Thanks to human ingenuity (and part laziness), we’ve managed to invent little machines that help clean our houses without little to no manual intervention. It’s hard not to be in awe of robot vacuum cleaners, especially one like the Ecovacs Deebot X1 Turbo that offers a comprehensive cleaning solution for both vacuuming and mopping. It’s harder to ignore it when you learn that it’s also capable of cleaning itself and serving as a makeshift security system.
The Deebot is packed with features that make it an enticing purchase for anyone looking to offload the chore of house cleaning to a reliable companion. But if you’re on the fence and aren’t convinced of the value it offers, here are eight reasons why the Ecovacs Deebot X1 Turbo deserves a place in your living room (or bedroom, or wherever you put these things).
1) Mopping and auto-cleaning pads
What’s more convenient than a robot vacuum? A robot vacuum that mops. The Deebot has detachable cleaning pads that do an admirable job cleaning hard floors. In my house, it had no issues mopping up a (self-inflicted) wine stain, and did a pretty good with a sugar spill, too. Once the spills have been taken care of, the dock automatically cleans the pad and gets it ready for another round. The dock houses a cleaning station that uses water to wash the pads after every cleaning cycle and even dries them with cool air so that they’re ready to clean up the next mess you create. Convenience galore!
2) Security patrol
To navigate the countless obstacles in your house, the X1 has a sophisticated system of camera and 3D sensors that help it map its surroundings in real time. However, you can make more of the system by using it as a makeshift security system. The companion app lets you livestream footage from your vacuum cleaner’s camera — it is tilted upwards to offer a better view — in case you ever want to keep eyes on what’s going on back at home.
It helped me monitor my apartment during scheduled maintenance visits when I wasn’t home. If you’re not keen on manually controlling the robot, you can turn on the Home Patrol mode that’ll automatically surveil and send you images from across the house.
3) Detailed, customizable 3D maps
The X1 Turbo maps the house reasonably accurately; it identified all rooms (even my bed) and areas in my apartment correctly. You’re not stuck with the map it generates, though, as you can merge/separate areas or rename rooms. You can even manually place furniture (a bed, desk, and side table, among other things) within these maps to create accurate 3D renditions of your house. A benefit of placing furniture on these maps is being able to give specific voice commands like “clean the area under my bed.” It’s pretty neat!
4) Voice assistant control
Admit it, smart speakers and AI assistants on our phones have spoiled us with convenience, and it’s something you’ll be able to indulge in with the X1 Turbo as well. I won’t lie, I was skeptical before going into it, because even my Google Nest Mini, one of the best smart speakers, which is backed by years of machine learning and voice recognition improvements doesn’t hear me all the time. However, the Yiko assistant is very responsive and had no issues hearing me from across the living room. It’s also very convenient because you can ask it to clean specific rooms or even stay clear of an area it’s currently cleaning. If you’ve placed your furniture in the 3D map, you can also ask the vacuum to pick up dust from under your bed or desk with just a simple voice command.
5) Auto water refill and cleaning
It’s handy to have a mopping robot until you realize how annoying it is to empty and fill its tiny container every time it does its job. Fortunately, Ecovacs has built a neat solution within the docking station that automatically replenishes the X1 with clean water before it sets out to mop the house. Instead of having to replenish the small internal tank of the X1, you only need to fill and empty the bigger tanks that sit inside the docking station — only once a week in my case. What’s better is that you don’t need to keep a close eye on water levels as the app will remind you when it’s time to refill and empty the tanks.
6) A useful docking station
The X1 comes with a resourceful docking station that does more than just charge the vacmop. It’s got three buttons to initiate cleaning, refill the water, and dock the robot, and they’re pretty useful because you don’t have to rely on your phone to get these basic tasks done. It’s larger than the average docking station because it houses two sizable tanks for clean and dirty water. Not just that, it even has additional storage for a few useful tools. One of them is a cleaning brush that comes in handy to dust the robot and the docking surface. There’s an additional set of mopping pads provided, too, in case the existing ones wear out.
Ecovacs had done a good job with the design of the docking station, so you needn’t worry about the aesthetics of placing one in your living room or kitchen – it’ll fit in just fine.
7) Powerful cleaning across surfaces
What good is a vacmop if it can’t clean across different kinds of surfaces you’d expect to find in an apartment? The X1 Turbo performs admirably on carpet, tiles, and even wooden flooring. It can automatically identify the surface it’s on and adjust the suction power to effectively pick up dust and debris. You can manually adjust the suction levels (up to 5,000 Pa) via the companion app and if you’re a stickler for cleanliness, even ask it to cover your home twice.
The X1 does a great job of cleaning carpets and can also be set to increase the suction power when it identifies such a surface. The side brushes are designed and positioned to ensure that no corners are out of reach. The mopping pads move up to 180 times a minute and are effective at taking off stains from hard flooring; it did a good job with cleaning wine stains and sugar from my kitchen floor and didn’t leave any sticky residue either.
8) Manual control
It’s good to have a vacuum clean the house without any intervention and the Deebot X1 Turbo does this really well. But for times when you want to clean just a particular spot in the house, an automatic cleaning session will not be as quick. Fortunately, you’re not left without an alternative as the companion app lets you highlight particular areas to clean on the map. This is especially useful when I accidentally spill something (which is all the time) and don’t want to necessarily clean the entire house. That’s not all though, the app offers a remote control that can also be used to navigate the robot manually. It’s really cool and full disclosure, you might end up playing with it more often than you need.
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