ECOVACS, with over 25 years in the robotic vacuum industry, has innovated again with the Deebot T20 Omni.
This advanced model features a unique omni station for automatic dustbin emptying and mop pad cleaning with hot water, ensuring efficient floor cleaning.
Equipped with 3D AI obstacle avoidance and multiple modes, the T20 Omni, despite its larger size, stands out for its high performance and advanced features, justifying its premium status in the market.
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- Dual spinning mop heads
- Effective hot water mophead cleaning
- Large-capacity water and waste tanks
- Auto-empty dustbin
- LIDAR navigation
- Highly effective obstacle avoidance
- Smart mapping with extra features
- Capable of cleaning high-pile carpets
- Small onboard dustbin capacity
- Struggles with larger particles like cat litter
- Uses a fair amount of energy
- Large footprint
This super-capable mopping robot is geared toward houses with hard flooring, but it doesn’t shy away from carpets—even high-pile ones.
Given all it can do, I highly recommend this robot vacuum for busy homeowners with mixed flooring that they want to keep looking pristine.
Yes, this vacuum does impressively well on carpet, but all the extra features are made for mopping. So this isn’t the best choice for homes that are predominantly carpeted.
It is also pretty huge and uses a decent amount of energy, so it wouldn’t be a great buy for homes lacking extra space or extra funds.
ECOVACS DEEBOT T20 Omni Review – The Quick Version
ECOVACS has been in the robotic vacuum industry since before that industry even existed. They are a service robotics company that has been making high-tech robots to help around the home for over 25 years. Once an innovative startup, ECOVACS is now an industry leader with nine Deebot robotic vacuum models, including one of my favorites, the Deebot X2 Omni.
One of their newest robots is the Deebot T20 Omni. Like so many other advanced robo vacs on the market now, this one features a hands-off omni station that automatically empties the dust bin. But this omni station also does so much more.
Inside the large unit are two high-capacity water tanks, one for clean water and one for wastewater. These tanks work together to clean the mopping pads and refill the onboard water tank throughout the floor-cleaning process. But what really sets this robot apart is the hot water wash feature.
Each time the robot returns to the docking station during cleaning, the mop pads are thoroughly cleaned with 131-degree water. This helps remove stuck-on grime, oil, and dirt from the mop pads. That means fewer streaks and cleaner floors.
ECOVACS combines this effective new feature with a long list of other useful tricks, including automatically lifting the mop heads over carpet and 3D AI obstacle avoidance. The T20 also features voice activation, automatic floor-type recognition, and multiple cleaning options.
All these cleaning features mean the Deebot T20 Omni is quite a bit bigger than your typical omni station vacuum. This begs the question, is its alleged cleaning prowess worth giving up a good chunk of space in your house?
I had the opportunity to try the ECOVACS Deebot T20 Omni in my own home to find out.
Not only did I use this robot daily to help keep my floors clean (while two dogs, a cat, and a five-year-old helped to make them dirty), but I also designed some specific tests to find out just what this advanced robotic can do.
I have tested dozens of smart robot vacuums from the highly affordable to the premier. Given all this vacuum can do and its higher price tag, it certainly qualifies as a premier option.
But, I have to say, I would happily pay much more for the T20 than what it actually costs.
The combination of smart auto-clean features and a 3D obstacle avoidance system that actually works as well as advertised make this one of the best robo vacs I’ve ever tried.
But it isn’t perfect. Some tech glitches in the app mean not everything works as smoothly as it should. And despite impressive cleaning capabilities, there are still a couple of areas this vac falls short.
To find out what I loved about the T20 and where it has room to improve, keep reading. Below you’ll find my full ECOVACS Deebot T20 Omni Robot Vacuum review including the results of my hands-on tests.
Deebot T20 Omni – What is It?
The Deebot T20 Omni is one of the newest smart robotic vacuums from ECOVACS. Its hot-water cleaning function sets it apart from the company’s many other advanced omni robots.
Each time the T20 returns to the dock during cleaning, it scrubs and rinses its own mop pads with 131-degree water. This provides a much deeper clean and ensures clean mop pads each time the vacuum goes out.
But this is just one of the many advanced features you’ll get with this robot.
The Deebot T20 Omni also offers:
- Automatic dustbin emptying and water reservoir refilling
- 6,000 Pa suction and a brushless roller
- Automatic carpet detection and mop lift
- Dual turbo pressurized spinning mop heads
- Voice activation and smart home connectivity
- Dual side brushes
- LIDAR navigation with TrueMapping technology
- Advanced 3D obstacle avoidance
- Multiple cleaning modes
- Hot air drying
Key Specifications
| Features | Our Measurements |
| Robot Dimensions | 13.5” across x 4” high |
| Station Dimensions | 17.5” across X 16.75” deep X 22.5” tall |
| Clean Water Tank Capacity | 4 L |
| Dirty Water Tank Capacity | 4 L |
| Navigation | LIDAR TrueMapping 2.0 |
| Cleaning Modes | Auto, Spot, Area, Furniture |
| Max Suction | 6,000 Pa |
| Vacuum Settings | Quiet, Standard, Strong, Max+ |
| Mop Settings | Low, Normal, High |
| Dustbin Capacity | 0.3 L |
| Noise Level | Avg: 57.5 dB, Max: 72.4 dB |
| Electricity Use | 0.37 kWh per day with average daily use |
| Battery Life | Over 2 hours |
Our Test Results
My first impression of the Deebot T20 Omni was, wow, this robo vac is huge! It came in a massive box that I could barely lift into the back of my car.
