The T9 AIVI is the new flagship of Ecovacs, which is not only "even more powerful than its predecessors", but also benefits from a high resolution 360° camera to monitor the home.

 

Presentation

Behind a very simple design, the T9 AIVI is nevertheless a little technological jewel. Its HD camera offers a 360° field of vision and allows the user to keep an eye on his home when the vacuum cleaner is on. In addition, Ecovacs takes advantage of the advanced technology of the manufacturer iRobot to recover its AeroForce system. This system aims to suck up a maximum of waste (50% more than previous models, according to the manufacturer) thanks to the two large rubber brushes placed in the center under the device.

 

Convenience of use

At first glance, nothing distinguishes the Ecovacs T9 AIVI from its predecessors. All in black, this robot is made of a shiny plastic and adopts a round shape dear to the manufacturer. If you look closely, you can see the front camera, quite imposing. The latter helps the robot to find its way in space, but also allows the user to view the interior of his home via the application.

To improve its sense of orientation, the T9 AIVI is equipped with a laser rangefinder to methodically move around the home. This small gibbosity (the rangefinder is placed on the top of the hood) gives it a height of 9.5 cm: as much to say that it will not be able to pass under the furniture too low. In comparison, the Roborock S7+ is only 8.4 cm high.

On the shell there is a single button to turn on or pause. To turn off the vacuum cleaner completely, you have to lift the cover and use the switch. It is next to this button that you can engage the wifi functions of the T9 AIVI, and thus connect it to a smartphone hosting the Ecovacs Home app.

 

Connectivity and application

Pairing is as easy as pie and will take no more than two minutes. Once the robot is connected to the smartphone and the app is launched, the interface offers several options. Of course, you can first choose one of the four suction powers or instruct the robot to make one or two passes on the floor depending on how clean it is. As the T9 AIVI is equipped with a mop, it is also possible to select one of the four types of water flow offered and to set the mop mode: quick wash, deep wash or classic mop mode for daily cleaning.

Of course, the application allows you to program cleaning times during the week or to view the history of the passages. We particularly appreciate the function indicating the life span of the parts (brushes, filters and mop), which allows you to plan the purchase of consumables.

Finally, it should be noted that the robot's movements can be viewed in real time using the onboard camera. This fun function allows you to monitor your home.

The cartography, particularly precise, offers to monitor the path followed by the robot in real time - it is very easy to recognize the different rooms in the house.

Once the room is mapped, the app is able to tell the owner what obstacles the T9 AIVI has encountered on its way and what kind of objects they are (shoes, cables, chairs...). The user can then remove these obstacles from the map if they are not meant to stay where they were found.

Finally, the homeowner has the option of drawing virtual boundaries so that the vacuum cleaner is restricted to certain areas of the house. Thanks to these tags, one can divide the different rooms to create distinct zones before naming them to better manage the movements of the Ecovacs T9 AIVI.

 

 

Maintenance

The Ecovacs Deebot T9 AIVI is maintenance friendly and requires the same care as its predecessors. The waste container is in the form of a cassette with a capacity of 0.4 l. To access it, simply lift the cover.

On the other hand, emptying it is not very hygienic. It is therefore necessary to place the collector at the bottom of the garbage can before emptying it in order to avoid dust flying out.

It is on the collector that you will find the two foam and HEPA filters. To check that they were not saturated too quickly, we made the vacuum cleaner swallow 20 g of cocoa powder (simulating fine dust). At the end of this test, we weighed the filters, and they both became heavier: the HEPA filter gained 0.3g and the foam filter gained 0.6g. This may seem like a small amount, but it means that the filtration system gets dirty quite quickly. Therefore, both filters will need to be cleaned regularly so that their pores do not become clogged, which would result in reduced suction performance.

Placing the T9 AIVI on its back, we notice that it benefits from two lateral brushes that will bring the waste towards the suction mouth. In the center, there are two large rubber brushes. You just have to lift the trapdoor on the side to free them and remove any pet hair or long hair entangled in them. However, you will not have to perform regular maintenance on these rollers since they have no nylon bristles.

 

Navigation system

The T9 AIVI is a very good student and does not navigate in troubled waters. This robot knows what it's doing and where it's going, and aided by its laser rangefinder and camera, it manages to avoid most obstacles. It goes around, stops or turns around, but whatever happens, it doesn't run into the sock or cable on the ground.

The T9 AIVI zigzags around the room so that no corner is missed. It then finishes by the walls to collect the waste along the baseboards. During our lab test, we noticed that the robot had trouble getting under curtains that it mistook for a wall, too bad. Another concern is that the T9 AIVI can sometimes take several minutes to find its charging station, while tending to go around the room before finding its base.

 

Vacuuming

The Deebot T9 AIVI vacuums rather well on all types of floors, starting with the hard floor on which it was able to collect 95% of the detritus in Standard mode in 5 min 22 s, and 90% in Max+ mode in 2 min 36 s. In Max+ mode, we notice that the robot tends to fly over the area a little, even if it means forgetting some corners.

On fine carpet, the Deebot T9 AIVI swallowed 89% of the rice grains in 4 min 13 s in Standard mode. On the other hand, at its maximum power, the robot recovered 99% of the material in the same time.

Finally, on thick carpeting, a particularly challenging test area for our vacuums, the T9 AIVI did not do too badly and sucked up 78% of the waste in Standard mode in 7 min 25 sec. In Max+ mode, it took 6 min 20 sec to pick up 83% of the waste we spread.

If the T9 AIVI ensures a good suction on all types of floor, it is still far from the Roborock S7+ which manages to recover all the waste, except on thick carpet.

 

 

Cleaning efficiency

Since this robot has a vibrating mop that is supposed to clean the floor, we wanted to evaluate its cleaning efficiency, as we do with floor cleaning robots.

We put it to the test by soiling the floor of our lab with several types of difficult stains: oil, lipstick, sugary drinks and a mixture of water and carbon black. After setting the robot in mop mode for a daily pass with a medium water flow rate, we noticed that a first pass was not enough to clean the stains embedded on the floor. It took the T9 AIVI three passes to remove some of them superficially: soda and oil. On the other hand, carbon black and lipstick stains were not removed at all.

 

Autonomy

The Ecovacs Deebot T9 AIVI can work for 2 h 25 min in Standard mode. Today, the Rowenta Serie Xplorer-95 is the most enduring of our comparison, being able to vacuum for 3 h 15 min under the same conditions before running out of power.

Launched at maximum power, the T9 AIVI lasted about 1 h 30 min before returning to its base. Note that the robot asks to be recharged as soon as its battery falls below 15% of charge.

This robot then needs more than 6 h before recharging itself. It is one of the slowest of our comparison on this type of exercise.

 

Noise

The T9 AIVI is clearly not the quietest robot in our comparison, especially when pushed to maximum power. In this case, it generates a noise of 64 dB (A), which is more than enough to cover a normal conversation whose level is estimated at around 60 dB (A).

In Standard mode, it is necessarily quieter, emitting 60 dB (A), which is still very loud for a robot vacuum cleaner. In comparison, the Dreame Bot L10 PRO does not exceed 53 dB (A) in Standard mode.

 

Conclusion

Over time, Ecovacs' robot vacuums become real references and the Deebot T9 AIVI proves it once again. Its main flaws, namely the charging time and the noise - not very important for a device that is supposed to work when the user is not present - are largely compensated by its suction and navigation qualities. Thanks to this powerful duo, the T9 AIVI should easily fulfill its mission. On the other hand, you may have to go back behind it to clean the most stubborn stains. Note that while it may seem like a gimmick to some, the on-board camera is a welcome addition as a backup surveillance camera.