Budgies... funny pets, but they make a lot of dirt for their size. Feathers, sand and grain husks all around the cage. And if they have free flight, everywhere else too.
So it's no longer enough to just vacuum every few days. But who wants to push the vacuum cleaner through the apartment every day? We don't.
Experience makes you wiser
So the decision was made quickly - we want a vacuum robot. Our last vacuum robot from DirtDevil, which I bought years ago as a Cybermonday deal, unfortunately only had a shock sensor, so it drove haphazardly through the area and simply turned a few degrees with each bump. I ended up killing it after moving when I used the wrong power supply to charge it.
You always learn something though. Our new robot vacuum cleaner was supposed to be "smarter," not rumble haphazardly through the rooms, but navigate through the apartment using software and sensors. You can spend a lot of money on this. More than we wanted to spend, our self-imposed limit was a maximum of 300 €. But there are already good entry-level models with mapping functions and sensors.
Functional jungle
But which model to choose? A suction station would be cool. But the robot had poor suction and navigation performance according to tests. On top of that, it was also at the price limit. A suction station wasn't worth that much to us. The robot should suck and is good.
The latest trend seems to be a built-in wiping function. You attach a cloth to the bottom of the vacuum robot and fill water into a tank, the robot still wipes the apartment. I find little exciting, realsitisch he just pulls a damp cloth and with him the dirt through the apartment.
So a simple autonomous vacuum cleaner with suitable suction power is enough for us.
Agony of choice
So in the end, you filter the available devices by function and price. Many models were then not left and after studying reviews and tests crystallized a favorite: Roborock E5*
Roborock is known as a cheap alternative to the well-known manufacturers like Vorwerk or iRobot. Inexpensive doesn't mean cheap in this case, though - the suction performance is in the upper mid-range and the pathfinding is based on an automatically generated apartment map in combination with various sensors. The Roborock E5* has the unnecessary wipe function on top of that.
With a price of under 240 €, it was also easily in our budget.... Bought.
He does
The assembly after delivery was quite simple. Control wheel, rollers and side brush on. Insert dust bin and off to put on the plugged in station. With that, the vacuum is ready to go. If you don't want to use "smart" features, i.e. the app connection via WiFi, then you can use the vacuum like that. Simply press the button on the top and off it goes.
But it then becomes really useful "smart". You tie it into the app and now you can control it more finely and automate it. Via the app, you can determine in which mode the vacuum runs, from quiet to balance to full power. Balance currently does a good job for us. For carpets, the Roborock E5 automatically increases the suction power - very good.
What we also did - a schedule. Every day at 16:00 the robot starts automatically and makes its way through the living room, hallway, bathroom and bedroom. In the process, it creates a map and remembers where it has already been. It doesn't miss a single accessible spot, and I was pleasantly surprised by the results.
We haven't used the wipe function yet - I'll possibly add that at some point.
Conclusion
I would buy the Roborock E5* again anytime. It helps us keep the bird mess under control without having to do any of the work ourselves. The thorough cleaning via navigation and the adjusted suction power depending on the surface I find super. The only unusual thing is that you should no longer leave anything small on the floor - or unstable things. It has already knocked over the parasol once.
Once you have identified the problem areas, the Roborock E5 does its job without complaint - and the apartment is much cleaner. From me: purchase recommendation!
Stay fluffy!