(NEW!) ECOVACS Deebot N8 Pro Robot Vacuum & Mop

***October 2021 update - Dropping to 1 star*** So I tried a free replacement N8 Pro+ but this time in my mom's house, who has no pets and wow, the experience was abysmal. Embarrassing even! Every step is an absolute pain starting with connecting the bot to the app. 30 minutes of pressing buttons, entering wifi passwords, scanning QR codes, over and over and over, finally it took for no reason. Then the initial mapping... a complete nightmare. The bot keeps going over the same areas, again and again leaving other areas untouched. Black rugs or rugs with any black at all will cause the bot to think its drop sensors failed. If you move the bot too far after getting stuck it will lose tracking to base and guess what? That partial map you just spent hours building... GONE! Unbelievably bad and support is non existent. I reached out to the company and got zero response, nothing. Do you yourself a favor and RUN away from Ecovacs! ***Original review*** If you've done your homework, watched Vacuum Wars videos on YouTube and compared all available options right now, you may have landed on the N8 Pro+ and Roomba i7 as your top contenders. The Roomba S9 looks nice but it's way too expensive and the reviews just aren't good enough. Roborock looks promising but their top end model is relatively expensive and doesn't have an auto-empty bin as of the date of this review. There is no "perfect" robot in existence right now, in my view. I'm a 5 year owner of a Roomba 960 that had to be returned 3 times initially and repaired once out of warranty before it reached a stable state for me. I figured it was time for an upgrade. I was not optimistic about the i7 at all due to previous 960 issues and for that reason purchased the Deebot first as an extremely impressive option full of advanced tech. I'll give you my experience with both and why, much to my surprise, I landed on the i7 as the robot I will keep. First up, the N8 Pro+ which boasts variable suction levels that auto-switch depending on the floor type, low noise levels, laser 3D LiDAR tech for navigation, object avoidance camera, dual rotating brushes, built in mopping capability and a physically thinner footprint so it can get under my kitchen cabinets where my 960 gets stuck, daily. The functionality of the Ecovacs app is all there but my gripes are mainly around the layout, button naming and settings menus. I didn't find it very intuitive at all but all the key features are there: house mapping and virtual keep out zones being my top priorities. I did have some trouble with the initial configuration of the keep-out zones but got there eventually. The robot functions very well in general and is a very good vacuum, all told. The downsides that I experienced, however, were enough for me to return it. The key cons here are battery life, recharge time, the auto-empty base and getting stuck. Your first step with the N8 is the initial mapping of your floorplan which must be completed fully before you can do anything, I mean anything. It runs the vacuum during this mapping so battery consumption will be high. The i7 by comparison can do mapping runs with the vacuum turned off making it a much more streamlined process. I found the battery life to be much lower than the advertised 110 minutes netting a maximum of 75 minutes. The bigger problem is that it takes HOURS to recharge, so depending on when you start your cleaning run, this thing could quite literally run all day. For example in my situation, 635 square feet cleaned took 110 minutes of total run time with a required charge in the middle. This netted a total of nearly 6 hours to complete! Unacceptable. Also important to note is that the N8 will want to recharge at 15% battery, so the most you ever really get out of this thing is 85%. The next big problem for me was the design of the auto-empty base. They opted to use a dual port discharge method that sucks from 2 doors in the dust bin simultaneously. If you have pet hair to deal with, like I do, it was unable to suck out any of it, just leaving stranded clumps hanging from each port in the dust bin, see the attached photo. The final nail in the coffin was that despite all the advanced tech in the N8, cameras, lasers, etc, it STILL got stuck under the dining room table/ chairs just like my 960 does. Too many concessions so I sent it back and tried my luck with the i7+. N8 Pros: -Competitive price (usually on sale) -Premium look and feel -Advanced tech (cameras, lasers...) -Powerful variable suction -Systematic cleaning pattern -Free in-box extras (bags, mop pads) -Awesome low noise levels -Lower physical profile so glides under kitchen cabinets N8 Cons: -Initial mapping will take a VERY long time and must be fully completed -Even with Lidar, mapping, sensing etc it still gets stuck -Battery life is terrible (more like 75 minutes at best) vs 110, charging time is worse (1 cleaning + charge cycle = 5 hours!) -85% max usable battery is abysmal, Roomba will drain itself to nothing -Dual port self-empty in the base creates problems, especially for pet hair With the N8 returned I found the i7 on sale for the same price and pulled the trigger to give iRobot yet another chance. Much less advanced overall tech here, the same "crash into everything" sensor mode as the old Roomba models, no fancy lasers here but the camera does use iAdapt to map out objects. This camera needs light, mind you. Out of the box is a very simple setup just plug in the base, set the robot in it, add the robot to the app. I was prompted with a firmware update right away so let that run and waited until the next day to do the initial mapping run. Being able to just wander around without the vacuum running is such a simple but meaningful feature here. One battery charge and you should have a map of your floorplan, vs 2 runs + 1 charge on my N8. The completed map was excellent and they even attempt to add room dividers so you can partition areas of your house for more granularity. This is really cool and allows you to choose certain areas to clean on certain days or times if you want. No-go zones and room labels are also easily applied here. VERY intuitive app layout, button naming scheme, settings menus. You can tell iRobot put a lot of effort into this. So I did the mapping run then followed with a "vacuum everywhere" run, no virtual barriers yet. Not only was the robot able to navigate my entire floor cleaning everything, it didn't get stuck once, even under the kitchen cabinets or dining room chairs, truly impressive. It did need a charge in the middle but at an hour or so to top up, the cleaning process completes in a much more reasonable time period. The rubber brush rolls are great for hair of all kinds and manage to pass it to the dust bin without tangles. i7 triggers the auto-empty base which is LOUD like a jet taking off but wow is it effective, nothing left in the dust bin after, not a strand of long cat hair. iRobot used a single port suction method for the base which works much better than the dual port design the N8 uses, so no problem with stuck pet hair. For comparison, the i7 cleaned 658 sq ft in 133 mins of cleaning plus a 75 minute charge. Half the total time of the N8. Cool! As for the downsides, there are a few but minor considering the system actually works well. First is the bump sensor design. I know the i7 first came out 3 years ago and once the robot learns your house it should be more gentle, as they claim, but this just feels like ancient tech at this point. Not only that, the RCON sensor, which is the protruding eye in the middle above the bumper, takes plenty of direct hits as it activates the bumper it sits on. This is the part I needed repaired on my 960 as one day it actually broke off due to years of repeated impact. iRobot should do like the others in this space and move it somewhere else safer! The unit itself is thicker than the N8 so doesn't glide under my cabinets but so far has managed to avoid getting stuck. The single rotating brush isn't as effective as the dual brushes on the N8 and you would need to buy a separate mopping robot, if you care about that. The other thing to keep in mind is that the Roomba can't see well in the dark, it needs light to do its thing. Overall I'm very pleased with the i7 and intend to keep it. All the areas the N8 falls short work as intended or better on the i7, despite being lower tech. And this is after I was almost positive I wouldn't buy another Roomba! i7 Pros: -Competitive price -Premium look and feel -Systematic cleaning pattern -Free in-box extras (1 bag, filter, rotating brush) -Excellent battery and charging performance -Excellent auto-empty base -ZERO issue with long pet hair -Intuitive and granular control via the app (clean zones, no go zones, defined rooms that can be scheduled) -Smart Maps works really well i7 Cons: -Old school vSLAM bump sensor tech that will mar the more stuff it bumps into -RCON sensor sits in harms way atop the bumper -Single rotating brush could be improved -Room lighting is required, this thing doesn't do well in the dark