MOVA Tech are a relatively new player in the Australian vacuum game, and after sending out the X4 upright vacuum to Dan to review, they sent me their latest robot vacuum to check out, the Z50 Ultra.

The Z50 Ultra is Mova Tech’s flagship robot vacuum which features a large range of options, just about everything you could ever think of on a robot vacuum.  These include:

  • LDS navigation module
  • Dual-laser+AI+LED Fill-Light obstacle avoidance
  • Edge extend mop
  • FlexBrush vacuuming
  • Large battery
  • 19,000Pa suction
  • Real-time multiple dirt detection
  • All-in-one base station
  • AI Camera that can also provide a sentry mode
  • Pet friendly
  • AI cleaning assessment

Design + setup

The vacuum design is extremely similar to every other robot vacuum on the market and although the various parts are different, such as the mopping technology, the overall shape that you see is extremely familiar.

The weight though is different.  For some reason, the Z50 Ultra (and its dock) are heavier than any other robot vacuum combo I have ever used.  Now, it is still not that hard to lift it but if you get one delivered, make sure you bend your knees lifting it.  Does that mean that the Z50 Ultra is better built?  Possibly, I’ll let you know in a few years’ time.

Underneath is a single roller for the main vacuum section which is different to most other vacuums these days.  Most others will use a variation of two rollers in various configurations to get the best suction and particle cleanup.  

Mova Tech states that the roller is still an anti-tangle roller and so far I haven’t seen anything to refute that.  The roller differs in that it has some ridges or comb on it.  I assume this is the section that “cuts through hair” although this ‘comb’ is meant to “straighten it out” (the hair).  Whatever the case, so far so good on the anti-tangle system.

The mopping system on the Z50 Ultra is also a roller, this time a fabric one, designed to mop the floor.  The vacuum sprays it with hot water continuously, which circulates it, helping it to keep clean in real time.  Mova Tech’s AI detects when the mop is dirty and sends the vacuum back to base for cleaning/rewashing.

All the rollers, mop, side brush and side mop lift when they are not required on a particular surface to prevent cross-contamination.   The side brush and mop will only operate when required, as determined by the vacuum.  These are good at getting closer to corners and to skirting boards – the Z50 Ultra was able to clean right up to the skirting boards for various spills.

The front of the robot features its AI cameras, which are used to perform its AI cleaning process. You can also use the cameras at the front to keep an eye on your house. It can take photos of pets and obstructions while it does its vacuuming and mopping and you can also manually drive the robot around and take pictures wherever you want, whenever you want.

The Mova Tech app

The Mova Tech smartphone app is very similar to apps for other robot vacuums.  The homepage has an enter button for the vacuum you have along with two shortcuts allowing you to quickly start a cleaning session or to recharge it. The shortcuts can be customised but start and recharge is what I chose.

There is also an icon on the homepage that leads to a shortcut page allowing you to set other quick shortcuts.

Once you enter the app you are greeted with the default map that you have saved along with cleaning options down the bottom.  You can clean my room by selecting the rooms you want to clean. You can clean the entire map, or you can clean just a zone that you draw on the map yourself.

Mova Tech has also included their AI Clean Genius, which intelligently recommends cleaning parameters based on how dirty the AI camera determines the floors are.  It can adjust this setting within rooms or zones based on the level of cleanliness in each area.

The Mova Tech Z50 Ultra also offers the ability to view what the cameras within the vacuum are seeing.  The icon to open this camera is a shortcut located beside the map.  Once you tap on the shortcut, you enter the activation code and you can then view and navigate your vacuum around the house as required.

The settings for the vacuum include some unique options, such as the ability to clean the carpets first and to use or not use the side brush on the carpets. There is also the usual carpet boost in intensive carpet cleaning settings included.

Mapping

Mapping is incredibly fast and accurate with the Mova Tech Z50 Ultra.  The vacuum seemed to complete a couple of laps to map the area.  By default, there was no fancy building in of furniture that some vacuums do but it still mapped around them and determined which areas it couldn’t clean under.  You can turn on the furniture visualisation if you really want to, but that doesn’t affect your cleaning.

