I’d also like to thank ECOVACS for being an ongoing sponsor of the blog and the YouTube channel. While they are paying for my time here, they have not told me what I have to say or what I can’t say about the new X2 Combo, and I got to test it as I wanted to. So these thoughts are 100% mine.

What you get: ECOVACS DEEBOT X2 COMBO

The all new ECOVACS DEEBOT X2 COMBO not only adds some new cleaning features, it’s improved on the robot vac-mop too.

In a nut shell, The all-new DEEBOT X2 COMBO combines the hands-free convenience of a nearly autonomous robot vacuum and mop, with the flexibility of a handheld vacuum. You can also upgrade to the DEEBOT X2 COMBO COMPLETE, which includes additional accessories that convert the hand vac into a full-sized stick vacuum.

The ECOVACS DEEBOT X2 COMBO has an impressive 8,700 pascals of suction—which can be double and up to three and four times as powerful as most other vacuum robots, and it’s up even from the substantial 8,000 pa on the previous X2.

This should mean it will do an even better job of suctioning nearly every thing from your floors. We’ll check out what it can do in my cleaning tests, coming up.

Watch my hands-on review of DEEBOT X2 COMBO in my home

Unboxing ECOVACS DEEBOT X2 COMBO

Let’s unbox it to get a closer look… There’s a few components in here; first and most importantly is the DEEBOT X2 robot. This D-shaped bot has a squared front for getting closer to baseboards and edges. Underneath, a corner brush and roller brush inhale dust and dirt, while two rotating mopping pads wash the floor. We’ll dig a bit deeper on this in a bit…

Also in the box is a handheld vacuum. Three brushes come with the handheld; a flat dusting brush, a mini motorized brush, and a crevice tool.

The all-in-one OMNI station is the biggest component and this is base camp for your bot. Inside the OMNI station is where your bot will empty its own dustbin, then wash and dry the mopping pads. Two large tanks under the lid hold clean water and dirty water.

There’s also the power cord, extra vacuum bags and a small ramp for DEEBOT to get to its garage.

How it all comes together is pretty cool: the robot parks under the ONMI station and just above that is where the dustbin auto-empties into a sealed bag. To the right is where you can dock your handheld vacuum. The dock will automatically empty the handheld for you too after every use, and it keeps it fully charged.

Cleverly, a small drawer in the base holds all your tools so there’s no misplacing them, and I love this feature so much.

Now I will be transparent here and say that this base station is very large and does need a good amount of space to operate. The station measures about 20-inches tall, 22-inches wide and 14-inches deep. And you will need it to have some clearance for the bot to come and go and to pull the handheld from its dock too, so keep that in mind.

Set up

Getting things set up is going to take just a minute or two. From my experience reviewing numerous ECOVACS robot vacuums, the process has been easy, seamless, and bug free. It’s one of the reasons I really like recommending ECOVACS; the user interface is easy, particularly for those new to robot vacuums.

You just need the free ECOVACS app. Sign up for or sign into your account and then choose the option to add a new robot.

Essentially you’ll power the robot on, scan the QR code on the bot and connect to your home’s Wi-Fi.

With that done your DEEBOT will prompt you to go on a mapping run of your house so it can learn the layout. I was really impressed that the robot found its way around my space in about 10 minutes and I had a fully generated, and accurate map, where it had even chosen the room labels for me and they were correct! Freakishly impressive.

With the house mapped it was time to put the DEEBOT X2 COMBO to work.

Cleaning tests

Whenever I test out a floor cleaning robot I always run them through the same set of tests. I will spill finer stuff like flour or sugar, middle size bits like rice or oatmeal, and bigger cracker pieces on both carpet and hard floors. With the mopping I create liquid spills and let some dry to test the scouring prowess.

Since this unit also has the handheld vacuum, I’m going to test it out on a few different things since I’m doing my spring cleaning this week. I’ll try it out on the dog bed, the sofa (which is usually loaded with dog hair) and then I’ll take it to the car and the camper van where I think it will actually be really valuable.

Vacuum tests

There was nothing I threw at this bot that it couldn’t clean. It was a master at vacuuming up pet hair, and we have a lot of it this spring because it’s shedding season. DEEBOT X2 was also able to pick up every last speck of granola, flour, sand, dried fruit and more, whether it was on the hard floors, or carpet and rugs.

It even vacuumed up spare change!

I’d say from my days of testing it got about 99-100% of anything on the floor.

The DEEBOT is only about 32cm or 12 inches in width with a ground clearance of 9.5cm or just under 4-inches tall so it’s made to get under furniture like the sofa, the bed and it manoeuvres well around the legs of tables and chairs.

Mopping tests

I was really impressed with the mopping, as I was on the original X2. The mop has a neat way of wiggling itself over particularly troublesome stains to add wiping to the scrubbing motion. In all of my tests, the DEEBOT X2 COMBO was able to clean the floors beautifully, again getting about 99-100% of spills bot damp and dried.

The DEEBOT has scrubbing, spinning mopping pads, and I like these better than a flat pad because I’ve found they work better at routing off dried on stains. Technically ECOVACS calls this the OZMO Turbo 2.0 Rotating Mopping System, and it’s designed to apply constant pressure to the floor for deep mop scrubbing. The soft and nubby chenille pads can lift up to 15mm off the ground so if the robot hits carpet, it won’t get it wet.

When I tested this I was able to see the lifting in action—and you can too.

Another feature I really like about the mop is that I can dial the water flow up or down.

Handheld tests

I have to say I found the additional handheld vacuum got a lot more use than I initially thought it would. It was so easy just to grab it from the dock to vacuum up a small spill in the kitchen or to give the dog bed a once over. When I put it back to recharge, it empties itself.

In the camper van, it’s small enough that we could bring it on any trip, and it was really great at keeping the bed, cushions, seats, and even the floor free of sand, grit, and pet hair. If the auto empty base is not nearby, you can just pop the bottom open over a garbage can.

I also found this vacuum is the ideal car cleaner. The three attachments make it ideal for getting into every space; the mini motorized brush can clean the floor wells, the dusting brush is perfect for vents and cupholders, while the crevice brush gets into all the small spaces in the car.

Self cleaning & emptying

The All-in-one OMNI station has several functions, like I mentioned. It works to keep all your tools charged, but it also automatically empties both the robot and the handheld vacuum into the same sealed dust bag. It automatically refills the robot’s on board water tank with fresh water, and it will clean the mopping pads with 60-degree hot water if they are getting too dirty. Once the full clean sweep is over, it gives the pads a final hot water wash then starts a 2-hour Hot Air Drying cycle, which runs absolutely silently.

The ECOVACS DEEBOT X2 COMBO keeps fine dust from getting back into your home with a 4-stage filtration system. There are filters both in the DEEBOT, and in the handheld vacuum. The sealed dust bag inside the station also prevents particles from escaping.

Yiko Voice assistant

Another feature I wasn’t sure I needed, but found was so handy is the Yiko voice assistant. Just by asking Yiko, I can start or stop a clean, empty the dustbin, wash the mops or pause drying.

You can even go anywhere in your home and call for Yiko to ‘clean this spot’ and it knows where you are by measuring the distance to your voice. Pretty cool.

Schedule

One of the most useful features of a robot vacuum is the ability to schedule cleanings anytime. The app makes it easy to choose regular daily or weekly cleanings and I find this is one of the best ways to maximize your investment.

Obstacle avoidance

After reviewing dozens of robot vacuums, I’ve come to learn that obstacle avoidance and hazard recognition are actually a very underrated feature.

The truth is if your robot floor cleaner is not smart enough to see, assess, and then avoid potential hazards, it may become very unlikely to finish its cleaning jobs. ECOVACS bots in my opinion are some of the best in the market when it comes to never getting tangled up in the first place and the X2 combo is no exception.

On more than one occasion it was able to unstick itself from a tricky throw rug, a charging cable, and even the base of some stools. That means DEEBOT X2 Combo requires virtually no help from you to get its spring cleaning chores done.

Battery life

This new generation of DEEBOT has a 6400mAh battery which adds up to about 140 minutes of runtime when used at full power, and you can get up to 210 minutes or 3.5 hours if you run it at lower power and in vacuum only mode.

The Handheld has a 4000mAh Lithium Battery, which will let you clean up to 60 minutes.

Noise level

I really appreciate the fact that with this robot floor cleaner you can adjust the noise level by adjusting the cleaning power. Inside the app you can simply dial the vacuum suction up or down if you want which also lowers the noise level. This is great if you’re trying to have a work call while you want the floors cleaned. When DEEBOT is emptying itself, the noise level does go up a bit, but the auto empty sequence is much faster and really only lasts less than 10 seconds.

