Ecovacs Deebot N20 Series

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”

Ideal for whoever is in a hurry and has no time to be checking or buying dust bags, good suction, but is only wet and dry all time even if the app has the feature only dry, if you don’t want wet just don’t fill up water, easy to use good enough for… Read more ·  1

bigger areas as it has around 4 hours or 5 depending if there are many obstacles or carpets, once done it cleans the dust from the container to the basket which one click you can unlock open and dispose of the dust easily. Good on running time, efficient with pet hair and good value for money, $699 in special

Purchased this vac as the sales person raved about how good it was. It was not working properly, so I did mediation with ECOVACS. While the Customer Service was great, the issue was that I could not save more than one map at a time and the sunlight would cause it to not function properly - I've never run into this problem with previous vacs (other… Read more

brands)

For $1,000 I expected better, unless ECOVACS can fix these issues with their vacs - I won't be purchasing this brand in the future.

The 3 stars are for their Customer Service and prompt response.

It’s cleaning very well and by updating the software, I was able to add extra barrier walls and areas after the plan was made. I read some reviews regarding the hassle of editing the plan, but for me it’s not the case. I can define an area to exclude vacuuming. The power of vacuuming is adjustable but medium power is enough for me. I haven’t tried the mopping yet, but I’m sure it will work. Show details ·  1

YES! Finally a model that picks up all the dog hair and actually deposits the waste from deebot into the canister.. 2 German Shepherds that have endless hair supply… I like this model for the price and its functionality! I really love that it’s a bag less canister but it’s design is bloody terrible.. it is literally the only complaint I have,… Read more

there is literally no way to empty the waste contents without all the dust and crap getting into the rubber seal. It’s easy to remove and clean but why do I want to have to do that every time! Super easy maintenance and to clean all the components and change out the roller Still struggles with stupidity and if you’ve own a Bot before, you’ll know but he does a good job and much quicker than previously. Travels on tiles, carpet and hard floors without issue. It’s super quiet although it’s loud when he empties into main dock which only takes 2 seconds! Overall if your looking at this I’m super happy with me Dustee-2.0

Do not buy this product – Do not buy this machine. We spent nearly $1,000 on this machine and after only 1 month of use, we received a warning message on the app that the self empyting bin filter was heavily worn and needed replacement. And then the same message about the side brush and after 3 months of use, now the app says the main filter is heavily worn and needed… Read more

replacement. A robot vacuum should need need core components being replaced after only 1-3 months of use (this is not acceptable quality). The machine also doesn't map properly and we have had to re-map multiple times and it still misses mapping rooms in our house (so we have given up). Ecovac support rather than trying to solve the crux of the issue has told us just to press "replace" on the app so the messages go away. They also try to provide every excuse under the sun of why the machine may be having issues (such as "maybe your house is extra dirty" to why the parts have been heaving worn after only 1 month of use - is is not). My brother also bought an Ecovac and had the same mapping issues, is also receiving the same run around from Support and is trying to return his machine. Ecovac have refused to provide me a refund and have wasted a lot of my time with their long list of excuess, so I have now lodged a complaint with Victorian Consumer Affairs. I am also going to warn other consumers about my issues with this product so they don't make the same mistake as me and buy this machine.

Deebot vaccume game changer!! – We purchased the Ecovac Deebot N20 Pro Plus. We brought this model as it has the 8000pa suction for vaccumming the carpets. We have wood floors so this model doesn't have a big water tank which I didn't want due to maybe potention leakage on wooden floors. It suits our needs and house. The vacumme is brilliant the mopping is great, being able to… Read more

alter how much water on the mopping pad is great for me. It is easy to use and zoning room is convenient, I do my kitchen area daily. The only negative is the mopping pad doesn't do right to the edge of the skirts. Love this robot has been a game changer for me.

Very disappointing and very little support – We recently bought an Ecovacs N20 Pro Plus. I have to say that, when it works, it is impressive and cleans well. However, the first disappointment was that there is no User Manual - only a User Instruction leaflet that gives some very basic information but does not tell you how the device operates or what to expect. The next problem was in… Read more

