The Most Innovative Robot Vacuum Yet

These days, the most innovative tech sector seems to be robotic vacuums. And ECOVACS has proven once again that they can be innovative, even more so than their competitors. The new ECOVACS DEEBOT T30S COMBO is an incredible cleaning hub for your home.

You see, the DEEBOT T30S COMBO doesn’t just include the robot vacuum, with the usual emptying of the dustbin, cleaning the mops, and refilling the water reservoir, but it also has a slot for a handheld vacuum. Which, when you dock it, it will also auto-empty, like the robot vacuum. That makes this an incredible value and cleaning hub for your home.

Really, it’s everything I could want from a robot vacuum. At least on the box. Can the ECOVACS DEEBOT T30S COMBO live up to the hype? Let’s find out in our full review.

ECOVACS DEEBOT T30S COMBO Review: Hardware and Design

In the box with the DEEBOT T30S COMBO, you’ll find the robot vacuum of course. As well as the docking station, removable base plate, and a side brush. You’ll find the main unit, mini power brush, flat brush, and crevice tool for the handheld vacuum cleaner. It’s pretty simple to put together, basically just slotting everything into its spot, with the additional tools for the handheld vacuum going in a “drawer” below where the main unit sits. Essentially, making setup easy is important for any robot vacuum, specifically one that includes a second vacuum.

The design of the DEEBOT T30S COMBO is pretty much what you would expect from a robot vacuum. It comes with a matte black finish, which is really nice to see. Some other vacuums will have more of a glossy finish, and after being in use for a few weeks or months, it really gets pretty scratched up. So that’s a good decision on ECOVACS part.

The station is in all black, with a matte finish as well. It matches the T30S robot vacuum, and honestly, it fits pretty well with any decor. Now, this is a pretty big station, but keep in mind that this vacuum uses a couple of actual mops and not mopping pads, so it uses more water to clean your floors and the mopping pads. Hence why the clean and dirty water containers in the station are so large.

A nice touch that ECOVACS has added recently, is the button on the station. This button can be used to start or stop a cleaning task. Or you can long-press it to empty the dustbin. This was also available on the DEEBOT X2 that was released last year.

Below the two water tanks, you’ll find the dust bag that collects all of the dirt, dust, and other debris when either vacuum is emptied. It’s nice and tucked away but still easy to find and replace after a month or so.

ECOVACS DEEBOT T30S COMBO Review: Functionality

Now let’s talk about the functionality of the DEEBOT T30S COMBO because when you’re buying a $1,199 robot vacuum (and handheld vacuum), you want to know that it works and works well. That’s quite a bit to spend on a robot vacuum, even if it does come with a separate handheld vacuum. But it is well worth it in my opinion.

First off, let’s talk about one of the most important specs here, and that’s the suction power. On the DEEBOT T30S, the suction power is rated at 11,000Pa. That’s pretty powerful. Most other robot vacuums are closer to 5,000Pa. So this more than doubles the suction of its competition. So, what does that mean in the real world? Well, it’s going to do a better job of cleaning your floors. Get more of the dirt that’s matted into the carpet and rugs in your home. And in my experience, it has done just that.

The handheld vacuum, on the other hand, is even stronger. It is rated at 17,000Pa for suction power. That’s quite good and on par with a lot of other handheld vacuums. And let me tell you, it has done a really good job of getting up some very stubborn dog hair. The handheld vacuum has been particularly useful for me on stairs, where dog hair and dust like to accumulate in the corners of the steps. Of course, robot vacuums don’t do well with stairs, so that’s when I need to break out a stick vacuum or a handheld vacuum like what is included with the DEEBOT T30S COMBO here. That’s one of the main reasons why I’ve fallen in love with this bundle. Previously, I had my robot vacuum set up in the living room, and somewhere else in the house, I had a stick vacuum set up to get things that the robot vacuum couldn’t. The DEEBOT T30S COMBO saves me space and time.

Finally, ECOVACS also uses the ZeroTangle Anti-Tangle Technology. This works to keep stuff from getting tangled around the main brush. Despite it not being a rubber brush, it does quite well at avoiding tangles, especially with hair. Typically, brushes do get tangled pretty easily in my home due to the fact that my dog is always shedding. However, after three weeks of vacuuming every day, I’ve had zero tangles with the DEEBOT T30S COMBO, which is quite telling.