Overall review: ECOVACS DEEBOT X2 COMBO

Overall, I think ECOVACS has another winner here. In essence the company has taken the floor bot I’ve found it the market’s top performer, and made it even better by adding the handy handheld vacuum, and boosting suction. Let’s go over the pros and the cons.

On the pro side, the vacuuming performance is outstanding, picking up every scrap from sugar grains to cereal. The mopping actually cleans floors extremely well with downward scrubbing pressure and spinning pads.

The handheld vacuum has quickly become our go-to for small spills and it’s a lifesaver for the car and the camper van.

ECOVACS bots are easy to set up, schedule and they’re super user friendly, and with the Yiko voice assistant you don’t even need your phone. You can also dial the suction and the waterflow up or down for more cleaning power or a quieter task.

So what are the downsides? I think the biggest barrier for folks will be the size of the base station. There’s no escaping that it’s huge and you do need clearance for it, due mainly I’d say to the larger water tanks. So the tradeoff here is the station is bigger but there’s less emptying and refilling. I solve the size issue by putting it in our guest bedroom.

In short I can absolutely recommend the ECOVACS DEEBOT X2 COMBO if you’re looking for the smartest, most versatile best cleaning floor bot with extras.

ECOVACS DEEBOT X2 COMBO sells for about $1,599 USD / $2,149 CDN and you can get one from ECOVACS.com or from Amazon.

You can also take a look at some of ECOVACS’ other high-tech floor cleaning robots… right now. (link to other bots, X2 OMNI, T20)

The post Review: ECOVACS DEEBOT X2 COMBO appeared first on TechGadgetsCanada.com.

Is a $20 robot vacuum any good?

Listings too good to be true?

For starters you’re going to see this robot under a few different names—all at the same price point and with the same specs. First let’s look at what the listing says I’m getting.

This floor bot is billed as “efficient and intelligent”, and also as a “3-in-1 vacuum which integrates Sweeping, Vacuuming and Mopping” of the “whole house”! Wow. Pretty big specs for such a cheap robot.

In addition to the “low noise” promise it claims “strong suction power” and multiple filtration systems. Those are the claims: I’ll see if they’re confirmed once it gets here.

Watch my review video about the cheapest robot vacuum on Amazon

$20 robot floor bot is delivered

A few days after my purchase, Amazon said the bot arrived but where was it… it was actually delivered… into the mailbox. That’s when I realized the first very important thing about this robot vacuum; it’s tiny!

Measuring just 6.5 inches across I was shocked to see how small it was. The Amazon listing did tell me the dimensions, I just didn’t read it closely… and of course I probably shouldn’t’ be so surprised, right?

So it’s tiny… no problem, that maybe just means it will get into small spaces way better…And since right on the box the lil sweepin robot reiterates the ‘Powerful Suction’ I guess size shouldn’t matter… right? We’ll find out in my cleaning tests.

First let’s see what’s in the box… you’re not getting much here; the tiny all-plastic robot, a USB power cord and a small piece of Velcro and a tiny pad. What those are for though it anyone’s guess; the only instructions are printed on the side of the box and this isn’t covered.

I plugged it in and charged it up so I could put it to work.

Charging & runtime

The amazon listing says doesn’t disclose charging time or runtime, but on the box, the charging time is listed as an agonizingly long 100-200 minutes or up to 3.5 hours. Since the box also promises long battery life we’ll check on the runtime and see we get:  A whole 20 minutes of cleaning time. Yikes. I guess everyone’s definition of long is different.

Half a day later it was time to put the sweepin bot to work.

Is the $20 robot “intelligent”?

Despite being billed as “intelligent” there is obviously no app that goes along with this device, nor any voice control or other connectivity. When you’re ready to clean you simply push the power button on top.

I let it loose on the floor and it started moving right away. The motion is extremely random and the bot will run until it hits an obstacle then give itself a quarter turn and go in another direction. It is completely random.

Does it work?

I will say this robot runs quietly… That’s probably because it doesn’t have a lot of suction, and that seems pretty evident. While it was able to roll over and presumably inhale dog hair, it struggled with anything more than that.

Leaves, large crumbs and anything beyond the smallest specs didn’t seem to get picked up.

In fact even when I fed anything other than a few dog hairs into the intake, —like onion paper or leaves… they refused to go in, and in fact the spinning brushes swept them away**.

I let the robot run and within almost 20 minutes exactly it was dead. Unfortunately, it had barely covered my living room. I decided to open up the robot and see how much debris it had picked up. When I pulled off the top cover I was actually surprised that it was getting anything at all. The small dust bin was pretty full, and actually quite a bit of accumulated junk head gathered around the air intake underneath.

I dumped it out, plugged it in to recharge and through I’d give it another shot. Unfortunately the cleaning didn’t get much better.

Head to head with a real robot vacuum

I decided to run it alongside a real robot vacuum – this one from Roborock. Of course this is a hilarious mismatch…. And there’s no competition. Sweepin bot picks up about 1-100th of what a real robot floor cleaning bot does….

Mopping feature is a blatant lie

And by the way, despite touting mopping as one of its features on the Amazon listing page, there is certainly no mopping happening here. There’s no water tank or water reservoir with this robot, and while I guess I could moisten the cotton pad it came with and Velcro that to the bottom, I would hardly call wiping a moist Band-Aid sized pad on a 2-inch section of the floor “mopping.”

Overall review & what happened next

Now… am I surprised by any of this?… not when it comes to the performance. You absolutely get what you pay for in life. What does surprise me is the blatant attempt to overstate this bot’s abilities . It won’t surprise me one bit to see this Amazon listing yanked down shortly after this video comes out. So what do I do with what is essentially a child’s toy robot vacuum? Amazon has a great returns policy so this one is definitely going back.

You can check out the hilarious Amazon listings for this and similar products here.

You can see what some real robot vacuums can do, like a current fave the Ecovacs Deebot X2 Omni, or the Roborock S7 Max V Ultra — and why they cost a lot more than $20, and I also want to hear from you… what’s the cheapest thing you ever bought on Amazon and was it a dud, or a surprise hit? Post in the comments…

Also Read:

1. Roborock Q5 Pro+ vacuum-mop review
2. 10 Best Robot Vacuums & floor cleaning bots in 2023: I’ve tried all of them
3. iRobot Roomba s9+ robot vacuum review

The post I bought a $20 robot vacuum. Here’s how that went appeared first on TechGadgetsCanada.com.

We all know summers with the kids can get really busy. Between summer school, camp, sports, and other activities, the house can be hectic, and messes are unavoidable. The kids come home, and the house magically turns into the aftermath of a tornado within minutes. Let’s be real: Summer is short, and cleaning typically isn’t anyone’s first pick when given options of what to do on vacay. Luckily though, robot vacuums, like the Neato lineup can save you some of the cleaning work and help you optimize your time while the kids are home all summer. We’d like to share some of the reasons why a robot vacuum can be a summer lifesaver, but first I’d like to say thanks to Neato Robotics for sponsoring this post. Their support helps me keep the blog running, and for that I’m grateful.

How Neato vacuums help with summer cleaning

Regardless how large your home is, many robot vacuums come with the ability to sweep and vacuum very large square footages. Chances are the entire floor in your apartment or home can be cleaned without having to stop it for a charge.

The vacuums in the Neato lineup have an impressive range and can cover a large space in a short period of time, and will seamlessly travel from room to room, picking up particles as they go around the home. The Neato D8, for example, has up to 100 minutes of runtime, but if your bot needs more juice to finish a long cleaning run, it’ll head back to base, charge itself and then finish the job all on his own.

Smart mapping on Neato robot vacuums means less fuss

Neato’s Robot vacuums including the D7 and new D8 have special mapping technologies that help them first learn, then ‘see’ where they are in your home so they know exactly where they need to go.

Laser technology is used to help the Neato robots navigate throughout a home and ensure each inch is cleaned in a strategic, efficient way. Using this smart mapping they can also be sent out to clean only specific rooms, if needed.

They also have the ability to learn their way around the space and formulate a routine for next time. Neato robot vacuums also use so-called “virtual walls” that can be set so that they avoid certain areas or rooms—such as if you want to avoid sloshing the pet’s water dish, or it getting caught on the bedside charging cables.

How to clean every surface this summer

Robot vacuums are also an amazing investment for parents because they can clean all kinds of surfaces. Whether your floors are carpet, wood, laminate or tile, robot vacuums can cover them all and also transition from one to another.

Cleaning that’s virtually maintenance free

Neato robot vacuums require very little maintenance, as most are bagless and have simple to empty dustbins. All you need to do is check in to see that the roller brushes and wheels are free and clear of string, fibres and debris from time to time. Your robot doesn’t ask much!

Forgot to dispatch your bot? Do it from anywhere!

