ECOVACS DEEBOT X1 OMNI: Review

I think the term “robot vacuums” is now officially obsolete. That’s because these devices that started out as simple vacuums have evolved into multipurpose cleaning centres that can now vacuum, mop, clean themselves and empty dirty water, plus dump out their own dustbins. One of the newest floor cleaning centres is the ECOVACS DEEBOT X1 OMNI. ECOVACS is sponsoring this post and has provided me with a test unit to review in my home. Even so, they have not told me what I have to say or what I can’t say about this bot, so in my review I’ll tell you what it can do, how well I think it works, about its special features and if I think it could be a good investment for you.

UPDATE: December 2023: in 2023 a new version of this bot was released. The ECOVACS Deebot X2 OMNI is now available. The newest version builds on the success of the original but adds a lot more features and functions, making it a very much improved floor cleaning robot. When I reviewed the X2, I counted more than 10 significant developments and improvements. If you want to learn more about the most cutting edge robot in the ECOVACS fleet, you can check out my full review of ECOVACS X2 OMNI here. Of course the fact there is a brand new option for consumers means the X one version is now available at a much lower cost than when it was first introduced. (Check out the current pricing which I’ve seen drop as low as almost 50% off; an absolute steal if you ask me.)

ECOVACS DEEBOT X1 OMNI: What’s new

• 3D mapping
• Emptying & refilling
• Dual scrubbing mopping plates
• Heated auto-drying
• Designer look
• Yiko built in voice assistant

ECOVACS DEEBOT X1 OMNI: What you get

The ECOVACS DEEBOT X1 OMNI has two main components: the dual vacuum and mopping robot, plus the OMNI station or base station. Let’s get a closer look…

Shop ECOVACS DEEBOT X1 OMNI here

The bot is about standard robot vacuum size. It’s got a roller brush underneath, and two corner brushes you’ll need to snap on when you unbox it. The design is a bit new, with a pretty brushed silver cover that lifts right off to reveal the onboard dustbin. The water tank in this bot is not visible or accessible… but that’s okay because your base station is going to take care of that for you.

The mop has been redesigned… gone is the one-piece floating plate with cloth, and in its place are two detachable round pads with little microfibre cloths that attach securely with special velcro. This new mopping format is designed to scrub, not just wipe…

There’s a camera on the front… and we’ll get to more on both that and the improved mopping shortly.

OMNI station: charging, cleaning, refilling

The OMNI Station is a tall drink of water; yes it’s quite large and you’re definitely going to need a dedicated place to put it, near a plug and with enough space for the bot to back in and out.

Under the lid on the OMNI station here are three things, a clean water tank, a dirty water tank, a little storage drawer for brushes, extra mopping pads and vacuum bags; this is a thoughtful detail I appreciate so everything can stay on one place. The vacuum bag bin is now a small drawer in the front of the OMNI station.

Overall the designers at ECOVACS have done a great job here; the unit is a little more attractive than some other similar products. And everything is thoughtfully accessible.

Getting started with ECOVACS DEEBOT X1 OMNI

To get things started you will need the ECOVACS app where you’ll sign into or sign up for an account then add your robot. This takes just seconds and I was ready to clean in less than a minute.

The first order of business is to map your home. Getting a map will allow your bot to recognize rooms and spaces, avoid furniture and obstacles, and to manage room-by-room cleaning schedules.

Enhanced 3D mapping

I can confidently say the ECOVACS DEEBOT X1 OMNI, like other ECOVACS bots I’ve tried, maps the fastest of almost any other bot. My DEEBOT X1 OMNI had my space mapped on the first day, and the map was very accurate. That’s because of the technology in the bot…

The DEEBOT X1 OMNI’s navigation technology, known as TrueMapping 2.0, uses the same kind of tech found in self-driving cars to learn and map my home’s layout. Rather surprisingly, the DEEBOT X1 OMNI goes beyond 2 dimensional maps with new, interactive 3D maps not only of rooms but of furniture as well – just tap a piece of furniture on the 3D map to clean around it.

Using the Ecovacs Home app to label rooms

App connectivity lets you take control and schedule a clean, or monitor the cleaning status and even see where the robot is cleaning in real-time or where it has cleaned on its last job from the palm of your hand – I love this feature because it means no more guessing if your vacuum bot actually got into some corners.

You can also use your phone and the app as a virtual remote, starting and stopping cleans. It essentially means you can clean your home from anywhere, anytime. Just hit the button. The app also lets you change settings and get instant info about your bot, even find a lost bot.

With the map drawn inside the ECOVACS app, you can go into it and assign labels to each room. This will let you schedule automatic cleans; the kitchen nightly, the bedrooms weekly, or the bathrooms every other morning while you’re out for a walk.

How well does DEEBOT X1 OMNI clean?

I put all the robot vacuums and mops I test through the same pieces; I spill things like flour, rice, cracker crumbs on both carpet and hard floors. I pour out some liquids too for mopping tests.

When it comes to how well the  X1 OMNI cleans, I can say it cleaned quite well.

Carpet & hard floor vacuuming

On both carpet  and hard floors, the X1 was very effective. If it scattered my special spills, by the time it finished its row by row cleaning it has sucked up all the dirt.

With the mopping it was easily able to mop up small wet spills, and it also cleaned small dried spills too.

