How good is DJI’s first robot vacuum cleaner?
10-2-2026
Translation: Megan Cornish
Pictures: Lorenz Keller
DJI’s first robot vacuum cleaner surprises with its incredible design – and high price. So, how does the drone and action camera experts’ first household appliance perform with everyday use?
At first glance, I was surprised by DJI launching a robot vacuum cleaner. The Chinese manufacturer is known worldwide for drones and action cameras. On second thought, however, it’s not too far-fetched, since DJI’s key strengths also play a role in robot vacuum cleaners – namely, motors, sensors and cameras.
What a design – and what a shock
There are three different versions of the DJI Romo available. I took a look at the Romo P – purely because of its design. Made of polycarbonate – a transparent plastic – the robot and its base station give you a glimpse inside.
It looks incredible. It’s the most beautiful robot vacuum I’ve ever seen. I’d love to put it right in the middle of my living room, not hide it away in a corner. The design reminds me of Nothing or Teenage Engineering.
Don’t worry, despite the transparent parts, you won’t have to look at your own dust. The interior’s designed so you won’t see any dirt or dirty water.
While installing the base station, I stopped in my tracks. There were two cartridges in the box. Surely DJI hadn’t…? No. Yes! Oh. Yep, DJI doesn’t have any built-in cleaning solution containers; instead, it relies on two cartridges that look like they should be in your printer. You can buy them, but at hefty prices: 15 Swiss francs for 400 millilitres of floor cleaner or 200 millilitres of DJI floor deodoriser. It all makes you think of those cheap printers subsidised by expensive ink cartridges.
I can get a litre of cleaning solution for the same price from a competitor. Furthermore, most manufacturers – at least with their top-of-the-line models – have moved away from cartridge systems to refillable tanks. This means you’re free to choose your cleaning agent, even if the manufacturer always recommends their own.
The cartridges are designed so you can unscrew them, but you can’t refill them yourself. On the plus side, you can also use the robot with just water, which I often used to do and is fine for frequent use. It just doesn’t smell as clean.
Installation and app: precise and clear
DJI’s experience with apps and electronics is obvious in the installation process. The connection between the robot, Wi-Fi and app’s incredibly fast. And for the first time, you can connect a robot to the modern 5 GHz network if you want to. All the other models I’ve tested so far – like most other networked household appliances – always required the older and slower 2.4 GHz band of a Wi-Fi router, or at least a mixed network.
At the installation stage, the software suggests activating «automatic charging adjustment». This means the robot’s only charged to 80 per cent of its battery capacity at a time, which is supposed to extend battery life. It’s a good idea – but only for homes under 150 square metres. As the test shows, while you can clean 120 square metres on 80 per cent charge, you then only have about 20 per cent in reserve. If you want to use it again immediately, you have to wait until the battery’s charged above 30 per cent. At least you can adjust it again at any time in the settings.
On first startup, the DJI Romo takes eleven minutes to map my apartment. That’s good compared to others.
After mapping the rooms, the robot’s both fast and very accurate. It’s clearly separated the rooms and correctly named two of them. I just need to label the remaining rooms correctly, then I can start the first clean.
Incidentally, the app’s the most visually appealing and user-friendly I’ve tested so far. You can always see exactly what the robot’s doing, and the buttons are large and clearly labelled.
There is, however, one limitation: you have to click to see the map of your home. So, with DJI – as with almost all its competitors – cleaning individual rooms or areas involves an extra step. I use this feature frequently, which is why the extra click annoys me. Of course, if you only ever want to clean your whole home with the push of a button, this isn’t a problem.
Cleaning: quiet and good
DJI uses a proven concept. According to the manufacturer, the robot vacuums with a suction power of 25,000 pascals and has two round, rotating mops for cleaning the floor. The Romo can extend both the brush and one of the mops outwards to clean edges and corners.
The result’s good, but not outstanding. Dust and light dirt are no problem. Newer models with a roller or brush perform slightly better on dried-on dirt. Overall, the cleaning performance is comparable to the Dreame X50 Ultra Complete, which has been on the market for a year.
What’s noticeable is that the robot generally cleans quite slowly, despite its faster and more precise navigation compared to many others. It typically returns to its base station every 15 minutes to clean the mops, meaning it takes just under two minutes per square metre to vacuum and mop.
The two-part brush is a welcome feature, preventing hair getting tangled. DJI actually includes two different brushes with the Romo P. I tested the standard one, which is made entirely of rubber. There’s also a bristle brush, which is supposed to work even better on hair. However, the standard version worked very well in a household with two cats and two people with long hair.
Along with the Roborock Saros 10, this robot is the quietest I’ve tested so far. I measured 57 decibels one metre away. The noise isn’t shrill – it’s more of a humming sound – so I can easily do other things in the same room while the robot’s cleaning.
