Robotic vacuums are the set-it-and-forget-it way to clean. Some vacuum, some mop, and some, like the Coredy 2nd Gen. R300 Robotic Vacuum (Mopping Version), do both. The best robotic vacuums are easy to program, have excellent suction, and contain features that help them successfully navigate obstacles around the house, like tables, shoes, and stairs. Affordable robotic vacuums like the Coredy are designed to rival more expensive brands like Roomba and Shark. I tested to find out if it could keep up with vacuums that cost three or four times the price. The Coredy arrived with everything needed to get started and stay running for several weeks, including extra brushes, a replacement filter, a cleaning tool, and a remote (batteries included). The only assembly involved was attaching two of the four provided side sweep brushes. The Coredy does not have WiFi capabilities. It’s completely controlled using the remote. I point this out because it’s both a pro and a con based on how you look at it. Many of today’s robotic vacuums require a WiFi connection and app to register the product, control features, schedule cleaning sessions, and troubleshoot problems. I happen to live where WiFi can be slow and spotty at best. I’ve used a robotic vacuum that relies on WiFi. It would lose its connection in the middle of a cleaning cycle and return to the charging station. Obviously, that wasn’t a problem with the Coredy. I liked that I could place the charging station anywhere in the house, not just where it got a good WiFi connection. I also liked that I didn’t have to worry about the vacuum losing the signal part way through the cleaning cycle. Simplicity made the Coredy a good option for homes like mine. In part, the Coredy’s affordable price comes from its lack of high-end features like WiFi connectivity. Without the hassle of setting up a WiFi connection and app, setup took no time at all. Literally, you take the vacuum out of the box, attach the brushes, plug it in, and ta-da robotic vacuum ready to go. One of my favorite, though small details, was a remote holder built into the charging station. Raise your hand if you’re constantly looking for a remote in your house. If your hand isn’t raised, you have my sincere admiration. I loved the remote holder because it was easy to find, and you can’t run the vacuum without the remote. The Coredy has four cleaning cycles—auto, spot cleaning, edge cleaning, and small room—and two power settings—low and high. I tried every cycle. I set the auto cleaning to run every night at 9 p.m. Once set, the auto cleaning runs at the set time every day. Many of the more complex robotic vacuums allow you to set a more complicated schedule, such as running the vacuum twice a day or once every other day. That’s not an option with the Coredy, but again, if you’re looking to save a few dollars, that premium scheduling option isn’t absolutely necessary. I didn’t find the other settings all that helpful. For example, the spot cleaning feature programs the vacuum to clean in an increasingly larger circle, starting at a specific point. However, you either have to carry the vacuum to the area or use the remote to “drive” the vacuum there. Driving may not sound like a bad option, except the Coredy isn’t a race car. It’s slow. Very slow. It’s faster to pull out an upright and vacuum up the mess rather than using a robotic vacuum to clean one spot in the house. The edge cleaning setting didn’t work very well. The Coredy sort of stayed at the edge…very sort of. The vacuum came out of the station and started going around the perimeter of whatever object it ran into first. That was sometimes the dining table, sometimes the couch, and sometimes a wall. The setting worked better when the Coredy ran into the wall first. However, if it ran into the couch or table, it spent the entire cycle trying to navigate around this one object. It didn’t take long for me to abandon both the spot and edge cleaning cycles. The single room cleaning is really a shortened cycle. Rather than running the full 90-minute auto cycle, it would run a shorter 30-minute cycle. I didn’t find this setting all that useful. If I wanted a shorter cycle, I would just tell the vacuum to go home mid-way through the normal cycle. While there were things about the Coredy I didn’t find useful, it had excellent cleaning power. The bin was filled after each cycle, and cleaning it out was easy. You do have to pull out a mesh filter to empty it, but other than that, it was simple to dump out the contents.
How long did the cleaning cycle last?
