Welcome to another Vacuum Wars robot vacuum review. This time we have a review of the Ecovacs Deebot T20 Omni robot vacuum. The T20 is the latest flagship robot vacuum from Ecovacs, and it has all of their best tech packed into one product.
When it was announced we couldn’t wait to get our hands on one to see how it would compare with the X1 Omni which preformed pretty well when we reviewed it. After putting it to the test over the past several weeks, we were not only extremely impressed with its performance and features, but also with its value.
- Excellent obstacle avoidance
- Great at vacuuming & mopping
- Packed with features
- Modestly priced
- Large docking station
Navigation and Features
The Ecovacs Deebot T20 uses LiDAR navigation on top for its basic mapping and navigation, as most top-tier Deebots do, as well as premium robot vacuums we’ve reviewed. But it also has a suite of obstacle avoidance sensors in front which are used for avoiding objects that are too low for its LiDAR to detect and too light for its bump sensor to detect.
Ecovacs went with a structured light system and laser combination for its obstacle avoidance sensors this time, getting rid of the camera like on the X1 and T10 Omni and Roborock’s flagship, the S8 Pro Ultra. Dropping the camera looks to be becoming a trend with premium robot vacuums, probably because it does away with security concerns that can make consumers uncomfortable.
What’s interesting is that not having a camera-based system does not appear to be a downgrade. In fact, in our obstacle avoidance tests, the T20 had the highest score we’ve seen so far, an 11 out of a possible 12 (and we’ll need to update our Best Robot Vacuum with Obstacle Avoidance Comparison). This suggests that Ecovacs is improving this technology and reducing the cost at the same time.
In the Box
Omni Station
Another big feature is the new Omni Station which has auto dust bin emptying, mop pad washing, tank filling, and auto mop pad drying. All of which the X1 Omni had too, but the new T20 also is the first robot vacuum that has heated water mop pad washing. This should make it even better at removing stains from the mop pads and reducing maintenance.
We tested this and found that it was really good at removing stains, though it was more lukewarm water than hot water. But still, better than cold water. The Omni Station has large clean and dirty water tanks which are easy to remove and empty and, overall, we found the entire bin system operates exactly as it should, giving the user a truly automated experience.
Mop System
The mop system itself also has some new elements. It still uses two spinning brushes spinning at 180 RPMs with downward pressure. But for the first time, they also included a mop pad lifting mechanism which means that when it senses carpet, it will lift up the mop pads so it doesn’t get the carpets wet.
Other robots we’ve tested with this feature include the iRobot Roomba Combo j7+ and a few different Roborock 2-in-1 robot vacuum and mop models. We tested the T20’s system out and found it to be pretty good. There is one model that lifts it’s pads higher, and that’s the Eufy X9 Pro.
The real value of the auto-lifting pads, though, is that if you have a mix of hard floors and carpets, you no longer have to attach and detach the pads and do a completely separate run in order to mop. You can do it all in one run and dramatically increase efficiency and reduce the things that you have to think about.
The Ecovacs Deebot T20 Omni has literally every major feature a robot vacuum could have. Its performance on things like the obstacle avoidance test were the best we’ve seen, and its general vacuuming and mopping performance is top-tier.
Roborock introduced mop lifting on its premium robot vacuums, notably with the S7 MaxV Ultra which dominated top results for both cleaning ability and efficiency for quite some time. Roborock also has a robot vacuum with spinning dual mopping pads. That robot is the Roborock Q Revo. It should make for a great comparison with the T20.
Ecovacs App
The Ecovacs app has pretty much every feature a premium robot vacuum has to offer: like virtual barriers which keep it from going where you don’t want it to go, specific room or area options, and advanced scheduling features where you can set the power levels for each room or the order that you want it to clean in.
The T20 also has multi-level maps, quick mapping, lots of options for how you want it to return to the bin or wash the pads or how long you want it to dry the pads. The long feature list also includes 3D mapping, carpet boost settings, an AI voice assistant, and more.
Vacuuming Performance
Moving on to performance with its basic job of vacuuming hard floors and carpets, we were incredibly impressed. It has two side brushes and a new anti-tangle brush design which makes it very smooth with debris pickup on the surfaces of hard floors and carpets. It was also above average with vacuuming up deeply embedded dirt in carpets and it had above average scores with certain power metrics like airflow.
Mopping Performance
As far as mopping performance, we tested this in a variety of ways and we found it to be as good or better than any premium robot vacuum with some minor limitations. For example, it almost perfectly cleared our dried-on grape juice test and other dried-on tests. It was good with wet tests as well, but as with all of these robot mops, it’s easy to overload the pads by giving them too much to pick up which can cause streaking.
This is one of the reasons we like the app feature on the T20 which allows you to send it back to the station more often to clean the pads if you anticipate a very soiled area. But in most cases, with very light dried-on mopping tasks, we think the normal setting on the T20 will work just fine with no streaks.
Navigation Tests
In the navigation tests, where we do several runs on a fixed floor plan on different power settings, we found that the T20 was more efficient than average. In those tests, we also found that its battery efficiency was better than average.
If you run all the calculations, the T20 can cover around 1700 square feet per charge, which is more than the previous versions and way above average. But take those numbers with a grain of salt, since there are so many variables that can change in your situation.
Consumer Experience
Moving on to the cons, sometimes the app would freeze up and we had to close it to get it to work, which is probably just a minor bug that can easily be fixed. Also, at one point, one of the auto-lifting pads sort of got dislodged when we removed one of the pads. It was easy to fix by pushing it in and twisting it, but it makes us wonder if there will be some issues with that down the road.
Really, that’s the main thing we want to know – what kind of experiences consumers will have with this in the real world over time. This is always a question with brand new products like this because if it does well and people have relatively few problems with the T20, then we have to say, at this price point which is so much cheaper than its direct competitors, it’s going to be hard to beat.
Our Conclusion
The Ecovacs Deebot T20 Omni has literally every major feature a robot vacuum could have. Its performance on things like the obstacle avoidance test were the best we’ve seen, and its general vacuuming and mopping performance is top-tier. So, if we had to choose today, the T20 would probably win our best robot vacuum in the premium category.
Ecovacs Deebot T20 Omni Specs
| Ecovacs Deebot T20 Omni | |
|---|---|
| Vacuum Type | Robot vacuum & Mop |
| Self-emptying | Yes |
| Self-refilling | Yes |
| Mop cleaning | Yes, Heated |
| Obstacle Avoidance | Yes |
| Navigation | LiDAR |
| Suction | 6000pa |
| Max Run Time | 260 min |
| Robot Dimensions | 14.3” x 14.3” x 4.1” |
| Robot Weight | 9.7 lbs. |
| Omni Dock Weight | 30.9 lbs. |
| Colors | White |
| Battery Type | Lithium Ion |
| Battery Size | 5200mAh |
| Time to Full Charge | 6.5 hrs. |
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the difference between the Ecovacs Deebot X1 Omni and T20 Omni?
There are three significant differences to be aware of. First, the T20 Omni can lift its mop pads whereas the X1 Omni cannot. Second, the T20 Omni uses heated water to wash its mop pads. Third, the T20 has 6000Pa of suction power whereas the X1 Omni has 5000Pa.
Does the Deebot T20 Omni have obstacle avoidance?
Yes. The Deebot T20 Omni’s TrueDetect 3D laser-based obstacle avoidance technology. In our tests it performed very avoiding 11 out of 12 obstacles.
Does the Ecovacs Deebot T20 Omni have a camera?
No. The Ecovacs Deeobt T20 Omni does not have an onboard camera. The lack of camera did not hinder its obstacle avoidance.
