6 months with a mid-tier robovac
Full disclosure: I beta tested Eufy's C28 starting last fall and they asked if I'd post my thoughts now that it's been 6+ months with the unit.
Honestly I've been mostly pleased with the robovac. I came into this with no prior experience with a robot vacuum so take that as you will. If a company wants to send me another for a comparison, I'm certainly open to it :)
I have a mid-sized home, vacumm used mostly on the main floor, though I've taken it upstairs to test the multi-floor mapping. About 60/40 hardwood to carpet. Several area rugs. 2 shedding cats (one that has taken to lording over the vacuum base station), wife and daughter with long hair.
Mapping performance has been rather good. When I initially set it up, it took a quick trip around the house, figured out the walls and furniture fairly accurately and did a ok job of dividing the rooms up. My wife moves around furniture frequently and it did a pretty good job of adjusting to that. It's LIDAR only, no rbg camera, so it did struggle at times with small items on the carpet, mostly cords. In the last week it's started to get lost under the kitchen table and takes longer than prior getting round the 6 chairs. It also completely lost mapping 2 days ago and had to relearn the house. I'm hoping it's just a glitch but will update if it persists.
Surface identification is still working well. There's are few area rugs that can either be down or up depending on if I want the entire floor mopped and it's done a good job of determining if they are there or not. It has struggled with the woven kitchen rug and does not always get it clean, particularly crumbs and debris that are inbetween the cords Higher suction would likely help this.
Hardwood floor vacuum performance is very good. The spin brushes tend to catch and direct most debris from the edges into the vaccum. I'd say 99% of the cat hair on the hardwood is caught. I have noticed the edges of the kitchen counter have enough overhang that the vacuum can miss debris there as it can't fit under them and there's a corner in the dining room that it absolutely can not reach and cat hair builds up. The new models with extension arms would like solve both these issues, but not an option on a mid-range model yet.
Mopping is still working pretty well. I have noticed that after 6 months the roller is not self-cleaning as well during cycles. I suspect both the roller head as well the silicone/plastic scraper in the vacuum body are wearing. The usage cycle warnings have not popped up in the app but its clear it's not cleaning as well as it had. It still gets dirt, lightly tracked mud, light spills pretty well. Dried spills are still not cleaned well depending on the material, a heated or steam option might do better. Again not applicable to the mid-range model.
Carpet performance is ok. When I first got the vacuum I was thrilled with the carpet performance as I wasn't having to vacuum cat hair daily and it seemed to do a good job. It still does for surface hair as long as it's running in turbo mode. For a while I used the "AI" auto mode but I found it didn't use enough suction on the carpet to deal with the cats. On turbo it gets the surface hair well and there is still adequate battery to get the entire main floor mopped and vacuumed. However I still get a surprising amount of deep hair out of the carpet when I do a weekly deep clean with the upright and it seems a little more than it had been. Filter may need cleaning. No tangle issues due to hair and no hair clogs of the vacuum itself since I've owned it.
Base station has worked almost flawlessly. I had one drain blockage months ago due to hair but nothing since. Zero problems with the base station vacuum part clogging due to cat hair. I do find if I don't empty the dirty water nightly it smells like a swamp after a few days. The collection container is air tight so I don't smell it until I open it but I can see the appeal of the new fully plumbed units. The base is also pretty loud when it's vacuum unit empties the robovac itself, but that only last a minute.
In all I'm mostly pleased with the vacuum. I know from other posts and forums there have been others that have had more problems with the base station and clogging. For the 2 cats and the longer human hair here it's been good, if you have several large shedding dogs it might be different. I also haven't had any of the charging issues I've seen others have at this point, again will update if that starts happening in the next few months. After 6 months I do find myself wishing the suction was stronger on the carpet and it had the extension arm for the cabinets and a few of the trickier corners. Mapping was good until this last week or so, not sure if there's a sensor issue or just had a glitch. It's not perfect and I find myself wishing for higher end model now for the previously mentioned issues. It has made floor cleaning a lot easier and on the hardwood floors it's been awesome. It's one of those things I honestly wouldn't have spent money on in the past but now I can't imagine not having it. For a mid-range model it seems to perform well though it's starting to show a little wear as above.