?:
• CleanMate 365 Robot
• Remote Control
• Wall Charger
• 2 extra air filters
• User Manual

Design and Features

  The features as listed on the box: Embedded Remote Control; Automatic Cruise System; Removes Allergens and Pet Hair; UV Ray Disinfection; High Efficient Rolling Brush; Warning Alarm when Stuck. You can pick from three colors, red, silver and grey. Our unit was a pretty color of red with silver accents. It has "photo sensors" that allow it to detect stairs and keep it from falling down them, self-timer, five modes and a slot for fragrance. It also has a front "bumper" that tells the unit when it has run into something. There is a sensor that keeps it from getting stuck under furniture and the rolling brush is easy to remove for cleaning. There is a side, spinning brush, a handle for easy moving, and a window to see how full the dust bin is as well.

Embedded Remote Control:

 The remote is small, lightweight and easy to hold. It rests in the top of the CleanMate where you can leave it during all operation or remove it and keep it with you. It's pretty small and I was a little afraid of losing it, I lose a lot of things in my house so I opted to leave it in the top of the unit for the most part. From the remote you can start it on automatic vacuum mode, turn the vacuum motor on and off, change between the modes, turn the ultraviolet light on and off, set the timer, stop the unit and steer it manually (forward, right, left, reverse). To actually turn the unit on and off you must use the switch on the side where the wall charger plugs in.  

Automatic Cruise and the Five Modes:

 Turn the unit on and press the start button either from the remote or the unit itself and it whirs to life. The vacuum start and the unit begins to move, vacuuming your floors while cycling through the five modes. It cycles through them in this order: Special bounce, spiral, along wall side, spiral, "S" shape, spiral polygonal spiral, spiral. Special bounce randomly bounces from object to object, such as a wall or a couch leg. Spiral does as the name suggests, spiraling outward until it hits an object. Along wall allows the unit to "learn" where the wall or other such solid objects such as couches or tables are, so that it can run along side the wall or other object effeciently. "S" shape moves in a straight line across the room before making a right turn, straight again then a left turn and the process repeats. Polygonal spiral is very similar to the regular spiral except that instead of constantly curving it moves in straight lines before turning, making sort of a straight spiral shape. Depending on your room shape and size or the area you want to vacuum, you might like one mode versus another. I personally tended to leave it in automatic mode and let it have at the rooms. Very large, open rooms would benefit more from specific modes such as spiral or "SS" shape. The Along Wall Side mode is very efficent at running right along the wall side and always uses the side with the little spinning brush so that it can pick up as much as possible. The only downside to this mode is that the CleanMate can run itself into the wrong room if you don't keep the doors shut and it can take it several tries before it works its way out of a tight corner or around a piece of furniture.  

UV Ray Disinfection:

 The UV ray is optional and is turned on with the remote. You are warned not to look directly at the UV light, not to touch it as natural oils on the skin will damage it and that it is a permanent fixture and cannot be removed or replaced. I really don't know if the UV light is effective at actually disinfecting. Though there are many scientific studies showing UV lights ability to disinfect.

It uses more battery power than if it is off, but without actually setting a timer to it and with the randomness of the vacuum procedure I really can't say how much more of the battery it uses.  

Rolling brush (beater bar) and side brush:

 The rolling brush is the equivalent to a beater bar on a standard vacuum. The side brush is a flower-ish shaped brush that spins to collect things that might fly away or be at the edge of the vacuum area. The rolling brush comes out easily, much like a toilet paper holder comes out, for easy removal of built up dust and hair. The CleanMate is pretty good at picking up most small debris and dustballs but I found that with certain kinds of hair it doesn't pick them up as well. Short, stiff dog hair and long human hair (such as from a female like myself) are difficult for the unit to pick up, I think mostly because the vacuum opening is rather small and the hairs can not get pulled into it easily. It seems to have the vacuum power to suck up hair, but my hair seemed to just wad up at the vacuum opening. Even when it wasn't actually sucking hair into the dust bin it collected it at the bottom of the unit where I could flip it over and pull it off and throw the dirt in the garbage. The side brush is very handy and catches a lot of debris.  

Dust bin:

 The dust bin is easy to remove. You pull part of the cover off and pop out the dust bin, pull off the filter and dump it in the garbage. It's very simple. It doesn't hold a whole lot, but that is obvious from the size of the entire unit. I reccomend emptying it after each use. 

Warning Alarms:

 It alerts you when it gets stuck or when the battery is too low for it to continue vacuuming with a clear, loud beep. It is very effective.  

