The Ecovacs Deebot 711 has Smart Navi Mapping Technology, up to 110 minutes of battery life, and can double the amount of suction power on demand. Plus it's smart home enabled, voice controlled, and costs about US$350. I tried it out, to see if it lives up to the hype.
Robotic vacuums are becoming more and more affordable, and more useful too. I have two robovacs in my house, not including this new Deebot 711. One is another Ecovacs product, the company's latest as of last year, the Deebot 79S (reviewed here), which continues to work very well. This new 711, though, adds to the 79S' capability with two things I wish the 79S had: better battery life and much more intelligent room mapping.
The Ecovacs Deebot 711 is a good size, fitting under most furniture on legs (beds, dressers, tables) and it comes with a black finish and simple indicator lights. A button on its top activates the vacuum without need of a remote control or app. Like the other Deebot I've tried, this one is simple to operate, easy to maintain, and is good about doing its thing and then finding its charging station when done.
One thing that's impressive about the Deebot 711 is its room mapping. When activated, the vacuum makes deliberate measurements of the room it's in before beginning a sweep of the room to vacuum as much of it as possible. Obstacles are steered around rather than becoming bump points for a total change in direction, as is the case with other robovacs.
The Smart Navi Mapping Technology creates an internal map of the room the 711 is in. It can map up to about 1,300 square feet (121 sq m) in total, depending on the number of obstacles. It had no issues mapping and cleaning an 800 sq ft room with lots of bedroom furniture, and little issues in a 1,000 sq ft room with more open space.
As with the 79S, the Ecovacs Deebot 711 is compatible with both Amazon's Alexa and Google Home Assistant. Its app is available for both Android and Apple devices as well. Control of the vacuum can be managed through that app, which allows setup of automated scheduling for cleaning, remote-control for manual driving of the vacuum (handy for cleaning up a specific mess or giving the cat a ride across the room), status checkup from afar, and so on. The voice-activated setup is through Alexa or Google, allowing simple commands like "Ask Deebot to clean" or "Ask Deebot to charge."
One more useful thing on the Deebot 711 is its maximum suction mode. This doubles the suction power for better cleaning when the going gets tough. It's great for when the dog tracks dirt across the carpet or the kids dump Cheerios all over the floor. Two specialized cleaning modes, "Edge" and "Spot," allow you to have the 711 cover just the edges of the room to grab up the dust bunnies or do a specific pre-programmed spot like a high-traffic area for a more thorough clean.
Battery life in the Ecovacs Deebot 711 is very good, at about 110 minutes with normal cleaning. My test model had no issue getting close to an hour and a half of work in before heading back to its charger. By contrast, the Deebot 79S is good for just over an hour before it's done for the day. The double suction mode in the 711, however, does drain battery life faster.
In all, the Ecovacs Deebot 711 is a great robotic vacuum for the price. It's fast, efficient, and easy to take care of. It's good at finding and avoiding/going around obstacles in the room, but does tend to get stuck on thick power cords or tall floor transitions.
Product Page: Ecovacs Deebot 711