The auto setting ran a 90-minute cleaning cycle. But, (and this is a big but) it took 2.5 weeks for me to find that out. Not because I didn’t have the vacuum running every night, but because that’s how long it took for the vacuum to get through a full cycle without getting stuck, lost, or not finding the charging station before it ran out of battery. It was almost like the Coredy got obsessed with certain areas of the house. Yes, I know it’s not alive, but hear me out. For example, it loved to go behind a couch that was up against a wall, where it would get stuck. One night, I pulled it out from behind the couch three times. Three. I would take it out, put it in the middle of the room. It would turn around and end up back in the same place. Why? I have no idea. I finally blocked off the area before the cycle started. I swear this thing had a spidey sense for places I didn’t want it to go. One night, my husband and I happened to be outside of the house when it started its usual 9 p.m. cleaning. At 9:30, when we both arrived, we couldn’t find it anywhere. It wasn’t running. It wasn’t in the charging station. We looked all over the place. Four hours later, we randomly found it stuck underneath a bean bag chair.
How powerful was the suction?
When it comes to basic cleaning, the Coredy is a champion. I’m not joking. It seriously sucked up all the things. I found cherished Legos, bits of graham crackers long-lost, and full-on pencils in the dust bin. It has a low suction setting, but why would I use it when the full suction was so awesome? It did an excellent job of picking up objects on hard floors and carpet.
Did the Coredy learn the layout of your house?
In theory, it shouldn’t have. That’s not a feature it has. However, I noticed that, over time, it didn’t bump into the walls and larger pieces of furniture. It changed direction before hitting them, which it didn’t do when it first arrived. The owner’s manual doesn’t say that it learns the layout of the house, but it seemed like it learned the location of a few of the major obstacles. If it did learn, it didn’t learn well enough to not get caught on the fireplace tile, behind the couch, or underneath the bean bag chair more than once. So it kind of learned the house layout, but at the same time, it totally didn’t.
Was the Coredy 2nd Gen. R300 Robotic Vacuum (Mopping Version) loud?
Yes, the Coredy was loud enough that I started running it earlier in the evening. When it ran at 9 p.m., it was loud enough that I couldn’t hear the television. No robot is going to stand between me and my mindless evening TV. I preferred to run it when the kids were up, and the house was loud anyway.
Is the Coredy R300 Robotic Vacuum worth the price?
The Coredy is a relatively inexpensive robotic vacuum (it retails around $210). If you’re on a tight budget and only need the most basic functions, the Coredy is worth the price. It has excellent suction, and it became my affordable yet slightly confused helper. I would think twice about this robotic vacuum or any robotic vacuum if you have lots of kids and cords in the house. I have both and getting the floor cleared of obstacles proved to be a serious challenge. For the right home and budget, the Coredy is a good option that won’t break the bank.
Coredy 2nd Gen. R300 Robotic Vacuum (Mopping Version) vs. Eufy RoboVac 30C MAX
I previously tested the Eufy RoboVac 30C MAX. I had issues with my WiFi, so the Eufy didn’t work well in my house. I also had some of the same issues that I had with the Coredy, like having to run through the house closing doors, hiding cords, and removing obstacles. However, overall, the Eufy worked better than the Coredy. Even though I had connectivity issues, I could schedule it to run every other day, once a week, or twice a day. The Eufy was much quieter than the Coredy, too. I could run it in the evening and still relax on the couch (very important to my sanity). You have to drop some extra cash on the Eufy (it retails at around $280), but it’s still more affordable than the least expensive Roomba. The Coredy had better suction, but one thing it can do that the Eufy cannot is mop floors. You can buy a water tank and mopping cloth separately, adding versatility to its uses. I didn’t buy the extra accessories to test this part out. However, if you want a vacuum/mop combo, you’re not going to find one that’s more affordable than the Coredy. I would keep a close eye on it while mopping the first few times. This little guy is drawn to places it shouldn’t go. (Again, I realize it’s not alive, but it was like having a very clean puppy in the house.) If you don’t have reliable WiFi or are on a tight budget, I would consider the Coredy 2nd Gen. R300 Robotic Vacuum (Mopping Version). I didn’t love the Coredy, but it wasn’t a complete failure either. It would work well in a smaller space with fewer obstacles. I felt like an open floor plan home with kids was too much for it.
