Freshly launched in Singapore last month, the Ecovacs Deebot X2 Omni (S$1,699) takes the tedium out of cleaning by automating everything from vacuum and mopping to emptying the dustbin, refiling the clean water, and washing/drying the mop pads.
Ecovacs Deebot X2 Omni (S$1,699) robot vacuum mop.
I recall my first robot cleaner was the original Roomba iRobot which did one single thing – autonomously vacuum the entire home.
The second robot I bought was an Ecovacs Deebot which could mop in addition to vacuuming.
Both had a basic dock with the sole function of charging the robot.
Many robots later, I’m back to testing out the Ecovacs, this time round an all-singing-all-dancing flagship model – the Deebot X2 Omni.
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Ecovacs Deebot X2 Omni (S$1,699) robot vacuum mop – freshly unboxed.
Like the flagship models of other brands today, in addition to the robot vacuuming and mopping the floor, the dock is capable of auto-emptying the dustbin, refilling the water container, and washing the mop cloths on the robot.
What is less common that the X2 Omni can do is to wash the mop cloths with hot water, and to dry the mop cloths with hot air after washing.
It also has a squarish shape to enable its corner brush to clean corners better.
I’ve been using the robot for the past month and it’s an impressive little helper.
The Ecovacs Deebot X2 Omni is a powerful robot vacuum mop which cleans well with minimal human intervention – automating the emptying of the robot dustbin, refilling of water on the robot, washing and drying of the mop pads with hot water and hot air – and making it easy to clean and maintain the docking station.
As a flagship model, the price is not cheap – the Deebot X2 Omni retails for S$1,699 in Singapore.
Looks wise, its appearance and materials have a premium feel befitting of its flagship status.
The X2 Omni is available in black or white.
The robot has a magnetically attached lid and a single button that enables simple manual control for pausing and resuming cleaning, as well as returning to dock.
Setting up is easy – scan the QR code to download the Ecovacs Home app (Android or iOS), and then “Add” the X2 Omni to the app, by connecting via Bluetooth to handover the Wi-Fi network and password for the robot to connect directly to the home router.
Naturally, you’ll have to plug in the docking station and switch on the robot first.
No fuss at all and everything got set up within five minutes.
Okay if you’re not as familiar with setting up robot cleaners, perhaps 10-15 minutes to follow along with the clear setup instructions in the included manual.
The removable dustbin and its filter, as well as the detachable tray and base filter from the washing sink – makes it a breeze to keep the robot and the docking station clean.
Once the robot is reasonably charged, you can send it on a quick mapping run to get a feel of the land without doing any cleaning.
After that the robot is ready for business – you can specify which room/area in your home you want the X2 Omni to go clean up.
There are four main cleaning modes – vacuum only, mop only, vacuum and mop simultaneously, mop after vacuum.
Powerful and thorough vacuuming
Vacuuming wise, the X2 Omni has an extremely high 8000Pa suction power, powered by a high-capacity 6400mAh lithium battery, which has a battery life of three hours and charging time of 5.5 hours from zero to 100%.
Ecovacs Home App
The X2 Omni can be controlled via the YIKO 2.0 voice assistant for simple tasks like cleaning a particular room etc.
But for complete control over exactly how the robot is to do the cleaning, you’ll have to use the Ecovacs Home app.
The app allows you to specify whether to do a full cleaning of the entire house, or specific rooms or a particular area that you demarcate on the map in the app.
You can store up to three maps in the app, in case you have multiple levels in your house.
You can specify four strengths of vacuuming, three levels of mopping wetness, whether to vacuum only, mop only, vacuum and mop, or mop after vacuum etc.
That’s generally consistent with what I experienced using the robot over the past month.
The floor felt clean to my feet after just vacuuming, without any mopping.
I like how the squarish corners of the X2 Omni extend the reach of the corner brush into the corners of the room, sweeping up dirt and dust deeper into the corners.
Ecovacs claims the corner brush can reach into corners by 30mm more and I could see the X2 Omni performing to specs.
The bristle-less main brush is made of rubber so it doesn’t get entangled with hair.
Back at the docking station, the dock automatically empties the 420ml dustbin onboard the robot into a large 3-liter dust bag that Ecovacs estimates doesn’t require changing out for 60 days – depending on how dusty/dirty your home is.