mapping the house. They don't tell you that the robot will detect "rooms" that it thinks exist through any glass that is near to floor level. Unless you mask windows before mapping, you will need to set "Virtual Walls" to stop the robot from trying to bash its way through the glass! Overall, the mapping can be hit & miss and you might need to remap the house multiple times to get a useable, near-complete map. In our house, to clear rooms of simple obstructions, mask low windows, do the mapping and then replace everything, takes over 2 hours, so it's a pain if you need to do it 3 or 4 times! Unfortunately, even if only one room is mapped badly, you still need to remap the whole house! It may also be necessary to remap the house after a power failure. When you delete the map in the Smartphone App, it confirms that there is no map, however, as you start to map the house, it seems that the device still has the old map! I asked the "Support Team" about this but all they told me was to reset the entire device and go through all of the setup from scratch. When mapping, you have the option of "Map your Home" or "Start Cleaning". The Support Team told me that they were the same thing yet the actions are entirely different! "Start Cleaning" simultaneously maps every room by physically tracking the perimeter and then cleans them, so this seems to be the best option. "Map your Home" appears to wander into the centre of most rooms and, presumably, creates a map using only visual sensors - possibly! (there's no manual to explain anything). Finally, the crunch!! We refuse to leave lithium batteries "on charge" indefinitely so we switch the DEEBOT off once it is fully charged, as recommended by Australian Government authorities to avoid fire risk. The Support Team advised to leave the Charging Station switched on, which we now do. However, when you switch the DEEBOT back on and select a room to clean, it moves 30cm from its base and then reports "Unable to find Designated Area" and then returns to recharge! If you then select (say) a 1 square metre "Zone" in front of the charging station it is able to find and clean it. It then miraculously rediscovers its map of the entire house and you are able to select any room to clean! I have now exchanged well over 40 emails with the Ecovacs Support Team, who seem to know very little about the device and rarely actually read your emails or respond to questions. Finally, they sent the machine to their Repair Centre but even they didn't read the problem description and simply cleaned the sensors and sent it back so nothing changed!!

The Ecovas DEEBOT N20 Dilemma: Why This Robot Vacuum Missed the Mark for Our Busy Family! – The ECOVACS DEEBOT N20 promised a smarter, more efficient way to keep our home clean, but my experience with this robotic vacuum cleaner has been far from satisfactory. As a busy parent, I was excited about the idea of automated cleaning, especially with young kids at home. However, the DEEBOT N20 has repeatedly let me down in terms of navigation,… Read more

scheduling, and overall performance. Here’s an in-depth look at my experiences with this vacuum.

Navigation and Mapping One of the biggest frustrations with the DEEBOT N20 is its navigation system. It often struggles to find its way around our home, leading to inefficient cleaning sessions. The mapping process has taken numerous attempts, and even then, the vacuum frequently gets lost or disoriented. This lack of effective navigation often results in the vacuum not returning to its charging station, leaving it stranded and in need of rescue.

Charging Issues The charging issues have been particularly aggravating. I set up an automatic cleaning schedule, hoping to have the DEEBOT do its work while my kids are busy. Unfortunately, it often starts cleaning at random times, which can be disruptive. I’ve had it start its vacuuming cycle right in the middle of my kids’ nap time, startling them when it unexpectedly rolls into the room. This inconsistency is a significant drawback for a product that’s meant to simplify household chores.

Performance While the DEEBOT N20 does vacuum, its effectiveness is inconsistent. There are days when it seems to work adequately, but more often than not, it misses spots and doesn’t provide the thorough clean I expect. The vacuuming capabilities can be hit or miss, and I find myself having to manually clean areas it neglects.

Mopping Functionality I was hopeful about the mopping feature, thinking it would help keep our floors spotless, especially with kids and pets. Unfortunately, the mopping performance has been disappointing. Instead of cleaning, it often ends up making the floors dirtier. I’ve tried using the mop attachment several times, but it seems to spread dirt around rather than lift it. In the end, I decided to remove the mop entirely and only use the DEEBOT for vacuuming, if it even works on that day.

Connectivity Issues Another significant issue is the vacuum’s tendency to go offline. I’ve encountered numerous instances where the DEEBOT disconnects from the app, making it impossible to monitor or control it remotely. This lack of reliable connectivity further compounds the frustrations of using this robotic vacuum.

Overall, my experience with the ECOVACS DEEBOT N20 has been underwhelming. The navigation problems, charging inconsistencies, and poor mopping functionality make it hard to recommend this vacuum, especially for busy families like mine. While the concept of a robotic vacuum is appealing, the DEEBOT N20 has not delivered on its promises. If you're considering investing in a robotic vacuum, I suggest exploring other options that offer better navigation, reliability, and overall cleaning performance. Unfortunately, the DEEBOT N20 has proven to be more of a headache than a helpful household companion.