Kärcher RCV 5 Review: Good Suction but Far Too Pricey

Worth When Reviewed

Not obtainable within the US

Kärcher is just not resting on its laurels. A few weeks in the past I had the chance to check one of many producer’s new air purifiers, now I’ve the pleasure of testing one other new product from the identical firm: the RCV 5 robotic vacuum cleaner.

Andreas Bergsman

A robotic vacuum cleaner from Kärcher? Sure, the model’s product portfolio might be broadened significantly in 2023 and it’ll quickly be related to extra product classes than high-pressure cleaners and heavy-duty vacuum cleaners.

The robotic vacuum cleaner follows the identical color scheme as Kärcher’s air purifiers and is available in white, versus the attribute yellow we’ve come to count on from the producer’s extra ‘conventional’ merchandise.

Trendy? I’ll depart it to others to determine, however the high quality is sort of good and all detachable components (mopping unit, mud container, brush curler) simply click on into place with an ideal match.

Andreas Bergsman

Set up is comparatively fast; you employ the devoted app to attach the vacuum cleaner to your own home community, which then updates it with the most recent firmware. Then it’s time for a fast spherical, with out cleansing, to map the house through a laser-based navigation system.

The important thing right here is to clear the world as a lot as you possibly can to make the journey simpler and to get probably the most correct map attainable.

App and efficiency

• Three cleansing modes
• Editable map in app
• Impediment avoidance hit or miss

The app may be very straightforward to make use of. As soon as the mapping is full, you possibly can edit the house and identify the completely different rooms, add digital partitions and various kinds of no-go zones. You can too customise the cleansing (suction energy and quantity of water for mopping) in addition to select between three completely different cleansing modes: vacuuming, mopping or a mix of those.

The robotic makes use of laser sensors and a digicam within the entrance to detect and keep away from small objects (equivalent to sneakers, socks and cables) and it really works more often than not. I examined it by putting an influence cable and a pair of headphones on the ground. It noticed the cable (and confirmed it on the map as an impediment) and easily prevented it – however the headphones had been sucked up with none concern.

Andreas Bergsman

Andreas Bergsman

Verdict

Relating to vacuuming, the RVC 5 performs very well on the entire, masking room after room systematically and comparatively shortly. Like nearly all robotic vacuum cleaners, it misses some filth in corners and the easier mopping unit must be seen as a complementary half for much more efficient mud assortment slightly than a stain remover.

There’s no lack of accessibility and, other than the headphone blunder, it successfully avoids frequent obstacles on the ground floor in addition to detecting and avoiding mopping carpets.

To see our most advisable robotic vacuums, take a look at our round-up of the very best robotic vacuum cleaners we’ve examined.

Specs

Mannequin: RCV 5
Producer: Kärcher
Battery: 5,200mAh
Runtime: As much as 120 min
Suction: As much as 5,000 Pa
Mud bin: 0.33 litres
Water tank: 0.24 litres
Mapping: Laser (LiDAR)
Communication: Wifi
Related app: Sure
Map perform: Sure
Room division : Sure
Appropriate with Google Assistant/Amazon Alexa/Apple Siri: no/no/no
Robotic dimensions: 350 x 350 x 97mm

This text was first revealed in Sweden’s M3 and has been translated for Tech Advisor.