The robot vacuum models from Robovox, which were formerly under the iLife brand and are now sold under the Zaco brand, have so far been rather simple – at least the models that we have tested so far. Our highlight so far has been the Zaco A11s Pro (test report) with active wiping function and obstacle detection as well as sterilization of the wiping water. Older models such as A10 (test report) or V6 (test report) were technically much simpler, but also cheaper. What they all have in common is support from Germany, after all Robovox is based in Gelsenkirchen. With the Zaco M1S, the manufacturer obviously wants to have more than “just” Made in Germany as a label and has given the vacuum robot laser navigation, water sterilization, a liftable mopping plate for driving on carpet and a cleaning station with a fresh and waste water tank. Is that enough to catch up with the vacuum robot elite?
Design and workmanship
There is nothing wrong with the design of the Zaco M1S. The manufacturer chooses the widespread round shape for its model, which has a side brush at the front right and a laser tower on the top that is set back sharply. The manufacturer combines chic white with some light gray accents, and overall the bot looks quite high-quality. Much of the top can be folded up, hiding the robot’s dust container underneath. The easy access makes sense, as the user has to empty the container by hand from time to time. Although the M1S has a cleaning station for the robot’s wiping cloth, it lacks a suction station for the vacuumed up dust.
Speaking of the cleaning station: Due to its strong curves, it is visually reminiscent of the Narwal Freo (test report), whose station also comes without a suction station. Overall, both models are not overly tall, but they do appear quite present because of their bulk. What the M1S station lacks is cable management. There are two buttons at the top of the device to send the robot to work or order it back to the station.
Commissioning and app
The basic commissioning, including establishing a connection to the smartphone app, is quick and easy. However, you have to be “willing to compromise” and also know something that the app doesn’t reveal – neither of which are exactly ideal. Users who like to follow the instructions in the app literally have to “leave five straight”. For example, the app claims that to reset the network option (which is absolutely necessary for a new connection) you should press the two top buttons on the robot for 3 seconds until the corresponding voice message sounds. The light then supposedly flashes white – but neither is entirely true. Because the buttons have to be held down for significantly longer and the light then flashes orange. Gifted. What is much worse, however, is that the app doesn’t say a word about the fact that the robot (unlike the competition!) is not allowed to stand in the station to establish the connection. Luckily, the telephone service was able to shine with the relevant knowledge during our test call. Afterwards, connecting to the Zaco Home app worked straight away, as long as you used a pure 2.4 GHz WiFi network. We find this difficult to understand; in 2024, technical products should at least be able to handle mixed networks. After all, most of the competition can do this too.
The app offers almost all the typical features that the competition also has. This includes the automatic creation of rooms and the setting up of exclusion zones or schedules. There is also automatic carpet recognition and an increase in suction power, and the robot automatically raises the wiping cloth by 0.8 centimeters on carpets. At least low-pile carpets don’t get damp this way. The carpets are even entered into the cleaning card – very good!
Before the first cleaning, the robot starts a map learning mode in which it roughly moves through the areas of the surfaces to be cleaned and is very quiet. Here too, Zaco goes its own way; most competing models with lasers do not require a separate first trip. After this one-time orientation trip, the app divides individual rooms and only then does the actual cleaning take place, as requested by the manufacturer. Overall, the app is comprehensive, appealing and yet clear. However, there are some unclear translations and a few sections that remain in English despite the German localization.
All pictures of the Zaco M1S vacuum robot
Zaco M1S
Navigation and cleaning performance
Overall, we really liked the navigation in the test, but there are also negative points – depending on your perspective. The basic navigation is very structured and the robot maneuvers itself into the tightest of places and usually out again. On the one hand, it is helped by its surprisingly high climbing ability; in the test, the M1S even drove over rocking chair frames that were around 2.5 centimeters high. In addition, he is extremely persistent when trying to get out of difficult situations. On the other hand, when he’s driving freely, he generally handles furniture more defensively – very nice.
