Yeedi Vac Station K781+ Review

Continuing my series on auto empty robot vacuums, we’ll be looking at the Yeedi Vac Station – one of the least expensive alternatives right now.

Unlike the Ultenic T10 (reviewed previously) that you can’t place on carpet, this robot’s base station will work on carpet since the ports are located underneath the robot, not behind it.

I’ve spent the past few days testing this robot, and this review is a result of it. Scroll down to see all the outcomes and if Yeedi is worth considering amongst the other options available.

Pros

• Quite decent at cleaning embedded sand on carpet (80% score)
• Low profile design fits under low clearance furniture
• The base station is usable on carpet (no alignment issues)
• Hands-free convenience
• Bagged system protects users from allergens
• Surprisingly good mopping performance

Cons

• The camera sensor is not as precise as a laser
• Not as efficient as a LIDAR-based robot

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Introduction to the Yeedi Vac Station

Since Roomba launched the I7+, we’ve seen an influx of self-emptying robot vacuums with varying designs.

The Yeedi Vac Station is one of the more affordable options versus other brands in its class, meaning robots with smart navigation.

The K781+ is Yeedi’s latest and, based on tests, its best option to date with cleaning performance, navigation, and usability.

But first, let’s go through the features.

Auto empty station

One strength of Yeedi is the auto empty station design. Unlike the Ultenic T10 with alignment issues, it isn’t with the Vac Station since the ports are underneath and not behind it.

It comes in disassembled with two main pieces, and putting it together will require tightening one bolt, which comes in the package.

Yeedi also includes the screwdriver, so you’ll get everything you need out of the box.

The bag has a 2.5-liter capacity, the same as the Ecovacs T8 AIVI (with the base station) and N8+.

I’ve read comments in my video review about Ecovacs owning Yeedi, so it isn’t a surprise that both brands use similar components.

I like the bagged design versus a bagless one since it seals itself when pulled out. This design minimizes allergen exposure to a minimum, and it’s something to consider if you have allergies.

Out of the box, consumers will get an extra bag. Replacement bags will be available in Yeedi’s Amazon store.

Two ports do an excellent job (for the most part) at sucking out contents from the dust container. It didn’t have any dust bunnies or hair issues – the most common contaminants it’ll encounter daily.

Design and interface

This robot utilizes a round frame, but unlike most other brands in this niche, it uses a camera sensor.

Not much with the interface as it has a single button. You’ll have to download the app to unlock all the features.

Open the top door, and it reveals the dustbin and QR code that links to the app.

Underneath, it utilizes a single side brush and a combo brush.

One unique design with the primary brush is the detachable nature of the fins and bristles. Not that you need to remove it all the time, but if it needs a deep clean, you’ll have that option.

Behind the combo brush is the water tank, also doubling as a placeholder for the pad.

Unfortunately, there’s no way of sliding the pad behind the water tank. You’ll have to either flip the robot or remove the water tank to attach it due to the design.

Dustbin design and capacity

The Vac Station dustbin can hold up to 420-milliliters, which is below average for a robot vacuum. But with auto-empty robots, dirt volume shouldn’t be an issue because the base station empties it after every run.

Like Ecovacs, the Yeedi dustbin has a HEPA filter and a rear opening door. Please note this filter isn’t washable since it uses a paper element, but you can wash the foam filter covering it (check photo below).

Here’s a close look at the HEPA filter.

Underneath are two ports where the base station vacuums debris out. It’s a similar design to the Roomba I6+ and S9+, but it has two ports versus iRobot’s one.

Water tank

Behind the robot is a water tank with a 240-ml capacity. It’s electronically controlled so it won’t drip when not in use.

I like its placement in relation to the auto-empty station since users will have easy access without having to move the robot.

How does the Yeedi Vac Station navigate

The Yeedi Vac Station has smart navigation thanks to the top-mounted camera and optical sensor underneath.

It has SLAM, enabling it to create and save a map. Unfortunately, it can only save one.

It moves in straight lines in the direction of the base station (this is based on my tests). Unlike LIDAR-robots that start cleaning the edges,

Yeedi begins in the middle before moving to the area’s borders.

