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This robot vacuum and mop performs as well as some flagship models – but at half the price

I’ve tested robot vacuums in all price ranges, and if I were in the market for one, I’d go with a mid-range model. These robot vacuums typically range between $400 and $1,000, a decidedly affordable alternative to a flagship vacuum that costs $1,800 or $1,900.

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Because you’re compromising on price, you can also expect to compromise on features. Some units, however, are rare unicorns in the market, with high-end features for a surprisingly affordable price. Such is the case with the new Ecovacs N20 Series, which are priced at $550 and $800, respectively.

Ecovacs refers to these robot vacuums as “entry-level,” but they’re more mid-range in pricing than anything else. The features, however, align with more high-end models nearing the $2,000 mark.

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I’ve been testing the Ecovacs Deebot N30 Omni for a couple of weeks, subjecting it to different kinds of obstacles and debris. It performs much better than you’d expect for an $800 robot vacuum and mop, with some caveats.

Ecovacs Deebot N30 Omni robot vacuum and mop

Maria Diaz/ZDNET

The Omni station seems to perform as well as the Deebot X2 Omni Ecovacs Deebot N30 Omni robot vacuum and mop

Ecovacs/ZDNET

In my controlled testing, I found that the Deebot N30 Omni was about 83% as effective at picking up all the debris on hard floors, a pretty decent performance for its price range. That means the robot can pick up most dust, pet hair, crumbs, or debris on your floors in a single cleaning session.

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The biggest drawback comes in this robot vacuum and mop’s ability to avoid obstacles. The Deebot N30 doesn’t feature top-of-the-line LiDAR sensors or AI-powered obstacle avoidance, but I wouldn’t expect these in a robot in this price range.

Maria Diaz/ZDNET

Although the robot creates a map of an area within a few minutes upon setup, I also found that it only stuck to its original map about 70% of the time. Other times, it skipped spots or didn’t cover the entire floor area, leaving untouched lines between its paths. This is also common with many robot vacuums, even far more expensive ones. 

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Running it in my home, which isn’t a controlled environment and is subject to a lot of activity from three kids and a dog, I found the robot performed similarly to the controlled testing. For example, it confirmed the obstacle avoidance shortcomings by getting stuck on an extension cord during its first cleaning after mapping.

ZDNET’s buying advice

The Ecovacs Deebot N30 Omni

Source : ZDNet

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