Eufy RoboVac X8 Hybrid review

Like a combination Taco Bell and KFC off of a highway exit, the Eufy RoboVac X8 Hybrid robot vacuum and mop aims to please a wide audience. It’s a tall order for this Wi-Fi-connected bot which offers room-specific cleaning, no-go zones, and mopping capabilities too. Does the latest offering from Eufy have what it takes to earn a spot on our best robot vacuums list? Or is this $649 robot destined for the drive through dollar menu? Find out in our Eufy RoboVac X8 Hybrid review.

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Eufy RoboVac X8 Hybrid review: Price and availability

The Eufy RoboVac X8 Hybrid robot vacuum and mop is currently available at Amazon.com for $649. A vacuum only version, the Eufy RoboVac X8, retails for $599. The Eufy RoboVac X8 sports a more colorful design with pink and blue accents on top and a larger 600ml dustbin.

Eufy RoboVac X8 Hybrid review: Design

There’s a distinct late 1980’s feel in the design of the Eufy RoboVac X8 Hybrid. Like a boombox emblazoned with “Dual Stereo Cassette Deck,” the top of this vacuum announces there’s “Twin Turbine Technology” under the hood. The top is also printed with a pair of gold and black lines that angle in toward the silver Eufy logo in the center. Oddly enough, the lines roughly mimic the shape of the vacuum’s dustbin, which is tucked into the rear of the X8 Hybrid. Much like the Eufy G30 Edge, the lid design vaguely reminds me of the 1982 film “Tron.” The design certainly makes the RoboVac X8 Hybrid stand out from other robot vacuums, but I can’t say that I really like it. I prefer my smart home appliances to look understated and wow me with their performance instead. 

The rest of the 13.58-inch-by-3.83-inch Eufy RoboVac X8 Hybrid is less garish. A blue Wi-Fi light and three physical buttons for docking, start/stop cleaning, and spot cleaning are clustered in front of the laser turret and its black reflective cover.

Flip the Eufy RoboVac X8 Hybrid over and you’ll find a combination rubber and bristle roller brush in the center, flanked by two rubberized wheels on either side. I noticed the bristles on the roller brush were thicker and softer than the bristles on the Wyze Robot Vacuum and it seemed to attract more carpet fuzz and bits of dismembered dust bunnies. An omnidirectional wheel and an array of sensors sit at the front of the bot.

While Eufy hasn’t radically altered the shape or placement of the dustbin, there are improvements to it on the Eufy RoboVac X8 Hybrid. The company claims its “UltraPack Dust-Compression Technology” increases dustbin utilization by 127% compared to the Eufy RoboVac 30C. Loosely translated: your dust is compressed better so it doesn’t fly all over the place when you open the clamshell-shaped bin. While I didn’t completely fill the bin during whole floor cleaning runs, I did notice that much of the lighter dust and debris was clustered in the center of the bin, while heavier crumbs like tortilla chips and kitty litter granules were separated at the bottom of the dustbin. Another nice touch: the included cleaning tool snaps into the top of the dustbin, so it’s right there when you need it.

It’s right there in the Eufy RoboVac X8 Hybrid’s name; this is a machine that does it all — or at least attempts to. A half-moon shaped 250ml water tank and microfiber cleansing cloth clips into the underside of the bot, just below the dustbin. The RoboVac X8 Hybrid comes with a reusable microfiber cleaning pad as well as five disposable cleaning pads.

Though I couldn’t find additional disposable cleaning pads for sale on Eufy’s site or on Amazon, replacement reusable pads are readily available. Taking a page out of iRobot’s playbook, Eufy now sells its own branded Hard Floor Cleaning Solution for $15.99 a bottle.

Eufy RoboVac X8 Hybrid: Vacuuming performance

Watching the Eufy RoboVac X8 Hybrid vacuum is almost mesmerizing. The bot outlines the area to be cleaned, then, like a kid carefully coloring, goes back and forth in an S-shaped pattern, filling in the space it just outlined. I appreciated the methodical pattern, but it did miss small sections of kitty litter strewn across our carpet test area. The X8 Hybrid earned a respectable overall score of 92.39, approximately half of a point less than the similarly priced Roborock S7 and a third of a point less than the cheaper Wyze Robot Vacuum.

Picking up dog hair is where the Eufy RoboVac X8 Hybrid performed best, earning an average pickup rate of 94.75 on hardwood and carpet. That score put it slightly above the Roborock S4, the current best robot vacuum pick.

*Same test performed in a larger 15’ x 15’ area.

The Eufy RoboVac X8 Hybrid performed better on hardwood floors than on carpet — especially when it came to cleaning up Fido’s fur. Though it encountered a brush roll error on its first attempt, the vacuum picked up 100% of the Golden Retriever fur in our lab test on the second attempt, earning the same high score as the Wyze Robot Vacuum and the Roborock S4 Max. 

Kitty litter was a different story. Though this vacuum will keep Garfield’s fur in check, it wasn’t great with litter. While the X8 Hybrid cleaned up 90% of the litter on the hardwood floor, the only vacuum it beat was its sibling, the Eufy G30 Edge.

*Same test performed in a larger 15’ x 15’ area.

On carpet, the Eufy RoboVac X8 Hybrid proved to be excellent at collecting dog hair, picking up 89.5% of the fur on the floor, narrowly beating the Roborock S4 Max’s 88% pickup rate and crushing the other competition, aside from the Neato D4, which removed 95%. 

