This Ecovacs robot vacuum and mop is a sleeper hit, and it handles carpeting like a champ

Robot vacuums are a fantastic way to keep your floors clean in between deeper manual cleanings. They’re also a great way to cover large areas with little effort. But carpets and rugs can be a struggle for these devices, regardless of whether they’re entry-level or high-end models. 

Robot vacuums must maintain enough force to move forward during cleanings, so manufacturers have to balance their suction power with their torque. 

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Because of this, robot vacuums don’t always perform as well on carpets as traditional push vacuums. This is especially true when they’re faced with tough challenges, like pet hair. But one of the devices trying to flip this upside down is the Ecovacs Deebot X9 Pro Omni.

The Deebot X9 Pro Omni features 16,600Pa of suction power, which is very high but not as powerful as the market leader. Ecovacs has given this robot vacuum what it calls boosted large airflow suction technology (BLAST), which generates 16.3L/s of airflow when the robot goes over carpet. In the company’s testing, this represented a 147.6% increase in dust removal on carpet. 

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In my tests of rice over carpet and rugs, the Deebot X9 Pro Omni removed 98% of all the rice, which is the best performance I’ve seen on soft floors. In arbitrary testing, the robot was also able to remove most of the visible pet hair on rugs and carpet, which is a big achievement, as most robot vacuums can’t remove pet hair as efficiently as traditional vacuums. 

The X9 Pro Omni is a 2-in-1 robot vacuum and mop; it has all the features you’d expect from a flagship device of this type: a self-emptying dustbin and a self-washing mop. The mop is an OZMO self-cleaning roller mop, a technology from Tineco, that spins up to 220 times per minute. This roller mop has higher mopping pressure than the previous flagship, at 3,700Pa.

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I like that I can adjust the moisture level for the mopping feature to prevent the mop roller from leaving streaks on my hardwood floors. But the mop roller is very effective overall, with outstanding mopping power that’s very close to what you get from a manual mop, but with zero work on your part. 

One of the X9 Pro Omni’s most impressive features is its new, larger battery. Ecovacs says this is an EV-grade pouch battery that offers 2.4 times the battery life of previous models. This helps the robot finish cleaning jobs in a shorter time, as it doesn’t have to return to the dock to recharge as often as other robots. 

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ZDNET’s buying advice

The Ecovacs Deebot X9 Pro Omni is the perfect robot vacuum and mop for shoppers who have a lot of soft floors at home, but still need a mopping feature. This robot’s performance rivals that of other high-end robots, like the Roborock Saros 10 and Saros 10R, and the iRobot Roomba Combo 10 Max. 

If you’re unsure about choosing one of the three but really value the improved carpet suction feature and the mop roller versus a mop pad, then you’d do well to choose the X9 Pro Omni.