BGR

Stronger than Roomba? ECOVACS T50 Max redefines carpet cleaning power

When people shop for a high-end robot vacuum that can do it all, they typically have an important choice to make. They can either get … The post Stronger than Roomba? ECOVACS T50 Max redefines carpet cleaning power appeared first on BGR.

Mar 18, 2025 - 13:25

Stronger than Roomba? ECOVACS T50 Max redefines carpet cleaning power

This is a sponsored article. All content and opinions expressed within belong to the author.

ECOVACS DEEBOT T50 MAX PRO OMNI

The latest model from ECOVACS competes with ultra-high-end robots, but it costs far less than other flagship models.

Skip To Our Expert Review

Pros

Super-strong suction
Anti-tangle tech
Excellent edge cleaning
Impressive mopping
AI-powered obstacle avoidance
Priced lower than competitors

Cons

OMNI Station is a bit large
Powerful fan gets loud at times

Buy From	List Price	Sale Price
ECOVACS	$999.99	$849.99	See It
	$999.99	$849.99	See It

When people shop for a high-end robot vacuum that can do it all, they typically have an important choice to make. They can either get a pretty good model that's affordable or a top-of-the-line model that costs a fortune. Some models can easily set you back $1,500, $1,600, or even more. That's a whole lot of money to spend on a robot vacuum, but it's worth the expense for people who want the best of the best. At least, it used to be worth the expense until now.

With the launch of the new ECOVACS DEEBOT T50 MAX PRO OMNI, people no longer have to choose between cost and quality. That's because this exciting new model does everything a $1,600 robot vacuum and mop hybrid can do, but it does it all at the $999.99 price point.

I have spent the past month testing the ECOVACS DEEBOT T50 MAX PRO OMNI robot vacuum and mop, and I have been extremely impressed. But can it really compete with top-of-the-line competitors that cost 60% more money? Let's dive into this extensive review and find out.

ECOVACS DEEBOT T50 MAX PRO Omni Robot Vacuum and Mop, 18,500Pa Suction, 18mm Auto-Lift, ZeroTan…

Price: $849.99
You Save: $150.00 (15%)
Buy Now

ECOVACS DEEBOT T50 PRO Omni Robot Vacuum and Mop, 3.19” Ultra-Slim, 15,000Pa Suction, ZeroTangl…

Price: $679.99
You Save: $120.00 (15%)
Buy Now

Setting it up

The very first interaction any of us have with a new robot vacuum is the setup process. That's why it's so important for companies to make the experience as painless as possible. Good news: ECOVACS does a terrific job of making the DEEBOT T50 MAX PRO OMNI simple to set up.

Everything comes packed well in the box, and there's plenty of protection so nothing gets hurt on the way to your home. When you unpack everything, however, the first thing you'll notice is that the OMNI Station is a bit large and unwieldy.

This shouldn't come as much of a surprise since big base stations have become pretty common these days among high-end robot vacuum and mop hybrids. After all, the base station needs to have room for the internal dust bag as well as two water tanks and a self-cleaning system. We'll circle back to all that when we get to functionality.

Once you pick a spot for the OMNI Station, simply plug it in and start charging your robot. I should note that you'll need a bit of free space on either side of the base station to ensure that your robot doesn't run into problems when departing or docking. I had no trouble finding an out-of-the-way location for the OMNI Station on the first floor of my house, and then I just plugged it in and began charging the robot. It's that easy.

A simple setup might not seem like a big deal, but I can assure you that it is. I have tested nearly 200 different robot vacuum models over the past decade, and you would be surprised at the problems that arise during setup. Some models take multiple attempts to properly map your home. Others constantly get stuck as they motor around your floors. I even tested a couple of robot vacuums that were missing parts out of the box. Thankfully, everything was smooth and easy with the ECOVACS DEEBOT T50 MAX PRO OMNI.

