One-minute review
You may not be familiar with Roidmi, that’s because having launched in 2015 it’s a relative newcomer to the floorcare market. However, in this short time Roidmi has won several design awards for its cleaning appliances and certainly has a design-led approach to the products it creates. With several popular models under its belt, Roidmi is out to rival big floorcare brands like Dyson and Shark.
The Z1 Air is the latest cordless vacuum to be launched by the brand and is its most affordable model to date, though it’s not available in the US or Australia. And as you’d expect from a less expensive vacuum, it doesn’t come loaded with accessories as standard. But considering some accessories often end up gathering dust, we think it’s not necessarily a bad thing. You can purchase any additional attachments that you may need and that way you’re only giving over storage space to the ones you’ll use.
With up to an hour of run time as well as three power levels to choose from, this cordless vacuum isn’t lacking any features despite the lower price tag. It’s got a multiple air filtration system and features what Roidmi calls triple noise reduction technology for quieter vacuuming.
On test, it impressed us with good pick up on both carpet and hard floors, it’s sturdy and maneuverable but is better on hard floors than carpet. It’s ideal for anyone looking for a more affordable cordless vacuum as long as you don’t have too much carpet to tackle.
Roidmi Z1 Air price and availability
- RRP: £199.99
The Roidmi Z1 Air is available through Euronics online at £199. It’s not available in the US or Australia.
It’s an affordable cordless stick vacuum that comes with a limited range of attachments. Additional attachments including a flexible extension tube, pet brush, and powered mattress/pet bed brush can be purchased directly from Roidmi.
Design
- Modern matt white appearance
- Three power levels
- 0.65-litre dirt bin
This stylish matt white vacuum has a sleek appearance. It comes with a floorhead, extension wand, and crevice tool. There’s also a wall mount in the box, though this doesn’t actually hold the vacuum off the floor, it merely holds it to the wall as long as the floorhead is resting on the floor to support the weight. There’s no chunky charging dock though, just a regular power adaptor that plugs right into the main unit.
There’s an on/off trigger switch on the handle, one press switches the vacuum on, and pressing it again will switch it off, no need to keep the button held in. On top of the handle, there’s another button to adjust the power level, choose between eco, standard, and boost modes. There’s no light or display to confirm which power level you’re on, so you do have to cycle through them and rely on the loudest sound to confirm that you’re on boost mode.
The 0.65-litre dirt bin isn’t the largest we’ve seen but it should hold enough dirt for several cleans and it’s easily emptied by holding it over the trash and pressing the release button. A cleaning brush is supplied in the box which is useful for cleaning the filters, but they’re also washable. It’s recommended to replace the filter every three months.
The main handheld part weighs just 1.6kg with no attachments and when the extension wand and floorhead are attached it’s 2.7kg. The overall size is 119.1 x 25.9 x 22.1cm (h x w x d), but it can be taken apart for easier storage if you’re short on space.
Performance
- Less control on carpet
- Can feel heavy
- Easy to switch between power levels
With very little assembly required and not many attachments to choose from, this simple cordless vacuum is easy to use and after charging it up, is ready to go straight from the box. It doesn’t stand up on its own, so when you’re using it with the main floorhead, you’ll need to put it on the floor or lean it against something should you need to stop briefly to pick up a stray sock.
The motorized floorhead is very maneuverable and swivels around corners with ease, gliding smoothly across hard floors. But it can have a bit of a mind of its own on carpet, particularly in boost mode. The higher the power setting the more the rotating brush pulls the vacuum and the less control we felt we had over the direction of travel on carpet. Conversely, on a long pile rug, it didn’t glide very well and took a bit of effort to push.
In general dirt collection is good, carpets were left noticeably cleaner although a few stray bits of debris right at the edges of the room remained. However, by switching to the crevice tool, we collected anything the main floorhead missed. Hair was collected from the carpet without getting tangled in the rotating brush. It excels on hard floors, collecting all the dust and debris in its path.
Despite the lightweight, it did feel heavy after sustained periods of use, but you shouldn’t notice this too much if you’re just giving the kitchen floor a quick once-over. Although if you plan to use it in handheld mode, you’ll notice it feeling weighty quite quickly.
For stairs, we attached the main floorhead directly to the handheld vacuum, which does make it feel quite heavy and awkward to use. But the large floorhead made short work of tackling the stairs and the crevice tool was useful for collecting dirt at the edges of each step.
Emptying the dirt container is simple, the lid pops open allowing the dirt to fall out. But we had to pull some fluff out by hand due to hairs getting tangled around the central filter and trapping it inside. We found the filters a bit tricky to remove the first time around, but once you know how, it’s fairly simple.
The vacuum is loudest on boost mode, registering 78dB on carpet and 80dB on hard floors, which is the same noise level as a truck travelling down the road at 40mph, making it one of the louder cordless vacuums we’ve tested. However, eco mode was significantly quieter.
Battery life
- The vacuum lasts up 60 minutes
- Three-hour charge
- Lights to indicate battery level
The run time depends on the operating mode, you should get up to an hour in eco mode, 30 minutes in standard mode, and 10 minutes in boost mode according to Roidmi. We tested it in boost mode and the battery lasted for nine minutes of vacuuming with the main floorhead.
There’s a power indicator in the form of three lights next to the charging port. As the battery runs down, the lights go out, so that when there’s just one illuminated, you know the battery level is low. According to Roidmi, it takes three hours to charge and sure enough, when we let the battery run out, a full recharge took around 2 hours 50 minutes. The three lights flash during charging and stay illuminated once it’s fully charged.
Should I buy the Roidmi Z1 Air?
Buy it if...
You want a choice of power levels
With three power levels to choose from, you can tailor the suction level to your floor type and the amount of dirt you’re cleaning. Plus, you can extend the battery life by using lower power modes.
You’ve got mostly hard floors
Although dirt collection on carpet is good, this vacuum is most at home on hard floors. It’s easier to maneuver on hard floors and collects all the dirt in its path.
You’re on a budget
At under £200 this cordless vacuum is an affordable choice in comparison to rival floorcare brands like Shark and Dyson, as long as you don’t mind that it lacks accessories.
Don't buy it if...
You want lots of accessories included
In addition to the main floorhead, the only other tool included in the box is a crevice tool. However, there are plenty of additional accessories available to purchase separately.
You want a large dust bin
The 0.65 litre bin is on the smaller side, so although emptying it is quick and easy you’ll have to be prepared to do it regularly, otherwise, this isn’t the vacuum for you.
You want to use the handheld to clean your car
Unless you purchase further accessories, you’ll struggle to clean a car with what’s in the box, the floorhead is too big to clean tight spaces and although the crevice tool will be useful, it won’t be enough.
First reviewed: January 2022
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