By default, it goes around the area twice, so thoroughness is decent. But in the coverage test, it did miss this area near the base station.

One quirk with a camera sensor is its reliance on light, at least for the initial run, so it could adequately map out the room.

While it can function in total darkness, you’ll need the lights on to get the best results. The efficiency will go down will less illumination.

Nonetheless, you’ll need to remove light area rugs without any rubber backing as the robot’s primary brush tries to suck it in, causing the robot to stall and fire an error code.

I’ve encountered this issue several times over the past week using it.

How does it do in cramped spaces?

It didn’t get stuck on the office chair legs during navigation tests, which is a trouble spot for random-navigating options.

Also, obstacle avoidance is decent, definitely better than the Roomba I6+, as it slows down, not ramming into any of the furniture hard.

App features

The Vac Station K781+ is compatible with the Yeedi app. It won’t wow you with features, but it has just enough for automated, hands-free cleaning.

I’ll quickly go through the features.

Live map

Despite having a camera sensor, the Yeedi app has a live map, which Roomba doesn’t have. I like this feature as it provides consumers a real-time view of where the robot in your home.

However, it won’t show any lines as with a LIDAR-robot, only a moving icon.

Map saving

Thanks to SLAM, the Yeedi Vac Station can draw and save maps. Unfortunately, it can only store one. I’m not sure why Yeedi limited it to a single level, but I hope they add at least one more to improve user experience.

The app says that you may need to run the robot three to five times to draw the map accurately. But that wasn’t the case in my tests. It’s possible to create the map in a single run as long as the lights are on and no obstacles hinder the robot’s path.

You’ll need to save the map to unlock the containment feature we’ll look at next.

Containment (virtual boundary)

The Yeedi app only has one type of containment feature – no-go zone – boxes or rectangles drawn on the map.

So there’s no way of drawing diagonal lines to block more complex layouts. In most instances, these boxes are enough to stop the robot from going into certain areas like laundry or bathroom.

You’ll have to be more creative with more complex zones.

Map management

Consumers can use this tab to name areas and set virtual boundaries. Once the robot is done cleaning, it will automatically divide areas based on internal calculations. I’m guessing when it detects a door frame. It uses it as a point of reference were to separate zones.

Unfortunately, folks cannot set their own boundaries, so once the robot has drawn the map, all the divisions are final.

Also, I don’t see an option to add more maps, so it only saves one.

Custom area cleaning

Another feature unlocked after drawing the map is custom area cleaning. It’s similar to spot cleaning, but instead of carrying the robot to the area, you can draw boxes for cleaning zones.

Area cleaning

Users can opt to clean specific rooms using the area cleaning tab. You do this by tapping on a particular area on the map. There’s also an option to control the number of passes, between one and two.

Vacuum options

The app provides a quick access tab to the most helpful features. You do this by scrolling up the bottom part of the window.

It shows power options, quick access to scheduling, voice settings, and cleaning preferences.

All the features have labels to explain what it does, making it easy for consumers to understand.

• Continuous cleaning: the robot will clean unfinished areas after it recharges.
• Do not disturb: it prevents the robot from powering on in a specified time frame.
• Auto-boost: increases suction when it detects carpet.
• Auto-empty: tells the base station to vacuum the robot’s dustbin after each run.
• Cleaning sequence: the robot will follow a preset cleaning sequence based on your preference.

How much power does the Yeedi Vac Station have?

Most brands in this space disclose power using Pascals, which is a unit of suction. The Yeedi Vac Station has 3000 Pascals, which is on the higher end.

But using this can be misleading, as some high suction robots don’t perform as well as other brands with lower Pascal numbers.

One case in point is the Mova L600 robot vacuum with a claimed 4000 Pascals of suction. Based on airflow tests, it recorded 17 CFM, which is five less than this robot (23 CFM).

Here are the results for your reference.

• Standard: 19.74 CFM
• Max: 19.74 CFM
• Max+: 23 CFM

The deep cleaning results confirm this variance, where Yeedi did better (80% vs. 66.65%).