Neato robot vacuums even have the ability to connect with a smartphone through Wi-Fi or Bluetooth so you can operate and program the vacuum from almost anywhere. Call up the Neato app, and hit Clean. You’ll come home to a tidy house, even if you forget to turn it on when you leave.

Don’t let all this dirt accumulate around your house! Let the robot handle it.

Spot cleaning options for surprise spills

Robot vacuums do an excellent job of picking up crumbs, dirt, spilled cereal or granola, and other everyday debris that accumulates on the floor. But what about that wayward glitter or macaroni under the kitchen table from the summer craft project?

Spot cleaning technology has improved drastically since the invention of robot vacuums in the 1990s and today’s vacuums can be dispatched to a small area for an instant sweep up, able to get both tiny specks of debris as well as larger pieces, too.

Schedule cleaning when it works for you

Sometimes you just don’t want to be bothered or disturbed while you’re at home. If the kids are reading, or napping, it might not be a great time for your robot to vacuum the floor. However if you have a regularly scheduled outing, like day camp, play dates, or shopping, it’s easy to schedule the Neato vacuum to handle the cleaning while you are out. The scheduling interface inside the Neato app is super easy to use and configure. You can set up a one-time cleaning for later that same day, or add a handful of weekly cleans. The choice is up to you!

Deep clean or quick tidy-up

Neato robot vacuums have different options that might include a deep clean or a quick sweep depending on how much time (or dirt!) you have for it to deal with. If you only have a short period of time between you and the kids getting home, you may want a quick sweep, or if you’ll be gone at baseball games all day you may want to let it run a full, deep cleaning course.

Neato robot vacuums save time this summer

The bottom line here? You don’t need to spend hours each month on cleaning your floors. Using a robot vacuum can help keep your home tidy between deeper cleans. It can keep pet hair at bay, and tackle the daily accumulation of grass, dust and random bits from cluttering up the house while the kids are in and out the door all summer long.

Keeping your home clean and fresh is critical to your family’s well-being, and a Neato robot vacuum will save time and simply make your life easier. Once you have determined what features you think are most important in a robot vacuum, you can undoubtedly find a Neato botvac that suits your needs.

Click here to shop all Neato’s robot vacuums and floor cleaners

The post How a Neato robot vacuum helps keep the house clean while the kids are home all summer appeared first on TechGadgetsCanada.com.

Time for another gadget comparison starring two contenders that you should be familiar with if you’ve been following this blog for some time. We compared Shark and Dyson’s hair dryer products and gave Dyson a victory and the two brands fought to a draw in the styling wand category as well. Now instead of blowing, we’re going to find out which vacuum sucks the most. Literally! If you are looking for a cordless vacuum with under $600 to spare, read on because both Dyson and Shark have compelling offerings here.

The Global Veteran vs. the Budget Underdog

Before I compare how each vacuum performs, I want to first point out that the Shark Detect Pro and Dyson V15 targets slightly different price brackets. Shark has a history of offering products that closely match their competitors’ feature sets while offering a lower price and not compromising so much on design. The Shark Detect Pro gets the upper hand here with its $379.99 USD / $399.99 price tag. What is striking is not only the price but the fact that it’s the launch price and Shark recently launched the Detect Pro brand in September 2023.

On the other corner is the Dyson V15 Detect which Dyson has been selling since mid-2021. Launched at $749.99 USD / $999.99, Dyson frequently offers the V15 Detect for around $600 USD. While pricier, the Dyson V15 has better global availability which means a larger ecosystem for spare parts too.

Design & Ergonomics

Shark comes out with a strong first impression when it comes to the vacuum’s overall feel. The Shark Detect Pro weighs just 6 pounds which is close to a full pound lighter than the Dyson V15. Whether intentional or not, Shark made the right call to undercut the V15’s weight because the Dyson V15 is well-known for its ergonomics and ease of use. The lighter feel makes the Shark Detect Pro a more agile and nimble cleaner which is important if you easily get tired of cleaning small rooms.

Cleaning & Convenience

Making a vacuum lighter usually puts it in a different category because suction power, battery life, and dustbin capacity are common sacrifices. Surprisingly though, the Shark Detect Pro picks up debris both small and large just as well as the Dyson. Matching that performance is a technical feat for Shark because the Shark Detect Pro really has weaker suction power. Shark’s unique floorhead design with QuadClean technology is the secret behind the vacuum’s impressive efficiency.

Shark closes the gap to Dyson’s offering in technologies too as both vacuums can automatically adjust the suction power depending on the dust or debris it picks up. The Dyson V15’s cool display gives a good array of stats on what it’s collecting while the Shark shows light indicators that become more pronounced if you pick up more dust.

Notice how both Shark and Dyson added “Detect” to their product names but they actually mean different things. Dyson’s approach to detecting involves the use of a laser mounted to the soft roller to reveal some dust you won’t normally see from a regular light. The Shark Detect Pro lacks this technology but the vacuum itself is tricked out with sensors for detecting walls and carpets. The vacuum uses the sensor data to adjust not just the suction power but also the roller speed. All these little innovations Shark worked on with this vacuum really help elevate this lightweight performer.

Dealmakers & Dealbreakers

Theoretically, the sensors and auto power adjustments should help with the battery life levels but the Shark Detect Pro has a similar overall runtime to the Dyson V15. Your mileage may vary though depending on the jobs you perform, and you’ll likely get better figures when doing fewer demanding tasks. The Shark Detect Pro doesn’t quite impress with 0.3-liter bin capacity as well because the Dyson V15’s bin is twice as spacious. Finally, the Dyson V15 offers more variants with the most basic model coming with plenty of accessories including a crevice tool, a combination tool, and several brush heads. Shark’s latest offering only comes with a crevice tool unless you pay more for the larger bundle which includes a brush and auto-empty system.

Closing Thoughts

I’m really tempted to give Shark the win here because it managed to cram so much innovation in an affordable package. However, Shark did leave a few crumbs for Dyson to pick up so once again the best sub-$600 choice depends on your needs. Perhaps both are winners in a sense that you shouldn’t have any regrets about picking one over the other because both vacuums compete very well against other brands. The Shark Detect Pro is a reminder that Dyson shouldn’t rest on its laurels and try to package their cutting-edge technologies in smaller price points. Otherwise, I can imagine Shark creeping up to the mainstream continuing the strong momentum the Shark Detect Pro started.

So at these current prices, go with the Shark Detect Pro if you want something light and your budget is tight. For longevity and peace of mind ownership, the Dyson V15 remains a solid choice simply because it has proven its worth throughout the years.

Shop the Dyson v15 Detect on Amazon and Walmart.

Shop the Shark Detect Pro is on Amazon.

Also Read:

1. Review: Shark Cordless Detect Pro Auto-Empty System
2. Shark Detect Pro vs. LG Cord Zero: How To Choose

**A note about Affiliate Links: TechGadgetsCanada & TechGadgetsInternational is supported by our readers. Occasionally I will include affiliate links in my reviews. I do this partly for convenience of the reader (since I’ll almost always include a link to the company website or similar anyway) in case you want to read more or purchase, but I also may get a small commission from the click, which helps me keep the blog running. If you choose to use this link I thank you greatly for supporting the blog. There’s no obligation or cost to you for using these links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

The post Shark Detect Pro vs Dyson V15 – How to Choose appeared first on TechGadgetsCanada.com.

What’s next for the company that basically invented the robot vacuum? iRobot and its Roomba seems like it’s been left behind as the robot floor bot category has evolved… while others are creating fully automated floor machines, Roomba is just kind of ticking along making minor upgrades. So is it still worth getting a Roomba? Especially when the much-touted mopping feature wouldn’t perform as advertised?

Review: iRobot Combo j5+ robot vacuum with mop

Picking the right Roomba vacuum for your household in 2023 involves understanding a few terms in the way the company names their vacuums. The “Combo” moniker indicates the vacuum having mopping capabilities as well while the “+” points to iRobot’s Clean Base Automatic Dirt Disposal docking station being included for the price. Basically, opting for the non-plus model leaves you with the small charging station puck, and saves you around $200 USD.

Read my review of iRobot Roomba s9+

What you get

The Roomba Combo j5+ is a dual purpose vacuum and mop from iRobot. While some bots can manage vacuuming and mopping, and do either one or both at the same time all on their own, this particular bot does require some help from you to switch it from vacuum-only mode to vacuum and mop. You’ll see why in a sec. The $999 Canadian price put it near the uppermost tier of vacuum robots but since that top end has continued to climb even higher approaching $1500 or $2000CAD, I guess in a way you could call this a more mid priced option.

