Very strong, but also expensive
In 2016, Stone and Xiaomi launched the Mijia sweeping robot, which applied the path algorithm to the sweeping robot for the first time, and brought the sweeping robot into the intelligent era with its own strength.
After the explosion of popularity, the stone has made great progress, and classic models such as T6 and T7 have been launched one after another, all of which have received good market response. After entering the era of all-round base stations, Stone released a number of G10 series models, both in terms of sales and word of mouth, ranking the first echelon in the industry.
Nowadays, when it comes to stone sweepers, the labels that come to mind are basically "excellent algorithms" and "stable quality" - of course, with the quality "soaring", as well as its price.
It's strong, but it's also expensive.
Stone "kill" crazy
From left to right: Stone G10S Pure, Stone G20, Stone P10
According to the convention, every spring is the time when the major sweeper brands are crazy "fighting".
In February 2023, Stone first released the optimized model of Stone G10S, Stone G10S Pure; Then, in March, Stone continued its efforts and launched a new G series product - Stone G20.
If the launch of these two products is within consumers' expectations, then the release of Stone P10 is definitely a "surprise".
In terms of functions, automatic dust collection, automatic washing mop, automatic water loading and unloading, automatic lifting of rotating mop, fuselage water tank, active obstacle avoidance and other functions that all-round models should have; In terms of price, the first price was controlled at more than 3,000 yuan (3299 yuan for the water tank version, 3899 yuan for the water version), and I have to say that I am really sincere.
In addition, Stone's G series was criticized by some users because of its insistence on using vibration mops, and the P10 launched by Stone for the first time used rotary mops, which can be regarded as making up for the last "short board" of Stone, completely covering all the needs of different users.
So what kind of machine is the stone P10, and is it worth buying?
What kind of machine is the Stone P10?
I will expand this part from two aspects: appearance and function and user experience. The use experience part is divided into hardware experience and software experience, of which the hardware experience is again subdivided into three sections: sweeping and mopping cleaning power, automatic lifting of mop cloth and active obstacle avoidance.
Appearance and base station
In terms of appearance, P10 is completely new compared to the previous G series of stones: white base station + white body, the corners of the base station have rounded chamfer treatment, and the sense of home is instantly full.
The machine supports automatic water loading and sewage function, and the one in my hand is the water loading and launching version, so from a top view, the water tank cannot be seen at the top - instead of an automatic water loading and launching module ▲
There is a cleaning liquid filling port on the top of the automatic water supply module, the principle is similar to the automatic delivery function of the washing machine, the user can inject the whole bottle of cleaning liquid at one time, and the machine will automatically complete the addition work ▲
If you choose the water tank version, the capacity of the clean water tank and the waste water tank are 5L and 4.2L respectively, which is much larger than the G series (G10S water tank capacity is 3+2.5L), and it is also "powerful" compared to other competing products - even if there are no water and sewage installation conditions, it is enough for large households.
It is worth mentioning that the integration of the automatic water supply and sewage components of the stone is higher than that of other brands, and there will be no exposed drainage pump after installation.
When installing, the user only needs to connect the overflow pipe and drain pipe with a three-way as in the picture above, and then connect the inlet and drainage with 2 and 3 pipes respectively, which is very simple ▲
PS: You don't need to prepare any additional accessories yourself, the original also provides a water inlet tee.
The dust bag is located in the lower part of the base station, and the dust bag capacity is 2.7L, which can achieve two months without taking out garbage
The cleaning tray adopts a removable design, which can be completely withdrawn for cleaning, which is very convenient. Moreover, there is also a Hall sensor installed on it, which can effectively prevent sewage overflow when the sewage suction port is blocked
Both of these details are useful in everyday use.
The fuselage comes with a water tank, and before each mopping task, the base station will automatically fill the fuselage water tank with water through the water replenishment port to keep the mop evenly moist, making up for the shortcomings of most rotary mop models
In addition, as an all-round base station, the mop cloth self-cleaning and hot air drying functions are also available.