The Best robot mop I’ve ever used

For a long time, I did not use the mopping functionality on robot vacuums. A big reason for that was the fact that you needed to add and remove the mopping pad, you also couldn’t use any soap, and it just didn’t do a good job at all. But that’s changed in the past few years. And I have to say ECOVACS is leading the pack when it comes to mopping.

You see, ECOVACS uses two mops on the bottom of the vacuum that rotate and can actually scrub your floors, versus just a mopping pad. Sure those mopping pads can do a little bit of scrubbing, but it’s nowhere near as good as it should be.

I was already impressed with the mopping capabilities of ECOVACS older robot vacuums like the DEEBOT X2. However, the company took it up a notch with the T30S. Adding in TrueEdge Adaptive Edge Mopping takes things to a whole new level. Basically, it can swing out the left mop to clean the edges of the floor. It’s kind of a no-brainer since robot vacuums are usually round, and the mop is behind the actual vacuum portion, making the edges of the floor feel forgotten. But with the DEEBOT T30S, that is not the case. It’s done a phenomenal job of cleaning my kitchen. In fact, it’s done the best of any robot vacuum that I’ve tested so far. A lot of time they will leave dirt and dust under the cabinets, in the edges and corners of the room. None of that gets left behind with the T30S.

Of course, I can’t forget the fact that you can use soap with the mop as well. ECOVACS has its own solution that you can use, and it won’t damage the vacuum. Additionally, it cleans the mop when it is docked, and uses hot water, as well as drying it with hot air – up to 158 degrees Fahrenheit. That is actually a really important aspect, as leaving wet mops around can grow bacteria. Unfortunately, for that reason, you will go through water faster with this station than with some of its competitors. It’s a small price to pay for such a great mop, however.

The DEEBOT T30S performed well in our tests

Using the DEEBOT T30S to clean up our home is a pretty easy test, but it’s not always going to be the same. So we have created a couple of “benchmarks,” if you will. To test out the vacuum and the mopping aspect of the vacuum.

First off, the vacuuming section. Basically, we poured about half a cup of flour on the carpet. It’s spread out, some of it is stepped on so it’s more embedded into the carpet. Then, we do spot cleaning on the vacuum’s highest settings. This includes the highest suction available, as well as having it do two passes. The DEEBOT T30S, like many other robot vacuums, will do two passes, going in different directions.

So how’d it do? Well, in the picture below, you can see what it looked like before it vacuumed, as well as after the first pass and after the second pass. You can see that it picked up most of the flour, but there was one area where it was more embedded into the carpet that it apparently struggled with. It still did very well, but it was not perfect. Compared to other robot vacuums in its price range, it hung in quite nicely.

The second test we do is actually a two-parter. Basically, we put some ketchup on the floor and let it dry. Then do another spot clean in that area with vacuuming and mopping, on its highest settings. That includes the max suction and max water flow. As well as the Deep Cleaning option enabled, and it does two passes once again.

As you can see in the image below, after the first pass, the ketchup was mostly gone, though you could still see a little bit left. After the second pass, it was completely gone. That’s a win in my book, as dried ketchup can be pretty tough to get up for a human with a mop, nevermind a robot.

I did mention that this was a two-part test. And that’s because now the mops are full of ketchup, right? So, let’s see how well the station is able to clean the mops when it goes back to the dock. It turns out pretty well. The picture below shows what the mops looked like after cleaning up the ketchup and getting it cleaned in the station. It’s not too bad if I say so myself.

ECOVACS DEEBOT T30S COMBO Review: Software

I have to say, the ECOVACS app is probably the best robot vacuum app on the market right now. And I’ve used just about all of them. Over the past 8 years, I’ve reviewed probably close to 40 robot vacuums and have used all of the big names. But the ECOVACS app is by far my favorite. You might be wondering why. Well, the company has made it so simple to use the app, control your vacuum, and even control multiple vacuums. For instance, I currently have the DEEBOT X2 and the DEEBOT T30S COMBO listed in my app. Now, I can swipe to the one I want and then tap on “Robot Controls,” this takes me to the home screen of that robot vacuum. Or you can tap on “Sart Cleaning” or “Recharge”, and you can also see if it is online and what the charge rate is.

It’s the little things, but it does make a huge difference. Now, once you jump into the vacuum, you’ll see the floor plan for the last floor that it vacuumed – remember, it can remember multiple floors. Below, you’ll see options for cleaning. Whether you want to clean the entire floor, a specific room or two, different zones, or set up scenarios.