Before you do your preliminary mapping run, it's a good idea to download the ECOVACS HOME app (iOS, Android). I've used this app plenty of times in the past since I've tested so many ECOVACS robot vacuum models. It has a great layout, and it makes controlling your robot a breeze.

After adding the ECOVACS DEEBOT T50 MAX PRO OMNI to your app and finishing the setup, all you have to do now is wait for it to finish charging. ECOVACS says that the first charge could take as long as 3-4 hours, but the test unit that ECOVACS sent me was all charged up in less than 2 hours.

After I noticed that the charge was complete, I sent it off to map the first floor of my house. Since I have an open floorplan on the first floor of my home, some robot vacuums have trouble mapping it and accurately dividing the rooms. The DEEBOT T50 MAX PRO OMNI did a great job, though, and it mapped everything perfectly on the first pass.

Now, it's time to get cleaning.

How does it perform?

As important as a smooth setup process is, it's also something that you'll only have to worry about once. Needless to say, it's much more important that the robot vacuum performs well on a daily basis. After all, the whole point of a smart gadget like this is to make your life easier.

The ECOVACS DEEBOT T50 MAX PRO OMNI falls into a somewhat new category of high-end robots that I refer to as "hands-off." That's because when they do their jobs properly, you don't have to worry about any of the annoying things that older robot vacuums and entry-level models necessitate. Now, things like emptying internal debris bins and refilling internal water tanks are no longer a concern.

When it comes to vacuuming, you should only have to worry about two things: changing the dust bag in the base station once every few months, and regular maintenance. As for mopping, the ECOVACS DEEBOT T50 MAX PRO OMNI fills its own water tank and washes the mop pads on its own. That means you only need to worry about refilling the OMNI Station's clean water tank and emptying the dirty water tank.

Everything else should be on cruise control, so to speak, and that has definitely been my experience so far. I haven't had any issues that required me to intervene, such as hair tangles or having the robot get trapped somewhere. Running the ECOVACS DEEBOT T50 MAX PRO OMNI has been very smooth, so reliability shouldn't be an issue for you at all.

Vacuuming

According to ECOVACS, the DEEBOT T50 MAX PRO OMNI features BLAST technology, packing the power of a full-size vacuum cleaner into a compact robot. Its 100W high-power motor delivers twice the airflow of standard models, ensuring enhanced cleaning performance—especially for large particles and deep carpet cleaning.

That all sounds pretty cool, but it's tough to compare it to rival robot vacuums because that's not how they measure suction.

So, how does the DEEBOT T50 MAX PRO OMNI compare? Thankfully, ECOVACS also gave us a more standard way to measure: this model offers max suction power of a whopping 18,500 Pa. That means it's one of the most powerful robot vacuums on the market. Also of note, the suction is about twice as strong as most other models I've tested in the $1,000 price range.

That's crazy!

Numbers on paper are great, but real-life performance is obviously what matters. In my testing, the DEEBOT T50 MAX PRO OMNI has been very impressive. It handles everyday dirt and dust with no problems whatsoever, whether it's on hard floors or on carpets and rugs. This ECOVACS model automatically boosts suction when it reaches a rug, so you don't have to worry about debris being left behind in between the carpet fibers.

I also stress-tested the DEEBOT T50 MAX PRO OMNI with some more difficult debris. Examples include soil and crunched-up leaves from outside, crushed cereal, broken potato chips, and even some glitter. These are all things that might find their way to your floor in real life, and the DEEBOT T50 MAX PRO OMNI did a fantastic job of cleaning them up. The only thing it had a little trouble with was glitter on a rug, which is to be expected. After a few passes, however, I didn't see any glitter left on the floor.

Carpet and rug performance is where the T50 MAX's BLAST Tech really shines. It's nothing short of groundbreaking, and I need to tell you all about it.

