There’s a lot of tech in the Deebot X11 OmniCyclone I haven’t seen before. It’s the new top-of-the-range robot vacuum from Ecovacs, and based on my time spent with it, it has a few tricks up its robotic sleeve.
I could wax lyrical about the bagless technology, but the Deebot X11’s clever power management was what really surprised me. Bigger homes might need to wait for a robot to recharge midway through cleaning. That’s not the case here, thanks to a technology Ecovacs calls “PowerBoost”.
Instead of emptying its dustbin and washing its mops at the docking station without charging the battery, the Deebot X11 does it all simultaneously. The stats from Ecovacs claim that the battery gets a six per cent top-up from a quick three-minute visit to the docking station.
There’s a lot of technology behind PowerBoost, which essentially uses an algorithm to optimise the robot’s runtime. As a result, the robot ultimately spends more time cleaning your home, and less time waiting to charge.
Even though my place isn’t huge, I noticed that the Deebot X11 had more battery to spare after cleaning than I normally see from other cleaning appliances. Seeing the robot dock, wash its mops, and then get back to cleaning was like watching an efficient F1 pit stop.
And when the Deebot X11 cleans, it cleans well. An upgraded roller mop applies far more pressure than the spinning mop pads of old, making it better at cleaning tiles.
19,500Pa of suction power is also pretty good, but it’s the strong airflow that makes a difference. It uses ‘BLAST’ (a fun acronym that stands for Boosted Large-Airflow Suction Technology) to vacuum more efficiently via a larger internal fan and a wide air inlet. From what I’ve seen, it vacuumed my floors rather well.
Going bagless
Improved power efficiency wasn’t the only thing I enjoyed while using the Deebot X11. As I mentioned before, this appliance doesn’t rely on disposable bags to store dust. Instead, it uses Ecovacs’ “OmniCyclone Station”, which is as functional as it is stylish.
There’s a fun novelty in watching the sci-fi OmniCyclone Station in action, sucking up the dirty contents picked up from your floor in front of your eyes. Its 1.6L capacity should last most households about a month-and-a-half’s worth of dust before it needs emptying.
Like a good stick vacuum, it’s easy to remove the station’s dustbin and empty it without dirtying your hands. Plus, it felt good that, without a bag, I wasn’t adding unnecessary waste into my bin.
According to Ecovacs, the Omni Cyclone technology will save you from buying roughly 25 bags over 25 years. Obviously, I haven’t been able to test that claim for myself, but the benefits are clear. I won’t have to pay more money for bag replacements over time, and less stuff goes to landfill. That’s a win-win as far as I’m concerned.
Four-wheel driving with a robot vacuum
I’m not about to take the Deebot X11 off-road anytime soon, but you’d be surprised by how well it moves around small bumps and household obstacles.
In addition to the two main wheels driving the robot, it also has a couple of pop-out wheels that act as small levers. They help climb over bumps a couple of centimetres high, like sliding door rails, which have previously been a challenge for two-wheeled bots.
If you have thick cables out or barstools and furniture with low-profile feet, the Deebot X11 shouldn’t have any trouble motoring over them. That’s a nice bit of extra peace of mind to have, that you won’t need to manually intervene at the sight of a slightly elevated surface.
It also combines nicely with the robot’s improved navigation system. I noticed that the Deebot X11 managed to border obstacles very closely without bumping into them. As much as possible, it got close to objects in its way and still did a good job cleaning around the edges — even when the object was oddly shaped.
From my time with the X11, I liked what I saw. Going bagless makes sense for the wallet and the environment, while continuing Ecovacs’ high cleaning standards. I’m keen to spend more time using the robot to see how it goes over the long term.
The Ecovacs Deebot X11 OmniCyclone is out now in Australia for $2,999.
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