The main unit adopts the classic laser SLAM scheme with a raised lidar sensor on the top; In terms of active obstacle avoidance scheme, for cost control considerations, this stone P10 adopts a single structured light scheme (measured below) ▲
The main brush is still designed with a pure rubber brush with stone signboard, and the ends can be freely disassembled, which is very convenient for cleaning tangled long hair; A total of four cliff sensors at the bottom are more than enough for daily life; The carpet sensor is located next to the spinner ▲
The mop bracket and the main machine are fixed by magnetism, and the mop bracket is connected with Velcro between it, and it is easy to disassemble and replace ▲
Usage experience
(1) Sweeping and mopping cleaning power
This Stone P10 is the first sweeping robot under Stone to use a rotating mop, but the speed of 200 rpm is very eye-catching among many competitors (competitors are mostly 180 rpm).
In the experience part, let's first test its mopping cleaning ability:
In fact, the mopping test is something that I personally am very reluctant to show. The mopping function of the sweeper should be used to keep the ground tidy, not to clean stains visible to the naked eye.
During the actual measurement, I randomly applied some ketchup to the ground. This P10 lived up to its trust and completed the cleaning task brilliantly▲
In addition to excellent mopping performance, Stone P10 is also sincere in terms of suction parameters, providing 5500Pa super suction power, slightly ahead of competitors in its class. Here, by the way, a measured demonstration is also given:
The testing process is quite decompressive. Thanks to its excellent algorithm, the stone P10 faced the melon seed shells all over the ground, did not fly a single one, and "accepted all the orders" ▲
(2) The mop is automatically lifted and lowered
The implementation principle of automatic lifting of the rotary mop is not complicated: during the journey, when the carpet sensor at the bottom of the machine detects the carpet, the mop rotates and lifts to avoid pollution. Vice versa.
The difficulty of this technology lies in how to control the timing of the mop lifting/lowering - not only to ensure that the machine can lift the mop in time when the carpet is put on the carpet to avoid polluting the carpet; It is also necessary to ensure that the machine puts down the mop immediately after the carpet is placed to prevent leakage.
However, by observing the mop lifting and lowering time of stone P10, it will be found that the robot has just detected the carpet and completed the mop lifting early; When getting off the carpet, he refuses to put the mop down
Under this strategy, stone P10 can only ensure that the carpet is not contaminated, but there are a lot of leaky areas in the tile part. But that's clearly not something that algorithmic stones do.
So how does the stone ensure that the tile part of the edge of the carpet does not leak?
Again, the answer.
Stone P10 changed the traditional "lift when you meet the carpet" thinking, only crossing carpets and tiles when "measuring" along the edge. In the specific cleaning process, first complete the cleaning of the carpet part, and then clean the remaining tile part ▲
In this way, the problems that may be caused by improper timing of mop lifting are cleverly solved.
(3) Active obstacle avoidance
Structured light obstacle avoidance is a very mature active obstacle avoidance technology in the sweeping robot industry.
Its advantage is high obstacle avoidance accuracy and can detect low obstacles. However, structured light can only determine "whether there is an obstacle", and cannot confirm "what obstacle". As a result, high-precision obstacle avoidance brings a disadvantage - the obstacle avoidance algorithm of the sweeper is too conservative, and it is easy to miss sweeping (compared to the visual scheme).
So how does the structured light stone P10 perform in active obstacle avoidance? Let's also measure it:
It can be seen that this stone P10 has basically successfully completed active obstacle avoidance ▲ when facing common obstacles in life such as shoes and mineral water bottles
Through the above actual measurement, we can also see that single-structure light obstacle avoidance is more than enough to meet daily use in most cases. In addition, for some friends who reject the camera and are worried about the camera's leakage of user privacy, the stone P10 using a single-structured light scheme may be more friendly.
