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Maintenance
As we mentioned earlier, the Deebot 900 comes with a little cleaning tool that's hidden away in an accessories box. It's a thoughtful addition from Ecovacs, especially given the use case for the new droid is carpet cleaning and pet hair. This handy addition comes with a sharp edge to cut away tangles, which you'll need to do regularly for the droid to function optimally. If the tangles are too much to handle, a small pen knife or scissors will do the trick.
Moreover, the bin has a capacity of only 350ml. That’s not very much, so you’ll find yourself emptying it after every clean if you have a large home with wall-to-wall carpets, or after every two cleans if you have a medium-sized home (evidence to how well the Deebot actually performs). Emptying the bin is as easy as lifting the handle to release the lock, then lifting out and unclipping one side to drop the dirt out.
When you’ve pulled out the bin, you’ll find a bit of dirt or small clumps of fibre in the bin cavity within the droid. That’s because the mouth of the bin, which sits behind the main bar brush, is large enough for a smattering of dust fallout when moving the bin. The cavity is easy to clean with a dry cloth, and it really doesn’t need constant attention.
The filter lining the bin is washable, but you'll have to make sure it's completely dry before you use it again. Thankfully you won't need to give it a rinse too often.
If you’re the finicky type, you can, on occasion, give the entire Deebot a bit of a wipedown just to keep it looking shiny and new.
Verdict
There was a niche that needed filling and Ecovacs decided to take a stab at it. Unless you’re willing to pay top money for the iRobot Roomba 980 – the only robot vacuum we’ve tested that comes with a carpet agitator – there aren’t very many autonomous vacuums that can deal with carpets.
While the Deebot 900 does a good job on a low- to medium-pile carpet, it struggles on high-pile rugs. The fibres impede movement and dirt is often so deep-seated that there’s not enough suction, even on the Max setting, for a good clean. Moreover, with a limited battery life of 45 minutes on Max, a large home will always require a double run. On hard floors, however, there’s absolutely nothing you can fault the Deebot 900 for – it’s works like a charm.
Ecovacs has, once again, aced both the hardware and the software. Our only complaint would be the droid’s inability to clamber over obstacles and thresholds more than 18mm high, but that’s us nitpicking, really.
The droid moves exactly as you’d expect with practically perfect mapping, and the evidence of its cleaning performance will be there for you to see every time you empty the bin. And it’s all done quietly and at a relatively affordable price. Need we say more?
