Hombli

Hombli calls itself a "Dutch Brand" and sells a broad smart home range that runs from one app: bulbs, LED strips and neon ropes, ceiling fans, convection heaters and radiator thermostats, cameras and doorbells, sensors and smoke detectors, pet feeders and a camera-equipped cat litter box, and, under Air & Cleaning, robot vacuums. Its mission line is "Feel at Home, Feel at Ease," and the home page promises devices that are "approachable and affordable." Orders are packed and shipped from the brand's own warehouse in The Hague, and every product page carries the same three promises: Dutch Brand, 2 year warranty and Lifetime Customer Support. The storefront prices in Swiss francs for Swiss visitors, and a currency selector switches to the local currency.

The robot vacuum range

Hombli's robots come in two very different forms. The current model on sale is the Hombli Smart Robot Vacuum Gyro, priced at CHF 116.00, and the product page says it is also available at action.com. The older Hombli Smart Robot Vacuum, a LiDAR model with a self-emptying base, is listed at CHF 290.00 and shown as sold out, and Hombli's own replies to customers point buyers who need mapping to a LiDAR model it calls the Hombli Robot Vacuum Pro. An accessory kit for the Robot Vacuum PRO is still on sale.

Smart Robot Vacuum Gyro

The Gyro is a vacuum and mop in one, built for daily upkeep rather than deep cleaning. Hombli says it "uses advanced gyroscopic navigation to clean in systematic and logical paths," rather than bouncing around at random. Suction is 3 kPa, the water tank holds 230 ml, and the robot stands 7.7 cm tall, low enough to reach under "many sofas, beds, and other furniture." It runs "for up to 180 minutes on the lowest power setting," uses a brushless motor, and Hombli gives its noise as 63 dB. Anti-drop and obstacle detection sensors keep it off stairs and away from furniture. It can be started, stopped and scheduled from the Hombli app, from an included remote, or from buttons on the robot.

The page lists wooden flooring, tiles, PVC and vinyl, stone and low-pile carpet as suitable floors. The mop is set in the app, where a drop icon sets water flow to low, medium or high, or off. For vacuum-only runs, Hombli's support team advises taking the mop module off altogether.

Hombli is candid about the Gyro's limits in its own replies to reviews. Asked about room maps, the Hombli team wrote that the Gyro "ondersteunt inderdaad geen permanente kaartopslag of kaartbewerking" (indeed does not support permanent map saving or map editing) the way LiDAR models do, and that anyone who wants room-by-room control, no-go zones or saved floor plans is better served by a LiDAR model such as the Hombli Robot Vacuum Pro. The same reply adds that the Gyro handles most homes and daily cleaning well when set to clean a whole room or floor.

Smart Robot Vacuum (LiDAR)

The older Smart Robot Vacuum shows what the brand does higher up. It "uses advanced LiDAR navigation technology to scan your rooms" and lets owners name rooms, set no-go and no-mopping zones, and send the robot to a single room from the app. It has four suction levels, adjustable water levels, carpet recognition with automatic suction increase, and climbs "doorsteps up to two centimeters." Its Homebase empties the robot's dustbin automatically into a bag that holds "up to four liters." The spec sheet lists a 3200 mAh battery, 68 W of power, a HEPA E11 filter, a 90-minute runtime in standard mode and a 2023 year of introduction. The robot returns to the Homebase when low and then resumes the unfinished job. The app adds find-my-robot, changeable voices and a do-not-disturb mode, and the robot works with Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant and Siri Shortcuts.

Parts and consumables

Hombli sells the wear parts itself, which keeps these robots cheap to run:

• Hombli Robo Vacuum Gyro accessories set, CHF 20.00, in two versions: A with 4 side brushes, 2 cloth mops and 5 HEPA filters, or B with 2 side brushes, 4 cloth mops and 2 HEPA filters
• Hombli Robot Vacuum PRO complete accessory kit, CHF 29.00, with 4 edge brushes, a main brush, 2 mops, 2 HEPA filters and a maintenance brush
• Hombli Robot Vacuum dust bag set 3pc for the Homebase, CHF 20.00, or CHF 6.67 per bag

The Gyro box also includes 10 cotton water tank filters.

The app, privacy and support

All Hombli devices run from the free Hombli app, which works with Google, Alexa and Siri, and the brand says it charges no extra fees for using its products; the only optional paid service is a Cloud subscription for storing camera recordings. On privacy, the LiDAR robot's page says Hombli's cloud servers "are secured by Amazon and located in Frankfurt, Germany," and that data is handled under European privacy rules. The app, manuals and support are available in Dutch, German, French, English, Italian and Spanish, backed by what the brand calls its Dutch customer support team. The support site holds a manual, FAQs, error codes, troubleshooting and maintenance guides for both the Robot Vacuum and the Robot Vacuum Gyro, and the support team answers at support@hombli.com.

Warranty, shipping and returns

Every robot page lists a 2 year warranty, which the footer says "covers any defects," plus a 30-day money back trial. Shipping within the Netherlands costs €6.95 and elsewhere €7.95, with free delivery on orders above €75 in the EU, and orders from the warehouse in The Hague "are typically shipped within 1-2 working days." Hombli also runs a rewards program that gives 2 Hombli Coins for every euro spent, and it sells to businesses and resellers.

Who it suits

The Gyro suits a small apartment or a single floor of hard flooring, a first-time buyer who wants a vacuum and a light mop at CHF 116.00, and anyone already running Hombli lights, heaters or cameras who would rather keep everything in one app. The long 180-minute runtime at low power and the 7.7 cm body are its strengths. A buyer who wants saved maps, room selection and no-go zones should look for Hombli's LiDAR model instead, as the brand itself advises, and should check stock since the LiDAR Smart Robot Vacuum shows as sold out. For a low-cost robot from a brand with clear warranty terms, published spare-part prices and European data hosting, Hombli is an easy recommendation.