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When you're considering buying a robot vacuum, parsing the different brands and models can be overwhelming. Truthfully, there are a lot of robot vacuum brands worthy of your consideration. Only a decade ago, buying a robot vacuum meant choosing from a couple of brands competing with each other. Now, dozens of robot vacuum manufacturers have earned themselves respectable reputations.

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If you are investing in a robot vacuum that will stay in your house and maintain your floors for at least the next five years, which one should you choose? There are a lot of similarities between Roborock and Ecovacs in terms of features and consistency, but I'll dive into some key differences that will help you determine which is right for you.

On app features

Since I started using Roborock seven years ago, the app has been consistently one of the best on the market. In the years since, it's only gotten better. However, I've used both the Ecovacs and Roborock apps simultaneously for the past two or three years, and I have to say that the Ecovacs app has improved a lot, too. 

Still, the Roborock app is a favorite among users, whereas the Ecovacs app is more divisive. Many features in the Ecovacs app are intuitive and easy to use, while others are harder to find, especially when compared to the Roborock app. 

Also: This robot vacuum mops so well, it cleaned up the mess my Roomba left behind

Roborock has honed an easy-to-navigate, reliable application that lets you create multiple floor maps with detailed cleaning routines. It lets you customize room-specific behavior, scheduling, and manage your map in the most detailed way I've seen. 

The Ecovacs app has improved a lot in recent years, but its menu layout is still awkward; settings and customizations feel buried and hard to find. You can easily manage specific cleaning scenarios on the main page, such as vacuum-only, vacuuming and mopping, intensity, and water flow. But finding more intricate customizations and personalization settings isn't intuitive. 

On map creation and navigation

Unlike app performance, navigation depends entirely on the specific robot vacuum model.

In my experience, I've found that each brand has some models that outperform others in navigation, but more Roborock models outperform Ecovacs models. The Ecovacs X8 Pro Omni won't navigate with equal ease as the Roborock Saros 10R, as the former is more comparable to the Roborock Qrevo Curv 2 Flow. 

Ecovacs largely prioritizes innovation in cleaning hardware over the intelligence used to navigate. This doesn't mean that Ecovacs aren't good at obstacle avoidance, which we discuss below, but fewer models will outperform a Roborock in navigation.

Roborock has historically invested in map accuracy, path planning, obstacle recognition, and recovery behavior when something goes wrong. In addition to major innovations in robotics, Roborock has also relied heavily on the software its robots use to process the environment captured by their cameras and sensors. 

Also: I let Roborock's first self-cleaning roller mop vacuum clean my hardwood floors, and it delivered

Roborock uses a software stack that the company has improved over the years to process data from LiDAR and light sensors, as well as RGB cameras. This investment is why Roborock's Saros Z70 can navigate its surroundings and deploy a mechanical arm to grab and move obstacles out of the way. 

If you're into Ecovacs and are looking for a robot that outperforms most Roborock models, I recommend the Deebot X11 OmniCyclone or X12 OmniCyclone.

Suction performance

Ecovacs aggressively advertises big Pascal (Pa) numbers, a unit that measures pressure difference, but Roborock tends to focus on suction power. Pascals are used to measure the strength of a vacuum's suction, as they describe how much suction pressure the motor can generate. The higher the Pascal rating, the stronger the vacuum's power to pull air and debris upward.

However, Pascals alone don't automatically translate into better cleaning. To be a high-performing vacuum, a robot needs strong suction (measured in Pa), good airflow, an efficient brush design to lift debris, some contact with the carpet, and good navigation to actually reach the dirt.

The terms suction pull and suction power are often used interchangeably in marketing, but they're not the same thing. Suction pull is the vacuum's pressure difference, measured in Pascals, and is a measure of the motor's strength. Suction power, in turn, is the vacuum's overall ability to move debris, so it combines pressure and airflow.

Also: Forget Roomba: This futuristic robot vacuum changed how I clean my floors - seriously

Suction performance is where our Lab data excels, as we've tested the suction power of eight Roborock models and 10 Ecovacs robots to find the top performer. Overall, the results are pretty close:

These sand pickup tests involve weighing each robot's dustbin, then distributing a specified amount of sand over different flooring surfaces, including hardwood and low-pile and medium-pile carpet. After the robot vacuums the testing area, we weigh the dustbin and the sand inside to determine what percentage of the sand the robot picked up. 

Roborock averaged 62.3% of sand pickup across the different floor types, while Ecovacs was close behind at 60.1%. Quantifiably, they're close enough in suction performance that you can't go wrong with either brand.

Obstacle avoidance

Unlike navigation, obstacle avoidance is about evaluating the ability to set a robot vacuum and forget it, without worrying that it may get stuck in a sock or a charging cord. Having to rescue a robot vacuum that's stuck on an object contradicts your reason for buying it in the first place: to hand off the cleaning task.

In my experience, Roborock vacuums tend to detect obstacles sooner than Ecovacs models, so they slow down sooner when approaching them and are more likely to go around them. 

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However, that isn't the case for all Roborock models. One example is how the Ecovacs Deebot X11 OmniCyclone outperforms the Roborock Qrevo Curv2 Flow in my home tests. Ecovacs has some great models with excellent obstacle avoidance, like the newest Deebot X12 OmniCyclone, which beat every Roborock model we've tested in our lab. 

When you venture beyond flagship robots, Roborock robots offer more consistent obstacle avoidance across different price points.

Mopping feature

Ecovacs tends to feature superior mopping across the board, with a long history of innovative mopping innovations. While Roborock has remained committed to making iterative updates to the single microfiber mop pad system it has used for almost a decade, Ecovacs was leading the charge on rotating mop pads. 

In recent years, Ecovacs has introduced the Ozmo roller mop, developed by its sister company, Tineco, while Roborock only has a single model with a roller mop (launched earlier this year). 

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Testing both Roborock and Ecovacs models, the latter is more efficient in removing difficult stains from the floor, particularly dried messes like spilled juice, coffee, syrup, and soy sauce. This indicates that Ecovacs robots not only feature more innovative mops but also exert greater downward pressure than Roborock's models. 

Writer's choice

I recommend Ecovacs and Roborock for different circumstances. Roborock is perfect for buyers looking for a consistently dependable robot that will last for years without feeling outdated, and is a great option for homes with a mix of floor types. Ecovacs robot vacuums, in turn, are a good fit for homes with a lot of hard floors, including hardwood, tile, and vinyl planks.

Ecovacs is perfect for fans of feature experimentation in the vacuum and mop category. Roborock focuses its biggest innovations on the robotic aspect of the device, which is still a good thing for early adopters, but it tends to be less aggressive than Ecovacs at releasing ambitious features early.

Also: I let this $360 robot vacuum run on autopilot for 10 days while I was away - here's how it went

However, both Roborock and Ecovacs have a wide range of prices from inexpensive models to flagship robots. They both have built-in voice control so you can ask your robot to clean a specific room or area, hands-free options with self-emptying and self-washing robots, and the ability to customize your maps.