Close-Look & Review of the MOOSOO R3 Laser Robot Vacuum

These days, we’ve automated away a lot of our everyday tasks. Throw some coffee beans in your smart coffee maker every night, and you’ve got hot java every morning. Set up your FitBit, and it lets you know when you’re not getting enough sleep. Set up your smart TV, and your streaming services are all right there. But when we think of smart devices, we usually think of devices that are shiny and new. At the very least, we think of devices that are fun to use, or used frequently. We don’t typically think about smart vacuums.

That’s a shame, since vacuums were some of the first smart devices to hit the market. In fact, the iRobot Roomba has been in production for nearly 20 years. They were rolling around living rooms while smartphones were just a gleam in Steve Jobs’ eye. But to the modern eye, the earliest robot vacuums were anything but smart. They rambled around randomly, sucking up dirt as they went. Soon, you had some rudimentary ways to block off rooms, but that was about it. Not only that, but battery life and suction power on early robot vacuums was limited. For any kind of significant mess, you’d have to follow up afterwards with your regular vacuum.

Things have changed a lot in the last couple of decades. Today, we’re going to review the MOOSOO R3 Laser Robot Vacuum. This vacuum has all the smart features you’d expect from a modern smart home device. It also boasts better battery life and suction power than most robot vacuums. But do the features justify the relatively high price? To find out, we’ll need to take a closer look. Let’s get started!

Overall Design

The MOOSOO R3 Laser Robot Vacuum is a round, disc-shaped unit with an all-black finish. It has a glossy finish, which means it won’t attract dust, but it does attract fingerprints. The diameter is 13 inches, a bit larger than most robot vacuums. As you’ll see, this size is necessary to house everything that goes inside. The height is also a bit larger than average, at 2.756 inches. This is still under three inches, though, which means it should clear most furniture such as sofas. Obviously, this depends on your furniture, so you’ll want to measure first if you’re concerned.

Much of this height, a little over half an inch, consists of the lidar sensor, which sticks up in the center. This is necessary so it has the proper clearance to map your home. The rest of the unit lies a bit lower, and has a sleek finish. Directly forward of the lidar sensor, you’ll see three basic control buttons. The center one starts a cleaning cycle, and the left one sends the unit home to charge. The right one activates WPS pairing, so you can connect to your home’s WiFi network. To the rear of the lidar sensor, you’ll see a white MOOSOO logo printed on the housing.

The edge of the top is beveled, so there are no sharp edges to catch on feet or paws. The outer perimeter is slightly separate from the rest of the unit, and forms a bumper. This shouldn’t be necessary, given the R3’s mapping technology. But it’s an added layer of safety to prevent damage. As with most robot vacuums, there are three brushes on the bottom. The first is the primary drum-style roller brush, just as you’d find on any vacuum cleaner. This captures dirt and sweeps it up into an opening where the suction comes from. The other two brushes are wide and flat, and rotate horizontally. They protrude slightly from the sides, widening the effective cleaning area. To be fair, they don’t do much on carpets, but they help out a lot on bare floors.

The main roller brush can also be manually rotated in the reverse direction. This doesn’t do anything to improve cleaning power. However, if some hairs get tangled in the unit, the reversible brush makes them easy to unravel.

Inside the unit, you’ll find a removable dust bin that holds up to 0.6 liters. Most robot vacuums top out at half a liter, so you’re looking at an increase of 20 percent. That’s not huge, but it can make a big difference if your vacuum goes home to base less often. For an even more convenient option, consider the Proscenic M7 Pro. It’s expensive, but it comes with an optional self-emptying dust bin. Instead of emptying a small take on a regular basis, you can empty the larger, main bin less often.

The R3’s charging station is small and lightweight, and is designed to sit tight against your wall. It’s made to sit in an out-of-the-way place, such as a laundry room or behind a sofa. That way, you don’t have to worry about kicking your vacuum or tripping over it while it’s charging. The charging station itself also needs to be plugged into the wall, so good placement is key.