(4) Software upgrade
Since its birth, Stone has been respected by users for its excellent algorithms. This time, the Stone P10 has also brought a lot of fresh experience to consumers in terms of software.
First of all, in terms of mapping, in addition to the traditional 2D map and 3D map, Stone introduced the Matrix map function▲
When building a map, the APP needs to call the user's camera to scan the whole house environment, and then it can generate a diorama of the whole house. The system will then automatically pair the scanned Matrix map with the previously created 3D map.
At present, Matrix maps bring more of a fresh experience, and there is no particularly clever application for the time being. Expect the updated action behind the stone. You can also think about how Matrix maps can be "unfolded".
In addition, the floor orientation option ▲ has been added to the stone under the "Map Edit" - "Floor Tile Editing" option
After the user selects the correct floor orientation, the sweeper will follow the floor direction when working, which can better clean the floor gaps
The "excellent algorithm" is also reflected in the setting of the cleaning sequence.
Users can click "Smart Recommendation" under the "Map Editing" - "Cleaning Order" option, and the machine will automatically sort the cleaning order according to the degree of dirt in different functional areas. The basic logic is to prioritize cleaning the cleaner bedrooms, and finally clean the relatively dirty kitchen and bathroom
In addition to the cleaning sequence, the cleaning mode can also be optimized, and the system can also be "intelligently recommended" ▲
After optimization, the bedroom sweeping and mopping are in the lowest gear, the living room is in the second low gear, and the bathroom will increase the amount of mopping water, which is quite reasonable ▲
Finally, in order to facilitate the daily operation of users, the main interface of the device in the APP also provides two shortcut buttons. After entering the editing interface, you can see that the system provides two practical recommended instructions such as "cleaning after meals" and "sweeping before dragging"
Many people may be worried about battery life when they see this - after all, the "sweep first, then drag" mode is equivalent to the robot working twice in a row. For this reason, I also carried out actual measurements.
My home has a building area of 139 square meters, a take-home area of about 110 square meters, and the front and rear balconies are not swept, and the actual cleaning area is about 57 square meters each time. In this case, after the measured continuous completion of "sweeping first and then dragging", there is still about 35% of the power left▲
In addition, the stone also released a small "Easter egg" on the details page, and the twisting and mopping function will be added to the algorithm through OTA upgrades. This function is expected to be launched in May, so you can look forward to it
So far, all aspects of the performance of the stone P10 have been introduced. Let's take a look at the other two products released by Stone this year, Stone G10S Pure and Stone G20, what is the positioning and what are the highlights.
What does the G10S Pure optimize?
In terms of parameters, the changes in G10S Pure are mainly reflected in the following aspects:
- (1) The original optional hot air drying component has become standard, and the base station is more concise;
- (2) G10S Pure's automatic water supply and sewage module comes with the function of "automatic addition of cleaning liquid", which is more convenient to use;
- (3) The sweeping suction power has been upgraded from 5100Pa to 5500Pa;
- (4) The capacity of the dust box decreased slightly, from 400mL to 350mL;
- (5) The obstacle avoidance technology has been changed from structured light + vision to structured light.
In addition, in the part that cannot be reflected in the parameters, G10S Pure also has the following optimizations:
- (6) Solve the problem of water accumulation on the right side of the G10S base station;
- (7) Optimize the self-cleaning effect of the base station;
- (8) Optimized the sales strategy, directly provided "standard version" and "intelligent water supply and sewage kit", no longer sell water supply and sewage components separately.
The positioning of the stone G10S Pure is somewhat similar to the "mid-term facelift" in the automotive industry, mainly optimizing several small problems criticized on the G10S, and reducing the cost of active obstacle avoidance to achieve the purpose of reducing the price of the whole machine. For users who do not have pets at home and do not have the need for remote video functions, it is obviously more cost-effective.
What upgrades does the G20 bring?
