A GOOD REDEMPTION FOR ECOVACS
After the criticisms received for T20/T20e Omni, Ecovacs finally straightens the shot on many aspects by launching after just 10 months already the successor T30/T30 Pro Omni, a product that forcefully fits into the medium range which is currently the most evolving, with the mission of bringing some features of the top of the range to the range under 1000 euros, despite the clear evolution of this T30 Pro Omni and the courage of Ecovacs in providing a robot aesthetically different from the mass there are still some aspects that should be improved, aspects that Ecovacs has been dragging along for a while and which I will talk about in this personal review of mine.
PACKAGING, GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS AND BUILD QUALITY
The T30 Pro Omni packaging develops in width giving the idea of containing a bulkier device than it actually is, the packaging does not convey the idea of a “premium” product as there are no spare parts or a trial pack of the detergent, so you will almost immediately find yourself with the need to purchase at least additional mops and detergent. The base measuring 409×490×480 mm is more compact than its predecessors, very well finished and solid, it conveys the idea of a well-built product and is available in white and pink, the black version is available only in the non-Pro version, which has the differences of the lack of the Yiko voice assistant, dirt detection and AI functions.
The aesthetics are really peculiar, whether you like it or not you can’t say that Ecovacs hasn’t worked hard to create a “different” and immediately recognizable robot, in fact the tanks are not contained in the base but an integral part of it, beautiful and functional the choice to place the transparent 4.5 liter clean water tank in front so that you can see “by eye” how much water remains, the 4 liter dirty water tank is instead positioned at the back and completely opaque so as not to show the dirty water. Below the tanks there is a door to access the dust collection compartment, where there is space for a 3.5 liter bag. Finally there is of course the dock where the robot is inserted to recharge, empty the dust and wash and dry the mops at high temperatures, this part is designed in a very intelligent way, in fact the entire washing base is extracted and separated to allow for very practical cleaning. The “oriental inspired” appearance and compact dimensions make it perfect for placing it under furniture and if you have space problems.
The base has advanced technology, not only does it wash the mops at 70 degrees (the use of hot water can still be deactivated) and dries them with hot air, but it also integrates a sensor that detects how dirty the water is and automatically adjusts the washing settings in AI mode.
The robot measuring 353×351×99 mm has the classic Ecovacs design, very linear and clean, looking at it from above we find the LIDAR turret with TrueMapping 2.0 technology and the 3 function buttons, from the left respectively zone cleaning, start cleaning/pause, and exit/return to the base, other button combinations for other functions are explained in the manual.
Turning it upside down we can see the 4 anti-fall sensors, the sensor for carpets, the single side brush, the main brush with ZeroTangle technology and the two rotating mops, the right one with TruEdge technology that extends to wash edges, corners and around obstacles, the mop supports are magnetic and removable, they lift up to 9mm but are not automatically released like some top-of-the-range models.
At the front, the TrueDetect 3D 3.0 obstacle avoidance system with structured light without a camera is clearly visible, on both sides we find the distance sensors and behind the two contacts for charging, the hole for automatic robot water refilling and the door for self-emptying.
PERFORMANCE, NAVIGATION AND CLEANING EFFICIENCY
Let’s get to the part that is certainly of most interest when purchasing a floor-washing vacuum robot, that is certainly how it cleans and how it behaves.
Let’s start with the basics, the mapping did not particularly surprise me, as some walls in the center of rooms, furniture and sofas were not displayed on the app, you only notice the furniture because they remain unreached areas and the lack of mapping of some walls in the center of rooms created some problems for me when I had to manually divide the various environments, I don’t know if the limit is hardware or software, but given the level of precision that the competition has achieved in the mid-range i would say that it is an aspect on which to start working hard. Despite this aspect, navigation is excellent, precise both on edges and around furniture, the robot in this month of testing has never missed a path, hit violently a forniture and has never gotten lost around, the obstacle avoidance system cannot do miracles without a video camera but it does well what it was designed for, learning better with each cleaning to avoid the most voluminous obstacles such as shoes and objects at sensor height, so navigation side absolutely promoted.
The suction supported by a 11000Pa motor is naturally excellent and rarely leaves crumbs behind, perhaps just those shot by the single side brush that does not find any support on the opposite side. About the suction a prayer for Ecovacs that is using its ZeroTangle system, which is based on a series of teeth and a particular angle of the bristles, a system that has been used for years on many products not just Ecovacs ones without any obvious evolutions, let’s be clear, the system works well in preventing hair from getting tangled, but the “teeth” area of the anti-tangle system is very difficoult and boring to clean and in my opinion and with some areas almost impossible to access.
