Pretty much everyone has heard of a Roomba, the little Robot Vacuum that became so popular all over the place. Well I’ve had a Cleanmate QQ-1 Robot Vacuum for about two years now and I love it… What? You’ve never heard of a Cleanmate? Well then you’ll like this review, it’s of the newest Cleanmate Robot Vacuum, the QQ-2 model. It’s essentially an upgrade to the QQ-1 model, with a home charging base that the QQ-2 goes back to and charges by itself, then it goes on cleaning your house till you tell it to stop. I’ve got three kids and two cats, so I’ve put the Cleanmate QQ-2 through quite a bit of work cleaning and I have to say that it actually performs better than the QQ-1 version, I love this little robot just as much as the first model… Yes I love a robot, it’s just so cute… then Skynet became self-aware…
Infinuvo QQ-2 Cleanmate Robot Vacuum
Reviewed by: Kristofer Brozio AkA Dracos
Sponsor: Metapo / Infinuvo
Tech Specs,Features or the Basic Info:
Infinuvo QQ-2 Cleanmate Robot Vacuum
The CleanMate Family
The CleanMate family of personal cleaning assistants sweeps and vacuums the rooms of your home so you can spend your time doing more enjoyable activities. From short pile carpet to hardwood to tile, CleanMate handles a variety of surfaces with ease.
Each CleanMate goes under beds and other places where upright vacuums can only dream of reaching. CleanMate cleans dirt, dust, and pet hair while simultaneously killing bacteria with ultraviolet light and deodorizing with an air freshener package.
CleanMate is even smart enough that it won’t fall down steps or elevated surfaces. Every CleanMate comes with an easy to use remote that fits right on top when you’re not using it so it doesn’t get lost.
QQ-2
Our latest addition to the CleanMate family has all the functionality of the QQ-1, but includes a dock where the QQ-2 returns for automatic charging when low on power. After recharging, QQ-2 can be preset to resume cleaning.
Its five-step repetitive rotation movement effectively cleans each room, while the included compact remote allows you to direct the unit to do spot cleaning on especially dirty areas.
Features:
-Automatically returns to home base for self-recharging when low on batter power.
-Resumes cleaning 40 minutes after battery recharge completion.
-Auto-off feature conserves power when unit is not in use and being recharged.
-Compact size remote control which is embedded into upper cover.
-3 1/2 hours quick battery recharge completion.
-UV light provides disinfection.
-Using photo sensors, the CleanMate avoids stairs so it won’t fall down.
-It will stop automatically and make an audible alert if it gets stuck.
-Easy roller brush removal for cleaning.
-Debris level is visible via dust bin window.
-A five-step repetitive rotation pattern guarantees the most effective way to fully cover all of your room.
-Timer for cleaning time setting.
-Built-in slot to put fragrance for odors removal.
-Three washable filters.
-Noise level: 80dB at distance of 20cm.
-Suction capability: Vacuum fan speed 5.2 meter/second.
-Capacity of dust bin: 0.3 liter.
-Nickel metal hydride (NiCD) 2500mAh Battery.
-Cleaning capability: 30 minutes at area of 4.8m x 3.2m.
-Unit Dimension: 14″ x 3.6″.
-Box Dimension: 22″(L) x 6″(W) x 17″(H).
-Shipping weight 13 Lbs.
Find the Cleanmate QQ-1 and QQ-2 at ShopZilla
{mospagebreak title=
A Better Look at Things
Pg1}
A Better Look at Things
Pg1:
The Infinuvo Cleanmate QQ-2 Robot Vacuum comes in a large, brightly colored box with a nice carrying handle on the top. The back of the box has lots of features listed along with a nice diagram of the Cleanmate QQ-2 pointing out the main parts of the vacuum.
The box is the type that opens up similar to a suitcase, inside we find an owners manual on top of stryrofoam packing, and under that we find the Cleanmate QQ-2 and it’s accessories packed snugly in for fitting styrofoam as well.
Unpacking everything we find that the Cleanmate QQ-2 comes with a battery, user manual, AC power adapter, remote control, home base charging station, and two extra filters (three total, one is pre-installed)
The Cleanmate QQ-2 Robot Vacuum is very attractive, and it comes it two different colors, white like I received for review and a green model.
