CES 2024 Robotic Vacuum News – Every New Robovac for 2024
January 17, 2024I just got back from CES 2024, and I’ve got the scoop on all the robotic vacuum tech we’ll see this year.
Starting with the one I’m most excited for, Dreametech’s new flagship, the X30 Ultra, which has increased suction power and includes a tangle free brush that incorporates small blades inside the roller to cut up larger hairs so they can more easily go into the dust bin. But the most exciting improvements are in the mopping pads which can now extend outward to reach into corners, and in addition to around 10mm of lift, the X30 Ultra can also accommodate high pile carpet by returning to the base station to drop its mopping pads before vacuuming your carpet, which is a feature I’ve been waiting for years. The X30 Ultra is on pre-sale now for $1,240 and should be available by the end of Q1 2024.
Ecovacs was also at CES showing off their Deebot X2 Combo, which is essentially just a slightly upgraded version of their already released X2 OMNI, but this time it has a built-in stick vacuum on the side of the base. In addition to charging the portable stick vacuum, the base also empties the stick vac’s dust bin every time it docks. Overall, I think this is a great idea, but I couldn’t help but notice that docking the handheld portion required removing the main vacuum extension, which then just rested up against the side of the base station, which seems like a pretty big design oversight to me.
Eureka was a name I didn’t expect to be making waves in the Robotic Vacuum world, but the J20 looks extremely interesting and will be one of the first robotic vacuums on the market that has an on-board dirty water tank, so it can constantly clean its rolling mopping pads without returning to the dock. Unfortunately, the J20 doesn’t have any ability to raise its mopping roller, but the roller includes a non-absorbent rubber side that the vacuum will automatically switch to before moving over carpet.
There was also a concept vacuum in the Eureka booth that installed under a washing machine and had automated mop water emptying and refilling using your washing machine’s existing plumbing, but I was disappointed to learn that this will be an all-in-one concept where you’ll need to buy Eureka’s vacuum and washing machine rather than buying a riser for your existing front-loading washing machine. No official release dates or pricing were available for either of the new Eureka vacuums.
Narwal also has a solution for automatic emptying and refilling of the mop water. The Narwal Freo X Ultra is their new flagship that includes a base that can wash and dry the mops, but in 2024 they’ll also offer a drop in replacement for the standard clean and dirty water tanks that allows for direct connection to your plumbing. Narwal also plans to work with retailers to offer a service to come install the required plumbing for anyone who doesn’t feel comfortable doing it themselves.
The other big advancement in the Freo X Ultra is a kind of ingenious brush roller that completely resists hair tangles by only being attached on one side which allows the cone shaped brush to push any hairs and tangles completely to the edge, so they fall off the brush and get sucked into the dust bin.
Interestingly Narwal continues to resist adding auto empty dust bins to their base stations and instead is showing off what they call dust compression technology that uses suction to pull all the dust and debris to one side of the bin, and using this new tech they say you can collect up to seven weeks of dust and debris before emptying the dust bin or changing out the optional in-robot disposable dust bag.
Samsung also sort of announced their Bespoke Jet Bot AI Combo, which looks very similar to most flagship vacuums from the last two years, though the rep that I talked to said that the new Jet Bot AI Combo can drop its pads at the base like the Dreametech vacuum. Unfortunately, there was no release date estimate, or price estimate, or even a full list of specs, and the only thing we know for sure is that it will come in both white and black.
The other vacuum with an onboard dirty water tank that will come to market in 2024 is the Neakasa DV10, which I believe will also be the first soft roller only vacuum and mop on the market. While soft rollers aren’t good for carpet they work extremely well on hard flooring, and the DV10 aims to be the most affordable solution for people who want high quality mopping from their robotic vacuum. The DV10 doesn’t have auto empty bins or mop water refilling on the base, but it does have a larger on board dustbin and water tanks than any other vacuum on the market. Expect to see the DV10 by Q3 2024, with a price under $500.
Roborock also showed off new solutions for mopping with their mini edge cleaning mop and extendable side brush on the new S8 MaxV Ultra, but the big news was the option to buy smaller direct connect base stations for automatic emptying and refilling of mop water for both the S8 MaxV Ultra and QRevo MaxV, and because Roborock already has an existing relationship with Target they expect to be able to offer installation services that can be packaged with the new auto empty vacuums themselves.
Roborock is definitely establishing themselves as the most luxury vacuum maker on the market with the S8 MaxV Ultra coming at $1800 for the normal version and $1900 for the auto refill and empty system, and the QRevo MaxV at $1300 for the normal dock or $1400 for the auto refill and empty version.
And the only robotic vacuum at CES that was more expensive than the Roborock was from the company 3i, which I had never heard of before. They were showing off a giant base station that never needs to have its clean water tank filled or dirty water tank emptied because it has a full distillation system to recycle dirty water and also reclaim clean water from the air using a dehumidifier system. The idea is that all the waste from the dirty water will be compressed into dry waste which can be emptied along with the normal dustbin system. It’s an interesting concept but with the least expensive version coming in at $2000 and the most expensive model at just under $4000, I don’t think we’ll be seeing many 3i vacuums get sold in 2024.
But there is a good chance that I’ll be reviewing ALL the vacuums in this video within the next year, so get subscribed if you like unbiased, unsponsored, data driven reviews. If you enjoyed this video don’t forget to hit that thumbs up button, and as always, thanks for watching The Hook Up.