Speaking of washing I fortunately have no particular criticisms to make, the robot washes the floors very well, the base washes the mops very well thanks to the hot water, and the base itself is very easy to clean, the mop washing plate gets very little dirty and being completely removable it is easy to maintain and leaves the bottom of the base immaculate.
The extendable mop extends and retracts intelligently and also has a sort of shock absorber system, and you can choose to leave it pulled out all the time so that you can have it touch not only the skirting board but also corners, furniture, chair and table legs, vases etc. without any particular worries because the mop will follow the edges perfectly, retracting when it touches something, unlike other brands where the mop is fixed and touching an edge causes the entire robot to slip.
The battery is 5200 mAh and according to Ecovacs it guarantees up to 3 hours of autonomy without particular problems, naturally in suction only mode and at the minimum suction power setting, in my case I verified that less than half is enough to clean a floor of about 100 square meters in automatic mode, if you have more floors you can obviously create more maps.
Finally, let’s talk about noise, can this robot also be used at night? From personal experience I do not recommend it but it depends on personal sensitivity, while the base is quite silent during washing operations the same cannot be said for self-emptying and the noise of the robot during cleaning, especially at medium/high settings.
APP AND FUNCTIONS
I found the app significantly improved, aesthetically pleasing and clear, with everything you need at your fingertips, very complete in functions and with many settings to customize the behavior of the robot and cleaning, pairing the robot also thanks to the presence of Bluetooth is quick and very simple, just get close to the robot, the app will automatically detect the nearby robot, you select the wifi network (I recommend only 2.4Ghz networks as for all robots) enter the wifi network password and the app takes care of everything else.
You can choose whether to vacuum, wash, do both or first vacuum and then wash. There are three preset levels of water flow or you can choose and a customized setting on 50 levels, and four suction power settings. There are also three efficiency type options to choose the balance between time used and cleaning depth. Or, as in other brands that have integrated AI features based on sensors enable artificial intelligence and let T30 Pro Omni decide, it is not as refined as other competing solutions and only works for global cleaning, but it will still allow you to no longer have to think about the best setting to apply to cleaning at home, obviously in custom mode you can also clean only areas or rooms, or manage customizable cleaning scenarios to clean for example only the kitchen and the dining room table after meals, given the possibility of freely inserting furniture into the map.
Among the various options there is obviously weekly programming, the ability to choose the cleaning order of the rooms, manage the behavior on carpets, the sensitivity of obstacle detection, activate quick charging, set cleaning parameters such as the frequency of return to the base to wash the mops and for self-emptying, the duration of drying, the second automatic wash based on dirt wather detection and set whether to keep the mop always extended with 2 adaptation modes based on the home environment. The app allows you to view maps in 2D or 3D and room names can be used to start cleaning simply by voice command.
Yiko integrated voice assistant allow you to not only start cleaning of a specific room or area by voice, but to perform practically all the necessary functions without having to press any button or without having to take your smartphone out of your pocket, if there has always been a winning feature in Ecovacs Robots it is precisely Yiko, also interesting is the possibility of starting a global cleaning simply by touching the bumper of the robot with your foot, the robot is however perfectly compatible with Alexa and Google assistant.
THE GOOD
-Nice and complete app, much improved
-Great suction power for a mid-range
-TruEdge system works well
-Yiko assistant
-Very efficient hot washing and drying
-Peculiar aesthetics and design choices regarding the tanks
THE BAD
-A bit noisy
-Mapping needs improvement
-ZeroTangle system needs improvements
-No spare part in the package
FINAL THOUGHTS
The T30 Pro Omni lays a great foundation for future Ecovacs products, but its new features need to be refined and ZeroTangle tecnology need improvement. It is listed at a price of 999 euros but is now almost always on offer at 899 euros, at this price it has some really interesting features if we consider that it does practically everything that models that cost twice as much do but it finds itself up against fierce competition and the lack of a minimum of spare parts in the package does not do justice to the high quality of the product.
I am still impressed by the excellent performance, the use of hot water and the presence of a dirt sensor, features that are difficult to find in this market segment, by the improvements to the app and navigation, a sign that Ecovacs is going in the right direction, if I found the T30 Pro Omni at 799 euros I would certainly give it more than a thought in your place, especially if like me you like its aesthetic.
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