Ecovacs Deebot T80S Omni: Review

Having used a Deebot robot vacuum before and been impressed with its almost anal ability to do its job of cleaning, there's a high expectation on the latest round of robot vacuums coming to New Zealand.

And while it's safe to say the robots themselves will never fully take over the position of a dedicated household cleaner, for families whose lives are eternally busy, the fact a simple unit sat in the corner can lighten the load can't be understated.

At just a touch under $2,000, this robot vacuum's not as cheap as many hands-on vacuums, but what it offers in terms of taking a load off your hands and automating the workload is perhaps worth the trade-off. Especially as this one comes with mopping technology and a slightly lower pricepoint than previous models.

It's perhaps important to start with the out of the box equipment and work on from there, because Ecovacs has made sure that these really are simple devices that you can lift out of the box, remove a few bits, download an app and then get on with the business of cleaning.

Dealing with tricky corners, rugs and raised areas prove to be easy for the Deebot T80S Omni's sensors.

So it's impressive to note that to get the whole thing going and working takes less than a hour. Compactly packed, the station and the robot are really the only items in the box. And the station itself requires only the installation of a loading platform for Deebot to trundle up to and it's good to go. A case of just plugging it in, powering it on and then you're into the simple details of connecting Deebot to the app.

Well, that said, there's one big hurdle to start off with - deciding what to name your robot.

It feels like the technology has definitely improved from previous iterations. The last Deebot robot vacuum which was used saw the app really holding things back, given that it appeared to overthink a lot of what was needed for a robot vacuum to get going. This time around, it feels like the app itself has been simplified and with the help of a a quick start guide (around the size of an A3 piece of paper), the robot was ready to go fairly quickly.

Once your new cleaning pal has been named and connected to the app (via QR codes and a simple wireless connection to your internet), the first real difference with the Deebot becomes obvious. Whereas previous robots have taken a very long time to map out the area it's due to clean, this had mapped out one room within 10 minutes and was already on its way back to the station to get ready to be sent out. That did lead to some worry that the robot had scrimped on some areas, but in looking at the map, it had worked out where the edges were, what the obstacles were and what the challenge ahead was.

Previous robots have also struggled with obstacles, be it a chair, a cord or an inquisitive cat, but the Ecovacs Deebot T80S Omni seems to be able to take all of this in its stride. As has already been mentioned, low-lying relaxing chairs caused problems before, but with the Triple Lift system, it was able to detect there was a chair leg in the way and simply vaulted over it and carried on. 

While this is a great improvement, it's something you have to keep an eye on as well because the kitchen area that had been mapped out also leads out to an open deck and within seconds, Deebot T80S Omni had vaulted over the steps thanks to the lift system and was trundling off to potential machine suicide down some outside stairs.

But once the mapping's done, it's a case of simply getting on with business.

From the help offered by the app for set-up through to simply pressing a button to send the Deebot T80S out cleaning, the whole process is one of efficiency and simplicity. Watching the machine go its own way proved to be therapeutic in some ways, and while it only got stuck a couple of times on its first go-round, the machine's insistence on logging that in the app to try again later is a notable improvement on prior iterations that have simply left areas uncleaned because they can't quite reach them.

There's a bit of an issue with the brush at the front of the unit, the ZeroTangle brush system, which occasionally fired larger items on the floor across the room, rather than simply sucking them up. It has to be said that was a surprise to see - and some of the smaller, finer bits of dirt managed to elude the 24,800 PA suction power. But it managed to get into some of the trickier corners of the layout and it was even clocked going back over the areas that it'd missed.

What's noticeable about the machine as it works is how methodical it is - watching it go back and forth as it tackled the areas impressed in terms of getting the job done. It really does live up to the idea of a "set and forget" even if there are some worries about obstacles.

Given you can fiddle with areas in the mapping and create regions that are out of bounds, the Deebot T80S Omni does do a lot to be flexible to your needs and certainly with the mopping of a floor and drying as it goes on, it makes you feel like it's working hard for its money. The Ozmo Roller 2.0 works well to clean and the fact the unit adjusts the rollers as it tackles areas shows just how intuitive the machine can be when it needs to.

Perhaps the most dependable part of the Deebot T80S Omni is how it helps you keep up with regular maintenance. As mentioned earlier, it won't ever be a full substitute for a human cleaner who can get into the nooks and crannies, but what it does offer is the ethos of simply being left to get the job done. And the fact it can be set going when you're not home and can do a once-over lightly but well job is a positive boon.

When it comes down to it, the question of whether to get a robot vacuum like the Deebot T80S Omni resides in your choice - do you want to spend less time doing the boring jobs and forget about them? Because if so, this little aesthetically pleasing unit makes an easy and clean sweep of such a decision.

In New Zealand, the Deebot T80S Omni has a recommended retail price of NZD $1,999, and is available from Harvey Norman, JB HiFi, Noel Leeming & PB Tech.