Ecovacs X2 Omni robot vacuum: preorder, release date, news

SAVE $300 WHEN PREORDERING: The new Ecovacs Deebot X2 Omni is available for preorder as of Sept. 21, and is marked down to $1,199.99 from its full retail price of $1,499.99 as of Sept. 22.

Ecovacs revealed its new flagship robot vacuum and mop to the world on Sept. 21, and the square-shaped bot is already available for preorder. With an eyebrow-raising price tag of $1,499.99, it’s the kind of high-end product that makes you think, “In this economy?”

Ecovacs showed off the X2 Omni at a recent event in the SoHo neighborhood of Manhattan, and I got to preview this vacuum ahead of its official release.

The X2 Omni is the successor to the X1 Omni, which was already in rarified air along with a couple of other elite robot vacuums.

So how does the new Deebot X2 Omni compare to the X1 Omni and other flagship robot vacuums? You can get an up-close look at the new vacuum in the video below, and we’ll also break down everything we know about this vacuum so far.

Ecovacs Deebot X2 Omni: At a glance

The new self-emptying robot vacuum and mop from Ecovacs will cost $1,499.99. However, we expect that coupons will often be available. In fact, it’s already on sale at the Ecovacs online store, where customers can use the coupon code 300EVSX2 to save $300 on their preorder.

The X2 Omni has some impressive specs:

• Suction: 8,000pa of suction power

• Mopping: Two hot water rotating mopping pads

• Vaccum dimensions: 12.6″ x 13.9″ x 3.7″

• Clean water tank: 4L

• Dirty water tank: 3.5L

• Dust bag capacity: 3L

• Maximum decibels: 82db

• Battery life: Three hours

Robot vacuum manufacturers like Roborock and Ecovacs are always competing to release ever more impressive robot vacuums by adding features like onboard cameras, self washing, self drying, and 3D laser room mapping. However, all of those features were available in previous generations of robot vacuums.

So what’s new here?

The clean station still takes up a lot of space.
Credit: Timothy Beck Werth / Mashable

The scrubbing mop pads on the X2 Omni.
Credit: Timothy Beck Werth / Mashable

Comparing the Ecovacs Deebot X2 Omni vs. X1 Omni

Both of these robot vacuums have a similar price point and feature set, but there are iterative improvements.

The first thing you’ll notice is the new square-shaped design, which calls to mind the iRobot Roomba s9+, which Mashable named the best robot vacuum for pet hair. Robot vacuums with square edges offer superior edge and corner cleaning, but they can also struggle to navigate around obstacles. That’s why most robot vacuums are disc-shaped.

Self-emptying mode in action.
Credit: Timothy Beck Werth / Mashable

The water tanks and dustbin inside the X2 Omni.
Credit: Timothy Beck Werth / Mashable

An Ecovacs spokesperson told me that because this vacuum has both laser LiDAR navigation and a camera, it’s able to navigate easily around obstacles like chairs and table legs.

At 3.7-inches in height and just 12.6-inches wide, the X2 is also noticeably slimmer and thinner than its predecessor. Likewise, Ecovacs has also redesigned the charging dock and cleaning station so that it takes up slightly less space as well (although it’s still quite large).

Besides the physical redesign, the vacuum’s biggest upgrade comes in mopping, vacuuming, and carpet detection. When the vacuum detects a carpet, it will physically lift the mopping pads up to 15mm to avoid wet carpets, and in the demonstration I saw, this was impressive indeed. The spinning mopping pads should also offer a much deeper clean compared to the Roborock S8 Pro Ultra or the best Roomba vacuums, though we’ll have to test it to find out if that claim is true.

The mopping pads spin and lift as the bot cleans.
Credit: Timothy Beck Werth / Mashable

Notice the extra-wide roller brush.
Credit: Timothy Beck Werth / Mashable

Take a peek under the hood, and you’ll also notice that the roller brush on this vacuum is much wider than other self-emptying robot vacuums.

Finally, the X2 Omni increases the suction power from 5,000pa to 8,000pa — and without a noticeable increase in noise level. Despite the brand’s claims, Mashable found that the X1 Omni struggled with suction power, so we’re hoping this power boost makes all the difference.

We have to talk about the $1,500 price tag

You might think that the demand for $1,000 robot vacuums would be quite small, but the market is actually getting quite crowded. iRobot has the Roomba Combo j7+ ($1,099). And then there’s the Roborock S8 Pro Ultra ($1,599). Now, the X2 Omni ($1,499.99) has every possible feature available in a modern robot vacuum — self-washing, self-emptying, LiDAR, camera navigation, heavy-duty suction, carpet detection, and more.

With a $1,500 price tag, we would expect the new Omni to have a very impressive feature set, and it does. As Mashable reviewers have noted in our guides to the best robot vacuum and mop hybrids, the average hybrid robovac is actually pretty bad at mopping. However, not only does the X2 use rotating scrubbing mopping pads, but it also heats up water for hot water mopping.

The flux capacitor houses the laser navigation components.
Credit: Timothy Beck Werth / Mashable

To justify the price, Ecovacs has also improved the laser navigation, which now lives in a flux capacitor-looking gadget on the top of the robot. Hopefully, that means the X2 Omni solves some of the bugs that made the X1 Omni a more risky investment.

In her Deebot X1 Omni review, Mashable Senior Shopping Reporter Leah Stodart reported that “Regardless of how accurate the map of the day was, the X1 Omni [gets] lost pretty often. Easy chunks of rooms were ignored on a regular basis, with the vacuum ditching the mission after announcing that it had either finished the job when it definitely hadn’t or insisting that it ‘couldn’t find the designated area.'”

Until we’ve spent more time with the X2, we can’t say for sure whether these quirks have been remedied, but after seeing a demonstration, I’m pretty optimistic.

You can pre-order the X2 Omni as of Sept. 21 from the Ecovacs website, where it’s currently on sale for $1,199.99.