While mopping is never the primary reason people pick up a robot vacuum, the new Ecovacs Ozmo Pro Mopping Kit may change their mind. The $99.99 accessory is a vibrating water reservoir with disposable moping pads that gives a pretty powerful punch across hard wood floors. Working with the Deebot T8 AIVI, the Deebot T8+ and the Deebot T8, the Mopping Kit was put to work by GearBrain on the latter of the two robot vacuums, to see how if it did a better job than the standard mopping plate and cloth pad that comes with the Deebot T8.

The mopping plate with the Ecovacs Ozmo Pro Mopping Kit is notably biggerGearBrain

Ecovacs Ozmo Pro Mopping Kit — Design

The Ecovacs Ozmo Pro Mopping Kit comes with the water reservoir and and a package of 25 disposable pads that let you replace them after extra round of mopping. This reservoir is noticeably thicker because of a vibrating plate on the bottom which is designed to move oscillate 480 times a minute, although the water tank is the same size, holding 240 ml just like the T8 and T8 AIVI.

The disposable pads are also designed to pick up more debris on the floor, as well as 99 percent of bacteria. But do note that you unfortunately cannot use the reusable and washable pad that comes with the T8 on the thicker plate.

Ecovacs Ozmo Pro Mopping Kit — Set-up

The Ecovacs Ozmo Pro Mopping Kit is easy enough to install. First, you'll pull the rubber stopper open and fill it with water. Ecovacs recommends using purifier water or softened water. We used tap water in our tests.

Next, you'll want to attach one of the disposable cloths — and not the reusable one that comes with the T8 —with the fluffy side against the plate, and not facing the ground.

Finally, pop out the water reservoir on the T8 (or the T8+ or T8 AIVI) and push the Ozmo Pro into place instead. It doesn't fit as neatly as the one you're replacing, and that's primarily because of the oscillating plate that will hang from the bottom. But listen for the snap, which is one way you will know the plate is installed. The second, and even better way, is that the T8 will tell you when the Ozmo Pro has been installed, by saying it aloud: a nice touch.

The disposable pad from the Ecovacs Ozmo Pro Mopping Kit seemed to do a better job on dirt and even dog hairGearBrain

Ecovacs Ozmo Pro Mopping Kit — Performance

After snapping the new reservoir into place, we tapped on the power button on the top of the Deebot T8 and let the robot start. With the pad in place, just as with the reusable pad, the vacuum knows that it's supposed to mop. We had the setting on a high level of water as our floors are in a constant state of mess, and the robot left a light but visible trail of water as it moved. This wasn't excessive, and it dried within about a minute.

With the oscillating mopping plate in place, the T8 immediately began to avoid carpeted areas, as it does when the standard mopping plate is installed too. But one thing that was noticeably different was the sound, with the oscillating plate definitely louder than the standard mopping attachment. Ecovacs does mention that the Ozmo Pro is going to be more noisy on its site, citing the electric oscillating plate as the reason.

Yet does that sound translate into a deeper clean? We'd have to say, by the look of the pads, we think yes. It certainly pummeled some sticky spots (a spilled drink) better than the standard plate, although it was interesting to see that dirt pickup was centered toward the back of the plate.

We also noted that the Ozmo Pro picked up dog hair a bit better than the standard reusable mopping plate. While the vacuum feature is of course the primary way you would expect the Deebot to collect dog hair, it was nice to see that the Ozmo Pro worked as a backup, and better actually than the reusable pad.

The oscillating plate from the Ecovacs Ozmo Pro Mopping Kit makes the reservoir heavier and more sizeableGearBrain

Ecovacs Ozmo Pro Mopping Kit — Price

The Ecovacs Ozmo Pro Mopping Kit is priced at $99.99. You can pick up extra packs of 25 disposable pads on Ecovacs site for $24.99, although when we checked they were out of stock.

Ecovacs Ozmo Pro Mopping Kit — Worth buying

Do you need the extra $100 Ecovacs Ozmo Pro Mopping Kit to mop up your floors? No. The Deebot T8, T8+ and T8 AIVI all come with mopping plates, water reservoirs and reusable pads to turn the robot vacuums into mops. But as we've noted before in other reviews, mopping abilities aren't the best feature, typically, with robot vacuums.

The Ozmo Pro does seem to kick that up a notch, with pads and an oscillating plate that digs a bit better into the floor to pick up dirt, and even — as we found — dog hair that the vacuum itself may have missed.

A drawback of course is that you're using disposable mopping pads here, which means you need to buy more, after you've run through the 25 that come with the kit. Depending on how often you like to mop, that could be expensive, at about $1 per mopping round.

But if you're hoping to really depend on your Deebot T8, T8+ and T8 AIVI as a mopping tool, the Ozmo Pro may be worth the investment as we do find it brings the mopping up to a higher level than the standard mopping plate is able to provide.

Pros:

• Pads allow you to pick up dog hair as well as ground in dirt
• Disposable pads mean you don't have to wash the mopping pad
• Oscillating cleaning plate moves 480 times a minute

Cons:

• Pads are disposable and can't be reused
• Cost to replace the pads, which equal about $1 per cleaning round
• Louder than standard mopping attachment