Yeedi Vac Station robot vacuum review: Cleans like a hero, but fur is its kryptonite

The best robot vacuums make your life so much easier as they can reliably pick up debris from your floors and keep your home looking tidy. The only thing that makes these units even more appealing is having an auto-emptying station where the vacuum can go to empty its dustbin, so you don't have to remember to empty it yourself.

The Yeedi Vac Station debuted recently, and it's one of the best-priced robot vacuum and empty station combos you'll find on the market. The vacuum and app work incredibly well, letting you set up schedules and settings that specifically fit your home. However, if you own pets that shed on your floors, I strongly urge you to consider a different empty station.

Yeedi Vac Station review: Price and availability

The Yeedi Vac Station comes with both the robot vacuum and the Auto-Empty Station. It has an MSRP of $500 and is the best price we've seen for an empty station/vacuum combo. It's currently on sale for only $400 at Amazon. Get it before this lower price is no longer available.

Yeedi Vac Station review: What's good

Source: Rebecca Spear / Android Central

It was incredibly easy to set up the Yeedi Vac Station right from the box. The helpful manual combined with the app tell you everything you need to do. When the vacuum is docked on the base, the highest part of the Yeedi Vac Station is 16.75 inches tall; the two units together are 13.5 inches long and 22 inches deep. You'll also want to make sure you have plenty of room around the unit to prevent docking issues.

The vacuum works incredibly well when picking up dirt, debris, and fur. I have it run every morning at 9 AM since everyone is out of the house by then and won't be in its way. While it's pretty good at detecting obstacles and avoiding them, I do go around and pick up toys, cables, and other small items before each cleaning session so that it doesn't get tripped up.

The vacuum has an excellent run time of up to 200 minutes, cleaning larger areas before it needs to recharge. The battery life depends on what suction level the unit is on. I prefer mine to run at max suction to pick up dog and cat fur from every fiber of my carpets. I can also choose lower settings if someone is sleeping or I need it to run while people are over.

This unit maps my house and then cleans in tidy back and forth rows for the perfect vacuum lines. The app gives me plenty of settings and allows me to schedule cleanings. I can also view a map of my home and set up virtual boundaries, which the unit will not cross. This is perfect for my hobby room, which is a big mess.

The Empty Station holds up to 2.5 liters and has disposable bags that seal closed when you pull up on the cardboard handle. That means you don't have to deal with a puff cloud of dust whenever you need to empty it. Removing the bags and replacing them is very simple and only takes a few seconds. Just note that whenever the vacuum returns to the dock and empties its load, the empty station is very loud as it sucks that debris out.

Yeedi Vac Station review: What's not good

If you have pets in your home that shed constantly, the empty station won't work well at all. I have a corgi — a breed that's notorious for its heavy shedding — and a grey tabby contributing to the perpetual fuzz. This means that the Yeedi Vac Station vacuum dustbin gets full with pet fur after every cleaning session. Because of this, the two small trap doors in the bottom of the dustbin get clogged with fur and have never once emptied into the Auto-Empty Station during the time I've tested it. I've always had to fish the fur out by hand, which means that Empty Station is basically useless in my home.

Now, if you don't have pets and your home just needs to be vacuumed for dust and small debris, the Empty Station should be able to accommodate your needs. But as I said before, if you have pets stay away from this purchase.

Another thing to note is the camera on top of the robot vacuum, which points skyward. It's a little disconcerting having a camera point up at you as the vacuum goes by. The camera is there to help the unit identify obstacles and clean better. I also used it to scan a QR code on my phone when setting up the app and vacuum. Still, if you don't like having a wandering device with a camera, you'll want to avoid the Yeedi Vac Station.

Yeedi Vac Station: Competition

If you're looking for another auto-empty station that works with robot vacuums and actually can handle pet fur, you should consider the Roborock Auto-Empty Dock. It's by far the best empty station I've ever interacted with and has never left any debris in the dustbin of my Roborock S7. Of course, you need to buy the vacuum and station separately, and they do cost more than the Yeedi, but they work better, too.

Another station to mention is the ECOVACS Auto-Empty Station, which works with the ECOVACS T8 AIVI robot vacuum. This is also a very costly combo as you'll need to purchase them separately, and the T8 AIVI is a very high-end vacuum. The empty station is basically the same as the Yeedi's and has the same issues where fur and other debris easily get trapped in the dustbin rather than getting sucked into the empty station.

Yeedi Vac Station review: Should you buy it?

You should buy this if...

• You hate emptying dustbins
• You want a reliable and powerful robot vacuum
• You have a busy household

You shouldn't buy this if...

• You have a lot of pet fur in your home
• You don't like devices with cameras in your house
• You don't mind emptying the dustbin yourself

If you don't have pets and are looking for a convenient way to clean your floors, then the Yeedi Vac Station is a great option. This is one of the lowest-priced vacuum and empty station combos I've ever seen, and the robot vacuum works incredibly well. It cleans in orderly rows, has powerful suction offers scheduled cleanings, and plenty of other desirable settings in the app. The station sucks the debris right out from the vacuum's dustbin, so you only have to take the empty station bag out to the trash about once a month instead of cleaning the vacuum's dustbin out daily.

4 out of 5

However, if your home is filled with at least one shedding pet, then this empty station basically becomes useless. Fur will get trapped in the dustbin, making it so that nothing empties into the empty station. You'll need to fish out that refuse every day to keep the unit running smoothly, which negates the convenience of having the Yeedi Auto-Empty Station at all.