Eufy RoboVac X8 Hybrid robot vacuum review

The Eufy brand, owned by Chinese company Anker, has earned a solid reputation for producing some of the best robot vacuum cleaners that won’t break the bank. The company also excels in home security by the way, and makes one of the best video doorbells currently available.

I tested Eufy’s RoboVac X8 earlier in the year, and I absolutely loved it, so I was very happy to take this mop version for a spin. Not least because there are no less than seven rooms that need to be mopped in our house! We also have plenty of carpets and rugs in-situ. With two dogs, two daughters and a budgie in residence, I really do need to vacuum every single day if I have the slightest chance of keeping on top of the dust bunnies. 

I was keen to discover how the RoboVac X8 Hybrid compared, not just to its sister vacuum, but also to other robot vacuums on the market. Having tested half a dozen different models in the past couple of years, I am already sold on the benefits of robot vacuums but was intrigued to find out if the mop side of things would revolutionise my life in a similar way. Keep reading to find out how I got on.

Eufy RoboVac X8 Hybrid robot vacuum 

Product spec:

• ·       Power source: 14.4v Li-ion 5,200 mAh battery
• ·       Dimensions: Diameter 34.5cm x H9.8cm
• ·       Weight: 3.5kg
• ·       Dustbin capacity: 400ml 
• ·       Water tank capacity: 250ml
• ·       Battery life: Up to 180 minutes
• ·       Charging time: 4-5 hours
• ·       Floor coverage: 180 sq m
• ·       Speeds: 4

Who tested this robot vacuum?

Linda Clayton

Linda Clayton is a freelance interiors journalist specialising in kitchens, bathrooms and home tech. She is a serial renovator, currently on her fourth project, and has tested many home appliances, DIY tools, mowers and mattresses in the last 20+ years.

Who will the Eufy RoboVac X8 Hybrid suit?

Time poor pet owners looking for a good deal. The app makes it easy to schedule and control cleans when you’re out, so busy worker bees can look forward to returning home to lovely clean floors. On the right setting, it’s quiet enough to have running when you’re in residence, too, so it is also a good choice for retirees or those who WFH. It covers 180 sq m in a single charge, making this a great choice for larger homes.

How easy is the Eufy RoboVac X8 Hybrid to set up?

Most robot vacuums are pretty simple to set up, even if you’re a total novice but the RoboVac X8 Hybrid is an absolute breeze. In just five simple steps, it was merrily charging and ready to go on its first mapping foray. 

These five steps start with situating the charging base, near a socket and within Wi-Fi signal, with at least one metre clear space either side and two metres clear in front. I opted for under the hallway table, which is also where our broadband router lives. The base has a handy void for storing spare power cable and sits on rubber pads, but it did slide around a bit on our engineered wood flooring. It has some adhesive strips on the bottom, which is designed for use on carpet but I wouldn't want to stick it to my precious wood in case of damage.

Once I’d plugged it in, I downloaded the EufyHome App from Apple (also available for Android at Google Play) and followed the on-screen instructions to pair the device and link to our Wi-Fi. It took a couple hours before the orange pulsing charging light on the robot turned to solid blue, meaning it could go for its first spin.

There are basic controls on the top of the RoboVac X8 Hybrid itself, which let you set it going, spot clean and return to base. But to enjoy full functionality and remote control, the EufyHome App is the way forward. I also connected it to Alexa by linking the App with my Amazon account (again an easy process), then changed its name, just because I could. The kids chose Bobby, I have no idea why. “Alexa, ask Bobby to start cleaning,” they gleefully cried. Such fun! 

Finally, I set up a cleaning schedule to coordinate with the school run (and later on weekends), so I didn’t have to listen to Bobby while he was working away! Once our ground floor map was saved, I was able to choose which rooms to clean and when, which was very handy because less frequently used rooms don’t need to be vacuumed daily. After a bit of trial and error, I had it set up to clean the main hallway and kitchen-diner every day, and then blitz through the remaining ground floor rooms twice a week.

What is the Eufy RoboVac X8 Hybrid like to use?

I’ve learnt from past robot testing experiences that patience is key and it usually takes at least a week for any robot vacuum to find its way around and build a map that even mildly resembles the floor print of our home. The RoboVac X8 Hybrid took longer than any I have ever tested (including its sister model, the RoboVac X8) to get his head around our uncomplicated layout. We have six rooms on the ground floor, with the robot based in the entrance hallway, from which each of these rooms lead, with no steps and all doors generally left open.

