Last week, two heavyweights in the world of household appliances unveiled their next robot vacuum cleaners after a long absence from this market. Dyson and Kobold waited eight and five years respectively to make a strong comeback in this very promising sector, which is growing by 8.4% according to Gifam, a trade association for the household appliance industry. This market is also highly competitive, which adds an additional challenge for these two brands.
While the sector is full of hybrid products capable of vacuuming and cleaning floors simultaneously, the Dyson 360 Vis Nav and the Kobold VR7 are free of this booming feature on the market. 50% of the models in our comparison thus ensure this versatility.
Dyson and Kobold are clear on this point: until their robots are able to wash the floors as well as they vacuum them, they prefer to bet on the suction performance and optimal navigation. The promise is commendable and the Vis Nav 360 and VR7 will probably deliver technically. our lab tests will obviously confirm these assumptions.
The problem is that there are already a slew of robots on the market that excel in vacuuming and also offer a floor washing function with rotating pads or vibrating mops, automatically retractable in front of carpets. These robot vacuum cleaners are sold under the 1000 € mark for the most part, much cheaper than the Dyson 360 Vis Nav and Kobold VR7 which will be marketed around 1300 €, if not more.
Therein lies the challenge for these home appliance pioneers, who must prevail against formidable competition offering luxurious features, such as a charging station capable of automatically emptying waste, supplying the tank with water, and even recover dirty water after a cleaning cycle. While the VR7 comes with a charging station that collects dust from the collector, the Dyson 360 Vis Nav doesn’t offer an automatic emptying system of any kind. Despite this, these two robots have convincing arguments. In addition to their technical features, they have a very efficient after-sales service (many of the editorial staff have used them), which is essential for a robot vacuum cleaner with a multitude of advanced technologies.
Premium positioning at all costs
Each leader in a sector ends up facing, sooner or later, more or less fierce competition when the market in which it operates is buoyant. Vorwerk, the group that owns Kobold and manufactures the Thermomix, has already experienced this in 2019 when Lidl released its Monsieur Cuisine Connect in France, a connected robot-cooker for less than €500.
For its part, Dyson has also experienced this reality in the field of stick vacuum cleaners, where Chinese competition (Xiaomi, Dreame, Proscenic, etc.) has strongly shaken the sector, even going so far as to copy certain pioneering technologies introduced by Dyson. , such as multicyclone filtration and particle counter. Despite this, these two brands have maintained their premium positioning at all costs, without ever trying to offer a light or low-cost version of their emblematic devices. Yet even Apple has taken this approach with its iPhone SE, renewed every year.