Eureka’s J15 Pro Ultra review
If you have a home with hardwood or tile floors as well as carpeted areas, one of the best robot vacuum and mop combos can be a real time-saver. Eureka’s J15 Pro Ultra can do both tasks, and has an extra feature designed to make it easier to clean up if you have a long-hair dog breed.
It boasts an impressive 16200 Pa suction power, features hot water mopping and drying, includes built-in LiDAR and an RGB camera for flawless navigation, comes with a self-cleaning dock, and has an anti-tangle brush to keep it from getting clogged.
Eureka’s J15 Pro Ultra: Cheat Sheet
- What is it? The Eureka J15 Pro Ultra is a robot vacuum and mop with a self-emptying base. This handles all floor types, has all the advanced features you need, and comes with a great, user-friendly app.
- Who is it for? People with pets will especially find it handy as it comes with a ‘FlexiRazor’ anti-tangle brush (that actually works).
- What does it cost? You can pick one up for $999 on Amazon, but it does go on sale from time to time At the time of this writing, it had been marked down to just $499. Models come in either black or white colorways.
- What do we like? It boasts impressive suction, proving especially effective at lifting pet hair from both hard floors and carpets. We also like the hot water mop washing and heated air drying features that come in handy.
- What don’t we like? Its hefty weight can be arduous to move around the home, especially up flights of stairs. Plus, it doesn’t come with any spare accessories or spare pads in the box.
Eureka’s J15 Pro Ultra: Specs
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Price |
$999 (at time of review), but is often on sale |
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Base capacity: |
3 liters |
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Weight: |
32.8 pounds |
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Dimensions: |
18 x 16 x 18 inches |
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Features: |
Dirt Detection, FlexiRazor anti-tangle brush, FlexArm design, hot water mopping, dry heat and self-cleaning dock |
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Smart home compatibility: |
Smartphones, Amazon Echo, Google Home |
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Battery life: |
Up to 100 minutes |
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Filter type: |
Cartridge |
| Row 8 – Cell 1 |
Eureka’s J15 Pro Ultra: The ups
Despite giving the Eureka J15 Pro Ultra an average score, there were some notable features that stood out during testing. Here are some things that impressed me.
Sleek and upgraded design
Unboxing the Eureka J15 Pro Ultra was relatively simple, although it’s a hefty beast to lift and move around. Design-wise, it looks sleek and attractive in glossy white, and its curved/squared shape is designed to handle corners with ease.
Unlike its predecessor, the Eureka J20, which comes with a single mop pad, the J15 Pro Ultra features two circular mopping pads, with one extending to the side for edge-to-edge cleaning. It also has a side brush-rubber and an anti-tangle brush designed to cut hair so it doesn’t get stuck in the roller and become tangled — but more on that later.
Bear in mind, the base station is quite large and bulky, so you’ll need plenty of space for it. The front hides the dust bag, while the top houses the two water tanks, one for clean water and the other for dirty water.
The base station can perform a number of useful functions: It self-cleans, empties dirty water, refills the vacuum with clean water, and washes and dries the mop at hot temperatures for a more hygienic clean.
Excellent clean and hair pick-up performance
Since I have a mixture of flooring in my home, I was surprised at how quickly it cleaned all sorts of surfaces, from hardwood and ceramic tiles to carpets. The suction power is impressive, and my hardwood floors looked totally spotless after it picked up all the dirt, hair, and dust in the living room.
I also liked its precise navigation, and its ability to avoid doors and my sofa legs (without knocking into them), before sweeping under my low-rise sofa.
But honestly, the anti-tangle brush was its standout feature. Even though I don’t have pets, my long hair is always shedding onto the cream carpet, and the robot cleaned them up with ease, without getting them caught in its rollers.
The Eureka J15 Ultra Pro was able to quickly lift and remove each strand, even the ones that had become deeply ingrained into the fibers. Finally, I was able to see the natural color in my carpets again!
This is mainly thanks to its anti-tangle brush or the ‘FlexiRazor’, which uses a blade system that will cut hair from the brush roll once the machine returns to the base station and operates at 400 cuts per minute.
At last, I didn’t have to battle with excessive strands getting caught up in the brush bars, as they get sucked up straight into the dustbin. And if you’re a pet parent, you’ll appreciate this feature alone, as it will certainly get the job done well.
Impressive obstacle avoidance
Perhaps the ultimate test for a robot vacuum is to see how well it detects and handles obstacles in its path. And while the majority of robovacs are equipped with advanced AI capabilities to better detect obstacles, I’ve still encountered issues in the past where it has knocked into things or has simply gone over wires.
For this test, I created a mini obstacle course of random items including my footstool, a dumbbell, and plush beanbag. Fortunately, the Eureka J15 Pro Ultra didn’t encounter any problems with such objects being in the way. It was able to easily go around chair legs, footstools and even missed the rogue dumbbell.
Excellent edge-to-edge cleaning
This leads on to another feature I liked, which was its brilliant edge-to-edge cleaning, especially under my dusty baseboards and corners. Thanks to its ‘Flex-Arm’ feature that extends outwards, it was able to reach into all tight spots and corners without missing a speck of dust.
Similarly, the Scrub Extend is a great feature when in mop mode, as it ensures that all areas are thoroughly clean.
User-friendly app
Pairing the app to my phone was quick and simple, and only took a minute or two to find my home Wi-Fi. Once connected, you can choose from a variety of cleaning modes such as vacuum-only, mop-only, or if you opt to use both.
Other handy features besides scheduling cleaning jobs include editing maps, naming rooms, adding furniture, and choosing specific rooms to clean. I also liked that you could select the suction level and path preferences, to how much water you want it to use.
Plus, you can also switch between a 2D and 3D map, which is pretty impressive. The robot vacuum also has a front camera that you can access from the app. So you can use it as a mini security camera or even spy on your pets when you’re not in the room if you want to!
Eureka’s J15 Pro Ultra: The downs
While it’s clear that the Eureka J15 Pro Ultra had some great wins, there were a few things that let me down.
Mopping performance was just ok
Although the Eureka Ultra J15 was exceptional at vacuuming, sucking up dirt, dust and debris, it’s such a shame that its mopping performance was not quite up to par.
Despite effectively tackling light surface stains and dust particles, utilizing its twin rotating mops and an extendable mop for edge and corner access, it fell short when it came to scrubbing out tougher marks and stains such as dried-in coffee spills. In addition, the mopping process sometimes left noticeable wet streaks in areas.
On the plus side however, the base station did a great job in cleaning the mops, using hot water (167 degrees F according to the company) to wash them and dry the mop pads with hot air. Essentially, this makes it more hygienic and eliminates the risk of mold or nasty odors that often arise with damp mops over time.
Eureka’s J15 Pro Ultra: Verdict
Don’t get me wrong, I really liked the Eureka J15 Pro Ultra. Not only was it powerful enough to clean my various floor types without leaving a speck of dirt, but it comes with an array of great features, self-cleaning capabilities, and a user-friendly app. Perhaps my favorites were its anti-tangle brush that tackled stubborn hair strands effortlessly, its extendable arm, and precise obstacle avoidance.
It’s such a shame that its mopping capabilities let it down as this could have been almost perfect for my home. However, if you were after a great robot mop, we can recommend the Roborock Qrevo Curv that gave top-notch results each time.
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