In case you’re wondering about more TCL products, Android Headlines reviewed the amazing TCL Stylus 5G (read the review here, and check out the TCL Stylus vs. the Moto G Stylus 5G). It’s a compelling phone with a built-in stylus.
Cleaning
It doesn’t matter how smart a robo-vacuum is if it doesn’t, well, vacuum. I used the Sweeva 6500 on a wood floor, and it was able to do a really good job of picking up the dust and dirt. The apartment I tested it in accumulates a ton of dust, so the difference between before and after I use the vacuum is like night and day. The device does a great job at getting dust and dirt out of the hard-to-reach corners.
It does a thorough job at cleaning as well. The Sweeva divides the area up into sections or “rooms” and cleans them separately. First, it outlines the room. Then, it goes back and forth within that room making sure to hit every inch. One thing I noticed, and this isn’t really a complaint, is that it would get halfway through with a room and randomly jump to another. After it cleans the second room, it would then return and complete the first one. As with most smaller vacuums, they’re easy to clog up with slightly larger objects, and that happened a bit more than I would have liked. The run-of-the-mill dust and debris aren’t a problem. It’s just when you start to get scraps of paper or plastic wraps. They can easily back up the brush. None of them were able to stop the brush at all, but they got stuck and negatively affected the cleaning.
Navigation
The Sweeva 6500 was able to navigate its way around the apartment with a high level of accuracy. When you first use it, the vacuum will scan the environment as it cleans. It will map out the area and save that data for future cleaning. The Sweeva 6500 uses a combination of its LED lamps and physical collision detection to map out the area. The front part of the chassis compresses like a button. So, when it runs into an object, it presses the front section. This tells the Sweeva to stop and adjust its angle.
Once it “feels” its way around the object, it will update the map to reflect it. With this and the LED lamps, the Sweeva is able to swiftly navigate its way around the apartment. The navigation is so good that, on multiple occasions, I turned the device and placed it in a different part of the apartment. After a few spins, it was able to identify exactly where it was.
The Map
After the Sweeva 6500 maps out the area, you’re able to see it using the TCL app. The app will give you a top view of it, and it will automatically divide the environment into rooms. You can customize the rooms by renaming them and designating their size and shape. Customizing the rooms is great because you’re able to send the vacuum to clean individual rooms. If you want the vacuum to clean even smaller spaces, then you can designate a small spot for it to clean on the map. If there are places you don’t want the vacuum to go to, you can designate no-go zones. The Sweeva was good at avoiding these zones but had a little trouble from time to time. You’ll just want to make the area a little bigger on the map than it is in real life.
Remote Control
One interesting mechanic that TCL added to this vacuum is the remote control. You can access this feature on the TCL Home app. As you can guess, this feature lets you manually control the vacuum using the buttons on the app.
The function works nicely, as there’s very little delay between when you press the button and when the Sweeva responds. It’s just unfortunate that there’s no reverse button on the control UI. The main gripe that I have is that if the vacuum is currently auto-cleaning a room or the house, pressing a button on the controller will cause it to cancel that current session. This means that you won’t be able to quickly control the vacuum to tackle a small spot and resume the cleaning session. You’ll need to restart.
Battery
The Sweeva 6500 has good battery life. For my usage, cleaning the whole area takes about 30 minutes. In that time, the vacuum drops around 15% of its battery from a full charge. The area I cleaned is around 269 square feet. This is with the suction turned to full, as well. It should be able to tackle larger homes with no trouble at all.
Voice prompts
One great thing about the TCL Sweeva 6500 is the fact that it comes with voice prompts. These are useful to let you know what’s going on with the device. If the wheel is suspended, the brush is stuck, the bust bin is removed, the device is charging, etc, you’ll get an audible voice response.
The TCL Home app gives you a ton of options
The TCL Home app is really the driving force behind the Sweeva 6500. Using the app, you can edit your rooms, keep track of the vacuum in real time as it cleans, locate the device if it gets lost, create a schedule, and so much more. It’s the central hub to control and manage the vacuum, and it’s a must.
Should you buy the TCL Sweeva 6500?
There are a lot of robo-vacuums on the market, and many of them are at a higher price point than $499.The TCL Sweeva could be seen as a starter robo-vacuum, but it doesn’t feel like it. You have access to many features that make it feel like a premium device. Along with that, it does a great job of cleaning the area.
The only gripes I’d have is that the remote controls are a little clunky, and that feature restarts the cleaning process. However, I highly recommend that you buy this device.
