Best Miele Scout RX2 Black Friday and Cyber Monday Deals & Sales 2020:

The Miele Scout RX2 Home Vision is a robot vacuum cleaner that strikes hard by offering many features, including a connection to the smartphone. This latest generation of the German manufacturer comes directly to rub shoulders with the leaders of the market.

Presentation

4 years ago, we tested Miele’s very first robot vacuum cleaner, the Scout RX1 . This previous version is not far from the Scout RX2 Home Vision that we are testing today. Like its predecessor, the Scout RX2 Home Vision is able to map its environment thanks to two cameras – only one on the Scout RX1 -, to navigate along several trajectories, to suck on all types of soil, all in a contained sound level and with increased autonomy. To achieve all of these great promises, Miele deployed heavy artillery that the manufacturer markets at a price of € 999.

Best Miele Scout RX2 Black Friday and Cyber Monday Deals & Sales 2020

1. Miele Scout RX2 Robot Vacuum, Autumn Red

2. Miele Scout RX2 Home Vision Robot Vacuum, Graphite Gray

3. Miele SEB 236 Electro Premium Full-Size Electrobrush

Convenience of use

Miele makes it a point of honor to take care of the finishes of each of its devices. And for our greatest pleasure, this Miele Scout RX2 Home Vision benefits from a harmonious design and a quality assembly. A pleasant feeling of solidity is felt.

Its height of 8.5 cm places it halfway between a particularly thin iLife V8s (6 cm) and a Neato Botvac D7 Connected a little too high (10 cm because of the laser rangefinder). This thickness can prevent it from cleaning under certain furniture.

The upper part of the vacuum cleaner houses an LCD screen and touch controls that disappear in standby. If the icons are eloquent enough, a quick read of the device’s manual allows you to grasp its cogs very quickly. 

The control panel provides access to the different cleaning modes: zigzag, targeted (spot), turbo or silent. Obviously, a Play / Pause button allows you to start or stop the robot (in this case, the Scout RX2 performs a random navigation if the user has not selected one of the modes previously named upstream) and another authorizes return to the charging base. On the screen of the device, there is an indicator light which provides information on the state of the battery. The battery charge indicator, in the form of a battery, is very easy to read. It lights up green for a charged battery, orange when the charge is low and red when it is exhausted.

Connectivity and the Scout RX2 Home Vision app.

Connecting the Miele Scout RX2 Home Vision to the home Wi-Fi network is no small task. If the configuration of the robot is rather well explained, we had to do it 3 times – and several people – to finalize the connection; the application systematically sent us error messages. 

Once the device is connected, you can access the same functions as those accessible from the remote control (weekly programming, remote launch of the device, different cleaning modes, return to the charging base). 

But where the application brings a few new features, it is by giving access to the maps produced by the robot. A bit like the Ecovacs Deebot R95MKII , the robot maps in real time the space in which it operates. The maps are however less precise than those provided by the Ecovacs previously named and it is especially impossible to create virtual beacons to limit access to the robot in certain places. To make up for this lack, Miele provides a much less practical magnetic strip for delimiting the rooms. Finally, note that the application does not offer a history of the cards recorded by the robot, too bad.

Another new feature brought by the device: the Home Vision. This function uses the robot’s cameras to show movements during a cleaning session. It is also used to control the Scout RX2 remotely by watching what is happening in the home, thanks to its camera. Viewing is done in real time and it is not possible to record sequences on your smartphone, or access any history of the different passages. This feature, which we have already seen on the LG Hom-Bot , is far from essential, far from it. 

Interview

On this device, the collector is not in the form of a cassette; it is semi-open. We must therefore be careful not to tilt it too much by moving it to prevent it from overturning. Its capacity is particularly low and it will be necessary to think of regularly emptying the dust bin. For emptying, simply press the gray push buttons to remove the cover. Beware, however, of the small draft of air at the opening of the cover which can allow dust to escape.

The central brush is rather easily removed. However, we regret a little the absence of rubber paddles which tend to catch less bristles and hair than a nylon brush. Fortunately, Miele provides a small brush for more thorough cleaning. 

Navigation system

This vacuum cleaner inaugurates an intelligent 3D navigation system which relies on two cameras located at the front, which are supposed to better manage the detection of objects in 3D: ” it automatically calculates distances from possible obstacles which it safely bypasses . Thus, the furniture and objects left on the ground should be preserved from possible collisions “explains Miele in his press release.

In reality, it’s a little different. The Scout RX2 Home Vision does perceive bulky walls, doors and obstacles, but the thin legs of tables, chairs or TV furniture are less obvious to visualize. In fact, the robot comes to confront them directly. In general, when approaching obstacles, it remains less precise than rangefinder robots. So he takes less care of the surface coverage, especially around obstacles that he runs more roughly. 

Note that it can see curtains as obstacles, as much as thick carpets for that matter. Half the time on average, the Miele Scout RX2 Home Vision went under the rug without being able to climb on it. It’s nice, but too bad. Like many robots before him, he hardly accommodates electric cables which he sucks and rejects … when he gets there, which is quite rare. Otherwise, an error message is sent. On the other hand, thanks to its large wheels and its suspensions, it can pass without too much trouble over the bar legs of chairs. 

When you simply press the Play / Pause button, the robot performs a random navigation that we don’t really appreciate very much, since the device tends to drain its battery on already covered surfaces. For optimal soil coverage, we prefer systematic and methodical zigzag navigation which follows a very effective cleaning logic. 

Aspiration

Before starting the festivities of the aspiration tests, let us specify that we carried them out by adjusting the robot in zigzag navigation. 

Surprisingly, the Miele Scout RX2 Home Vision does best on fine carpet. In Normal mode, it managed to vacuum 93% of the waste in 3 min 14 s and 90% in turbo mode in 2 min 23 s. A completely satisfactory result. 

On hard ground, the performances remain correct by collecting 88% of the materials in 3 min 25 s in normal mode and 77% in 2 min 05 s in turbo mode. 

Finally, on thick carpet with long pile, the robot in normal mode recovered 47% of the dust in 4 min 10 s and 31% in 3 min 37 s in turbo mode. A score far too insufficient compared to the best in our comparison, but also compared to its predecessor. 

Note that the turbo mode does not really improve its efficiency. It shortens the time spent by the robot, which presumably cuts down on work.

Noise

Miele set out to decline a silent product and the bet is successful. We noted a noise level of 60 dB (A) in normal mode, 64 dB (A) in Turbo mode and 56 dB (A) in silent mode. With this noise level, you can make the robot work in a room and stay in the next room without being disturbed.

Autonomy

The Miele Scout RX2 Home Vision is a very enduring robot. He was able to hold 2h05 in normal mode and 1h58 in turbo mode. If this endurance is very significant, it is still to date the Xiaomi Roborock S50 the most autonomous of our comparison (2h40). 

CONCLUSION

The Miele Scout RX2 Home Vision did not really create the excitement that we expected. If he manages to be methodical and relatively efficient on certain surfaces, the management of obstacles can sometimes seem risky. In addition, the numerous error messages that arrive unexpectedly force the user to stay near the robot to assist him – a shame for a robotic vacuum cleaner. So many arguments that it is hard to forgive, especially at this price.

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