Roborock, at left, and Ecovacs on the right.
Robot vacuums, brought into the public eye with the success of the Roomba, have come a long way. They’re now able to mop and dry your floors, act as remote cameras, and can be programmed to clean specific areas of the house at specific times. It’s gotten to the point where I’m calling them robot cleaners now because they do so much more than vacuum.
Faceoff: ECOVACS DEEBOTX1 OMNI vs Roborock S7 Max V Ultra
Today we compare two of the newest and most feature-rich robot cleaners, the ECOVACS DEEBOT X1 OMNI and the Roborock S7 Max V Ultra.
You can check out my detailed reviews of the ECOVACS DEEBOT X1 OMNI and the Roborock S7 Max V Ultra here and on the YouTube channel. Here we’re breaking down how they compare to eachother and which one might be best for you.
Summary
Both robot cleaners will do a great job of keeping your place vacuumed and mopped. In my opinion, the ECOVACS DEEBOT X1 OMNI, is the winner here, thanks to the nicer design, and extras in technology. The biggest knock on the DEEBOT X1 is that you need to swap the mopping pads in and out to alternate between mopping and vacuuming, while the Roborock will lift its plate over lower pile carpets.
Design and Size
The ECOVACS has really thought through the design of the DEEBOT X1 OMNI. With a brushed silver look and a sleek housing the Deebot X! OMNI’s design hides all it’s cleaning power inside: it has a clean water tank, a dirty water tank, and a pull-out compartment for extra mopping pads, brushes, and a vacuum bag, plus a thoughtfully designed separate drawer for the dirty vacuum bag. Everything is easy to reach and accessible for removal.
See my hands-on review
The Roborock S7 Max V Ultra model has been built to be very streamlined but it’s less pretty than the Ecovacs with the tanks visible individually and it uses more basic plastic construction. The Roborock S7 Max Ultra is sizeable; it has a footprint of 19 inches tall by 19 inches high by 16 inches wide when docked.
Both of these vacuum bots and their base stations take up a lot of floor space and need access to a wall plug plus enough room for the unit to back out of the garage.
EDGE: ECOVACS. ECOVACS has a better design and sleeker look for their garage that makes it a nicer accessory for the home.
Cleaning Performance
The X1 OMNI is really effective on carpets and didn’t miss any dirt during testing. While testing the mopping features, I found that it easily mopped up small spills and cleaned dried spills, thanks to its spinning mopping pads. Larger spills will be an issue if you don’t wipe most of the spill up first.
The downside here is that the ECOVACS won’t venture onto carpets withe the mopping plates installed to keep from wetting the carpet. When switching to carpet from tile or lino, you’ll need to install the scrubbing mop pads, and remove them when you want to vacuum—and the bot is smart enough to know when the mopping plates are on, and it can recognize carpet, and in my testing there was never a time it got the rugs wet.
The Roborock S7 Max Ultra does a great job of handling small spills, though again, robot cleaners aren’t really made to be shop vacs, so larger spills will always be an issue if you don’t remove most of the spill first. On carpets, the S7 Max Ultra struggled a bit more; it left behind some of the debris I used for testing, often spreading it rather than capturing it. It also had issues with finer items like flour.
With the mopping on this bot, The Roborock model uses technology to lift the plate up when moving to carpet from flooring. That means this bot can tackle both carpet and hard floors in the same session. The downside here is that while the bot can lift its wet mopping plate above the carpet, if you have a higher pile rug, you may still see it get a bit wet.
EDGE: Tie. While the X1 OMNI does a great job on carpets, it’s a hassle to remove the scrubbing pads every time. The Roborock, on the other hand, masters the switchover but doesn’t do as good of a job with standard vacuuming, plus it may moisten shaggier carpets.
Self Cleaning Capabilities
Self Cleaning CapabilitiesThe ECOVACS DEEBOT X1 will return to its garage when the battery is low, and it runs for about three hours on a single charge. While it’s docked, it will refill the mopping tank with water then it rinses the mopping pads and also has a function to dry the mop with a low level of warm air, and that drying helps cut down on musty odors. Of course it also evacuates the onboard dustbin of its vacuum debris.
The water reservoir is sizeable and able to hold 4 litres of water.
The Roborock model calls its garage the “Empty Wash Fill Dock” and it will recharge the unit, evacuate the onboard dustbin to a sealed vacuum bag, refill the onboard water tank and also run a cleaning cycle on the mopping pad. The cleaning cycle is about three and a half minutes long, and the dirty water also ends up in its own tank after the mopping pad is rinsed.
EDGE: ECOVACS for its ability to dry the mop after cleaning.
Mapping and AI
Both bots have mapping and smarts and you can label rooms and schedule room-specific cleaning, or create repeatable cleaning zones. Let’s look at what sets them apart.
The ECOVACS DEETBOT X1 has pretty impressive avoidance detection. It uses two advanced obstacle avoidance systems, relying on both its camera vision as well as 3D laser scanning, which can detect and identify everyday household objects to avoid them. It’s also capable of handling floor height transitions of up to 20 mm.
While this bot, like the Roborock will connect with Google or Alexa for hands-free voice control, the DEEBOT X1 also lets you talk directly to the bot using natural language. It works really well! With voice localization, the bot will hear you ask for a cleanup in a specific part of the house and can send itself to where you are.
The Roborock S7 Max V Ultra also makes use of a 3D scanner, as well as LiDar for its navigation. It’s able to detect small items, even in low-light situations. That kind of technology could be the difference between your earring ending up in the dustbag or remaining where you dropped it.
EDGE: ECOVACS. Both robot cleaners have great detection algorithms and respond to voice commands accurately, but the built-in native language voice control on the X1, and the voice localization set it apart.
Remote Viewing and Security Camera
Remote Viewing and Security CameraYou’ll be able to keep tabs on your pets and check in on any strange movements or security concerns in your rooms.
The ECOVACS DEEBOT X1 OMNI has a tremendous remote viewing/security camera setup. After engaging the mode on the unit itself, you’ll be able to access the camera in-app and maneuver the robot to wherever you need to see what’s going on. You’ll be able to drop a pin on the map inside the app and have the robot cleaner move to that spot, and the camera is high-quality. For privacy, an audio announcement also tells you the camera is engaged.
The Roborock S7 Max V Ultra also requires a bit of onboard privacy setup before being able to use the security/remote viewing mode. Once that’s done, you’ll be able to remotely move the bot around the map via the app and see what’s in front of the camera.
EDGE: Tie Both cleaners have excellent remote viewing capabilities and offer security camera modes.
Price
ECOVACS $1,549
Roborock: $1,399
On a pure numbers game you’ll save money buying the Roborock, but you’ll have to decide if the price and features balance is worth it.
Overall winner: ECOVACS DEEBOTX1 OMNI vs Roborock S7 Max V Ultra
Both robot cleaners will do a great job of keeping your place vacuumed and mopped. In my opinion, the ECOVACS DEEBOT X1 OMNI, is the winner here, thanks to the nicer design, and extras in technology. The biggest knock on the DEEBOT X1 is that you need to swap the mopping pads in and out to alternate between mopping and vacuuming, while the Roborock will lift its plate over lower pile carpets.
Get a Roborock here and Ecovacs Below.
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