DEEBOT T9 AIVI review
Since I started using robot vacuum cleaners I can’t do without them anymore and, indeed, I am constantly looking for the perfect model for my needs. It goes without saying that when a company offers me to test a product of this type and make a review, I always gladly accept. So here I am talking to you about DEEBOT T9 AIVI : a robot vacuum cleaner and floor cleaner produced by ECOVACS , a Chinese company specializing in the development of smart solutions for the home with over 20 years of experience.
DEEBOT T9 AIVI has many interesting technologies on its side that make it a device capable of cleaning the house in a precise and efficient way, without effort and without disturbance (it is very quiet); all, then, manageable via smartphone app and with the voice commands of Alexa and Google Assistant . Going into more detail, we are talking about a robot with a classic disk shape equipped with a suction power of 3000 Pa , AeroForce rubber brushes with anti-tangle design (able to operate on any type of surface, such as tiles and parquet) for avoid hitches with hair or animal hair, and integrated video camera to see in real time on the smartphone what the robot “sees”.
The video camera, combined with the many sensors present and the AIVI 2.0 technology, allows DEEBOT T9 AIVI to recognize wires, shoes, furniture and many other potential obstacles on the floor and to overcome them without blocking. The TrueMapping 2 0 system, on the other hand, allows you to automatically and precisely map each room in your home and then monitor and program its cleaning from the app, with support for 3D maps (for even more precise management of the whole). Finally, the OZMO Pro oscillating system– to be installed in place of the front plate which is mounted by default – allows thorough washing of surfaces by means of high frequency vibrations (with a maximum of 480 oscillations per minute) and support for four different water flow levels. Interesting, right? Then read on to find out more about this product and find out what I think.
Index
- Initial installation and setup
- Main functions and usage impressions
- Final evaluations
Initial installation and setup
The DEEBOT T9 AIVI package is essential but with everything you need to start using the robot with absolute simplicity: it contains the robot itself, the charging station , the power cable , the side brushes , the OZMO Pro oscillating system , two washing pads for cleaning (washable with simple water) and the instruction manual (also in Italian). In addition, a cover for the camera is provided to use in case you want to cover it for privacy reasons (for optimal cleaning, however, it is recommended to leave it uncovered) and aself-emptying station to automatically empty the robot collection box, which must however be purchased separately.
That said, to start using DEEBOT T9 AIVI just install the side brushes , remove the plastic protections on the robot body and on the charging base , connect the latter to the power supply (with the supplied cable ) and place the robot on it. . Then you have to download the ECOVACS app on your smartphone (it is available for Android and iOS ) and start the initial configuration of the robot. In particular, you need to set the region and language ( Italian is also supported ), accept theconditions of use and create an account with email and password, to access the application (later it will also be possible to share the robot with other registered users, in order to allow them to use the device).
When registration is complete, you are asked to assign a name to the house (so that you can possibly manage multiple houses from the same account) and you can switch to the configuration of the robot using the button for adding new devices . The procedure is very simple: after choosing the robot model in your possession and giving the necessary permissions to the app to work correctly, you need to select the Wi-Fi network to which the smartphone is connected and type the relative password (the network must be 2.4GHz or mixed 2.4GHz / 5GHz); then you have to open the top cover of the robot , press the power buttonand wait for it to emit the start-up sound : when this happens, you need to confirm in the app, then press the reset button on the DEEBOT T9 AIVI and confirm again in the app.
If required, the smartphone must then be connected to the robot’s Wi-Fi network , return to the ECOVACS HOME app and wait for the connection with DEEBOT T9 AIVI to be established; in this way it will be possible to assign a name to the robot and set the language in which it speaks (including Italian ). Each action of the product is in fact accompanied by vocal instructions that help the user to understand what the robot is doing.
