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Whether you need the most straightforward vacuum-only unit or you want an entire floor cleaning system, robot vacuum manufacturers are responding with a host of options. The newest and possibly most enticing option is the Roborock S7 Max V Ultra with automatic Empty Wash Fill Dock. Not only is this is a true robot vacuum mop hybrid, but it can also clean itself. No, this Roomba robot vacuum alternative isn’t just a regular run-of-the-mill self-empty robot vacuum, it actually cleans itself.
This substantial robot vacuum just debuted at the 2022 Consumer Electronics Show (CES), and I recently had a chance to spend a couple of weeks with this new device to see if it lives up to the hype. Keep reading for my full, unfettered Roborock S7 Max V Ultra review.
Specs:
- Dual vacuum and mop
- Auto-cleaning and refilling
- Reactive AI with obstacle avoidance
- Vibra Rise mopping system
- 5100 Pa suction
- 19 inches L x 19 inches W x 16 inches H
- Camera-enable navigation, structured light 3D scanner, LiDar
Setup & Installation
Getting the Roborock S7 Max V Ultra set up was actually relatively easy. Though the package is huge and there seem to be a lot of parts and pieces, everything goes together easily.
You will also need to download the free Roborock app for remote control and scheduling. In under five minutes, your robot should be ready to clean.
Design
The S7 Max V Ultra and its base station take up a lot of space. When docked, the footprint of the entire device measures about 19-by-19-by-16-inches, and you also need to ensure it has enough space to back out of its garage easily and access a plug.
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Despite its size, it’s evident Roborock’s engineers have made an effort to streamline things, and everything fits well together. There is a lot of plastic, and I think it lacks a bit of aesthetics and polish.
How Well Does It Clean?
When I test out a robot vacuum, I put all the bots in my home through the same tests: I spill sugar, rice and crackers on both carpet and hard floors.
When, like this one, they’re also mops, I also spill milk or soy sauce just to see what they do, though I will say these bots are not designed to sop up large or wet spills. They’re designed to give your floors a light wipe to keep dust and light dirt down.
I was delighted with the cleaning abilities of the S7 Max V Ultra. The robot easily cleaned all my test debris from my hardwood and tile floors. The addition of the mopping pad is actually an excellent follow-up to the vacuuming, as that damp-wipe helps keep any lingering dust at bay.
The mop is designed to wipe up small liquid spills with the damp mopping cloth. While my testing showed liquids did get smeared around a bit on initial passes, it wiped up every last spot in subsequent passes. With mopping, I reiterate, wet-dry robot vacs are not designed to sop up large or wet spills; these are not shop vacs. They’re designed to give your floors a light wipe to keep dust and light dirt down.
On carpets, the S7 Max V Ultra didn’t do as well; when I’d spill something on the carpet for it to vacuum (oatmeal, lentils), the bot tended to scatter some types of debris, and it wasn’t able to get more refined flour out of the fibers as well.
Sometimes it could get the scattered bits later in its cleaning cycle, but sometimes I’d find stray lentils.
Even so, for my day-to-day vacuuming of pet hair and general upkeep of dirt on both carpet and hard floors, it worked pretty well — nary a pet hair tumbleweed or crumbs to be seen most days.
Self Cleaning Abilities
Once the Roborock S7 Max V Ultra finishes cleaning, it will always return to its dock for recharging. While it’s there, the Empty Wash Fill base station will also clear out the vacuum’s onboard dustbin into a sealed vacuum bag, top up the mop’s water tank, then run a cleaning cycle on the reusable mopping pad.
You can hear it bubbling away during the cleaning and refilling, although it’s not very loud, and a cleaning cycle only takes about three and a half minutes.
A special scrubbing brush underneath the mop will clean all the dirty water from the mopping pad. The proof of how dirty your floors are will be in the water tank: when I emptied it, the water was definitely dirty, brown and kind of gross.
Overall, the Empty Wash Fill Dock is an excellent feature of this robot that cuts way down on the amount of emptying, refilling and maintenance you have to do. This ability makes this robot a lot more autonomous than pretty much any other I have seen on the market.
Making the Roborock S7 Max V Ultra work for you
When the Roborock S7 Max V Ultra first heads out, it will draw a map of your house, and then you can easily label the rooms. By mapping, the vacuum allows you to set cleaning schedules to have specific rooms vacuumed on set days. Roborock’s app is very easy to navigate.
