Do you believe a robot vacuum will do a good job cleaning your house? I have to admit that for many, buying a $2,000-plus vacuum is a big leap of faith. Will it do a good job? Will it save me time?
Robot vacuums are among the hottest-selling items in electronics retailers today. Ecovacs is one of the major brands in Australia and has just launched a new model, the Deebot X8 Max Pro Omni. It’s an update to the X8 Pro Omni (minus the ‘Max’) that launched 12 months ago. I review the X8 Max Pro Omni to see how it compares.
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Ecovacs Deebot X8 Max Pro Omni features
The Ecovacs Deebot X8 Max Pro Omni is a wireless robot vacuum that both vacuums and mops your floors whilst avoiding obstacles.
The X8 Max comes with the vacuum, its base station and a power cord. A disposable dust bag is already installed, but you will need to purchase some Deebot cleaning fluid ($37.50 for one litre) separately to get started. Whilst shopping, a three-pack of Antibacterial disposable dust bags will also come in handy ($29.90).
A self-servicing robot vacuum like the X8 Max is not a discreet appliance. You will notice it, and its placement should be considered for both access and aesthetics. We note that this model has a smaller, more attractive base station.
Navigation in your home is a key skill a robot vacuum must have, both to ensure the available floor surface is cleaned and to avoid obstacles. The X8 Max uses Ecovacs AIVI 3D 3.0 intelligent navigation, which uses lasers to map your home. The net result is that the vacuum’s path is not random; rather, it follows carefully planned straight lines, ensuring all areas are covered, and it also adapts to changes, such as the couch being moved a few centimetres or a temporary obstacle like a toy or pet.
Being less than 10cm high means the X8 can travel under furniture and cleaning areas that you may rarely reach with a conventional vacuum.
To clean a hard floor, you need suction of between 4,000 and 8,000Pa (Pa refers to ‘Pascals’, a measure of suction strength), whilst carpet needs at least 10,000Pa. The Max can suck up to 16,600Pa. To aid with carpets, a brush also rotates, essentially beating the carpet to help remove dust. Brushes are prone to hair or thread getting wrapped around them, a problem Ecovacs addresses with its third-generation anti-tangle system.
The Max has a roller mop which is lifted internally whilst vacuuming a carpet to ensure the carpet does not get wet. When a hard floor is reached, the mop spins at 220 RPM to scrub any spills and dirt from the floor. Clean water mixed with detergent is continuously used to spray the mop, and dirty water is removed from the mop to prevent streaking and to avoid moving grime from one place to another.
The Ecovacs robot is round and designed to clean up against walls and into corners. A clever brush with its own sensors sweeps dirt and dust into the vacuum’s path, while the mop can slide aside to ensure edge-to-edge cleaning.
Periodically, the vacuum returns to the base station, where the robot’s dust bin is sucked clean into a disposable dust bag, and the dirty water is replaced with clean water before the robot returns to the unfinished floor areas. Once the cleaning is finished, the dock then washes the mop with hot water before drying it with hot air to ensure all dirt and bacteria are removed.
If you have a house with stairs, the vacuum cannot climb them. You can set up different map zones and carry the vacuum, but you will have to return it midway through its task to empty its waste bin, change its water, and possibly recharge it. In a larger house, you may consider using two robot vacuums.
Ecovacs has a built-in voice assistant, YIKO, which you can give specific voice commands like clean the kitchen. Alternatively, it can be integrated with Alexa or Google Home assistants.
Ecovacs Deebot X8 Max Pro Omni specifications and price
| Suction power | 16,600Pa |
| Features | Vacuum and Roller Mop |
| Navigation | Laser |
| Dimensions | Robot: 35 x 46 x 10 cm Base station: 34 x 46 x 50 cm |
| Price (RRP) | Ecovacs lists the RRP as $2,599, but sells the device for $1,599 |
| Website | Ecovacs Australia |
| Warranty | 30 months |
Using the X8 Max Pro Omni
To get started with the X8 Max, you will need to fill the clean water tank and detergent dispenser. Once you have logged into the app and paired your vacuum, a simple press of a button starts the vacuum’s mapping of your house or at least the sections it can reach. Once this is done, you can name rooms and even add furniture to the map, though it’s not required. A second button push once this is done will start the cleaning function.
Although not by default, the vacuum can learn from past experience, helping it avoid getting stuck. My test unit has yet to get stuck, but a previous model did learn from getting stuck. The app can also start the robot and schedule times for it to start automatically.
I am using the X8 Max to clean the laundry, kitchen, family room, hallway, and powder room. This covers 60 square metres, which is either timber-floored or tiled. The vacuum and mop take around one hour.
I estimate that cleaning to the same standard manually took me around 45 minutes to vacuum and mop before. Now, when I say the same standard, I have to admit the robot does a better job, not missing small sections and using clean water rather than water from a bucket. The big test, which I expected the Ecovacs to fail, was to vacuum our medium-length, thick carpet, which, even after many years, still fills our conventional vacuum with wool fibres. I expected the Ecovacs small onboard dustbin to be an issue, but other than extra trips back to the docking station to empty it, it performed flawlessly. Ecovacs quotes the dustbag as lasting 90 days, but I expect that with a pet or longer carpet, this will be shorter.
The robot works well in its default settings, but, as you would expect, there are many customisations available, such as child lock, do not disturb (so it will not run whilst you sleep), room sequence, sensitivity to objects, cleaning intensity, etc. All of this is controlled from the app, which also logs activity and alerts you to issues, including scheduled maintenance. The vacuum has replaceable parts with a scheduled lifespan, and you will receive a notification when they need to be replaced. The app also provides visual guides to fixing an issue or replacing a part.
There are lots of little clever items on this vacuum that continue to impress me. For example, when you remove the base station dust bag, it automatically closes the hole so no dirt or dust can escape.
I must admit I have had older robot vacuums that did not work that well. The Ecovacs X8 Max Pro is a whole different level. I don’t think I will ever go back to manually vacuuming, and with a larger house, I have cut my cleaning time from more than two hours to less than half an hour. That’s a saving of almost 80 hours a year. At the median Australian pay rate of $42.90 per hour, that’s around $3,432, which more than covers the initial outlay.
Who is the X8 Max Pro Omni for?
Even if you think you are a precise vacuumer and do a thorough job, not only does the Ecovacs X8 Max Pro Omni systematically cover every section of the floor, but it is also small enough to fit under lounges, so areas get cleaned that you would otherwise have to move furniture to clean.
If you always want clean floors, this product will pay for itself in six months and give you back ‘me time’. Now if only they had a robot to dust and clean the toilet.
It’s worth noting that Ecovacs lists the model’s RRP as $2,599. At the time of writing, it is being sold for $1,599.
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