Retail giant Amazon will today launch hundreds of deals spanning across beauty, home, fashion and more, with the home section particularly brimming with more affordable buys for shoppers from 6pm onwards this evening.
Spring cleaning products we expect will be a huge hit for Amazon fans this week (with the likes of Ms Hinch claiming Amazon buys are the best in some of her trending videos), shoppers will be able to pick up multibuys of their best cleaning essentials for reduced prices but for a limited time only.
In comes vacuums, with many electricals being the ones to watch out for. Here Gareth Butterfield reviews the Lefant M1 to see what all the fuss about and to if the price tag is really worth it? It's currently reduced to £219.99 in the Amazon sale.
READ MORE: Amazon Spring Sale 2023 and how to get best deal for cheapest price
Robot vacuum cleaners and robot mops are a marvellous time-saving device. I've tested plenty over the years, and my go-to "tag team" consists of two models from iRobot range.
But while Roombas and Braavas have a solid reputation for quality and performance, they also come at a price. And there are lots of alternatives out there.
Robot vacuums can be had for a few hundred pounds, and the same goes for robot mops. It's not hard to find a decent combination on the same device for around £500 - and I've tested a few of those - the latest being the new Lefant M1 which, on paper at least, certainly punches above its weight.
It's a vacuum and mop combination with a suite of premium features, the most important of which is the inclusion of LIDAR - a laser-based technology that can "see" obstacles and walls and this means more efficient mapping.
LIDAR technology transforms a robot vacuum and, in the case of the Lefant M1, it couples with artificial intelligence to plan its cleaning route, keep an eye on changes in the surroundings and schedule its cleaning routines.
To have all this in a unit that costs £499 sounds impressive, but how does it work in practice? The first thing I'll say is I'm happy to report it vacuums very well. I haven't found a single robot vacuum that will get into all the nooks and crannies, but the M1's well-placed flailing brush does a pretty good job, and it sucks up as well as any other vacuum I've tested, especially at this keen price point.
This is helped by its impressive 4,000pa suction power, and the fact it's a little bit smaller than some of its rivals at 32cm, which helps it get into corners.
The mop is also good, with a 160ml water tank and a strong jet. The mopping pad is easier to clean than some I've tested, and it's nice to have a controllable jet rate.
The dust collection bucket holds 520ml, which is good for the unit's size, but the base it returns to for charging is just a charging base, there's no dust collector on it
Lefant's app is good. It makes it easy to set up exclusion zones and identify parts of your room you'd like to focus on, although it did take a few attempts to hook the robot up to my 2.4ghz WiFi.
Once connected, it works seamlessly with Google Assistant and Alexa, which is good to see, and setting up schedules and one-off custom jobs is very easy.
Battery life seems strong, Lefant says it's enough to cover 200 square metres, or 150 hours, but most people will find it finishes its job and goes back to top up long before it runs low.
The only problem I found in regular use was its ability to cross room thresholds. While the vacuum tackles varied surfaces very well, the mop attachment sits quite flush to the ground, so it will struggle to hop from room to room if you have raised dividers like me. It won't be a problem for everyone, and it's definitely not unique to the Lefant M1, but it's worth bearing in mind.
And it's worth reiterating that all this technology is bundled in to a robot vacuum and mop combination that costs £499 on Amazon right now. (See below for a chance big savings on this price!)
Yes, it's possible to pack all these features in for less money, but I've tested the alternatives and they don't perform quite this well.
Overall the Lefant M1 is a solid performer for a sensible price. It's not a budget robot, but it's certainly not priced at a premium, either. But the premium features you get make it well worth a look.
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