Determining whether the iRobot Combo j5+ is a good fit for your household involves identifying the vacuum’s limits. There is a reason why the pricier Roomba j7+ and j9+ models exist after all. Think of the Combo j5+ as a robot vacuum which you’ll primarily use as a vacuum with the mopping feature as something you could use if you don’t mind the sacrifices that come with it.

iRobot makes this obvious with its “swap and mop” system because why have a dedicated dust bin when you can use the included Combo Bin for both mopping and vacuuming?

Unfortunately, the Combo Bin removes the vacuum’s ability to automatically empty its contents to the docking station because the water tank within the bin blocks it. iRobot’s Dirt Detect technology which causes the vacuum to work harder in dirtier areas also doesn’t work with the Combo Bin installed. Keep those caveats in mind before buying as iRobot advertises the self-emptying capability as a core feature. On the upside, having swappable bins is quite neat as you can choose between having more space for longer vacuuming sessions or sacrificing some space to do a little bit of mopping.

What’s in the box?

There’s not a lot in the package; you’ll get the recharging and Auto empty dock with power cord, your j5 Roomba robot, and an extra bin for mopping alongside a small cloth. An extra filter is also in the box.

The auto-empty bin is smaller than some of the other newer floor bots, because all it’s doing is emptying the dustbin; there’s no auto-refilling or autoemptying or self cleaning of the mopping module here. It’s actually got a nice design that’s a little smaller and more elegant than some others.

Set up

It’s been quite some time since I set up a Roomba vacuum, but I’m delighted to report that little has changed; these robots will set up in just a couple of moments with just a few taps on the iRobot app. Once you get your bot plugged in and it has a partial charge, you can add it into the app and connect it to your home’s Wi-Fi network. Once connected to Wi-Fi you’ll be able to have all automated control over your cleaning bot.

Extra setup steps

I’m going to jump ahead here for a moment and let you know there’s an extra step to the set up process that may or may not be made clear to you—it was not to me.

You will need to add the mopping bin to your iRobot app before you will be able to clean with it. I’m led to believe by iRobot customer service that instructions on this should be included in your package, but they were missing from my box. That meant a frustrating few hours of troubleshooting and a call to customer service for help. I’ll get to more on this in a sec…

Mapping your home

The first time you send your robot out it will begin to map your home. iRobot says it may take several runs through your house before it is able to generate a full map. While this is much longer than many other floor cleaning robots today, it’s not that bad. I had my map generated on the first day, within about 2 hours.

When you’re ready to mop you’ll need to swap the bins. First slide the small tab from the cloth into the notch on the bottom of the mop module, then lay the cloth onto the grippy velcro which will hold it securely in place. Then fill the water tank. With this mopping module, the water tank is actually quite small (210ml/7oz). You can see it in this particular photo/video; the water tank wraps around the dust bin, which means the dustbin size and how much it can pick up it also smaller.

When you make the switch, your robot should automatically detect it’s time for a wet-dry combination clean and also start water flowing.

How does j5+ compare to j7?

The Roomba j5 essentially converts Roomba’s j7 vacuum to a hard floor vacuum & mop system with the switch of a bin.

Vacuum suction power

Despite scouring the Internet, I was not easily able to find out what the declared suction power of this robot vacuum is. This is a pretty common spec that many people are familiar with, measured in pascals. I found it a little odd that this was not information that was made obvious.

Vacuuming

You can expect the Roomba j5+ to move around your home in neat, efficient rows for a wall-to wall clean without missing a spot. With overlapping passes, your robot purposefully & logically cleans in parallel lines across multiple floor types.

The vacuuming is actually quite good and I’d say the j5+ gets about 95-99% of all debris.

One other thing I absolutely need to point out here is the jet engine level noise the J5 combo produces when it is auto emptying the onboard dustbin. It is easily one of the loudest auto emptying sequences I have ever heard, and it seems to go on forever.

The onboard dustbin gets emptied into an enclosed bag that holds up to 60 days of debris, depending of course how often you’re running it.

Mopping – not as easy as you think

I ran into some trouble when I decided to switch to mopping.

I filled the mopping tank and loaded the mopping place into the robot. Water immediately starts leaking onto the pad, so don’t fill the tank until you’re absolutely ready to use it, and don’t set it down on any wooden surfaces.

Despite supposedly being able to understand when each plate is installed, the j5 began a series of auto-empty attempts. It tried to empty the bin three times in a row.

No auto-emptying with Mopping plate

The problem of course is that this bin is not actually compatible with the auto-empty station.

The mopping plate essentially covers the port where the auto-emptying takes place, which means when you have the mopping tank installed, your robot cannot empty its own bin.
This is actually a huge problem, and if you were thinking you would just simply leave the mopping plate on all the time, this means you can’t do it if you want the robot to empty itself out.

Setting aside that frustration for the moment, I went looking for any instructions about what I was doing wrong when trying to initialize the mopping. There’s no manual and only basic three-step instructions in the box, so I followed the directions to go to iRobot owners guide website. In case you need yours you can find it here.

After going through the manual with a fine toothcomb, I couldn’t find any reason why the mop would not start cleaning. I swapped the tanks back around a few times and tried again with the same results; the Auto-empty bin kept trying to evacuate the mop. I also could not schedule the mopping clean in the iRobot app, and at no time would the app recognize when the mopping bin was installed.

I finally broke down and dialed iRobot’s customer service number (1-877-855-8593). After waiting for about 30 minutes I learned one needs to add the mopping plate to the app as a special accessory in order for it to work!

Nowhere in any of the instructions included in my box does it say you need to add the bin separately, but the customer care rep told me this is standard operating procedure for this robot.

How to add iRobot Combo mopping bin as a special accessory

To do this, you need to go to the iRobot app and hit the hamburger menu in the top right. Choose Add your product, then let it search. Choose Scan QR Code and scan the QR code which is printed on the top of the mopping bin. You’ll get a confirmation and further instructions on how to use it.

Actual mopping: no mop lifting

If you’ve created a home map, you can use it to create “No Mop Zones” giving you better control of the areas you want to mop and don’t want to get wet. To be clear, there’s no mop lifting, so if the j5 does venture onto a rug, with the mop attached you might find it damp afterwards. I actually didn’t find it would get rugs damp enough to worry me, but my rugs aren’t super precious.
You also need to prepare yourself for the extra manual work involved with mopping. The docking station doesn’t come with refilling water tanks so you need to refill every time, and it lacks automatic mop cleaning or drying features (again, you’ll pay dearly for these on other robot models).

How well does it mop?

All of that aside it’s time to get to how effective it is as a mop… and unfortunately the news is not good. This mop is mostly limited to a light dusting wipe to follow up your vacuuming. It’s not really going to clean or mop anything, and certainly nothing substantial or dried on. I tried it on an extremely small of dried coffee and I’d say it was only able to remove about 50 or 60% of it..

Hazard recognition and detection

iRobot as always been one of the leaders when it comes to hazard detection, recognition, and avoidance. In my experience I robot is still doing a good job with this. The robot did not get stuck or trapped at all in my testing.

Overall review: iRobot Combo j5+

Overall have to say I’m extremely disappointed in this robot. iRobot was one of the first robots I ever reviewed and I have a lot of love for the brand, but it appears the company has just not kept pace with the rest of its competitors. I can see the way this review is leaning without even tallying things up, but let’s go over the pros and cons anyhow.

On the pro side, it vacuums well, and empties its own dustbin into a sealed bag. The Combo j5+ is also outstanding at hazard avoidance and navigation, including at avoiding poop (though since I don’t have that problem I could not personally verify this).

When it comes to the cons, I’m going to need a few lines here to recap; You have to swap dust bins out in order to mop. The mopping bin must be set up as its own accessory before it can be used. The mop has no scrubbing or vibrating properties to scour away dried-on dirt. The auto emptying is jet engine loud. There’s no adjustable suction or water flow and no mop cleaning or drying. The tank constantly leaks water and should be emptied and put away after each use. If you are using the mopping plate you can’t Auto empty the dust bin so you do manually need to tip it into a garbage can. The dirt detection feature also does not work if you have the mopping plate installed. And the mopping is really only good for a light dusting wipe. Finally, this is a very expensive floor robot to have this many limitations.

Selling (regularly) for about $999CAD/$799USD, there’s just no way to justify this kind of price. My recommendation would be if you like the iRobot brand, to go with one of their budget bots like i3+ EVO since it will have many of the vacuuming properties you’d be looking for at a far lower price. I also love the peerless vacuuming abilities of my Roomba s9+ which I still run three times weekly. If you want better overall floor cleaning ability including better mopping, I’d recommend spending a few hundred dollars more and getting a more premium-level automated floor cleaning bot something like the Ecovacs T20 Omni or one of Roborock’s vacuum and mops. I am also about to review the newest iRobor flagship bot, the iRobot Combo j9+ and I have high hopes this will be a lot more versatile.