The RoboVac X8 Hybrid repeatedly got lost and repeatedly failed to find its base. If I was home, I’d hear a voice notification from him (the lack of any sense of direction confirmed his gender!!), backed by an alert message on my phone, to tell me there was an obstruction in front of the charging base. I’d trundle out to the hallway and find nothing beyond the stationary robot, obstructed by nothing at all. Ghosts?  

The RoboVac X8 Hybrid also refused to go around the floor-slung legs of the chairs in our kitchen seating area, repeatedly trying to mount them until it ran out of energy and again sent a distress message. I tried zoning off the chairs but then it missed half the rug. I then tried putting a magnetic strip over the legs but that didn’t put the Bobby off. Eventually I settled on lifting the chairs onto the sofa before the robot was scheduled to clean! A low-tech, and slightly tedious, solution but it worked. 

The good news is that once the RoboVac X8 Hybrid had created a map, and I’d saved it on the Eufy App, it got much better at finding its location and charging base. The accuracy of the map was really impressive and, says Anker, is down to iPath Laser Navigation, i.e. the lasers that swivel around on top of the robot. I was also able to divide the map into zones so I could ask it to clean just one room, or more, and send it off to do Spot cleans. I could choose which order the rooms were cleaned in, which was helpful when working from home as I could get my office area done first, while I was out, and then wasn’t being (as) disturbed while it vacuumed the rest of the rooms. 

On the subject of disturbances, the robot’s noise levels recorded on my Sound Meter App varied depending on the suction level. On the lowest suction setting, Pure, it was a very reasonable 52 dB(a). But on the Max suction level, it went up to a disruptive 62 dB(a), which you wouldn’t really want to have in the background if you were trying to focus. Especially if you are noise intolerant, like me!

Which smart features are included and are they worth it?

All the App control features, like scheduling, zoning and spot cleaning are brilliant, but one of my favourite Smart features was BoostIQ. When activated, this little setting means the RoboVac X8 Hybrid automatically adjusts the power levels according to the flooring type. We mostly have solid flooring downstairs, which doesn’t require the same suction levels as a deep pile carpet. When it moved into the (carpeted) living room, or onto the rugs in the kitchen and dining area, I could hear the power step up to suck deep into the pile, which was very reassuring on a hygiene point. It also means the battery lasts longer and the robot  

Some of the robots I have tested can’t talk but the RoboVac X8 Hybrid is a very chatty soul and talks you through his plans (“start cleaning” or “returning to base” for example) and any error messages (“right wall sensor needs cleaning”) using voice prompt. Unusually, his voice isn’t irritating either! You also get a text alert on your phone with error messages, which isn’t a lot of use when you’re away from home, except perhaps to pre-warn you that you won’t be coming home to clean floors because “error 7: wheel stuck hanging”.   

The RoboVac X8 Hybrid also has built-in cliff edge sensors, so it won’t fall downstairs. And it can also create multiple maps, so you could potentially clean multiple storeys – or in my case, upstairs and downstairs. I would need to carry him and his base upstairs to do that though, and since I only vacuum upstairs once a week (the shame), I didn’t think it was worth the hassle. Still, if you have a stepped level home, I’ve tested the cliff edge sensors and they work well.

As well as creating Zones to clean, which are useful for targeting high traffic areas in an open-plan setting, you can also create No-go Zones on the map. This is quite a common robot vacuum feature and is useful if you have an open fire, children’s play area (with lots of small toys you don’t want to pick up all the time), or perhaps a really deep pile rug that traps the roller brushes and stops progress. But what’s really good about the No-go Zone feature in this particular model is that you can set it up just in mop mode to prevent any rugs or carpets getting a wash too! 

How good is the Miele Scout RX3 Home Vision HD at cleaning?

Eufy targets the RoboVac X8 Hybrid at homes with pets, claiming it will clean up to 57.6% more pet hair thanks to the power of its twin-turbine suction. This stat is in comparison to single turbine robots. Apparently, each turbine boasts 2000 Pa of suction power, which, Google tells me, is enough suction to pick AA batteries off the floor. Impressive. 

