Headed by Dreame, Mova is a new brand launched at the start of the 2024 school year to, in particular, tickle Xiaomi in the affordable home automation sector. It is in this context that we are testing here its first robot vacuum cleaner, the Mova E30 Ultra. On paper, it is a mid-range device which attempts to offer certain high-end specifications, but making some sacrifices so as not to increase the bill too much, set at a reasonable €500. Let's see what happens in this test.
Design and features of the Mova E30 Ultra
It's difficult to be more sober than the white dress (until the rare lighting, also white) of this Mova E30 Ultra. Dreame fans will not be disoriented here. With its removable clean water and dirty water tanks, its station also makes it a “beautiful baby” which will not easily find its place in every home.
© Antoine Roche for CNET France The Mova E30 Ultra next to our venerable Roidmi Eve Plus.
With a height of 59 cm, a width of 35 cm and a depth of 46 cm at its base, the whole thing is impressive. This is the price to pay to benefit from a solution designed to let the robot do its thing for a long period of time before having to worry about it.
© Antoine Roche for CNET France The location for the dust bag.
In addition to the two generous and easy to transport tanks, the station hides behind a panel a location for the dust bag, while at the back a button allows you to turn the station on or off. No area for optional detergent, which will have to be put directly into the water.
© Antoine Roche for CNET France White gets messy quickly.
The ramp as well as the base where the vacuum cleaner is stored are removable for easy cleaning.
© Antoine Roche for CNET France Dirty and clean water tanks.
© Antoine Roche for CNET France Easy to fill or empty.
Equipped with a comfortable 5,200 mAh battery, the robot (35 x 35 x 9.7 cm) offers a classic removable dust tank, a single side brush on the right, a plastic brush roller underneath and two round mops at the back, magnetic. Three buttons are offered on the top: power on and clean, start a zone cleaning and return to the station. The reset button is located under the hatch, alongside the WiFi indicator.
© Antoine Roche for CNET France Nothing but very classic.
Only the front of the robot, where its 3D Line laser sensor is located, is black. Like the competition, a distance laser is located above under a cover. Below, sensors (fall, carpet, etc.) are included.
© Antoine Roche for CNET France The dust tank.
On the other hand, we will regret the absence of a spare dust bag in the box, an alternative roller brush (for hair in particular) or even detergent.
© Antoine Roche for CNET France The union minimum.
Installation and initial configuration
After installing, plugging in and removing the various protections from the vacuum cleaner and its station, head, without surprise, to the MovaHome mobile application on your mobile device. After creating an account, simply add the robot by scanning its QR code located under its hatch. All you have to do is enter your WiFi network and you're done in a few seconds.
© Antoine Roche for CNET France Initial setup is easy.
Finally, the application recommends launching a first quick mapping where the robot will inspect your interior to establish a map. In our apartment, the machine did well, even if it was necessary to manually divide the area to clearly indicate each room.
Application and settings
For this first product, Dreame chose to launch a new application dedicated to its Mova brand, rather than remaining with its historic solution. This is quite intuitive, responsive and well designed, if we omit the traditional French translations which are sometimes a little approximate. It also allows you to receive useful notifications, for example when the clean water tray is empty or it is time to clean the plaque under the mops.
© Antoine Roche for CNET France The home page and the map page.
The home page first offers two large buttons to start cleaning and return the robot to its station. Pressing on the illustration of the robot provides access to the map (with live display with a slight offset of the robot's position), to some information (battery, cleaned surface, time spent, etc.) and above all to various settings.
© Antoine Roche for CNET France Sufficient options for mid-range.
This is where it is first possible to personalize the map (adding furniture, dividing up zones, etc.) and creating several. This is also where it is possible to choose between the vacuum cleaner, mop, or both functions (at the same time or one after the other). This choice can be made per room.
© Antoine Roche for CNET France An essential classic.
It is also possible to configure the frequency with which the robot returns to wash the mops during its activity (per m² covered, per room or per hour). If you don't want to bother, automatic “CleanGenius” cleaning promises intensive and intelligent washing, especially in easily soiled areas.
