ECOVACS DEEBOT N10 PLUS - Plenty of Punch for the Price

The rise of the machines has truly begun and I, for one, am a massive fan. The robots definitely have my blessing to take over - especially the vacuuming.

The technology has got very good lately - not just vacuuming but mopping and self-emptying too. However, the more features your robot boasts, the steeper the pricetag.

Now, ECOVACS offers a very full-featured option for less than many UN-robotic options out there.

The DEEBOT N10 PLUS certainly looks like its more expensive T9+ predecessor and to be honest, after spending a bit of time with both devices the only major difference I've encountered is the N10 PLUS doesn't have an air-freshener option like the T9 model did.

In most other aspects, the N10 PLUS functions very much the same way; to begin with, setup is quick and easy via the ECOVACS app and you'll be connected to Wi-Fi and ready to go as soon as the device is fully charged.

The first clean is also when the N10 PLUS maps your home and unfortunately, this is still a weak spot for ECOVACS. While the DEEBOT does a good job of recognising separate rooms - even in an open-plan living situation like mine - it struggles with full-length windows and glass doors. Oddly, although the robot itself does not try to pass through obstacles like these, the OZMO mapping system will often try to map what it sees through the glass and add it as an other room it just can't get to.

As you can see from this map area "G" is clearly not inside my house at all (it's actually a garden). Annoyingly, you can't easily delete this area either. Furthermore, the light-blue area in the top right-hand corner of the map is my bedroom and ensuite. For some reason, although the N10 PLUS has mapped this area it's decided it isn't a room and won't clean it. Again, there's nothing I can do to manually edit this; I can choose which order in which I want the "lettered" rooms to be cleaned and I can even merge to rooms together. I can create virtual boundaries if there's somewhere I don't want the DEEBOT to go. But I can't call my bedroom a bedroom without mapping my home all over again.

On the bright side, there is now a multi-floor function so I can use the N10 PLUS on both storeys of my house without it getting confused.

And the N10 PLUS now has plenty of battery power to do my whole house too - running for up to 330 minutes on a single charge. This is very useful as often I want to mop later in the day after I've already run a full vacuum. This because I have a dog. And when it rains, dogs get wet. And when dogs get wet, they mess up the floors.

This is the true beauty of owning a device that mops for you - if you want to mop every day, just do it. Schedule it to happen automatically while you're out of the house if you like. Then come home to pawprint-free floors. What a golden age we're living in.

Cleverly, while DEEBOTS vacuum and mop simultaneously, their sensors prevent them venturing from hard floors onto carpet whenever the mopping plate is in place.

This means changing from mopping mode to vacuum-only is a manual process - unlike some other robot vacuums, the N10 PLUS can't raise its mopping plate above carpet level then lower it back down when it gets back to wood or tiles. The upside of this is there's no chance of any kind of drip or spill on your carpets or rugs. The downside is having to fill the tank and attach the mopping plate yourself.

Still, you're only paying around NZD$1199.00 for this device - so there has to be a limit somewhere.

At least it does an amazing job of the mopping - even with water only, no added detergent required.

The N10 PLUS also boasts greater suction power than most previous DEEBOTS and I can certainly attest to the fact that crumbs of hastily chomped dog treats left behind on the carpet are no match for 4300Pa of pure suck.

Despite its reasonable price, the N10 PLUS comes with its own self-emptying station and this works well, up to a point. By default, the robot is set to empty itself automatically when it returns to charge after cleaning. However, there is now an option within the ECOVACS app to increase the regularity of emptying - if you have a large home full of dogs and hairy people (like I do), setting the DEEBOT to empty itself every 20 or 25 minutes seems like a good idea. Except it doesn't work. The N10 PLUS come back to base, announces it's charging and emptying, begins the emptying process but immediately sets off to resume cleaning without emptying itself at all.

I assume this is some kind of programming bug and will be sorted out in a future firmware update.

Other than that, the N10 PLUS works extremely well. Sheduling is reliable, there are easily accessible customisation settings for things like suction power and water volume, while the filter and dust bags have been improved to keep dust, allergens and odours to an absolute minimum.

Yes, the floating main brush still gets clogged up with long hair (just like most vacuum cleaners) although there is now an optional rubber bush available to combat this. Unfortunately I haven't had the opportunity to test one at this point.

Is the N10 PLUS the perfect cleaning machine? No. Although it often delivers the perfect clean anyway. Given the wealth of features on hand at an affordable price, it's a welcome addition to the ECOVACS DEEBOT stable.

Click here for more information on the ECOVACS DEEBOT N10 PLUS.