Here’s a few overview shots of the Cleanmate QQ-2 before we get into details on the next page:
There is an indentation on the cover near the back edge that acts as a carrying handle, it makes it very easy to carry from place to place. The rounded gray part of the front of the QQ-2 is the bumper sensor to allow the QQ-2 to know when it hit something and change direction.
{mospagebreak title=
A Better Look at Things
Pg2}
A Better Look at Things
Pg2:
The remote snaps into the lid of the QQ-2 for storage, and so you don’t loose it.
When the remote is removed it reveals a window that allows you to see into the dust bin, it’s kinda cool to watch the Cleanmate suck things up into the dust bin and you can tell just how full it is as well of course.
Pushing the button below the remote allows the cover to be removed to access the dust bin to remove it for cleaning, also you’ll find a small cleaning brush there as well. The cleaning brush is used to clean the filter quickly and easily between charging.
With the dust bin removed we can see down inside the QQ-2, the long narrow slot is where the dirt enters, and above that is a space to put a solid scented object like a dryer sheet or other solid type of air freshener. Getting sort of an angle shot we can get a peek at the actual vacuum fan as well, which is the second picture below.
The dust bin is clear so you can see the contents, and the filter has a flexible rubber frame that just slips into the end of the dust bin for easy removal and replacement.
There is a main control panel on top of the Cleanmate QQ-2 where you can access some of the functions of the robot. There are several LED indicators and even a display that tells you the time remaining if you set the timer or the mode the vacuum is in. There are also three buttons, one for power, start/stop and one to set the timer, most other controls are done with the remote.
The remote can actually control the QQ-2 just like a remote controlled toy (fun-fun), it has arrow buttons for up, left, right and reverse, it also allows you to turn the UV light, and the Vacuum motor on and off. There are also controls on the remote for power, timer, mode switching and a home button to tell the QQ-2 to find it’s home base and recharge.
{mospagebreak title=
A Better Look at Things
Pg3}
A Better Look at Things
Pg3:
We’ve got a few more things to take a closer look at before we jump into the movies I have for you and my final thoughts of just how the QQ-2 performs….
The front edge of the QQ-2 is where the infrared sensor is located for the remote and also where the light sensor is so if the battery is getting low the QQ-2 will find a bright spot and stop there instead of it just stopping under a bed or somewhere hard to reach.
On the back edge are three charging pins that mate with the charging base station, or you can use the AC adapter to plug directly into the QQ-2 though the jack on it’s right side.
The bottom of the Infinuvo Cleanmate QQ-2 is the real business end of things. Here you’ll find the UV light that helps to kill nasty germs and bacteria that might be on you floors or in your carpet.
On one side of the QQ-2 is an edging brush as well to help clean along baseboards and such:
The main brush goes almost he entire width of the QQ-2 Robot Vacuum, and is located right in front of the collection slot with a rubber squeegee type attachment behind that.
The QQ-2 is driven by fairly large wheels located on both sides, these wheels have decent treads and are made of rubber for good traction.
Towards the back, between the wheels is the battery compartment, once you install it you’ll never have to take it out except to maybe replace it. I’ve had my QQ-2 for almost two years now and I think it’s finally about time I get a new battery, so it does last quite a while…
Installation, Testing and Comparison
As I mentioned in the introduction I’ve got three kids and two cats so it always seems like I or my wife are vacuuming the house everyday, it’s a real pain honestly… I’ve had the QQ-2 for almost a month and it has gotten quite a workout, being used every day for at least one cleaning cycle.
It would have been used more but my two year old son is afraid of it, so I really couldn’t use it while he was around…
I decided to give the Cleanmate QQ-2 a test run right after I actually got finished vacuuming the house with my Dirt Devil upright vacuum cleaner. I was very surprised at just how much stuff the Dirt Devil missed when vacuuming, it was mostly dust, fuzz and hair but still other little bits where picked up by the QQ-2 as well.
The QQ-2 model is actually much quieter than the QQ-1 version, something that I appreciate greatly.
Like the QQ-1, the QQ-2 has ‘warning’ lights on it’s sides that blink when it’s in motion. The QQ-1 has red lights while the QQ-2 has green lights.
