Chinese robot vacuum brands do not just rebrand for the West. They ship different machines with different names, different suction figures and sometimes different plumbing. Buy the wrong one and you get a model with no auto-refill, no voice control in English, or a dock a European power socket cannot feed.

Below is what we could verify from brand stores, Chinese listings and product pages as of 1 November 2026. Where a pairing is a spec match rather than a stated cross-reference, we say so.

The decoder

China model Overseas name What actually differs Confidence
石头 P20 Pro (¥3,999 water tank / ¥4,599 plumbed, 18,500Pa) Roborock Qrevo Curv ($1,599.99, 18,500Pa) Explicit cross-reference: "Qrevo Curv（国内对应型号为P20 Pro）". Same suction figure. The global Curv is far dearer; the same 18,500Pa class starts at $499.99 (Qrevo S Pro) and $649.99 (Qrevo Curv S5X) Stated
追觅 X50 / X50 Pro (¥6,299–7,699, 19,500Pa) Dreame L50 Ultra ($899.99, 19,500Pa) Same suction. China splits into five SKUs, three of them with automatic 上下水 plumbing; the global L50 Ultra is tank-only Spec match
追觅 X50 Pro 滚筒版 (¥6,299 / ¥6,899 plumbed, 30,000Pa, 100°C roller wash) Dreame Aqua10 Ultra Roller ($799.99 app-only / $999.99 complete, 30,000Pa, 212°F wash) Roller platform, same suction. China launched in Sept 2024, the global Aqua10 at IFA in Sept 2025, so they may be a revision apart Spec match
追觅 X50 Ultra Dreame X50 Ultra ($999.99, 20,000Pa) Same name, same 20,000Pa. The US spec sheet marks the water hookup kit as excluded Stated
石头 G30S Pro (¥5,499 / ¥5,999 plumbed, 35,000Pa) Roborock Saros 20 ($1,599.99) or Qrevo Edge 3 Pro ($1,299.99), both 36,000Pa China bundles sonic mopping at 4,000 vibrations per minute into one ¥5,499 machine; overseas splits it, with the Saros 20 Sonic at $1,699.99 Spec match, two candidates
石头 P20 Max (¥4,299 / ¥4,699, 35,000Pa) Not pinned No global twin confirmed Unresolved
科沃斯 X11 (¥5,499 / ¥5,899 plumbed, 24,800Pa, 15L/s) DEEBOT X11 PRO OMNI (HK$7,999, 19,500Pa, 18L/s) China has 5,300Pa more suction; the global build moves more air. Both 6,400mAh and OZMO ROLLER 2.0. The HK page footnotes call it the 科沃斯 X11 家族 Stated
科沃斯 T80S (¥4,049 / ¥4,699 plumbed, 24,800Pa, Roller 2.0, 75°C wash) DEEBOT T80 MAX OMNI (HK$3,999, 40,000Pa, Roller 3.0 27cm, 100°C wash) The overseas machine is a full generation newer and stronger, and about $510 against the China T80S's $604 Name-shape match
云鲸逍遥 002 Max (¥4,699 / ¥5,299 plumbed, 25,000Pa, 12N tread roller mop, 6,400mAh) Narwal Freo Z10 Turbo ($499.99, 25,000Pa, 5,200mAh) Same suction, different robot. China runs a tread-style roller mop held at 12N with electrolyzed-water sterilisation; the global Z10 Turbo uses dual spinning triangular mops Class match only
云鲸逍遥 003 (¥5,199起, 31,000Pa, 7,000mAh, track mop) Narwal Flow 2 ($1,099.99, 31,000Pa, 7,000mAh) Identical headline numbers under unrelated names. China washes the full path at 100°C; the global Flow 2 washes at 212°F and dries at 104°F Spec match
米家扫拖机器人 5 Pro / OV21CN (¥3,849 / ¥4,549 plumbed, 23,000Pa) Xiaomi Robot Vacuum 5 Pro / OV21GL (€699.99–€799.99, 20,000Pa) Same name, different machine and different model code. China: retractable LiDAR, HyperOS with Xiao Ai, auto water exchange and detergent on the plumbed dock. Global: dToF retractable radar, Xiaomi Home with Alexa and Google, tank only Stated
米家扫拖机器人 6 Pro (¥4,690 / ¥3,799 with subsidy, 30,000Pa) Xiaomi Robot Vacuum 6 Pro (30,000Pa, 85°C wash) Same name, same headline suction, different maths: China says 30% up from its predecessor, the global page says 50% above the 20,000Pa OV21GL Stated
米家扫地机器人 4 (¥1,443, 10,000Pa) Xiaomi Robot Vacuum S40 (£169.99 / €199.99, 10,000Pa) Same price bracket and suction. Both are entry models without a self-cleaning dock; China adds a 270ml onboard tank and LDS Class match only
米家扫拖机器人 7 Max (¥4,999 / ¥5,299 plumbed, 45,000Pa) None China-only, no global release announced n/a

Where the gaps bite

Xiaomi is the trap. China and overseas share the name and the product family, but they are not the same robot. China's OV21CN does 23,000Pa; the global OV21GL does 20,000Pa. Different model codes, so they are not the same hardware SKU with a region flag. China runs HyperOS with Xiao Ai and sells a plumbed dock that auto-fills and auto-doses detergent. The global version is tank-only and speaks Alexa and Google. The 6 Pro shows how the naming slips: China markets its 30,000Pa as a 30% jump on its own predecessor, while the global page markets the identical number as 50% above the 20,000Pa OV21GL.

