IFA 2011 - Samsung Navibot S (Europe)

[Lezz]

Thanks, piokrza!

[piokrza]

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ovXLApA4HrA[/video]

sounds *loud* - it isn't the "turbo" mode?

[piokrza]

SR8980

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NvGxgmBbvn0[/video]

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xfcsLb2CaMU[/video]

[piokrza]

A few pics from Samsung Forum 2012

[piokrza]

According to german Samsung website http://samsung.de/de/news/read.aspx?pmg ... a2fe461d8a SR8980 will be available from April 2012.

[piokrza]

SR8980 main advantages over other models (from "Navibot S" line):

* self-empty feature,
* flexible scheduling ("daily or weekly"),

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9y_I2XAD ... ature=plcp[/video]

See more: http://pci.vi-nyl.com/uk/consumer/flags ... index.html

[piokrza]

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vgs_lUFJbDA[/video]

.

[robocleaner]

Piokrza - Great job in gathering all this information about the new Navibot S line...

See if this logic makes sense to you...

The Navibot S 8950 takes 3 hours to charge - which seems a long time, but then it will give you a great 100 minutes of cleaning time, and of course, it can recharge and continue cleaning too, so that's fair enough.

So you have unlimited cleaning time, you have an extra wide cleaning brush to get all that dirt up (20cm I believe, when the existing Navibot is only 16cm), it runs faster than the old Navibot too so it'll cover the floor quicker, it has dirt detect mode so it can work intensively and pick up even more dirt on a really dirty patch, it has "turbo" mode too - a faster spinning brush to again pick up more dirt faster, it even has bigger side-brushes to get more dirt out of the edges and corners, and it's also smaller/lower so it can even get that dirt out from under the couch where the old model wouldn't fit... this is all sounding great, isn't it?

So you have all these wonderful enhancements to pick up all this extra dirt in super-quick time... and then they give it a dirt bin of just 0.3 litres? Aren't you going to need to empty this every 30 minutes or so? If you want to know how rediculously small this bin is, look here...

Navibot8950bin.jpg (37.42 KiB) Viewed 13244 times

It even has a scheduler that allows a different cleaning time each day... but when the existing Navibot has a dirt bin twice the size at 0.6 litre which I already have to clean out after each 60 minute run, why even bother with a 100+ minute run time never mind a scheduler?!!

You could go for the more expensive Navibot S 8980 that does at least have the self-emptying bin, but according to the German Samsung website, the 8980 is going to retail at 959 euros rather than the anticipated 799 euros!

Let's see what the reviewers have to say once it starts to appear next month...

[Spirit Force]

I would consider the 8980 a true competitor for Kärcher. It has many features that Kärcher is lacking. Kärcher has two things going for it: it's durable and it requires little intervention from the user, if 8980 won't fall short on those it will be a success.

The small bin might be problem for 8950, but not for 8980. Kärcher has only 0.2L bin so 0.3L is 50% larger. Scheduling is a really great feature for a self emptying bot. I would like to have a bot that can keep cleaning for a month or more without any intervention. It would start cleaning when I'm at work and finish before I get home. I could just forget about it for month.

Hair will be a challenge for every truly automous bot. There's little point having self emptying bot if it needs to have the hair removed after a mission or two.

It will be interesting to see how the bot fares out in the wild. After few reviews we'll know is that bot really autonomous. Few retailers are taking pre-orders for 799€, so let's hope the price won't go up..

[robocleaner]

I wholeheartedly agree Spirit Force: It'd be nice to think that Samsung have finally cracked it. But the indications aren't good: In this post dinkydong made in another thread, this French magazine review gave the S8950 an even lower score than they gave its predecessor the Silencio (and that wasn't a particularly good score either)...

So it appears that the latest Samsung still has issues according to this review of the latest Samsung 8950 (should be based on a similar platform as the 8980 without the self-emptying bin feature) ...
http://translate.google.com/translate?h ... ot-s-8950/

[dinkydong]

Has anyone actually read the 8980's user manual? Did u notice how much maintenance work is required to clean the self emptying dock? I dont know how often one is required to do that but from the steps described, i certainly hope its a once in a blue moon kind of thing.

