There are robot vacuum cleaners that only vacuum, others vacuum and mop, some even empty their dust and dirty water tanks themselves, and others also wash and dry their mop pads automatically.
So what should you do to ensure you stand out in a crowded and highly competitive robot vacuum market? You come up with features you won't find anywhere else. And that's exactly what Ecovacs Robotics has done with its latest Deebot.
The Ecovacs Deebot T30 Pro Omni comes with a pretty impressive list of features and what I'm most excited about is the jump-start functionality that I haven't seen on any other robovac.
Ecovacs calls it Foot Touch Control, but a simple touch is not enough. While the T30 is charging in its dock (aka idle), you can literally give it a good kick to get it started.
Of course, the startup process takes a while, first the mop pads are cleaned and moistened, and only then does the T30 Pro Omni come out of its base and start vacuuming and mopping simultaneously.
Kicking aid only works in this scenario; You can't stop it from cleaning the same way. And that's to ensure that it doesn't get mistaken for any bumps against furniture and stop and head to the self-cleaning charging base.
While the quick start feature is my favorite, there are a host of other upgrades here that could make the T30 Pro Omni a good investment if you're looking for a full-featured robot vacuum.
It comes with advanced mapping and obstacle avoidance, plus the brush bar has been redesigned to be tangle-free. The bristles are softer and there is a comb just inside the opening that cleans the hair as you rotate the brush.
Ecovacs promises that the T30 Pro Omni will do a better job mopping corners than any of its competitors, thanks to the new extendable mop pads. These extend automatically when needed, as there are sensors on board the robot to detect the edges of the room and furniture legs, and then retract when it starts moving to a more open part of the room.
The mop pads automatically raise 9mm to avoid carpets and rugs, although the effective clearance is only 5 to 7mm, which may not be enough to keep moisture out of medium or high pile carpets. To counter this, Ecovacs has added better functionality to the companion app so you can set up no-mop zones.
Big power in a smaller package
The suction here has also been increased, reaching a maximum of 11,000 Pa, possibly one of the highest in the robovac appliance category. In standard mode, you'll barely notice it's vacuuming up dust and debris – the T30 Pro Omni is quiet and does what it needs to do without disturbing you. It's so quiet that, during a demonstration, I asked the Ecovacs representative if the robot was just mopping or if it was also vacuuming; It was doing both and I couldn't tell by the sound. Even at full power, it's not that loud; Well, it's not a little noisy at 11,000 Pa and that's a good thing.
Some robotic vacuums I've tried before (including the Deebots) hated being picked up and placed elsewhere; it would invariably ruin the robot's navigation despite having a map saved. However, for the T30 Pro Omni, it is a trigger to perform a spot cleaning. While this can be set up in the app itself, now you can also pick it up, place it wherever it needs to do its job and it will clean a 1.5 square meter area around that spot, no questions asked.
Better yet, Ecovacs has managed to reduce the entire unit (the dock with its dust bag and the water tank) by approximately 30% compared to the Deebot X2 Omni. If you have space under a counter, you could easily store it out of sight.
More control over an autonomous bot
If all this sounds good to you and you decide to buy a T30 Pro Omni, you don't necessarily need to mess around with Wi-Fi setup like before. Ecovacs promises that its new Bluetooth Quick Pairing feature will have you up and running in no time.
The company's own voice assistant, Yiko, has been improved and can now understand more commands than before. The bot can also save up to three maps. And, if you're an iPhone user, a home screen widget is now available. Apple Watch controls have also been added via the Ecovacs Home app.
You'd think this huge list of upgrades over previous Deebots would eat into your savings (pun intended), but Ecovacs has set an introductory price of AU$1,799 for the white T30 Pro Omni colorway that features the Yiko voice, the same price as the T20 Omni launched in 2023. If you don't need to talk to the robot, you can opt for the black colorway for just AU$1,749.
For now, the T30 Pro Omni has only been announced for the Australian market, available directly from Ecovacs AU and some authorized third-party retailers, but listed as “coming soon” for the UK. However, the price is yet to be confirmed.
At the time of writing this article, I was told that this model will not be available in the US; Instead, North American customers get another Deebot in the form of the T30S Combo, which adds a portable unit to the robovac, making it a 3-in-1: priced at $1,999.99, available directly from Ecovacs US and on Amazon.
