Robotic vacuum cleaners are a very special kind of home appliance: something between a smart assistant and a pet. At the very least, his actions always arouse keen interest among those who are nearby, and are accompanied by funny comments. But laughter is laughter, and the opportunity to shift cleaning to the device and not even be nearby, but come to an already swept or washed room is priceless.

Kitfort KT-545 Krusenstern can be programmed for several consecutive activations using a mobile application or controlled from a remote control. He knows how to vacuum and wash – two modules are included for each type of cleaning.

And you can also affectionately call him “Ivan Fedorovich”, because the manufacturer named him in honor of the outstanding Russian traveler Kruzenshtern. To what extent this model corresponds to such a name and how well the robotic vacuum cleaner manages to clean – we will find out after testing.

Characteristics

Manufacturer	kitfort
Model	KT-545 Krusenstern
Type	vacuum robot vacuum cleaner
Country of Origin	China
Warranty	1 year
Service life *	2 years
Power	28 W
Cleaning type	dry and wet
Working hours	100 minutes
Kinematic scheme	two drive wheels and a supporting swivel roller
Main brush	one: pile + rubber scrapers
Side brushes	two
Cleaning modes	automatic, one room, wall movement, manual cleaning, local cleaning (only via mobile application)
Obstacle sensors	mechanical front/side bumper, IR proximity and elevation sensors
Dust container volume	600 ml
Water tank volume	350 ml
Battery	lithium-ion, 14.4 V, 2500 mAh
Charging time	5 o’clock
Noise level	<50 dB
The weight	2.7 kg
Dimensions (diameter and height)	∅330×74 mm
Retail offers

^* If it’s quite simple: this is the period during which parts for repairing the device are delivered to official service centers. After this period, any repair in the official SC (both warranty and paid) is unlikely to be possible.

Equipment

The box of the vacuum cleaner, made of brown cardboard, is designed in the corporate style of the Kitfort company: on the front side there is a schematic image of the device inside with a remote control, the model name and the slogan “I will make your house clean”. Under the picture, we also see the logos of Google Play, the App Store and the Wi-Fi icon: the device can be controlled both through the standard remote control and using a mobile application.

On the side there is information about the technical characteristics of the model: its power, tank capacity, noise level, charging and operation time, dimensions and weight.

The right wall of the box lists the main features of the Kitfort KT-545 that are important for the user: building a map of the premises, easy and simple cleaning of the dust collector and washing module, programming the cleaning schedule, two-stage filtration, surface and obstacle detection sensors.

The bottom contains information about the manufacturer, importer, organization authorized to accept claims in Russia, contact information for the technical support hotline (working hours, phone number and postal address), as well as the production date, information about the warranty period, service life, disposal conditions and CE and EAC certification logos: the vacuum cleaner complies with European Community and Eurasian Conformity regulations.

The box is equipped with a convenient plastic carrying handle.

Opening the box, inside we found:

• vacuum cleaner body with electric brush, dust collector and fine and coarse filters;
• base for charging;
• power unit;
• remote control;
• two sets of side brushes – main and spare;
• spare fine filter;
• removable module for washing the floor;
• two microfiber cloths for washing the floor;
• brush for cleaning the vacuum cleaner;
• manual;
• warranty card;
• souvenir magnet.

The bundle is slightly different from that described in the user manual: we did not find the promised set of batteries for the remote control in the box, but there were two rags for mopping the floor, not one.

At first sight

The upper side of the Krusenstern is laminated with a glossy plastic with a triangular mesh pattern that looks like carbon fiber. The glossy surface is sensitive to dirt, and fingerprints are especially visible on it.

The control panel of the vacuum cleaner consists of a multifunctional button that turns the device on and off, as well as three indicators: operating mode, network presence and charge level.

The body rests on three wheels: two driving and one guide. The leaders are equipped with rubber treads with pronounced, but not too deep lugs, which prevent slippage on smooth surfaces and ensure the robot’s patency on carpets. Their suspension has a stroke of 3 cm, which allows you to change the clearance of the vacuum cleaner from 8 to 38 mm.

