EZVIZ RS20 Pro review: a competent but slightly flawed hybrid floor bot with unique mopping system

EZVIZ doesn’t just produce a sterling range of home security cameras, it also designs and manufactures a range of other smart home appliances, including power stations and an abundance of floor cleaners, like the multitasking RS20 Pro robotic vacuum-mop we’re reviewing today.

Despite operating in much the same way as most other models on the market, the EZVIZ RS20 Pro takes a unique approach to how its mopping system works and we’ll look at that in more detail during the review. 

Like so many hybrid bots these days, the RS20 Pro ships with a charging dock that not only empties the robot's small bin but thoroughly cleans and dries its dual circular mops using hot water and hot air.

Is the EZVIZ RS20 Pro worthy of a high spot in our guide to the best robot vacuums money can buy? Let’s dig in and see.

EZVIZ RS20 Pro review: price and availability

Given that the EZVIZ RS20 Pro has only just been launched, there aren’t many places you can purchase it at time of writing. For now, your best bet is Amazon where it retails for a not unreasonable £699.99. However, you might have to wait a bit if you live in the US as there doesn’t appear to be any listing for it at this moment in time.

EZVIZ RS20 Pro review: design and features

Available in white only, the RS20 Pro boasts a sleek and modern design that, to my eyes, makes it one of the best looking robot vacuums on the market right now. Yes, it’s circular in shape like most robot vacs these days and about the same height, too, but this writer just loves its rounded edges and sleek black camera and sensor windows that give it a really futuristic and stylish aesthetic as I watch it trundle around the home. Granted, the RS20’s top-mounted LiDAR navigation sensor does add a slight bump on top but it doesn't detract from the overall streamlined look and it shouldn’t encumber the unit too much when negotiating low-lying furniture.

Heading to the front and sides, the RS20 Pro is equipped with a high resolution camera and side sensors for superb obstacle detection. In fact, this bot is one of the very best at dodging all manner of obstacles without touching them. Moreover, you can also use the camera for live viewing on the app and even steer it around like an RC car to check on the pets who you can talk to if necessary. You can even set this thing to perform a security patrol, all the while recording the video it shoots to a built-in hard drive. The camera’s resolution is frankly exceptional and pretty much up there with the best in home security cameras.

I’ve never understood why robot vacuums have just one side spinning brush to fling dust and debris into the path of their brush portals when they could have one on each side – like this model. When it comes to edge cleaning and even open floor sweeping, two spinning side brushes are clearly better than one. What’s more, this model goes one better by raisi the side brushes on carpet so they’re not entangled by bits of thread.

Heading to the business end, the EZVIZ RS20 Pro is equipped with a single rubber brush bar with steels combs for removing entangled hair. The vacuum’s suction, meanwhile, is rated at 7,200Pa which is perfectly ample for carpet cleaning purposes. Just behind the vacuum section is where the magic mopping tech comes in, and EZVIZ has adopted a completely unique approach in this regard.

When it comes to mopping systems, manufacturers like Roborock and iRobot fit their models with raisable or retractable mops for when their bots are on carpet. This is to prevent an albeit tiny amount of dampness transferring to your favourite rug or carpet while the robot’s en route to a section of hard flooring. Well EZVIZ adopts a completely different method in this regard and, instead of raising the mops,  the RS20 Pro simply leaves them behind in the cleaning station. Hence, if you set the bot to perform a vacuum first followed by some mopping, it will leave its two spinning toweled mop heads in the base, head off to its place of work where it will perform its vacuuming duties and then return to the base to collect the mops for its mopping run on the same section of floor.

In principal this seems like a great idea, and it is unless your home’s hard floors are divided by rugs and long strips of carpet. In which case this may not be the hybrid robot vac for you. Why? Well, take my home for instance. The entire downstairs area is laid with engineered wood flooring but I also have a lot of rugs scattered here and there and most of them run from one edge of a room to the other. This poses no problems for something like the Robot S8 MaxV Ultra because it simply lifts its mop when traversing rugs or strips of carpet. By contrast, the EZVIZ will absolutely not go on any carpet or rug when the mops are attached and it will tell you so via an English-accented voice prompt. 

Hence, to use this model successfully on my floor layout would require me either removing the rugs altogether of rearranging them to create a series of hard floor passages for the bot to negotiate enroute to whichever room I want mopping. As a result, the EZVIZ RS20 Pro is, for me personally, a bit of a chocolate teapot and completely unworkable for my environment. Bear this important point in mind if you, too, have rugs or carpet that cover the entire length or width of a floor space and your robot’s charging station is in another room. By the way, you will need to place the charging station on hard flooring and not carpet or, if in mopping mode, it will never leave its base. I personally don’t think having a damp mop running over carpet is too much of an issue since such a small amount of water will evaporate in next to no time. But then I don’t have an expensive white Persian rug.

The RS20 Pro has a respectable battery life, running for about 120 minutes on a single charge in standard mode, which is sufficient for cleaning a medium to large home. Once the battery is low, it automatically returns to the charging dock and resumes cleaning once recharged.

EZVIZ RS20 Pro review: cleaning station

The RS20 Pro comes with a large, incongruous but not unattractive docking station that measures 52cm in height, 45cm in width and 46cm in depth if you include the robot’s ramp. As highlighted above, this unit should be placed on hard floor and not carpet or the mopping system will refuse to work.

