13-05-2025
Ecovacs Deebot X9 Pro Omni Combines Its Best Mopping And Vacuuming In One Bot
With an under-the-hood redesign, the X9 Pro is an impressive robovac
I know, I was just praising Ecovacs for delivering one of its more impressive mopping robovacs with the X8 Pro Omni, but the company just released a new version that combines the best parts of the X8 with the suction technology of their other high-end robovacs in one machine.
Ecovacs doesn't guarantee performance when standing the bot on its edge
Ecovac's latest and greatest flagship robovac (coming about a month after its other latest and greatest flagship bot…this company is prolific!) takes an upgraded Ozmo roller mop and adds a boosted vacuuming system to create an X-series robovac that's better than any other individual bot in the company's lineup.
I'm a big fan of roller mop technology. I first saw the technology applied in a robovac last year the Eufy S1 and instantly recognized how the tech could finally address the "dirty mop pad" issue of mopping robovacs.
The main issue at hand is simple—mops get dirty. Even if you have the bot go back and clean itself every 20 minutes or after each room, there's a non-zero amount of time when the robovac is mopping with dirty pads, essentially just redistributing dirt. Given, they are laying down fresh water as they go, so the bots are picking up some dirt as they move other dirt around but it's still problematic.
The mop has been reworked slightly for better performance
The Ozmo roller mop in the X9 is an evolution of the roller mop technology I saw last year. It's even an evolution over the X8 that I just saw last month. It applies considerably more downward pressure than your traditional mopping pads but it also cleans the roller as it rotates. The X9 has an improved roller comb that gathers debris as well.
Here to decimate dirt lodged in corners
The mop also has a neat trick where it extends out past the body of the X9, essentially squaring off the circle and reaching into edges where a roller mop that's stuck under the body of a circular robot couldn't reach. It does make the bot a bit whiny: that little motor extending and retracting isn't the quietest. Still, it's a small price to pay for every nook and cranny getting cleaned.
One note: while the X9 does regularly do a deep clean at the Omni station of the roller mop, you'll still need to get your hands dirty on occasion—there's still the small tray in the mopping unit that gets filled with slimy dirt after about a week or so of daily cleaning.
What's cool about the X9's upgraded wet mopping capabilities is that the bot can now raise the main brush and side brush when it detects a wet mess. So rather than driving into a spill and flinging it around or getting it sucked up into the vacuum portion of the bot, the X9 Pro Omni can clean it with just the roller mop. Lifting the wet mop so that you don't get carpets and rugs wet is practically standard at this point, but raising the dry cleaning components is rare. So rare that I've only seen it on one other bot—the Matic Robot (more on that in the coming days).
If it was just the roller mop that had gotten upgrades, the X9 would still be an impressive bot but Ecovacs pulled out the stops and added in their BLAST (Boosted Large-Airflow Suction Technology) system to improve the overall performance of the vacuum as well.
Possibly the first vacuum to be able to back up the claims made by its promo renders
BLAST is a combination of a redesigned on-demand 100W high-torque motor and SuperBoost battery. The motor takes advantage of an optimized airflow path to boost suction when needed (like on carpets and rugs). The battery delivers 50% higher discharge current but is also larger so that it lasts 2.5 times longer, all without heating up. What's interesting is that the overall suction of the X9 is actually lower at 16,600 Pa to the X8's 18,000 Pa. I'm actually OK with this since you don't really need all that suction on a regular basis for hard floors. You just need to be able to deliver increased suction and agitation when on carpet. The end result is that the X9 performs better on soft surfaces without sounding like a leaf blower or needing to recharge more often.
Other hardware has been improved as well, with third-generation ZeroTangle main and side brushes. Compared to the X8, you can see that the X9's brush is more robust. The side brush for the X9 is similar to designs I first saw on Roborock that uses two offset bristle arms instead of a multi-armed brush wheel. It's a small design shift but it means that the X9 is quieter and that there are little to no hair tangles.
Speaking of tangles, the X9 employs onboard AI to detect and avoid problematic items like shoes and cords. It will also use its AI to intelligently clean each room based on floor type and usage (like choosing to clean bathrooms last so as not to cross-contaminate). It will even figure out optimal paths based on previous blockages its encountered.
You can also (finally) add Ecovacs robots to your Apple Home using Matter. It's extremely helpful once you've set all the parameters you want in the Ecovacs app and you just want a single app to control things like scheduling.
Understated but effective
The X9 Pro is paired with Ecovac's Omni station—it's a great design that needs no upgrades. It washes and dries the mop with 145° hot air and needs little to no maintenance. Since roller mops use less water overall, you won't be filling up and emptying the reservoirs nearly as much as with a mop pad system. I'm sure that Ecovacs will make changes next calendar year but honestly, there's only so much more that can be done to improve the station at this point.
While it can be somewhat tiresome (if not impossible) to try and stay ahead of innovations in robovacs, the tech in the Deebot X9 Pro Omni is at the absolute top of the charts right now.
The Deebot X9 Pro Omni is on sale now on the Ecovacs site at a reduced introductory price of $1,299 ($1,599 MSRP).
