Ecovacs Deebot N20 Plus

Purchased an Ecovacs Deebot N20 Plus to replace an older robot vacuum. Also wanted one that mops as well as vacuums so when this came up in a sale, it seemed the ideal time to make the jump. Unpacking and physically setting up the vacuum presented no particular problems ...except for the supplied instructions. The expectation appears to be… Read more

centred around you downloading the Ecovacs app onto a phone and following the instructions there. There is a “leaflet” rather than a manual supplied in the box, but it can be confusing as it appears to cover a few different models and it is never clear that a feature it references is for your model or another. I had at least two features mentioned that I believe mine had but after a few weeks of not being able to find them, I discovered with an internet search they were for a different model. This included the “follow on after interruption” and “vibrating mop” features (more of this later).

After assembly, the first job is to allow the vacuum to map the whole house. It is recommended that “unnecessary” items cluttering the floor (dog toys, stool legs etc) be temporarily removed while this is carried out. Initially, I was very pleased with the speed this was being carried out at and it was interesting to see the map forming in realtime on my phone app. However, I soon realised that it was also “looking” through our glass-sliding doors and mapping exterior elements like parts of the backyard and tiled pergola area. Upon realising this, I had to pull down all blinds and restart the mapping. Fortunately mapping our single storey house only took around 20 – 25 minutes.

Vacuuming - The vacuum process is operated from the phone app or from linking to Alexa/Google. I only have Alexa units and while I had no issue linking my old robot cleaner, I kept encountering a weird error message with the N20 Plus where it said it couldn’t find the robot, despite identifying its correct brand and model number on the screen. Annoying too, was the lack of customer response as two requests for assistance went unanswered. Performance wise, the app has three settings for suction power; Standard, Strong and Max. These can be adjusted while the robot is in the process of cleaning. You can also designate one or two passes to clean. It seemed to work very well on the hard floors and about as good as I would expect it to on carpet. That is, not as good as a designated hand held vacuum but suitable for daily maintenance. The only issue being that if it encounters a problem that causes it to pause, once you correct the issue, 99% of the time it will then announce it has finished and is returning to base. Additionally, lifting the robot even slightly off the floor not only produces a somewhat humorous voice response of “Off the floor. Please put me back” but it also seems to lose track of where it is. It will then roam around aimlessly, bumping into surrounding objects before announcing that it is lost and requesting you place it back on the base station. A typical example of this is we have a small coffee table with legs splayed at around 45 degrees. It will often attempt to climb a leg and in doing so lift itself off the floor resulting in it calling for help. After correcting this it very rarely wants to continue but rather will announce it is finished and try to return home. Again, this is a feature listed in the instructions but only after researching further do you find it relates to a different model. While vacuuming, you can track its progress in real time in the app where it will show a mop of the cleaning area, the current position of the robot and a “snail trail” showing exactly where it has already cleaned.

Mopping - The mopping pad must be manually added to the unit to commence the vacuuming/mopping process. It will announce this is done and will also remind you to remove the mop at the end of cleaning. While the mop is attached it will not cross over onto carpet and my experience with this indicates it has been excellent at avoiding the carpet with a wet mop. Cleaning solution must be added to the onboard tank before starting. You can add a purchased solution but I find it generally does just as well with water only. Don’t expect the mop to clean a dirty floor. Run this once or twice a week and it seems to do a good job at maintaining an already somewhat clean floor. On the app, you can adjust the water flow rate to either Low, Medium and High. To get adequate cleaning, I leave it on High but be aware there is no alarm or similar to indicate if the tank becomes empty. This is where I noticed the second “feature” difference as the instructions keep referring to the mop “vibrating”. I was finally able to ascertain that this too is a feature of another model. On this one, the mop simply drags behind the unit. I would recommend you dampen the mop before starting. Otherwise you will start off with a dry mop and it takes about 3 metres or so before cleaning solution starts to feed through. The mop is velcroed to the mounting plate and is easily washed in a washing machine every so often.

The Base Station - There is a bagless collection on the Base Station that needs to be periodically emptied. We run the robot most days and find it needs empting every two weeks ...although we do have a golden retriever which is very generous at shedding hair. Have had no issues with the vacuum returning to base, reversing in, empting its bin and recharging ...except for when it is interrupted as I said before. Spare parts are reasonably priced and cheaper knock offs are available from 3rd party sellers. Ecovacs “gamifies” adjusting settings in the app by awarding you points for doing certain things. Once accumulated, these points can then be used to receive discounts on maintenance parts. Warranty is two years and I have had no issue in the one year I have owned it ...apart from the side brush dislodging occasionally because it pushes on rather than screws on. Regular maintenance should include removing the internal bin and cleaning the filter. I find once a week works well as it doesn’t take long to do this and also check no cotton/hair tangles around the main brush. Just be aware, when you turn it upside down it has a large flat cover plate on top that is only held in place by gravity. Scheduled cleaning times can be set in the app.

Overall - It generally does the job for what we want and the price we paid. If we had bought it at RRP we would be expecting more. At close to half RRP we are prepared to forgive it somewhat. If you are just looking for a solid robot vacuum that does the basics, with some mopping ability and it’s on special, I’d recommend giving it a good look.

What I liked - * No fuss operation with a well set out app that shows realtime updates on cleaning progress along with keeping track on when various parts need to be cleaned or replaced * Found the battery run time noticeably superior to my previous cleaner and have never had it run out of power when doing a job * Price was good for what it does

What I didn’t like - * Lack of customer support * Poorly detailed instructions where many features relate to different models but this is not made clear. Even the app will come up with occasional hints but then you find its for a different model * Too easily gets lost if it has an “interruption”