How to Choose the Right Roborock Vacuum: Robot Vacuum Buyers Guide
This article was sponsored by Roborock.
With so many robot vacuums on the market, it feels almost impossible to sift through them all and narrow it down to the perfect one for your specific needs. Whether you’re shopping for a robot vacuum for the first time or are a high-tech sweeper veteran looking for an upgrade, we’re here to help you find the right robot vacuum for you. Keep scrolling for an outline of all the best features so you know you’ll end up with the Roborock vacuum that is best for your home.
5 Things to Look for in a Robot Vacuum
- Home mapping. So many robot vacuums have a home mapping feature that learns the layout of your home down to the square foot. It knows where your furniture sits and can even stay away from the edge of stairs. But not all robot vacs have precision, multi-level mapping that knows which floor it’s on and which rooms are the most used. Roborock vacs’ Precision LiDAR Navigation gives them the ability to target specific rooms as frequently as you wish, so your guest bedroom and other minimally-used areas can use less battery than high-traffic areas like mudrooms and kitchens.
- Voice and app control. We’ve learned to rely on Alexa for so many things, why not ask her to run the vacuum, too? All the Roborock models have easy-to-use apps and allow voice control, so you can effortlessly direct your robot to vacuum a specific room, return to the charger, or schedule it to start at a certain time.
- Powerful suction. The more powerful the suction, the more your robot can pick up. But it’s not just about amps, it’s about brushes, too. Roborock vacuums use rubber brushes that are better at avoiding hair tangles, so you’re less likely to experience clogs and loss of suction. Also cool? Boost Mode that automatically adapts its suction power for more challenging flooring, like carpets.
- Mopping with adjustable water control. Mopping is a newer feature on most robot vacuums, and not all do it well. All three Roborock models below offer streak-free mopping with capacity water tanks and adjustable water flow, so you won’t have to worry about puddles being left behind.
- Object recognition. So many popular vacuum brands have robots that are fine, but require you to pick up and do a “light clean” prior to starting your vacuum. Roborock models have Advanced Avoidance and Recognition, using “eyes” to spot obstacles like toys, furniture, and cords. This means your robot won’t get stuck as often (if at all!) and will do a better job overall.
Roborock S6 Pure Vacuum and Mop
Buy at Amazon
Deal Price: $409.99
Original Price: $519.99
$110 off (21% off!) from May 17-31
Why we like it:
- Precision LiDAR Navigation maps your home in real-time
- The water flow is adjustable so mopping can be tailored to fit different needs and preferences, and water spreads evenly across the mop surface for a uniform clean
- Intensely powerful suction and automatic Boost Mode lifts dust from hard floors and thick carpet fibers
- Thirteen sensor types collaborate to give the S6 Pure fall avoidance, carpet boost, height sensitivity, help it avoid getting stuck, and more
This new Roborock model is already beloved by robot vac enthusiasts. The S6 Pure has more than 2,200 5-star Amazon reviews, and when you take a look under the bot, it’s not hard to see why. Controlled easily by app or voice, you can schedule your S6 Pure or spontaneously start or stop the robot with a tap or quick command. Precision LiDAR Navigation learns the layout of your home and takes the most efficient route to preserve the battery for as long as possible. The vacuum automatically splits each floor into areas, so you can tell the robot to clean high-traffic spaces like living rooms and kitchens more frequently than guest bedrooms and reading nooks that don’t gather as much dust.
The mop function is one of the best around, and will scrub your hardwood and tile without leaving any streaks. You can customize the water flow to specific areas, and the mop’s even dispersement of water means there won’t be puddles left behind. With Boost Mode, it can effortlessly transition from mopping to cleaning deep into the fibers of a plush carpet. You can also create no-go zones and virtual barriers using the Roborock app if you want to restrict its access to certain areas of your home.
The battery lasts up to three hours and will return to its dock before losing charge (no searching for a dead robot under the couch!). It then charges just enough to finish cleaning the areas that remain. The cherry on top? All parts — from the dust bin to the brush and water tank — are easy to remove, so you won’t need a screwdriver to access and clean certain areas of your robot.
Happy customers:
“I’ve used iRobot Roombas for years, with mixed results. This Roborock S6 Pure replaced a Roomba 690 and does a much more satisfactory cleaning job. The S6 has mapping capability, and it’s easy to choose schedules that emphasize the likely more dirty rooms for a daily schedule, and then add more rooms, like guest bedroom, that are less likely to need cleaning. The S6 is quieter, and it continuously modulates the suction intensity depending on if it’s on carpet or tile flooring. The design of the rotating sweeping “brush” handles dog hair better than that of the 690, and has to be manually cleaned significantly less. I have often defended the Roomba random cleaning path, but must confess that I much prefer the deliberate, back and forth, overlapping path of the S6 which mimics the way a human would clean the same area with a manual vacuum cleaner. It’s predictable and takes less time.”
“This is hands down the best vacuum I’ve ever had. Its so easy to use once you set it up and put it on a schedule it just cleans whenever you want. I had a few other brands before and this is the best… It has lasers that map and help it maneuver around everything. After it vacuums it maps out everything and you can either create no-go zones or invisible walls if there is somewhere you don’t want it to go. Or if you have hardwood you want it to mop but also have carpet you don’t want it to go on. So far I haven’t had any issues with this vacuum and I expect it to last a long time.”
