The state-of-the-art Ecovacs Deebot Ozmo T8 Aivi robot vacuum cleaner comes with all the bells and whistles.
Not only does it vacuum and mop, it doubles as a remote home monitoring sentry, thanks to its built-in camera and microphone.
It can also be remotely driven around the home by using the Ecovacs Home app (available for iOS and Android). Of course, the camera’s ground-level view means you are mostly looking at ankles and legs.
You can also remotely interact with people or pets at home, via the app and the onboard speakers and microphone. The audio lags by several seconds, but it is generally usable.
The camera’s main purpose, though, is to identify objects using artificial intelligence, which enables the robot vacuum cleaner to avoid potential obstacles like cables, toys and shoes.
In fact, these obstacles are flagged in the report produced by the Ozmo T8 after each cleaning session. While the robot correctly identifies cables most of the time, it often mis-labels irregular objects like toys as shoes.
But that’s a small matter. What matters is that the Ozmo T8 avoids these obstacles – it bumps into them softly but never knocks them over. This is unlike my own bump-and-go robot vacuum cleaner, which often pushes objects all over the room.
Despite its advanced camera system, the Ozmo T8 is not infallible. The camera requires decent lighting to work – it gets entangled by cables in a poorly-lit room on several occasions during my testing.
I do not have a dog, so I cannot say if the Ozmo T8 avoids dog poop, but some online users have said that the robot fails this test.
Before using the Video Manager function in the app to monitor the home through the camera, you have to agree to a lengthy privacy agreement that states how Ecovacs handles the data collected by the Ozmo T8.
Ecovacs also includes an adhesive camera lens cover to block its view. But using this cover also disables the robot’s ability to recognise obstacles and degrade its cleaning performance.
Hence, if you have qualms about the camera being used to spy on your home in the event of a hacker gaining access to your Ecovacs account, it may not be for you.
The Ozmo T8 is one of the larger robot vacuum cleaners in the market. It drives over obstacles like door sills of up to 2cm high while its 9.3cm height is low enough to go under most of my furniture.
Other features that you’d expect on a high-end robot vacuum cleaner – the ability to draw virtual boundaries to mark no-go areas using the app, support for voice commands through Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant, map different levels of a home and automatically increase suction power when moving onto carpets – are all present.
At its standard suction power, the Ozmo T8 is reasonably quiet. It is not as noisy as my traditional vacuum cleaner even at its maximum setting (the noise level is less than 67 decibels, according to Ecovacs)
It takes around an hour to clean my home – roughly a minute for a square metre area. Ecovacs rates the Ozmo T8’s battery life at around three hours, which is ample time for two consecutive cleaning sessions for my apartment.
In addition to a standard mopping feature, which basically drags a damp cloth over the floor, the Ozmo T8 also comes with a more advanced module (the Ozmo Pro) that uses a back-and-forth scrubbing motion to get rid of dirt and stains.
The Ozmo Pro module works better than the standard mopping feature, but it is also much noisier. Still, it is not a proper substitute for manual mopping as it cannot remove stubborn stains on the floor and can only use water, not floor cleaner.
The Ozmo T8 is an excellent robot vacuum cleaner that is worth its high price ($799) especially if you make use of its extensive features. Else, there are cheaper, capable alternatives such as the Roborock S6 Pure ($599), which lacks the home monitoring feature.
FOR
State of the art features
Mopping module
Avoids most obstacles
Good battery life
AGAINST
Pricey
Gets stuck occasionally, especially in poor lighting
App could be more user friendly
SPECS
Price: $799
Height: 93mm
Noise level: Under 67 decibels
Battery usage time: 180mins
Dust capacity: 0.42 litres
RATING
Features: 4.5/5
Design: 4/5
Performance: 4.5/5
Value for money: 3.5/5
Overall: 4.5/5
ST Tech Editor’s Choice
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