Is Ecovacs’ Deebot T30 Pro Omni the ultimate robot vacuum?

At a glance

Expert’s Rating

Pros

Quick set-up without tools
Easily removable water tanks
Adaptive edge cleaning with TruEdge
Mops lift up on carpets
Zero-tangle technology to prevent hair tangling
Mop washing with hot water and hot air drying
Flatter tanks for easier handling
Voice control with Yiko

Cons

Small dust container
Obstacle detection has minor weaknesses
No automated addition of cleaning agents
Battery life too short for larger areas

Our Verdict

Like its predecessors, the Deebot T30 Pro Omni impressed us. With its suction power increased to 11,000Pa and the new extendable mop arm, it ensures good cleaning results all round and doesn’t let pet hair or obstacles stop it from doing its job.

The new design is also advantageous. The fresh and dirty water tanks are now located on the base station and can be easily removed. They’re also flatter and therefore fit better under a tap.

Ecovacs set the bar high with last year’s Deebot T20 Omni and Deebot X2 Omni models. The new model comes with even better technology and performance as well as a modified design.

Note: There is also the T30 Omni model without the “Pro” in the name. It is slightly cheaper and does not have the Yiko voice control and intelligent dust detection. The model is also only available in black. The other features are identical. This is the model available in the UK, which we’ve provided links to in this article.

Design & Build

As you’d expect, the Deebot T30 Pro Omni also comes in a large package, which at 44 × 47 × 76cm is bigger than the boot of many small cars. The combination of docking station and robot vacuum weighs in at around 18kg.

Christoph Hoffmann

Compared to its predecessor, the T20 Pro Omni, the base station is slightly more compact and it’s also smaller than the X2 Omni, measuring 43 × 40 × 48, compared to 43 × 45 × 58cm (W×D×H respectively).

Both the station and the robot in our review device came in a white and silver plastic housing, although in some countries it’s also available in pink.

At first glance, the supplied components make a high-quality impression after unpacking and before assembly.

Christoph Hoffmann

Set up is a simple process: the base station is assembled from four parts and connected to the power supply. The robot is ready to go within a few minutes with the pre-assembled mops and the cleaning brush we attached. We didn’t even need to look at the printed operating instructions.

Christoph Hoffmann

There are two important things to consider when choosing the installation location: a power connection is required and the base station must be easily accessible from above so that the two water tanks for fresh and dirty water can be removed. While the water tank is the same size as its predecessor at 4L, the dirty water tank only holds 3.5 litres, 500ml less.

App Features

The set-up works in the usual way for Ecovacs devices: the Deebot T30 Pro Omni is added as a new device in the Ecovacs app using the QR code that can be found under the decorative plate on the robot.

Some additional functions can be used when the device is connected to an existing Wi-Fi network. These include, for example, access to the robot from anywhere via the Ecovacs cloud or voice control using Yiko, Alexa or Google Assistant. During setup, we received a firmware update to version 1.55.0. New updates can also be installed automatically when they are available – between 00:00 and 6:00am.

The default settings in the app are usable. You can change them at any time. The app itself is easy to understand and mostly intuitive to use. First, you should carry out the mapping. The Deebot T30 Omni Pro does this automatically. It scans the rooms and its TrueMapping 2.0 laser system detects walls, edges and obstacles.

Christoph Hoffmann

The app allows you to view the maps in 2D or 3D. The names of the rooms can be used to trigger cleaning simply by voice command.

The app is well designed, but detailed. You should take some time to explore the settings and customise the robot to your own environment. For example, you can name rooms on the map, define restricted zones and mark objects. You receive status messages on your smartphone or via voice output so that you can react immediately.

Christoph Hoffmann

To start cleaning at the touch of a finger, you can select the desired cleaning programme as a favourite for quick access. Then, for example, you can start cleaning the kitchen just before you leave the house.

