One of the ongoing challenges of robot vacuums is that they tend to be too tall to fit under certain types of furniture. Historically, they also had their little pop-up heads that added to that height.
Ecovacs' latest model is the Deebot T50 Omni, a slimline unit that is just 81mm high, letting it slip under furniture easily.
Just like the T50 Pro Omni that I reviewed earlier this year, the T50 model offers 15,000 Pa of suction power, the anti-tangle "ZeroTangle 2.0" technology and the same level of edge cleaning.
But the newer T50 does make some sacrifices. The most noticeable is in the battery capacity, which is 5,200 mAh compared to the 6,400 mAh in the T50 Pro Omni.
What you get for your money
The T50 Omni packs in most of the features that make the Pro version so appealing. The TruEdge 2.0 system uses an extending side brush and mop plate to get within 1mm of walls, which Ecovacs claims gives it 98.9% edge coverage.
The ZeroTangle 2.0 technology uses V-shaped bristles angled at 45 degrees, combined with a spiral brush and comb teeth to prevent hair from wrapping around the brush. For anyone with long hair or pets, this is a genuinely useful feature that reduces the amount of maintenance you need to do.
The robot also includes AIVI 3D obstacle avoidance, which uses an RGB camera and 3D structured light to navigate around furniture, pets, and other obstacles. For what it's worth, the Pro model includes AIVI 3D 3.0. I'm not actually sure if there's a difference here, though.
The OMNI Station
Like other models in the range, the T50 Omni comes with an OMNI Station that handles most of the maintenance for you. It automatically empties the dustbin, washes the mop pads with 70°C hot water, dries them at 45°C, and refills the robot's water tank. Ecovacs says the 3L dust bag only needs changing every 150 days, which is pretty convenient.
The station also has a self-cleaning function that uses rotating scrapers and hot water to clean the base itself, which helps keep things hygienic and prevents odours from building up.
Battery and navigation
The T50 Omni has a 5,200mAh battery that Ecovacs claims provides 180 minutes of runtime. That should be enough to cover most homes in a single session. The robot uses dToF LiDAR for navigation, which is fully embedded into the body—that's partly how they've managed to keep the height down to 81mm.
One other key difference between this and the Pro version is that the T50 Omni only includes the YIKO 2.0 voice assistant, compared to the YIKO-GPT in the T50 Pro. Honestly, this isn't something I use aside from testing during the review process, so I don't consider it a big loss.
Other differences
I want to quickly call out two other features the T50 Omni lacks compared to the T50 Pro Omni.
The first is AI Instant re-mop, which does what its name says, and isn't a feature you should really worry about with a robot vacuum that uses rotating mop pads.
The second is the ability to make video calls through your vacuum. Again, I don't really see this as a huge loss, though I accept that for people with pets, there may be some benefit.
Pricing and availability
The new Deebot T50 Omni is available now for an RRP of $1,299 from Ecovacs and Amazon.
But interestingly, right now the T50 Pro Omni is also available for $1,299, down from its usual $1,499 RRP.
Which kind of begs the question: Why would anyone buy the T50 Omni at launch, when the (slightly) better Pro version is the same price?
I don't have an answer to that question, sorry.
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