ECOVACS DEEBOT X11 OmniCyclone - Living Up to Great Expectations

There can't be too many categories in consumer tech that have evolved as quickly as the robot vacuum.

So it's easy to forget the many vacuuming pain-points that have been overcome in just a few years.

The ability to map your home automatically, swap between mopping and vacuuming seamlessly, return to a charging station where the robot can also self empty, fill itself with water, clean and dry itself - all these things are nothing short of miraculous when you really think about it.

So what's left? How much better can a robot vacuum get, before it's bringing you breakfast in bed and getting the kids dressed, fed and off to school as well?

ECOVACS is one name currently pushing the boundaries, with its DEEBOT X11 OmniCyclone leading the way.

If you've been following the DEEBOT story as closely as I have over the last few years, some of the features I'm about to describe might sound a bit like history repeating itself. It's true we've seen earlier iterations of most of what the X11 has to offer on previous DEEBOTS, but we've never seen it all brought together in one complete, elegant package, quite like this.

And I do mean elegant. One of my only reservations about setting up the X11 OmniCyclone at my place was to do with how the OMNI station would look with its bagless dustbin on full display, front and centre. I needn't have worried, however, as the bin has been tinted dark black to blend in with the very classy, metallic-look finish of the rest of the OmniCyclone station. So you're not confronted with a clear container full of all your dirty little secrets every time you walk past.

That's probably something I would have been prepared to put up with anyway, given the obvious benefit of a bagless bin, that simply unclips when it needs emptying. Because of all the convenience of owning a robot vacuum, one of the things I wasn't prepared for when I had one of my own was the ongoing cost of consumables.

Other vacuums with bag-based emptying stations might require as many as five replacement bags a year - or more, depending on usage. And that's before you get to other things that will need replacing along the way - most commonly side brushes, filters and main roller brushes, in roughly that order.

Here the latest and greatest DEEBOT goes some way to mitigating those costs too. The side brush is now only a single side brush, as the X11 is smart enough to always vacuum with its side brush against the wall - and because the brush extends out into corners and has an improved ARClean Anti-Tangle design, it's more effective that ever.

We'll talk more extendible technology shortly but first, let's take a moment to marvel at the ZeroTangle 3.0 main vacuum roller. I've seen a real turning point in recent vacuum innovation when it comes to roller brushes that manage to keep themselves free from endless spools of long hair (either canine or human) thereby avoiding jams and experiencing far less wear and tear in the process. So I now have no time for any vacuum that lets its mechanical cleaning head get clogged up that way. 

The roller on the X11 actually combats this issue three ways; 1) With a 45° bristle angle, that diverts strands of hair straight up the pipe. 2) By using a combination of soft nylon bristles and hard rubber blades, ensuring every kind of dust, hair and debris is dealt with accordingly and 3) With an integrated spiral comb that literally untangles any stray strands as the X11 goes about its business. I LOVE this feature.

A powerful fan and high-capacity battery ensure almost nothing is left behind - and that's before you get to the hard floors.

This is where the OZMO ROLLER 2.0 comes into play, continually rinsing itself and spinning at 200rpm to leave both tile and wooden floors streak-free and gleaming. This is an area where X11 truly comes into its own, using AI Stain Detection to go back and perform automatic re-mops on areas where there might be a more stubborn mess to contend with. Only the X11 OmniCyclone has two separate reservoirs for two different types of cleaning solution. That's right; just like a human being would - if the X11 decides even more of an intensive scrub is required, it'll go into Deep Re-mop mode, making two more criss-cross passes and applying ECOVACS' own heavy-duty cleaning formula to deal with stubborn stains once and for all. I believe, in the professional cleaning industry, the technical term for this is, "Elbow grease."

Oh, and the OZMO ROLLER extends too, obviously. You'll see this in action in the video below as the X11 reaches out to clean right up against base boards and under cabinets. Practically no area is left unmopped.

But perhaps the greatest innovation ECOVACS has come up with yet is PowerBoost - which literally charges the X11 as it empties and cleans itself, topping up the battery by as much as 6% in just three minutes. That means this particular DEEBOT can clean up to 1000m² in a single session. That's at least five of my whole houses so... awesome. Ultimately, you should never have to come home to discover your trusty robot still labouring away through its automated, scheduled clean. It will have finished it hours ago.

The ECOVACS app continues to evolve, streamlining its look and generally becoming more user-friendly, even though, as we've clearly outlined, there are more features to tweak and play with than ever before.

I've been especially pleased to see the X11 no longer thinks areas on the other side of floor-level windows, like decks and balconies, are rooms it needs to try and map in case you want to vacuum them at some stage. Editing maps is easier and quicker and adding extra maps for multiple storey homes is now an absolute doddle.

I could go on and on. I could talk about YIKO, the ECOVACS virtual assistant, but we've met her in previous reviews and I'm sure she'll rate further mention in the future. We could discuss the TruePass adaptive 4 wheel climbing system - but the ability to clamber over door sills and bunched up rugs isn't quite the same as marching up and down actual stairs just yet. Perhaps the next generation?

I do like the way the X11 is smart enough to navigate its way around even the flimsiest items of clothing, power cords and dog toys - even turning on its own headlight to make sure nothing goes awry in dark spaces - but shouldn't that be a minimum expectation from any robot vacuum by now?

And that's just an indication of how far we've come; our minimum expectation now essentially exceeds that of an assembly-line robot or a self-driving car. While some options out there may still fail to live up to such expectations, the X11 OmniCyclone raises the bar for the rest.

    

Click here for more information on the ECOVAC DEEBOT X11 OmniCyclone.