Roborock S7 MaxV Ultra – a near-perfect clean (robovac/mop cleaning review)

11/10/2022
By Ray Shaw
In Cybershack

The Roborock S7 MaxV Ultra robovac/mop gives a near-perfect clean for both hard and carpet floors and then cleans up afterwards. But, at $2,699, you should expect that.

Let’s start by positioning the Roborock S7 MaxV Ultra.

When shopping for a robovac, you may not know what to look for. There are currently more than 20 brands/models on offer, including

Generation 1 ‘Dumbots’ (<$500, bump/pattern cleaning, no intelligence easily identified by no top LiDAR turret)
Gen 2 ‘Dimbots’ (<$1000 2D LiDAR mapping and some AI)
Gen 3 ‘Brainybots’ ($1000+ 3D Mapping, extra sensors, cameras, higher levels of AI).

Then you have those with cleaning stations, better mopping systems and more.

Now we have a new breed of Gen 4 robots that combine several types of mapping (2D and 3D LiDAR, ToF, camera, Laser, IR) with multiple obstacle avoidances and advanced AI (auto-suction levels, floor type identification, and furniture types). The hard part for potential buyers is to justify spending $2500 or more.

You can read more at Five tips for choosing a robovac/mop (guide).

Australian Review: Roborock S7 MaxV Ultra

Website	Product Page and PDF Manual
Price	$2,699 includes an Ultra dock Dock alone $1099 S7 MaxV Vacuum alone $1599
From	Godfreys
Colours	Black
Warranty	2-year ACL and Sydney service centre
Country of Origin	China
Company	Est 2014, with support from Xiaomi, Beijing Roborock Technology (Roborock) specialises in the research, development, and production of robotic home cleaners and other cleaning appliances.
More	CyberShack robovac/mop reviews and news

We use Fail (below expectations), Pass (meets expectations) and Exceed (surpasses expectations or is the class leader) against many of the items below. We occasionally give a Pass(able) rating that is not as good as it should be and a Pass ‘+’ rating to show it is good but does not quite make it to Exceed.

You can click on most images for an enlargement.

First impression – utilitarian – Pass

It is not a work of art (like the Ecovacs X1 Omni) – it is a practical, utilitarian cleaning station dock for a sophisticated robovac/mop. It is also quite large at 42 (H) x 42 (W) x 50cm (D) plus at least .5m on each side, and 1.5m front, clearance. You need to have a placement spot that is near a power point.

There are a few differences to the typical robovac/mop, and we will point these out for later explanation.

A rubber roller brush (most use a combo rubber/bristle brush)
Single right-side silicon whisker brush (most use a soft nylon bristle, and some have right and left)
The vacuum can operate without the cleaning dock (no auto-empty or mop washing), and you can manually fill the water tank or empty the dustbin
The vibrating mop pad/platen retracts 5mm over carpet (Carpet mode) to avoid mopping short <4mm carpet
It has top-mounted LiDAR, front 3D camera, Laser detection and an automatic LED light for low-light situations
The usual cliff sensor and a carpet sensor

Smarts – Exceed

It has top-mounted LIDAR, a 3D Live stream camera, a dual laser sensor, and LED light to illuminate dark areas. It initially performs a Quick Map function that took just 20 minutes (in a 100m2 test area) to create a reasonably precise map (straight lines and good room recognition). It then refines that every time you use it.

The secret sauce is Reactive AI 2.0. It uses the camera and lasers in the front bumper. A Qualcomm AP8053 IoT processor does AI and on-device learning and processing, enabling it to detect and recognise objects as small as 5 cm wide by 3 cm high. The processor also supports Wi-Fi 5 AC dual-band 2×2 MIMO, GPS positioning, Bluetooth 4.1 LE, Quick Charge, and voice assistance.

It can recognise bedrooms, living rooms, dining rooms, bathrooms, and corridors and recommend the right amount of suction power and scrubbing intensity for each room. It can recognise five obstacle categories to avoid: power boards, footwear, wires, and larger pet waste.

