Today I’m getting my hands on one of the most affordable robot vacuums with a self-emptying base that also has the biggest accessory kit I’ve seen. The Lydsto R1 comes with 6 extra disposable bags as well as 30 disposable wipes for mopping. It includes a self-emptying base, has Lidar, and all that cost less than $399.00 on Amazon. Let’s see how good is the robot at cleaning and navigation, shall we?
Lydsto highlights:
- Very affordable price tag
- Self-emptying base. No need of changing the bag for up to a month
- The box contents 6 disposable bags
- And 30 disposable mopping wipes
- A relatively big 250 ml water tank
- Automatically increases suction on carpet
- Room cleaning, nogo zones, zoned cleaning support
- Saves up to 3 maps
- Customizable suction water level for each room
- A large 5,200 mah battery provides 150 minutes of runtime
Lydsto R1: Cleaning and mopping, navigation, other tests
Appearance
The Lydsto somehow reminds me of Viomi products. The Lidar on the center, white and orange color scheme, underneath looks very similar too. To save some space, the robot uses a 2-in-1 dustbin and water tank. The 250 ml water container and 200 ml dustbin.
A 3L disposable bag can be replaced about once a month depending on usage. The box includes 6 of these. The self-emptying base sucks up the dustbin content from the side. This design is more efficient and provides stronger suction power however there are some issues I will talk about later.
The robot also comes with 30 disposable mopping cloths. Aside from the disposable cloths, the robot has a regular mopping cloth and a pad.
Its size is average for those types of robots. The base is heavy yet does not look bulky.
A large 5,200 mAh battery is on the biggest side. It provides 150 minutes of cleaning on low power and up to 90 minutes on low. Underneath there is a cleaning brush, one side sweeper, and two wheels. The cleaning brush looks very similar to what we've seen in many similar models. Detachable side tips make maintenance easier. As a long-haired person, I must say such things do make a difference.
Navigation & Mapping
The robot has a Lidar on top and a bunch of other sensors to navigate around. It builds a map of the cleaning area and moves back-and-forth methodically covering it all. If the place is too big, the Lydsto calculates how much power it needs to finish the job, returns to the base and recharges to a needed power, and then resumes cleaning.
It does not have a front 3D sensor so it is not able to spot small objects on its way.
Navigation is not as smooth compared to other high-end devices but let's not forget the price of this thing. And don't get me wrong, it's still good but not the best. Occasionally it bumps into things a bit too harsh and its movements are a bit awkward tho coverage is on par with other top-notch models.
The map looks accurate tho, I have no complaints as well as the time the robot takes to clean my place is on par with my Roborock S6 MaxV which is really good.
The app
The robot can be paired with the Lydsto app (iOS / Android). Unfortunately, the international version of this model doesn’t work with the Mi Home app like most of the other robot vacuums from the Xiaomi ecosystem. The Lydsto app seems okay and in most cases, it works just fine, but still has some bugs and needs polishment. Occasionally crushes, switches settings to what is on default, no-go lines randomly rotates under a few degrees when saving the map, and English localization still need some polishing. But on the good side, it has lots of features such as no-go/no-mop zones, zoned cleaning, room cleaning and it does allow setting suction level and water output for each room which is an option only a few high-end models support.
The main menu shows a created map, from here you can set water level and suction power, and edit the map. When editing the map, you can set the forbidden (no-go) zone, merge/divide/rename the rooms, set water output and suction level for each room.
The robot also saves up to three maps. In the custom mode, you can set suction mode and water level for every room.
You can also send the robot to clean a particular room, or a specific spot (1.7 x 1.7m).
Zoned cleaning allows to choose how many times (2 or 1) clean a zone, however, when I selected to clean a zone 2 times, it cleaned only once. Looks like a software bug.
If you need to clean a bigger zone, there is an area cleaning that can be customized.
Scheduling includes
- setting how often to repeat cleaning
- when to clean
- select cleaning mode (water level and suction power)
- cleaning area to choose (select which rooms you want to clean)
As to other features, you can select the volume of your robot's voice, set secondary cleaning (to clean the chosen area twice), edge cleaning, and turn on Auto Boost that increases suction on carpets. It’s off by default.