Shop the iRobot Combo j5+ robot vacuum on Amazon, Best Buy and Walmart.

**A note about Affiliate Links: TechGadgetsCanada & TechGadgetsInternational is supported by our readers. Occasionally I will include affiliate links in my reviews. I do this partly for convenience of the reader (since I’ll almost always include a link to the company website or similar anyway) in case you want to read more or purchase, but I also may get a small commission from the click, which helps me keep the blog running. If you choose to use this link I thank you greatly for supporting the blog. There’s no obligation or cost to you for using these links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

The post Review: iRobot Combo j5+ robot vacuum with mop appeared first on TechGadgetsCanada.com.

Choosing a robot vacuum these days can be dizzying. There are dozens of different models from a dozen different brands. One of the newest is the Roborock Q5 Pro +, and in this hands-on review, I’ll take a look at the key features of this bot, what you can expect it to do and what it can’t, and I’ll put it through my regular battery of cleaning tests to see how well it actually performs. I’ll wrap things up by listing the pros and the cons and letting you know if I think I can recommend this robot vacuum and mop to you.

What do you get with Roborock Q5 Pro+?

In a nutshell you are getting an all-in-one robot vacuum and mopping device that also comes with an auto-emptying base station. The robot is capable of either vacuuming or mopping or doing both at the same time. Once it’s cleaned your house it will return to its base station and empty out the onboard dust bin into a sealed dust bag. You can of course schedule it to clean when you want too.

While this is a smart and capable robot, it is more on the budget end of the spectrum ($699USD, often marked down), so you won’t find as many bells and whistles as some of Roborock’s higher-end devices like the Q Revo or the S8 Pro Ultra, both of which I’ve reviewed in my home.

At this point it might be helpful to some of you to point out what this particular floor bot does not have, not to make the Q5 Pro+ down for any of this, but to say if these are features you think you need, you can shop some of Roborock’s more expensive robots with more advanced features:

• no mop cleaning
• no mop scrubbing
• mop lifting; must remove plate to vacuum carpets
• no obstacle avoidance
• waterflow not adjustable
• no adjustable suction

To understand some of the helpful features of this robot that you might like, let’s flip it over.

Key features: Dual roller brushes, powerful suction, large dustbin

On the underside you will find the removable mopping plate; the design of this is rather clever; it holds a removable, washable microfibre mopping pad, and the plate itself also holds a small clean water tank which will supply the water for the mopping.

You’ll also see a set of dual rubber beater brushes. In theory, this should help you pick up more dirt and debris in a single pass. These two brushes combined with a high level of suction power (5,500pa) should mean this budget bot can still pack a punch. We’ll see in the cleaning tests…

There is also a rather large onboard dust bin capable of holding about 770 mL worth of dirt. This is quite a bit and on the large size for your average robot vacuum which should mean it’s able to keep cleaning for longer without needing to go back to its charging station and empty the bin.

Rockdock charging & empty station

This is a good time to touch on the charging and auto-empty station. Dubbed the “rock dock” the Q5 pro plus will recharge its batteries here anytime it’s not cleaning and empty its dustbin into the sealed dust bag.

While the auto emptying is on the loud side, and you cannot adjust the automatic frequency or timing, you can request an empty cycle any time you like in the app.

Set up & mapping

When you get your new robot you’ll need to download the Roborock app to get things set up. For the most part this happens in minutes with just a few clicks. As a short aside, I did recently struggle with getting my Apple iPhone to connect to my Roborock vacuum, so if you’re struggling with this as well, I recommend reaching out to Roborock’s customer service team. I ended up using another android phone to connect and things worked perfectly.

Once you have the robot connected to your homes Wi-Fi network you’ll want to send it out on a mapping run. The robot will use LIDAR to draw a very accurate floorplan of your house. Once you have that map you can go in and label rooms and adjust boundaries so that you can use targeted room cleaning or even schedule certain rooms to be cleaned on certain days. The mapping run takes just a few minutes and was extremely accurate for me after the first trip around the house.

Cleaning with Roborock Q5 Pro+

Whenever I test out a robot vacuum I run each one through the same series of tests; I get it to clean day-to-day dirt for a few days, then I lay some more targeted and difficult spills for it. I sprinkle finer things like flour or sugar, middle sized bits like rice or oatmeal and larger cracker pieces on both carpet and hard floors to see how well the robot will perform.

When it comes to the mopping I will spill some small amounts of liquid and see how the mopping pad fares. It may be worth pointing out there is no suction in the mop; so you are a limited to what the pad can absorb, meaning you should absolutely wipe up larger spills before the robot gets to them.

I can say the Q5 Pro + was actually intermittent when it came to the vacuuming. Sometimes it got about 80% or debris, other times it was more like 60 percent .
It seemed to struggle most with finer spills on carpets, and on cleaning around edges like the side of a rug.

The suction doesn’t seem to be very strong here and I think that shows in what you can still see on the rugs after it was finished. I could schedule a double pass of the space, but as is, it’s kind of disappointing.

Mopping

While the mop will absorb small liquid spills, the damp cloth is simply being dragged over the floor, so in my opinion what you’re getting here is more of a light dusting wipe and less of a hearty floor mopping. It was able to mop up smaller wet spills easily.

When it came to dried on spills it only got about 50-60-percent of tougher stuff, so while it’s helps, it’s not going to power away those coffee drips or dishwasher dribbles.

If you are mopping a particularly muddy or dirty area it will pay to remove the cloth and give it a good rinse after so the cloth doesn’t get nasty.

The other important consideration for some of you is that there is no mop lifting on this particular robot, meaning if the robot is cleaning in carpeted areas it’s bringing the mopping plate along for the ride, potentially moistening carpets and rugs. The simple fix is to remove the mopping plate when you want to vacuum, but this is an imperfect solution when it comes to the mopping, since there also does not appear to be any way to create no-go zones when the mopping plate is attached.

I let the robot roll over my rugs with its mopping plate on and I can say that on both flatter rugs and even plusher carpets, it was certainly not soaking them; at worst it was a light bit of dampness that dried quickly. So unless you have extremely delicate or special carpet and rugs, the mopping plate remaining attached shouldn’t be too much of an issue.

One last caveat; the small water tank only holds a few ounces, covering about 500 sq ft or 50m2, so if you’re hoping for a dusting wipe on larger spaces you will definitely have to refill partway through. Or you could simply use the app’s scheduling feature to handle certain rooms on certain days to ensure the Q5 Pro+ cleans with a full tank of water.

You can also add cleaning solution to the mopping tank if you want a boosted clean; Roborock naturally prefers you use their own cleaner for this but anything gentle should be okay.

Battery life and Runtime

With a 4-hour maximum runtime (240 minute max runtime) from its 5200mAh battery, this robot should have more than plenty of juice to clean even larger spaces. I can confirm it was easily able to clean all 1000 ft.² of my main floor on a single charge.

Overall review: Roborock Q5 Pro+

Overall this is not my favourite of the Roborock devices. Let’s go over the pros and cons to see why.

On the pro side the vacuum has a very long runtime. The large dustbin means it will clean for longer without heading back to its space station also. The auto emptying dock is a must have and means less hands-on maintenance for you. I found the set up process to be quite easy and the mapping is quick and extremely accurate. I also love that I can schedule the robot on a daily or weekly basis, and even dial in different rooms to be cleaned on different days.

When it comes to the cons, there are a few things I will point out because I think they might turn off some shoppers, but to be clear these are not traditional downsides; I’m not marking this robot down a whole lot because of them; since if any of these features are must haves for you you can absolutely find them in another more robust Roborock model.

To recap, the mop doesn’t lift off of carpeted surfaces, the water flow is not adjustable, and obstacle avoidance is not as pronounced as some more professional models but it can get itself out of trouble. The mop also doesn’t scrub; it’s designed for a light wipe of your floors after vacuuming. The small water tank also means that any mopping that does get done is limited to about 500 ft.² at a time. The biggest downsides for me were the lacklustre suction and half-hearted vacuum performance.

The trade-off for the features you’re not getting comes in the price. This is a far more affordable but then the flagship models sold by Roborock or even other manufacturers.but even so it’s not cheap; Roborock Q5 Pro+ sells for about $699USD/$999CAD, and for that price I was expecting better cleaning performance.

If you do want to see what you get from a more expensive or fancier model, check out my reviews of the Roborock Q Revo or the Roborock S8 Pro Ultra.

Shop the Roborock Q5 Pro+ on Amazon.

Also Read:

1. Review: iRobot Combo j5+ robot vacuum with mop

**A note about Affiliate Links: TechGadgetsCanada & TechGadgetsInternational is supported by our readers. Occasionally I will include affiliate links in my reviews. I do this partly for convenience of the reader (since I’ll almost always include a link to the company website or similar anyway) in case you want to read more or purchase, but I also may get a small commission from the click, which helps me keep the blog running. If you choose to use this link I thank you greatly for supporting the blog. There’s no obligation or cost to you for using these links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

The post Roborock Q5 Pro+ vacuum-mop review appeared first on TechGadgetsCanada.com.

