INTRODUCTION

   Winter has always been the best season of the year for me, not only because of the Christmas holidays (which happens to be my favourite) but also due to the low temperatures which at least for me translate to 2 things, reduced PC temperatures and less pet hair. Now many people seem to think I’m kidding when i say that pet hair is a serious issue for me but it honestly is. Perhaps it wouldn't be if i had 1 pet at home but with 4 it's a whole different scenario altogether. Robot vacuum cleaners have helped with that quite a lot over the years (as have cordless vacuum cleaners) but mainly in regards to sweeping and even though most models can also mop with the help of a piece of cloth results are clearly not the best. So basically, i wouldn't say no to a robot vacuum cleaner that can also do a good job mopping and the latest DEEBOT X1 OMNI Robotic Vacuum & Mopping Cleaner by ECOVACS seems to do exactly that.

   ECOVACS is singularly focused on making daily lives easier and more efficient with intelligent and connected home service robotics. With a deep, 22-year history in smart home development and 100% ownership of its R&D and manufacturing, the company leads the market in patents and innovative product development in home service robotics. ECOVACS first premiered in the U.S. with its DEEBOT robotic vacuum cleaners, today a top 3 market leader, along with its WINBOT robotic window cleaner. For more information, please visit: http://www.ecovacs.com.

   The DEEBOT X1 OMNI was designed by Jacob Jensen Design and is ECOVAC's current flagship model capable of optimal sweeping and mopping thanks to numerous state of the art technologies. So aside featuring a powerful brushless motor capable of producing suction power equal to 5000Pa it's also equipped with the OZMO Turbo 2.0 system which consists by two round mops which rotate at 180 times per minute. Needless to say, we also find numerous other technologies like LiDAR and TrueMapping 2.0 for optimal navigation (3D mapping of your home), AIVI 3D (artificial intelligence and visual interpretation technology) for obstacle avoidance, astrophotography grade RGB forward camera with two-way communication, YIKO voice assistant (AI voice control technology), ultrasonic carpet detection (boosts suction power), 360 degrees sensors (anti-fall/edge cleaning), 3 layer HEPA filter (can effectively filter 99% of the particle dust and allergens), electronically controlled water flow (3 levels) and a lithium-ion rechargeable battery pack (up to 170 minutes of running time when sweeping and mopping). What makes the DEEBOT X1 OMNI unique however is its docking station which can be used to charge the device, empty the dust bin into a 3 litre dust bag and both wash and dry the two round mops with clean water (uses two 4 litre tanks for clean and dirty water) and hot air respectively. All of the above combined basically mean that the DEEBOT X1 OMNI can deliver cleaning performance no other model by ECOVACS to date. But is that really the case? Let's find out.

SPECIFICATIONS AND FEATURES

PACKAGING AND CONTENTS

The DEEBOT X1 OMNI arrived inside a very large box the front of which has a product picture together with the main product features and a large hole curtecy of the courier company.

ECOVACS gives some information regarding the voice assistant on the left side while on the right side we find details regarding the docking station.

At the rear of the box, we find 4 pictures showcasing the main product features listed next to them in 6 languages.

As expected, the station and the vacuum are placed in different boxes.

Aside the DEEBOT X1 OMNI docking station and the robot vacuum inside the box you'll also find the two round mopping pad plates, two side brushes, cleaning and cutting tool, docking station spare dust bag, power cord, warranty information paper, DEEBOT X1 product comparison paper and the instruction manual.

THE DEEBOT X1 OMNI

The DEEBOT X1 OMNI has a diameter of 362mm and a height of 103.5mm so it's slightly larger than most similar models, including the T9 series again by ECOVACS (the black and silver color combination by Jacob Jensen Design didn't really do it for me).

Typically, the LiDAR sensor is located at the top of the robot vacuum right next to the on/off button.

At the front we find the AIVI 3D cameras and sensors (the astrophotography grade RGB camera is among them) and a tiny microphone right next to them.

Of course, just like most LIDAR models the DEEBOT X1 OMNI has collision sensors all around it.

The top of the DEEBOT X1 OMNI is held in place magnetically and gets removed entirely to reveal the dust bin, main on/off switch and the reset/Wi-Fi button.

The 400ml dustbin of the DEEBOT X1 OMNI is not large but thanks to the docking station it doesn't need to be (also let's not forget that there's an 80ml water tank inside the chassis as well).

Turning the DEEBOX X1 OMNI over we see six cliff sensors, two large rubberized side wheels, main round wheel, main brush/roller, charging contacts, two ports for the round mops and the two ports for the side brushes.

Both the main and side brushes are of very good quality so no issues here.

The docking station stands 578mm tall, 448mm wide and 430mm long and comes in dark gray color.

At the top we find a large compartment and three touch buttons (self-cleaning, start/pause and recall/exit) which can be easily disabled with the child lock feature.

Further down we find yet another compartment which houses the dust bag.

Moving back at the top compartment here we actually find the two 4 litre water tanks (different in color and tagged).

Removing everything from the compartment also reveals an accessory storage box inside which we find the two washable mopping pads and a cleaning brush.

Design-wise the DEEBOT X1 OMNI looks great, still an all-black theme would be a better fit for me.