The idler also has a rubber tread, but with a less pronounced pattern. It is encased in a plastic sphere that allows it to rotate 360°.

On both sides of the guide roller are contacts for charging the device on the base. Next to the wheels, in front and on the sides, there are paired windows of optical (infrared) surface sensors that ensure the safety of the device: they prevent falls from a height on stairs and podiums and turn off the movement of the robot when it leaves the floor. In the front of the case there are sockets for attaching side brushes, marked “L” and “R” (left and right slightly differ in the direction of the bristle bend, and you should not confuse them).

In the central part of the bottom panel there is an electric brush. Its working bodies are alternating V-shaped rubber lamellas and rows of bristles. The yellow plastic frame that secures this cleaning device is secured with two latches and has a rubber strip that improves surface adhesion and facilitates suction of debris. On the left side, the electric brush rests on a plain bearing in a quadrangular housing, on the right side it has a socket for the drive: it is impossible to confuse its position during installation.

Behind the brush, in the back of the case, there is a compartment for a dust collector or a wet cleaning module. On the right side, there are four contacts for connecting sensors and internal devices of the modules.

The front half of the side of the vacuum cleaner is occupied by a movable spring-loaded bumper with a stroke of about 4 mm. Pressing it triggers mechanical proximity sensors. Also, the bumper is equipped with optical proximity sensors to an obstacle, covered with dark IR-transparent plastic (therefore, their exact number cannot be visually determined) and a rather thin rubberized damper that protects the KT-545 body and furnishings from damage with inevitable collisions.

The dust collection and wet cleaning modules are interchangeable and have a similar design and appearance. Cleaning instructions are printed on the top side of both: short text and clear, easy-to-read schematic drawings. Both modules are fixed in the case using the same bright yellow latches.

There is an outlet grate on the left rear of the dust collector. Behind it is an air pump drive that sucks up debris. Under the top cover of the module are a fine filter and a metal mesh that protects the suction device.

The rectangular HEPA fine filter has a fabric pull tab for easy removal. This important part of the vacuum cleaner has a fairly simple design, it can be easily removed from the body and fixed tightly in it.

In front of the dust collector there is a retractable lid for the waste container.

The module for wet cleaning, unlike the previous one, does not have a separate cover for the trash compartment: it is assumed that wet cleaning is carried out in the second place, on surfaces that are already free from the main dust and dirt. However, the washing body of the robot still has a small bin: the cleaning instructions recommend rinsing it without shaking it out.

The water filling hole is located on the top cover of the module and is closed with a turquoise rubber stopper with the image of a water tap. A scale is applied on the rear side wall, which allows you to control the water level without removing the module from the device.

The microfiber cloth is securely fixed on the bottom surface of the module with Velcro. There are four such strips on the module: two in the back; one, long and continuous, in the front and one in the center. Water, moistening the rag, constantly drips from the tank through six oval holes covered with a blue porous material.

The upper part of the base is made of IR-transparent plastic, under which are hidden sensors that ensure the positioning of the vacuum cleaner when returning to charge. There is also a green LED that indicates the progress of the battery replenishment. On the bottom there are two contacts, which, in fact, ensure the flow of current to the battery.

The vacuum cleaner has two pairs of three-beam side brushes with long tufts of bristles that rotate under the body and sweep debris to the suction port.

Separately, there is a multifunctional cleaning device in the kit, which can remove dust from the dustbin filter, cut threads, hair and animal hair wrapped around the brushes, and free the bristles from other stuck debris.

Instruction

The user manual of the vacuum cleaner is designed in the same style for the Kitfort company: an A5 brochure with a schematic image of the device, the company logo, the model name and the slogan “I will make your house clean!” (This slogan is used by marketers of the company for all models of their household vacuum cleaners).

The instruction opens with a portrait of the Russian navigator Ivan Fedorovich Kruzenshtern with a detailed biography of him, a history of service in the Navy and a description of the first Russian round-the-world trip made by Ivan Fedorovich in 1803-1806.

