Samsung Jet Bot+ Review: Is It Worth Its Premium Price?

Touted as the complete hygiene home solution, Samsung claims that the Jet Bot+ with Clean Station is capable of bringing a truly automated cleaning experience from start to finish and is the perfect device for homeowners looking to make home maintenance quicker and easier.

It costs two to three times more than other robot vacuums with similar features on the market. Can it outperform the rest of the competition and live up to its claims? Let’s put it to the test.

As with most smart robot vacuum cleaners, the design is fairly simple and minimalistic. Also, it functions solely as a robot vacuum. Unlike its predecessor – the Samsung Powerbot-E, the Jet Bot+ is not a 2-in-1 Vacuum and Mop Cleaning System.

First off, it was really simple to set up. Even the most technologically challenged folks would have found it to be really easy. Simply download and install the Samsung SmartThings app (available on both Android and iOS devices) and follow the instructions to pair the device with your mobile phone. As an existing user of a Samsung mobile phone, the app was already on my phone.

If you have Google Home set up, you will be happy to know that this is compatible and it will allow you to use the Google Assistant to activate and stop the Jet Bot+. It is a pity, though, that it doesn’t allow users to do more like “Clean Room 2 at 8.30am” or “Find Robot Vacuum”.

Once the robot vacuum is fully charged, it will start by mapping the areas in your home. It uses the inbuilt LiDAR sensor guide to navigate around furniture, tight corners and dark areas of the house. During this process, it might bump into corners and furniture as it learns its way around your home. It does get better and more precise with frequent use, although it still bumps into furniture that is too low for the LiDAR sensor to detect, like the base of a standing fan.

After the initial mapping process is completed, you can use the SmartThings app to select rooms or areas you want to be cleaned and you can even mark out No Go zones without placing physical barriers for a more efficient cleaning experience. Although simple to use, it would have greatly enhanced the user experience if there were more value-added features available via the app, like a notification to let you know the Clean Station was almost full and the dust bag needed a replacement, when there is an error with the sensor and it needs servicing of some sort or even simply to set a schedule for automatic cleaning. Right now, what you can do is set a downtime for when it should not be in operation. Also, in terms of responsiveness, I experienced some lag while the app was trying to sync with the device itself, but it was promptly dealt with after I closed and restarted the app.

From what I’ve seen and read in the market of other robot vacuum cleaners, they all work best on flat surface areas with minimal furniture although few have the ability to navigate through uneven flooring with a slight step. For old HDB flats like mine which have a slight step in multiple areas like the foyer, the kitchen, the yard and even the bedroom, it got a bit tiring having to physically move the robot vacuum from one area to another. It was able to successfully move its way down to some areas with a slighter step, but as expected, it wasn’t able to move back up again to continue working on other areas so I had to ‘rescue’ it every time.

So how it works is that it will clean the general area first, and then follow up by going close to the walls to get to the dust in the edges and corners. I put it to the test by placing some cereal, both broken and whole pieces in different areas in the living room – in the middle of the floor, under my daughter’s drawing easel and also right in a tight corner behind a door. To my surprise, it managed to clean all the pieces of cereal and the crumbs in all these areas, including that tight corner behind the door.

I noticed that some robot vacuums have a brush on both sides, but the Jet Bot+ only has one. While the main purpose of a side brush is to pull debris into the main brush’s reach, I did find that this one sometimes scatters the debris a bit further away, thus needing more than one pass to pick everything up.

According to Samsung, the Jet Bot is fitted with a High-Efficiency Brush that is made of soft woven textiles and anti-static threads that can reach deep into crevices to effectively remove fine dust and dirt on any type of floor including carpets and hard floors. The built-in Self-Cleaning Grinder also helps to break down hairs and pet fur into smaller particles to prevent dreadful tangles around the brush.

I don’t have any pets, but one good way to test this would definitely be the bedroom, specifically the dressing area where it’s common to find lots of hair strands on the floor after brushing and blowing. Upon inspection, I found the rotating brush was not tangled with long strands of hair. In fact, there were no traces of hair at all on the brush.

The Jet Bot+ comes with a 0.3L dust bin, which you will likely have to clear often for maximum efficiency. The entire 0.3L dustbin is fully washable to keep your vacuum clean and hygienic. Now, with the Clean Station, it will automatically transfer the dust from the Jet Bot+ to the Clean Station upon docking. The dust bag in the Clean Station has a dust collection capacity of 2.5L, which you can simply replace every 1 to 3 months depending on how often you use it and how much dust and debris is collected.

The Clean Station is also fitted with a Multi-layered Filtration System that traps 99.999% of fine dust for better hygiene without dust escaping back into the air. I’m sure many would agree that this is useful, but as our society becomes more environmentally conscious with a large focus on reducing and reusing, Samsung would have earned more brownie points for incorporating sustainability into their product design and offering a reusable option with the Clean Station, in place of the disposable dust bag.

If you are a discerning consumer in the market for a newly launched robot vacuum with premium features such as the LiDAR technology and Clean Station, these are certainly great upgrades to have. Alternatively, there are several other brands with the latest standard features which will do the job, and delight cost-conscious customers.

Only available in Misty White, the Jet Bot+ with Clean Station currently retails for S$1,099 in Singapore. The Jet Bot+ is also sold separately for S$799.

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Written by Joy Foo