You can’t really put your hands under a robot to feel the power, like you can with the nozzle on a normal vacuum, but if the contents of the bin are anything to go by, I can confirm the suction is every bit as good as Eufy claims. I was actually quite embarrassed by just how much dirt, and pet hair (how are our spaniels not bald?), the RoboVac X8 Hybrid managed to extract from our floors every day. Even with the robot’s UltraPack Dust Compression, which as you may guess, crams the 400ml bin to the brim, I had to empty it every 2-3 days. Embarrassing. It’s worth pointing out that the RoboVac X8 Hybrid has a smaller bin capacity than the non-mop version (400ml vs 600ml).

Eufy R&D Team, take note: an “empty the bin” notification would be mightily handy.  There were a few instances when I removed the bin to find it was absolutely overflowing!

I was also very impressed by how well the RoboVac X8 Hybrid gets right into the corners. Its round shape made me think corners would be an issue but the little twirly brush got right in there and I never had to go round after with a handheld (as I have with other far more expensive robots). Similarly, it is low enough to glide under furniture and the kitchen kick-boards (its first foray under the two living room sofas filled an entire bin – oops). 

How good is the Eufy RoboVac X8 Hybrid at mopping?

I am really sorry to say that I didn’t get on with the mopping side of the RoboVac X8 Hybrid at all. But first, I’ll explain how it works, in theory. In fairness, it is an easy process. You just wet and wring out one of the mop cloths supplied (it comes with one washable and two disposable cloths) and then slide it onto the water tank and press onto the Velcro strips. Next, fill the water tank and then slide it onto the robot, under the bin. The robot says “mop inserted”, when successfully installed. There’s a plastic base disc to put under the charging base to protect the floor when the robot returns to base. I also set-up no-go areas on the map (in the App), to keep it off carpets etc. Then just press Auto Clean or choose which rooms to mop. 

In the instruction manual, I was quite amused to read “the mopping function is only intended for use on a clean floor without stubborn stains”. Seemed a tad pointless. As it turned out, this was just as well, because the mop didn’t really mop at all. I may have had a dud model. It started off promisingly, but after the initial dampness of the cloth I had dampened myself was used up, all I got was barely visible streaks. 

I checked the water outlets on the tank, and they released water perfectly well when pressed with my finger. So why not on the floor? I consulted the owner’s manual, then followed instructions to check the water tank was inserted properly and the filters were not blocked but still, no dice. I also tried it on the porcelain floor tiles in the bathroom, and the laminate flooring in the playroom, in case the mop just didn’t like my engineered wood flooring but still just got patchy, ineffectual mopping. Disappointing.

Is it easy to empty and maintain the Eufy RoboVac X8 Hybrid?

Back to good news, the RoboVac X8 Hybrid is brilliant to empty. The bin slides out from below and then opens right up to empty in one dump, without mess or faff. The filter pops out of the bin interior and there’s a small brush to help remove any stuck hairs/fluff, but I found banging it on the inside of the kitchen bin worked a treat. Every couple of weeks I washed the filter under the tap, leaving it to dry before reinstalling. 

The roller brush does get clogged with hair, which isn’t helped by the fact both my daughters are hairdresser averse! However, it’s easy to lift the brush right out and cut the hair off with scissors. No drama. The roller brush can also be replaced when the brushes inevitably wear down. Ditto the swirly brush, which unscrews for cleaning and replacement. The side sensors need to be cleaned regularly with a damp cloth, but you’ll get a notification to do so if the robot can’t see!

Should you buy the Eufy RoboVac X8 Hybrid?

The Eufy RoboVac X8 Hybrid is an excellent robot vacuum cleaner and does an amazing job at keeping floors dirt and pet hair free, with precious little human input. However, I’d recommend buying the Eufy RoboVac X8 (not this Hybrid version), purely because the mop function didn’t work for me. The functionality and specification is pretty much the same, but the bin capacity is slightly bigger as it doesn’t have to accommodate the mop tank beneath. 

About this review, and the reviewer

Linda was sent this product to test in a home setting for a month to find out how well it scores in a busy family home filled with (too many) pets and (just enough) children. The ground floor of her home is around 130sq m, split into six rooms, plus hallway, and includes every type of flooring imaginable – making it a great testing space for vacuums. 

We were not given any compensation for this review but, for hygiene reasons, Anker does not require it to be returned.