ECOVACS HOME Ratings and Reviews

It’s always difficult to know how much to spend on a robot cleaner. We purchased an N8 at a discount price. Our first impressions are good. There should be a tablet version of the app (using iPhone/iPad) and not just a phone version. The basic functionality is there however it is not refined and could do with an overhaul by an experienced interface designer and graphic artist. The app is a bit functionally clunky which sort of matches the robot performance. There are simple things like the robot tracks which show as cleaning progresses are lost on the app if the screen goes into lock. If you expand an area of the map to see what is going on a bit better the map automatically contracts the map every few seconds - annoying!
Occasionally on startup the robot has decided it’s lost and wants to remap. Wait and it seems to find its map. I don’t know if this relates to where/how the map is stored. It should be kept in the robot. It maybe that the N8 has very limited storage and compute power and some of the failings are related to that. Also there appears to be more functionality for higher end robots. I do wonder if it is wise to try to make one app to cover a whole range of different robots. It might be better to have separate apps for similar specked robot families like an N8 family, an N9 family etc. That way older robots can be left with stable software rather than trying to insert new functions for new robots in an old frame work.

The Ecovac has made life so much easier however I am having a few glitches. I mapped the downstairs rooms as per instructions but 6 months later it is doing its own thing every time it’s activated. Eg. Runs into walls that have not moved like its never seen them before, &/or completely misses spots. It’s not always the same spot missed, so it’s usually cleaned up the next activation, hence its not a big issue more an annoyance. I have also adjusted the volume several times but it doesn’t always apply it. Eg. I turn the volume down and it works, two days later the activating voice is loud again but by the time it’s finished and returning to charge, the voice is quiet again. Again more of an annoyance than a problem. Overall though 4/5 stars as it works so well that it means I don’t have to do it, so for that alone I’m grateful.

These deebots were sold out at Aldi, so I went to another Aldi to get one, and I felt lucky. Now I don’t. I switched off my deebot. The dock was slightly moved, not more than 10cm. I switched everything on to do a vacuum round. It could not relocate. I did what it said to put the deebot back on the dock for it to restore the map. It restored the map, but could not relocate again. Twice not been able to relocate mean throwing away the map, which took me a whole afternoon to make of our house. I was disappointed.
However after contacting the help service and getting some tips I was still not able to reload the map.
I eventually decided to make a map of each separate room. So I would at least not lose everything.
I started with the bedroom. For this I had to move the docking to another room and spot. I switched the thing on and expected to start the whole procedure over again. But to my great surprise it recognised the map! This seemed a miracle to me. So I simply could use my map now but operate the dock from another area in the house. It is not logical, but alas it works! So yeah, the mapping is fiddly, for the rest it works well, good vacuuming. You have to be a bit patient, it pays off I guess.

We were on the brink of returning our robot after 7 remaps, 2 factory resets and numerous attempts to edit the map. I remembered that someone once told me to delete an app and then re install … which sounded silly at the time, since I had always regularly updated the app. I did another factory reset and reinstalled the app … then remapped. The result was something that we and the robot could work with.

It’s still not perfect, the app software needs a lot of work. Mapping is very primitive in that it won’t allow you to block an area (in a large area that it calls Living) and label it … such as our family room, kitchen, meals area and pantry. Also, the map should be available by logging into your ECOVACS account so that more accuracy can be achieved using a mouse. On the app the fail message is often displayed without any explanation as to why.

The robot performs well, although sometimes we don’t really believe that she really mopped in some areas. The app really needs to show which areas have been mopped and which vacuumed rather than just show where the robot has been.

Had my T9 plus for a few months now and I absolutely love it. The app was losing maps to begin with but I think the company has now upgraded their servers and the issue has gone away. The floors in the house are so much cleaner now since getting this robot. It’s not 100% and occasionally misses a crumb here or there but next time it usually gets those. I run around with my Dyson in the areas it can’t get to for 15 mins a week but robot does most the work now. Because there is so much less dust on the floors, I see less on the furniture like the TV cabinet. It’s really a great device and I wouldn’t hesitate to buy another. It doesn’t like stainless steel applicable doors like the fridge as it must see a reflection and backs off so a little more work in the algorithm there needed and I think it could try a little harder with stool legs before deciding to go around going as it can get through, but otherwise really really great help and fantastic product.

