In the field of sweeping robots, Stone Technology has become a domestic brand that has been in the limelight in recent years, and with the cleaning experience and obstacle avoidance performance at an appropriate price, it has created a product image that is generally recognized by users and the media in a short period of time. After the sweeping robot entered the "arms race" period of dust self-cleaning, sweeping and dragging integration and other functions, stone technology products still maintained a leading position in many aspects.
Last summer and autumn, Lei Technology deeply experienced the then flagship self-cleaning and dragging robot Stone G10, and found that Stone Technology is still prominent in the new competitive situation. More than half a year later, the next generation of product Stone G10S was officially launched, what progress has it brought compared to G10, and how many advantages does it still have in the case of a large number of new selling points brought by competitors in the same period? This article will explore them one by one.
The classic look continues
The appearance of the stone G10S is quite familiar, basically a small modification of the previous generation: there is a raised LDS navigation module on the top, a metal contact for base charging on the side of the fuselage, but more 3D structured light obstacle avoidance module. On the other side is an electric water tank that can be replenished at the base station, and the top cover can be opened to remove the dust box, both of which we are quite familiar with.
Come to the bottom, or the cleaning combination of unilateral brush + TPU glue brush + easy-to-remove wipe cloth, the maintainability is quite good, and it can be removed for deep cleaning through the snap and Velcro. It is worth mentioning that the stone G10S did not open a separate hole for the dust collection function, but directly through the bottom suction port to reverse the garbage, which shows the space-saving ingenuity and confidence in performance of the R & D team.
To put it simply, the Stone G10S continues the most classic circular sweeping robot shape in the appearance of the body, and there is no particularly obvious change point except for the hardware related to obstacle avoidance. However, almost all other parts have been modified for the shortcomings and user feedback of the previous generation of products, which makes me have a good impression of this sweeping robot that looks like a modification but is actually a comprehensive upgrade.
Please call it the "all-powerful" base
The biggest change is naturally in the base part, after a series of accumulations such as charging, dust collection, hydration, self-cleaning, etc., Stone Technology finally brought a sweeping robot base that integrates all the above functions. The appearance can be intuitively seen that the water tank, sewage tank and dust bag part that the G10 does not have are set up, which means that the user does not have to wash the mop and manually take out the garbage.
The water tank and sewage tank seem to be occupied by the newly added dust collection part, but after the longitudinal elongation, there is still a good wiping cloth cleaning and the body tank replenishment ability, which will not change significantly for the upgraded users. The water tank handle has become a little easier to hold, the possibility of clamping hands is greatly reduced, but it is still a little difficult to lift it to open the lid, and the silver ion module is added to the bottom of the water tank for bacteriostatic.
The bottom of the base station is still cleaned by spraying water + scraping brushes to clean the wiping cloth of the G10S body, but the removability and internal space are slightly changed, and it is not so easy to accumulate dirt, which makes the maintenance and cleaning experience of long-term use improved. At this time, it is only a few months before the previous generation of products on the market, and Stone Technology's attitude and iterative efficiency of product improvement are worthy of recognition.
Next, let's talk about something new, adding dust collection capacity under the seemingly unchanged base station volume, which is equivalent to a built-in vacuum cleaner sucking the garbage in the body into the dust bag. The dust bag part has a good-looking transparent plastic shell, and the dust bag itself adopts the quick-release mode familiar to the users of the stone sweeping robot, which seems to be compatible with other dust collection products, and the existing dust bag consumables can be directly used.
G10S body into the base of the ramp, set up a directly facing the suction port of the dust collection channel, and the body design is quite suitable, the stone App can be set separately charging, cleaning or dust collection working mode. From my actual experience, the body does not have a separate opening hole to use the dust collection function of the existing design, which is quite reliable, and the garbage in the machine can be sucked into the dust bag, and there will be no leakage.
According to the official stone technology, after that, it will provide users with optional automatic drying, automatic water supply and sewage accessories, then cleaning the wiping cloth and water tank water drainage will be more simple and convenient. For users who are allowed and have needs, the Stone G10S will have a lot of upgrade space, and all accessories will have the top peripheral capabilities of the current sweeping robot after they are added.
Still reliable daily sweeping performance
After talking about the base that makes the sweeping robot more convenient to use, let's take a look at the body of the stone G10S.