Worth pointing out is that you can also get a cleaning solution from ECOVACS for use with the DEEBOT X1 OMNI.

Each box contains 15 shots and since you use one per water tank this means they are good enough for 60 litres of water.

ECOVACS HOME APP

Once again to control the robot vacuum you will need to download the ECOVACS HOME app to your smartphone and then pick the DEEBOT X1 OMNI (remember, if you can't find an ECOVACS model inside the app change your location from the smartphone settings to another country, for example i choose Germany).

From the main app tab, you can set the DEEBOT X1 OMNI to start cleaning, return to the dock for recharging, check its current battery level and enter both the smart cleaning and camera tabs.

As you can all see the 3D map is very detailed and each room is tagged and colored automatically.

Pulling up the lower end of the screen allows you to adjust the suction power of the motor (quite/standard/max/max+) and the water amount/volume you'd like the water tank to use (low/medium/high).

From here you can also set the mopping preference, set a cleaning sequence and schedule, access smart cleaning settings and adjust voice volume levels.

The smart cleaning tab allows you to set the mop cleaning interval and hot air drying time and enable the auto-empty, resume clean, auto-boost suction and AIVI3D features.

Inside the more settings tab you can access the Yiko voice assistant settings, check the cleaning log, monitor the state of the various parts, again access the smart cleaning tab, access the video manager, enable the DND mode, enter the experimental lab features page and check various information about both the robot vacuum and its docking station.

Once you've finished several cleaning passes the software can create a 3D map of your area which you can then populate with various 3D objects.

Worth pointing out is that right before the DEEBOT X1 OMNI starts cleaning it gets its 80ml interior water tank filled with water.

Just like with the T9 AIVI model the camera used with the DEEBOT X1 OMNI is very basic and works best in bright rooms (lacks night-vision mode). Still, that combined with the 2-way communication allow you to keep tabs at what’s happening at home (and why not, check on your children and/or pets).

TEST RESULTS

Robot Vacuums may be home appliances but they are very advanced ones so I thought about running some tests like I do with most electronic devices. So here you can see the maximum cleaned area during all tests (single pass, start to finish), total battery life (in quiet - standard/balanced - strong/max modes) and noise levels again in quiet - standard/balanced - strong/max suction modes.

CONCLUSION

   Let’s start with the obvious thing, cleaning performance. Well, the DEEBOT X1 OMNI does a phenomenal job in that regard and better than any other robot vacuum cleaner I’ve reviewed and used to date (the extra cleaning solution does help as well, as opposed to not using one at all that is). That’s not all however so thanks to its docking station you may not need to empty the dust bag or the dirty water tank (nor add more water to the clean water tank) for roughly a week. Noise levels are also reduced compared to previous models and as for battery life (keep in mind my tests were done with both sweeping and mopping – doubt anyone will be getting the DEEBOT X1 OMNI just for sweeping) although plenty as expected it finishes before the T9 models. Still not all with the DEEBOT X1 OMNI is perfect, for example power consumption can be an issue over time. You see even though during recharge and cleaning of the two mops the docking station uses roughly 10-15W and 20-40W respectively when it engages hot air to dry the mops that number climbs to just over 95W and with electricity costs the way they are now this could end up being an issue for some people, especially if you plan on using it daily since the lowest drying time is 2 hours (yes, people who spend this much on a robot vacuum probably don’t care but I do have to point this out). For some strange reason the DEEBOT X1 OMNI also didn’t clean the entire floor of the lab as thoroughly as every other ECOVACS model to date. As a matter of fact, if you check the cleaning log I posted you can see that in most cases it would just clean from 4 to 9 square meters which basically means that on auto it would not even go to clean a couple of the rooms. This was resolved by using the custom option (where it actually covered 30 square meters) so this should be easily fixed with a firmware update. As for the Jacob Jensen Design even though most people that came to the lab seem to have liked it that wasn’t the case with me since I’d rather have an all-black theme instead of silver and dark gray (that’s just my personal preference however).

   With almost 2 weeks until Christmas the DEEBOT X1 OMNI by ECOVACS is actually on sale for USD999 in the USA (Amazon.com) and for 999Euros inside the EU (Amazon.de). Of course, even at 1k the DEEBOT X1 OMNI is a very expensive robot vacuum cleaner but for people who are looking for the best there is this will probably not look like much (and ECOVACS is probably well aware of this). As for me, well after 2 months of testing the DEEBOT X1 OMNI both at the lab and at home I’m certain that this is just the beginning of what we can expect from robotic vacuum cleaners and since it’s clearly the best model to arrive in the lab to date it deserves the Platinum Award.

PROS

- Excellent Build Quality
- Cleaning Results
- Suction Power (5000Pa)
- TrueMapping 2.0 / AIVI 3D (Mapping Accuracy)
- OZMO Turbo 2.0 Mopping (Dual Round Mops / 180 rotations per minute)
- Docking Station (Dust Bag / Mop Cleaning)
- Clean & Dirty Water Tanks (4L Each)
- Battery Life (5200mAh)
- Camera With 2 Way Communication
- Bot Clean Liquid (Extra)
- ECOVACS HOME App

CONS

- Price (For Some)
- Auto Cleaning Area (Firmware Update?)
- Power Consumption (Hot Air Drying)
- Camera Clarity