The Base Station (as EZVIZ calls it) is one of the most advanced in the industry and goes even further up the tech road than the all conquering Roborock S7 and S8 Series. Take the self-emptying sequence for instance. All robot vacs equipped with a cleaning station do that but none of them actively removes tangled hair from around the cleaning roller first. Apparently the robot’s roller has stainless steel combs that prevent long pet hair from clumping. When the robot docks after a cleaning session, you can hear the roller being given a quick whizz before the base station’s auto-emptying function sucks the contents of the robot’s own small 0.35-litre dustbin into its huge 5-litre dust bag, which is one of the biggest I’ve ever seen.

It’s just as clever when it comes to cleaning the mop heads. Like most products of this nature, the RS20 Pro has two large water containers, one filled with clean water (a massive 5 litres) and the other a 4.2-litre reservoir that collects all the dirty stuff that comes off the mops. Incidentally, there’s also some space inside the dirty water tank to accommodate a sealed bottle of EZVIZ-branded hard floor cleaner. A shame you can’t later fill it with your own preferred cleaning solution but, hey, it is what it is.

Like the Roborock S8 MaxV Ultra, the mops are cleaned using hot water at 60˚C for maximum efficiency and then dried with hot air to prevent mould from settling in. After cleaning the mops, the Base Station then cleans itself by rinsing its base and porting the contaminated water to the dirty water tank. The extra large size of both the Base Station’s dust bag and water tanks means that users won’t need to spend too much time doing any maintenance with this model. 

To top off what is an already fully-featured cleaning station, this model’s dock also features a touch control panel on top that allows the user to control some aspects without having to launch the app. A nice detail that I hope other manufacturers will adopt in the future.

EZVIZ RS20 Pro review: navigation and mapping

Equipped with advanced LiDAR navigation, the RS20 Pro excels in mapping out rooms efficiently and you can see the map of your floor space being created live in the app. However, you may need to lift valances from sofas and beds because, while LiDAR is far and away the quickest and most accurate of navigation systems, it does tend to treat valances like a wall and refuse to allow the bot to punch through the material to start cleaning beneath.

I’ve been especially impressed by how well this model navigates furniture and walls without any touching at all. And it’s just as good in the dark because it uses an LED headlight when necessary. To date, I’d say that the RS20 Pro is among the best navigators I’ve ever seen because I’ve watched it hurtle towards a wall or chair leg a number of times and suddenly stop just centimetres away. To date, it hasn’t rubbed along walls or clouted any furnishings. It also accurately identifies obstacles and avoids them better than many of its competitors.

EZVIZ RS20 Pro review: vacuum performance

The RS20 Pro’s 7,200 Pascals of suction power is more than enough clout for both hard floors and carpets. Like the best robot vacuums it uses boosted power when it detects carpets and the double side brushes do a great job of snatching crumbs along the edges of hard flooring. I also like the way the side brushes lift off the floor when on carpet so they’re not entangled in hair and loose threads.

However, like some other models I’ve tested, the edges of rugs – especially those of the thin, loose fitting variety – are this model’s nemesis. I’m wondering if the front end of the vacuum unit is perhaps too low because it spends a lot of time ruffling up the edges of rugs before eventually – but not always – managing to find a way to mount them. Consequently, after it’s done its business, it tends to leave a mess of crumpled rugs in its wake. Bear this in mind – along with the mopping issue – if you’re a rug fan.

EZVIZ RS20 Pro review: mopping performance

As mentioned above, as long as you don’t have rugs or carpet strips blocking its path to your hard floor of choice, you’ll find this mopping system very efficient. I much prefer mopping robots that are equipped with twin spinning circular mops because they just do a better job than a static mopping pad. With this model, the mops are pressed into the floor with 10 newtons of pressure and that’s firm enough to dislodge most ingrained stains. It also mops to the edge by dancing along the skirting board like it’s doing the conga. You can set three different levels of wetness depending on your floor type. I would recommend the gentlest setting if using the RS20 Pro on wooden floors.

EZVIZ RS20 Pro review: EZVIZ app

The RS20 Pro’s app is pretty impressive it must be said. No it’s not quite up there with the high customisation levels of Roborock but it provides all the most important functions like scheduling, setting specific rooms or areas, adding no-go zones and invisible walls, and adjusting both suction power and amount of water used when mopping. However, it does take a while to navigate the app and there are a few quirks that are a bit confusing to get your head around. Nevertheless, the RS20 Pro integrates with voice assistants like Alexa and Google Assistant, adding convenience through voice commands for those that like that kind of thing.

EZVIZ RS20 Pro review: verdict

Were it not for this model’s refusal to cross carpets with the mops attached, I would have undoubtedly given it five stars and called it a Roborock killer. However, while it is indeed a cracking robot vacuum cleaner with smarts galore, I’m disappointed by the oddball mopping system which makes it unsuitable for many homes that contain a lot of full width rugs and carpets. After all, the idea of a robot vacuum is to save time in the home and no-one wants to spend ages lifting rugs off floors, rearranging them or removing them altogether just because a robot isn’t happy.