The Ecovacs Deebot T30S is a truly all-in-one vacuum cleaner, with one part robot vacuum cleaner, and one part upright vacuum cleaner. It’s the realization of what I’ve been waiting for for a long time now: a self-propelled vacuum cleaner and another handheld vacuum cleaner that you can carry everywhere. Let’s see what this Deebot T30S Combo is worth, and I’ve got high hopes for it.
Deebot T30S Combo design
The Deebot T30S Combo consists of several parts, one for the robot vacuum cleaner, the other for the upright. At first glance, there’s nothing particularly exceptional about the first part, which features a docking station that looks a lot like that of the Deebot X2 Omni, but a round-looking vacuum cleaner that looks a lot like the Deebot T30 Pro Omni previously tested.
The robot vacuum cleaner and its charging station
The station for charging, self-draining, cleaning, filling with water, storage and so on is black here, but the vacuum cleaner also comes in white for those who prefer a more modern look. It’s all very subjective, however, and each person will make up his or her own mind.
At the top, you’ll find the hood, and when you open it, inside are the two water tanks. One for clean water, the other for dirty water, which comes from washing the vacuum cleaner pads when using the mop function. This cover opens manually, not automatically, but that’s no problem. You can’t have everything, and given the number of times you open it, nothing really bothers you.
On the front, you’ll find the cover that contains the vacuum bag, which collects the waste. This bag is a bit special, as it collects the waste from the robot vacuum cleaner as well as that from the upright vacuum cleaner, which is what’s so great about this Deebot T30S Combo! Everything goes into the same bag, covered by a hinged hood that opens downwards with a simple press on the top.
The power supply is on the back, as with all robot vacuum cleaners, and the station is powered by 220 volts. You can plug it directly into a mains outlet, or into a power strip, whatever you prefer.
On the other hand, the station is quite tall, so it won’t fit everywhere, but that’s not a problem, because I generally place my robot vacuum cleaner directly in the room, without any furniture underneath or anything else.
As for the second part, that for storing the upright vacuum cleaner, it’s fixed to the station, and the only option you can choose whether or not to use is the detachable support for the upright vacuum cleaner tube. Of course, it has to be installed, but this part is simply removed and fitted with a rubber cover for transport.
As for the robot vacuum cleaner, it’s as high-performance and sophisticated as ever, as the Chinese manufacturer knows how to do.
On the front, you’ll find the camera system and various sensors for detecting obstacles, including of course the very traditional bumper, available on all robot vacuums on the market. The bumper detects collisions and therefore potential obstacles, if the camera hasn’t detected them beforehand.
The top section features the three traditional buttons:
- Target area
- Start cleaning
- Clean a specific part
With this, the small turret found on high-end vacuum cleaners in general, with the LiDAR sensor for 3D room recognition and mapping. There’s also a sensor on the side of the unit, and on the rear, the vacuum cleaner’s emptying system, as well as automatic water filling and charging, naturally.
Underneath the Deebot T30S, it’s pretty standard, with a central brush featuring ZeroTangle “technology”, which is in fact an integrated comb that prevents hair and other pet hairs from getting caught in the brush.
Alongside this, the wheels – still made of rubber here, with studs – provide good grip even on damp ground, as do the central castor at the front and the various ground proximity sensors, to prevent falls if you have stairs in particular.
On the front, there’s space for the side brush, but it can’t be tilted, as on the Dreame X40 Ultra. Nothing to worry about, though: while it’s practical, it’s not essential.
What does tilt here, however, is the floor-cleaning pad – the one on the right, to be precise – because robot vacuums generally clean on the right, as can be seen from the position of the side brush at the front.
The upright vacuum cleaner
This attaches to the side of the Deebot T30S Combo station, at least for the tube and floor-cleaning head. The rest fits into the station, with three attachments, a mini brush, an attachment with integrated retractable brush, a precision attachment and, of course, the motor and collection container of the upright/handheld vacuum cleaner.
The main unit retracts into the station for automatic emptying, as I can already do with my Tineco Pure One Station, while the additional accessories are stored in a bin just below. This tray opens with a simple press, and when we talk about storage, it’s mainly for the mini rotating brush head, the rest just sits there, without any real “storage” to speak of.