The base is an interesting addition to the Cleanmate Robot Vacuum, but if you have everything carpeted as I do it’s almost worthless as the QQ-2 has a hard time docking with it. It does say in the instructions to use the charging base on a hard flat surface, but I thought my low pile carpet was going to be good, I was a bit wrong on that assumption. The charging base is actually kind of heavy do to it’s metal plate on the bottom to keep it in place while the QQ-2 is docking. When plugged in and ready to be used the base has a bright LED that lights up to let you know, and there is a button next to it labeled go that can be pushed to let the vacuum know that it should continue cleaning after it is recharged. I showed you earlier the three charging pins on the back of the QQ-2, on the base are three metal plates that the pins touch to complete the charging circuit. Above those pins is small hole that has what looks to be an infrared sensor inside of it, this is just to communicate with the QQ-2 to tell it where the base station is.
And yes the QQ-2 does everything it states in the features, and it does all of it very well.
The error beep when the QQ-2 gets stuck can get kind of annoying though, at least until you figure out it’s limitations, I quickly found that I had to pick up the small area rugs that I have or the QQ-2 would go up on them and then get stuck and beep until someone rescued it. I also found it did similar on my cold air returns for my furnace, except these are set down a bit and the QQ-2 would go down and get stuck, of course beeping for help.
The charge on the battery lasts about 90 minutes, and a few minutes less if you are using the UV light, but only a few minutes.
Before we move onto the movies I have for you, here’s a picture of the QQ-1 and the QQ-2 next to each other. They look pretty much the same, but I like the colors of the QQ-2 much better, and I also found out the remote for the QQ-2 works for both the QQ-1 and QQ-2 so I could control both at the same time… kinda cool and fun…
{mospagebreak title=Movies Pg1}
Movies Pg1:
The Infinuvo Cleanmate QQ-2 has six cleaning modes, and five patterns of cleaning. When you first turn the QQ-2 on and push start it is in default mode where it will switch through each of the five cleaning modes every 30 seconds.
The five cleaning modes are:
1. Spiral
2. Special Bounce
3. Along Wall
4. ‘S’ Shape
5. Polygonal Spiral
I’ve found the Spiral cleaning mode is pretty much the best, you can start the QQ-2 Robot Vacuum in the center of your room and it will spiral outward and clean from there, so the first video is of the Spiral pattern.
This next movie is just a few second of the other four modes so you can get an idea of them:
I’m sure you want to know how the Cleanmate QQ-2 cleans, well getting products for review I always seem to have pieces of packing peanuts everywhere so I thought that might make a nice demo. You’ll see that the QQ-2 doesn’t really like large pieces, after all the collection slot is rather thin, so don’t expect it to pick up large objects. In the following video you’ll see the QQ-2 cleaning, and wait till the end because I show you just how much it really picked up, and you’ll be surprised…
The next movie is sort of a mini obstacle course for the QQ-2 to give you an idea of how it avoids things and maneuvers around.
In the following video you’ll see how the QQ-2 docks with it’s home base charging station, you’ll see it does have a hard time on carpet but does get there.
{mospagebreak title=Movies Pg2}
Movies Pg2:
Here’s a very brief movie running in the dark to show the lights:
The next three I threw in for fun basically…
This one is of using the remote to control the QQ-2 and to turn the vacuum motor on and off.
Here’s the QQ-1 and QQ-2 both running the Spiral pattern, you can see the QQ-2 is much quicker than the QQ-1.
And here’s the two of them again.. sort of a race…
Well that’s that…
Summary:
The Infinuvo Cleanmate QQ-2 does have a couple minor faults, but overall it’s a great product that I can easily recommend to anyone thinking of getting this type of cleaning robot.
It does what’s expected of it and does it well, I was truly surprised at the amount of ‘stuff’ it collected even right after I vacuumed with my standard upright vacuum cleaner.
I do think the charging time is a bit much, and well the dust bin is a bit small, but these things can be changed. I love the fact that it is quieter than the QQ-1, I can actually watch TV and let the QQ-2 do it’s thing, with the QQ-1 that was almost impossible.
DragonSteelMods gives the Infinuvo QQ-2 Cleanmate Robot Vacuum a 4.5 out of 5 score and our Recommended Award as well.
Pros:
-Fast
-Long run time
-Includes 3 filters
-Scent compartment
-Fairly quiet
-Picks up what upright vacuums miss
Cons:
-Small dust-bin
-Long charge time
I would like to thank Infinuvo / Metapo for the chance to review the Cleanmate QQ-2 and for their support of DSM.
review# 270