With what feels like a never ending list of robotic vacuums on the market, it’s actually quite difficult to find something that fully automates the manual labor involved in cleaning floors. Face it, there aren’t very many physical day-to-day activities that robots can actually do for us (yet), but cleaning floors is an area where there is arguably the most hope, thanks to countless companies innovating year after year.
Having spent some time with the new ECOVACS DEEBOT T30S Combo, I am more convinced than ever that we’re headed in the right direction in this product category. ECOVACS really has thought of everything with this lineup, from a robot that can vacuum and mop, to the inclusion of a powerful handheld vacuum for one-off situations, it’s incredibly versatile and ready for just about anything. I’ve tested all sorts of settings on this vacuum, and down below I’ll detail unboxing, the setup experience, app features, and overall performance of the unit.
Unboxing and assembly
First off, I must say that I was a bit shocked at just how big the box was when UPS dropped it off at my door. Once I started unpackaging and assembling it however, that shock quickly shifted to appreciation for just how compact it was going to be when compared to the gear I already have around the house for manually cleaning my floors.
In the box you’ll find the charging station, robot vacuum, a separate handheld vacuum, and all the attachments needed to get it up and running. The steps to set up went something like this: attach the base plate to the charging station, attach a brush to the bottom of the robot, place the handheld vacuum into its charging slot, put the handheld attachments into the dedicated bin, and then fill the clean water reservoir/add cleaning solution. Truth be told, it took roughly five minutes to have everything assembled and plugged into the wall.
Pairing and setup with the ECOVACS HOME app
After I plugged the station in, the robot was just sitting in front of it. I downloaded the ECOVACS HOME app, created an account, selected the ECOVACS DEEBOT T30S Combo from a list of products, waited less than a minute for it to pair, and then I was ready to proceed. The first thing I did was tap a button to have it return to the charging station. It did so flawlessly with zero interaction or physical guidance from me.
Next, I queued up the mapping process. It took 30 minutes or less to get the lay of the land. Admittedly, I followed it and watched it do its thing for at least half of that time. Not once did I see it awkwardly bump into a wall or an object. Once it was complete, I was shown a 3D floor plan of the main level in my home and it was spot on. It even called out where an area rug is so it can automatically avoid using the mop function on it.
You know what I did next, I made it clean the floors. There are a bunch of configuration options that allow you to vacuum, mop, vacuum and mop simultaneously, or separately in two passes. I opted for simultaneous action the first time around, and I really appreciated just how good of a job without needing to do anything outside of the initial unboxing and setup. As you can see in the screenshot above, there are lots of additional configurations ranging from suction power to water flow rate, and more. To vacuum and mop my space, it takes about 45 minutes.
I’ve come to expect the ability to schedule just about any smart home device to do something at a given time, and I was pleasantly surprised to see how simple it was to make the ECOVACS DEEBOT T30S robot vacuum each day and mop once a week. It’s been a delight to be working at my desk and hear the vacuum or mop start running itself.
Performance
I typically opt for the quickest option when running a washing machine, dryer, dishwasher, and the like when using home appliances. So I didn’t go too crazy with the highest suction or water flow rate, instead I have been keeping everything in the middle and it’s been great. I have even been using the quickest cleaning setting and my floors are still immaculate. My home has mostly hardwood or tile surfaces, with one large area rug in the living room. One of the most delightful bits about this vacuum has been its ability to go all the way underneath couches, beds, the kitchen table, and more. One could argue that it’s doing a better job than I would do and that it looks great just chilling in the corner of my living room too.
The manual labor involved here involves refilling the clean water reservoir and emptying the dirty water, as needed. Doing that has been oddly satisfying too, because I can see how well the mop is doing its job. Unsurprisingly, the water is discolored because the mop is doing a great job cleaning the floors, just like a good robot should. The other task I’ll need to do every so often is empty the vacuum bag, a job that ECOVACS anticipates will happen within 90 days.
For things that the robot cannot reach, the ECOVACS DEEBOT T30S Combo also includes a handheld vacuum with three attachments. I’ve been using a Dyson V8 Absolute Stick Vacuum for years now, and I can confidently say that this handheld vacuum has even better suction. The robot is rated at 11,000Pa while the handheld tops out at 17,000Pa. I was able to quickly remove cat hair from furniture and tidy up my front porch faster than I could with the Dyson. The only thing missing is a floor attachment (Update: ECOVACS sent me the attachment after my initial review, keep reading to find my thoughts), but ECOVACS does offer that as a part of the Complete version of this vacuum kit. Don’t worry, I’ll explain all of the differences between the ECOVACS DEEBOT T30S product lineup towards the bottom of this post.
Other notable features
There are a few notable features I haven’t touched on yet, and now seems like a good time. First off, the mopping system. I’ve been very impressed with just how good this unit is at mopping hard-to-reach places. This is thanks to its ability to extend its mopping pads outwards to get all the way into corners and more. The fact that it can lift the pads up to 9mm also comes in handy, with one example being that it won’t make area rugs or carpeted areas wet.
Another feature worth mentioning is YIKO 2.0. It’s a built-in voice assistant that you can give directions to, saying things like, “OK YIKO, clean the living room.” While I haven’t personally needed to rely on this feature yet, I have tried it out and I know it would come in handy when something gets spilled and I want the robot to do the work on my behalf.
The ECOVACS DEEBOT T30S product lineup
There are three offerings in the ECOVACS DEEBOT T30S family. Each are discounted right now as part of a launch promotion that closes at the end of the day on Sunday, May 26. Here’s what you get with each model:
- ECOVACS DEEBOT T30S: $900 (Reg. $1,000)
- Robot and charging station
- ECOVACS DEEBOT T30S Combo: $1,050 (Reg. $1,200)
- Robot, charging station, handheld vacuum, and three handheld attachments
- ECOVACS DEEBOT T30S Complete: $1,150 (Reg. $1,300)
- Robot, charging station, handheld vacuum, three handheld attachments, and a floor attachment
As you’ve probably noticed, my review unit fell in the middle. I have the ECOVACS DEEBOT T30S Combo and I personally wouldn’t want anything less. While the ECOVACS DEEBOT T30S robot does a phenomenal job virtually eliminating the routine chore of cleaning my floors, there will always be one off situations when I will want to clean a piece of furniture that a robot cannot reach.
Update: ECOVACS sent me the floor attachment to convert my Combo unit into a Complete model. I am happy to report that the floor attachment does a wonderful job and looks sleek as well. As you can see in the photo below, it’s now attached to the side of the station and now I have a robot vacuum that truly does it all. Plus, with 11,000Pa suction, this has been a wonderful upgrade to my Dyson V8 Absolute.
Final thoughts
As mentioned at the start of this review, there are a lot of robot vacuums on the market. So why choose the ECOVACS DEEBOT T30S? For me, the answer is a blend between versatility and reliability. There are so many features available with this unit, and it does just about everything. Especially when you go for the ECOVACS DEEBOT T30S Combo or Complete units. Having a robot that can vacuum and mop in addition to a handheld vacuum docked and at the ready makes this a slam dunk in my opinion. Plus, the fact that it all fits into one unit that takes up so much less space than a bunch of individual offerings is another huge win.
I am blown away each time I think back to the setup process and how hands-off it was. Once assembly was done, I never really had to worry about a thing. It just got to work and has never gotten stuck. This makes it a super reliable unit that I have scheduled once and now get to focus my time on other things instead of cleaning floors.
Buy the ECOVACS DEEBOT T30S Combo
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