From there, you can set up daily or weekly cleans.
Google & Alexa Voice Control
It’s possible to connect the Roborock app to either Google or Alexa and set up Siri commands for hands-free voice control.
Depending on which assistant you want to use, there are different methods of setup, which I’m not going to spill ink on here. Suffice to say, I had my bot connected to Google Assistant — and cleaning — in minutes.
Smart Water & Mop Management
You can adjust both the vacuum suction and the mopping scrubbing intensity depending on your needs — or even if you just want it to run quieter.
Speaking of water flow, you might be wondering if this mop will wet your carpets. The answer is no. With carpet detection, the bot knows when it’s rolling onto a carpeted area, and it will use its Vibra Rise technology to lift the mopping plate a few millimeters off the floor and turn the water off, meaning carpets are safe and will stay dry. During my testing, I never once experienced a damp rug.
Remote Camera Viewing
Another noteworthy feature? You can enable the camera for remote viewing if you want to use your robot as a mobile security camera around the house — or to keep an eye on your pets (though if they’re anything like mine, they’ll just run away when the robot gets close to them).
The Roborok also uses the camera for navigation but it’s cool to see the brand is making it multipurpose. To set this up, you need to press buttons on the bot to enable viewing physically, and this is a security feature to prevent nefarious access. The bot will also babble, “remote viewing enabled” the whole time the camera is active, a further privacy element.
Smart Charging & Battery Life
Because this robot is always hanging around on its charging base, it’s always ready to clean. If you have a particularly large space and you’re worried about it not having enough battery power to handle the square footage, rest assured that the robot will go out and clean until its battery is low. Then it heads back to the base station to recharge enough to finish the job. Again, you don’t need to do a thing.
On a full charge, you should get 90 minutes when using higher suction and up to 180 minutes if it’s on lower power. I have about one thousand square feet, and I could not exhaust the robot in my testing.
The Verdict
Roborock S7 Max V Ultra is a smart robot floor system that cleans well and comes loaded with valuable features. I found it so easy to use because there was almost nothing I had to do during my review period. It cleans well, and the adjustable suction and water flow are super handy for a customized clean.
Overall, I’ve been enjoying my Roborock S7 Max V experience. The S7 addresses some of the hassles of robot vacuum ownership, like forgetting to empty the dust bin, filling the water, or tossing the mopping pad in the laundry. Yet the entire unit takes up a decent amount of floor space, and some owners may find it challenging to place it. Plus, it is undoubtedly an investment.
So Should You Buy It?
If you have the cash to splash on this autonomous cleaning system, and you like the idea of a smart vacuum and mop combo, then I think you should. Plus, if you hate emptying your current robot vacuum’s dustbin, or you forget, or if you just want an autonomous robot to help you, this robot vacuum and mop duo is outstanding.
How long will it last?
Predicting how long technology might last is a bit like looking into a crystal ball. But so far, I’ve owned my other Roborock vacuum for about two years, and I can confirm I’ve never had any significant problems with it. It continues to clean well, and it’s still getting helpful updates from Robo rock. I do not doubt that these newer bots will continue to perform as well as previous iterations and enjoy the same longevity.
Pros:
- Dual purpose: vacuum and mop
- Cleans well
- Almost completely autonomous maintenance
- Never need to touch dustbin
- Roborock app is easy to use
- Built-in camera for monitoring (if enabled)
- Adjustable suction and scrubbing
Cons:
- I struggled with some spills on the carpet
- Huge docking station
- Price
Score: 8/10
What are some of the alternatives?
Shark IQ Robot Vacuum
Shark is a consumer favorite for its well-executed balance of must-have features and great pricing, and this auto-emptying bot is no exception.
ECOVACS DEEBOT N8 Pro+
The ECOVACS lineup makes pretty smart robots, and this one has an auto-empty station. My guess is it won’t be long before we see ECCOVACS jump into the full self-cleaning side of things too.
Dreametech W10
Dreametech’s bot was the belle of the CES ball this year, and with its unobtrusive, all-enclosed design, you’d be forgiven for thinking it’s an odd Ikea side table because it blends in so well.