I have been using the new ECOVACS robotic vacuum cleaner, the Deebot T80S, at home for a few weeks now.
The T80s is ECOVACS’s attempt to bring a more accessible mopping and vacuuming robot to the consumer market. It does succeed, with a small caveat, which I will explore later.
Out of the box, I’m impressed by how compact it is, compared to other brands I have experienced here before. As a consequence, the space you need to reserve for its docking station is also smaller.
The docking station holds two water tanks, one for clean water and one for dirty water. It also has a compartment to hold a dust bag, and the tech needed to recharge and clean your robot after it completes the tasks you assign to it.
Physical assembly is easy, only requiring you to plug in its power cord from the dock to an outlet and clicking its small, plastic ramp into place. You then insert the dust bag and fill the clean water tank, before removing all the plastic stickers that keep the robot safe during transport.
Unlike other robots I tested, there’s no separate reservoir for a floor cleaning solution, so I add a mild one to the clean water tank when filling it.
You then use the mobile app to connect the Deebot T80s to your account and initiate the mapping process. This is done quickly, while it goes around your house, and soon the robot is ready to start cleaning.
The new robot vacuum uses the OZMO ROLLER 2.0 with TruEdge 3.0 Extreme Edge Cleaning technology, developed by ECOVACS. This tech delivers concentrated cleaning power, generating 3,800Pa of mopping pressure when going around the house. Paired with an upgraded high-density nylon mop roller, it effectively removes stubborn stains while remaining gentle on floors, delivering a streak-free finish.
Thanks to its TruEdge 3.0 Extreme Edge Cleaning technology, the robot is able to mop closer to walls, and glide along skirting boards and into corners for true edge-to-edge coverage.
The brushes and rollers adjust automatically to the floor type. On carpets, the roller mop lifts while suction power increases to keep carpets dry and thoroughly vacuumed. For liquid spills, both brushes lift to prevent contamination while grid-pattern cleaning tackles stubborn stains. When handling large debris, the side brush lifts to reduce scattering as the main brush boosts suction power.
With up to 24,800Pa of suction power, the Deebot T80S can capture dust, debris and pet hair with minimal brush maintenance.
The app has a lot of features. Having a house that is mainly wooden floorboards, with a carpet in the lounge area, I appreciate the option to vacuum carpets first, before going back to the docking station to pre-wash the roller, to continue with the mopping of other areas.
An AI-assisted model, called AIVI 3D 3.0 Omni-Approach Technology, identifies and maps the contours of obstacles, enabling the robot to navigate and move alongside them in real time. Even after creating a floor map, it correctly identifies new obstacles, such as a chair in the middle of the lounge, or some pet toys on the floor, going around these as needed.
It is 98mm profile allows it to go under furniture that other robots couldn’t get through, like the TV stand and hall tables. It automatically turns on a small light to better see under these.
Another interesting feature that comes from its camera is the ability to follow it in real-time, seeing what is in front of it, like a remote camera. You can also use this as a roaming security camera, so double-useful feature.
When it identifies an area with tougher-than-normal stains, it will re-mop the area until it’s satisfied it’s clean.
After the cleaning is done, it automatically returns to the docking station to empty the vacuum cleaner and wash the roller, with water heated from 40 °C to 70 °C. It will then use hot air to dry the roller, ensuring it’s clean and free of dirt, for the next cleaning task.
Manual cleaning of its individual parts is easy and requires little effort. You have to empty the dirty water tank, fill the clean water tank and check the dust filter on the robot itself, things that take less than a couple of minutes and only need to be done every few days.
As I mentioned, there’s a small caveat: the dust bag. It doesn't use a self-emptying canister, but a proper dust bag. This means after some use, it needs to be replaced with a new one. Even so, it can be weeks or months before you need to swap out the bags, depending on how much dust or dirty in inside the house.
The robot will also notify you if it notices low clean water levels or a full dirty water tank. You can then proceed to empty or fill these tanks as needed, and the T80S will automatically resume operations.
I also thought it did a great job when returning to its dock, with a faster time to find its location and aligning itself when compared to other robots I tested.
Overall, for me, the Deebot T80S was a good first experience with ECOVACS devices. Its feature list, ease of control and maintenance made it a pleasure to use.
The Deebot T80s is available in New Zealand now.
