We are taking a look at Eureka’s flagship robovac, which promises premium features that cost half the price of the competition.
Eureka reached out to me back in May asking if I was interested in testing their recently released J15 Pro Ultra robovac, and I have been using it for the last couple of months to test out its features. Eureka was originally founded in 1909 in Detroit, Michigan, but was taken over in 2016 by the Chinese company Midea Group. Eureka still manufactures aftermarket vacuum accessories, such as bags, belts and filters in the United States.
With that out of the way, first a disclaimer: Eureka provided a free sample without any editorial input or review pre-approval. Now, some specifications:
The above-mentioned prices are the suggested retail pricing; however, the J15 Pro Ultra currently has discounts both on the official website and Amazon, as detailed at the conclusion of this review.
I added a row with warranty support. Interestingly, Eureka provides two years of warranty for the robot vacuum and Base Station, but only one year for the battery inside the J15 Pro Ultra robovac (page 28). If I were to make a comparison, Samsung provides two years of warranty for their smartphones, which includes the battery. Make of that what you will.
The company sent me the J15 Pro Ultra, which, by the way, is currently their flagship product, and also because the J15 Max Ultra is not available yet. It came in a big box, which included the Base Station, which is rather large in itself. The station is almost 45.8 cm (18.03″) deep, 39.5 cm (15.55″) wide, with a height of 46.8 cm (18.42″). It houses the trash bag, which was preinstalled, and two water tanks, one for clean water and the other for dirty water.
Unlike the Narwal Freo Z Ultra with which I am making a direct comparison, the J15 Pro Ultra does not have a top lid; the top is literally the two water tanks with a front bezel, it actually looks pretty tidy, and is extremely practical as well.
J15 Pro Ultra Robovac x 1
Roller Brush x 1 (pre-installed)
Mop Pad x 2 (pre-installed)
Base Station Dust Bag × 1 (pre-installed)
It’s only fair to include the claims made by the manufacturer here too, as they are part and parcel of the selling points and highlights for this model, they are in no particular order and taken from the review brief sent to me by my contact.
With that out of the way, let’s continue with my findings.
The J15 Pro Ultra itself follows a traditional design that you will find on many robovacs; however, this model is not a complete circle, it’s more of a squircle (which you may remember from the Galaxy Watch8 announcement) with a raised central ‘tower’ that houses the LIDAR SLAM system. The robot itself is 35.4 cm (13.9″) wide, 35.5 cm (13.97″) deep, with a height of 11 cm (4.33″). The station looks quite nice and does not look out of place in my (mostly) white kitchen with a brown tiled floor, and a good amount of wood color finish. All in all, it looks great, doesn’t look out of place. The finish is a glossy gray, with a single light indicator on the top.
On the bottom is where you will start to see the difference, and what makes it a bit more unique. Rather than a cloth attachment, which is what you will find on most robovacs that mop, the J15 Pro Ultra has two full spinning mop attachments and one sweeper.
Side by side with the Narwal Freo Z Ultra, you can see that although the J15 Pro Ultra’s base station is taller, it is not as wide, thanks to the robot not completely entering the base station like with the Narwal; this results in a larger footprint on the wall. The J15 Pro Ultra robot itself is also slightly smaller in height, which you can see where I have placed a spirit level, which is a bit odd because Narwal claims it has the same 11cm height, obviously not!
First of all, you will have to download the Eureka app, which you can look for on the Apple App Store or Google Play, or scan the QR code on the Quick Start card that is included in the box. The Eureka turns on if you dock it to the charge port or by holding down the standby button for three seconds. Once you have the app installed on your phone, you can add the J15 Pro Ultra robovac by scanning the QR code located on the robot itself under the top lid (or by manually choosing it in the app). The app will guide you through connecting it to your Wi-Fi.
Preparing the Base Station took the most work, as you have to remove some protective transport tape, fill and reinsert the clean and dirty water tanks, install the base ramp, and plug it in. I only had to remove the plastic covering, the rubber inserts for the bumper and install the mops and side brush on the robot; the dustbin inside the robot is also preinstalled and can be accessed by opening the top «lid» of the robot, this also lets you access QR code for scanning, and the WiFi reset button.
Once you are paired up and you have enough charge, you are guided through the app to add the model, and I was immediately prompted to install a firmware update.