It wasn’t a great first impression, but the Deebot T20 quickly won me over as I tested its cleaning performance, navigation, and smartphone app.
Cleaning Performance
With two dogs, a 5-month-old kitten, and a five-year-old daughter, my household provided plenty of real-life scenarios to test the T20.
I spent most of my time testing the machine by running it through the same cleaning commands the average homeowner is likely to use.
I also constructed a few specific cleaning scenarios to see how it stacked up to the numerous other robotic vacuum cleaners I’ve tested.
Vacuuming
With 6,000 Pa suction, I expected a lot in terms of the vacuuming power of this robot. And it mostly delivered.
It had no problem picking up dog hair, dirt, and everyday debris off the hard flooring.
My throw rugs looked visually clean after it went over them. I tested the depth of this cleaning by vacuuming those rugs with my plug-in Shark vacuum afterward and was impressed by how little was left for the shark to pick up.
But what had me jumping for joy about this vacuum was the fact that it successfully cleaned my high-pile (near shag) living room rug.
This rug has been a nightmare for every single robot vac I have ever tested. The long fibers usually trip the fall sensors and stop the vacuum from working. The only vacuum that got close to cleaning it was the Viomi V3 Max, but only if I stood there and restarted it every time it errored out.
The Deebot T20 was able to clean the entire shag carpet without a single issue. And it looked pretty good afterward too!
The one area it definitely struggled was with picking up cat litter. The dual side brushes and floating rubber center brush just tossed the litter around, leaving it all over my floor when the robot was done cleaning.
So, if you have cats and want your robo vac to clean around the litter box, this robot may not be the best choice.
One other minor disadvantage of this robot is that the onboard dustbin is very small. This means the robot must return to the station frequently to empty it, especially when vacuuming carpets.
Mopping
Of course, the real standout feature of this robot is its advanced mopping system.
Most of the robots I’ve tested feature a flat mopping pad that gets dragged behind the robot. So, I can tell you from experience, that the dual spinning mop scrubbers of the T20 are much more effective.
I never once saw a dry streak behind the T20. It created consistently wet paths everywhere it went.
Even when set to standard wetness, I never once saw a dry streak behind the T20. It created consistently wet paths everywhere it went. For most mopping vacs I’ve tested, I have to set the water output to high and they still leave streaky results.
More importantly, the T20 left less noticeable cleaning marks after the water dried. This, I have to assume, is due to the effective intermittent hot water washes it goes through. You can even feel that heat coming off the mop pads after it leaves the station.
I tested the cleaning action of the station and the robot through various means.
The robot was easily able to clean up fresh spills and did a great job on dried-on spills as well. In both cases, the floor looked as if it had been hand-moped.
I also tested the cleaning power of the station by checking if the mop pads were clean after they had cleaned my test spills and after they had been scrubbed by the station. I was impressed with how clean they were!
Omni Station
The hot water wash feature of the Omni station works really well. I also really like the large water capacity of the clean and dirty water tanks in the station. It’s nice not to have to fill up the robot with clean water before every mopping session.
But it is worth noting that these tanks did not last nearly as long as I assumed they would. The clean water tank ran out after just two cleans. And the dirty water tank reached capacity not long after.
My main floor is about 635 sq feet. This means the 4 L water tanks only last about 1,270 square feet. If you have a large home, expect to have to fill the tanks at least once a week, depending on how often you run the robot.
One brighter side of the omni station is that the dust bag is rated to last for up to 75 days before it fills up, which is far longer than most.
The noise output of the omni station is about on par with other systems like this. It is fairly noisy ( ) when scrubbing the brushes and continues to make a low hum after cleaning during the drying period. The vacuum itself is about as loud as most mop/vacuum robots I’ve tested ( on standard suction).
Battery Life & Electricity Use
According to the marketing specs, the battery will last about 190 minutes when the robot is set to standard suction and mop mode. On low suction and vacuum-only mode, it is advertised as lasting for over 260 minutes—that’s over 4 hours!
This robot easily has the longest battery life of any I’ve tested. In fact, despite my many back-to-back tests, I never did run the battery out.
The T20 easily vacuumed and mopped my entire main level (about 630 square feet), which took upwards of 85 minutes, without running out of battery.
In terms of how much electricity this super robot vacuum uses, I was pleasantly surprised.
The hot water scrub and hot air drier mean it uses more electricity than your typical robo vac. But, according to my measurements, the cost is still rather low, especially compared to a manual vacuum.
I measured how many kWh my T20 station used for a full 24 hours on the day I had the robot mop and vacuum the entire floor. To scrub those mop heads multiple times, empty the dustbin, dry the mop, and recharge the robot only used 0.37 kWh.
