If you’re a fan of Star Wars and robotic vacuums, this is the review you’re waiting for. Samsung, which lately has been diversifying away from smart phones into selling anything and everything, has made two additions to their growing high-end robotic vacuum line: the Samsung POWERbot Star Wars Limited Edition – Darth Vader, which we’re going to review today, and the Limited Edition – Stormtrooper, which we’ll compare it to. To summarize our thoughts in ten seconds, we’d recommend choosing the Darth Vader if you want to use the force (or at least Wi-Fi) to control your vacuum with your smart phone, and the Stormtrooper if you’re fine controlling it directly from the unit. Our full review is below, and you can buy the Darth Vader here.
Pros, Cons, and Key Features of the Samsung POWERbot Darth Vader Robot Vacuum
The POWERbot Darth Vader is a Star Wars-themed limited release version of Samsung’s POWERbot R7040 robotic vacuum. It was released simultaneously with the Storm Trooper (itself a rebadged R7010) to piggyback off the success of The Last Jedi. Its key features include a striking resemblance to Darth Vader, movie-inspired sound effects (which you can turn off when your loved ones are about to snap), and Wi-Fi connectivity to allow you to control it through a smart phone, tablet, or Amazon Alexa. You can also control it through an included remote control if the force isn’t with your router when it arrives. It is programmable and you can set up cleaning schedules for the vacuum to follow (e.g., cleaning overnight or while you’re at work).
The Darth Vader, like the R7040, is guided by a camera system that creates a map of wherever it’s cleaning to clean more efficiently and avoid obstacles. It generates up to 10 airwatts of suction and has 60 minutes of battery life. Its dust bin has a 300 mL capacity and the cleaning path is 11-3/8 inches wide. The Darth Vader, whose official model code is VR1AM7040W9/AA, weighs 8.8 pounds on our scale and is 3.8 inches tall, allowing it to clean beneath most furniture, beddding, and cabinetry pieces in the average home. Like the Neato Botvac Connected or D5 Connected, the Darth Vader has a D-shaped design to allow it to back into corners for edge-to-edge cleaning.
In the box, you get the robot and a partially charged and pre-installed battery, a charging station, a user manual (also available here), and the same shoddy one year warranty found throughout the robotic vacuum industry. We don’t hold that personally against Samsung, since everyone else is the same way, but we’d still like to see someone do better.
What’s the difference between the POWERbot Star Wars Darth Vader and Stormtrooper?
The Darth Vader and Stormtrooper are based on similar core vacuums, and as a result, have relatively few differences between each other besides the obvious aesthetic distinctions (one looks like Darth Vader and the other resembles a Stormtrooper). Suction, battery life, and navigational systems are the same, and both will handle the same kinds of environments (bare floors and low-pile carpets) with ease.
The main differences are in connectivity and control options. Specifically, you can control the Darth Vader by the included remote, through the vacuum’s onboard buttons, or through your smart phone, tablet, or Alexa/Assistant-type device via Wi-Fi. The Stormtrooper, in contrast, can only be controlled by physically programming it. Practically speaking, the Wi-Fi convenience is a large one, as you’re a lot less likely to lose your smart phone than one more remote. That said, you don’t need a remote or phone to control either vacuum.
How well does the POWERbot Darth Vader clean homes with kids and pets?
When buying a robotic vacuum, you need to keep your expectations in check to be satisfied. It’s not going to offer you full-sized cleaning power in a self-steering package; this isn’t an upright like a Dyson Ball Animal 2. Nor will you get the power to blaze through medium- and high-pile carpets as if you were pushing a Miele C1 Cat & Dog or Electro+. The force might be with you, but it’s not going to turn a battery-powered robot into an AC-powered cleaning beast.
That said, a quality robotic vacuum should be comfortable on bare floors (e.g., hardwood floors, tile, laminate, and concrete) as well as on low-pile carpeting. It should give enough battery power to clean at least one full room and it should navigate with enough of a brain to spend that battery life cleaning different areas and not the same section over and over (and over) again. When done cleaning, it should go back to its home base to recharge without getting lost along the way, and it should last for several years with minimal maintenance or battery loss.
While we can’t verify the last qualification since the Darth Vader was only recently released, we’re happy to note that it met all of the previous ones, and easily. The camera-guided navigational system, while not nearly as accurate as that in a laser-guided (yes!) Botvac Connected, was easily the equal to that in a Roomba 960, and the Darth Vader followed a more or less logical path through our house while cleaning. Wi-Fi connectivity was difficult at first, but once we downloaded the app and got it to sync to the robot and network, the signal stayed strong and we didn’t need to struggle with future connections. The battery life was acceptable with 60 minutes on bare flooring and around 45 on carpeting, although we’d have preferred more for the price (e.g, the 100 minutes in the Roomba 980). And yes, we loved the sound effects, even if our teenagers rolled their eyes at them.
Why buy the POWERbot Darth Vader?
In conclusion, if you’re looking for a Star Wars-themed robotic vacuum, you only have a couple of choices on the market: the Darth Vader and the Stormtrooper. Between the two, we’d choose the Darth Vader if you want the flexibility of controlling it from your smart phone, the included remote, or the robot itself, and we’d choose the Stormtrooper if you wanted to save money more than enjoy remote control modes. Either will let you program the robot and both will look awesome in your home. And if your significant other is on the line about the purchase, rest assured that it will clean your floors and carpets too, even if it won’t replace a full-sized machine.
You can buy the POWERbot Darth Vader here on Amazon. Alternatively, if you don’t want to pay for Wi-Fi, you can buy the Stormtrooper here instead.
Canadians can buy the POWERBbot Darth Vader here or spend a bit less for the Stormtrooper here.
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