SwitchBot K10+ robot vacuum review: Petite and powerful

Smart robot vacuum cleaners have constantly improved for the past few years, with newer models getting more powerful, smarter, and bigger. A perfect example is the Dreamebot L30 Ultra, one of the most innovative robots we’ve reviewed, but it also comes with the bulkiest base stations we’ve seen for a robot vacuum cleaner.

While these bigger models are perfect for larger homes, it’s hard to imagine them in a small studio apartment. There are less capable models featuring more compact docks, like the Roborock Q8 Max Series. However, the robot is still relatively large, with almost all models on the market measuring about 13 inches.

Thankfully, SwitchBot has developed the world’s smallest robot vacuum cleaner, the K10+, the perfect solution for people living in smaller apartments. It’s about half the size of most robot vacuums, allowing it to discreetly fit inside your house and clean in narrow spaces where other models can’t go. Being so compact doesn’t mean the K10+ can’t do much, as it also comes with a mopping feature and can even empty itself automatically in its tiny dock.

Price and availability

The SwitchBot K10+ is selling on Amazon and SwitchBot’s official store for $500, with only a white color option available. It was discounted at $400, so it’s probably best to wait instead of paying full price.

Design, hardware, what’s in the box

Compact, powerful, and robust

By now, you’ve probably figured out that the K10+ is smaller than other robot vacuums, but let’s look closer at its design. The K10+’s base station is particularly small, measuring only 10.28 x 8.27 x 12.72 inches, making it one of the smallest in self-emptying robot vacuums. Its rectangular design has a large LED light in the middle, separating the white top half from the black bottom.

The bottom part charges the robot and empties its dust bin automatically when it’s docked, while the upper part houses the 4L dust bag. The latter is neatly housed under a liftable top panel with a pack of disposable wet wipes and the mopping module. The latter ingeniously latches onto the inner part of the dock’s top cover, helping save space while being stored within the robot’s station.

As for the robovac itself, it’s tiny, measuring about half the size of standard models, with dimensions of 9.8 × 9.8 × 3.6 inches. This makes it easier to fit into your interior if you live in a small apartment and allows it to clean in tight spaces where other models can’t go. Despite its smaller measurements, the K10+ still comes with everything you’d expect from a robot vacuum cleaner, including physical control buttons and a LiDAR dome on top, sensors around it, a bumping board at the front, and the regular wheels, sensors, and brushes at the bottom.

Like most robot vacuums, the K10+ has a top panel covering the dust bin and HEPA filter. It’s maintained in place thanks to magnets, but fully detaches from the robot’s body when you need to access the dust bin and pull it using its handle, which you only need to do if you’re replacing the HEPA filter.

The K10+ comes with a single side brush and a rubberized and bristled brush roller, allowing it to lift and capture dirt from grouts and carpets. Sadly, the mop module needs to be clipped over the brush roller, meaning the K10+ can’t vacuum and mop simultaneously. Also, whenever you want to use the robot to mop, you need to take a clean wipe and install it on the module by attaching it using plastic clips, which is quite cumbersome.

Regarding build quality, SwitchBot has done a brilliant job, and the robot and base look and feel durable. The materials are solid, well-finished, and make the overall product very premium, leaving a strong feeling of quality and reliability.

Setup, software, and features

Efficient and intuitive mapping with a few customization settings

When used for the first time, the K10+ needs to map its surroundings and get acquainted with its environment. The app offers an option to start cleaning and mapping concomitantly. Still, there’s a slightly hidden option to perform a quick mapping, which is often a better option as you probably don’t want to wait for the cleaning cycle to complete to customize the map.

Talking about the map, the latter is generated quickly, and the K10+ does a good job of representing your home on a map and separating the rooms from each other. The map can be edited to merge or separate rooms, with the option to create virtual walls, no-go zones, and no-mop areas. A great option is also the robovac’s ability to handle multiple maps, which is handy if you have a multi-floor apartment or plan to use it in different places

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Regarding cleaning options, the K10+ can either mop or vacuum and automatically switches to mop mode when the mop module is installed. Otherwise, it lets you pick from four cleaning modes, from Quiet and Standard to Strong and Max. The settings menu offers a few more customization options, including enabling an automatic suction boost when sensing carpets or a Reduced collision mode.

When it comes to cleaning, the K10+ can start a full cycle or clean only specific rooms or zones according to your preferences. The robot can also be scheduled to clean the whole house or specific rooms or zones, allowing you to fully customize how you want it to run.

Regarding daily usage, the app is relatively simple to use. It offers relevant information about the robot, including its battery percentage and stats about the latest cleaning cycle, including the surface cleaned and the cycle duration. The robot’s path is also shown on a map, allowing you to spot areas it may not have been able to clean due to obstacles and which rooms it may not have been able to reach.

Similarly, the SwitchBot app provides reports about the robot’s usage and overall accessory usage, making it easier to identify when it’s time to replace the bag or filter, for example.

Finally, in addition to the app, the K10+ can be operated using physical buttons on the robot and Google Assistant, Alexa, and even IFTTT. There’s also an interesting tidbit, which allows you to use SwitchBot NFC tags to start or pause vacuuming, start recharging, or empty the dust bin. SwitchBot will also add Matter support in January 2024 but will require a SwitchBot Hub 2, which is sold separately.

Cleaning efficiency and battery life

Good cleaning results and navigation, but perfectible obstacle sensing

The SwitchBot K10+ comes with a relatively modest suction power of 2,500Pa. While this may not seem like a lot, it’s more than enough given its size and allows it to vacuum efficiently. Its rubber brush comes with nylon bristles, allowing it to reach deeper into grouts and crevices to clean carpets more efficiently.