For the average American, this amount of electricity costs just over 8 cents. Not a bad price for a fully mopped and vacuumed floor.
Navigation
Like the majority of Deebot robots, the T20 uses LIDAR navigation. The company refers to the navigation technology as TrueMapping. This version of the Deebot uses an updated version, TrueMapping 2.0.
LIDAR-style navigation is nice because it works quickly and allows the robot to see beyond obstacles to create a more accurate map of your home. In terms of mapping and obstacle avoidance, the T20 impressed.
Mapping
One thing I absolutely love about this robot is that it uses “quick mapping” to create its maps.
This means it quickly navigates through the level without cleaning and generates a full map based on what it finds. This way you can set no-go zones, customized room cleaning, and more before the robot actually cleans for the first time.
The map automatically divides into rooms that can then be merged, divided, and labeled as needed. The final map product looks very similar to other moderate to high-priced robots. But you do have the option to use the 3D map version, which looks pretty cool when it actually loads (more on that in the section below).
One less common feature that this map has is the ability to add home features such as furniture and doors. Rugs and flooring type are automatically uploaded to the map based on what the robot encounters.
Obstacle Avoidance
A lot about the Deebot T20 impressed me, but I have to say, its obstacle avoidance ability was just amazing.
This robot easily navigated around all large obstacles without bumping them. It could clearly “see” these items before getting close and moved to create the most efficient cleaning pattern around them.
I tested the finer obstacle avoidance ability of the T20 by creating an obstacle course of dog, cat, and kid toys—basically what my floor looks like on any given day!
Miraculously, the robot didn’t run over a single item. Even the crab toy, which is super low profile (less than half an inch tall) was completely avoided. It did bonk the cat ball once with its side, but otherwise, there were no collisions, even when the robot was backing up.
I very rarely say this, but this is one vacuum I would absolutely trust to clean my floors without me having to pick them up first.
Phone App
If there is one area of the T20 that didn’t blow me away, it’s the phone app.
The app itself is fine. It’s fairly easy to navigate considering all the features this robot has. But some of the features are a little glitchy.
The first issue I encountered was when I tried to divide one of the rooms on my map. Even though the dividing line was solid, it kept erroring out and would not actually divide the room. So now I just have a giant kitchen instead of a kitchen and living room on my map.
The second issue was when I tried to switch between mop and vacuum mode. The first time I did it, it worked fine. But the second time I tried to turn off the mop and just start it in vacuum mode, the robot ignored me and went right ahead and started mopping.
I couldn’t get the robot to do anything but mop and vacuum simultaneously for multiple cleaning sessions. I had to do a hard reset to get this functionality back.
The 3D map function, which is a neat feature, also stopped working for a period.
Luckily, like most apps these days, this one has the option for automatic updates. This means these bugs can be easily fixed and should be purged in the near future.
Deebot T20 Omni Alternatives
The Deebot T20 Omni is a great option if you have a lot of hard flooring or mixed flooring. It cleans both exceptionally well with hardly any input at all from you. It’s also remarkably affordable, considering how many advanced features it has.
But if you’re after a full-service omni robot that’s sold at a bargain price or need something a little more compact, there are other options out there.
The Yeedi Cube has many of the same great automatic cleaning features as the T20 but is about half the price. Like the T20, the mop pad is automatically cleaned throughout the mopping process and the dustbin is automatically emptied for hands-off cleaning. The freshwater tank on this bot is smaller and doesn’t have the same smart navigation or obstacle avoidance features, but it provides a pretty impressive clean.
For a robot with a more compact full-service station, the Roborock S7 MaxV Ultra is a great choice. Like the T20, this station contains a freshwater tank, dirty water tank, and dustbag, but the station has a lower profile and takes up less space. This robot is also a little cheaper than the T20 and has excellent obstacle avoidance, but the mop pad is not as advanced.
We an in-depth video comparing the X2 to the T20 Omni here.
| Specs | Deebot T20 Omni | Yeedi Cube | Roborock S7 MaxV Ultra |
| Best Feature | Hot water automatic mop wash | Bargain priced nearly full-service station | Compact full-service station |
| Station Features | Fresh water, dirty water, dustbag, mop scrub | Dirty water, dustbag, mop scrub | Fresh water, dirty water, dustbag, mop scrub |
| Navigation | LIDAR | VSLAM | LIDAR |
| Suction | 6,000 Pa | 4,300 Pa | 5,100 Pa |
| Price | $$$$ | $$ | $$$ |
Final Verdict
The ECOVACS Deebot T20 Omni impressed me at just about every turn. The highly effective dual rotating mop pads combined with the automatic hot water wash cleaned my floors better than most robots I’ve tested. And the advanced navigation and obstacle avoidance systems meant I could trust this robot to clean without me having to clean up first.
If you’re looking for a highly capable robot vacuum cleaner that requires almost no work from you, the Deebot T20 Omni is the way to go. It has all the features you need for cleaner hard flooring and carpets at a lower price than you might expect.
To find out more about what the T20 has to offer or to pick up one for yourself, click here.