The map is incredibly easy to edit, allowing me to rename rooms, split or merge rooms, add no-go zones, or virtual borders, which is handy for me and something I use pretty frequently.

As per usual, there is support for multi-floor maps with that easily performed, added and edited.

Cleaning

The Mova Tech Z50 Ultra uses all of the above features and hardware to complete its cleaning but also uses AI to determine whether and how far out the side brushes reach.

The vacuum utilises AI in the camera to determine if the floor has been cleaned and will re-clean an area if it detects that the area has not been cleaned yet.  You do need to turn this on in the settings, though if you want your vacuum to perform this feature.

Using the vacuum on a day-to-day basis, it performed well, cleaning the floor as required.

When testing it using specifically dropped substances, such as flour and breadcrumbs, it cleaned up quite well, although it did require a good 2 to 3 passes to remove all of the substances, especially the breadcrumbs.

The vacuum features 19,000 Pa of suction, allowing it to clean all floor types effectively.  The roller brushes were also tangle and hair free, although I’m not entirely sure how, but they were and that is good enough for me.

One thing I noticed was the vacuum seemed to take a long time and use a lot of battery to get the job done. This is most likely because of the high-end settings I had the vacuum on for the review. Keep that in mind if you need to give your carpets a thorough clean — it will take a long time and consume a lot of battery, so the robot will have to recharge often.

Mopping

I tend to have the mopping on standard on a every second day basis but to test this out I spilled some milk and smeared some jam on the floor.  Because the jam was quite well smeared on the floor I set the mop at a wet level, yes you can change the witness of the mop, and set an intensive clean which is between standard and deep clean.

Doing this the Z50 Ultra clean both substances off the floor exceptionally well and you couldn’t tell they were even there beforehand.  One thing I didn’t mention above is Mova Tech include a detergent or cleaning solution within the box.  This is installed into the multifunction dock and it works really well but my issue with it is that it is a proprietary size and solution.  I dare say once it runs out, you will need to replace it with a Mova Tech-branded one in the future.  

As I only had the vacuum testing for a couple of weeks I was unable to determine just how long this 400ml floor cleaner lasts for but you would hope that it would be at least six months given that the replacement bottle is $39.

You can adjust the time during the clean when the vacuum returns to the dock and cleans a mopping pad, within the app’s settings.  It does this very quickly though so don’t be afraid to always try and have the mopping pads as clean as possible.

One thing the Z50 Ultra does really well is it cleans quickly.  It gets to the location it needs to clean whether it is mopping or vacuuming faster than any other robot vacuum I’ve seen before.  

Docking station

The Mova Tech Z50 Ultra features a multifunction base station, which includes the largest clean water tank and the largest dirty water tank I have seen in a robot vacuum before.  Behind the clean water tank sits the cleaning solution mentioned above, and the 4L dustbin/vacuum bag is located in the third compartment to the right of the water tanks.

Even when the tanks are empty the space station is heavier than any other I’ve ever used before.  Mova Tech say that with this 4L dust box and you can get up to 120 days of maintenance-free use with it.

Should you buy the Mova Tech Z50 Ultra?

The Mova Tech Z50 Ultra is yet another entry in the ever-crowded robot vacuum market in Australia. After using it for a couple weeks I can easily say that it sits right up there with the best on the market.

It maps quickly, it vacuums extremely well with many settings not only to customise but also optimise the vacuuming, and it mops incredibly well. The mopping may be different to every other robot vacuum/mop I’ve used but it sure is effective.

The Mova Tech Z50 Ultra includes AI cleaning but that is just a fraction of the included smarts in the app. The app is incredibly detailed and offers numerous options for you to operate the vacuum cleaner. Within the app, you control the security camera and guide it around your house to keep an eye on your pets.

The Z50 Ultra is a robot vacuum that offers the complete package, featuring every essential feature you could need in a robot vacuum. For that, it does not come cheap. You will be forking out top dollar at a RRP of $2,999 for this vacuum cleaner.

The good news is that if this review has piqued your interest, it is currently on sale for just $2,099 at JB Hi-Fi and Harvey Norman, a massive $900 off.