EPP Members: Samsung Jet Bot+ Robot Vacuum with Clean Station Expired

OP, that $100 off is NOT a credit of future purchases and is supposed to be $100 off the vacuum itself however that deal does not stack with the EPP deal you posted. It's straight $249.99 and you are not getting any future credit as you state.

I was able to get the $250 pricing with education discount. Not sure if $100 credit applies? Still a good deal for me so I just went ahead and got it.

I own both Jet Bot (non plus, without clean station) and Jet Bot AI+ (with AI and clean station, clean station is identical for both models), and I like them both, so this one is good deal for me, as it's basically an upgrade to Jet Bot I have.I highly recommend Jet Bot line up if you have hard floor, and only recommend it for carpeted floor if you don't mind occasional manual vacuuming.

1. Suction - Both Jet Bot and Jet Bot AI have similar level of suction although Samsung claim AI version to have more suction power. All models use soft roller with rubber blade for agitation and performs much better on hard floor than carpeted floor. It does well with cat hair and cat litter, but it can sometimes miss a tough embedded patch of cat hair on carpeted floor(you know those stuck on carpet like velcro). It works well with human hair too, but longer hair tends to get tangled on the roller and requires occasional cleaning. The AI version has wider roller instead of spinning brush, allowing for better cleaning around the edge in theory, but due to the pathing issue I'm not sure if it's much better than non-AI version.

2. Battery - Both Jet Bot and Jet Bot AI have between 60 minutes to 90 minutes runtime depending on power setting. I keep them at "Smart" setting where it adjusts power as needed, and it seems to have about 70 to 80 minutes runtime. It takes about 55 minutes to clean my 1060 sqft apartment, and have about 30 percent battery left before returning to base for charging, and takes about 3 hours for full charge.

3. Cleaning - The robot vacuum itself is bag-less, and the version without clean station requires cleaning out the bin and filter, while version with clean station only needs filters cleaned time to time. The real issue with cleaning is the hair tangles as I mentioned, as if it's not cleaned out regularly the tangle can get pretty bad and difficult to clean out. I recommend taking the roller out to remove hair tangle at least once every 3 to 4 times the vacuum is run, if your hair is longer than 6 inches. (you could also try seam ripper trick, I hear they work really well in removing hair tangle)

4. Clean station - Clean station is identical for both models, and uses same bags. Samsung claims the bag can last from 1 to 3 months depending on use, and 5 bag pack from Samsung seems to cost about 20~25 dollars on Amazon, and there seems to be cheaper third-party alternative also available. Along with the bag the clean station also has a HEPA filter in the back to keep dust from exiting. Each time the vacuum has finished cleaning it will return to clean station and clean station will empty the bin. Emptying takes about 20 to 30 seconds, and about as loud as upright corded vacuum. From looking at the bin after emptying, it seems to work pretty well, and I haven't seen any clogs.

5. Navigation -
- Jet Bot (non-AI version): Non AI version does not have camera and only uses LIDAR, bumper, and drop sensor to navigate. Pathfinding itself seems to work pretty well, but it relying on bumper, does run into things to know there's obstacle unless it's tall enough to register on LIDAR. Mapping was pretty good, and was able to map the whole place the first time I run it. It also detects rooms automatically, but you can manually edit rooms to combine and divide rooms.
No-go zones work pretty well too, and you can use it to prevent it from running into things(it can still complete cleaning without no-go zones, but if you don't want scuff marks on your furniture or on your vacuum, no-go zone is likely a must). Both models do not like to reverse, and will likely get stuck if it gets into space too tight for them to turn around, but setting up no-go zone for those area will prevent it from getting stuck.
For cleaning mode, you can choose which rooms to clean, or to clean chosen spot on the map. You can also set it to clean the room without cleaning around the edges to speed up cleaning, or set it to clean around edge first, or zig-zag first.
Jet Bot (non-AI) rarely got stuck, and only time it did get stuck was when it squeezed under a furniture and got stuck between floor and furniture.

- Jet Bot AI: I thought with AI object recognition, this model would clean more efficiently and quickly, but not really the case. It takes about same time as non-AI model to clean same space, and sometimes takes longer to clean as it tries to avoid obstacles. In my experience, AI model took about 5 to 10 minutes longer to clean my 1060 sqft apartment.
It was very good at recognizing objects, where it detected cables and other things and avoided them as it cleaned, but I've already gotten into habit of cleaning things out of the floor before running robot vacuum, so this feature was minimally useful for me. It might be more useful when it's setup to run automatically on schedule.
Because of its shape, it can get stuck in tight spaces where it can't turn, and it particularly had hard time navigating between dining table and chairs. I had to set the entire dining table area to keep it from getting stuck. It's also slightly taller than non-AI version, so it may have harder time getting underneath the furniture.
The feature I like the most about AI version is the home monitoring feature, where you can remotely control the robot to see what's going on. Very useful for checking on my cats while I'm away. Live monitoring is free, but Samsung also offers paid subscription for automatic monitoring and video recording.

TL;DR -

Highly recommended for hard floor
Carpet floor performance is okay
Cleaning performance and battery performance is pretty much same between non-AI and AI
AI+ is good for setting up to run automatically, but might still need no-go zone setup
AI+ home monitoring is nice but hard to justify $450 price difference (recent $500 deal on AI+ was pretty good)
If you don't mind cleaning clutter from floor before running vacuum, and don't need home monitoring feature, non-AI version is perfectly fine, if you want truly setup and forget, or want to check up on your pet away from home, $450 difference might be worth it for you
Non-AI: 1 year warranty
AI: 2 year warranty

It is also $250 for me with my EDU account