Our Rating:
Key Features:
3,200 Pa for exceptional cleaning performance
Dustbin can hold up to 520ml of dirt and debris
Equipped with double brushes
18% smaller than most robo vacs
Powerful Cleaning Robot Vacuum in Need of Some Upgrades
The Lefant LS1 Laser Robot Vacuum stands out among the dozens of robo vacs I’ve reviewed in terms of cleaning power. This 3,200 Pa suction vacuum with double brushes leaves no dog hair or dust speck behind. Unfortunately, its clunky tech hinders its cleaning power.
Its rudimentary mapping functionality holds back its LIDAR laser sensors and 3rd generation Freemove technology. Plus, the app, unfortunately, disappoints with its poorly translated descriptors and action buttons and fewer mode options than other models.
But, given the cleaning power and other advantages of this bot, we’re willing to hold out for the firmware update that will bring the LS1 into the future.
Review Criteria Ratings
| Cleaning Power | 5/5 |
| Battery Life | 3/5 |
| Navigation | 4/5 |
| Obstacle Avoidance | 3/5 |
| Smartphone App | 3/5 |
Pros
- Powerful cleaning performance
- Smaller profile for tight space cleaning
- Large dustbin capacity
- Smart tangle avoidance
- Double brushes for dual-edge cleaning
Cons
- Short battery life
- Rooms on maps cannot be customized
- Phone app is difficult to navigate
- Small obstacle avoidance is nonexistent
- Fewer cleaning modes than competitors
Should You Buy It?
If you have hard flooring or low-pile carpets, and just want a robot vacuum that can keep them tidy with little input, the unparalleled cleaning power of the Lefant LS1 is up to the task. But if you require additional functionality, like mopping or sensitive obstacle avoidance, there are better choices.
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Lefant LS1 Overview
The Lefant line of robotic vacuum cleaners includes 8 different models, from the bargain brand M210B to the LS1, which is the most expensive. Each offers a different range of features, as well as various navigation functions and vastly different levels of tech intelligence.
The LS1 is one of two Lefant robots to utilize LIDAR technology. It retains the small body size of some of the early models but does not offer mopping as most of these do. It does have a higher suction than most (but not all) previous models.
Other features of the Lefant LS1 include:
- Real-time mapping and LDS navigation
- No-go zone customization
- 3200 Pa suction
- Double-sided brush
- Three suction settings
- Low noise output
- Large 520 mL dustbin
- Spot, global, and partial cleaning
- Scheduling
- Smaller body size
- Silicone brush cover for increased suction
I had a chance to put this newest Lefant cleaner to the test in my own home. Keep reading to see my full Lefant LS1 Laser Robot Vacuum review and to find out where this bot impressed and where it is desperately in need of some updates.
How the Lefant LS1 Performs
I received the LS1 to complete my own hands-on tests. Out of the box I was impressed with its more compact design and sleek look.
It took some doing to get set up and connected thanks to some poorly translated app prompts. Once these initial hurdles were overcome, it was time to see how this little robot performed.
Cleaning Performance
Without a doubt, the place where the Lefant impressed me the most was with its cleaning abilities. The LS1 can go up to 3,200 Pa in suction. For my floors that are mostly vinyl plank with some low pile carpets, the medium suction setting was more than enough to pick up tiny dust particles, plastic beads my kid left on the floor, and everything in between.
The huge dustbin is so big, that I didn’t have any problems with it overfilling and the bot losing suction. This was very impressive considering the compact body of this model.
As usual, I tested the LS1 against my Yeedi Vac 2 Pro, which has long been the best cleaning robot I’ve found. After my Yeedi cleaned the entire house, I let the LS1 do the same. While there wasn’t a ton of hair and debris in the dustbin when it was finished, there was a notable amount.
It picked up a decent amount of dog hair the Yeedi missed (likely thanks to those double brushes up front). And quite a lot of tiny dust particles.
After this performance, I’d be willing to say the LS1 cleans as good if not better than the Yeedi Vac 2 Pro.
One other reason it may have found more debris than the Yeedi is the smaller body size. Marketing for the LS1 claims it is 18% smaller than most robo vacs. It isn’t quite that much smaller than the Vac 2 Pro, but it was able to fit into a few areas the Yeedi couldn’t.
Like other robots I’ve tested, this one could not handle my high-pile shag rug without getting stuck. So if you have thicker carpet, this is not the vacuum for you.
But, overall, the cleaning abilities of the LS1 surprised and impressed.
Battery Life
The run time of the LS1 battery is about 90 minutes in standard mode. This is shorter than many LIDAR robots on the market and proved especially problematic for my home.
My 1400 square foot house (equal to about 720 square feet of vacuumable floor space) takes about 2 hours to robo vac. But for smaller floorplans, it would work well enough.
After repeated attempts to map the floor that ended with the robot returning to the dock before completion, I finally found the continuous clean function. Activating this mode allowed the robot to complete the task once the battery was sufficiently charged.