You manually set No-Go Zones, Invisible Walls, and No-Mop Zones to fine-tune the map.

It can support up to four maps, but you must purchase additional cleaning docks (if you are mopping that level) or base charge stations for each level. Note that Wi-Fi must be strong and use the same SSID and password.

Privacy – Pass+

The privacy policy is straightforward. It only requires an email address and password to log in.

It does not sell personal data. It may use your email address (opt-out) for newsletters, discount information, new product information and other campaigns. If you use voice assistants, any information is subject to their privacy policy.

It does not store images or upload them to the cloud deleting all images after processing by Reactive AI technology.

App (Android or iOS) – Pass+

2D and 3D map
Live real-time map
Real-time robot location
Four levels (Roborock recommends purchasing multiple base stations for multi-level)
Go and no-go zones and no-mop, although carpet mode is just as effective at stopping mopping on short carpet
Reactive AI 2.0 sensitivity settings
Dock auto-empty settings – smart, light, balanced or max
Mop wash setting in minutes or by room (use default minutes)
Stats – cleaning area, battery % and cleaning time
Cleaning history and notifications
Maintenance history and time remaining
Room name
Floor-type
Furniture
Obstacles
Live camera view
And most settings are customisable – defaults are fine

Voice Assistant – Pass

It supports basic Amazon Alexa, Google Home, and Siri commands through the Roborock MiHome App. It is important to name rooms and zones if you want to use voice area cleaning.

Dock – Pass

It is 42 (H) x 42 (W) x 50cm (D) plus side and front clearance. its not elegant so find a spot out of the way near a power point.

Capacity (Lift in/out design)

3L clean water
3L wastewater
2.5L dustbag

The robot charges in a ‘forward’ position and reverses to turn around to wash and empty the dustbin. Mop pad washing uses clean water and a left/right motorised bristled brush. The dirty water is sent to the wastewater tank. The dustbin empties via the rotating brush opening. It will return to the dock every 20 minutes (20m2 approx.) for cleaning and emptying.

The mop pad wash is quite good, and after four mop cycles, we could not get a better result with hand washing.

Suction Power 5100Pa (Max+) – Pass+

It does not seem as powerful as the 5000Pa Ecovacs Deebot X1, but that is because of the rubber roller (not bristled), but it was not far behind for cleaning efficiency.

We don’t have actual power levels for Quiet, Balanced, Turbo, and Max. Despite having vast amounts of power on tap, it misses some detritus on the first pass.

There are Three mop settings – Mild, Moderate, and Intense and two mop paths – standard and deep (reduces vacuum power and enables a Z pattern clean).

Mop and efficiency – Pass+

It vacuums and mops in one pass. The key is detecting the type of floor to use the vacuum/mop or vacuum only.

It will raise the platen by 5mm to avoid mopping short carpet <4mm. If your carpet is deeper, you must do two separate runs – vacuum/mop on hard floors (with the mop attachment) and then vacuum only (no mop attachment) for carpets.

It is an Ultrasonic vibrating platen-style mop (3000 times a minute) and does a better job than static platens that just drag dirty pads around. It has one water setting, which seems adequate for hard floors (some brands have adjustable water settings).

It has a 200ml (20m2) onboard water tank and returns to the dock every 20 minutes (user definable) for mop washing and water tank refilling.

Dried milk and coffee stains required the Intense/Deep mop mode. You may want to customise the App if your floors require more mopping. You must manually remove split and sticky liquids first.

You can use Roborock floor cleaning concentrate in the clean water tank, but as far as we can tell, it is only sold in the USA.

Potential issue: The cleaning dock does not dry the mop pad; after four weeks, we could detect some odour. In our opinion, removal of the slide-out mop platen would ensure adequate air drying.