In the travel notes, the instructions say, Kruzenshtern told a lot of interesting things about what he saw on the voyage, especially about the life and customs of the savages, and created a magnificent atlas that is replete with maps, plans and drawings. The KT-545 robot vacuum cleaner can map rooms and remember the places it has been, so Kitfort decided to name it after the famous traveler.

The 42-page manual contains a detailed description of the device, information about its operating conditions, tips on installing, configuring and using the mobile application, recommendations for caring for the device, as well as a table of voice messages about malfunctions with their translation into Russian and ways to solve problems. Krusenstern speaks exclusively in English to the owner, and those who do not speak this language will probably have to refer to the instructions often.

The manual brochure is provided with detailed and understandable drawings, diagrams, photographs and screenshots. The quality of the printing is good. The documentation package also includes a warranty card and a number of promotional materials.

Control

The Kitfort KT-545 vacuum cleaner can be commanded using the remote control supplied with the device, through the Smart Life mobile application, or you can set its actions directly from the device itself.

On the top panel there is a multifunctional button “Start”. Its long (5 seconds) pressing turns the vacuum cleaner on or off. A short press turns on the automatic cleaning cycle (repeatedly pauses the cleaning), and if you press twice, the procedure for registering the device on the Wi-Fi network will start.

There are three indicators next to the button: work (lights green when the vacuum cleaner is on), network activity (lights green when the connection to the server is active, blinks when connected to the network) and “Base” (lights green when the device is fully charged, blinks green during charging and glows orange while searching for a base and when moving towards it).

Remote control

The vacuum cleaner remote control has a liquid crystal display and ten buttons.

The screen displays the current time, the set type of operation of the fan of the vacuum cleaner (normal / quiet cleaning), the selected mode (automatic, cleaning one room, cleaning along the walls and wet cleaning).

Pressing the automatic mode button switches the power: quiet operation and cleaning at high power are available. Using the mode selection button, you can sequentially select wet cleaning, dry cleaning and the passage of the vacuum cleaner along the walls.

In the middle part of the remote control there are four navigation buttons that control the movement of the vacuum cleaner, and a Start / Pause button.

The bottom row of buttons is to manage scheduled cleaning, return to base and set the clock.

Smartphone control

To control the KT-545 from your mobile phone, you need to download and install the Smart Life app from Tuya Inc/Yu xiang. This can be done in two ways: either from Google Play / App Store (search), or from the Smart Life website by scanning the QR code at the bottom of the case.

When you first start the application, you are prompted to register a new account or log in using an existing one. Before registering, you must accept the user agreement and the company’s privacy policy. A phone number or address is used as a login – they need to be verified using a verification code. We chose to use a postal address: a letter with the necessary information arrived immediately, without delay. The password for the device, which you will be prompted to enter after verification, must consist of letters and numbers (minimum 6, maximum 20). Registration ended with the fact that we got to the main page of the application.

Smart Life is a smart home control center that allows you to organize the work of many devices united in an ecosystem: from smart sockets and light bulbs to air conditioners, video surveillance systems, refrigerators and electric stoves. In this case, we need to connect the “robot vacuum cleaner” device, which is located in the “Small household appliances” section. Kitfort KT-545 is controlled via Wi-Fi, only 2.4 GHz band networks are supported, 5 GHz band is not available.

To register a new device in the application, it is recommended to hold down the power button on it. But this method didn’t work. Then we opened the instructions from Kitfort KT-545 and read that to register, the power button must be pressed twice on the active device. After experimenting with the pressing interval (which, as it turned out, should be very short), we successfully added the vacuum cleaner to the smart home and opened the settings.

The Smart Life application provides much more functions than the remote control or, moreover, the only “Start” button on the case. From a mobile phone, we can not only start any mode, control the operation of the device, set the desired suction power, but also see the current battery level in percent, make the robot lost in the apartment “voice” and see a map of the room, how it looks from the point of view programs.

With the help of the application, we can also launch the local cleaning mode, which is not available from the remote control. It is designed to process an area with a diameter of about a meter and is useful, for example, to quickly clean the floor from something that has crumbled. At the same time, the vacuum cleaner moves in concentric circles, first expanding and then narrowing the area of action.

