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Lefant F1 (robot vacuum cleaner): test / review

Published on: 03-10-2021 / Modified: 04-10-2023

I've been doing a lot of testing of robot vacuum cleaners in the last few months and I'm testing a lot of brands that I had never heard of before. The Chinese industry is a bottomless pit, every time I think I'm done, I find a new brand with a new product. I tested the Lefant M210s robot earlier this year and now I'll focus on the Lefant F1.

Lefant produces small vacuum cleaners that fit just about anywhere where brands like Yeedi or Dreame sell big vacuum cleaners that will force you to clear your furniture to let them through. The Lefant F1 uses the same bases as the M210s but has the particularity to have a very big tank of 600ml to collect the dirt. This may seem paradoxical because the Lefant is smaller than the other robots I tested but it has a larger tank. The Lefant F1 has been optimized to accommodate a larger tank. The interesting things don't stop there, the Lefant F1 uses two brushes at the front to bring the dirt into the vacuum area. This type of configuration means you don't have to go over the same area multiple times.

On paper, this "little" Lefant F1 could well find its place in your home and compete with more expensive robots.

Where to buy?

On Amazon

Lefant F1 on Amazon

On the official website lefant.com

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Apply the 10% promo on Lefant.com

Unpacking

The Lefant F1 has a "cosmic" design and this is already visible on the box with its star decoration. The box is quite compact but is generously supplied with accessories, it contains the following elements
- vacuum cleaner
- dust tank
- mop support plate
- a mop attached to its support + 2 bags with spare mops
- 4 brushes
- a Hepa filter in addition to the one already in the tank
- a UK plug
- an EU charger
- a docking station
- a manual

The other brands I tested do not offer as many accessories with their products.

Technical Specifications

As I wrote above, the Lefant F1 is far from ridiculous compared to other robots I've tested, yet it is significantly cheaper than the examples below:

Lefant F1
- suction power: 4000pa
- dust tank capacity: 600ml
- 210 minutes of autonomy

Yeedi 2 Hybrid
- suction power: 2500pa
- dust tank capacity: 430ml
- 200 minutes of autonomy

Dreame L10 Pro
- suction power: 4000pa
- dust tank capacity: 570ml
- 90 minutes of autonomy

The Lefant F1 is significantly smaller than the other two products in this comparison but it has the same suction power as the Dreame and a larger tank capacity than the other two models.

Overview

The cosmic design of the box is found on the robot as well and while I find it original, it gives the impression that the vacuum cleaner is covered in dust. The Lefant F1 is a small format vacuum cleaner that will fit just about anywhere under furniture, it's so light you can lift it with one hand.

This robot vacuum cleaner has two rotating brushes where most vacuum cleaners only have one, this gives it an advantage on the amount of dirt it can catch on each pass but it also reduces the travel time (in theory) because the robot doesn't have to calculate its path based on the presence of only one brush. Vacuum cleaners equipped with a single brush are optimized to adapt their path with a brush, this vacuum cleaner does not need one, it can adopt a strategy in parallel lines without too many interruptions and returns to the same place.

It is also possible to attach a mop holder, but as the robot does not have a water tank, the mop must be wet before starting the vacuum cleaner. The use of a mop on the back will not replace a traditional cleaning, this mop will only catch superficial dirt, it will not remove stains. As the robot does not have a water tank, the mop will have time to dry before the end of the vacuuming session, so it will be especially useful in the first few minutes. Lefant presents the mop as a tool to disinfect your floors, I guess you have to soak the mop with bleach but as for the water, the disinfectant will quickly dissipate before the end of the cleaning. If you want a robotic cleaner, you'll want to look into one like the Yeedi Mop Station instead.

Obstacle detection

The Lefant F1 uses a semi-circular sensor on the front to detect obstacles, this area is just protected by a thick rubber tape to keep the vacuum cleaner safe from bumps. The obstacle sensor does not move when it comes in contact with an obstacle where most other vacuums have a damping mechanism that allows to judge if the obstacle can be moved or not.

The Lefant F1 will therefore have to touch the obstacles to determine how to get around them, most robots work the same way except for those that use lidar. The Lefant F1 does not run into the obstacles, it touches them gently to establish the contour and find a way to find the trajectory in parallel lines that it tries to follow. On the following video, you can observe that the vacuum cleaner will try to go around the legs of the chair to try to find the trajectory it had set for itself.

Like most vacuum robots, the Lefant F1 uses a parallel line path, so it will consistently follow the same kind of strategy until it encounters an obstacle. After finding a way around the obstacle, it tries to return to its original path.

This vacuum cleaner is also equipped with depth sensor that helps it avoid falling down stairs:

It is possible to set the vacuum cleaner to three levels, this allows you to define the level of sensitivity to obstacles. At the lowest level, the vacuum cleaner will avoid your carpets while at the highest level, it will pass over the carpet without interrupting its path.