[piokrza]

The Navibot S 8950 takes 3 hours to charge - which seems a long time, but then it will give you a great 100 minutes of cleaning time, and of course, it can recharge and continue cleaning too, so that's fair enough.

Also, one of the users mentioned that when he pressed the "turbo" button, operating time was shortened. Btw this is just the only thing you can do to increase the cleaning power to be comparable to that of previous models.

So you have unlimited cleaning time, you have an extra wide cleaning brush to get all that dirt up (...)... this is all sounding great, isn't it?

Yea, it "sounds" like a marketing slogan... but I don't own one so I can't tell you it's so good as they advertise...

So you have all these wonderful enhancements to pick up all this extra dirt in super-quick time... and then they give it a dirt bin of just 0.3 litres? Aren't you going to need to empty this every 30 minutes or so? If you want to know how rediculously small this bin is, look here...

Right, but don't forget that Roomba 780 has similar bin capacity (ca. 0.3l ) and I need to empty it once, every week (one cleaning mission per week - two floors: 40 + 40 sq m) - it's always full.

but when the existing Navibot has a dirt bin twice the size at 0.6 litre

other sources (owners measurement) tells that actual usable capacity is 0.4l (navibot hasn't enough high-powered suction to compress the dust in the bin as Neato, so he thrown the dust at random)

You could go for the more expensive Navibot S 8980 that does at least have the self-emptying bin, but according to the German Samsung website, the 8980 is going to retail at 959 euros rather than the anticipated 799 euros!

I think the prices will vary, and drop down - it's only a matter of time.

Let's see what the reviewers have to say once it starts to appear next month...

Yes, they do. I believe that SR8980 should be better that SR8950, as he owns self-emptying dock. Overall cleaning performance should be improved. But let's see...

(...) this French magazine review gave the S8950 an even lower score than they gave its predecessor the Silencio (and that wasn't a particularly good score either)...

Anyone know how they test them? I mean, in which power setting ("normal" or "turbo"?). It could be an answer, that one was on "turbo" (Silencio) and the other one (SR8950) on "normal" mode

Has anyone actually read the 8980's user manual? Did u notice how much maintenance work is required to clean the self emptying dock? I dont know how often one is required to do that but from the steps described, i certainly hope its a once in a blue moon kind of thing.

I think, it's because of its "bagless" feature. As all bagless vacuum cleaners, this too, need more human maintenance than a bagged one. Just such a "something for something" - you don't need to buy disposable bags, but have to clean dust bin, filters, etc.

[robocleaner]

So you have all these wonderful enhancements to pick up all this extra dirt in super-quick time... and then they give it a dirt bin of just 0.3 litres? Aren't you going to need to empty this every 30 minutes or so? If you want to know how rediculously small this bin is, look here...

Right, but don't forget that Roomba 780 has similar bin capacity (ca. 0.3l ) and I need to empty it once, every week (one cleaning mission per week - two floors: 40 + 40 sq m) - it's always full.

but when the existing Navibot has a dirt bin twice the size at 0.6 litre

other sources (owners measurement) tells that actual usable capacity is 0.4l (navibot hasn't enough high-powered suction to compress the dust in the bin as Neato, so he thrown the dust at random)

That's interesting that the usable capacity of the old Navibot is only 0.4L. I'd guess then that the capacity of the new Navibot will likewise be reduced, since the arrangement of the vacuum part certainly looks similar if not identical to the old one - i.e. no compression of the dirt. I'd think the self-empty facility of the SR8980 is going to be essential (My Navibot does 90-100sqm in 60+minutes, and then it too needs emptying). I didn't realise the Roomba 780 had only 0.3L capacity, but at least it has better suck/compression.

My real concern here though is that both old and new Navibots have no exhaust - the 'used' air simply circulates inside the machine. Even with the fine-particle HEPA filter of the old Navibot, in 18 months my 8855 got so dirty inside the IR sensors couldn't see and it started to hit things (see the "problem hitting furniture" thread). This new Navibot has what is described as a "mesh" filter (not specifically HEPA)... I'd be worried about how caked the insides of this new Navibot are going to get!