Still "looking at the picture and talking", the upgrade of Stone G20 in terms of hardware and parameters mainly has 5 points:
- (1) For the first time, the spiral double glue brush structure was adopted, which further optimized the problem of the main brush winding the hair;
- (2) The main brush lifting function has been added, and the sweep/drag function is completely independent, which is also the first attempt in the industry;
- (3) It is equipped with the function of automatic cleaning liquid as standard, which can be realized without the help of automatic water supply and sewage module;
(4) The suction power parameter is further improved, up to 6000Pa,
- The floor wiping module has been upgraded to four-zone dual shock ground wiping and maintains a vibration frequency of up to 3000 times/min;
- (5) The capacity of the water tank was expanded, and the clean water + sewage was upgraded to 3.5L+2.9L.
In addition, in terms of sales strategy, Stone G20 also directly provides "standard version" and "intelligent water loading and sewage set", and the automatic water loading and launching module is no longer sold separately.
The positioning of the Stone G20 is very clear: do not engage in fancy and useless functions, just focus on the one thing of sweeping. We can really see that all the upgrades of the G20 are aimed at allowing users to get a better daily experience.
Buying advice
Stone launched three "new products" in one breath this time, and for friends with difficulty in choosing, it may be entangled. Therefore, at the end of the article, I will talk about my personal understanding of these machines to provide a little reference for everyone's purchase.
Let's start with stone P10.
Stone P10 is Stone's first attempt to make a rotary mop form of sweeping and mopping integrated robot. In terms of base station functions, automatic dust collection, automatic mop washing, hot air drying, automatic water loading and unloading, and even automatic addition of cleaning liquid (automatic water loading and discharging version only) are all available. In addition, the main engine supports automatic lifting of the mop, equipped with active obstacle avoidance technology, and also has a fuselage water tank, which also has no shortcomings. Coupled with the debut price of more than 3,000, the price-performance ratio overflows the screen, and you can't even believe it's a stone.
It's still strong, but it's not expensive at all.
Left: Stone G10S Pure; Right: Stone G20
Stone G10S Pure belongs to the optimized model of Stone G10S, mainly (1) integrated hot air drying module on the base station (2) to optimize the self-cleaning effect of the base station, and solve the problem of water accumulation in the base station, avoiding the possibility of odor. In addition, the dust box capacity and suction power have been slightly adjusted, but the performance of the machine is not affected. But the G10S to the G10S Pure is not all upgrades, the latter reduced the active obstacle avoidance scheme, removed the camera, and reduced the price.
If there are no pets at home and there is no need for camera functions, the G10S Pure is more cost-effective.
Left: Stone G10S Pure; Right: Stone G20
As for the Stone G20, it is mainly an upgrade for the sweeping experience. Among them, the most eye-catching changes are (1) the first application of the spiral double brush design, and (2) the addition of the lifting function of the main brush, and (3) the automatic addition of cleaning liquid module as standard, and (4) the suction parameters and water tank capacity are slightly upgraded, which is a well-deserved flagship product in the industry.
Finally, there is still a chart to briefly compare the parameters of these machines, of which the red part of the stone P10 represents its difference from other machines ▲
Here is my personal summary of the positioning of these products:
- (1) Stone G10S belongs to the previous generation of flagships, and the performance is still "playable" today, but after the market test, several minor problems have also been exposed;
- (2) The stone G10S Pure belongs to the "improved" version of the G10S, optimizing details such as water accumulation in the base station, and also slightly reducing the price, and the overall performance has become more balanced;
- (3) Stone G20 is a well-deserved new flagship, whether it is hardware configuration or performance parameters, all of them are the top configuration in the industry;
- (4) As for Stone P10, it is a new series created by Stone alone, focusing on high cost performance, used to fill the gap of stone products in the field of rotary mops, and is very competitive in the 3K price segment.
Insist on doing reviews with attitude and produce content with temperature. I'm Tomato, we'll see you in the next article~