Bought the T9+ after Godfrey’s recommended it for a house with a dog. Have had non stop issues with it. Loses the map and has to reconfigure, which means I lose my settings each time. The auto empty station doesn’t actually cope well with fur so has to run more often, thus requiring the accessory parts to be replaced more often. So Ecovacs profits even more on its shortcomings. But even running it more often doesn’t always guarantee it empties, so I find the extra $300 or $400 for the auto empty station was a waste of money.

The mop water amount can’t mop our whole house in one go, but doesn’t notify me when it’s empty. Hence I have to manually check regularly when trying to mop.

Despite my request to return it, because the repair people found no clear “fault”, the customer service have not been willing to do anything to alleviate my frustration and dissatisfaction with this product. Godfrey’s have been good when I have been in store to get the issues checked, but again to date no one has offered me any solution other than to persevere with it.

Bought the brand new Omni deebot about 3 months ago. Used quick mapping to map the house. Seemed ok at the time. Couple weeks down the track lost connection or something has happened. Cleaner comes out of station then display says “relocating” glitches out and returns to station. Map then is completely gone and displays a random grey map I’ve not seen before. Try and restore the correct map which it says it has. Start off again and same thing occurs. Ended up having to delete the map and remap whole house to get it to work. Another few weeks down the track the same thing has occurred again. Correct map is shown. I pick the area to map and then it does it’s own thing, says “relocating” and returns to the station and the saved map is replaced by this stupid grey map that has no area or rooms on it. Very annoyed as with a large house it’s just painful to have to map over and over.

I am so impressed with my Omni x1 debot. Highly recommend. The App takes some getting used to but once you work it out it is easy to use and gives you lots of functionality. In terms of possible extensions for the app; I would like to see an update that allows you to set a map. I completed the quick mapping with mirrors and windows to floor masked, but this was overwritten by auto clean. I would also like to be able to specify the floor area. We have two plastic foam playmat that I would like mopped by the vacuum identifies it as carpet and will not mop it.

In terms of advancements in the hardware, it would be great to see the vacuum drop its own mop pads in the dock to continue cleaning in carpeted areas.

In general far exceeded my expectations and I am very happy.

I love my vacuum. I have the N8+ and I want to upgrade when I have the cash but until these blokes fix their app, it won’t be with them.

The 2 main issues are:
The mapping. It’ll map the house and do its vacuuming but then I want to divide the map up into real rooms? Nah can’t. And they have some stupid rules for if a room has more than 1 opening. I just want to have a hallway as its own room, I don’t want it attached to another room. I also would love to divide a room at a doorway - sounds crazy but do a google search and you’ll find plenty of other people with the same issue. It just goes against common sense.

The other issue is the locating of itself. It can literally be sitting on it’s dock, I have just removed some hair from the spinners or replaced something and it can’t find itself. From searching online I found a work around, you pick it up and put it in another room and try again. If it doesn’t work there you then move it to another spot and keep trying until it finds itself. All the while it is constantly trying to create a new map. Why not have a yes no button asking if it is a new map? There are so many ways of making this experience smoother.

From searching around online they have had at least over a year, I think closer to 3, to fix these issues. Read some feedback! Absolute rubbish.

We are hardly philistines (we don’t use Siri or equivalent) but certainly would’ve drawn the line at a robot wandering around the house autonomously doing who-knows-what.
Well, we’ve changed our minds.
Turns out our Deebot, called Rosie, is as charming as she is hard-working. Which means our house is cleaner than its ever been and all without fuss or strain, on our part at least.
The company is pretty schmik as well, shipping our parts order just hours after it was placed.
The quality of our Deebot and its components seems very high, so far. We very much hope it continues into the distant future, eg. availability of spares, software updates, etc. so we can continue our “love affair” with Rosie long term.