Light/photo sensors:

 Testing the height sensor, we tried to have it fall down some stairs, but the CleanMate did its job and stopped itself when approaching the edge of a surface. There is also a sensor that keeps it from getting stuck in the dark under furniture, I think it basically makes it seek light if it is too dark. It also supposedly finds the brightest part of a room to come to a rest in when it is finished, but I can not verify that as my home is pretty well lit. However if the sun is bright and your window blinds aren't down completely and an intense patch of light is shining in, the CleanMate will stop when it comes into the bright light and turn, as if it has hit a wall or other object. I am not sure why it does this, but I found that on the sunny side of the house I had to make sure the window blinds were down completely.  

Performance and Testing

The CleanMate 365 is very easy to use, especially if you don't want to read the instructions right away. I did have to flip through the manual to figure out a few things such as how to change the modes and set the timer, but for basic functionality you can set it down and literally press start and watch it work. First thing is that it is an attractive unit, ours was red with silver accents. The round shape keeps it simple and all the buttons are easy to locate. I especially like the "embedded remote control". It sits in on top of the unit where you can leave the remote even during operation. I have hard wood floors and did not get a chance to test it on carpet, but based on observations I think it would work just as well on most carpets. There is a warning though, on the box and in the manual: Do not use the CleanMate on plush or long fur carpet.

When I started the unit it was fun to watch it as it whirred around on the floor. The cats weren't sure they liked it but my eight year old son sure did. It was all I could do to keep him away from the remote. First thing I noticed was that even though it is technically loud, as any sort of vacuum device is, it wasn't excessively so. I could turn the television up a few notches and hear it just fine, we could talk over it easily. It wasn't hard to ignore it as it did its thing, especially if you're cooking dinner or catching a few minutes of your favorite show.

Cleaning Pattern Modes:

The bumper on the front works very well. When it bumps something such as the wall, it stops vacuuming, reverses a few inches and turns and begins to vacuum again. What mode the unit is in depends on how it acts when it bumps into an object. Along Wall Side mode, the unit will bump into the wall or other objects repeatedly until it lines itself up just right so that it can clean the straight edge. Special Bounce randomly bounces from wall to wall and Spiral, "S" Shape and Polygonal Spiral all continue their pattern where possible. In automatic mode it switches between each different mode, going into Spiral mode between each different mode. The CleanMate can easily work its way out of a room, so if you want to keep it in a certain area, make sure to close all the doors or place an object in it's path that it can not pass.

If it manages to really miss a certain spot, you can manually move the CleanMate with the remote. It can move forward, right, left and reverse. It will not vacuum except when moving forward, and stops moving forward to turn right or left.

Suction and Power:

I found that the suction is powerful enough for most light debris, but the actual opening to the dust bin is not big enough for some things such as some types of hair or dried leaves.

It picks up most dust bunnies quite well, but it isn't so powerful that it is going to suck up small toys or cords. In fact when testing it in the bedroom, it came across a sock under the bed and pushed the sock out for me so that I could retrieve it! Objects on the wood floors that were light enough for the unit to push, were easily scooted along in front of it, especially if they were too big to slide under the CleanMate. The manual warns that if you have breakable objects on the floor that you should move them, and I would agree that anything light and breakable should be picked up. The clean mate could scoot even some shoes around (not rubber soled sneakers, but shoes with a smooth sole), so potentially breakable objct would need to be of some weight to keep from ebing pushed around. The CleanMate does not hit most objects hard enough, in my opinion, to break a typical "breakable" object such as a glass vase or ceramic planter.

However if the item is especially fragile or thin, I would recommend moving it. When the CleanMate is in Along Wall Side mode it can bump into object frequently, or if it is stuck in a corner so again, breakable things should be moved. When vacuuming around the computer desk, it managed very well around the cords and such that hang behind the desk. It didn't tangle in anything, but that could have been luck- most of the cords were pretty thick. If there were thin wires or cords it could become tangled. When passing by the xBox it did snag the cord for the controller (it was hanging to the floor and I didn't move it to see what it would do) and pull the controller to the floor, but the unit did not get tangled in the cord. I was very surprised. I wouldn't recommend letting it vaccum around cords but if it happened to get near some I don't think there is a serious danger. I don't think it would rip or break any cords.

Review Summary

 In short, the Metapo vacuum is an inexpensive way to handle light dusting and cleaning of hard surface or very low pile carpet floors. It does it very well, but cannot handle large debris (all of the current cleaning robots are this way). It has many unique features such as the fragrance slot (which we were unable to test due to a lack of fragrance), the remote, choice of patterns, UV disinfecting lamp.

• PROS 
• Great for light, hands-off vacuuming. 
  
• Can use on hardwood floors when you don't have the time to sweep. 
  
• Won't suck up your childs favorite toys. 
• Rechargeable, Quick recharge time. 
• Will not fall and damage itself
  
  CONS
• Not meant for heavy vacuuming. Won't pick up large debris.
  

EDITOR RATING

4 out of 5

For more info about the product see the manufacturers site www.metapo.com