Summary
Ecovacs Deebot N79S has a more powerful suction, longer runtime, larger dustbin, and it comes at a better price. Roomba 675 has the recognizable brand name and virtual walls, but budget level Roomba’s aren’t good enough.
Navigation
This refers to the battery runtime and how well the vacuum navigates your home. Deebot is the winner by a large margin.
Ecovacs Deebot has a 2-hour battery life and it took about 1 hour and 45 minutes for it to finish cleaning my home before returning to the base. While the vacuum got stuck less overall than other robot vacuums I’ve tested, it always got stuck around my 12×16″ air grate. The grate is very large so this might be an anomaly, but it’s still worth mentioning. Budget vacuums aren’t the best at navigation, so be sure to create barriers with everyday objects before the vacuum runs its cycle.
Deebot navigates well and doesn’t bump into objects as hard as the Roomba does. There are four cleaning modes: automatic, middle, edging, and spot clean. My personal favorite, aside from automatic, is the edging feature as it sucks up debris from the edges of the room.
Roomba 675 only has 1 hour of battery life and it doesn’t always return to the base on time to charge. You’ll often find your Roomba dead in the middle of the room. Roomba claims to have a smart navigation algorithm, and maybe that’s true on their better models, but I didn’t notice this with the 600 series. This model can’t do room mapping, it just goes around and around until the room is done (hopefully). If it finds dirt, it will continue to go over the area until it’s finished. However, this often means it gets stuck on one spot before it finishes the entire floor.
You can use objects to act as a barrier, or you can buy a virtual wall that’s more convenient and Roomba’s biggest advantage. Roomba will know to stay away from the IR that’s blasted from the virtual wall. However, these walls are $40 each.
Navigation winner: Deebot
Suction
Ecovacs Deebot N79S has way more suction power. It’s one of the best I tested and nearly ties with Eufy (another one of my favorites) while Roomba is left far behind.
Deebot has 1,000Pa of suction, which is significantly more than Roomba and it shows. You can increase the power even more with Max Power Mode through the app. This reduces battery life by around 20 minutes, but it’s good on carpets.
The performance is different on carpet and hard floors, so I’ll cover both. Deebot is one of the best robot vacuums under $300 that I’ve ever used on carpet. It’d picked up more rice than Eufy and didn’t kick the debris around as Roomba does. It’s also fantastic on hard floors and picked up 50% more debris and rice than Roomba.
While Deebot is one of the best, Roomba is, unfortunately, one of the worst. There are a combination of issues and I’m not sure which is most salient. It only has one cleaning brush, low suction power, and its algorithm is lacking. Roomba is a wonderful brand, but that’s only for those premium $500+ models.
On carpet, Roomba picked up 40% less debris than Deebot and 50% less debris on hard floors. There’s no contest here. I tested this by placing debris (like rice and dirt) on the floor and giving each robot vacuum five minutes to clean the small mess. Roomba can’t compete with Deebot in terms of cleaning performance.
Suction winner: Deebot
Design
Once again, Deebot takes the lead with a better design. Deebot’s design is average while Roomba is poor and often gets in the way.
Deebot has the same noise rating on paper but sounds quieter to me. It’s also slimmer and lighter so that it can get under more beds and other low-clearance areas. The remote is great and makes it easy to schedule cleaning. There are also manual controls for moving up, down, and side-to-side.
The dust tray has plenty of room and is easy to empty with simple to clean filters. You can choose to charge the vacuum with either the base or a power cord. This gives you some versatility as most vacuums only allow base charging.
Roomba is the loudest budget robot vacuum I’ve used and I highly suggest scheduling its run when you’re out of the house. It will interfere with your TV and relaxing time. It’s not even relaxing white noise, it’s just loud and hard to ignore. It’s also thicker than Deebot and significantly less agile. It’s about half an inch taller and 3 pounds heavier. The design prevents it from reaching some low-clearance areas and it’s clunky.
If that wasn’t enough, the dustbin is very small at only 300ml and difficult to clean and access. To top it off, the filters are hard to clean, too. You don’t get a remote, which isn’t the worst thing, but it’s just one other thing lacking about this robot vacuum.
Design Winner: Deebot
Software
Finally, Roomba pulls ahead with significantly better software. While it doesn’t have a remote like Deebot, the app is fantastic (the same as other Roombas). However, the app only works with Roomba vacuums that are WiFi compatible, so some Roomba 600 models can’t access the app.
Deebot’s remote is precise and useful, but it uses an IR beam and must be in sight of the vacuum. You can set a schedule, but it’s consistent and works at the same time every day. The phone app allows for custom schedules and it’s easier than with the remote, but the app isn’t great.
The Deebot app’s design is poor, like a high schooler’s first stab at designing. If you want custom schedules or max power, then you need to use the app. Syncing the vacuum and app is tedious at first, but should only need to be done once. You can also use Google Assistant or Alexa to control Deebot.
By contrast, Roomba’s app is amazing. Roomba 675 and 690 work with Google and Alexa with voice commands. They also both have WiFi capabilities so you can make or change schedules, check battery life and robot health, look through cleaning cycle logs, and more with the Roomba app. It will also notify you when cleaning is finished. Plus, firmware updates mean that the app can get smarter and impart new features or better navigation on the vacuum. One example would be the smart assistant integration, which is a recent addition.
While this doesn’t make up for all the other limitations, Roomba is significantly better in the software department.
Software winner: Roomba
Company
While I love Ecovacs Deebot N79S, I can’t say their company has the same reputation as Roomba.
Ecovacs is fairly new in the US because they originally focused on distributing in China. That being said, the Deebot is one of the best affordable robot vacuums I’ve tested and it’s much better than the Roomba 600 Series, but it’s not made to last forever.
Roomba is the original brand and debuted robot vacuums over 18 years ago. They have great customer support and make their vacuums easy to repair. You will have no problem finding replacement parts. While the Roomba 600 Series offered poor performance, my guess is that it lasts longer.
Company winner: Roomba
Final Thoughts
While Roomba is a better brand overall and I love their app, it’s clear that the Ecovacs Deebot N79S performs better than Roomba 675. There’s a huge difference in power and the Deebot will do a better job of cleaning your home. If you want a budget model, then Deebot is the model to go with.
