Our rating system

Q: Is a rating of 8/10 good?

Yes. Our scale isn’t lenient: 8/10 denotes a very good robot, with no dealbreaker flaw. Above 9, it takes a machine that dominates its category on several criteria at once. We don’t hand out 9.5 to everything that comes out.

Q: Why does value for money carry so much weight?

Because that’s the question you’re actually asking. An excellent robot at 999 € that doesn’t do better than a very good robot at 799 € isn’t a good buy, whatever its raw performance. The rating reflects what you get for your money, not just what the machine can do.

Q: Does the rating change over time?

Yes, and that’s intentional. Value for money depends on the price, and a discounted model sees its rating rise, one overtaken by its successor sees it fall. Every review carries its last-updated date.

A rating without a public grid means nothing. Here's ours, in full.

The six criteria

Suction (20%): Real power in pascals, behavior on carpet, handling of pet hair
Mopping (20%): Roller or rotating mop pads, mopping temperature, lift on carpet, edge cleaning
Navigation (15%): LiDAR mapping, obstacle avoidance, threshold crossing
Dock (15%): Emptying, mopping, drying — and what’s left to do by hand
App (10%): Multi-floor mapping, no-go zones, usability, updates
Value for money (20%): What you get for your money, at the current real price

What each criterion measures

Suction. Power in pascals is the number everyone looks at — and the most misleading. A 30,000 Pa robot with a roller that clogs performs worse than an 18,000 Pa robot with a self-cleaning roller. So we rate the whole picture: power, brush type, and above all behavior on carpet, where most robots give up.

Mopping. This is the criterion that really separates the ranges at Ecovacs. The OZMO ROLLER (X and T80/T90 series) and classic rotating mop pads (T50, T30, N30, Mini) answer different logics, not a quality hierarchy. Automatic lifting on carpet and mopping temperature carry a lot of weight here.

Navigation. Obstacle crossing varies widely between models: up to 4 cm with TruePass on certain X models, versus simple detection on entry-level models. This gap decides whether your robot clears your bathroom threshold or gets stuck in front of it.

Dock. A dock that empties, mops and dries on its own makes you forget about the robot for weeks. An incomplete dock calls you back to it more often. We rate what's actually left for you to do — including manually emptying bagless cyclonic bins.

App. Not very differentiating at Ecovacs — the app is shared across the whole lineup. Hence its limited 10% weighting.

Value for money. The only criterion that moves over time, because it depends on the current real price, not the price shown at launch.

The scale

Rating	What it means
9.0 – 10	Dominates its category on several criteria. Rare.
8.0 – 8.9	Very good robot, no dealbreaker flaw.
7.0 – 7.9	Good robot, with an accepted trade-off (price, mopping, obstacle crossing).
6.0 – 6.9	Decent, but outdated or mispriced.
< 6.0	Avoid: another model does better for the same price.

We only rate what we can justify. A rating relies on the model's standard spec sheet and on documented field feedback. It doesn't claim to predict three-year reliability — nobody can, and sites that claim to are guessing.

Why our ratings don't track prices

If our grid were lenient, the rating would rise with the price. It doesn't: the X12 Pro Omni at 799 € (9.3) is right on the heels of the X12 OmniCyclone at 999 € (9.5), the rating gap reflecting only a difference in collection method, not performance.

That's the mechanical result of a grid applied without exception. And it's precisely what a ranking aligned with commercial interest would never produce.

→ Our full method · The ranking

Frequently asked questions

Is a rating of 8/10 good?

Yes. Our scale isn’t lenient: 8/10 denotes a very good robot, with no dealbreaker flaw. Above 9, it takes a machine that dominates its category on several criteria at once. We don’t hand out 9.5 to everything that comes out.

Why does value for money carry so much weight?

Because that’s the question you’re actually asking. An excellent robot at 999 € that doesn’t do better than a very good robot at 799 € isn’t a good buy, whatever its raw performance. The rating reflects what you get for your money, not just what the machine can do.

Does the rating change over time?

Yes, and that’s intentional. Value for money depends on the price, and a discounted model sees its rating rise, one overtaken by its successor sees it fall. Every review carries its last-updated date.

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