Say goodbye to consumables and hello to perpetually endless cleaning, as Ecovacs deals with a pet peeve for its upcoming robotic vacuums.
Robotic vacuums may well help with the seemingly bottomless cleaning job many of us have, but they also come with the return of a pain point of vacuuming from long ago: dust bags.
One of a vacuum’s only consumables from the good ol’ days is back with robotic vacuums, because you need to replace the vacuum bins for where all the dust goes. And every robo-vac has it.
Even though the standard stick vac has done away with the replaceable consumable that is a dust bag for years, robo-vacs still make money from the things, though typically include an extra in the box just to make life that little bit easier.
But change is on the cards, it seems, with one of the big players of the industry, Ecovacs, showing off what a robotic vacuum without dust bags can be like.
This year’s flagship model, the Deebot X11 OmniCyclone, features a docking station that goes sans-bag, using a cyclone tank that kind of works like the way a bag less stick vacuum does, but for storing the dust and debris sucked up by the robo-vac doing the work. That tank will hold up to 1.6 litres of waste and can be emptied with ease, using a cyclonic separation to keep the suction solid.
The X11 OmniCyclone’s bag-free tank is but one of the features Ecovacs has packed in, offering a new edge cleaning system to deal with closer mopping, the Ozmo Roller system for beating down strong and stubborn stains with more pressure, plus a vacuum system capable of delivering more airflow and suction, too.
There are also improvements to how it drives, with a four-wheel drive climbing system to handle small stairs, not to mention improvements to the AI and sensor driving the vacuum.
However, it’s the battery that could make the X11 OmniCyclone most useful. Built with Gallium Nitride (GaN), the same tech that allows battery charging blocks to get smaller while still packing the power, the Deebot X11 can cover roughly 1000 square metres before needing a charge thanks to quick bursts of power.
Ecovacs’ X11 OmniCyclone won’t be the only X11 model, with a similar model that retains the ditches the bag-free approach in the OmniCyclone and keeps with the bags while saving a few bucks.
Between them, there’s a rough $300 difference, as the Deebot X11 OmniCyclone sets a price of $2999 in Australia, while the X11 Pro Omni is priced at $2699, both on shelf from September 30.
A slightly different model will come in at under both of those, the T80 Omni, opting for similar features, such as the new stain-busting Ozmo Roller system, an anti-tangle suction technology, and improvements to the AI, as well.
Priced at $2299, the Deebot T80 Omni is like a less expensive take on the Omni idea, but without all the cool features of the other models, it seems. There isn’t an extra stick vac on the side like in the T30S Combo, but you mightn’t need it with this feature set.
September 30 is the day for that one, however, joining the rest of the range for a late-September release locally.
