Ecovacs is bringing its new premium robot vacuum to Australia and New Zealand – the Ecovacs Deebot X1 Omni.
The Ecovacs droid is an all-in-one cleaning solution and we’ve seen it in action: it vacuums and mops, automatically empties the dustbin, refills its water reservoir and then cleans and dries its own mop pads with hot air flow – a first for a robot vacuum.
While lots of robot vacuums on the market come with mopping capabilities (with varying degrees of success), the new X1 Omni is one of the very few which can actually clean dried-on stains as well as small spills.
In our review, it coped with removing stains such as dried-in Coca-Cola and coffee from our hard floor testing space, just as well as it did with fresh dirt. The X1 Omni can mop up small spills too, but it can also drag the spilled liquid around, rather than soaking it up completely on the first pass.
The X1 Omni has its own voice assistant built in too, another first for a robot vacuum. Called Yiko (pronounced Ee-Koh), we found the voice control to be very responsive in our testing, understanding instructions such as to stop and start a clean, adjust suction power and other cleaning-specific commands.
The X1 Omni is Ecovacs’ most premium machine to date, and it also has the price to match. It’s now available in Australia for AU$2,499 from Bing Lee and JB Hi-Fi, while New Zealanders can purchase it for NZ$2,999, making it one of the most expensive robovacs around.
There’s no doubt that’s a high price of entry for a cleaning gadget, but if you want a truly hands-off floor cleaning experience, it’s one of the best robot vacuums you can buy.
Ecovacs has also launched the Ecovacs Deebot X1 Turbo alongside the Omni, and it’s a pared-back version of the vacuum for anyone who doesn’t need all the bells and whistles. The only difference between the two bots is that the X1 Turbo doesn’t have an auto-emptying dustbin, and while it’ll clean its mop pads, it can’t dry them for you.
The X1 Turbo is now available in Australia for AU$2,099, making it AU$400 cheaper than the flagship X1 Omni. We’re in the process of testing the X1 Turbo to determine whether it's worth its asking price, and will have an in-depth review up in the coming weeks.
