Ecovacs Deebot 900 Smart Robotic Vacuum for Carpet, Bare Floors, Pet Hair, with Mapping Technology, Higher Suction Power, Wifi Connected and Compatible with Alexa and Google Assistant

I'd never dealt with cleaning Robert or any other robotic vacuum before this one. I have to say I'm blown away by how well this little guy cleans and navigates, both on hardwood and carpet. It won't replace your normal vacuum, but it'll definitely keep the floors cleaner between normal vacuuming.Setting up the vacuum was a pretty simple process - you plug in the base station, charge the vacuum for a few hours, then connect it to WiFi via the app. Cleaning can be initiated via the button on the vacuum or the app. You can also enter a schedule for cleaning via the app. It’s also compatible with other apps, so if you have one of those you can control it that way as well.Once the setup was done I ran it on the first floor of my house. I live in a two-story town home. My first floor is all laminate hardwood and consists of a hallway, kitchen, dining area, and living area. No doors separate these areas, but it is sort of an odd shape, so I was curious to see how the ECOVACS would handle this. I am pleased to say that it was able to navigate and clean the whole area in about 25-30 minutes. The pattern it follows seemed a little random, but the more I watched it and the adjustments it made the more impressed I was. It was able to drive itself under couches, tables, a kitchen island, and many other spaces that were hardly bigger than the vacuum itself. It go into corners and crevices I could never get to with my normal upright vacuum. Not only that, it was able to drive itself out of those spaces with no problem at all. In the time I have used it hasn't gotten itself stuck once. It picked up a ton of dust as well - about as much as I would get using my normal upright vacuum. It ended filling the whole dust bin in the vacuum. The dust bin seems to be on the small side in my opinion, but with the size of the vacuum there isn't a whole lot that can be done about that.Next I tried my second floor, which is carpet and consists of 3 bedrooms, a hallway, and 2 bathrooms. I started ECOVACS in the hallway and it was able to navigate itself in and out of each room, albeit the process and progression from room to room took much longer. I also had to empty the dust-bin a few times along the way. I know there are higher-end Roomba models that are made specifically for multi-room navigation, but this one got the job done. The job the ECOVACS did downstairs was evident, but I wanted to see how much dust it had left behind in my carpet, so I ran my upright vacuum upstairs afterwards. My upright is Shark Rocket that I've been happy with for a while. It's a stick vacuum, so the canister is smaller than other regular vacuums. I normally fill my Shark 2-3 times vacuuming the second floor. Following the Roomba, I only had to empty the canister on my Shark one time, which I consider a win for the Roomba since it was able to pick up 60-70% of the dirt my normal vacuum could - far more than I was expecting considering its size.The runtime for Deebot is great, which in my use seemed about right. I think maybe I could get it to run a bit longer on hardwood where there isn’t as much resistance. As I understand the Ecovacs will navigate itself back to the dock when the battery gets low, but I always ended my cleaning jobs before that. Still, I have witnessed the ECOVACS make its way back to the dock a few times with no problem.Overall I’m extremely impressed with this vacuum. It’s not going to completely eliminate my Shark, but it does so much more than I ever expected it to. I would highly recommend this to anyone interested in a robotic vacuum.

Update: after having this robot for quite awhile, I have to downgrade the rating. The map management piece of the puzzle has been chronically bad. Virtual boundaries aren’t adhered to, the map needs to be regularly remapped, the robot seems unable to locate its charge base, etc. Support has tried to help, but the “fixes” just put the burden on the customer to remap the area, reset the thing, etc.This is a pretty advanced robot, and works well. The map management features is helpful, as you can setup virtual barriers on your smartphone that the robot won't try to clean. Has good cleaning options, and a decent phone app.Note great for multi-level homes, as you'll need to delete the map every time, which deletes your virtual barriers. This is a big drawback if you have more than one story you need to clean. WiFi setup was tough, only because there are TWO ecovac apps in the app store...one works, the other just frustrates you.Three stars for map management that could be easier to use/multi-floor capabilities, saving of maps, etc., and an easier time setting up the virtual barriers in the map. Also, no way to clean a specific area...you have to select the pre-defined areas from the map the robot creates itself. No remote control...so you're limited if you have a specific area that needs to be cleaned.

