The X2 Omni is hands-down one of the best robot vacuum/mops on the market. To make it even better, Ecovacs has added the two things we’ve been desperate to see – Matter compatibility and a combo stick vacuum to help handle any cleaning job.
The X2 Combo brings complete cleaning
Rather than bringing an entirely new design into the foray, Ecovacs is focusing on improving a winning design with a new release at CES 2024 in Las Vegas. The X2 Omni is the base of the Ecovacs X2 Combo. It’s capable of 8,000Pa units of suction, edge-to-edge cleaning with a new square design, and mopping with dual lifting mop pads powered by an internal reservoir and hot water cleaning station. All of that is powered by a great battery and some rather impressive sensors, so the X2 Omni always knows where it is.
Overall, the X2 Omni has been the best do-it-all cleaning robot we’ve come across, but it still suffers in terms of how much it can do. This goes for all robot vacuums/mops. They can only go so far and take care of so much of the cleaning.
Where the Ecovacs X2 Combo is concerned, that isn’t necessarily as big of an issue. The X2 Combo takes the X2 Omni and base station and adds another dock to house a standalone stick vacuum. The handheld vacuum bridges that gap in cleaning, allowing you to take a vacuum to places a cleaning robot couldn’t. The stick vacuum is equipped with the same amount of suction power as the X2 Omni, so you can divvy up cleaning tasks rather easily.
Just like the X2 Omni robot, the stick vacuum in the X2 Combo has its own place on the dock. When you’re done cleaning, you’ll be able to place the handheld portion in the base station. It will then empty itself and begin to recharge its built-in battery, just like its robot companion.
Another big change in Ecovac’s lineup is the addition of Matter compatibility with Matter 1.2. In essence, the Matter standard allows the X2 Combo to communicate with your smart home ecosystem, no matter which one you use.
Where you might have been limited to Apple HomeKit and Google Home before, users will be able to use Samsung SmartThings and others. The X2 Combo doesn’t have to support those standards, but by utilizing Matter 1.2, they can freely communicate with your smart home ecosystem, allowing you to control the robot through your phone much more easily and without opening the Ecovacs app.
Ecovacs’ first foray into lawn care is the Goat GX 600
In addition to indoor cleaning robots, Ecovacs is introducing its first lawn care robot in the US – the Goat GX 600. The GX 600 uses all of the same navigation and cleaning technologies as the company’s indoor vacuum robots, which sets a rather high bar.
The bot utilizes sensors and SmartMove technology to distinguish between natural lawn boundaries. In essence, it scans much like the X2 Omni would for certain characteristics of the lawn, including areas where there is no grass at all, such as on sidewalks or pavement.
This is an important distinction, as lawn care robots that use bumpers can be dangerous and harmful to certain areas of your lawn. Like the X2, the GX 600 is housed in an outdoor charging station on the edge of the lawn and connected to your local network.
The X2 Combo and Goat GX 600 are going to be exciting products heading into 2024. A pairing between handheld vacuum and robot vacuum that have similar strengths is an exciting one. Where companies like Samsung have seen success with stick vacuums like the Bespoke Jet, a combination dock with both options is a wonderful possibility. The same goes for a robot lawn mower that utilizes the same tested navigation technology as Ecovacs’ indoor vacuums.
Ecovacs has not disclosed pricing along with the news, but we suspect the X2 Combo will be more expensive than the standalone X2 Omni, which retails at $1,499 but is frequently on sale.
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