1. Ecovacs X2 OMNI

ECOVACS X2

If you’re willing to spend top dollar on a tried-and-tested cleaner bot and don’t mind the bulky docking station, head straight to the Ecovacs X2 Omni. (The X1 is no longer Ecovacs’ latest model but it remains a top performer with no major weaknesses.)Both the vacuum and large docking station have this premium flair, easily making this the nicest looking product on the list.

As a vacuum, the Ecovacs X2 Omni handled all the little messes I laid out from flour to grit and cracker crumbs. Whenever the X2 Omni detects carpet, the suction power strengthens utilizing its high 5,000Pa spec. It uses the built-in camera to detect piles of mess and the vacuum responds efficiently.

As a mop, the X2 Omni houses some of the most advanced cleaning tech I’ve seen in a robot vacuum. The OZMO Turbo 2.0 technology and dual spinning pads allow the Ecovacs X2 Omni to scrub off dried spills on hard floors while intelligently avoiding carpets. The docking station has a large clean water tank to help handle large areas and the heated auto-drying feature eliminates bacteria and odors. The best part? After a full cleaning session, the robot vacuum painted a full map of the room in 3-D!

There’s all kinds of other reasons to love this device; the dual roller brushes help beat junk out of carpets and rugs, the new shape is very effective at edge and corner cleaning, and the built-in voice assistance can even figure out where you are in the home and come right to you for a specialized clean. Not to mention that once the robot is finished with its mopping chores it uses warm water and hot air to wash and dry the spinning mopping pads.

My big issue with the vacuum may be its price but with the Ecovacs X2 taking the flagship throne, you may find this vacuum at a hefty discount.

Read my full review of the Ecovacs X1 OMNI here. Or see the details on the ECOVACS X2 OMNI.

Pros

• Stellar mopping and scrubbing performance
• Speedy 3-D map generation
• Sleek docking station with built-in storage bin and drawer
• Self cleaning

Cons

• Significantly pricier than other vacuums when not on sale

2. Roborock S7 Max V Ultra

Roborock S7 Max V Ultra

Picking a Roborock vacuum is quite confusing with the many models available, but you can safely pick Roborock S7 Max V Ultra if you can find it for under $1,000 USD. The words “Max” and “Ultra” accurately sum up what to expect from this Roborock S7 variant – it’s a vacuum with maxed out power with ultra-impressive features.

Like other high-end vacuums, the Roborock S7 Max V Ultra can devour most types of debris including pet hair with its 5,100Pa suction power. While this vacuum doesn’t quite earn the carpet crown, I would recommend this Roborock vacuum if you are annoyed with robot vacuums getting stuck every now and then. The S7 Max V Ultra rarely got stuck throughout my testing and I was particularly impressed with the empty wash fill dock as it greatly reduces the maintenance. Just keep in mind that the Roborock S7 Max V Ultra lacks the ability to dry the mop. For a $1,300 vacuum, that’s something to expect in 2023 but when the price gets a $350 cut like right now, at the time of writing, count me in!

Pros

• Rarely gets stuck
• Automatic mop lifting upon carpet or rug detection
• Powerful 5,100Pa suction

Cons

• No mop drying feature

Read my full review of the Roborock S7 max V Ultra here.

3. ECOVACS T20 OMNI

ECOVACS T20.

Meet the Ecovacs X1and X2 OMNI’s cousin, the T20 – a vacuum that has a bit more grit over the X1 in some areas while compromising on other features to keep the price down. The Ecovacs T20 is the vacuum to get if you frequently need to deal with big messes because the 6,000Pa suction power really makes a difference when sucking up dirt trapped beneath the carpet fibers.

That high suction power makes the T20 more adept in mopping too because the vacuum’s OZMO Turbo 2.0 Rotating Mopping system can use that added strength to create more pressure. More pressure means better scrubbing and scouring those stubborn stains.

However, while both the T20 and X1 look similar, take note of some of the missing features of the former. This includes the lack of a camera which is a vital sensor for reliable obstacle avoidance and superior room mapping. The onboard bin capacity of the T20 is slightly smaller than the X1 and you get a single set of mapping pads and dust bag while the X1 gives you twice as many accessories.

Still, the T20 deserves to be in my Top 5 list because you can buy it for as low as $799 USD making it a bit cheaper than the X1. If your rooms aren’t filled with lots of obstacles, the Ecovacs T20 OMNI is a better overall fit.

Pros

• Great vacuuming/mopping performance
• Spacious water tanks
• Adjustable vacuum suction and water flow

Cons

• No mop drying

Read my full review of the Ecovacs T20 OMNI here.

4. iRobot s9+

iRobot s9+

If you prefer doing the mopping duties yourself, you can go for a solo robot vacuum without breaking the bank. The iRobot S9+ is a good investment for that purpose as the vacuum is packed with cleaning tech. iRobot is a veteran in the robot vacuum industry and it shows as soon as you open the iRobot app and see how polished the interface is. You can set “Keep Out” zones conveniently from the app and optionally set it up with your smart home assistant. Other vacuums offer smart home integration as well, but iRobot’s implementation is very good.

When it comes to cleaning, the iRobot S9+ uses wide rollers and uniquely designed corner brushes for really effective cleaning. The iRobot S9+ also has a unique form factor with a squared-off front design which helps a lot with corner cleaning. iRobot calls this system the PerfectEdge Technology and combined with the excellent ability to lift dirt and debris from the floor makes it a standout, even years after its debut. In addition to getting rid of dust and debris, the iRobot S9+ can also trap allergens and reliably dispose of them in the Clean Base’s sealed dustbag.

The iRobot S9+ might look stuck in the past due to its lack of mopping functions, but you do get a more compact cleaning base and the robot can maximize its battery life by focusing solely on vacuuming. If ever the need arises for automatic mopping, you can always purchase iRobot Braava jet m6 which serves as a mopping teammate that can seamlessly work with the S9+ through the iRobot app. (Or check out one of the cool upright vac-mop products now out there like the Tineco Floor One S5 or the Roborock Dyad Pro)

Pros

• Excellent cleaning performance
• Easy and polished app with intuitive Keep Out zones feature
• Reliable voice control support

Cons

• High price for a vacuum without mopping functionality

Read my full review of the iRobot s9+ here.

5. Yeedi Cube

Yeedi Cube

A top 5 list is never complete with a budget pick and the Yeedi Cube easily slides into this category. It may not have the technological backing of a big company like iRobot and Roborock but the features and specs add significant value to this $699 vacuum/mop hybrid (and since ECOVACS bought them, you can expect things to only improve from here).

Believe it or not, the Yeedi Cube boasts a high suction power of 4,300Pa and after putting it through my usual mess trials, the Cube passed in all the key areas from vacuuming pet hair to cleaning sugar, flour, oatmeal, and even large cracker bits.

The Yeedi Cube takes a different approach to mopping as it utilizes a single mopping pad that rapidly vibrations to create a scrubbing action. It sounds one-dimensional but Yeedi also added a level of customization with the ability to adjust the water flow which is a great cleaning efficiency feature once you found the sweet spot for the room you’re dealing with.

Let’s not forget to address the Cube in the room which is the docking station. If want a base station that doesn’t add much of an eyesore to your minimalistic room arrangement, the Yeedi Cube is easily the one to get. The station is still larger than the iRobot S9+ dock, but remember, the Yeedi Cube has a small water tank inside as well.

The Yeedi Cube vacuum isn’t very smart in avoiding obstacles, but you can correct that by tinkering with the no-go zone feature. Think of the Yeedi Cube as the jack-of-all-trades robot vacuum, at least when compared to the other four in this roundup. But once you notice $699.99 USD price tag, which can dip to $499.99 during sales, you can see why the Yeedi Cube earned a spot in the Top 5. You simply cannot find a cheaper alternative that matches the Yeedi Cube’s combination of specs and features.

Pros

• Compact base station
• High suction power and decent mopping for the price
• Convenient handle

Cons

• Obstacle avoidance may require defining no-go zones

Read my full review of the Yeedi Cube here.

As 2023 winds down, the future of robot vacuums and cleaning assistants couldn’t be brighter. Companies continue to innovate, and the advent of AI will make vacuums even smarter. However, those cutting-edge features come at a higher cost. Sometimes, buying older or current tech at a cheaper cost is the smarter choice because you can use the savings on other cool cleaning gadgets for your home!

Do you agree or disagree with this list? Let me know your picks in the comments.