What I like with Yeedi is there’s not much difference between the standard and max+ settings. So it’s possible to use the lowest setting and turn on carpet-boost to increase power on this surface when it detects it.

Cleaning performance

Next, we’ll look at how well the Yeedi Vac Station cleans. I tested it on various debris types such as quaker oats, coffee grounds, quinoa, pet litter, sand, and hair.

• Overall: 93.8%
• Hard floor: 98.85%
• Sand on hard floor: 99.5%
• Carpet: 96.87%
• Deep cleaning: 80%

The results are quite linear, with no noticeable dropoff. Overall, it was better on hard floors, which isn’t surprising because of the high airflow.

Nonetheless, there’s a slight dropoff with carpet surface cleaning due to the combination of factors like brush design, navigation, and dustbin size.

Hard floor results

• Quaker oats: 99.6%
• Coffee grounds: 100%
• Quinoa: 97.2%
• Pet litter: 98.6%

This robot did its best work on hard surfaces, with most of the scores in the high 90s. Thanks to the high airflow, debris pick-up was not an issue, but the side brush did scatter some debris around. It doesn’t spin as rapidly as a Roomba.

Sand on hard floor

The Yeedi Vac Station did well at vacuuming sand with an average pick-up of 99.5%.

Passes were clean, and it gobbled up most of it after one pass, which is another proof of the high-end airflow.

Hair wrap

Next, we’ll look at how well the Vac Station did on hair. I tested it on five and seven-inch hair and here are the results.

• 5-inch: 87% in the dustbin; 13% wrapped on the brush
• 7-inch: 35% in the dustbin; 65% wrapped on the brush

The result with the five-inch test is excellent, considering this robot doesn’t have an active anti-tangle system.

Nothing wrapped on the brush but the axle. Both end caps are detachable, making them easier to clean.

But it didn’t do very well with longer seven-inch strands. Hair is wrapped around the bristles, and you may need a scissor to dislodge hair.

Edge cleaning

The high airflow is on display in the edge cleaning test. Despite the round shape, it picked up a high percentage in this area – one of the best round-shaped robots cleaning this zone.

Carpet results

Now, let’s move over to the carpet results. It did slightly worst, but still above-average.

Low pile results

• Quaker oats: 92.2%
• Coffee grounds: 94.8%
• Quinoa: 99.2%
• Pet litter: 98.2%

You’ll notice it didn’t do well with quaker oats and coffee grounds. One reason was the quantity which overflowed, so some of it spilled over the dustbin’s opening.

It did much better with quinoa and pet litter – in the high 90s, which is an excellent result.

Mid pile results

• Quaker oats: 99.2%
• Coffee grounds: 94.2%
• Quinoa: 99.4%
• Pet litter: 97.8%

The mid-pile scores somewhat mirror that of the low-pile, but it did better with quaker oats, picking up over 99% – if you’re asking why it did better, picking up quaker oats on mid-pile.

It could be non of the quaker oats spilled from the dust container when I picked it up from the robot.

Deep cleaning

One area where robot vacuums struggle is cleaning embedded sand on carpet, so I rubbed 100 grams on mid-pile carpet for this experiment.

It picked up a tidy 80% after two tests, one of the best non-Roomba results.

How well does the Yeedi Vac Station mop?

One underrated feature of the Vac Station is its ability to mop.

I tested it on red wine stains, and the results were excellent. It didn’t clean all the stains after one run, but the surface wasn’t streaky afterward, which is a telltale sign that it did well.

Also, I didn’t notice it stall, which was an issue with the previous robot I tested – the Ultenic T10.

Nonetheless, I wouldn’t recommend using robot mop hybrids for heavy stains as these machines aren’t designed for this task.

Light stains, the Vac Station will do the task well enough, but you’ll have to drain the water tank and wash the pad after every run.

I’d say it’s almost as good as the Roborock S5 Max or S6 MaxV, but with the benefit of the auto-empty base station.

How noisy is the Yeedi Vac Station?

Despite the high airflow, the Yeedi Vac Station isn’t very noisy only maxing out at 66.1 decibels with the sound meter test.

Here are the complete results.