It is much more convenient to automate the vacuum cleaner start schedule from a smartphone: the remote control can set a single daily automatic cleaning, and Smart Life allows you to set up several separate tasks at the right time and on selected days of the week.

In the settings of the Smart Life smart home, you can also prescribe more flexible scenarios: for example, start the vacuum cleaner only when the owner leaves the room or, conversely, appears in the right place. But this functionality, in our opinion, is still crude, needs to be finalized and localized: some of the menu items are in English, some are in Chinese, and the choice of two items is “On.” and “On” made us think. However, through trial and error, we were still able to set up the start of cleaning depending on the change in the owner’s geo-location and make sure that it works.

Kitfort KT-545 can be integrated into other smart home control systems, but its functionality in this case is likely to be changed or reduced. For example, in the Google Home system, the vacuum cleaner is visible, but only turning it on and off is available. But the voice control of the robot works.

Exploitation

Before using the Krusenstern for the first time, the Krusenstern should be unpacked, removing all protective films from the body and base, not forgetting the shipping pads between the body and the bumper. Side brushes must be installed on the seats, observing the direction of the bend of the pile: marked “L” – on the left axis, and “R” – on the right.

Between the bumper and the body of the vacuum cleaner there are two shock-absorbing transport pads made of porous rubber. Before starting operation, they should also be removed (this point is omitted in the instructions).

It is recommended to install the base of the vacuum cleaner on a flat free space so that there is half a meter of free zone to the left and to the right of it. At the same time, there should be at least one and a half free meters in front of it. The power supply wire must be positioned so that the robot does not accidentally get tangled in it. The manufacturer warns that the vacuum cleaner can find the base poorly due to the large number of mirrors, metal surfaces, or because the base is located in direct sunlight – this should also be taken into account when choosing a place for it.

The KT-545 must be fully charged before using it for the first time. The new vacuum cleaner, taken out of the box, “feed”, as the manufacturer indicates, for about five hours, but the robot, brought to a complete stop and turn off, charges much less – a little less than four. The device’s software monitors the health of the battery to avoid critical low energy levels that can be harmful to lithium-ion batteries.

The device notifies the owner of the beginning and end of work by a voice message. Aloud, he also reports problems that arise during the cleaning process. After reading in the user manual that Kitfort named the KT-545 after the famous Russian traveler Ivan Fedorovich Kruzenshtern for outstanding achievements in the field of travel and mapping, we were slightly discouraged to find that the native language of the vacuum cleaner is English. Moreover, we were going to address Ivan Fedorovich by his first name and patronymic, setting the appropriate pseudonym in the smart home voice control system, but, alas, we had to abandon this idea: the robot communicates with the owner in a female voice. Ivan Fedorovich turned out to be an Englishwoman.

The voice messages of the device are much louder than the sound of its operation in the maximum suction power mode. If the noise of a vacuum cleaner that turns on in the next room, a person with not too light sleep can still fall asleep, then the message about the start of work will most likely wake up most users. The KT-545 does not have an option to turn off the sound. The user manual for reducing the volume of messages recommends sealing the speaker grille with adhesive tape, but we did not succeed in significantly improving the situation in this way.

As for the successes in the field of cartography, the cleaning map that the vacuum cleaner draws in the mobile application, frankly, differs from reality. Unexplored areas are marked on it in black, obstacles found in gray, and territory already passed and cleaned in yellow. The red dot marks the current position of the device. The orientation of the plan depends on the direction of the initial movement of the robot: if the device starts cleaning diagonally across the room, the walls will be displayed at an angle. In the screenshots above, we see the sequential construction of a map of a rectangular room with an area of slightly less than 20 m² in the one-room cleaning mode.

And in these images – a map of a one-room apartment, created in the automatic cleaning mode in two passes in a row. Starting to draw a fairly accurate plan of the room, the robot on the second trip slightly knocked down the coordinates and began to redraw everything. The result turned out to be quite far from reality and only allows us to approximately understand in which part of the room the vacuum cleaner is located at the moment. The map generated by the device is not stored in the application, so you cannot see the cleaning results after the process is completed. Each time you start the home assistant, the route is recreated and is probably not stored in the device’s memory either.