The post My Top 5 robot vacuums & floor bots EVER appeared first on TechGadgetsCanada.com.

ECOVACS DEEBOT X2 vs ECOVACS DEEBOT T20 vs Yeedi Cube

Each of the three vacuums targets distinct price points so you should get a pretty good idea on what feature sets to expect at a certain price tier. Let’s meet the contenders.

I’d like to say a quick thank you to ECOVACS and Yeedi for sponsoring this post. Though they have paid for our time to compile this evaluation and have been valuable sponsors in the past, they have not told us what we have to say or cannot say about these vacuums so you can consider this work our own.

Yeedi Cube

The Yeedi Cube is the most affordable robot vacuum in this roundup at about $700. At the time of writing, Amazon is offering a $200 coupon code making this budget contender even more affordable. Unfortunately, this particular Yeedi model isn’t available in Canada at the moment, but since other Yeedi products are, we hope this will change soon in the near future. Check out our full review of the Yeedi Cube here.

ECOVACS T20 OMNI

The ECOVACS T20 OMNI is a midrange robot vacuum which launched just over one year ago at a $1,099.99 USD / $1,799.99 CAD price. Last October, Amazon slashed its price by about 27% so you can grab it for a cool $799 USD so long as the deal is active. Amazon.ca also offers a $500 CAD coupon bring the price down to $1,299 CAD. Our full hands-on review of the ECOVACS T20 OMNI vacuum can be found here.

ECOVACS DEEBOT X2 OMNI

Representing the premium category of robot vacuums is the ECOVACS DEEBOT X2 OMNI – a $1,499 USD / $1,999 CAD robot vacuum capable of carrying out all sorts of tasks with unmatched suction power to boot. You can find the full coverage of the vacuum’s features in our ECOVACS DEEBOT X2 OMNI review here.

I’ll be comparing the three vacuums in six different areas – core functions, maintenance, base station size, battery life, and special features.

How to choose: Yeedi Cube, ECOVACS T20 OMNI and ECOVACS DEEBOT X2 OMNI

Core Functions

Mop Lifting

The good news with this roundup is that no matter which vacuum you pick, you’ll get a robot vacuum capable of mopping floors as well. All vacuums also feature a mop lifting technology which allows smoother transitions from mopping hardwood floors to cleaning carpets—without wetting them.

The high-end ECOVACS DEEBOT X2 OMNI picks up an extra win here as it can lift the mop 15mm high to help avoid dampening thicker-pile carpets. That’s almost double the lift of the Yeedi Cube which can only lift the mop up 8mm. For the T20, ECOVACS recommends you use the “Avoid Carpet” setting if you have carpets more than 3mm thick.

Winner: ECOVACS DEEBOT X2 OMNI

Runner up: Yeedi Cube

Maintenance / Self-Cleaning

Modern robot vacuums are far more independent than earlier models as they can head back to their base stations when needed not just for charging but for self-emptying and self-cleaning as well. This makes the Yeedi Cube a terrific pick especially since in the past, you needed to pay far more for a vacuum with this feature. The Yeedi Cube also has a built-in scrubber for  cleaning then squeezing out dirty water from the mopping pad as well as a hot air drying feature for odor prevention. The ECOVACS T20 and DEEBOT X2 take this feature a bit further by introducing hot water washing to help remove oil stains.

Since each of these floor robots offers an outstanding array of self cleaning and maintenance properties, we may award the top score here to Yeedi Cube since it offers all the maintenance at the lowest price.

Winner: Yeedi Cube

Base Station Size & Placement

The ECOVACS DEEBOT T20 comes with a large base station capable of holding up to 75 days’ worth of dust. It also comes equipped with dual 4-liter tanks for carrying clean and dirty water.

The newer ECOVACS DEEBOT X2 OMNI comes with a slightly smaller, yet more stylish base station with a larger dustbin capacity capable of carrying up to 90 days of dust although the dirty water tank has a reduced 3.5-liter capacity.

Visually, the Yeedi Cube base station is the smallest and most streamlined out of the three. In terms of surface area though, it roughly takes up the same space as the ECOVACS DEEBOT X2 OMNI. The main difference is the base station’s height with the Yeedi Cube measuring 14.8 inches tall while the DEEBOT X2 OMNI towers at 20.8 inches. Going for the Yeedi Cube is a gain for aesthetics at the cost of dust and water capacity. The dustbin size of the Cube base station is only 2 liters while the fresh and dirty water tanks are 1 liter and 1.2 liters respectively.

Winner: ECOVACS DEEBOT X2 OMNI

Runner up: Yeedi Cube for small spaces

Battery Life / Runtime

The ECOVACS DEEBOT X2 OMNI has a large 6400mAh internal battery while the other two vacuums have a 5200mAh battery. However, this does not always translate to the DEEBOT X2 OMNI having superior battery life because battery usage can vary depending on your suction power settings, mopping frequency, and how much of your area is carpeted. This makes battery runtime comparisons difficult to make.

You also have to take the vacuum’s internal dustbin capacity into consideration as a larger dustbin means fewer trips to the base station for unloading. On that front, the DEEBOT X2 OMNI boasts a spacious 420ml capacity while the Yeedi Cube trails in second with a 360ml capacity and the DEEBOT T20 having a slightly smaller 300ml capacity. Because of the X2’s large capacity and wide variety of cleaning modes, I’ll give the runtime crown to the ECOVACS DEEBOT X2 OMNI for general use cases.

T20 OMNI.

For mopping, the DEEBOT X2 OMNI loses slightly loses its runtime advantage because the DEEBOT X2 OMNI lacks a built-in water tank. This means that the X2 OMNI needs to return to the base station whenever it needs to moisten the brushes. The ECOVACS T20 OMNI picks up the win in this category with its large 3-liter water tank while the Yeedi Cube offers a slightly smaller 2.1-liter tank.

Winner: ECOVACS DEEBOT T20 OMNI

Cleaning Performance

When it comes to vacuuming and mopping, the ECOVACS DEEBOT X2 OMNI is a beast with a max suction power of 8,000Pa. This type of power might sound excessive but when you are dealing with pet hair all over the place and other messes, the ECOVACS DEEBOT X2 OMNI is the one you can count on.

Don’t let that high bar take away from the cleaning prowess of the other two vacuums. The ECOVACS DEEBOT T20 is no slouch either maxing out at 6,000Pa while the Yeedi Cube offers 5,200Pa which is powerful in its price class.

For mopping, the pricier ECOVACS products get the upper hand as both models can heat up the water to boost performance. That being said, the Yeedi Cube’s vibrating mopping pad is a neat little innovation, and you can adjust the water flow levels too to squeeze a bit more performance out of it.

Winner: ECOVACS DEEBOT T20 for vacuuming priority, ECOVACS DEEBOT X2 OMNI for mopping

Runner up: Yeedi Cube

Special Features

The ECOVACS DEEBOT X2 OMNI has a unique D-shape design which helps the vacuum clean corners and edges more efficiently. It is also equipped with the most sophisticated technology which aids in the vacuum’s mapping and object avoidance capabilities.

The ECOVACS T20 OMNI offers a more generic set of features without all of the fancy AI stuff. However, it still shares the same ECOVACS HOME app as its pricier sibling making the T20 a good cost-effective pick if you prefer their polished app.

The Yeedi Cube’s app isn’t as feature rich as the ECOVACS Home app, but it still nails the essentials including map generation and voice command support. It is also third place of these three in terms of obstacle avoidance.

Winner: ECOVACS DEEBOT X2 OMNI

Runner up: ECOVACS T20 OMNI

Which Vacuum Should I Choose?

Winner: Most advanced ECOVACS DEEBOT X2 OMNI

If money is no object, get the ECOVACS DEEBOT X2 OMNI simply because it requires the least supervision for handling complicated jobs. The extra premium you pay is worthwhile since you’re quite literally getting all the most advanced features in a robot floor cleaner, especially if you can find it on a discounted price.

Winner: Best balance of price + features ECOVACS DEEBOT T20

If you have a lot of heavy messes to deal with daily but don’t want to pay top dollar for a vacuum, go for the ECOVACS DEEBOT T20 as it’s only slightly less powerful than the DEEBOT X2 and missing only some of the fancy navigation features.

Winner: Best budget Bot Yeedi Cube

If you prefer to be more hands-on with your room cleaning but want an automated assistant to help you occasionally, grab the Yeedi Cube instead. Because you know what you can buy with the money you save? Almost anything you want!

Shop these bots at Amazon below.

You can also find them at Best Buy and Walmart:

ECOVACS X2 OMNI

ECOVACS T20

Yeedi Cube

The post Faceoff: ECOVACS DEEBOT X2 vs ECOVACS DEEBOT T20 vs Yeedi Cube appeared first on TechGadgetsCanada.com.

