Review: Ecovacs Deebot X1 Plus, the robot vacuum that sucks like no other

We’ve covered a lot of Ecovacs vacuums here at EFTM. They’ve undertaken some local market research that more than ever, Australians aspire to own a robot vacuum cleaner. Based on a survey of more than 1300 Australians aged between 25 and 65 more than 60% aspired to own a robot vacuum in the “near future”. 30% wanted to own one within a year.

Robot vacuums in fact topped the list of tech items/appliances that Australians would most like to own, over even TVs, coffee machines etc. No longer are Australians worried about letting robotics take over their chores with people wanting the vacuum to not only do the job well but to look good as well.

This new research coincides with Ecovacs’ newest vacuum, the Deebot X1 Plus. Ecovacs sent us the vacuum to check out and we came away impressed with the design as well as the even better suction and cleaning capabilities.

Design and features

Ecovacs has called upon Jacob Jenson Design for the new X1 Plus vacuum and it shows. The design is a darker, more stylish design that looks sleek and fits seamlessly with the modern household — we saw it in the X1 Omni we looked at a few months ago. The design, as you can see in the pictures is more fitting of a piece of furniture than a tech gadget. Not only is the design different but the materials look, feel and are more premium than the standard Deebot vacuum.

The Deebot X1 Plus comes with all the same features that the Deebot T10 Plus we reviewed a few weeks ago does. It includes YIKO voice assistant, which once again works intermittently, but the vacuum still supports Google Assistant and Alexa and these are a much better option.

The X1 Plus also uses TrueMapping 2.0 Path Planning Technology to accurately map your house and plan a path to get the clean done in the least amount of time. You can also save your maps in 3D but I still can’t get my head around just when this would be useful – apparently it can be used to enable the robot to navigate more precisely across your home, but I haven’t had any issues with it navigating without it. It is yet another feature you can use if you want to use the vacuum to its maximum capability though.

Ecovacs say that the X1 Plus has even more precise object detection/avoidance than the T10 Plus but in the real-world scenario I did not notice any difference. They are both better than previous generations at it and I had zero problems with it.

Mopping capabilities are again included along with a built-in air freshener along with an auto-empty station. The camera in the front of the vacuum can once again be used to navigate around your house in a sentry mode – the vacuum also includes a two-way voice function to allow you to interact with whoever or whatever is on the video in front of you.

The big plus for the vacuum is the increased suction power. This alone makes the X1 Plus a big upgrade over the T10 Plus. Sure, the T10 Plus sucked well enough to clean the floor of any spills or dirtiness but this X1 Plus is next level. The suction power is 5000Pa compared to 3000Pa on the T10 Plus. The suction level allowed the vacuum to pick up all the food stuffs I deliberately spilled on the floor to test it out – it works exceptionally well on hard floors and still great on carpet as well.

The X1 Plus also includes the anti-drop sensor so your vacuum does not fall down the stairs – fairly handy as I doubt it would survive a tumble down the stairs (I’m not sure Ecovacs would be happy with me testing that one out).

Our new puppy is still not entirely toilet trained so the mopping was extremely handy – especially the ability to just tell the robot to go and mop a particular area. It mops extremely well, much better than I ever thought a small robot vacuum could.

Software and setup

As covered in the T10 Plus review, the Deebot X1 Plus is super simple to setup and even easier to use. There are a lot of options to go through but the main ones you will need are setting your suction and mopping levels and your scheduling. Mapping is super simple and takes very little time with the X1 Plus. It did seem to do it faster than the T10 Plus but I wasn’t timing it – either way, it was done quick and accurately.

Should you buy it?

The Ecovacs Deebot X1 Plus is not a cheap robot vacuum, but having used the cheaper options you certainly get what you pay for. For many, the Deebot X1 Plus has far more features and options than you would ever need or use but it does have everything you could ever need or use. Most importantly it has the strongest suction of any robot vacuum on the market at 5,000Pa — you spill it, the vacuum will clean it better than any other robot vacuum. It really sucks like no other.

If you must have the strongest suction on the market then I can highly recommend the Ecovacs Deebot X1 Plus — it offers a better design and stronger suction than the T10 Plus I reviewed a few weeks ago, at just $100RRP more. For me that is worth it.

For many people though, some of the features are not essential and the price may be a tad steep — Do you really need the sentry camera? The 3D mapping? The Yiko voice assistant control? The auto-empty station (which I can highly recommend but your budget may say otherwise)? For these people there are much cheaper options including the Ecovacs Deebot Neo which retails for $799 but still offers decent vacuuming power, mapping with boundaries along with full mopping features.

If the RRP of $1,899 sits within your budget for a robot vacuum, then I highly recommend the Ecovacs Deebot X1 Plus. Of course, if you have an even bigger budget the Deebot X1 Omni is the bees knees when it comes to robot vacuums but priced at $2,499. You can grab it now from Bing Lee, Godfreys, JB Hi-Fi and ECOVACS.com/au.