© Antoine Roche for CNET France Only a few buttons lack visual feedback when pressed.
Essential functions such as a history or cleaning scheduling are there, while a few options are offered. We will particularly appreciate the one so that the robot oscillates from left to right on the edges to improve washing. To save some money, we welcome the option to limit charging at the station to off-peak hours. The frequency of emptying the robot or the cold air drying time of the mops (to avoid bad odors) can also be configured. Some options around mats, including the possibility of adding one to the map if the robot thinks it has detected one, are also included.
© Antoine Roche for CNET France Enough to adapt to basic needs.
On the other hand, there is no possibility of manually steering the robot, or of taking advantage of an on-board camera to monitor its home remotely. Pet owners will appreciate an option to perform “strategic cleaning around the pet”. In practice, it is difficult to see what the robot has done differently around our cats' bowls and litter boxes.
Navigation and cleaning
One of the main strengths of this mid-range solution is certainly its high suction power of 7000 Pa. Owner of two cats who leave hair and dirt everywhere, we were satisfied with the efficiency of the Mova E30 Ultra when it comes to vacuuming. It can happen that it misses a few pieces of debris here and there, but overall it performs well.
© Antoine Roche for CNET France This E30 Ultra is a very good mapper.
Reasonable in terms of noise in normal mode, it is unsurprisingly more noticeable at the highest levels, while the silent mode is only slightly different from the standard to the ear. The station also makes noise when emptying dust into the station (unsurprisingly high, but short) and handling dirty and clean water (reasonable and quite short as well).
The vacuum cleaner was quite effective for navigation. In addition to the relevant initial mapping, the robot, for example, navigates rather well between chair legs, an area usually complicated for our previous model. He also dodged certain objects on the ground well and didn't hit obstacles more than necessary.
Concerning carpets, in the event of detection (also effective), the vacuum cleaner avoids them initially, returning to them later after washing the floors by lifting the mops by 10.5 mm so as not to wet them. Conversely, an option allows you to vacuum them up first. For small rugs, on the other hand, such as a bath mat, it is preferable to remove them before cleaning, as the robot tends to move them rather than vacuum them properly.
© Antoine Roche for CNET France Can do better with small stacks.
For cleaning floors with water, there is no real miracle to expect from the Mova E30 Ultra. Not only does cleaning with cold water (with or without detergent) replace real cleaning, but the solution seemed perfect to us. Certainly, the rather well-designed mops allow you to wash lightly without spreading the dirt, notably by activating advanced edge cleaning, but for stubborn stains, you will have to iron.
In addition, it appeared to us that very quickly after starting cleaning by sufficiently wetting the floor, the mops seemed almost dry. This is due to the absence of a water tank within the robot, therefore forcing it to return to the station regularly to be as efficient as possible. The drying of the floor is quite rapid, in particular thanks to a blast of air at the back of the robot.
Mova's solution, however, is not the fastest. Without changing the basic settings too much, simultaneous vacuuming and washing of the floors took us around 1h30 for 43 m². Add several tens of minutes to this time if the option to clean the edges well is activated. This is where the very comfortable autonomy of the robot comes into play, especially if it makes several trips to the station to clean the mops. The advantage of taking your time is that the complete cleaning does not miss much, apart from a few hard-to-reach corners.
Our opinion on the Mova E30 Ultra
The Mova E30 Ultra is an excellent mid-range robot vacuum cleaner. Hard to beat in terms of value for money, it has a solid app, impressive battery life and very effective suction. If washing floors in cold water does not match that of high-end models, this is sufficient as a backup solution. We can criticize it for the lack of accessories in the box, but it is a small price to pay to be able to benefit from a complete solution at a lower cost.
Mova E30 Ultra: read the review
The Mova E30 Ultra is a mid-range robot vacuum cleaner that stands out for its excellent quality/price ratio. It offers an intuitive app, precise navigation and powerful suction, ideal for homes with pets. Its remarkable autonomy allows prolonged cleaning, even on large surfaces. Although it makes some compromises on accessories and water washing, it remains an affordable and efficient solution for effective daily maintenance.