Going into this review, I was a bit skeptical of ECOVACS's claim that the T50 MAX PRO OMNI packs the power of a full-size stick vacuum into a compact robot vacuum. After all, that's a bold claim to make. After spending time testing this model's performance on carpeting and rugs, however, I was shocked at how strong the suction is. I dug deep into my rugs after the T50 MAX vacuumed them, and I couldn't find any pet hair at all. If you knew my dog and how much he sheds, you would be as shocked as I am.

No other robot vacuum I've ever tested has performed this well on carpets and rugs. For years, robot vacuums have improved in mapping and AI, but not in suction power. With BLAST Tech, the T50 Max changes that, delivering the kind of power you’d expect from a full-size stick vacuum.

The 100W fan and other novel motor features obviously enable ECOVACS's new BLAST Tech, but there's one more innovation inside that I don't want to overlook. The robot has a special new 6,400mAh SuperBoost Battery that delivers 50% higher discharge current and generates 50% less heat than a standard battery you'd find in other robot vacuums. Without it, there's no way the DEEBOT T50 MAX PRO OMNI could offer such strong suction, which is why other robot vacuum models can't match it.

All that being said, it's also worth noting that when the robot turns its suction up to high, it can get pretty loud. Of course, it's more than worth the extra volume when you see how well it cleans.

Pet hair (and people hair)

This is a particularly important area of interest for me personally because I have a dog who sheds constantly, all year long. That means that I won't even consider using a robot vacuum unless it can tackle tough pet hair. On top of that, I have long hair myself, so I need a robot vacuum that won't get tangled constantly when it cleans my floors.

ECOVACS uses what it calls ZeroTangle 2.0 technology to keep the roller brush from getting tangled with hair. If you're wondering whether or not it actually works, I'm happy to report that it does.

I really torture-tested the roller brush by piling on more pet hair (and person hair) than any robot vacuum would ever have to realistically deal with. It was all sucked up without any issues whatsoever.

Of course, I do expect that users will still have to pull out some hair a few times a year as part of routine maintenance. That's true with every robot vacuum on the planet, no matter which one you use. Those cleanings should be much less frequent with the DEEBOT T50 MAX PRO OMNI, however, because I haven't noticed any hair buildup yet, even after a month of testing.

Mopping

Mopping features are just as important as vacuuming performance on a high-end hybrid robot. After all, even the strongest suction won't help with wet and sticky messes.

The ECOVACS DEEBOT T50 MAX PRO OMNI features an impressive mopping system to wash your floors. This model's mop pads do a good job of applying pressure and cleaning up messes. They automatically raise about 3/4 of an inch off the ground as the DEEBOT T50 MAX PRO OMNI approaches carpets or rugs to avoid getting them wet.

Also, as you can see in the video below from ECOVACS, there's also an auto-extending mop arm that reaches out to ensure no corners or crevices are left unmopped.

I tested the DEEBOT T50 MAX PRO OMNI with wet messes on the tile floor in my kitchen, and it did a great job. I also tried a few tougher tests, such as leaving sugary fruit juice and grape jelly on my floor overnight. Despite how gross and sticky it was in the morning, the robot mopped it up without leaving any residue or stickiness behind.

Obstacle avoidance with deep-vision AI

The third iteration of ECOVACS's obstacle avoidance tech is called AIVI 3.0, and it combines several key technologies. We don't need to get too deep into the weeds here, but there are a few things you should know.

First, yes, it uses AI. Everything uses AI. However, unlike some companies that are just trying to ride the wave of AI hype, ECOVACS's implementation of AI is actually useful. Thanks to its AI-powered deep-vision camera, the DEEBOT T50 MAX PRO OMNI "sees" and avoids obstacles better than ever before.

Many robot vacuums out there take a very wide berth around obstacles, which means there is a big area on the floor that isn't cleaned. Other robot vacuums don't have obstacle avoidance at all, so they just run into things and get tangled on cables.

Meanwhile, take a look at this video from ECOVACS to see how the DEEBOT T50 MAX PRO OMNI performs:

In my testing, I really did find that the ECOVACS DEEBOT T50 MAX PRO OMNI is as good at avoiding small obstacles as you see in that video. It's actually really cool to see it in action.