Cleaning performance
As usual, I put it through all kinds of cleaning tests with sand, debris, cat's and human hair on hard floor, low and medium-pile carpet.
I would say, it struggled the worst with kitty litter and sand on hard floor. However, on low-pile carpet it showed one of the best results with sand.
Somehow it is not able to pick up heavy debris like kitty litter on hard floor and I have no idea why. It does the job on carpets and debris is not an issue for it too. On hard floor, it was able to pick up 71.7% of sand. Most high-end robot vacuums manage to score ~96-99%. However, on hard floor pick-up test, it did the job of picking up close to 100%. The same goes to pick up debris on medium and low-pile carpets scoring 97% and 98.5% respectively.
| Surface | Bare floor, debris | Bare floor, sand | Medium-pile carpet, debris | Low-pile carpet, debris | Low-pile carpet, sand | Total score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cleaning results | 99.6% | 71.7% | 97% | 88.6% | 98.5% | 91.08% |
On low-pile carpet, the Lydsto scored 88.6% of sand which is not the best result among high-end models but is better than average.
As to day-to-day cleaning, I didn't notice any issues, I like the way the robot vacuums and mopping would be okay too except for one thing. My cat tends to spread kitty litter over the floor and the robot leaves lines in mopping mode. Other than that, the mopping is okay, just average at this point.
For the mopping test, I made coffee, sauce, and soy sauce stains and let them dry. It was able to remove mayo sauce and coffee stains but soy sauce was out of its limit. For a day-to-day mopping, the Lydsto is more than suitable for as long as it doesn’t have to deal with tough stains or kitty litter.
The filtration system looks a bit strange to me too. Even tho it has a pre and screen filter, the main HEPA filter looks dirty after a few uses. Normally it happens after heavy usage and actually, my main robot's filter that is used every other day does not look this clogged. I am not sure if that affects cleaning performance, I didn’t notice it to be any different.
But I like the self-emptying base. I was surprised by how good it sucks up things. It handles pet hair and other kinds of debris. In the app, you can select how often the base should suck up things after one, two, or three cleaning cycles. I would recommend after one cycle as it prevents the filter from clogging which leads to decreasing suction.
What I also noticed is when the bag is half-full the base does not suck that well anymore. When I tried to fill out the dustbin with sand, cat hair, and debris it wasn't able to empty the dustbin even after three attempts. Only when I dumped the bag's content it finally sucked up all the debris.
But let's be honest, how often you deal with this much debris? On a day-to-day basis, it doesn't have issues handling the cat's hair, dust, and other debris.
Price and Where to buy
The Lydsto R1 is on sale on Amazon for $399.00. You can get an additional 10% discount with the coupon code LYDSTOMC2 so the final price will be $319.
It is also available in other regional Amazon stores and on Aliexpress, check the links below:
Lydsto customer support details
- Official website: http://www.lydsto.cn/
- Phone Number: 0769-82873826, Monday to Friday, 09:00-18:00 (Beijing time)
- Contact email: mountain.han@lydsto.cn
- After-sales support: service@lydsto.cn
Conclusion
The Lydsto R1 is the first robot vacuum with a self-emptying base I have reviewed and for the first experience with such a machine, it did not disappoint me. The base works just fine for as long as you keep the bag more or less half-empty. If you don’t have to deal with heavy debris which is not common for most users it would do the job well. The app needs polishment but in general, is usable. It has lots of features of high-end devices like cleaning modes for every room which I have seen in a few models only.
As to cleaning performance, for as long as you don’t have to deal with heavy things on hard floor like a big amount of sand, the Lydsto should be just fine. The cleaning results were on par with other devices in this price range. For a robot vacuum with a mopping feature and lots of accessories in the box that also empties itself, the Lydsto R1 is a decent cleaner to buy. It has the most affordable price tag among machines with self-emptying technology.