ECOVACS Deebot R96 Robot Vacuum Cleaner

The self emptying feature works great! You can setup multiple schedules and not have to worry about emptying the dust bin after each vacuuming job. It holds about a weeks worth of cleaning and it’s easy to dump the base unit vacuum. A quick button push and lift releases the dust bin vacuum. Then a quick twist and tug to remove one end. An occasional wipe down with a wet paper towel or microfiber cloth is all that is needed.Cleaning the robot dustbin is easy too. Flip up the top cover and lift the handle on the dustbin. Then pop the cover to dump the contents (if needed). Next remove the HEPA filter and tap to dislodge any dust. A quick wipe with wet towel cleans the screen that is before the HEPA filter and then wipe down the dust bin. Pop things back together and insert into the robot.Navigation is better than I expected. It tends to clean in an overlapping back and forth motion whose direction seems to align with the charging dock. Once you let it map your house the App divides things into rooms. It tends to create extra rooms anytime there is a narrowing to less than four feet. But you just check the “rooms” you want it to clean when creating a schedule or let it clean the whole map. It auto labels the rooms A, B, C, etc. but you can rename them in the App. You can also draw virtual boundaries in the App (either lines or boxes). There doesn’t seem to be a limit on the number of virtual boundaries.Since it tracks where it cleans there doesn’t tend to be any missed areas. It also can resume after charging if the battery got low (more than 100 minutes). You can block out when not to vacuum so it doesn’t resume while you are trying to sleep. It was able to vacuum 1600 sq. ft. all carpet (except bathrooms which are tile) on a single charge.I was pleasantly surprised by how well it did on carpets. It noticeably brushes up the yarn in low-medium pile carpets and even lifts Berber carpet pile. It’s not as powerful as the Deebot Ozmo 930 or the top Roombas but it seems to be good enough.It did a great job avoiding drops (e.g. stairs) and rarely gets stuck. It doesn’t seem to see obstacles that are less than an inch tall. So the bumper hits things like ironing board legs (T shaped metal tubing) causing it to to turn 15° and try again. This bump, turn slightly, try again method is more common on the initial mapping run than on existing map.It has occasionally run itself up the ironing board leg until one of its drive wheels loses contact with the ground. It will tangle with cords including phone charger or USB cords. It’s best to use virtual boundaries to block off areas that have cords unless you want to spot check before each vacuuming.My only complaints are with the App and those are mostly a desire for more advanced features: Ability to save and restore multiple maps (e.g. floor-1, floor-2); Ability to edit maps (clean up stray culture or redraw straight lines); Ability to designate active map; Adjust speed when manually driving; Adjust speed for deeper cleaning by room; etc.I hope they will keep updating the App and the navigation software. The current navagation is pretty good and it’s pretty efficient at snaking thru a room. They may need to adjust sensors to catch those lower obstacles instead of bumping into them. It seems like the rotating laser radar should be on the front so the front of the robot doesn’t block its view.Overall I am happy with this purchase. It works as good as other robots costing twice as much and most of the improvements are with the App. Since the same App is used for all DEEBOT vacuum models, it should improve over time. The auto emptying allows true set and forget (for a few days) operation. I don’t find the base unit vacuum that useful as a portable vacuum. If it had a motorized brush that would be a different story.

Quiet, efficient, smart. This robot does it all. I had a similar robot from a competitor. This is even better due to the innovation of the auto clean/hand held vacuum feature. Thanks!