The overall cleaning result is good on hard floors, especially for normally soiled floors. The robot’s built-in ventilation system may blow some dirt away while it cleans, making a second pass a safer option to return to dust-free floors. The results are also convincing on thin rugs, but the K10+’s limited suction power isn’t the best bet to deeply clean thick carpets.

SwitchBot’s approach to mopping is relatively unique but not perfected. Indeed, installing the mop module itself takes a minute or two, as you need to remove a clean wipe from the pack and install it on the module, which must be placed below the robot’s brush roller.

Besides this painstaking process, the K10+ doesn’t apply any pressure when mopping and doesn’t feature a built-in water tank to continue dampening the mop. As a result, it dries after about 30 minutes of cleaning, requiring it to be replaced frequently. This approach is not environmentally friendly and doesn’t clean the floors very well. You also need to go through the extra preparation steps, and the cleaning cycle has to be shorter than half an hour.

With its built-in LiDAR and SLAM navigation system, the K10+ does an excellent job mapping its surroundings. The robot can also autonomously navigate from one room to the other and position itself on the map without issues. It’s also very agile and can easily fit into tight spaces where no other robot vacuums can.

When cleaning a room, it starts by outlining and cleaning along the edges. The robot also does a good job cleaning along the baseboards, performing a slight rotation to ensure dirt is captured. Also, its small size often means it passes through the same area more often than a larger robovac. This, however, has the drawback of making the overall cleaning time almost twice as long as with another robotic vacuum cleaner.

Besides some built-in sensors, the robot is also pretty bad at sensing obstacles. It happily moves shoes and slippers around the room when cleaning and tries to climb over stuff it should avoid, such as ledges and table legs. The main issue with this behavior is that it gets stuck and stops cleaning, while it could simply go back and resume its job instead of requiring manual intervention. The same applies to cables and smaller obstacles, which are vacuumed and tangled around the main brush roller.

The K10+ is one of the quietest robot vacuums around, as it’s barely audible in Silent and Standard modes, making it a perfect option if you’re often at home in a tight space and want to work or watch TV. The Strong and Max modes are slightly louder, but less noticeable than most robots, which is also due to its modest vacuuming power. Surprisingly, the bumping board makes an annoying clicking sound every time it hits something. It’s not very noticeable per se, but it’s a little annoying at first, as it literally sounds like someone clicking with a computer mouse next to you.

Regarding battery life, the K10+ can last a little over two hours in quiet mode and up to an hour in max mode. With this in mind, it’s a great choice to clean up to 1,000 square feet on a single charge, keeping in mind the robovac can automatically return to the dock to recharge before resuming its task in case the battery runs low.

Maintenance and care

Easy maintenance overall, but beware of pet hair

Thanks to its self-emptying base, the SwitchBot K10+ requires little maintenance despite its small dust bin. The 4L bag in the dock is large enough to last several months without needing to be replaced, making it a worry-free option. While the self-emptying base makes a loud noise when emptying the bin, it only lasts a few seconds and can even be scheduled to avoid making noise at night.

Also, since there’s no reusable mop, you only need to throw the dirty one in the trash after a cleaning cycle. Although it makes maintenance easy, I’m not necessarily in favor of using disposable wipes instead of a reusable mop, especially considering the impact single-use mops can have on the environment. Besides this, installing the mop takes effort and time, making it a solution most people won’t rely on.

As for the overall care, replacing the filter and bag is seamless, and the rest of the sensors only require a quick wipe. The station doesn’t need any specific cleaning routine either, and the only painstaking task you have to perform is to clean the hair that gets tangled in the main brush. Sadly, SwitchBot’s choice to use nylon bristles instead of a bristleless brush means a fair amount of hair gets tangled around the brush, making it a questionable choice if you have shedding pets at home.

Competition

The SwitchBot K10+ is relatively unique because there aren’t other robot vacuums with such a compact form factor. That being said, some similar models are slightly bigger, but can also vacuum and mop, despite being bigger.

For instance, the Dreamebot D10s Plus offers double the suction power, slightly better mopping functionality, and AI-driven obstacle avoidance for a similar price tag.

If you have a bit more money to spend, the Roborock Q5 Pro+ comes with much better vacuuming capabilities, including dual brush rollers that are better for cleaning carpets, as well as 5,500Pa suction power, with basic mopping abilities. It costs $200 more, though, but is easy to snatch for about $500 when there’s a good deal.

Should you buy it?

The SwitchBot K10+ is a unique product featuring the world’s smallest form factor for a robot vacuum cleaner. It’s a well-built product with good navigational abilities, allowing it to fit and clean in narrow and tight spaces. The robovac offers good vacuuming performance and can reliably empty itself in the tiny base station, making it a perfect solution for small apartments. It’s also very quiet, which makes it a good choice if you’re working from home or want to use it while watching TV.

Unfortunately, it struggles with obstacles, meaning you need to clean up everything before you start it, or it may move shoes around the apartment and munch on cables. Also, its mopping feature is more of a gimmick than actually useful, making it hard to rely on for actual cleaning.

Overall, the SwitchBot K10+ is a great and innovative vacuum, but is slightly overpriced given the results. It has a relatively low suction power, an impractical mopping function, and poor obstacle detection. At the same time, other similarly-priced options can do better at a similar price despite being bigger. If you don’t have pets or obstacles lying around the house and prefer a discreet and petite option to automate your vacuuming, the K10+ is worth considering, especially if you can get it at a discounted price.

However, you should consider other options if you want a deep-cleaning robot vacuum that can also mop and avoid obstacles, as the SwitchBot K10+ doesn’t excel in these areas.