In the docking station, the mops are washed with 60-degree water and then dried. The dust bag’s also kept dry and exposed to UV light to combat mites, bacteria and germs.
Navigation: surprisingly good, but not perfect
The Romo has a reputation for having the best sensor system in the industry. After all, that’s one of DJI’s key strengths in drone manufacturing. As a test, I laid out some small objects in the kitchen: a cat’s ball, a pen, a clothes peg, two playing cards and a marble-sized ball of cotton wool from a New Year’s Eve party popper. It’s quite realistic that I might have something like that lying around.
The robot actually recognises all of the obstacles and navigates around them smoothly. This is astonishing. Other robots have just pushed aside objects the size of the cotton ball – at best. Or they’ve run over the ball, which has even become stuck in the brush in the worst case.
But the Romo gets overconfident. It tries to clean as close to the obstacle as possible and first catches the ballpoint pen with its side brushes, and later the playing cards as well. This despite both obstacles having been detected and avoided initially. On its way back, the robot then pushes the obstacles directly in front of the case: it wipes one of the cards away, and the ballpoint pen gets caught under the wheels.
Without any extreme testing, the DJI model performed perfectly. It reliably detects cables and all obstacles and can even upload photos of these objects to the cloud. These photos are sharper with better lighting than those of any other robot vacuum I’ve seen. More importantly, the Romo P always finds its way, never gets stuck and performs its tasks reliably. However, in everyday use, I don’t notice any significant differences compared to the top models from Dreame, Mova, Ecovacs or Roborock. They’re all at the same level.
Unfortunately, the DJI robot’s sensors and cameras aren’t perfect. The Romo just drives right over the blob of barbecue sauce. I have to clean the wheels and brush afterwards. So far, all manufacturers have failed when it comes to stains like these.
Despite lacking a lidar tower, the robot is 98 millimetres tall. Many competitors with mop heads are one or two centimetres lower, making them a better fit under furniture with limited clearance.
I measured power consumption of 1.6 Wh per hour in standby mode, when the robot’s idle and fully charged. This is good compared to the competition. However, standby consumption of less than one watt would be desirable and technically feasible.
Power consumption seems to be significantly higher immediately after mopping, when the mops are drying, with the robot drawing around 67 watts for several hours.
Price and performance: inexplicable differences
A lot of people were shocked by DJI’s official prices. The recommended retail price for the DJI Romo P’s €1,899, making it one of the most expensive models on the market. At that price, you expect a top-of-the-line device in every respect.
The Romo P can’t offer that. Navigation, obstacle avoidance, app and design are top-notch. Other features just aren’t there. The robot can’t climb over higher thresholds – instead, DJI offers a ramp as an accessory. The Romo can’t eject its mop pads – the manufacturer’s completely ignored the modern and more expensive system with a self-cleaning roller. And some competitors offer more in terms of both suction power and washing and drying temperatures in the base station.
The manufacturer’s clearly aware of this and lowered prices everywhere soon after launch. Even in our shop, it’s available at a significantly lower price, despite the slightly later Swiss release. A price of around 1,000 Swiss francs is still high, but acceptable overall.
Besides the Romo P, two other variants are available that are technically very similar.
DJI Romo A: The base station’s white rather than transparent. Plus, it lacks two features: the manufacturer hasn’t gone with a built-in UV light for the dust bag, and there’s no slot for the floor deodoriser. Depending on the price, it’s an interesting alternative if design isn’t a major concern.
DJI Romo S: This version has no transparent elements: the robot has a white case. You’ll have no UV light and no floor deodoriser, and the second brush option isn’t included. Depending on the price, this version could be quite interesting.
In a nutshell
A successful – albeit not perfect – debut
DJI’s first robot vacuum cleaner relies heavily on the manufacturer’s established strengths: precise sensors, excellent software and a sleek design. While the Romo P performs well in both vacuuming and mopping, current top models from its competitors are sometimes slightly better.
If you find it for significantly below the official price of 1,900 Swiss francs, the DJI robot’s a good choice. Especially if you want your household helper to look good. The transparent case is a real statement. However, the cheaper, only slightly less feature-rich Romo A and Romo S versions might be good alternatives.
Pro
- Incredible appearance
- Quiet, precise navigation
- Above-average obstacle detection
- Overall good cleaning performance
- Stylish, fast and user-friendly app
Contra
- Expensive cartridges for cleaning agents
- Features such as a climbing function are missing
- Not the best wiping system
Lorenz Keller
Senior Editor
Lorenz.Keller@digitecgalaxus.chGadgets are my passion - whether you need them for the home office, for the household, for sport and pleasure or for the smart home. Or, of course, for the big hobby next to the family, namely fishing.
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