! f Kalorik Huvi Robot Vacuum review 10

There aren’t a lot of new features left to discover in the vacuuming world, but the Kalorik Home HUVI R1 Robot Vacuum has one suggestion: aromatherapy. The HUVI R1 features air-purifying technology with a spot for essential oils, offering a new twist to your household chore schedule.

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What’s in the box of the Kalorik Home HUVI Robot Vacuum R1?

In the box of the Kalorik Home HUVI Robot Vacuum R1, you’ll find the vacuum and a very small charging base, along with a charging adapter, manual, and cleaning tool. The HUVI comes in fairly compact packaging, which makes it great for gifting and moving.

On the underside of the HUVI R1, there is a removable brush roll and a large, bagless dustbin. The bin features a removable HEPA 13 filter and a UVC sanitizing light, and the underside of the vacuum has two attachment spots for side brushes. Four side brushes are included in the box; two for thin rugs and hard floors, and two for thick carpets.

On the side of the HUVI is something I’ve never seen before: an aroma diffuser. Also included in the box of the HUVI is a bag of aroma strips (felt pads) and a bottle of Sweet Orange essential oil.

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What are the features of the Kalorik HUVI Robot Vacuum?

The Kalorik HUVI Robot Vacuum R1 features quiet 2600 PA suction and a double-sided filter. On one side of the filter, a medical-grade HEPA 13 filter is designed to trap 99.95% of allergens. On the other, copper wire is meant to filter large particles. When this vacuum is running, UVC technology inside of the vacuum’s dust bin aids in disinfecting the contents of the dustbin to prevent viruses and bacteria from recirculating into your home.

The HUVI R1 advertises a maximum runtime of 110 minutes before it will return to its charging base, as well as Wi-Fi, Alexa, and Google Assistant compatibility. You can turn on the vacuum’s ION cleaning function to help clean the air in your home and scent the area with essential oil, and use the Kalorik Home smartphone app to set the HUVI’s suction strength (low, medium, high, or max), view past cleaning history and maps, schedule future cleanings, and modify speaker volume.

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Navigation and mapping in the HUVI

I’ve reviewed a lot of robot vacuums here at the Best Buy Blog. Back in the day, when robot vacuums were new, it was normal for them to take quite a while to clean your home. Every one used a random cleaning pattern. So, some days they might take an hour, while other days, they might take three or four.

Nowadays, vacuums usually (but not always) use a straight line cleaning method, which helps to standardize how long they take to clean. Because that’s what I’m used to, it felt a little strange that the Kalorik Home HUVI R1 still uses a randomized pattern. If it bumps into an item or surface, it will bounce against it three times to try to get through the area. And it does so pretty firmly—I have to reposition all of my lights, plants, and shelves after the HUVI vacuums, and it sometimes gets itself wedged underneath furniture. (It even managed to tip over my cat’s automatic feeder once and pop its bowl off!)

When the HUVI hits an object, or if it decides it’s been cleaning in a straight line for too long, it turns a random number of degrees and heads in that direction. This is particularly strange to me because the HUVI has the ability to create a map of your floor plan, but it doesn’t learn from those maps in future cleans.

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How long does the HUVI R1 take to vacuum?

Because the Kalorik Home HUVI robot vacuum doesn’t use directional navigation, it was difficult for me to work it into my home’s schedule. My apartment is about 700 sq ft, and most robotic cleaners take about 50 minutes to thoroughly vacuum or mop it. Some take up to two hours, but it’s rare for a robot cleaner to take that long in my home.

Despite its advertised 110-minute runtime, the Kalorik HUVI R1 vacuums in my home for a maximum of 90 minutes. After 90 minutes, it heads back to its base to charge, which takes 20-40 minutes. However, these numbers aren’t consistent from one cleaning session to the next, and they aren’t recorded accurately in the Kalorik Home app’s cleaning history.

Sometimes, the HUVI R1 will vacuum just my bedroom (where its charging base is) again and again for the full 90 minutes, and then go back to its base to charge. In the time I’ve been testing and timing it, only once has it managed to vacuum my entire 700 sq ft apartment without being repositioned. That cleaning session took 90 minutes, but what struck me as odd was that it was recorded in the app as a 33 minute, 269 sq ft cleaning session.

On average, this vacuum takes 3 hours to vacuum my home, split into two 90-minute sessions with a manual repositioning in between the sessions. If I lift the vacuum from area to area, I can cut down that time by up to half.

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How does the Kalorik Home HUVI handle rugs and cords?

The HUVI R1 gets stuck on both rugs and cords, which is not reflective of my experience with other robot vacuums. It can make it over the edge of heavy mats (like my memory foam kitchen mat) and raised edges. However, even though it comes with two different sets of edge sweepers (one for hard floors and thin area rugs, and one for thick carpets), it gets stuck on the edge of area rugs.

Because the HUVI R1 uses random path planning, it can get stuck on the same rug again and again. I lifted and repositioned it a dozen times before I gave up and rolled up all of my rugs!

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My experience with the Kalorik Home HUVI R1 Robot Vacuum

The Kalorik Home HUVI R1 Robot Vacuum offers some very unique features, but it didn’t fit my lifestyle. I like to turn my robot vacuum on right as I get into bed or as I head out the door, so a vacuum that can quickly clean without supervision is important to me. I wasn’t able to do that with the HUVI, as I could never know for certain that it would make it to every room in my home.