The resolution of the card is extremely low, and it does not bring any benefit to the owner yet. It is currently impossible to control the movement of the vacuum cleaner with its help, directing it to specified areas, placing priority cleaning zones on it or, conversely, virtual walls and territories forbidden to visit, in the considered version of the software.

In all modes, except for local cleaning, the vacuum cleaner moves in a straight line. Encountering an obstacle, he tends to turn right by 45° or 90°, continuing to try if further movement is impossible. In some cases, this causes difficulties in navigation: for example, having driven under a chair with a width of legs slightly larger than the diameter of the device, the robot cannot leave such a trap for quite a long time. He does not know how to move in a snake or zigzag, and he “walks” in a spiral only in the local cleaning mode.

The quality of the KT-545 in garbage collection mode turned out to be very good. It successfully collects a significant part of dry pollution in the first pass, and re-treatment of the same areas is, in our opinion, unnecessary. In automatic mode, he cleans some zones three or four times: it seems that Ivan Fedorovich is a perfectionist.

But the wet cleaning mode, as we understand it, is auxiliary for the device. In this mode, the vacuum cleaner collects debris without suction, only by sweeping with brushes, and in order to thoroughly wash and wipe the floor, it is highly desirable to pre-dry cleaning. This is indicated by the relatively small volume of the waste collection module of the wet cleaning module, and its design, which is definitely designed to collect very fine dust, which can be drained into the sewer rather than thrown into the trash can.

In this mode, the vacuum cleaner leaves behind a uniformly wet, without streaks and drops, a trail that dries fairly quickly. However, leaving the vacuum cleaner with the washing unit on charge is not recommended: this can lead to damage to the coating.

The battery life of the vacuum cleaner turned out to be significantly higher than the 100 minutes declared by the manufacturer: an hour of continuous operation in automatic mode reduces the battery charge to only 70% -75%.

Care

The vacuum cleaner should be wiped with a dry cloth. If necessary, it is allowed to take a slightly damp cloth for this, but liquids must not be allowed to enter the case. You have to clean the top panel quite often: fingerprints are very visible on its coating.

It is recommended to empty the dust container when it is 50% full, as if there is more debris, the cleaning efficiency may decrease. It is convenient to tie all other hygiene procedures for the device to this process and carry them out with the same regularity.

The side brushes must be removed from the housing, cleaned of debris stuck in them and wiped with a damp and then dry cloth, and then remove dirt from the axles. The same must be done with the electric brush. If threads, wool and hair are wrapped around it, you can use the cutter of the device to clean it.

The surface sensors located on the underside of the vacuum cleaner should be wiped with a dry cloth.

It is recommended to use alcohol wipes to clean the electrical contacts on the washing module, dust container and vacuum cleaner body. The developers recommend doing this not only for the cleanliness of the entire device, but also in case of problems with the charge or the correct operation of the modules.

The washing part can be washed with soapy water, rinsed with boiled water and dried thoroughly. It is worth filling the tank with purified boiled or distilled water so that the water in it does not bloom, and plaque does not appear on the walls and bottom. The manufacturer does not recommend using tap water.

Wash module cloths are not machine washable, but you can also hand wash them with soap and rinse thoroughly.

When cleaning for long-term storage, all elements of the device must be thoroughly cleaned, recharge the battery, remove the batteries from the remote control and turn off the vacuum cleaner by pressing the “Start” button. During storage, you should recharge the battery (it is recommended to do this once every couple of months).

Garbage from the dry cleaning module is easily removed, the design allows you to do this without getting your hands dirty. Emptying the wet cleaning module turned out to be a little more difficult: the dust collector is designed in such a way that it is difficult to shake dust out of it. It is understood that it will only be washed under the tap. If large fragments get into the container, they can clog the sewer.

Our measurements

We present the results of testing according to our methodology, which is described in detail in a separate article .

In preparation for testing, we found that the vacuum cleaner does not navigate very well in a room with black baseboards, which probably poorly reflect the IR radiation of the side optical sensors. To avoid navigational errors during the tests, we stuck masking tape on the baseboards. This solved the problem, but still, we note that dark baseboards are not some kind of transcendent exotic, and it would be nice to work with them normally.

