Living with Xiaomi Vacuum Cleaner

The place was getting too dusty — the bed and the sofa both had a layer of it — so my wife said we should buy a “mite remover”. I looked into it and, well, a “mite remover” is just a vacuum cleaner with a UV lamp bolted on…

So we might as well buy an actual vacuum. A vacuum isn’t only good for handheld work; you can swap the head and use it on the floor too.

That’s how I ended up with a Xiaomi vacuum. It happened to be on sale — 12 interest-free installments, a 50-yuan coupon, and a free Xiaomi desk lamp thrown in. So I bought it.

It turned out better than I expected. I’ve used it quite a few times now, so here are some quick impressions:

• The box comes with a decent set of accessories. Besides the long wand head for floors, there’s a short head for handheld work on the bed and sofa — swap them however you need.
• It includes a “wall-mounted charger”. When you’re not using the vacuum you can hang it on that charger on the wall, but installing it means drilling holes, which isn’t great for the average person.
• The first charge takes 4 hours, and honestly every charge seems to take forever… in short, no fast charging.
• There are three suction levels. Levels one and two are plenty for me. Level three is loud, and I can’t tell any obvious difference.
• Battery life on levels one and two seems fine. I used it for over a week, a quick pass every day, and it still had charge. A lot of people online say the battery life is bad — my guess is they’re holding the trigger down on level three the whole time.
• The vacuum runs on something like a trigger: you have to keep it squeezed for it to work, and it stops when you let go. Maybe that design is meant to cut unnecessary battery drain? To stretch the runtime?
• I’m happy with how well it cleans. It pulled a lot of dust off the sofa and bed, plus hair and crumbs and that sort of thing. For people who are prone to allergies this vacuum is pretty good. That said, I’ve never used a fancy one, so I don’t know how they compare.
• If there’s a downside, it’s that it’s a bit heavy for the average woman. Men won’t care.

All in all, the Xiaomi vacuum is a decent bit of kit — at least much better than spending 499 on a “mite remover”. Sure, plenty of people say Dyson is the best choice, but a Dyson costs upwards of 2,000…

I’m too broke for that, so Xiaomi is what I get to use.