Xiaomi Mijia M40: Retractable side brush, 12000 Pa, turbo brush with knives, All-in-One station!

Hey guys, welcome to RobotObzor. Today we’ll be reviewing the flagship robot vacuum coming from Xiaomi in 2024- Xiaomi Mijia M40, article D110CN. This vacuum got two massive improvements, compared with the earlier Xiaomi Mijia M30s. Those being, an increase in suction power up to 12000 pascal, and more importantly, an extendable side cloth that finally gets that dirt from your corners. Besides that, the robot has an object detection system, a bladed turbobrush, and an all in one station. And you can make all this yours starting at $520 when sales are happening. On average, the price is around $600-650, which in itself is reasonable, considering its features. Now, Ill thoroughly test and review the robot, after which I’ll let you know what I personally think. Don’t forget to like and subscribe, and let’s get rolling!

Kit

The Robot vacuum cleaner came in this branded box:

The package includes the robot itself with a station, a power adapter with a Chinese plug, an adapter for Euro socket, two holders with wipes, a manual in Chinese and a fan as a gift from the seller.

Appearance

Now let’s take a look at Xiaomi Mijia M40 itself. The robot is a Xiaomi standard white, round, standing at 97 mm (3.8 In.) from the floor.

On the right side of the bumper is a wall sensor. In the center is a system of sensors to detect and carefully avoid obstacles in the robot’s path. There is no remote home tracking function.

A Lidar is responsible for navigation. It’s protected by a spring-loaded cover that prevents it from getting stuck under low furniture. Two buttons are placed right next to it.

The dust collector is located under the top cover. The filtration system only runs on a HEPA filter. The water tank is hidden inside the robot. Water is pumped into the tank automatically at the station and fed to the wipes during the cleaning process.

There are 4 anti-fall sensors on the robot from below. The carpet sensor is still missing and this is the most strange decision of Xiaomi engineers. There is only one side brush. Three-beam, fixed with a screw. So this side brush moves out in the corners to thoroughly sweep out the debris. The solution is not new, but has already become a necessary feature for all flagships from popular competing brands.

The center brush unit is floating. The robot has a brush with knives inside, just like the Dreame flagships and predecessors of the Mijia M30s as well as the H40.

This brush self-cleans itself during the cleaning process to remove coiled hair and wool, which is its key feature.

Behind the turbo brush are the familiar round wipe holders. One of the wipes extends out to the edge to clean the floor right up to the baseboard, which has also become a masthead solution in 2024.

I should add that the wipe not only presses against the baseboard when mopping, but also drives into the corner, which enhances cleaning in corners.

The wipes are also automatically lifted when driving onto carpets, when dry cleaning and when returning to the station.

As for the station, Xiaomi Mijia M40 self-cleans itself from dirt, automatically refills the robot’s tank with water, washes the wipes with hot water, and dries them with warm air after its done cleaning. For your convenience, the ramp for driving the robot in and the tray in which the wipes are washed can be removed. The garbage bag is located in the middle behind the lid.

The water tanks are found under the top lid. They got bigger, fitting 4 liters (1 G.) each. We can see the plugs behind the tanks, removing which you can connect the module to the sewer and water supply.

There is no compartment for detergent in the station. It will have to be added manually to the tank for clean water if necessary. But already in the module for connection to the sewer and water supply provides a compartment for 900 ml of detergent, which will be automatically mixed with the water when washing wipes. That’s a plus!

Technical specifications

Vacuum:

• Battery Li-Ion 5200 mA*h.
• Suction power up to 12 000 Pa.
• Cleaning area> 200 sq.m (656 ft.).
• Dirt container: 350 ml (11.8 oz.).
• Water tank: ≈ 80 ml (2.7 Oz.)
• Size: 350*97 mm.

Station:

• Power usage: up to 1000 Wt.
• Clean water tank: 4 L (1 G.).
• Dirty water tank: 4 L (G.).
• Bag in station: 4 L (G.).
• Size (D*W*H): 340*457*588 mm (13.4x18x23.1 In.).

There’s an increase in the claimed suction power compared to earlier flagships. I will check it in the tests.

Functions

As for its functions, the robot is designed for the Chinese market, and respectively connects to Mi Home through the Chinese region. At the time of writing the review, the interface is in English, which isn’t very good. The app runs slower than usual due to the Chinese servers, but its usable.

The main functions of Xiaomi Mijia M40 are displayed on the screen:

• Dirt container self cleaning.
• Mops washing with hot water (70 °C/158 F).
• Mops drying with hot air.
• The side brush extends in the corners
• Mop extends to the baseboard.
• Object detection system.
• Saves multiple maps in memory.
• Automatically zones the area into rooms.
• Choose individual rooms and zones to clean.
• Virtual walls and no-go zones (for mopping as well).
• Regulate suction power.
• Set up wipe washing intervals (10/15/20/25 sq.m/ 33/49/65/82 ft) and after every zone.
• Cleaning log.
• Set up cleaning schedule.
• Automatic power increase on carpets
• Avoid carpets while mopping.
• Wipe lifts on carpets.

