I Liked That This Robot Vacuum and Mop Admitted Defeat

The Ecovacs Deebot T30S Combo robot vacuum and mop sort of admits defeat by coming with a manual handheld vac. But I really like that it’s dealing in reality rather than fantasy since robots can’t climb stairs and they can’t get to certain areas. Most people will still need a secondary vacuum of some kind. So it might as well be part of the base station. In practice, the experience worked well enough, but the idea is spot on.

Ecovacs Deebot T30S Combo

Whole home cleaning with the convenience of a robot vacuum and mop, plus the versatility of a powerful handheld vacuum. Effectively clean stairs, furniture, and more with multiple attachments and tools.

Pros

• Hand vac fully integrated into docking station
• Solid cleaning performance from both vacuums
• Robot has plenty of premium features

Cons

• Docking station is large
• Premium charged for hand vac
• didn?t handle shag a shag rug well

Price and Availability

The T30S Combo will be available on May 16, 2024, with a retail price of $1,199,99. The version of the T30S vacuum and mop that does not include the hand vac retails for $999.99.

A Robot Vacuum With an Assistant

One of Ecovacs’ highlights of the Deebot line has been its own Yiko voice assistant. That’s an interesting way to control a robot vacuum, via another robot, but that’s not the assistant I was most interested in when I got the T30S Combo.

I was most excited about the paired hand vac that sits in the cleaning dock next to the T30S. The addition of a human-operated vacuum in conjunction with an autonomous one is curious. It communicates to me that the company knows the robot can’t do everything so it’s offering a solution for the places the robot can’t clean.

The hand vac charges in the dock just like the bigger vacuum and also empties its dirt automatically into the dock’s dirt bag. That’s cool. The hand vac’s attachments sit in a specially constructed drawer right underneath it which is handy.

The revelation that both types of products are needed is a breath of fresh air. Yes, you will want to reach for a handheld vacuum every so often and that’s normal.

Cleaning Results Were Good

Interestingly, Ecovacs makes both the Yeedi M12+ Pro and this T30S vacuum and mop so both the robot vacuums are nearly identical.

The T30S has the same tech specs like 11,000Pa of suction, the flip-out “TruEdge” mopping pad, and a “ZeroTangle” brush, so it only makes sense that I found the cleaning performance nearly the same as the Yeedi model.

The T30S picked up the white rice and crushed Cheerios in my tests pretty much completely. The object avoidance was solid even though it could still get tripped up by the minimal, shiny metal frame of my end table. But most robots have.

My biggest frustration was that the T30S couldn’t handle my heavy shag rug, where the ZeroTangle brush probably would have been put to its biggest test. Still, even across mostly hardwood floors and after lots of vacuuming, there was hardly any hair present on the T30S’s roller brush.

Although I like the idea of including a hand vac with a robot vacuum, I still have a few qualms with this particular combo unit. For example, none of the attachments could be left on the hand vac. They need to be stored separately. That meant an extra step each time I wanted to clean in harder-to-reach places. None of the three attachments were hard to connect and it is nice that more than one is included.

The hand vac itself felt a little primitive. Its power ramps up gradually over a few seconds, instead of kicking in instantly. There are two levels of power, but I never felt compelled to use anything other than the strongest one. It was powerful enough to grab all the crumbs I wanted to pick up.

The quandary here is whether the hand vac is worth an extra $200 over the retail cost of the regular T30S. Despite working well enough, there are a lot of handheld vacuums for under $200. However, if you’re willing to take the plunge on a $1,000 robot vacuum, I’m inclined to suggest that the extra money isn’t a complete overspend since the docking station will hold the hand vac, charge it, and empty it too. The consideration is more about whether you value convenience or cost.

Is the Ecovacs Deebot T30S Combo Worth Spending Money On?

It would be nice if a robot vacuum and mop could just clean everywhere, automatically, but I haven’t found one that does that yet. In that case, it’s nice that the Ecovacs Deebot T30S Combo provides an escape valve, or a way to collect crumbs manually, even if the robot can’t do it.

My biggest hesitation is that this Combo unit sells for a premium, instead of the slightly more modest $899 price that the Yeedi M12+ Pro does. Plus, the T30S Combo docking station just takes up a lot of space. But the real reason to be tempted by the T30S Combo is for its integrated hand vac. For a lot of people, convenience is king. If that’s your priority, then this product is worth considering.

Ecovacs Deebot T30S Combo

Whole home cleaning with the convenience of a robot vacuum and mop, plus the versatility of a powerful handheld vacuum. Effectively clean stairs, furniture, and more with multiple attachments and tools.