The X8 Hybrid was less adept at picking up Cheerios on carpet, opting to roll over and crush many pieces instead of picking them up. It picked up just 90% of the cereal — a dismal score on a test that’s usually one of the easiest for robot vacuums to pass. The X8 Hybrid placed squarely in the middle of the pack with an 86.15% kitty litter pickup rate, almost matching the Wyze Robot Vacuum’s score. The X8 Hybrid showed improvement over the older Eufy G30 Edge’s score of 72.55, but was ten points below the Roborock S7 (96) and the S4 Max (95).

*Same test performed in a larger 15’ x 15’ area.

Eufy RoboVac X8 Hybrid review: Mopping performance

Like most combination robot vacuums and mops, the Eufy RoboVac X8 Hybrid focuses more on vacuuming than mopping. The reusable microfiber pad will casually pick up dirt on your floors, but don’t expect miracles. You may have better luck dampening your socks and wearing them while you make dinner. However, unlike a stand-alone mopping robot, the RoboVac X8 Hybrid will vacuum and mop at the same time, which is a time saver — as long as you keep an eye on it.

Though the Eufy RoboVac X8 Hybrid doesn’t need the half-moon-shaped mopping plate attached at all times, it comes with a large translucent mat that’s meant to be attached to your floor where you dock the robot. Seriously. There are little stickers on the underside of the mat to hold it in place on your floor. It’s meant to protect your floor from having a wet mop sitting on it, but I’m trying to clean my floor, not add more sticky stuff to it. Thankfully, the mat was mostly held in place by the dock and I didn’t need to adhere the mat to my hardwood floor. 

Getting the mop up and running on the Eufy RoboVac X8 Hybrid was easy: I dampened the cleaning pad with tap water, attached it to the tank, filled up the small tank with water, and snapped it into place on the underside of the bot.

I was ready to mop — sort of. First, I had to delineate all of the no mop zones in the EufyHome app. As with most mapping hybrid robots, this step is a bit of trial and error. While I can see my dining room table and chairs represented in the map based on the robot’s movements, it’s a little trickier determining where the rug under that table and chairs begins and ends. I usually draw a no mop zone around where I think the edges are and adjust after observing the bot’s path. However, trial-and-error adjustment wasn’t possible with the Eufy RoboVac X8 Hybrid because the app doesn’t remember the no mop zones, meaning you have to redraw those zones each time you use the mop. It was very frustrating.

The whole mopping experience feels like an afterthought. Unlike the Roborock S7 or the Proscenic m6 Pro, where you can adjust the amount of water the robot releases, there aren’t any mopping specific options within the EufyHome app. There’s not even a mop only mode. Instead, the only option is for the RoboVac X8 Hybrid to vacuum and mop at the same time. While I’m all for robots pulling double duty, I wish the mopping options were more robust and versatile.

Eufy RoboVac X8 Hybrid review: Setup, app and mapping

Getting the Eufy RoboVac X8 Hybrid up and running was a breeze. After downloading the EufyHome app (Android and iOS), I created an account and was able to quickly connect the bot to my Wi-Fi network through the app. Then it was time to create a map and get cleaning. 

The EufyHome app supports room-specific cleaning, spot cleaning, and zone cleaning which allows you to quickly draw a box around the area you want cleaned. It also supports no-go zones and virtual walls, which the app remembers in between runs — unlike the no mop zones. The app supports multiple maps, but it’s an option that isn’t toggled on by default. You’ll have to visit the settings menu in the app to enable it.

There are four levels of suction power available on the Eufy RoboVac X8 Hybrid: Pure, Power, Turbo, or Max. Not sure which to choose? Enable the BoostIQ option, which automatically increases suction power based on the floor type. iRobot offers similar technology on all levels of its Roomba line.

On its first cleaning run, the Eufy RoboVac X8 Hybrid generated an accurate map, but there were no room divisions. I sent the vacuum on a few more runs to no avail. I even attempted to outsmart the robot by setting it up in a different area to force it to generate a new floor map, hoping to prompt automatic room divisions. The X8 Hybrid recognized its location and continued using the previous map. Thus I was left with the task of manually creating each room. Though every manufacturer handles room divisions differently and they all have their quirks, the room division in the EufyHome app was one of the most frustrating.

When editing a map there are options to divide and merge. In theory, you select an area and draw resizable straight lines to divide it up. But, when I drew a small, horizontal dividing line across the entrance to my bathroom, the app decided to extend that line through the whole house. This behavior continued throughout the room creation process. I would select one divided section, but the app would create additional divisions. It was a tedious process of dividing and then merging rooms back together. After much consternation, I gave up trying to make my kitchen one cohesive space on the map.

The goofy map creation had ripple effects. When I sent the Eufy RoboVac X8 Hybrid on a vacuum and mopping run to clean the main area of my kitchen (represented by purple and pink areas on the map), the bot traced the edges and cleaned the purple area first, then traced and cleaned the pink area. It’s not the most efficient cleaning method, especially with a wet mop on the underside of the X8 Hybrid.

Eufy RoboVac X8 Hybrid review: Verdict

Eufy has a reputation for making inexpensive robot vacuums that perform well. Unfortunately, the RoboVac X8 Hybrid isn’t one of them. For $649, we expected a better experience from the Eufy RoboVac X8 Hybrid. Though it performed well on our lab tests, the mapping division experience was frustrating and mopping controls were almost nonexistent. 

If you have pets and aren’t interested in room-specific cleaning, it’s not a bad choice. But both the Roborock S4 Max and the Wyze Robot Vacuum offer an overall better, less frustrating cleaning experience for almost half the price of the X8 Hybrid. If hybrid vacuuming and mopping is important to you, check out the $649 Roborock S7, which automatically lifts its sonic mopping plate when carpet is detected. You could do a lot worse than the Eufy RoboVac X8 Hybrid, but it’s hard to recommend at this price point, especially when there are other options.