SwitchBot Mini Robot Vacuum K10+ review: our verdict on the world’s smallest robot vacuum cleaner

Price: £500 | Buy now from Amazon 

Our verdict 

Compact and powerful with an intuitive app, a self-emptying bin and a mopping tool, the SwitchBot Mini K10+ brings together all of the best robot vacuum cleaner features in one dinky unit. 

It’s effective at shifting dust and manoeuvres smoothly across different floor surfaces including wood, tiles, carpets, rugs and doormats. It's particularly good at edge cleaning - something that other robot vacuum cleaners can struggle with. And I've been impressed with the laser mapping feature which provides a really accurate floor blueprint so you don’t have to worry about it getting stuck or finding its way back to the charging station on scheduled daily cleans. 

Its standout feature is its size. Measuring 25cm in diameter, it’s smaller than your average dinner plate and lays claim to being the world’s smallest robot vacuum cleaner. It slides under beds, storage cabinets and coffee tables with ease in our house and navigates skilfully between dining room chairs. After testing it out over the course of a month, the novelty of watching it dodge obstacles, duck under furniture and find its way into dusty nooks hasn’t worn off. 

The fact that it cleans up after itself via a self-emptying bin and occasionally proclaims that “cleaning makes me happy” has seen it scoop the title as household MVP in our home. And my kids love using the app’s remote control to rid our floors of snack crumbs which is a HUGE win. 

It’s a pricey investment but it’s a capable, reliable and fun robot helper that takes charge of daily dusting in hard-to-reach spots without having to lift a finger. 

Read next: The best budget robot cleaners under £200

SwitchBot Mini Robot Vacuum K10+: How we tested 

• Tested in a family home over the course of a month

• Used on wooden floors, ceramic tiles, vinyl flooring, carpets, rugs and doormats

• Set up daily cleaning schedules and tested on-the-spot vacuuming via the app’s remote control 

• Tested vacuum and mopping functions using all power settings 

The SwitchBot has been used daily in our downstairs open-plan living area (a mix of wooden floors, ceramic tiles, vinyl flooring and rugs) and on a weekly basis to tackle carpets upstairs. I tested its ability to navigate, map and store floor plans and looked at how effective it was at completing scheduled vacuuming and mopping tasks as well as on-the-spot cleaning via the remote control. I tested the SwitchBot over the course of a month in a four-bedroom house home to two adults, two kids and lots of crumbs. 

Read next: The best vacuum cleaners, as tried and tested by Mumsnetters

SwitchBot Mini Robot Vacuum K10+: What’s in the box?

• SwitchBot K10+ vacuum cleaner 

• Charging station with self-emptying bin

• Mopping pad plate

• Edge sweeping brush (x2)

• Dust bag (x2) 

• Bin filter (x2) 

• Pack of disposable mop cloths 

• User manual 

Related: The best robot mops for shiny floors

SwitchBot Mini Robot Vacuum K10+: How easy is it to set up?

While it’s not a straight-out-of-box product, I found it easy to charge, connect to the app and figure out how to use it thanks to the straightforward user manual and simple app instructions. 

You’ll need to plug the charging station in, slot a dust bag inside the bin unit and make sure the vacuum itself is connected to the dock. A full charge takes around four hours and in the meantime you can download the SwitchBot app, connect to the WiFi network and give your vacuum cleaner an all-important nickname. We plumped for Ronaldo after we chose Messi when testing its competitor, the Samsung JetBot AI+ to help us determine the true robot vacuum cleaner GOAT status. 

How does the SwitchBot Mini K10+ measure up against other robot vacuum cleaners (and dinner plates)?

• SwitchBot Mini K10+: 25 x 25 x 9cm

• Eufy 15C Max: 32 x 32 x 7cm

• Samsung JetBot AI+: 36 x 36 x 10cm

• Ecovacs Deebot T10 Plus: 35 x 35 x 10cm

• Eufy X9 Pro robotic vacuum and mop: 35 x 32 x 9cm

• An average dinner plate: 27 x 27 x 0.5cm

How do you control the SwitchBot Mini Robot Vacuum K10+?

You can hit the on button on the cleaner itself and it’ll start out on a mission to clean the surrounding area but it’s best to get it to map your living space using its LiDAR sensor (similar to the tech used in self-driving cars). It’ll detect and avoid large objects and get a feel for each room layout so that it can work out the optimal way to pick up dust (or mop) and then remember where to go (and where not go) on subsequent cleans. 

The app allows you to create cleaning maps of different rooms and floors and you can cordon off no-go zones if you don’t want the robot to interfere with fireplaces, pet bedding and prized possessions. 