While the X1 OMNI’s absorbent pads will wipe up small spills it’s not meant to roll over and inhale big wet messes. Best to wipe up most of your spill first then let X1 OMNI finish the job; or scrub off things like dried coffee, footprints or drips.

Mopping results

The major innovation in the mopping here is that there is actual scrubbing power, which you don’t get from most other mopping bots. The  X1 OMNI has OZMO Turbo 2.0 technology which uses these dual pressurized mopping pads, spinning at 180 RPM, to give you scrubbing action even on un-even surfaces.

There’s also heated auto-drying, so your mop can be automatically dried in 2 hours to reduce bacteria and musty smells from the pads.

You can barely hear the heater running, but it’s in there. It’s quiet and seems very effective.

While the X1 OMNI’s absorbent pads will wipe up small spills it’s not meant to roll over and inhale big wet messes. Best to wipe up most of your spill first then let X1 OMNI finish the job; or scrub off things like dried coffee, footprints or drips.

The major innovation in the mopping here is that there is actual scrubbing power, which you don’t get from most manufacturers. The  X1 OMNI includes OZMO Turbo 2.0 which ECOVACS says supercharges mopping power.  It uses dual pressurized mopping pads, spinning at 180 RPM, which is designed to give you strong scrubbing action even on uneven surfaces.

There’s also heated auto-drying, so your mop can be automatically dried in 2 hours to reduce bacteria and musty smells from the pads.

Refill frequency

The clean water tank inside the DEEBOT X1 OMNI is huge! Holding 4 litres of fresh water, that means you shouldn’t need to worry about refills for weeks.

Does robot mop soak carpets?

Everyone always wants to know what happens with robot mopping on carpets. The DEEBOT X1 OMNI  has automatic carpet detection that prevents it from wetting carpets in mopping mode. It will avoid carpets when the mopping plates are installed.

In my testing, this worked like a charm and I never once had wet carpets or rugs. 

Detects carpets automatically & increases suction

Speaking of carpet detection, the X1 OMNI also has what’s called Auto Boost Suction, and what that does it increases suction power when the bot detects it’s on a carpet, to power dirt from the fibres.

I could hear this increase in power while it was running and I found it did a really good job getting my carpets clean.

Vacuum noise level: adjustable

In fact you can actually control the noise level by choosing how much suction you want, from low and super quiet to full power – it’s all in the app. This is super handy when you need a clean while you’re on a zoom call.

Adjustable suction or waterflow

And speaking of that adjustable vacuum, you can also adjust the water flow level of the mop too so that you can get your floors really clean, or just give them a light wipe down thanks to X1 OMNI’s OZMO™ Mopping System, which enables precise electronic waterflow control.

Hazard avoidance: impressive

Hazard recognition and avoidance is a key bit of tech that can mean the difference between your robot completing a cleaning —and not. Too many less-intelligent bots can get tangled up in stray socks or dropped cords and that prevents them from finishing a clean. The  X1 OMNI uses not one, but two advanced obstacle avoidance systems – camera vision plus 3D laser scanning which “sees” and identifies common household objects to avoid them. This means your DEEBOT should be able to complete more cleans without getting stuck.

I tested this out by deliberately placing shoes, cords and socks in its path and I’m impressed to say the DEEBOT X1 OMNI was great at seeing and going around potentially troubling objects.

I can also say that in my testing the X1 OMNI never got stuck or tangled up, and it handled flooring transitions extremely well. In fact it can handle transitions up to 20mm or 2 centimeters.

Voice control

You can get hands-free control of your robot vacuum-mop. If you are a Google Home or Amazon Echo user, you can link your smart home devices to your robot, and tell it when and where to start cleaning. I found this worked really well. You just need to link your bot inside either the Google or Alexa app first, then say things like,

Yiko voice assistant uses natural language

The new Yiko (pronounced ee-ko) built-in assistant lets you use natural language to talk to your bot directly and ask it to clean. Yiko can respond to general requests or room-specific asks.

Important to note this uses approximation and general direction to send the bot to your general area, and it’s not yet precise enough for a small spot clean.

Mobile roving security camera too

It’s possible to use your robot as a mobile security camera around the house. Doing this requires a few steps and this is designed to maximize privacy and your security with having a mobile camera in the house. You’ll need to press physical buttons on the robot in order to make this happen. Then you’ll be able to access the camera in the app and drive the robot anywhere for a look.

The camera is quite high quality, and you can drop a pin anywhere on your map and the bit will go there automatically. As a bit of a privacy alert, the bot will announcer that remote viewing is active the whoel time the camera is being accessed.

Recharges when needed

The great thing about a X1 OMNI even for very large spaces is that it will automatically return to the charging dock when the battery is low, then continue cleaning where it left off when charged. With 180 minutes of run-time, it should be able to handle most jobs on a single charge.

Overall thoughts on ECOVACS DEEBOT X1 OMNI

Overall the all new ECOVACS DEEBOT X1 OMNI does it all: it vacuums, mops, it refills it’s water tank for mopping, and cleans and dries the mops. Plus it will empty its own dustbin and it does it inside a beautifully designed package. It runs quietly, it’s got great suction and long battery life and it cleans both wet and dry messes on hard floors or carpets like a dream. I’ve been really impressed with all this bot can do so I can definitely recommend it to you for your home.

The ECOVACS DEEBOT X1 OMNI sells (regularly)for about $1549 USD/$1999CAD and you can get it from ECOVACS or Amazon.

**A note about Affiliate Links: TechGadgetsCanada 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.