Fuss-free mopping
For mopping, the X2 Omni has two rotating mop pads which cleaned my marble and parquet floors well – even when just using tap water without any detergent added.
Its OZMO Turbo 2.0 Rotating Mopping System rotates the two mop pads as the robot mops the floor.
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Below the Ecovacs Deebot X2 Omni are two mop pads, one corner brush and the main roller brush.
If you have carpets in parts of your home, the X2 Omni can auto-detect them and lift up the mopping pads by 15mm so that it can continue vacuuming the carpet without wetting it with the pads.
This is convenient so you don’t have to do two separate runs for vacuuming and mopping and mark out the carpets as no-go zones for the mopping run.
Navigation and obstacle avoidance
For getting around the house, the X2 Omni employs its TrueMapping 3.0 algorithm which uses the LiDAR sensor on board the robot.
It has a 210 degree angle of view and can detect objects 10m away.
I find that the mapping system works in both mapping out the lay of the land accurately and in covering the entire floor surface that needs to be cleaned.
The X2 Omni also uses an AI-based AIVI 3D 2.0 and RGBD sensor to identify and recognise ground barriers and furniture for obstacle-avoidance, and cliff sensors to avoid falling off ledges and stairs.
These work well and I didn’t see the robot go crashing into objects or falling off ledges (I haven’t encountered a robot that falls off cliffs).
The Deebot X2 Omni has the ability to ascend by up to 22mm to overcome thresholds and bumpy or uneven surfaces along its path as well.
It also avoids staining previously cleaned surfaces when the robot is making its way back to the docking station to wash its dirtied mop pads.
You can add an Ecovacs branded detergent to the clean water tank – for mopping the floor and for washing the mop pads and dock’s cleaning sink.
At the docking station is a 4-liter clean water tank and a 3.5-liter dirty water tank – the dock automatically refills the 180ml water container on the robot and washes the mop pads with warm 55°C water before, during and after each mopping session.
The mop pads are attached using Velcro and can be easily detached once in a while to throw the mop pads into a washing machine for thorough washing.
The dock is also able to dry the mop pads with 360°C hot air (over a period of 2-4 hours depending on app settings) – this is great for avoiding foul smells and mould in our humid atmosphere if the mop pads stay wet after each cleaning session.
I like that the Detachable Tray and Base Filter in the docking station can be easily removed (and put back) for washing and light scrubbing under a running tap.
The dock can also do light self-cleaning by rinsing out the cleaning base with water from the clean water tank.
Tags: appliances, Deebot, Ecovacs, Home Tech, new arrivals, reviews, robot, vacuum
can I use a normal floor cleaning detergent to the mopping water?
Most mopping robot makers will advise their users to only use the detergents made by them – because those detergents are designed specifically for use in robots. The worry is that normal detergents may cause deposits and overtime clog up the pipings in the robots and in the docks. Some are concerned normal detergents may make the floor too slippery for the robot and cause it to slip as it rolls on the floor.
Oh i see. Thanks for the explanation. I have seen those warning advisories before but never understood why cannot use.
Interesting … are their claims true? Most recommend just using plain water – is that good enough?
I think so and I don’t want to risk spoiling the robot over the long term. Actually, that feeling of the floor being dirty is mostly due to dust/dirt – for most robots that I’ve tested, the floor actually already FEELS clean after a proper vacuuming. But you so still need to mop to clean up stains and dried spills etc. – and most times, I feel normal tap water is good enough for that.
What do you do? Do you use detergents in your robot?
Yes I do. I do use a detergent branded by the robot that I own and use for my home. I believe it should be good enough for other brands as well. Before I started using robot-specific detergents, I’d first started with putting detergent on the mop cloth so that the detergent didn’t get into the pipings within the robot. Eventually, I settled on putting normal detergent in a spray bottle and spraying the floor surfaces after the robot has vacuumed the floor and just before it begins mopping (I tend to do two separate runs for vacuuming and mopping). I still spray with additional detergent once in a while (even though I now use robot-specific detergent in the clean tank) for that EXTRA clean.
Wow that sounds like a good idea … I currently put dish washing detergent on the mop cloth. Will try the spraying method you use!
Just be careful that your family members know you’ve sprayed the floor in case they slip (especially young children and the aged). I do that when there’s nobody else at home. Most times, adding the robot-specific detergent to the clean tank is good enough for the job without having to spray additional detergent on the floor.