Mission accomplished! At this point DEEBOT T9 AIVI is ready to operate; to be precise, he is ready to perform his first cleaning to map the house . In this phase, you must keep the default plate (which in the manual is defined as replacement module ) and not yet install the one for washing the floors. As mentioned, DEEBOT T9 AIVI is able to recognize and avoid many obstacles, including stairs (in this regard, it must be said that on some particular dark surfaces it may not work as it should, as the anti-fall sensors interpret the colors themselves. dark as potential “empty areas” to be avoided), even in the dark, but for an optimal mapping of the environment it is advisable to remove all obstacles from the floor(e.g. shoes or cables). Furthermore, all doors must be kept open – to allow the product to map the whole house – and it is recommended to have all areas well unlimited .
Once ready, to start the first cleaning and mapping of the house just press the ▶ button in the app, which starts the automatic cleaning of the environment; at the end of the first cleaning and mapping of all the rooms, the robot will return to the base by itself . The battery life is up to 3 hours , so unless you have a particularly large house there should be no interruptions. In any case, no problem, as DEEBOT T9 AIVI is smart enough to return to the base to recharge if necessary and then resume work where it left off.
Once the first cleaning and mapping of the house is finished, a special notification is displayed in the app (through which you can view the cleaning log with all the details on the time taken, obstacles avoided, etc.) and the possibility of assigning a name to the map is offered. . If obstacles have been identified , this is also notified (it is surprising how many obstacles are also recognized and illustrated in detail, so you immediately understand if they are cables, shoes or other), in order to invite the user to remove them and carry out a more precise mapping of the house.
To change the map , you can press the appropriate button in the app and, therefore, go and edit the areas , with the possibility of joining and dividing them (perhaps to better delineate the boundaries of the rooms) or label them, assigning them icons and custom names .
It is also possible to set up virtual barriers , to outline areas of the house where the robot does not have to clean and / or wash, and to display a Wi-Fi coverage map , to understand how far the router signal arrives and, therefore, it is possible to “follow” the robot with the smartphone.
As previously mentioned, it is also possible to activate the display of a 3D map of your home (accessible by pressing the appropriate button in the app menu), but to do this you must perform at least two complete automatic cleaning cycles .
Main functions and usage impressions
DEEBOT T9 AIVI has many functions, but at the same time it is very easy to use, as the ECOVACS HOME app allows you to configure all your preferences and manage the robot at 360 degrees in a truly super-intuitive way.
Before moving on to the various features available, however, given that a first complete cleaning of the house has been carried out, it is important to empty the dust collection tray : the operation is very simple (just lift the lid of the robot, extract the tray and empty it) and when it becomes necessary is notified by the app itself. The capacity of the tray is more than sufficient , even for medium-large houses.
Subsequently, to use the washing functions of DEEBOT T9 AIVI it is necessary to fill the oscillating system OZMO Pro with water (the capacity is, also in this case, more than enough to wash medium-large houses) and install one of the washing cloths provided. supplied (just lay it on the plate, matching it with the adhesive parts). Once this is done, the predefined plate can be extracted from the robot (just pull the trolley using the special front hook) and replace it with the OZMO Pro one.
Once the robot has been prepared, you can take action, where the ECOVACS HOME app comes back into play . As mentioned, everything is very intuitive: by accessing the screen linked to intelligent cleaning, you can view the map of your home (with the relative options to view it in 3D and modify it, as described above) and adjust your cleaning preferences.
Going into more detail, it is possible to choose whether to start the cleaning of a single area of the house (to be selected on the map), whether to proceed with the automatic program of the robot or whether to set a customized program , choosing individual areas to be treated within the areas available on the map.
By swiping up on the app menu it is then possible to adjust all the cleaning preferences : the number of “passes” to be done (1 or 2); the suction power ( Silent , Standard , Maximum or Maximum + ); the level of water flow to be used for washing the floors ( Low , Medium , High or Very high ); the cleaning sequence (i.e. the order of the areas to be cleaned); washing preferences(reminder to change cleaning cloth and rubbing mode) and other settings , including enabling or disabling do not disturb mode , adjusting parameters related to intelligent cleaning (to enable or disable AIVI intelligent recognition for objects, l suction with automatic increase and more), the adjustment of the video manager (to password protect the visualization of the footage in real time), the visualization of the status of accessories and components (e.g. side brush, main brush and filter) and check the availability of firmware updates .