You can also control the volume and the cleaning strength and set up customised cleaning schedules via the app. For on-the-spot cleaning, it’s better to switch to the remote control setting, a fun feature that kids will no doubt love to help you with. 

Related: The best vacuum cleaners for pet hair

What’s the SwitchBot Mini Robot Vacuum K10+ like to use day to day? 

A breeze! Once you’ve done all the prep work and the SwitchBot has familiarised itself with your house layout, you can relinquish control of the floors and let it do its thing. I scheduled it to tackle our whole downstairs area every morning at 9.15 and having observed it on its first run and set up a no-go zone to avoid a pile up of kids bikes and scooters in our downstairs loo, I felt confident in its ability to find its way around and clean thoroughly, even when out of the house. 

For post-dinner crumbs that I wanted to shift immediately, I’ll admit to reaching for my trusty Vax Blade 4 cordless vacuum cleaner but you can place the SwitchBot Mini in the offending area and set it up clean via the remote control. It just takes a little longer, although it’s admittedly way more fun. Bear in mind that you’ll still need a vacuum cleaner or a handheld vac to deal with stairs. Robot vacuum cleaner designers are still a few iterations away from nailing this. 

A particular highlight in our cereal-obsessed household is its ability to gobble up Cheerios at an impressive rate instead of flinging them far and wide on contact.

It’s also quiet when in use. I tended to use the standard setting on hard floors and the max setting on carpets. There’s a quiet setting if you’re desperate to clean without disturbing others but it’s not as effective and I found the standard setting quieter than other robot vacuum cleaners I’ve tested. 

Read next: The best cordless vacuum cleaners for quick clean-ups

How well does the SwitchBot Mini Robot Vacuum K10+ deal with carpets and hard floors?

The SwitchBot deftly moves across different surfaces and while I found it better at lifting dust from hard surfaces, it performs pretty well on carpets and rugs too. I found it useful to set it up to clean carpets or particularly dusty areas twice for a more thorough clean. Note that on its second run, it’ll move vertically across floors after first cleaning horizontally - a great way to ensure a rigorous clean.  

Hybrid robot vacuum cleaners and mops are typically fitted with mop brushes and water tanks but the SwitchBot comes with a mopping plate that you wrap a disposable cleaning cloth around (you get a pack of wipes to start off with). It certainly cuts down on bulk, weight and faff but the result is more akin to a light whizz round with a wet wipe than a full mop. If you don’t mop your floors on a regular basis, the cloth method is fine for general upkeep. It would struggle with bigger spills and dried-in stains though. 

Bear in mind that it gets confused and struggles to locate itself if you move the docking station around or if you move the unit to a different floor without creating a map. It’s best to set up a downstairs map and save it and then move the base unit and cleaner upstairs together to set it up as a completely different map. Once done, you can move the cleaning unit independently. 

Read next: The best carpet cleaners for spotless floors

What’s the SwitchBot Mini Robot Vacuum K10+ like to empty and keep clean?

The vacuum cleaner unit itself has a small dust box but when it returns to the docking station it (loudly) rids its own dust and debris from the canister into a dust bag. You’ll need to replace this every couple of months (70 days according to SwitchBot) and although SwitchBot says the dust bags aren't reusable, I’m planning to empty the dusty remnants into our wheelie bin and use it again. 

Is the SwitchBot Mini Robot Vacuum K10+ good value for money? 

Although £500 is a lot to spend on a household appliance, it’s around half the full price of its closest competitors, the eufy X9 Pro Robot Vacuum Cleaner and the Samsung JetBot AI+. And while the SwitchBot doesn’t feature the eufy-style mop brushes or come with a built-in camera like the JetBot, it’s significantly smaller than both units and can reach nooks and crannies that its bulkier counterparts can’t. This is a major advantage when it comes to getting a thorough clean, especially if you have a small space and/or lots of furniture that can make things tricky to navigate. 

And while you can pick up a budget robot vacuum cleaner for less than £200, you won’t get the kind of suction power, mapping capabilities and self-emptying features that come as standard with the SwitchBot K10+ apart. 

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About the author

Rachel Erdos is an Editor at Mumsnet where she commissions, edits and writes content with a focus on product reviews, homeware roundups and family travel.

She’s written buyer’s guides for publications including Expert Reviews and Coach as well as reviews and features for the Guardian, TripSavvy and Visit London.

As a mum of two, she’s always on the lookout for products that make life easier (and cleaning feel like less of a chore) at home and loves putting appliances and gadgets to the test to highlight best buys for families.

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