Performance & Features

The Deebot T30 Pro Omni has three control buttons on the top in front of the laser tower. You can use the Home button to send the robot back to its base station. With the Spot Clean button, you can make the T30 Pro Omni clean a small area exactly where you have placed it. There’s also an on/off switch.

The Ecovacs robot gets to work with a loud noise. According to the manufacturer, it can reach up to 65 decibels – that’s as much as a normal vacuum or a hair dryer. But you don’t have to cover your ears all the time. The Deebot T30 Pro Omni is at its loudest when it is cleaning and drying the mops.

The robot does not have its own water tank, which is why it has to return to the station every few minutes. There, the mops are cleaned and moistened with water heated to 70°C (T20: 55°C). This removes stubborn dirt. This can be clearly seen from the residue in the base station’s dirty water tank.

Christoph Hoffmann

A small drawback: the T30 Pro Omni does not have a detergent additive or a separate tank for one, as is the case with the Dreame L20 Ultra. You have to dose a cleaning solution yourself and add it to the fresh water.

What was used for the first time on the X2 Omni and is increasingly becoming standard across rivals is the extendable mopping arm on one side of the T30 Pro Omni. This enables better cleaning results and gets closer to edges.

Ecovacs relies on TruEdge, an innovative function of the Deebot T30 Pro Omni. The robot travels an additional path along the edges when mopping, ensuring better cleaning of corners and edges that are often difficult to reach.

Christoph Hoffmann

Using a laser and a camera to recognise obstacles, it measures the distance with LIDAR. The navigation worked well in our test.

On tiled floors, the T30 Pro Omni does a good job of vacuuming and mopping. Dirt, dust and the white hair from Pointer-Dalmatian mix Eddy land in the robot’s collection bin. It is a little small, so it has to be emptied in the base station very often.

The Deebot T30 Pro Omni can lift its mops to remove dirt from carpets. This is a real challenge for many robot vacuums. The Ecovacs device stops mopping when a carpet is detected and increases the suction power.

Like its predecessors and competitor products, the robot can’t quite make it over a door threshold in our home that is around 2.5cm high – others of 1.5cm are no problem. The Deebot T30 Omni Pro recognises a downward staircase and brakes in good time.

Speed is less important, as the vacuum-mopping robot can clean the home during the day when nobody is around. It took the T30 Pro Omni just under 55 minutes to clean our 34 square metres of tiled floor.

As soon as the robot has finished its work, the suction station takes care of the cleaning. The robot docks onto the station, where its dust container is emptied, the mops are washed with hot water (70°C) and then dried with hot air. This prevents bad odours and ensures optimum hygiene.

Price & Availability

If you’re in the UK, you can buy the T30 Pro Omni from Amazon, where it’s currently priced at £1,006. This is obviously a lot to spend but it’s comfortably less than the Dyson 360 Vis Nav, which has a far more limited feature set.

For our money, Ecovacs makes some of the best high-end robot vacuums available. If the T30 Pro Omni is within budget, you’re unlikely to be disappointed. Still, if you’re looking for a similar feature set for a lower price, have a look at our review of the excellent X10 Pro Omni, which is £200 less.

There are more recommendations at all price points in our round-up of the best robot vacuums we’ve tested.

At the time of writing, the T30 Pro Omni is not yet available in the US.

Should you buy the T30 Pro Omni?

The Deebot T30Pro Omni removes Eddy’s dog hair and other dirt that has accumulated on our slates and parquet floors. It also mops the floor. It’s amazing how much dirty water ends up in the base station bin.

The robot gets close to edges and walls. It barely leaves a visible edge. It reliably and safely avoids most obstacles. Furniture, children and pets are all safe.

The Deebot T30 Pro Omni can also handle carpets – as long as the pile is not too deep. It automatically lifts the two mops when it recognises carpet. For unsuitable carpets, you should set up an exclusion zone or activate the “Avoid carpets” option in the settings.