Roborock S7 Mopping Vacuum
Buy at Amazon, $649
Why we like it:
- Scrubs up to 3,000 times per minute for deep cleaning of stubborn dirt
- Upgraded floating brush tracks close to the ground, including on uneven surfaces
- All-new rubber brush is more durable than bristled brushes, and is better at avoiding hair tangles
- Compatible with Auto-Empty Dock that lets you vacuum often and empty rarely
When it comes to cleaning, your floor is truly ground zero. A spotless floor is where it all starts, and that’s why the Roborock S7 has us so excited. Sweeping, vacuuming, scrubbing, and mopping, all done for us, and more effectively and efficiently than we could do it ourselves? Yes, please!
The Roborock S7 uses sonic vibration technology to clean floors deeply and effectively. Its HyperForce™ suction system captures everything from fine dust to strands of hair. We love our cats and all, but do they have to shed everywhere? A floating brush means the S7 can work on uneven surfaces and tracks close to the ground, so it won’t miss any stray crumbs from last night’s Netflix binge. Most robot vacuums stop there, but mopping comes next. The built-in mop scrubs up to 3,000 times per minute, so any ground-in dirt that would require a good amount of elbow grease doesn’t stand a chance.
Worried about your carpets getting in the way of Roborock’s mopping? VibraRise technology incorporates automatic lifting into the ultra-fast vibrating sonic mop. Just send the vacuum around your entire home once so it can learn the lay of the land, and thanks to its ultrasonic waves, the S7 will know exactly when to lift up to keep carpets and rugs pristine. This allows it to both vacuum and mop your space in just one session. (You can also use the Roborock app to draw a no-mop zone for the S7 yourself if you prefer.) When it’s finished, the S7 will return to its dock to recharge and you can ogle over how sparkling your floors are without ever having to have lifted a finger.
Happy customers:
“We upgraded our vacuum from a much older Roborock vacuum. We remained with Roborock because we liked the quality and value over Roomba’s. We anxiously awaited the S7 and have not been disappointed. The navigation is impressive and the intelligence it has is everything you need. The way the app works is really easy to navigate. I haven’t used the remote control yet but I’m not sure why I would when you can draw zones that you want spot cleaned. This vacuum also appears to pick up more than our last one and definitely efficiently fills the dust bin. Overall, 10/10 would recommend.”
“We’ve had our Roborock S7 (named VIKI) for one week and we couldn’t be happier. Our house has a lot of hardwood floor and the Roborock keeps it very, very clean. I’m amazed at how much dirt it can find even though we run it every other day — I didn’t realize that we were such pigs! A huge feature is the ability to go under much of our furniture, in particular the beds. Since a regular vacuum can’t easily reach under there the beds become a great collection spot for dust bunnies, but no more! The mopping function works well too — the floors are sparkling. And the ‘cliff’ detection works great. I eventually set our stairs to the basement as a no-go zone to be absolutely sure, but the Roborock was able to navigate around them flawlessly several times.”
Roborock S6 MaxV Robot Vacuum
Buy at Amazon, $749.99
Why we like it:
- Advanced Avoidance and Recognition
- App controlled mopping is ultra customizable
- 10 No-Go Zones, 10 No-Mop Zones, and 10 invisible barriers on every level
- Set schedules, clean specific rooms, set water flow, and more from the Roborock app
The Roborock S6 MaxV is the most Jetsons-esque robot vacuum of the series. With a sophisticated image recognition feature that uses dual cameras as “eyes,” it detects even the most tiny of obstacles (like the earrings your dog “accidentally” knocked off your night stand), and avoids them without disrupting its cleaning. Not only is the S6 MaxV the smartest robot vacuum, with 25 percent more suction than other models, it’s the most powerful Roborock vacuum ever.
Its Advanced Avoidance and Recognition includes dual cameras that act as “eyes” to spot obstacles approaching from a distance (think slippers, dog toys, TV cords, and that earring you still can’t find), and avoid them without disrupting its cleaning. The S6 MaxV is a tough robot to hide from — its sophisticated image recognition feature captures items as small as 5cm in width and 3cm in height.
Another reason the Roborock S6 MaxV is genius? It has multi-level mapping, meaning it can learn up to four levels of your home, and be programmed to avoid up to 10 “no-go” zones that you choose. And if you want to switch from vacuum to wet mop, its high-capacity, electric water tank and spring-loaded mop will make your hardwood and tile sparkle.
Best of all, your Roborock can be completely scheduled and controlled with a free cell phone app, so you can clean your house on the go!
Happy customers:
“Worth every penny, because we are so very pleased with our Roborock! We have been using it for a few weeks now, and it has been way more efficient than our iRobot Roomba. It doesn’t get confused with our rugs that have prints on them that we have throughout our house. We love, love, love that he will vacuum and mop at the same time with customized settings. The mobile application is so easy to use, and the programming options are amazing! He maps everything very efficiently. You can set each area for Roborock to clean with just mopping, with mopping and vacuuming, or to only vacuum — all at the same time.”
“This was my first robot vacuum and I wasn’t sure what to expect. But I watched all the YouTube reviews on the S6 MaxV (and previous Roborock robots as well as their competitors and this seemed like the obvious choice. Roborock S6 MaxV exceeded my expectations. I’ve been running it daily on my mix of hardwood, tight pile rugs, and medium pile carpet. It manages to pull a surprisingly large pile of dirt each time I run it. It efficiently finds its way around and gets itself unstuck almost all times it encounters a problem. The AI vision works well on those things its been trained on like lamp pedestals, shoes, and cables … I’ve added a few no-go zones to keep it away from problem places (like a low angle table leg that rises slowly from the carpet to a height that would get the robot suspended). I’ve used the mopping function a couple times and it does well at picking up light spills and dust. Heavier, sticky materials were a challenge, but I pre-treated those with a squirt of hardwood floor cleaner and let it sit a few minutes until the robot got to it and they were cleaned perfectly.”
This article was sponsored by Roborock.
