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Onson J10C review: A tenacious robot vacuum that cleans on and on
Onson J10C Robot Vacuum
pros and cons
- Long lasting cleaning cycle
- Powerful 2100Pa suction
- Easy to connect to app
- No app mapping
- No threshold attempt timeout
- No location awareness of home base
The Onson J10C is a real workhorse of a low-cost robot vacuum. At under $160 and aimed at the affordable end of the robot vacuum market, the J10C is simple to use and cleans for what seems to be hours.
It is a fairly low-profile vacuum without the addition of a top LIDAR unit that sometimes tends to get stuck under radiators. The J10C has two sweeping brushes that give it a nice symmetry whilst in use and a 500ml dust bin that is easy to remove and empty.
The J10C has a remote control where you can set the time and schedule for the device and select the suction power. It also has an app that quickly and easily connects to the robot.
It does seem that something is missing from the app.
The app screen has a large area that is suitable for a map of the area, but this area is blank on the screen. My version of the app is up to date too.
The app itself is basic and simple to use the ellipsis (…) at the top of the screen takes you to the More screen.
All this screen contains is the device name and IP/MAC address, the ability to share the device with another user, and the consumable record.
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Here, you can also set the schedule for the cleaning, and how often each day you want to clean.
If you do not want the robot to enter a specific area, there is a boundary strip included with the robot, and it will not cross this line.
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There are no special boundary zones to set in the app.
The app, as the remote control, allows you to set specific cleaning patterns such as spot, edge, or auto.
The auto-cleaning setting means that the robot will randomly cross the floor, hopefully collecting all dust in its path.
This seems to work well. Other, more structured, patterns sometimes miss small areas en route, but this random path does seem to be more efficient.
You can also set the fan speed in the app, and use the Find Me feature.
The robot will beep to let you know where it is.
This robot does not have voice control, but a series of beeps lets you know what is wrong with it.
I have three robots on trial at the moment to write about, and the Onson is scheduled to clean the area after the other two have finished the same area.
Yet its 2100Pa motor at maximum suction still manages to collect a significant amount of dust and carpet fibers after the other two robots have finished their cleaning.
The J10C does seem to be very tenacious, however. Other robots recognize that they can not cross the highest threshold in the house yet the J10C keeps on trying to cross. After 10 minutes of effort, I have had to go and physically move it so it can continue its wanderings.
Other robots seem to give up after about one minute of trying to get over the hump, and announce that they are stuck. Not this one; this is like the tenacious Energizer bunny that does not give up.
As this robot does not store a map like the 360 S9 or have an on-board camera like the Roborock S6 MaxV or the Deebot OZMO T8, it does not know where its home base is.
So, when its battery levels force it to return to base, it blunders around at ultra-slow speeds looking for its home base.
If it is in the farthest away room, it can run out of its 2,600mAh battery without finding its base. The app does not let me know until I stumble across the Onson hours later.
All in all, this is a nice low-cost robot vacuum that has a simple app and useful remote control. Use the code ZDNETCODE on the Amazon store or the official Onson store to get a 15% discount.
If you want an affordable robot vacuum that will clean and clean until it finally runs out of batteries, then at the Onson J10C is the vacuum for you.