From the settings menu it is also possible to program automatic cleaning : just select the Cleaning program function , then press the + button and choose the time and type of cleaning to be performed (automatic or customized by area), with the possibility of setting a repetition for the various days of the week.
When everything is ready, just press the ▶ button of the app and let the robot do its work according to the chosen settings (if desired, it is also possible to activate the automatic cleaning by pressing the power button directly on the robot).
In my experience, on a tiled floor, the cleaning of the floors was flawless . I have pets in the house (a long-haired cat) and all the hairs on the floor have been sucked up by the robot without tangling the brushes; the washing phase is equally valid: all 100% clean, even some rather stubborn stains that had formed in the kitchen following a drink falling on the floor have vanished.
It should be emphasized that DEEBOT T9 AIVI uses an ultrasonic sensor that intelligently detects carpets and does not pass over them during the washing phases, so as not to damage them. During the suction phase, however, unless custom blocks are set within the app, the robot also acts on the carpets.
In this regard, if I exclude a moment in which a particularly thin carpet was “run over” by the robot (but without this jamming and stopping its house cleaning work), everything always went smoothly as oil and suction has done its duty even on the highest carpets (DEEBOT T9 AIVI measures only 9.3 cm in height but exceeds heights of up to 20 mm in the cleaning phase). I would also have liked to test its potential in avoiding falls from stairs, but unfortunately I cannot express myself on this as my home is not structured on several floors.
On the other hand, I was pleased to test the function to view in real time the footage of the video camera integrated in the robot: just press the appropriate button in the app and set a password to protect future access. You can then choose whether to view the recording in full screen or in a box within ECOVACS HOME.
After cleaning, the robot automatically returns to the charging base . As already mentioned, the return to the base takes place automatically even if there is a need to recharge the battery, but personally I have never experienced this situation as my home is not excessively large (even trying to set the cleaning modes more “challenging”, the robot “holds its own” throughout the session). If desired, it is also possible to control the return to the base “manually” via the app.
At the end of a cleaning session, in the app it is possible to view the cleaning report , which is also accessible from the home menu, by pressing the notification icon at the top right. From the same menu you can also manage your robots (with options to share them with other users, rename or delete them) and your own “home” set in the app.
As for maintenance , as already mentioned above, at the end of each cleaning it is advisable to empty the dust collection tray . For the rest, remember to wash the washing cloth after each use (the latter must then be changed after 50 washes), to clean the side brush every couple of weeks and to clean the main brush and the rest of the components every week ( for cleaning the brushes there is a special tool included in the lid of the robot).
In any case, you will find all the details on maintenance methods and timing in the DEEBOT T9 AIVI manual.
Final evaluations
We come therefore to the final evaluations on DEEBOT T9 AIVI. As you may have guessed by reading the rest of the review, I did not find any particular flaws in this product: the obstacle recognition technology surprised me in a more than positive way; the general performance for both suction and washing seemed to me to live up to expectations, and the same goes for the autonomy and the degree of silence of the device.
In short, we are talking about a high-end robot , and this can be understood both from the general quality of the same, and from the price. The product, in fact, is available for purchase with prices starting from 799 euros : you can find it on Amazon.
At this point, the only evaluation you have to make, in view of a possible purchase, is whether you are willing to spend such a sum for a robot vacuum cleaner (considering that the automatic emptying base, in this case, must be purchased separately) : if you have an adequate budget to spend, however, I can assure you that DEEBOT T9 AIVI will not disappoint you.
In the meantime, if you need further details on the device and on all the advanced technologies it is equipped with, I refer you to the official ECOVACS website, where you will find everything illustrated down to the smallest detail.