pros and cons

Pros

• Very efficient mop roller that cleans your floors with fresh water.
• Its vacuum performance is outstanding against pet hair.
• New fragrance diffuser helps mitigate odors.
• Cleans with electrolyzed water.

Cons

• The water needs emptying and refilling more often than most hands-free combination models.
• Dock design is rather tall.
• Battery life is on the mid-to-low end at 150 minutes.

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The Eufy Omni S2 stands out the moment you unbox it. Aside from its unique shape, which is much taller than most robot vacuum and mop combos with a hands-free dock, Eufy directly improved on the shortcomings from the S1 model. 

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For about two years, the S1 was my favorite robot vacuum and mop combination. But as good as it was, it had issues — some were glaringly obvious, others less so. For example, the detergent container ballooned as it filled with air when it was emptied, causing issues with the clean water tank. Eufy repaired this with the S2 by adding a vent to the top to allow airflow as the liquid empties.

Unmatched suction power

The older model also had some issues getting carpets as clean as I wanted, but the Omni S2 obliterates that problem.

Eufy increased the suction power from its predecessor’s 8,000Pa to 30,000Pa — and it shows, especially on carpets. The robot performs very well on hard floors and on both short-pile and medium-pile carpet. It goes deep into the carpet fibers and removes sand, dirt, and pet hair that is stuck and left behind by most other robot vacuums. 

The S2 robot features a fragrance diffuser, which originally had me side-eyeing Eufy’s decision to add such a seemingly frivolous feature. But it proved remarkably useful from the first time I used it.

Not to get gross, but robot and upright vacuums can get quite smelly in a house with dogs. No matter how often you clean them, it’s like the smell lingers in their inner components and comes out when the vacuum runs or empties itself automatically at the dock. Which can be disgusting — like bad vacuum breath.

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Eufy built a five-layer filtration system within the robot to prevent this, culminating in the fragrance diffuser. The robot vacuum sucks up dust, hair, debris, dander, and other allergens, which all land in the dustbin. The air flows through five layers of filtration as it exits the vacuum and passes through the diffuser, expelling fresh-smelling, clean air that spreads throughout your house as the robot moves.

Navigation ability

Navigation is pretty good, especially for a model that doesn’t have a spinning LIDAR component protruding from the top. The robot learns its way around the house and cleans more efficiently as it does. While the first two or three cleaning sessions might incur some bumps against furniture or the wall, the robot learns its surroundings with experience. 

Ultimately, it’s smart enough to map accurately. You won’t find it spinning around, trying to find its place in your home. And it makes real-time decisions to quickly adjust its navigation, like avoiding narrow furniture legs. 

Eufy is the mopping GOAT

The mopping feature was already outstanding on the S1, but the Omni S2 is probably the best robot mop I’ve ever used. Eufy has cracked the roller mop, creating one that cleans almost as well as a person mopping your floors. 

The roller mop extends to reach edges, leaving every single inch of your floor clean, and exerts 15N of downward pressure to remove dried spills. It’s also a pretty large roller mop at 11.4 inches long, so it covers a good amount of area with each pass. 

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After using it for weeks, the roller mop does not get smelly, which means that the dock and the robot are truly efficient at washing and drying it after each cleaning. The Omni dock makes hydrolyzed water to clean and disinfect hard floors as it moves. 

The water tanks are probably one of the first drawbacks I noticed with the Eufy Omni S2. I have to empty the dirty water tank and refill the clean water tank about once every two or three cleanings, which is a lot more often than I have to do it with other self-washing robots. 

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However, you have to consider that this mop is very effective: it spins six times per second inside the robot, continuously spraying clean water and scrubbing as it rolls over your floor. As a result, I’m okay with refilling it more often. 

Battery performance

The S2’s battery lasts around 150 minutes, which is in the mid- to low-end among comparable robot vacuums. However, this is significant if you’re cleaning a large area, like an entire single-story home, in which case it may stop about three-quarters of the way and return to charge. 

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Your mileage will vary, depending on which functionality is running and what settings the robot uses. My robot can vacuum my entire 900-square-foot first floor. It only requires going back to charge if I set the suction power to the max level while mopping, and it’s typically only when it has about 10 or 15 minutes left. 

ZDNET’s buying advice

The Eufy Omni S2 is a remarkable robot vacuum and mop for homes with multiple floor types, especially hard floors. Regardless of whether you have pets, kids, or big messes, it can tackle it all. Even if you have a multi-pet household, you can rely on this robot not only to clean your floors efficiently, but also to disinfect them without spreading odors. 

It’s priced on the high end at $1,600, but it’s a robot vacuum and mop you can rely on for years to come. And one that I, as a reviewer of robot vacuums, am not planning on getting rid of anytime soon.