The commercial black carpet on which our vacuum cleaners are tested also turned out to be poorly compatible with the KT-545 surface sensors: when trying to run it on this surface, the robot reported the error “The wheels leave the ground” (“The wheels came off the surface”) and refused to move on. The problem was solved by deactivating the sensors by sealing – this procedure is recommended by the user manual and is a regular way to troubleshoot this kind of problem.

The video below was filmed from one point with full coverage of the harvested area, while processing part of the video sequence was sped up ten times. In the first 10 minutes of cleaning, the vacuum cleaner was turned on in automatic mode.

Although the overall cleaning quality turned out to be quite decent, the robot missed some sections of the test site: after several attempts, it could not enter the cramped space in the far left corner. A small area at the far wall, behind the system unit, also remained uncleaned.

We spent the next ten minutes of our test in one-room cleaning mode. We started it from the same position at which the previous test was stopped, the obstacles slightly moved by the vacuum cleaner and the base remained in the same places. In the middle of cleaning (0:46), the device briefly got tangled in the wire of the base it moved, but we decided not to interrupt the test and turned out to be right: the KT-545 freed itself from the wire and successfully completed the cleaning.

However, this time our subject did not want to visit the narrow space in the far left corner.

We spent the third ten-minute part of testing in the mode of cleaning along the walls. This time, the vacuum cleaner went around the perimeter of the test area several times, cleaning even the previously ignored space.

On the fourth, thirty-minute stage, the Krusenstern was turned back on automatically. Video recording of this stage was not conducted. You can see the cleaning results in the photos below.

During the tests, the KT-545 cleaned almost the entire area of the test area, leaving a small amount of debris in the corners, along the baseboards and next to the base. We summarized the measurements of cleaning efficiency in the following table:

Interval	Total cleaning time, min.	% (total)
First 10 min.	ten	85.2
Second 10 min.	20	90.1
Third 10 min.	thirty	93.9
Continuation	60	94.6

The noise level of the vacuum cleaner, according to our measurements, is 52 dBA in the quiet cleaning mode and 54 dBA at maximum suction power.

The charging time of the device from the moment it is placed completely discharged on the base until reaching 100% charge is about 3 hours 50 minutes.

During charging, the Krusenstern consumes an average of 13.8 watts, while in standby mode with a fully charged battery on the base – 1.2 watts. The power consumption of the base without a vacuum cleaner is less than 0.1W.

The weight of the vacuum cleaner without installed modules was, according to our measurements, 1625. The dust collector unit weighs 405 g, and the dry weight of the wet cleaning unit is 395 g. The wet cleaning module filled to the maximum holds 390 ml of water.

findings

The KT-545 Krusenstern robot vacuum cleaner is a quiet, compact and economical device with the possibility of wet cleaning and good dry cleaning of the surface. This set of features will help you keep your floors clean without wasting time and effort. Ample opportunities for scheduling cleaning using a mobile application allow the vacuum cleaner to do its job without disturbing the owner over trifles: you just need to remember to shake out the garbage from it.

Best of all, the KT-545 will prove itself in a spacious apartment with a minimum of furniture and a large floor area: a good battery life will allow it to clean a large area without wasting extra time on charging. However, in small rooms with a complex configuration and excess furniture, the robot vacuum cleaner (and not only this one) will experience navigation problems, which may affect its effectiveness.

pros

• good garbage collection
• large waste bin
• long battery life
• possibility of wet cleaning
• ample opportunities for programming automatic work scenarios
• possibility of remote control
• compatible with most common smart home control systems

Minuses

• not a very good (or underdeveloped) navigational algorithm
• the inability to turn off voice messages or adjust their volume
• lack of localization of voice messages
• raw and not fully localized mobile application

Video review

In conclusion, we suggest watching our video review of the KT-545 Krusenstern robot vacuum cleaner:

Our video review of the KT-545 Krusenstern robot vacuum cleaner can also be viewed at iXBT.video