Petteri Pyyny
22 May 2026 12:38
It's already been seven years since we reviewed the first robot vacuum that featured a separate dust container built into its charging dock. Since then, self-emptying robot vacuums have become the industry standard: practically every robot vacuum priced above €500 can now empty its own small internal dustbin into a larger dust bag located inside the charging dock.
Back then, the solution felt ingenious - and it still does. The usability of robot vacuums drops dramatically if users constantly have to manually empty the robot's tiny onboard dustbin.
But even then, we complained about one particularly silly design choice... Why on earth does the larger dock-mounted dust container rely on disposable dust bags, when traditional canister vacuum cleaners largely abandoned them sometime in the early 2010s? Buying dust bags is already irritating enough with conventional vacuums, but with robot vacuums it can eventually become nearly impossible as models age and compatible dust bags may only be available from questionable Chinese online stores.
Now, that rather ridiculous problem finally has a solution. We got our hands on Ecovacs' new flagship robot vacuum, the Ecovacs Deebot X11 Omnicyclone, launched around the turn of 2025/2026, where the dock's dust bag has been replaced by a fixed large-capacity dustbin.
At the time of review, the Ecovacs X11 Omnicyclone carries a fairly hefty $1,000/€1,200 price tag, but it also includes essentially everything you'd expect from a modern high-end robot vacuum: camera-based obstacle avoidance, mopping functionality, self-emptying, and automatic mop washing.
But compared to most competitors, the robot also introduces two notable new features: the previously mentioned bagless dock dustbin and the latest trend in robot vacuums, the so-called aqua roller-style mopping system.
We tested the Ecovacs for three months in a typical Nordic apartment to see how the robot would handle the challenges of a Northern Europe's winter and early spring, complete with gravel and sand dragged indoors from icy sidewalks.
The Ecovacs X11 Omnicyclone was a very convincing robot vacuum overall and quickly became one of my personal favorites. However, its small software bugs and somewhat confusing smartphone app inevitably hurt the overall experience - especially considering that the price still remains above one thousand euros (05/2026).
Additionally, the fact that the mop roller cannot be left behind in the docking station makes the Ecovacs poorly suited for homes filled with thick carpets.
For these reasons, I ended up deducting one full star from the final score, because at this price level a robot vacuum should, in my opinion, feel highly polished and very close to perfect overall. And despite all its strengths, the Ecovacs X11 Omnicyclone ultimately did not quite reach that level.