Along with the main unit and the charging station, you also get a couple of extras. First, you get a cleaning brush for removing dirt and hair. Next, you get a pair of extra HEPA filters. You also get two pairs of extra side brushes for when they inevitably get worn out. In addition to all of this, MOOSOO also covers the R3 Laser Robot Vacuum with a 24-month manufacturer’s warranty. If anything goes wrong in the first two years, simply contact them for a replacement or a refund.

Vacuum Performance

The R3 Laser Vacuum has three different suction levels. At the highest level, you’ll get 2,200Pa of suction, which is more than your average robot vacuum. It’s enough to handle all but the worst messes, even dirt and rock salt that has gotten ground into carpets. This should be more than enough for most people’s needs. That said, it’s always possible to get more power if you’re willing to accept a larger machine. For instance, take a look at the Tesvor S6. It’s almost 3 ½ inches thick, but its “boost power” mode reaches an impressive 2,700Pa of suction.

That said, you may not always want to run at full power. At maximum power, you’ll drain the R3’s battery in a little over an hour. However, at lower settings, you’ll be able to run for as long as 2 ½ hours. At that rate, you can clean as many as 2,500 square feet of floor space.

When the battery level gets too low, the R3 will automatically return to its charging station. You don’t have to worry about this interrupting your cleaning cycle, though. The R3 will remember where it was, and resume cleaning when the battery reaches 80 percent. This takes a couple of hours. But if you have a larger house, you don’t have to worry about only getting a partial cleaning.

Speaking of partial cleanings, a lot of robot vacuums have trouble crossing obstacles like thresholds. This can leave some of your home untouched. The R3, on the other hand, can cross obstacles as tall as 0.6 inches. This is enough to conquer the tallest transition in almost any house. Finally, the built-in HEPA filters will remove the vast majority of dust particles, animal dander, and other allergens. They’re not medical-grade, by any stretch of the imagination. They’re just a cut above your average home vacuum filter.

About the only thing the R3 won’t do is mop your floor. For that, you’ll need a robot vacuum with a wet mop function, such as the Yeedi K700. Keep in mind, though, that the K700 has no smart features or zone control.

Setup and Everyday Use

The R3’s lidar scanner actively maps and monitors your home in 360 degrees. The first time you run the vacuum, it will seem to zip about randomly, like an old-school robot vacuum. Don’t worry. It’s just mapping your house. Once it’s built a 3D model of your home, it will calculate the best path for cleaning. From that point forward, it will operate in a nice, efficient zigzag. As it goes, it will avoid drops, and will avoid running into obstacles.

You can also use the app to enable more advanced control. Within the app, you can set no-go zones, so the R3 won’t disturb your kids or pets. Alternatively, you can tell the vacuum to clean specific rooms. For instance, if your front hallway gets a lot of traffic, you can spot clean it an extra time each week. You can set a schedule, and even program the exact sequence your rooms get cleaned in. This makes it easy to plan your day, since you know exactly where the vacuum will be. If you’ve rather not mess with all that, don’t worry. The R3 will keep track of your cleaning habits. If you enable automatic scheduling, it will learn your habits over time, and build a schedule automatically.

The MOOSOO app is available for free on iOS and Android, and it installs in only minutes. Connect the vacuum to your WiFi network, pair it with the app, and you’re good to go. Alternatively, you can use Alexa or Google Voice to operate the R3.

Final Verdict

The MOOSOO R3 Laser Robot Vacuum is one of the more powerful robot vacuums available on today’s market. It’s also one of the smartest. There are plenty of vacuums with app control, but few of them with this many features. For instance, setting no-go zones is a common feature. But choosing particular rooms and the order they’re cleaned with is an unusual idea. Not only that, but the physical construction is nice and sturdy. A reversible roller brush makes it easy to get rid of the inevitable tangles and dust bunnies you’ll pick up. And an oversized dust bin means you don’t have to clean up as often. Combine that with better than average battery life, and you’re looking at a clear winner.