As someone with cat allergies and a cat, it’s also essential to me that any vacuum in my home filters effectively. The HUVI is designed to do this, with a HEPA 13 filter, UVC dustbin sanitization, and ionizer technology, but I found that it made me quite sneezy whenever I ran it without emptying the dustbin beforehand. So, especially if you have allergies, it’s important to always empty this dustbin after use.

If you don’t mind a vacuum that gets a little lost at times, the HUVI R1 is a quiet robot vacuum with unique aroma diffusing and UV-cleaning technology. It has a large dustbin, an easy-to-navigate app, and excellent battery life.

Shop the Kalorik Home HUVI R1 Robot Vacuum online at Best Buy today. 

Rae Chen
Rae Chen covers everything from handbags to speakers here on the Best Buy Plug-in Blog. They can also be found at thenotice.net, where they've been writing about beauty & wellness since 2007.

392 COMMENTS

  1. My favorite feature is the UVC technology inside of the vacuum’s dust bin that aids in disinfecting the contents of the dustbin to prevent viruses and bacteria from recirculating into my home! I would use a rose or Jasmine or even a tropical coconut scent in the diffuser.

  2. My favorite feature is the diffuser to clean and freshen the air when it vacuums. I will use the lemon sent in the diffuser.

  3. This would save me so much time that I could use for family time or relaxing.

    I love so essential oils, Ylang Ylang is a favorite

  4. I like that it’s Wi-Fi connected, you can control it via the phone app while you are away from your home.

    I would use a scent that is happy and joyful – like lemon!

  5. I am a disabled senior who is an asthmatic with a dog and cat! I love my fur babies but they shed a lot of hair!! This AMAZING quiet cleaner does it all! I love the hepa filter feature and the diffuser option for which I would use a citrus fragrance. I love the WiFi feature and how I can control it with goggle assist!! This mini me robot would be a game changer in helping me keep my home clean!

  6. I like the double filter feature that self-sanitizes. I’m not fond of scented oils, but I would enjoy a light cinnamon/clove (like Bath and Body Works has) or a light pine scent.

  7. The feature I like best about the Kaloik Home HUVI R1 Robot Vacuum is the ease in which the cleaning roller came out. I have dogs with long hair and it constantly gets caught up in the roller of the vacuum I have now. It seemed like this would only take a few minutes to remove and be back in business again. I think I would use an ocean scent or fresh linen in the diffuser.

  8. Love the essential oil part but more impressed with the UVc tech to keep bad germs at bay! I would use the sweet orange that comes with and a nice Lemon essential oil also.

  9. The feature I like most is the medical-grade HEPA 13 filter that is designed to trap 99.95% of allergens
    I would use a lavender scent in the diffuser..

  10. Diffuser is my favourite feature on this and for oil scent for this would be lemon, lemony fresh.

  11. The HEPA filter is my favorite feature. I live in a rural area and dust and unpleasant odors are a noticable problem. I would use a lemon scent in the diffuser.

  12. My favorite feature is the ION cleaning function. I’d love to my house to be clean and smelling great at the same time. Also the charging time looks great!

  13. I like that this vacuum can at least find its way back to its charger! I had one of the original robot vacuums for a few years that did not even do that; it just died where it was so I had to find it all the time to empty it/or and charge it, and both of those happened very quickly. I’m a little disappointed to hear that this one does not remember maps of your house long-term as that seems to be a key feature in robot vacuums these days, and that the finishing times are so random, but I’d still give it a try.
    I don’t really know what scent I’d put in the diffuser as I’ve never used scented oils before, but maybe something citrus!
    Thanks for the opportunity!

  14. 2- My best features are the HEPA 13 filter and UVC sanitizing light as well as also having four suction strengths; I’d add a bit of lavender scent.

  15. My favorite feature is the UVC technology inside of the vacuum’s dust bin that aids in disinfecting the contents of the dustbin to prevent viruses and bacteria from recirculating into my home! I would use a vanilla scent in the diffuser.

  16. I can’t even begin to imagine the thrill of a totally cleaned bedroom floor and then also, realize the room was smelling of my favorite scent!! I love the HEPA 13 filter and would use lavender to lull me to sleep!

  17. I like the ION cleaning function to help clean the air. I would like a vanilla scent.

  18. The diffuser is an interesting feature! I guess I’d go with a vanilla scent. Most importantly though I like the large dustbin, the ability to suck up as much garbage as possible is of utmost importance.

  19. My favourite feature is the HEPA 13 filter. I would use a lemon scent for sure, it’s always refreshing.

  20. I like the idea of a quiet robot vacuum, I would use a mixture of lavender and tea tree oil.

  21. I like the filter feature to help get rid of allergens. I would use a orange or mint scent.

  22. Never heard of a diffuser in a robot vacuum before – that’s pretty cool; I like it!

    I would use sandalwood oil in this one.

  23. I like that it has a large dustbin and HEPA filter. As for scents, I would love to use lavender or coconut for a whiff of aromatherapy.

  24. The charging time is great!!! I wonder if the batter will die after consistent use? Are batteries easy to purchase?

    • Hi,

      Though the battery is designed to last a long time, you can request a replacement if necessary by contacting Kalorik customer service with the details of your registered Kalorik robot vacuum.

  25. The HEPA filter is great and I am really impressed that the vacuum can scent and clean the rooms at the same time! I would like to try a citrus or evergreen scent first, but I am sure that I would experiment with several scents throughout the year.

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