However, his persistence occasionally proves to be his downfall. With the swinging chairs already mentioned, a good 5 to 10 minutes passed while the vacuum cleaner repeatedly tried to free itself with the more or less same (unsuccessful) driving movement. It actually worked after endless minutes, but during that time we were a bit worried about the furniture and were annoyed by the background noise. Here it might make sense to call for human help after 1 or 2 minutes of no progress. With a little less climbing ability (or more), this problem would not have arisen either. On the other hand: In the end, the persistence paid off…
When mopping, the Zaco M1S lifts the cloth very early when driving on carpet and then lowers it again just as quickly on hard floors. Some competitors do this worse. When wiping, you can see a short back and forth movement of the wiping plate, which simulates manual scrubbing. This happens about 3 or 4 times per second, at least at full speed. After wiping 10 square meters, the vacuum cleaner automatically returns to the cleaning station, where it uses water from the 4 liter fresh water tank to clean and moisten the mop. The wastewater is stored in the equally large wastewater tank. Before cleaning the cloth for the first time at the start of work, the M1S also sterilizes the mopping water using electrolysis, which means the water is almost completely germ-free. So far only a few models can do this.
During the cleaning process of the wiping cloth, in which the Zaco M1S is anything but gentle, the robot is literally thrown back and forth in the station – just like with the Yeedi Cube (test report). The result speaks for itself, after which the cloth is clean again and ready for further cleaning. By the way, the vacuum cleaner dries the wipe with warm air after it has been completely cleaned. This prevents mold and bad smells from drying too slowly – great! The background noise during drying is too high for the bedroom or living room, but most users should be able to live with it in the hallway.
The only downside: When scrubbing the cloth, our test model squeaked after just a few passes, but without causing any other problems. In addition, neither the 10 square meter cleaning area between cleaning the cloth nor the drying time may be adjusted. It’s also a shame that the station doesn’t offer a suction device. The 450 ml dust container in the robot must therefore be emptied manually regularly. There is no internal water tank in the robot, so the amount of water it uses for mopping cannot be varied.
Overall, the Zaco MS1 still scores points when it comes to cleaning performance. When vacuuming with a stated 3200 Pa, this primarily refers to hard floors and short-pile carpets; here the MS1 can definitely keep up with the elite vacuum cleaners. Things look a little different on higher carpets, where the distance becomes larger. However, the cleaning quality is undoubtedly sufficient if the robot vacuum cleaner drives regularly – as intended.
There are actually hardly any criticisms when it comes to wiping. As already indicated, there is no internal water tank, so the amount of water cannot be adjusted. However, Zaco uses what we think is a good amount here – enough to achieve a strong cleaning result, but not enough to damage expensive wooden floors. Another point of criticism concerns the wiping distance from walls and furniture. Here the Zaco M1S leaves out a strip that is almost 10 centimeters wide; the competition is clearly moving closer to obstacles. Models like the Dreame L20 Ultra (test report) even offer a mop that can be extended to the side. Otherwise, the wiping results of the M1S are convincing across the board – even when removing dried stains.
The battery of the Zaco M1S offers 5200 mAh, which means the manufacturer promises a cleaning time of up to 3.25 hours. In everyday life, as with the competition, this is clearly too high. In fact, in the test, a journey time of more than 1.5 hours with hard surfaces and carpets was realistic – still a good value. Together with the fact that the robot continues its cleaning task independently after a charging interruption of around 5 hours, this also makes it suitable for larger areas beyond 100 square meters.
Preis
The RRP of the Zaco M1S was originally just under 800 euros; at the time of testing it cost around 675 euros, but was also available for under 600 euros. There is only a white version.
Conclusion
The Zaco M1S looks nice, offers a decent app and does a good (cleaning) job. Its strength is wiping, which it does really well and is very hygienic thanks to the wipe drying and sterilized water. It can also vacuum, at least it’s really good on hard floors and decent on flat carpets. Like most of its competitors, it only has problems when the carpet is higher, but – as long as the carpet doesn’t get too deep – it can compensate for these problems by driving regularly. 3D obstacle detection and automatic suction are missing, but we only missed the latter. In our opinion, the M1S is exactly the right model if wiping is more important than vacuuming. At around 700 euros, the MS1 is not a bargain, but it is very solid.