Here I’ll point out that they’ve raised the washing temperature of the wipes from 60 to 70 (140 to 158 f) degrees. But during my tests they didnt feel hotter than Ecovacs T30 Omni or DreameBotX40 Ultra, which are also stated 70 degrees, so I can’t personally confirm this change.

Overall, you have lots of features to flexibly customize the cleaning parameters to your liking. For the robot to bypass carpets or lift napkins on them, you need to set special zones with carpets on the map, I’ll go more in depth with this when I start testing.

Testing

Video review:

Navigation

Let’s finally get to the tests! First of all, let’s test the navigation of Xiaomi Mijia M40 in a room with obstacles. The robot vacuum cleaner passes first around the perimeter of the room, then cleans the entire available area with a snake. The legs of the dryer it ran over. The mirror added a non-existent area to the map, as with other lidar robots. The robot also swept around the box and chrome legs separately, then returned to the station. No strange maneuvers were detected, accordingly the test was successful.

Speaking of navigating within the house, the robot vacuum cleaner cleans room by room around the perimeter, then in a snaking pattern. After every 20 square meters, as I found, it returns to the station and wipes, then starts cleaning from where it previously finished. No untidy areas left, navigation is good with this model!

Going under low furniture

Separately, the minimum height under which the Xiaomi Mijia M40 is able to pass was checked. So in the standard 10 cm of clearance, he has no problem driving in for cleaning. That’s a plus!

Obstacle detection

As for the object detection system, in good lighting the robot detected and neatly avoided 4 out of 6 items on the floor. It ran over the fake pet poo and chewed up the charger wire, Giving it an identical result to the Xiaomi Mijia M30s.

I made the test a bit harder by placing 6 traps on the floor in the form of pet poo. On all 6 it got caught by passing, chewing or sliding.

It ran over all 4 wires, chewing 2 of them.

But at the same time bypassed 2 out of 3 socks, and only chewed one up.

In complete darkness the result is expectedly not better. Xiaomi Mijia M40 was able to bypass 3 out of 6 items. In addition to chewing a wire and running over a surprise pet, it also moved the scales. Separately, it chewed 3 out of 4 wires and trapped two out of three socks. The test “minefield” was no use to conduct in the dark, because even in good lighting the robot completely failed to cope with the task.

So I can say that the system of detecting objects is still very far from ideal and requires serious improvement. But nevertheless, the robot cleans neater than analogs without the system at all. And then I will draw attention to the fact that Xiaomi Mijia M40 does not recognize, but only detects objects on the floor. While the previously released Xiaomi Mijia M30 Pro is equipped with a system for recognizing objects.

Suction power

The suction power is excellent. In Quiet mode, the Xiaomi Mijia M40 was able to clean a 2mm crevice well, as well as 4mm and 6mm partially. In Standard mode, it cleaned 4mm and 6mm better. In Strong mode, the robot was able to take 8 and 10 mm partially, and in Turbo mode, it was able to clean 8 and 10 mm better, and even pass partially the 12 and 14 mm marks on the new stand. So yes, this is in reality a very powerful robot vacuum cleaner! Test passed successfully!

Vacuuming

The quality of the laminate floor is good for picking up different types of debris. And thanks to the retractable side brush, this robot even managed to pick up debris in the corners. And last but not least, the side and center brush are completely clean. There is a bit of hair on the turbo brush, but it is cut and not coiled. The test passed successfully!

Testing the turbo brush

I even tested the effectiveness of the turbo brush after a week of domestic cleaning, and there are two girls and a perpetually shedding corgi living in the apartment. So the brush is completely clean, it actually does an effective job of cutting off hair and fur!

Carpet cleaning

This same debris was scattered on the low pile carpet. And I can tell you, the robot thoroughly cleaned the carpeting.

But with the cleaning of carpets with medium pile there are problems. There is no possibility to disable the detection system completely in the settings. And because of it, the robot detects the pile as an obstacle, because of which it starts to drive in circles and bypass sections of the carpet. Where it passed, the carpet is cleaned, but in any case I can not count the test. By the way, the same problem was observed with the Mijia M30s. So it’s very strange that the new product didn’t have it fixed!

Mopping and carpets

When it comes to wet cleaning with carpets, there is a nuance. Since the robot does not have a carpet detection sensor, it is not able to automatically detect carpeted areas. They need to be independently set on the map. After that, you are offered to choose one of three modes of interaction.

It can carefully bypass carpets in the wet cleaning mode, it can clean carpets in the wet cleaning mode, automatically picking up wipes when driving on carpeting. This, by the way, is the most optimal cleaning option.And can drive over carpets, ignoring them and rotating wipes, which is the most irrational solution.

Asked to see if the Xiaomi Mijia M40 is capable of automatically detecting carpets using the sensor system on the bumper. No, it is not capable.