Unfortunately, poor translation and a clunky app made finding this setting difficult.
Even with this setting engaged, the short battery life causes issues with completing cleaning tasks. It takes an incredibly long time for the battery to recharge. This means you could end up with your morning scheduled cleaning not being completed until late afternoon.
Navigation
The Lefant LS1 utilizes LIDAR, 6D sensors, and 3rd-generation Freemove technology to move through and map the home. The advantage of LIDAR is that it allows the bot to create a map that includes the entire room—wall to wall—not just the floor space it can clean. It also makes it less likely the robot will miss a spot.
In terms of navigating the home, the LS1 does as well as any LIDAR bot. The raw map created during the first mapping run looks very similar to others. The problems arise after that first mapping is complete.
Other LIDAR bots I’ve reviewed process the image right after the robot returns to the dock to create a customizable map with rooms that are automatically separated. Unfortunately, the LS1 doesn’t do this until the second or third cleaning run.
For me, I didn’t see this refined map with rooms in different colors until the sixth time I ran the bot. This was a product of a few failed runs due to the robot getting stuck (more on that later) and a mapping glitch that produced a second map due to a change in how one of the rooms was processed.
After all that, I finally got a refined map. Unfortunately, I updated the firmware shortly after, which erased all my saved map data and put me back at square one. Sigh.
But even if that hadn’t happened, the refined maps are not customizable and do not allow you to rename rooms or adjust boundaries. And there is no room-by-room cleaning option. So having the refined map doesn’t add much.
All this is to say, the navigation of the LS1 is great, but the app is too rudimentary to really take advantage of it.
Obstacle Avoidance
The obstacle avoidance on the LS1 is good for large objects like furniture and anything else taller than the robot with a substantial footprint. Anything on the smaller size will get run over, as you can see in my obstacle avoidance test video below.
This is not a robot you want to put on an automatic cleaning schedule unless you keep a very tidy house.
The LS1 also struggled to get over edges and other minor road blocks, especially bathroom rugs. It can only summit transitions and edges with a height of 0.47 inches. Unfortunately, it was constantly getting caught behind my rugs and getting stranded in the bathrooms.
But there was one impressive avoidance feature this robot has that I haven’t seen often. If the unit senses it is getting stuck, it will shut down the side and bottom brush and back out of the situation. Because of this feature, it is far less likely to get tangled in cords or suck up carpet edges than other robots.
Smartphone App
One area of the LS1 where I didn’t find many redeeming features was in the app. The home page is fairly simplistic with a place for the map and image buttons for controlling the robot’s movements and adjusting settings like suction power.
To get to more important mode settings, you need to click into the settings page. Here, you have the option to enable the map saving mode. If you don’t activate this setting first, then none of your preliminary map runs will save.
Other important features, like enabling the robot to finish cleaning tasks after recharging, are hidden in these extra pages.
While the setup of the app isn’t as intuitive as I would like, it’s the translation issues that really had me frustrated.
At one point, I ended up unpairing and deleting all my settings because I hit the “unbound” button thinking it would restart the robot after it got tangled in my shag carpet. A few action buttons aren’t translated at all, leaving you to decode the Mandarin symbols if you want to use those features.
But the good news in all of this is that the LS1 features live firmware updates. And all of these app problems could easily be fixed in the future with a simple software download. If this ever happens, the LS1 will be a great buy all around.
Lefant LS1 Alternatives
The Lefant LS1 offers supreme vacuum cleaning with some limitations in terms of functionality and usability. If you want a robo vac that can clean well and do so much more, there are other options.
For a bot that mops as well as it vacuums, the Viomi V3 Max is the only way to go. A Y-pattern mop mode, 2700 Pa suction, and a user-friendly interface make this well-priced robot vac a great buy.
Or, for even more functionality, consider the Roidmi Eve Plus. This vacuuming and mopping robot does it all, including emptying its own dustbin thanks to the auto-empty doc. LIDAR navigation, a strong 2700 Pa suction, and multi-level mapping mean less work for you.
| Features | Lefant LS1 | Viomi V3 Max | Roidmi Eve Plus |
|---|---|---|---|
| Navigation Type | LIDAR | LIDAR | LIDAR |
| Suction | 3200 Pa | 2700 Pa | 2700 Pa |
| Functions | Vacuum | Vacuum, Mop | Vacuum, Mop, Auto Empty |
| Price | $$ (discounted) | $$ | $$$$$ |
Conclusion
Having a reliable, highly usable, effective cleaning robot vacuum can make your life easier. The Lefant LS1 checks off two of those boxes. And with some adjustments and updates to its firmware, we feel confident this product will fall into that “highly usable” category soon enough.
For now, if you’re after an affordable LIDAR vacuuming robo vacuum that cleans exceptionally well, the LS1 is your bot.
To learn more about this product and what it has to offer, click here.
I just purchased an LS1 in part thanks to your review and can say that the app seems to have improved at least translation wise, didn’t see any non-english characters when I was setting things up.