What is Shark Cordless Detect Pro Auto-Empty System?

This is a rechargeable, convertible stick-to-handheld vacuum that also has automatic emptying of the dustbin into a bagless container in the included charging base station. With just one motorized brush head and two small-space attachments, the accessories are lean, but that’s because Shark says the single motorized cleaner head is designed to be great at both hard floors and carpets. Does it live up to the promise? We’ll see in the cleaning tests.

Key features

There are two interesting features about this vacuum that got me interested right away. The first is the auto emptying of the dustbin, and the second is that the vacuum has odour filtration technology, so you won’t get any dusty, musty smelling blasts of air when you empty it.

Let’s dive in.

Stick or Hand Held

You can remove the extension tube and motorized head to make the Shark Cordless Detect a hand-held vacuum, perfect for hard-to-reach areas, cleaning your car, and small tasks around the house. The main motor unit is incredibly light compared to most other stick vacuums. It weighs in at just under 3 kilograms or just under 7 pounds. Shark says that’s about 30 percent lighter than some of its other vacuums, and it’s about the same as Dyson’s Gen5detect.

Cleaning tests

I put my vacuums through all kinds of cleaning tests over a few weeks. I use them to clean up day-to-day dirt, then I run them through an array of special cleaning tests; I get them to vacuum up finer bits like flour or corn meal, middle size bits like rice or oatmeal, and larger cracker pieces on both carpet and hard floors.

I found the vacuum was actually quite capable. I was also surprised at how much dirt I could pick up and how much area I could clean without the small dust bin filling up. One thing I did notice is that accumulating debris does tend to congregate around the filter at the top of the top. I was a little concerned about that, but it doesn’t seem like it’s affecting the suction, so it’s hard to deduct any points for this. Particularly since when the bin is emptied out, it sucks every last fibre off the filter too.

I had some leftover test spills from trying out another vacuum and I decided to run them through the shark.

To my surprise, the Shark Cordless Detect Pro Auto-Empty got them all with no trouble whatsoever, meaning it’s a more powerful cleaner on both carpet and hard floors than the much more expensive LG Cord Zero (you can read the full review of that here).

Watch my video review for Shark Detect Pro

Power is an area where the Shark Cordless Detect Pro really shines. It has a 180W/15A motor that allows for stronger suction. There’s also an EdgeDetect feature which recognizes when you’re approaching a wall or cabinet and adjusts the suction (sideways?) to ensure nothing is missed. I can confirm that it seem to be quite effective getting right to the edges of baseboards and cabinets and picking up almost everything that seems to linger there.

Floor detect

Floor Detect technology is quite common in vacuums, and it allows them to increase suction on carpet fibres to maximize dirt pull. It’s good to see it here in the Shark Cordless Detect Pro. I found I did get a pretty intense boost of suction on carpet; and it was noticeable anytime I transition from hard floors to carpet. I appreciate that increase in suction and it seem to do a really great job on carpet and rugs in particular. I can also say you did not seem to get caught up in the rugs like some vacuums can; where they will almost inhale the rug fibres and jam up the roller brushes. This vacuum was definitely able to handle both plusher rugs and my flat Ruggable rugs without stalling out. I found that quite impressive.

The cleaning head covers about 10.5 inches of floor per pass. The unit has LED lights that guide you and show you where the unit is focusing. Shark has branded this as “Light Detect mode” and while I appreciate the marketing, it’s really just a light, which is another common but helpful feature on a vacuum. No lasers here like you’ll find in a Dyson, but this one also costs a lot less.

Dirt Detect technology

The Dirt Detect mode is the feature Shark is hoping it will make you buy this vacuum. It purports to sense areas that need more care and adjusts the power and suction for you; and its dirt detection light should come on too.

I didn’t seem to get much out of this. And I ran it over a particularly dusty areas or ones where there was noticeable debris, nothing really seemed to change; in fact I’d say I most often noticed a change in suction and intensity based on changes in light; if I was vacuuming in a darker area or under the bed, sometimes it would pick up speed. In terms of it actually seeming to sense where the real dirt is, I did not find that in my testing.

Overall, I found the cleaning to be extremely effective, on hard floors and carpets, as well as furniture.

When you’re done, just dock the vacuum in its charging and auto-empty stand for the next phase…

All about the Auto-Empty

The dustbin on the Shark Cordless Detect Pro has a fairly small capacity, which is a tradeoff for its weight. It holds just over 300 millilitres, or about 10 ounces, which is essentially the size of a travel mug of coffee. But since the dustbin is auto-emptying this shouldn’t be an issue; when you place it in the dock, the debris in the canister will be pulled into the base, so any time you start cleaning it will be with an empty dustbin.

Auto Emptying begins right away (within about 3-4 seconds) and happens quite quickly (about 13 seconds total) and in truth it was actually empty in about 3 seconds, but the cycle continues just in case. This is actually far, far quicker than another recent vacuum with auto emptying I have tested, the LG Cord Zero.

The base needs to be emptied about every 30 days to six weeks or so, depending on how often you vacuum.

Interestingly, while most other auto emptying stick vacuums use a sealed dust bag, Shark is doing things differently. It uses a simple plastic bin which you can tip right into your garbage can. A special filtration pack is what manages any dust particles from re-entering the air. It’s an interesting concept, and the filtration pack actually has a very light scent to it which is a refreshing change.

Battery and Charging

The Shark Cordless has a battery that will last up to 40 minutes, provided you’re using it on the ECO setting. Using it at the highest settings will net you just 15 minutes. If that seems a little on the short side, you’re right. Comparable units tend to go for longer before needing a fresh charge, but since the vacuum should really live on its charging base whenever it’s not in use, you should always have a full battery ready for any task big or small. It takes a nominal three hours to recharge to full, and, of note, the lithium ion battery is removable, so you could pick up a second battery to swap out if you’re concerned with the short usage time.

Anti Hair Wrap

One of the worst aspects of vacuuming is dealing with long hair wrapped around a beater bar. The Shark Cordless Detect Pro has Anti-Hair Wrap technology, a self-cleaning brush roll that ensures you won’t spend hours pulling hair out of it. If you have a long haired human in your house, this is worth its weight in gold.

Tested this out by running the vacuum in my bathroom after I had finished blow dry my hair. There was plenty of long hair all over the floor and I use the shark cordless detect to scoop up all of it. When I flipped it over afterwards, there was not one single hair wrapped around it. Pretty darn impressive.

Filters and Attachments

The pre-motor filter is made of foam and felt and should probably last you a couple of years. The post-motor filter is a HEPA filter and again should probably last you at least a couple of years. The odor-neutralizing cartridge works for about six months. Shark sells replacements in packs of two.

The unit comes with a crevice tool but no other attachments. Depending on your living situation and space, that might be a pro or a con.

Overall review: Shark Cordless Auto Detect Pro Auto Empty

Overall I’m surprised at how much I really enjoyed this vacuum, both as a stick vac and a handheld.

I recently tested another similar and far more expensive version of this same technology, I was left sorely disappointed. This vacuum is extremely effective does a great job at cleaning a variety of different surfaces.

On the pro side, the main motor cleaning head is wide and picks up debris in a single pass. The beater brush inside seems effective at lifting dirt, and its anti-hair-tangle properties are extremely effective. The auto emptying is extremely quick and doesn’t feel like it’s slowing you down, while the docking charging station doesn’t boast extra storage, it’s also extremely compact and has a small footprint. I also appreciated the small odor filter.

On the downside, the dustbin seems like it is quite small, but I found I was able to clean most of my 1000 square-foot main floor and not have to worry about emptying it midway through. Plus the fact that when I dock vacuum for recharging and storage, it’s going to empty it out so I always begin the next cleaning session with a fresh empty bin.

I didn’t find that the dirt detect features actually worked. I will deduct points for this, but I’m not surprised by it. I find most of the so-called dirt detection technology that’s out there in vacuums right now is more a sales pitch than actual solution. What is the cleaning power of this vacuum is actually outstanding, I’m not offended that I don’t get an array of dazzling lights to go with it.

The major downside is the lacklustre battery life. You’re only going to get about 15 minutes at full power here which is barely adequate. Yes, you can shell out for a second battery, but that seems like an added expense.

For me the cons with this vacuum aren’t deal breakers, just things to be aware of. For that reason I can definitely recommend the Shark Cordless Auto Detect Pro Auto Empty to you. It sells for about $449US/$599CAD (MSRP) and you can get it from Shark, electronics retailers, Amazon, or Walmart.

Also Read:

1. Shark Detect Pro vs Dyson V15 – How to Choose
2. Shark Detect Pro vs. LG Cord Zero: How To Choose

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The post Review: Shark Cordless Detect Pro Auto-Empty System appeared first on TechGadgetsCanada.com.