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This modestly priced robot vacuum can also mop your floors. While lacking many of the latest bells and whistles, it’s competent cleaner and a good overall value.
While the industry trend leans toward high-priced self-emptying vacuums with all the latest technological bells and whistles, most folks just need a reliable robot that can help keep the floors presentable between weekly cleanings. Zigma’s Spark 980 is that kind of smart appliance. It doesn’t empty or clean itself, but it does provide ample customization options to personalize your vacuuming and mopping, and it’s an effective cleaner.
The Spark 980 measures about 13 x 12 x 3.7 inches. Home and Power buttons sit on top adjacent to the vacuum’s ranging sensor housing. Two spinning edge brushes and a silicon-and-bristle rolling brush are on the business side. A 600ml dustbin slots into the rear of the vacuum. A separate 360ml water tank can be swapped in for the dustbin for mopping duties.
This review is part of TechHive’s coverage of the best robot vacuums, where you’ll find reviews of the competition’s offerings, plus a buyer’s guide to the features you should consider when shopping for this type of product.
The vacuum has a max suction of 4000Pa and three cleaning modes. Automatic cleaning starts around the edges of the room and then methodically cleans each section of your floorplan until the whole space has been covered. Spot cleaning vacuums a 1.5 x 1.5-square-meter area and is best for tackling concentrated dirt. Zone cleaning dispatches the vacuum to clean a specific room or area defined on the Spark 980’s generated floorplan map.
The Zigma Spark 980 vacuums and mops and provides personalized cleaning options through the Zigma app.
You can control the vacuum with its physical remote or the Zigma companion app. Both allow you to start and stop cleaning jobs, adjust suction power, and select cleaning modes. But the app lets you take advantage of the Spark 980’s mapping function. To set this up, you need to register for a Zigma account and then use the app to scan the QR code on the vacuum. The app guides you through the steps to connect to your Wi-Fi and download any available firmware updates. Voice control is also available through Google Assistant, Amazon Alexa, Siri, and a few other services.
The first time you run the vacuum, it creates a map of your floorplan. If your home has multiple levels, you can create and save a separate map for each one. Once the map is complete, you can name rooms, set virtual boundaries, and add cleaning areas.
The Spark 980 created an accurate map of my downstairs level, correctly partitioning it into its component areas: living room, kitchen, and so on. I was able to create boundaries to keep it from disturbing my dog’s food and water bowls and keep it out of a cluster of charging cables plugged into a power strip.
The Zigma app lets you add virtual boundaries and cleaning zones to maps, track cleanin history, and customize vacuuming and mopping to your needs.
In Auto mode, the vacuum cleans in an efficient up-and-down path, tackling the floor in sections one by one. This ensured the room was completely covered during each job. If the battery ran low during cleaning, the vacuum returned to its dock to recharge and then resumed cleaning where it left off.
Running the vacuum at its max suction will drain the battery faster, so I reduced the suction power when the vacuuming hard floors and powered it back up only when it was on carpet. In either case, it had no problem picking up pet hair, dust, and food crumbs. It transitioned these different types of flooring smoothly and navigated nimbly around table and chair legs and other furniture.
To mop, you must replace the dustbin with the water tank, which has a microfiber cloth attached to the bottom. The water dampens the cloth (you can adjust the moisture level in the app) which the vacuum pulls over the floor as it navigates the room. The Spark 980 uses a Y-shaped cleaning path more like a person would use with a stick mop, allowing it to lift more dirt and grime. It still doesn’t provide enough agitation to clean deep dirt and stains, but it’s an improvement over similar mopping vacuums that simply wipe the floor as the vacuum rolls in an up-and-down pattern. Conspicuously missing, however, is a drip plate on the charging dock to protect your floors from the damp cloth when the Spark 980 isn’t in use. That means you’ll need to remove the water tank as soon as each mopping job is complete.
Two spinning edge brushes and a silicon-and-bristle roller brush do the dirty work.
The Zigma app is easy to use and includes several helpful features. You can view the vacuum’s location on the map when cleaning or charging. During jobs, the cleaning time, area covered, and battery life are all displayed across the top. The app also keeps cleaning reports and other usage details in graph form.
You can schedule cleanings for specific times and days, though it’s not as intuitive here as in other apps. First, you must select “automation” from the app’s home screen. You’re then asked to add a “condition,” which in this case is to schedule a time and set a frequency for cleanings. Then you’re asked to add an “action,” which is to choose the Spark 980 from a device list and select the cleaning mode and suction power. Once you save this automation, the vacuum will run automatically with the selected settings at the scheduled time. It works, but it feels more complex than it needs to be.
That quibble aside, the Zigma Spark 9809 is a solid, all-purpose robot vacuum. With its 2-in1 cleaning, multi-level mapping, and cleaning customization options, it’s a great option for most users.
That quibble aside, the Zigma Spark 9809 is a solid, all-purpose robot vacuum. With its 2-in1 cleaning, multi-level mapping, and cleaning customization options, it’s a great option for most users.
Michael Ansaldo is veteran consumer and small-business technology journalist. He contributes regularly to TechHive and PCWorld.