After all, this round cake-like thing is helping you carry out daily ground cleaning work, how well it can be done will directly affect the amount of work to be spent on each cleaning, and the sweeping robot can solve the main cleaning tasks on weekdays, so the cleaning will be much easier.
The Stone G10S greatly improves the suction power, and the maximum gear, that is, max+ gear, will reach 5100Pa, at which point the mopping will be turned off as a pure sweeping robot. Even if you switch to max+ gear, the G10S's working noise has not become louder, of course, if you want to be quiet and not disturbing, you still have to lower the gear or let the G10S clean when no one is at home.
Stone G10S default working mode is sweeping and dragging at the same time, first inhale dust and then wipe the floor can effectively complete the cleaning, users can also customize the cleaning combination according to their needs, pure sweeping, pure wiping and cycle times can be set in the App. Like the stone sweeping robot before it, users can specify specific cleaning areas and can also be evoked through voice assistants such as Xiao Ai.
Due to the inheritance of a large number of morphological characteristics from the previous generation, the stone G10S naturally follows the vibrating mopping design, which is officially called sonic vibration constant wet mopping. From the name, it can be intuitively understood that it is a cleaning cloth attached to the fuselage that vibrates repeatedly and continuously wets the cloth with water, thus obtaining the working mode of wiping ability, and the cleaning efficiency has been verified on the stone G10.
This is a bit counterintuitive, although the vibrating mop of the stone G10S does not seem to be "the right medicine" for many competitors in the same period, but in the actual experience, it exceeded our expectations again. At the highest level, the G10S can cope with moderate to mild ground oil stains and dirt without dragging obvious marks on the ground to cause secondary pollution.
This performance may be related to the independent suspension of the stone G10S floor wiping module, multi-purpose brushless motor and other designs, which achieve a smooth mopping experience in a smaller volume. In addition, this sweeping robot also has the ability to actively lift the mop module, so it will not pollute the ground outside the mopping work, and it also has better passability in the face of carpets and other scenes with height differences.
Less stumbling, more worry and effort
When using a considerable number of sweeping robots, I often fall into confusion: obviously these products have the ability to build and navigate with a lot of precision, but when it comes to specific cleaning tasks, it is indispensable to avoid indoor obstacles through collisions, although they all have buffer structures to avoid damage, but the sound of collision and the experience of easily knocking ground objects apart are really not very elegant.
The 3D structured light barrier avoidance set on the front of the stone G10S on the front of the fuselage is a significant improvement: the number of times it will hit walls, leg of the table or other items during the cleaning process is greatly reduced compared to the previous generation. In addition, you can avoid pets, even if you watch them clean at home. Because of the infrared light filling involved in the work, turn off the lights and in the sofa, under the bed and other positions, it can also accurately find the way.
Another significant change is the map experience on the App side, due to the upgrade of the mapping algorithm and obstacle avoidance ability, the G10S can identify the category of ground items fairly accurately, whether it is a bed, sofa or electrical appliances will be automatically marked one by one. Compared with the past, users were required to manually set forbidden areas and mark items, which is really a lot of worry, and the addition of 3D maps also makes it more intuitive to observe and build maps.
The popularization node of high-integration sweeping and dragging robots is coming
Finally, let's briefly summarize the stone self-cleaning sweeping robot G10S.
merit
1. The ability to avoid obstacles and build maps has been significantly improved, and the user experience has a lot of worry
2. The base integrates a large number of practical functions and makes detailed improvements to the feedback
3, wiping, dust collection and other functions have high availability, has been easy to maintain the design
4. The App design is intuitive and concise, and supports mainstream smart speaker voice control
insufficient
1. The ergonomics of the water tank have room for improvement
The Stone G10S makes us feel the fierce competition of sweeping robots, which must integrate as many functions as possible to gain a foothold, and Stone also responds with R&D capabilities and reliability at the product level. There are more and more highly integrated and efficient sweeping robot products, and the price is also developing in the direction of being close to the people, and it is more and more likely to be popularized among users who accept sweeping robots.
At the same time, we should also note that the relationship between product force and product form may be counterintuitive. For example, vibration mopping and shared channel dust collection seem to be less accurate and direct than rotating mopping and independent duct dust collection, but under the premise of ensuring the actual experience online, this kind of practice makes the fuselage space greatly saved, which can bring significant improvements such as obstacle avoidance.