****Updated 11/25/2018***I am upgrading my review to 5 stars after about five months of using the Deebot 900 on all hardwood (okay, laminate) floors with a few low-pile rugs. Through firmware and updates, ECOVACS has improved Deebot's navigation, map retention (i.e. not randomly dumping the map), and map restoration process.. For several months now, the only time I generally need to restore the map is after using Deebot on a different floor.I was hesitant to give Deebot 5 stars (4.5 was my instinct) but after thinking about it, I concluded that Deebot achieved what I look for in a smart home gadget: the time spent enjoying its vastly outweighs the time spent troubleshooting and maintaining it. (Keep in mind, though, that robot vacs require more attention than your typical smart home gadget since you have to empty the bin, clean/replace brushes, etc.)In addition to restoring the map now being a simple, reliable process, navigation has definitely improved, particularly the vacuum's ability to re-orient itself after getting disoriented. For example, I am convinced that my cats drag out their mice on a string which I put away prior to vacuuming for the explicit purpose of sabotaging the Deebot. The ever thorough, methodical Deebot inevitably runs over the mouse and gets the string wrapped around the main brush, stopping the vacuum. Originally, this usually meant having to take the Deebot back to its charger to restore the map and start its vacuuming job all over again. However, I've noticed now that I can pick up the Deebot, fix the malfunction, put it down in roughly the same spot and orientation where I found it, and then press the Auto button to have it resume cleaning. It will realize it is lost and start re-orienting itself (I think it gives an announcement to this effect) by driving around in circles, etc. It usually is able to successfully re-orient itself and pick up vacuuming where it left off.Scheduling. I would like to see some more powerful scheduling in the ECOVACS app or better yet, integration with IFTTT, Stringify, Smartthings, etc. I would like the ability to schedule different areas at different times. For example, I would like to schedule the laundry room where it lives twice a day to pickup the cat litter that our cats track out of their litterbox, the kitchen nightly, and the whole house several times per week. It would also be nice to use triggers to start the vacuum (e.g. my smart hub goes into away mode, etc.). These aren't deal-breakers but it would really polish the user experience for me.Also, cats. One of my cats loves to attack the Deebot: his preferred tactic is a frontal ambush where he lays in front of Deebot and chews on the side brushes. Well, he has figured out how to start the Deebot when it's on the charger, I think by bumping the sensor on the front of the Deebot which causes it to back off the charger and start driving around, looking for the charger again while the cat continues to attack it. I don't fault ECOVACS for my hostile cat's actions but it would be nice if whatever sensor(s) the cat is hitting were disabled while the the Deebot is on the charger.***Updated 07/15/18***Significant update on the multi-floor vacuuming front. As I mentioned in my original review, our Deebot 900 lives on the first of our house and I was frustrated by the Deebot forgetting the map of the first floor whenever I carried it upstairs to vacuum. Well, I figured out that it is possible to use the Deebot 900 in another unmapped area (e.g. another floor) and then have it restore the map afterward.1. Carry the vacuum to the new area and hit auto. Don't move the charger, obviously.2. The vacuum will forget the stored map and then proceed to map and clean the new area. Once the vacuum finishes cleaning, it will park itself wherever you started it.3. Lift the cover and turn the power switch off.4. Return it to the charger. Once it is seated on the charger properly, the vacuum will say "restoring map" and tell you to turn the power on.5. Turn on the power switch. You'll then see the original map restored on the app.I'm not totally sure if it's necessary to turn off the power switch but I didn't have very good luck before with just leaving the power on and carrying the Deebot back to its charger. This will also be the drill I use whenever I have to save the Deebot from a snag, stoppage, navigation issue, etc.Deebot should really add this to their FAQs on their website because I know this is an issue for many people.***Original Review***I'll front-load this review with how the Deebot 900/901 handles multi-level homes because I couldn't find much info about this topic before purchasing my Deebot.Our Deebot lives on the first floor of our two-story home so it has the first floor mapped out. If I take it upstairs (i.e. a new, unmapped area), drop it on the floor, and press "auto", it will wipe out the existing map of the first floor, map and systematically vacuum the second floor, and then return to the spot where it started when done (since the dock is still downstairs). So on the positive side, you can drop this thing anywhere and will automatically map and systematically clean the area until it's done. However, it forgets the all-important map which many of the bells and whistles of the Deebot 900/901 are based upon. I love that I can summon my Deebot to clean specific areas in the house. However, if I take the Deebot upstairs to vacuum, the map gets wiped and I can't use these features until I let it map the first floor again. This is definitely worth knowing if you intend to use it in a multi-level house.As for the rest of my review...Pros:- Cleaning: Most importantly, this thing cleans well. Our house is all laminate or tile flooring with a few low-pile area rugs. We do not have any carpet. We also have two short-haired cats. We love that this thing keeps our floors clean to the touch of our bare feet. We also love that it can constantly police the area around our cats' litter boxes where they track litter onto the floor.