Ecovacs Deebot X2 OMNI review: It’s hip to be square

If you’ve been searching for a new robot vacuum cleaner, then you’ve probably faced a wall of very similar-looking machines; large, circular-shaped bots that wouldn’t look out of place as ‘flying saucer’ props in an Ed Wood movie.

Unless you’ve seen the Deebot X2 OMNI, that is. Ecovacs has introduced a sleek new square-shaped design for its 2023 flagship model, and it is a great-looking robovac.

The Deebot X2 OMNI is the top-shelf vacuum from Ecovacs this year, and it comes with a top-shelf price tag. At $2,499, it is one of the pricier robot vacuum cleaners in the market at the moment, though Roborock, iRobot and Dyson all have similarly priced models.

That said, not all of the machines from these brands offer the same feature set and accessories. For example, the X2 OMNI comes bundled with the OMNI charging station that automatically empties the dustbin and cleans the mopping pads. The Roborock S8 Pro Ultra has a similar charging station, but costs a few hundred dollars more. The new Dyson 360 Vis Nav has no cleaning station accessory available at this time.

The square shape of the X2 OMNI sets this robovac apart on store shelves, but it’s not just a matter of form over function. The new design offers several improvements over last year’s X1, with a lower profile, so it can scoot under furniture, and rounded corners to help get the side brush closer to the edges of each room.

Ecovacs has moved the LiDAR mapping laser from the top of the unit to a new dual-laser design embedded in the X2. This reduces the height of the vacuum to 95mm which is nearly a centimetre shorter than the X2. This may not sound like a great deal, but you might find it is the difference between whether your robovac cleans under grandma’s heirloom buffet, or if you’ll need to pull out your stick vac to do it yourself.

There are a few changes on the underside of the vacuum too, compared with last year’s model. The main brush is still a rubber roller (which is far superior to older brush-style rollers) but this year the main brush is longer, meaning a larger area of suction. There’s only one side brush too, positioned at the front on the right side, which is another efficiency that comes with a square design.

The mopping system features the same rotating circular mopping pads we’ve seen in previous Ecovacs models, but it can now lift the mopping pads when it detects a carpeted area, so you can trust it to work on both hard and soft surfaces without having to take the mopping pads off between cycles. A new feature of the OMNI station is a mop-cleaning function that heats clean water to clean the mopping pads before use.

Speaking of the OMNI charging station, it comes with all of the features you’d expect to come with a premium robovac. It charges the X2, empties the dustbin, and thoroughly washes the mopping pads after each cycle. You can set the X2 to return to base and clean the mopping pads mid-cycle too, using the Ecovacs app.

One word of warning though; the dirty water tank gets rather stinky after cleaning the mopping pads. On the one hand, this is great as you can clearly see all of the good work the mop achieves. On the other hand, the smell makes me gag every time I clean it out, which is once every couple of days.

Along with its numerous physical updates, the X2 OMNI makes use of an improved version of the Ecovacs app, which you’ll use for setting up and controlling the robovac. We found the setup process simple enough, but your mileage may vary depending on how comfortable you are with smartphone apps to begin with.

Along with its numerous physical updates, the X2 OMNI makes use of an improved version of the Ecovacs app, which you’ll use for setting up and controlling the robovac. We found the setup process simple enough, but your mileage may vary depending on how comfortable you are with smartphone apps to begin with.

The rotating mopping pads also do a pretty good job, which is evident each time I empty the dirty water tank in the OMNI station. In our tests, it easily cleaned tomato sauce and mustard spills, but struggled with small blobs of honey. This was a good chance to try the new ‘spot cleaning’ function, where you can drag and drop the vacuum cleaner icon on the map in the software, and the X2 will clean just a small square around this marker. After this more intensive cleaning, the honey was off the floor.

Ecovacs claims its new “AI-enabled navigation” is far better at spotting obstacles from farther away and seamless reroutes its pathing to accommodate the obstacle and to return and clean the area before finishing the cycle. With a dog and toddler at home, I saw this improvisation take place on numerous occasions, and was impressed with our easily it seemed to carry on the current cycle without colliding with anything in its way.

There’s a 6400mAh rechargeable battery in the X2 OMNI, which Ecovacs estimates will last up to 210 minutes of runtime. I have the vacuum set to a medium suction level and the minimum mopping option, and it runs for about 180 minutes before a recharge is required.

Along with its numerous physical updates, the X2 OMNI makes use of an improved version of the Ecovacs app, which you’ll use for setting up and controlling the robovac. We found the setup process simple enough, but your mileage may vary depending on how comfortable you are with smartphone apps to begin with.

The Deebot X2 OMNI is one of the best robot vacuum cleaners you can buy today, and it is easily the most attractive. It has more than enough technology and thoughtful conveniences to justify its ticket price, and while you’ll still need to vacuum to clean those tricky nooks and edges yourself, the X2 is a superb cleaning assistant that will keep your place neat and tidy.