Even though this robot has a fairly gentle approach to obstacles, it's always best to clear as much of the surface to be vacuumed as possible as the robot can knock over small objects or move lighter objects.

Operating noise

I measured between 70 and 75 db close to the vacuum, which is a noise level quite comparable to other vacuums I've tested. At a distance of one meter, the noise level already decreases to 50-55 db. You won't be able to sleep in the same room as the vacuum, but you should be able to run the vacuum at night if you sleep upstairs.

Vacuum test

With 4000 pa, the Lefant should be able to suck up all the everyday dirt as long as it's not too big because it has to be able to go under the vacuum cleaner first but also go through the suction opening underneath the vacuum cleaner. I tested the suction by scattering large hard bread crumbs on the floor and the Lefant F1 only made one bite. Not only is the suction force sufficient, but the use of two brushes simultaneously allows you to capture a larger quantity of crumbs with each pass. Only one piece of crumbs escaped the first pass, but by the second pass, there was nothing left.

The Lefant F1 sucks up everything in its path (up to a certain size), its two brushes allow it to collect more dirt with one pass and they are protected by a plastic cover to prevent hair from blocking the mechanism. Sometimes you'll have to detach the brushes to remove hair that has curled up on top of the cover, but you can easily do this by using a scissor and cutting the curled up hair in one place, so you can remove it all at once.

The simple suction mechanism will also reduce the need for maintenance of this vacuum. There is no rotating brush between the floor and the dust tank, so nothing is going to get stuck there and you won't have to remove the brush to maintain it.

Lefant Life app

I already had the opportunity to test the Lefant Life application with the Lefant M210s, so my conclusions will be the same but I will summarize my experience in a few lines for those who would not have read the previous test. The Lefant Life application is quite basic, you can start the vacuum cleaner and send it back to its base and configure some options but the choices are quite limited. While vacuuming, the robot will map the area but after the session, this mapping will disappear. This means that the robot will restart its mapping work each time. So there is no time saving here but if you move your furniture often, the robot will adapt itself each time.

The application works correctly, I did not encounter any problems in using it but on the other hand to configure the robot and associate it to my wifi network, I encountered some difficulties. I had followed the instructions on the screen but it did not work because the explanations are not correct. I found a video on Lefant's YouTube channel that shows how to do it and from there, I was able to associate the vacuum cleaner with my smartphone and my wifi network. The trick is that you first have to leave your finger on the power button until the vacuum cleaner makes a sound (until then, the app gives a correct explanation) but in the second step, you have to press both buttons at the same time to make the vacuum cleaner detectable by a smartphone.

What I miss in this application is a mapping that does not disappear with each use but also the possibility to send the robot to a particular place. When I do my tests I voluntarily dirty some areas but if I can't send the robot to that area, I have to wait until it crosses that area on its way. So it's not very practical to do a test but it's not very practical in reality either because I've gotten into the habit of sending my robots to where they are needed rather than doing long cleaning sessions. This is not possible with the Lefant F1.

Battery life

Lefant's website advertises a battery life of 210 minutes, this is a lot and in practice it is quite hard to measure as you would need to have a huge area to clean to manage to drain the battery in one session. I have a surface of about 50m² accessible for the robots and it never takes more than 90 minutes to clean this surface. This would mean that this vacuum should be able to cover an area of 100-120m² before having to return to the charging station.

Voice control

You can start your vacuum cleaner with Google and Alexa. First, you need to associate the robot with your connected home and give it a name. Then you can ask Google or Alexa to start your vacuum cleaner.

Conclusion

When testing a lot of products, we tend to take the most sophisticated products as a reference and so when we test a simpler product, the first impression is not always very positive. However, I try to look at these products with a fresh eye each time to avoid this kind of comparison. The Lefant F1 is a fairly simple vacuum cleaner compared to the Dreame and Yeedi vacuum cleaners, but it's by no means ridiculous compared to those competitors, and it manages to distinguish itself on things like size and suction power.

The Lefant F1 is small, it fits almost everywhere and it knows how to be discreet despite its suction power which can compete with a robot costing more than 300€. Its dual brush system is a definite advantage over models that use only one brush. The large dust tank is also an undeniable strength. The mop, on the other hand, is of very little use. This is the kind of robot that you could use on surfaces like parquet without risking to wet it too much, it can also easily slip under a bed. I had a small iLife robot for the second floor, this Lefant could very well become a candidate to replace it.

Strengths:

Large dust container
Compact size that can fit under most furniture
Dual brushes to get dirt under the vacuum
Spare brushes and mops in the original box
Capable of ingesting large bread crumbs

Weaknesses

Application too basic
Utility of the mop is rather anecdotal