Self-cleaning

Immediately after the “dirty tests” checked how well the robot vacuum cleaner self-cleaned. Before returning to the station, the container is full of garbage. After self-cleaning the dust container is completely cleaned, so self-cleaning is well realized in this robot! The result is excellent.

Wiping off dirt

With wiping off dirt, this robot vacuum cleaner copes with the intermediate run to the station for washing cloths. This is the main advantage of such robots. The dirt will not be rubbed on the floor during the entire cleaning. Accordingly, the robot can clean the floor in several approaches, not just wipe it.

I would like to note that there is no blind spot near the walls and furniture, thanks to the departure of t

Scrubbing tough stains

As far as scrubbing tough stains is concerned, here’s the problem. Xiaomi Mijia M40 even with 12 times could not scrub stains like its counterpart Xiaomi Mijia M30s. Unlike competitors, which cope with this task for 8-10 passes, Xiaomi does not have the ability to choose the mode of washing the floor more dense snake. Therefore, there are fewer passes and wipes are weaker pressure on the floor, and the temperature of washing wipes, as already mentioned, is not noticeable to the touch after the robot leaves the station. In general, the robot scrubs dirt with great difficulty.

Mops washing quality

Well, and immediately I would like to tell about the efficiency of the station itself. Let’s start with the quality of mops washing. Even after complex tests, the mops look much better after washing at the station.

In everyday conditions after washing the floor the cloths are well washed at the station. Visually clean.

The station itself is very easy to clean from dirt. There is a self-cleaning function, which is triggered by a button on the station, but it is better to periodically remove the tray and trap and rinse in the sink.

Obstacles

Thresholds with a height of 2 cm, the robot vacuum cleaner moves without problems, while lifting the wipes. That’s a plus!

Going over dark areas

Dark coverings it is also not afraid of, freely passing over an all-black mat. This is another advantage of the robot!

Volume

As for the volume, it stays within 55-72 dB. Quite standard, given the high suction power.

Pros and cons

Xiaomi Mijia M40 was throughly tested and reviewed. Our algorithm gave it 192 points, suprassing Xiaomi Mijia M30s with 183 points. Its a good score, but not enough to get it into the Top-10 robots ever reviewed.

Overall rating of robot vacuums that passed the Robotobzor test: https://robotobzor.com/ratings/general-rating-of-robot-vacuum-cleaners.html.

If you’re wondering why, I’ll give you a list of my pros and cons, as well as what i personally think.

1. The most important- is the great price, considering what it can do.
2. The retractable bruhs does a good job of sweeping corners.
3. The turbobrush self cleans with blades, and theres no need to clean it from coiled hair.
4. Very powerful, on paper, and in reality.
5. Can get corners and baseboard better thanks to the retractable wipe.
6. An All-in-One station where the robot self-cleans the dirt bag, washes cloths with hot water, dries with warm air and even automatically mixes detergent when a module is installed to connect to the sewer and water supply. And the station copes with its tasks very effectively, which concerns both self-cleaning, washing and drying.
7. Easy robot and station maintenance .
8. Good vacuuming and mopping on hard floors and low carpets.
9. Gentler object collisions thanks to the object detection system.
10. The wipe automatically lifts on carpets, while vacuuming, and when returning to base.
11. Lots of great features in the app.
12. Good off road.
13. Large water tanks in the station.
14. The robot isnt scared of dark areas.

As for what could be improved:

1. The robot is made for the Chinese market. You don’t get a fully warranty and servicing from the manufacturer.
2. The object detection system needs some serious work.
3. There are problems with cleaning medium carpets, where it sees them as obstacles.
4. Gets rid of hard stains with a lot of work.
5. No carpet sensor, meaning you have to manually set up no-go zones for your carpet.
6. Doesn’t automatically give detergent in the standard kit.

I’m sure many of you noticed that the pros and cons are almost identical to the  previously released Xiaomi Mijia M30s. And that makes sense, since it barely got an update. It’s the same robot, only a little more powerful and with a retractable side brush. It’s kind of good, considering that the price, especially during sales, is practically the same. But to be honest, I expected more. At least they fixed software bugs and tweaked the design a bit. The. Carpet sensor situation is unclear, but whats even more unclear is the object detection system, with the earlier M30 pro recognizing them and illuminating its path.  I’m also unhappy about the missing detergent tank in the standard kit and the fact that the robot rubs worse than most others. But this is if we compare it with premium models for $1000 and above.

I can personally now say that this is a good robot. It’s efficient, powerful, autonomous and worth its money. But the “Wow” effect didn’t happen following the M30s, and it is clearly inferior to its twin Dreame X40 Ultra Complete in many parameters, as well as the new Qrevo Master and Curv. If your budget is limited, or you just don’t want to overpay- this would be an amazing choice, proven by its cleaning efficiency. Despite this, I still wouldn’t put it’s cleaning powers above the mentioned vacuums.

On this note, I’d like to end the review. Please leave any questions you may still have in the comments down below. Have fun shopping, bye!