The Black Friday sales are the best time to buy big-ticket tech items that are expensive but that will make a real difference to your life. You’ll be able to afford a better product when you’re not paying full price and it’s a purchase you’ll appreciate every single day. A robot vacuum is one of the best labour-saving devices around. You can schedule it to vacuum every morning before you get up, so you wake up to clean floors each day. You can also use it as and when you need it, for spills around the house. The best robot vacuums will respond to voice commands as well, so you can ask it to go and clean the kitchen floor if your child has just spilled the cereal – without stopping what you’re doing, or opening the app. Some robot vacuums will mop as well, which is great for muddy hallways at this time of year. But as we’re bombarded by so many notifications of deals and discounts over the Black Friday period, it’s hard to spot the genuinely unmissable deals. Brands may discount older models that don’t have all the features you want, or only put less popular models on sale, or offer a smaller, 10-15% discount on desirable new products. That’s obviously still a lot to spend, but what you’ll get are industry-leading features that will save you a lot of time and trouble on household tasks. For instance, if you want to set up a daily vacuuming schedule and let your robot get on with it, you really need an auto-empty station. This is a recent innovation you’ll only find with top-tier robot vacuums such as the X1 OMNI. When the robot returns to its dock to recharge, its bin will be emptied via suction. This means genuinely hands-free cleaning. All you’ll need to do is replace the bag in the dock every month or two and the robot will do the rest. No more poking around to dislodge fluff from its bin, or even needing to remember to do it. The X1 OMNI also mops. But it doesn’t just drag a mopping pad behind it like your average robot vacuum. Instead, its OZMO Turbo 2.0 system is far more effective: it features a pair of rotating mopping pads that exert four times the pressure of a standard robot mop and spin at 180RPM. What’s more, when it returns to dock, the mop will be washed and dried and the onboard tank refilled, so it won’t get damp or mouldy and will be ready to go out and clean again when you need it. And, if you like the idea of voice commands but find pairing smart home devices with your home assistant stressful, the X1 OMNI comes with a first-of-its-kind inbuilt voice assistant, YIKO. YIKO will work straight out of the box and respond to dozens of voice commands. You can even specify which part of each room you want to be vacuumed. Just say: “YIKO, go and clean around the bed” or “YIKO, vacuum under the kitchen table” and it’ll target that spot right away. The X1 OMNI has industry-leading specifications. It’s powerful, with best-in-class 5000PA suction that will be effective on both hard flooring and carpets. It has a long battery life, with a 5200mAh battery capacity and a maximum run time of 4 hours and 20 minutes before it needs to recharge. And its laser navigation and obstacle avoidance mean it won’t bump into furniture. The TrueDetect 3D 2.0 sensors work in conjunction with AI that has 16 times the computing power of the previous model, so it can identify and avoid 18 common household objects that may be lying around, including shoes and books. That means fewer rescues and a more efficient performance. The robot and its docking station were designed by the Jacob Jensen Design Studio, for an elegant and user-friendly set-up that will blend into any modern home environment with its minimalist, modern lines. All in all, it’s a brilliant buy.