What I regret here is the sturdiness of the mounting solution for the tube and floor cleaning head. It’s not very sturdy, and you have to be gentle when you want to put the vacuum cleaner back in place.
Ecovacs Deebot T30S Combo features
| Model | Ecovacs Deebot T30S Combo |
| Vacuum cleaner type | Robot + Powerhead |
| Suction power | 11,000 Pa |
| Empty weight | 4.1 kg |
| Dust bag capacity | 275 mL |
| Voice commands | Yes |
| Battery capacity | 5200 mAh |
| Water tank volume | 55 mL |
| Minimum noise | 65 dB |
| Filter type | HEPA |
| Sensors | Laser rangefinder Fall sensor 3D scanner Camera |
| Robot vacuum dimensions | 353 x 351 x 104 mm |
| Station dimensions | 554 x 445 x 528 mm |
| Mop | Yes: 2 rotating pads |
| Application | Yes |
| Clean water tank capacity | 4 L |
| Dirty water tank capacity | 3,5 L |
| Dust bag capacity | 2,75 L |
| Available colors | White, Black |
Suction performance
The robot vacuum cleaner promises a suction power of 11,000 Pascal, which is very good, within the good average of today’s robot vacuum cleaners, if we’re talking about top-of-the-range appliances. It’s basically the same as the manufacturer’s other models, and it shows.
Vacuuming performance is very good, and this is precisely where I can make the comparison with another model, the Dreame X40 Ultra, to see whether the tilting side brush is useful or not. Spoilers: not so much. It’s useful, of course, but far from essential!
With this level of power, anything small enough to fit in the vacuum cleaner goes in without a hitch, swallowing everything in its path. Beware, however, that pet hair is sometimes ejected a little far, but is generally recovered when the vacuum cleaner passes over it, so there’s virtually nothing left on the floor, apart from objects that are too heavy or bulky.
The upright vacuum cleaner
The upright vacuum cleaner on the Deebot T30S Combo also offers good suction power, and what I like here is the fact that it rolls and moves properly around the room. On some upright vacuum cleaners, such as the Roborock Dyad Pro Combo, the upright part seemed somewhat neglected, but this is not the case here.
The unit is pleasant to hold and I really appreciate its performance, enabling me to clean the floor without having to buy an additional unit, or even two robot vacuums.
Washing performance
This part only concerns the robot; we haven’t yet reached the 25-function station with the integrated mop vacuum cleaner. The robot cleans the floor effectively, although it may take more than one pass to remove a stain completely. Bear in mind, however, that this is a robot mop vacuum cleaner, not a human scrubbing the same area for 30 seconds.
The tilting pad on the right-hand side is devilishly practical, allowing you to clean edges efficiently and effectively. However, there are occasional weaknesses around furniture legs, but nothing dramatic. For precision cleaning, it’s better to bend down and use your hands.
Configuration and Ecovacs Home application
The Ecovacs application is always a pleasure to use. Simple and efficient, it provides the essentials, unlike some other applications. Some of them tend to add complications that are not very useful, but we’re already using a top-of-the-range, super-complete product, so there’s no need to complicate things any further.
Configuration is pretty straightforward. All you need to do is connect to a 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi network, usually the one provided by your box. Once you’ve connected the application and plugged in your vacuum cleaner, you can launch the Deebot T30S Combo link, either by scanning the QR-Code or via Bluetooth. I chose the latter option for once, and the device appears at the top of the screen.
You have to wait a little while for the robot to connect, and once that’s done, you can give it a name, which is not a bad thing if you want to personalize it. As far as I’m concerned, it’ll always be called “DEEBOT T30S COMBO”, because it’s a robot vacuum cleaner, not a child or a cat. You can, however, select the voice of the Yiko voice assistant, here :
- Brigitte (female voice)
- Éloïse (young woman/girl voice)
- Alain (male voice)
I tried the intermediate mode with Éloïse, but found myself with a child’s voice, so I later changed the voice to Alain’s. Let’s talk about Yiko, the voice assistant built into the Ecovacs vacuum cleaner. Yiko can respond to certain commands, but in my opinion, it’s not yet essential. Especially as it’s still a robot vacuum cleaner, which isn’t going to send your father a message wishing him a happy birthday…
Once you’re on the main screen, you can start mapping your home, which I did after taking these screenshots, of course. You can launch cleaning in automatic mode, by room, by zone, or according to a precise scenario. It’s also possible to launch cleaning with personalized settings, which can be modified to suit your needs:
- Vacuum and mop / Vacuum then mop / Vacuum only
- Water flow: low / medium / high
- Cleaning passes: x1, x2
- Vacuum power: minimum, standard, high, turbo
- Cleaning speed: standard, precise, fast
All in all, a very comprehensive set of settings, enabling you to clean your home as efficiently as you wish.