- Navigation: I will distinguish "navigation" from "mapping". Navigation, which I define as the ability of the Deebot to systematically clean your house without getting lost, is pretty good. I will discuss mapping in the "Cons" section. If your floorplan is large enough that you can't expect one of the cheaper robot vacs to cover it all in one cleaning with it's random cleaning pattern, navigation is essential. This thing reliably maps out where it needs to clean and then systematically vacuums the area until it's done. If a recharge is required, it will top itself off and then pick up where it left off. The Deebot has been pretty good about not getting lost. I've had a few occasions where it got disoriented when I summoned it from the dock to spot clean on the other side of the house and I had to carry it back to its dock. However, once it remapped the house again (because it forgot the map), it hasn't gotten lost. For a multi-room home, I would never consider buying a robot vac that lacks navigation. I think the "random" robot vacuums should be reserved for simpler floor-plans.- Noise: Quieter than I expected.- Value: With an Amazon coupon, I got this thing for around $325 but even at MSRP, the Deebot 900/901 seems to be loaded with features usually found on much more expensive robot vacuums.Cons:- Setup: Unboxing the Deebot and getting it physically setup was easy. However, connecting it to my WiFi was clunky even though my router and its setup complied with the Deebot's requirements (e.g. 2.4 GHz et al). After messing with changing my router's 2.4 GHz channel from auto to specifically 802.11g or 802.11b, it finally connected after a 20-minute delay. Once I finally got it connected to my WiFi, I switched my router back to auto and it hasn't had any further connection issues.- Mapping: The Deebot's mapping is noteworthy because it doesn't simply give you a map to demonstrate where it has cleaned; it also retains that map and allows you to use it to control the Deebot by specifying where or where not to clean. It's great when it works but unfortunately it's easy for this thing to dump the map. If that happens, you'll lose the ability to direct it to a certain area, setup geofences, etc. until you let it map the entire area again. In addition to dumping the map after taking it to a different floor (discussed at the beginning of this review), I've also had it forget the map after it encountered a problem I had to save it from, e.g. vacuuming up a cat toy, getting snagged on a cord, etc. Sometimes I've been lucky and it retained the map after being rescued; other times, not so much. Deebot needs to work on this. In my opinion, the Deebot should ask before dumping an established map that includes it's docking station. Also, I should know that should the Deebot encounter a navigation issue, I can always resort to carrying it back the docking station (which hasn't moved) knowing that it will recognize it is home again and reload the existing map.- Making Your First Map: Deebot has an article on their website titled "Making your first map with DEEBOT 900 / 901" which says it will take 5 to 20 minutes to map my home. Yeah, right. The app and the Deebot's firmware is up-to-date and I haven't seen this behavior that suggests the Deebot will breeze through your house first to establish a map. No, mine does a detailed cleaning to establish the map. Therefore, if it loses the map, it's a half-day process to restore it because my Deebot requires 120+ minutes of vacuuming with a recharge in between.- Scheduling: It's too simplistic. It's easy to tell it to clean your whole house on certain days at certain times which is helpful. However, you can't do more detailed scheduling. For example, I would like to have my Deebot clean the area around my cats' litter boxes twice a day and then have it clean the whole house several times per week. It won't support that sort of detailed schedule.- No IFTTT or Stringify support. This would open up a lot of scheduling and automation options.- Small dustbin.- No dust bin full sensor.- The "eye" on the top of the Deebot provides an opportunity to snag on things. The Deebot can hook a cord, etc., between the top of the "eye" and the top of the Deebot. It's mainly just something to keep in mind when you're prepping your house to run the Deebot but I think this snag hazard could have been avoided in the first place.Despite my ample criticism above, I am still very happy with my purchase. While the Deebot 900/901 has various bugs and annoyances with its bells and whistles, it does a good job at its core function: reliably cleaning my house in a systematic and thorough manner. The more advanced, networked, app-based features are great when they work but like most smart home devices, they can be buggy. My general outlook on the current state of smart home devices is that genuinely polished, worry-free user experiences are rare. If you want to enjoy the conveniences of smart devices, you have to have the patience to deal with bugs and other shortfalls as the technology progresses. The Deebot 900/901 is no exception.