• Standard: 59.5 dB
• Max: 63.1 dB
• Max+: 66.1 dB

How long will the Yeedi Vac Station run?

This robot comes with a 5200 mAh lithium-ion battery with a claimed run time of 200 minutes, which is excellent give its high airflow.

Run time shouldn’t be much of a concern for smart robot vacuums since it resumes cleaning after recharging. Add the self-emptying feature, which increases its hands-free convenience.

What comes in a box?

• Yeedi Vac Station K781+ robot (water tank attached)
• An auto-empty base station (one bag inside)
• One extra bag
• Mopping pad
• Screwdriver + three bolts
• User manual + quick start guide

Availability of parts

Yeedi has its own Amazon store where it sells parts such as brushes, filters, and bags. So there’s no need to worry about those components as those are readily available. But stuff like the side brush motor or drop sensors may not be available since this company is relatively new.

Maintenance

Robot vacuums are particular with maintenance. These machines need more TLC than a stick vacuum as they rely on a bevy of sensors for navigation. If any component gets too dirty, you could risk burning it out and shortening its lifespan. To maximize its efficiency and longevity, make sure to check, clean, or replace these components regularly.

1. Primary and side brushes: These two components receive the most abuse as they are responsible for funneling dirt towards the dustbin. Check both at least once a week for contaminants (especially hair) that accumulate to prevent unnecessary friction.
2. Dustbin: Even with the auto-empty station: debris will build up, particularly on the filter area. Check it once a week and clean it if needed. The black filter piece is washable, but not the HEPA filter. One way to dislodge dirt (with the HEPA) is tapping it on a solid surface, then take a handheld vacuum with a brush tool to pick up loose debris on the folds.
3. Sensors: The Vac Station has a bevy of sensors around it for navigation. Use a clean towel (dry) to wipe and clean at least once a month.
4. Wheels: Check all the wheels for debris accumulation. Grab a clean towel (again, dry) to wipe the caster and side wheels. Also, check the threads of the side wheels for any debris sticking on them.
5. Auto empty station: Make sure that the two inlet ports are clear. Wipe the exterior of these ports if you see any blemish and empty the dust bag when full.

Product Specifications

Where can I buy the Yeedi Vac Station?

You can buy this robot vacuum from online stores like Amazon. Check the link below for the latest pricing information.

• Yeedi Vac Station K781+ on Amazon

Disclaimer: I will earn a commission if you purchase through the link above, but at no extra cost to you, so it’s a win-win for us!

Does the Yeedi Vac Station provide excellent value?

I would say yes, it offers a lot of value for your money at its current price levels. Its ability to clean both surface, plus the mopping capabilities make it a good value alternative if a Roomba is too expensive.

I’d go with Yeedi over Ultenic because it cleans better on carpet, and you can store the base station on this surface without worrying about any port misalignment.

5 reasons to choose the Yeedi Vac Station

1. Above-average at cleaning embedded sand on carpet: The 80% pick-up in deep cleaning tests is one of the highest non-Roomba results.
2. Self-emptying feature: The auto-empty feature removes the human element of having to empty the dustbin manually after every run.
3. High airflow: The 23 CFM score in airflow tests is at par with other high-end robots like the Roomba S9, enabling it to pick up debris well on hard floors and carpets.
4. Reasonable cost: I’d say the price is fair considering its above-average vacuuming and mopping performance.
5. Low profile design: Minus the LIDAR cover, this robot goes under furniture other brands with a laser sensor cannot.

The Verdict: Excellent All-Around Robot Vacuum With A Self-Emptying Feature

I wasn’t expecting too much, but the Yeedi Vac Station exceeded expectations with how well it vacuumed carpeted or hard surfaces. It’s one of the best non-Roomba options at deep cleaning carpet, making it a viable option in homes with this surface type.

How well it mopped was a surprise to me. Not as good as a Roborock S7 with stain removal, but it left a non-streaky surface, which is always a sign of a good mopping robot.

Being a new brand does come with concerns with parts availability, but Yeedi is aggressive with their product releases, and if you look at their other products like the K650, it has received high ratings.

I’ve been using this product for a week, and everything has been solid—no significant issues with navigation or cleaning performance.