Roborock renames mid-range and splits the flagship. The P20 Pro-to-Qrevo Curv link is on the record. The G30S Pro is messier: China folds sonic mopping at 4,000 vibrations per minute and 14N of downward pressure into a ¥5,499 package. Overseas, Roborock charges $1,699.99 for the Saros 20 Sonic and $1,599.99 for the plain Saros 20, both at 36,000Pa, and offers a Qrevo Edge 3 Pro at $1,299.99. Two of those three could be the China G30S Pro. We could not settle it.

Ecovacs runs one family in two generations. The China X11 has 24,800Pa and 15L/s; the global DEEBOT X11 PRO OMNI has 19,500Pa and 18L/s, the same 6,400mAh soft-pack battery and the same OZMO ROLLER 2.0, and Ecovacs' own Hong Kong footnotes call it the 科沃斯 X11 家族. Meanwhile the T80S, at 24,800Pa with a 75°C wash, sits below the global T80 MAX OMNI's 40,000Pa and 100°C wash. The number on the box is not the same number in the same market.

Dreame invented a naming system China does not use. The US store sells X, L, D, Matrix and Aqua families. There is no X50 Master, no S-series, no L50 Master in the global catalogue. China runs X50, X60 Pro, X60 Master履带版, S50 Pro, S60 Pro and S30 Pro Ultra. The one clean exception is the flagship: 追觅 X50 Ultra and Dreame X50 Ultra are the same 20,000Pa robot, and the US spec sheet crosses out the plumbing kit, which is exactly why the China version has automatic 上下水 SKUs the American one lacks.

Narwal punishes the assumption. China's 逍遥 002 Max is 25,000Pa with a tread-style roller held at 12N and a base that rinses itself with 80°C water plus electrolyzed-water sterilisation. Overseas, the closest-sounding name is the Freo Z10 Turbo, which Narwal itself describes as its carpet machine with dual spinning mops and a smaller 5,200mAh battery. The genuine match is 逍遥 003 to Flow 2: 31,000Pa, 7,000mAh, a track mop on both sides.

The plumbing rule

If you want a robot that refills its own water tank, check the SKU list before the price. China's 上下水 versions are why people import in the first place, and the global stores mostly do not sell them: the Dreame X50 Ultra US spec sheet lists "Water Hookup Kit for Auto Refilling and Draining" with a cross through it. The exceptions are Narwal, which sells a Flow 2 "with Auto Refill & Drainage System" bundle stateside, and Ecovacs' Hong Kong store, which ships T80 and T90 bases with automatic water exchange, while noting that the automatic fill and drain functions only come with the 上下水 version.

Should you import the China version?

Only for plumbing. Everything else is a false economy dressed as a deal.

The price gap is real but it is not one-directional, and that is the part most import guides skip. China 石头 P20 Pro at ¥3,999 is roughly $596 against $1,599.99 for the global Qrevo Curv, though the same 18,500Pa class starts at $499.99 stateside. China 云鲸逍遥 003 at ¥5,199 is about $775 against $1,099.99 for the global Flow 2. China 米家 5 Pro at ¥3,399 with subsidy is about $506 against €799.99 in Europe. But China 追觅 X50 Pro 滚筒版 at ¥6,299 is about $939, more than the $799.99 global Aqua10 Ultra Roller, and the global Ecovacs T80 MAX OMNI works out to about $510, less than the roughly $604 China T80S costs.

The import bill is also bigger than the sticker. China warranty terms were not verifiable on any of these five brands' pages, so mainland cover cannot be assumed to travel. A 上下水 dock needs a plumbed alcove and no local installer will touch a grey-market machine. Xiaomi's China app is HyperOS with Xiao Ai; the global one is Xiaomi Home with Alexa and Google. Meanwhile the global shops carry real service: Ecovacs Hong Kong gives X11 and X12 owners two years of doorstep collection and maintenance, and T80 and T90 owners one.

Buy the global model unless you are chasing hard plumbing. For the plumbing version, buy the China SKU with a China 上下水 base, and make sure the model on your list is one of the five we flagged, not a lookalike with a Western badge.

Sources