I recently acquired a fairly new Kogan LX10 robot vacuum cleaner. How I came to receive it was via a mate who received it as a Christmas present. After a few uses, he decided it was not for him, and he told me if I didn’t take it away it was going in the bin. I took him up on the offer to see if it was as bad as he thought, and to review it for this blog.
I am no stranger to robot vacuums, as I have owned an iRobot Roomba 530 since 2012. This robot has had a good beating over the years with the only maintenance being a battery replacement, a few brush replacements and an upgrade to Roomba’s newer Aerovac bin, and it’s still going strong. I will make a few comparisons to the Roomba in this review, as the Roomba is what many of the Chinese robots on the market base their design off. My Roomba is essentially the same as the entry level Roomba 600 series that is still available from iRobot.
The Kogan LX10 robot follows the similar oversized hockey PUC design of the Roomba with two driving wheels a front caster and brush between the wheels that sweeps the dirt into a bin at the rear that is under vacuum. The main difference between the two is the LX10’s single bristle brush compared to the Roomba’s beater and bristle brush. The LX10 also has two front brushes compared to the Roomba’s single brush.
Unlike the Roomba, which is controlled exclusively via buttons on the top of the unit, control of the LX10 is mostly via the Kogan Smarterlife app or the Tuya app. Like many Chinese manufacturers, the app and its cloud components are outsourced to the Chinese based Tuya company and the Kogan app is merely a cut down reskin. The main benefit for the end user is you can use the one Tuya app for several products from separate manufacturers, also if Kogan ever go broke you won’t be left with an uncontrollable robot. On top of the robot there are just two buttons, home and power, which also double as a means of getting the robot into pairing mode. Why a clean button is not on top of the robot is beyond me, the robot sat at my friend’s house for over a month, not being able to be used, as he could not pair the thing with his iPhone. I eventually got it paired via the AP mode over the default EZ mode, which seemed reluctant to pair either with the Kogan or Tuya app on iPhone or Android. Once paired, the power button on the top of the robot started putting the robot into cleaning mode.
The LX10 robot’s navigation is pretty clever and uses a LIDAR sensor on the top to scan the room. You can monitor this via the app and create exclusion zones for the robot to avoid, unfortunately after using the robot for a week and setting up several spots where I didn’t want the robot to go near, all this info disappeared from the app. It was almost like it reset itself, I think this was also the last straw that led my mate to give up on the robot.
Included with the robot is a base recharging station and a clip on mop tank. The charging station is a finicky thing to manually place the robot on as where you would expect the robot to sit does not charge the robot, in fact the robot needs to sit a good 20 mm back from the upright part of the dock to make contact with the charging pins and also give you very little indication that it is charging, so first time setup is very hit-and-miss. While the LX10 is marketed as a 2 in 1 vacuum and mop, the mop tank is just a tiny water tank that keeps a Velcroed on cloth damp that drags along the floor. This is not as good as a dedicated robot mop that often scrub or spray the floor as they move around.
My final issue with the LX10 is the fact that it comes from and is branded Kogan. Once you own a robot vac, you will realise that at some point in the future you will need to replace the brushes and maybe the battery. With my 10-year-old Roomba, genuine and knock off parts are readily available from Amazon or eBay or genuine parts direct from iRobot. Search eBay for Xiaomi or Samsung robot vacs, and a plentiful range of brushes and accessories fill the listings. At the time of writing there was only one listing for Lx10 accessories on eBay and that was Kogan’s own listing, if they go broke or stop supporting this model of robot you are on your own.
Wrap up
While the LX10 seems to do an OK job of vacuuming, calling the damp cloth you attach to the back a “mopping function” is a bit of a stretch, also the app was rather annoying to set up and the unit overall also seems a bit cheap and plasticky. I believe this vac is actually a rebranded Realme TechLife robot vacuum that Kogan has currently on sale as the Kogan LX10 at the time of writing for $389.
My advice is if you are going to spend this much money on a robot vac, I would shop around for a more well known brand vacuum, and also check if parts and accessories are readily available from other sources as well. Currently, Target is advertising the Roomba 670 with app control for $399 while Aldi recently had a Samsung VR5000 with Wi-Fi and a physical remote for $399 that I saw yesterday marked down to $349. If you want to go for a cheaper Chinese unit, I would start looking at the Xiaomi range that would be in a similar price range. Also research, and double check that accessories are readily available from many sources for any brand you consider purchasing. Any of these would be a much better buy than the Kogan.