Other settings include Yiko’s voice commands, with a list of commands you can give it to make itself useful. It’s also possible to change the language, change the volume, switch Yiko off completely too, if you don’t want it, but also give feedback to the brand.
Other parameters of the Ecovacs Deebot T30S Combo include sending the robot to mop at a time interval, rather than an area interval as is the case with Dreame, or a room interval. In each room, for example, it can return to wash the pads. Hot-air drying can take from 2 to 4 hours, the choice is yours.
Automatic emptying takes place at the end of each vacuuming cycle, or when it deems necessary during the cleaning cycle. If you have a lot of cat/dog hair, it’s handy to leave this feature activated. Intelligent deep cleaning also comes in handy when the robot identifies dirty areas and insists on cleaning them. Likewise for the TrueEdge mop, the right-hand pad spreads out to clean along the walls. I left it in extreme mode for optimum cleaning.
In the other settings, you can activate a “Do not disturb” mode, a child lock, cutting off the device’s physical buttons, and automatic resume, allowing you to go and charge up for a while, then get back to work. This function is useless for me, as the robot always goes out at 100% and comes back in at least 70%.
There’s also the TrueDetect 3D Sensitivity function, which automatically identifies and avoids obstacles. I advise you to leave it on “Standard”, otherwise the detection is far too precise, and it even avoids what it could suck up. Finally, there’s the foot control, which can be activated by lightly tapping the front bumper. I haven’t activated it, but the robot starts every day at 3 p.m. in my home.
Maintenance and cleaning
As far as maintenance is concerned, there’s a 2.75-liter dust bag, so you only have to change it once a month. So why monthly? Because you’re bound to suck up a lot more dirt with the extra upright. In my configuration, a two-storey house, the robot vacuum cleaner is used on the first floor, and I vacuum the upper floor by hand.
In a more conventional configuration, you can expect to change the bag every two months, depending on the size of your home.
What I also like here is the capacity of the water tanks, with 4 liters for clean water, 3.5 liters for dirty water according to the manufacturer. This means you can leave the appliance in full autonomy for a week or so, at the rate of one daily use.
Finally, as with other robot vacuums, the application clearly indicates the remaining operating time for each part of the vacuum cleaner, but this remains an estimate based on the number of hours the vacuum has been in operation. If you can see that the part to be replaced is in good condition, there’s no need to change it.
Vacuum cleaner autonomy
The autonomy of the robot vacuum cleaner is estimated at around 290 minutes by the manufacturer, or about 4 hours and 50 minutes. I don’t know in what world you can have such an autonomy while enjoying the device and exploiting its functionalities, but not at home. In fact, the autonomy here is more in the order of 2 hours, when operating the device at near maximum capacity, with vacuuming and mopping.
There’s no point in running the Deebot T30S Combo at minimum capacity, otherwise you might as well buy a cheap €100 robot vacuum cleaner on Amazon, which will last you 1 year at most… But that’s certainly not the objective here, so we’ll have to make do with an autonomy that’s not as good as advertised, but that’s all to the good!
For the upright vacuum cleaner, on the other hand, nothing is announced by the manufacturer, but it’s around 30 to 35 minutes, depending on how you use it.
Ecovacs Deebot T30S Combo: Reviews
The realization of what I’ve come to expect from a robot vacuum cleaner – that it should also be a stick vacuum cleaner, and that everything should go to the same place – the Ecovacs Deebot T30S Combo is the optimal device for cleaning your home. Its performance is very good, and the included upright vacuum cleaner is indispensable for cleaning other rooms that the robot wouldn’t have access to. It’s also handy for vacuuming the car or other areas. And best of all, it’s not much more expensive than the top-of-the-range models, so all the better!