Ecovacs Deebot N20 Plus Review: The Best Budget Robot Vacuum of 2024

It’s time to dive deep into the Ecovacs Deebot N20 Plus – a bagless robot vacuum and mop combo that’s turning heads for its impressive features at an unbeatable price. It even clinched our Vacuum Wars Best Budget Robot Vacuum spot for late 2024. We purchased ours and put it through extensive testing over the past few weeks, and in this review, we’ll go over all its pros and cons.

Exceptional Performance at an Unbeatable Price

One of the standout aspects of the N20+ is its impressive performance, rivaling robot vacuums that cost two or even three times more. Equipped with a single main brush and one side brush, it excelled in handling all types and sizes of debris we tested on both hard floors and carpets.

Additionally, in our bench tests, the N20+ demonstrated significantly above-average suction and airflow. But where it truly shined was in our practical performance tests.

Practical Performance: Pet Hair Pickup

For example, in our new two-and-a-half-inch pet hair pickup test, the Deebot N20+ achieved a top-five score by collecting 96% of pet hair from the carpet – which is remarkably difficult for robot vacuums of any price point to accomplish.

In another boon for pet families, its anti-hair tangle feature worked as advertised, with zero percent of the seven-inch hair becoming tangled, where the industry average amount is 41%.

Practical Performance: Carpet Deep Clean Test

Probably for similar reasons, the N20 exceeded expectations in our carpet deep clean test, where we evaluate how effectively it picks up deeply embedded debris like sand from carpets.

Overall, the N20+ proved exceptional at its primary job of sweeping and vacuuming debris on both hard floors and carpets.

Performance Summary

Mopping System

Another major advantage is that the Ecovacs Deebot N20+ is equipped with a mop, which is something not typically seen in this price range.

The mop is of a more basic, older style – a fixed pad that doesn’t lift or vibrate.  Instead it essentially just drags along the floors, though it does feature electronic water control, which is an upgrade from older types of mops.

Because the mop pad doesn’t lift up, it can only vacuum and mop hard floors while the mop pad is attached. You’ll need to manually detach the mop pad for it to vacuum carpets.

However, it does recognize carpets and avoids them automatically, which is a significant step up from cheaper robot vacuum mop combos, and you do have the option in the app to create no-mop zones to be extra careful if you want.

It was however below average with its actual mopping ability in our dried on stain test, only getting around 50 points, about half the average amount, though it should be said that we haven’t tested a lot of robots in this price range, so it may very well be above average in moping ability for its price range- in any case it’s good enough for light stains and certainly better than not having a mop at all.

Mopping System Summary

As our Best Budget Robot Vacuum of 2024, the N20+ sets a new benchmark for affordability without sacrificing quality. If you’re seeking a cost-effective robot vacuum with solid features, the Deebot N20+ is a standout option.

Vacuum Wars

Bagless Auto-Empty Bin Station

A standout feature for the N20+ is its bagless auto-empty bin station. When the robot returns to its base to charge, it automatically empties the contents of its dustbin into a bagless container with a 1.5L capacity. This design is somewhat uncommon and has the advantage of not requiring frequent bag replacements.

Auto Empty Station Summary

Efficient Navigation

Another pro is its navigation. Lately, budget robot vacuums are coming out with the same navigation technology as their more expensive counterparts, and that is the case with the N20+ with its top-mounted spinning LiDAR sensor.

In our navigation tests, it mapped and navigated our floor plan very efficiently, creating a map in just five minutes, and its coverage was nearly perfect.

It was also particularly efficient in the vacuum-only run getting an above average score.

The Ecovacs Deebot N20+ also includes all the mapping and navigation features in the app that higher-end models offer, such as:

• virtual barriers
• zone cleaning
• room-specific options
• No-Go Zones

Long Battery Life

Battery life proved to be a major pro. Ecovacs claims it can run for 300 minutes per charge on its lowest power setting, which is well above average, and in our battery efficiency test, it significantly outperformed competitors, achieving 2.2 minutes per percentage point.

App Controls

The mobile app is very impressive too. Ecovacs has been an industry leader for some time and has developed mobile apps that are as good as or better than top competitors. The N20+ offers multilevel maps, 3D mapping, recharge and resume functionality, tons of scheduling options, adjustable auto empty bin frequency, and even important features like carpet boost, which can be toggled on or off in the app.

The Ecovacs app maintains solid ratings on both iOS and Android stores as well.

Budget Price Point

But probably the biggest pro of all with the N20+ is the price.  Even though it’s similarly priced to our previous budget pick, the Eufy L60, it includes a mop where the Eufy L60 does not.

It also features the anti-hair tangle feature built-in and better software. So it’s no surprise that it currently holds our Vacuum Wars best budget robot vacuum pick on our Top 20 Robot Vacuum list.

Anything Not to Like?

Moving onto the cons, most drawbacks with the N20+ aren’t exactly cons – they’re really just pointing out features that more expensive robots have that it doesn’t. In other words, what you’re missing if you buy a cheaper model like this.

For example, it doesn’t include obstacle avoidance sensors on the front other than standard infrared for reducing wall bumping.

Beyond that, it’s just like older robot vacuums where you need to ensure the floor is relatively clear of clutter that could create tangles. Thankfully, unlike previous budget robot vacuums, it does offer no-go zones, so you can draw virtual barriers around areas where it’s likely to get stuck.

Another con was actually listed as a pro earlier – its mopping ability is nowhere close to those at higher price points in terms of features or performance, but it’s also extremely rare to see a robot vacuum mop combo at this price point, so it’s both a pro and a con.

Another consideration is that it’s a relatively new robot, and it’s always tough for us to enthusiastically recommend a product when it’s new because it may have some dealbreaker that doesn’t show up in our testing. Though we try to mitigate that now by taking into account its online reviews, and if its reviews decline over time, it will go down in our rankings on our top 20 list at our website, which we keep updated regularly.

Our Conclusion

The Ecovacs Deebot N20+ impresses as a budget-friendly robot vacuum that punches well above its weight class. It delivers exceptional cleaning performance on both hard floors and carpets, efficient navigation, a reliable app, and the convenience of a bagless auto-empty station—all at a price point that’s hard to beat. While its mopping capability and lack of advanced obstacle avoidance highlight its budget positioning, these are minor trade-offs considering its overall value. As our Best Budget Robot Vacuum of 2024, the N20+ sets a new benchmark for affordability without sacrificing quality. If you’re seeking a cost-effective robot vacuum with solid features, the Deebot N20+ is a standout option.