With Scenarios, you can set up all kinds of things. The scenarios that are recommended by default are for daily cleaning and deep cleaning. So, if you schedule your vacuum to clean every day, you can adjust the cleaning of each room. For instance, you can have it do one or two passes, adjust the suction power from standard to Max, and adjust the water flow rate from low to medium or high. You also have the ability to adjust which rooms actually get cleaned. Maybe you want to keep it out of the bathroom, but you can make that happen with the scenario option. Then, you can still set up a deep, clean scenario that you can jump to whenever you want.

In Settings, there are plenty of options too. Including the Cleaning Log, which will show you how much space it cleaned and how long it spent cleaning. ECOVACS also saves the floor plan and how it was cleaned, so you can go back and see how good or bad it actually cleaned.

Here, you can also set up scheduled cleanings, as well as check on maintenance, which we’ll cover more in the next section. There are a ton of settings available for ECOVACS within the app. That’s a good thing, it lets you change just about every aspect of the vacuum to your liking and to what is needed for your home.

YIKO is like Google Assistant, specifically for your robot vacuum

YIKO isn’t actually new on the DEEBOT T30S COMBO; it’s actually been around for quite some time. And I do remember on the first few robot vacuums that had this voice assistant, it would go off pretty often, when it shouldn’t. I’d have the TV on, and all of a sudden, the vacuum would start talking to me. I can say, that with the T30S, thankfully, that has not happened. In fact, I almost forgot about the false positives from older ECOVACS models like the DEEBOT X1 Omni and X2 Omni.

It’s not a feature that I use often, but I can see where it is useful. You can ask YIKO to start cleaning, tell it to pause the task, ask about its current flow and cleaning mode, and so much more. It can be very useful if you are busy cooking and maybe you spilled some flour on the floor. Ask YIKO to start cleaning the kitchen (if you’ve named the room), and it’ll get started for you. Or, if you’re getting ready to leave the house, you can tell YIKO to “start cleaning in 15 minutes” when everyone has left the house. So there’s nothing in its way.

It is useful, but to be honest, I mostly either open the app to start cleaning or press the button on the station. Additionally, I have it scheduled to be cleaned every day around noon. So I don’t often need to have it vacuumed other than during its schedule.

If you don’t like or don’t want to use YIKO, you do have the option of turning it off in the Settings.

ECOVACS DEEBOT T30S COMBO Review: Maintenance

This robot vacuum requires the least amount of maintenance of any robot vacuum I’ve ever used. So far, after using it nearly every day for three weeks, the only thing I’ve had to do was empty the dirty water tank and refill the clean water tank. The main brush has not gotten tangled once, the station has been able to auto-empty the dustbin on both vacuums without any issues, and the dustbag is only about half full right now.

Obviously, some parts are not going to last forever. Like the brushes, the filters, and the mops. ECOVACS does a good job of letting you know when any of these need to be replaced, and you can easily mark them as “replaced”. These parts do last for hundreds of hours, in particular, the main brush works for around 300 hours before needing to be replaced, and the side brush does 200 hours.

With the handheld vacuum, there’s even less maintenance to do. All you need to do is take the tool off of the end and put it back into the drawer, then slot the handheld vacuum in place. It’ll then empty the dustbin, and that’s it. The only part that would need replacing is the HEPA filter. And that’s an easy one to replace.

This is about as close as you’re going to get to a fully automated cleaning experience, to be quite honest.

Should you buy the ECOVACS DEEBOT T30S COMBO?

Normally, with robot vacuums that are over $1,000, it’s hard for me to recommend. However, the DEEBOT T30S COMBO is easier to recommend since you are getting that handheld vacuum included. One of those can oftentimes be another $300-$400. That makes this a lot more worth your money.

So now, should you buy the ECOVACS DEEBOT T30S COMBO? Yes. However, I will say that this particular vacuum makes a lot more sense for those who are in homes that have a good amount of laminate, hardwood or tile floors. You know, floors that can be mopped. Since the mopping is so good on this unit, you definitely want to take advantage of that as much as you can.

Of course, at this price of $1,199, it’s still an expensive robot vacuum. But I can confidently say that with the amount of time you’re going to save with the DEEBOT T30S COMBO, it is worth the money. Now, if you don’t need that handheld vacuum, you can get the exact same robot vacuum as just the DEEBOT T30S for $999 (that’s $200 less). But I do think that if you’re spending a grand on this, you should splurge and spend the extra $200 for the handheld vacuum.