YIKO-GPT AI voice assistant

Personally, I'm not a huge fan of proprietary voice assistants in robot vacuums. Integration with popular options like Alexa is neat, since it lets you give voice commands using a system you already know. But the idea of learning an entirely new voice assistant just to use with my robot vacuum isn't something that has ever appealed to me.

That being said, the DEEBOT T50 MAX PRO OMNI's voice assistant is actually pretty cool.

Following the advent of ChatGPT and all the other genAI out there, ECOVACS has upgraded its own YIKO assistant with AI. The result is YIKO-GPT, and I had a lot of fun testing it.

Like ChatGPT, YIKO-GPT is multimodal. That means you can use your voice to interface with it, or you can type commands in the ECOVACS app. I actually found it to be very useful because it understands commands better than you might expect. Also, it's easier to say or type "mop the kitchen" than it is to hunt around in the app so you can select the proper room on the map, select the cleaning mode you want, and start a new cleaning session.

OMNI Station

Last but certainly not least, we have the OMNI Station. After all, that's what puts the "OMNI" in the DEEBOT T50 MAX PRO OMNI's name.

All-in-one robot vacuum and mop models like this one generally have pretty huge docking stations, and ECOVACS's latest DEEBOT is no exception. To me, however, the added bulk is worth it when you consider what you get.

Apart from charging the robot, the OMNI Station also sucks all the dirt and dust out once it's done cleaning your home. According to ECOVACS, this model offers up to 90 days of auto-emptying before the debris bag in the base station needs to be changed. I've only been testing it for a month so far, so I can't confirm that. What I can confirm, however, is that mine currently has a TON of dog hair in it, plus everything else from all the testing I've done, and it still hasn't needed to be replaced.

Next, we have the water tanks inside the OMNI Station. There's one tank with clean water that it uses to fill the mop before it departs. Then, there's a second tank that sucks up all the dirty water after the base station auto-washes the mop pads. That's right, this robot mop cleans itself with 167°F hot water, and it even uses hot air to dry itself. That way, you don't have to worry about excessive mildew or bad smells.

Should you buy the ECOVACS DEEBOT T50 MAX PRO OMNI?

ECOVACS DEEBOT T50 MAX PRO Omni Robot Vacuum and Mop, 18,500Pa Suction, 18mm Auto-Lift, ZeroTan…

Price: $849.99
You Save: $150.00 (15%)
Buy Now

ECOVACS DEEBOT T50 PRO Omni Robot Vacuum and Mop, 3.19” Ultra-Slim, 15,000Pa Suction, ZeroTangl…

Price: $679.99
You Save: $120.00 (15%)
Buy Now

Some decisions are difficult, but this one is easy: yes, you should buy it. If you want an all-in-one robot vacuum and mop, the ECOVACS DEEBOT T50 MAX PRO OMNI is the one you should get.

This model offers the strongest suction you can get, so it doesn't leave any debris behind. It also has a special anti-tangle roller brush that's perfect for households with pets or people with long hair. The mopping features are fantastic, and AI really helps when it comes to avoiding obstacles without leaving dirt and dust around them. Then, when it's done cleaning your floors, the DEEBOT T50 MAX PRO OMNI empties and washes itself so you don't have to.

At the $999.99 price point, the ECOVACS DEEBOT T50 MAX PRO OMNI has no competition. Any rival robots that can compete with this DEEBOT cost as much as $1,600 or even more. That's why this is one of the easiest decisions you'll ever have to make.

The DEEBOT T50 MAX PRO OMNI is available directly from ECOVACS or on Amazon.

The post Stronger than Roomba? ECOVACS T50 Max redefines carpet cleaning power appeared first on BGR.

Today's Top Deals

Stronger than Roomba? ECOVACS T50 Max redefines carpet cleaning power originally appeared on BGR.com on Tue, 18 Mar 2025 at 08:24:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.