It certainly will be interesting to see how this story unfolds...

Moderator's Note: Sorry I took so long to get to this. I think it's corrected.

[piokrza]

I'd guess then that the capacity of the new Navibot will likewise be reduced, since the arrangement of the vacuum part certainly looks similar if not identical to the old one - i.e. no compression of the dirt.

My real concern here though is that both old and new Navibots have no exhaust - the 'used' air simply circulates inside the machine. Even with the fine-particle HEPA filter of the old Navibot, in 18 months my 8855 got so dirty inside the IR sensors couldn't see and it started to hit things (see the "problem hitting furniture" thread). This new Navibot has what is described as a "mesh" filter (not specifically HEPA)... I'd be worried about how caked the insides of this new Navibot are going to get!

Exactly. Also, its cleaning mechanism is based mostly on brushes, which willy-nilly just stir up the dust around - consequently, the dust settles on the robot body and flies in all the chinks in it. In addition, the "dustball-formation preventing elements" (I don't know how to name them exactly - maybe just 'rubber pins'?), which are made to prevent dust from sticking to the side brushes and making of "dustballs" - one of the main weak point of prev generation - are also responsible for dirty chassis.

Samsung has not learned a lot from the previous generation. They still hasn't changed the weak cleaning mechanism. IMHO, side brushes should sweep the dust directly under the main brush path (like LG, Kobold or Roomba) - not a "mile" before it (to be honest - 10 cm ?). But that's their "business" if they do not listen to consumers feedback...



I saw you thread/solution. When I had my own SR8855, I notice the same thing. I even made a test to be sure in the belief that navibot is just an ordinary "brush on wheels". I put "some" dust bunnies (lol it was around 0.5l ) on the carpet and let him to criss-cross it a few times...it manages quite good (leaving behind "grey spot"), except for making a cloud of dust around itself lol

Navibot S has a separate HEPA filter and the mesh. This last is also in previous generation (SR8845/SR8855), but caked with the HEPA.

[robocleaner]

I notice the same thing. I even made a test to be sure in the belief that navibot is just an ordinary "brush on wheels".

I have to say that my Navibot 8855 can suck moderately well... provided the HEPA filter is new, or at least super clean. As you say, the filter appears to be multilayered, and even in just a few runs so much fine dirt gets trapped between the layers that it becomes virtually unusable: No amount of blowing, sucking, or brushing will do any good to make the filter properly usable again. The only method I've found to make it re-usable is to wash it in an ultrasonic cleaner. It doesn't help that at the moment I can't find anyone who has new replacement HEPA filters in stock for the 8845/8855/Silencio... that really is very poor considering these older models are still being sold as current machines in many countries.

So then Peter... as far as the new SR8950 and SR8980 go, are we saying that this is yet another case of a Samsung product looking great in the flesh and technically on paper, but in reality as a vacuum cleaner it's likely to be pretty useless? Of course, it would be foolish to pre-judge without actually trying one, but it certainly is looking that way isn't it?

[piokrza]

SR8950 review: http://robotbg.com/reviews/samsung_navi ... 950_review

[dinkydong]

Another disappointing bot from Samsung. After so many revisions, we would have expected Samsung to learn from the past mistakes and produce a decent cleaning bot. Apparently, this is not the case even with the latest model. I dont suppose the 8980 will be any different.

[piokrza]

Both models already available:

SR8950: http://www.myrobotcenter.at/de_at/haush ... msung.html

SR8980: http://www.myrobotcenter.at/de_at/haush ... ation.html

Interesting is, Karcher costs here same as SR8980 - €799



Also, ebay has them:

SR8950 http://www.ebay.com/itm/SAMSUNG-SAMSUNG ... t_3680wt_9

SR8980 http://www.ebay.com/itm/Samsung-Navibot ... 746wt_1158

[piokrza]

Short review of SR8980 http://www.wirejess.com/high-tech/test- ... -8980.html

[piokrza]

SR8980 lowest price I found is €750 http://www.i-comparateur.com/acheter-x20p0126777.htm which is the same as the lowest founded by the RR member price for Karcher RC-3000