Clean – Pass+

All robovacs need a degree of home prep

Remove clothes/shoes/bags off the floor
Tie up loose cables off the floor
Lift dining chairs, stools, side tables, and wastebins off the ground
Lift floor rugs (especially those with tassels) that could tangle in the brush
Close doors to areas you don’t want to map or clean

We tested both with complete home prep and without, where we left a selection of socks, shoes/laces and stuffed animals around, and it avoided them all. We did not try pet poo, but we understand it does an excellent job of avoiding larger solid ‘dumps’.

While it can’t clean where there are obstacles, it successfully navigates the entire home without incident. This gives confidence that you can set a schedule, and it will clean regardless.

The dustbin is smallish 250ml but remember that it returns to the dock to empty if full.

Clean efficiency – Pretty good for a robovac – Pass+

We use 100g of test detritus, including sand, rice grains and rolled oats. All settings are at default which means ‘balanced’ on hard floors and Max on carpet.

You will still need a stick vac for edges, corners, and stairs. The side whisker rotates at 330RPM when edge cleaning and 130RPM in normal mode.

Subjectively, it is one of the better results we have seen from dozens of robovacs, but if you are particular, set it to do a second pass.

Hard floors – Exceed

It does an excellent job of one-pass mopping and cleaning hard floors. We tried on tiles, laminate, and hardwood.

Efficiency: 92% on the first pass and 97% on the second pass – only leaves the edges.

Carpet – short pile and sisal 4mm – Pass+

Carpet Mode automatically boosts its suction power on carpeted floors, increases the rotational speed of the side brush when cleaning along walls, and raises the mopping pad over carpet.

Short pile efficiency: 85% on the first pass and 87% on the second pass, mainly leaving static-charged lint
Sisal efficiency: 80% on the first pass, leaving some detritus in the carpet hollows. 85% on the second pass

Carpet – longer – Pass

It does an adequate job of plush carpets.

Efficiency: Long pile carpet: 60% on the first pass and 85% on the second pass.

Carpets – shag pile

It does not clean long shag pile or very dark carpets, as they can trip the cliff detector.

Pets – Pass

In a test sample with 10cm short and 20cm long hair (suggest doing a double clean cycle for pets)

10cm – 100% pickup in the internal dustbin
60% pickup in the dustbin and about 20% wrapped around the rotating brush.

Allergy reduction

The internal dustbin HEPA filter has an E11 Merv rating, which means the removal from the expelled air of

85% of 3 to 10um particles (hair width is about 70um)
65% of 1 to 3um
20% of 1 to .3um

It is fit for purpose, and more dust is removed in the dock to allow for dust-reduced emptying. But it is not a sealed system, so it has no impact on allergy sufferers (E13 or higher).

Noise – Pass

Quite mode <60dB
Balanced 63dB
Max 66db
Max+ >70dB
Empty/clean up to 80dB

Sill height and obstacles – Exceed

It negotiates sills up to 25mm and uses intelligence to rotate and turn to get traction on higher sills.

At <100mm, it will fit under most furniture and cupboard overhangs. It has a low-collision mode that avoids bumper contact.

Remote view – Pass

You can see what it does via the App and over mobile data away from home. It also enables a two-way chat (subject to mobile data and Wi-Fi speeds). Our tests were too laggy as mobile data has a ping latency of 100ms.

Battery – Pass+

It is hard to give an accurate answer because it depends on the ratio of hard-to-carpet surfaces and the settings you may customise.

In quiet mode, it can reach over three hours of use. With Max+, it is about half that.

It supports off-peak charging (set in the App).

Once the battery reaches 20%, it returns to the dock for charging. In theory, a 0-100% recharge takes just under four hours. Roborock calls it a quick charge, as most robovacs take 20-50% longer.

Maintenance – Pass

Main brush roller – All rubber. Clean regularly. Easy removal. Life 300 hours. $89 each
400ml Dustbin (auto empty on the Ultra) can be washed
HEPA Filter – Teflon coated needs regular washing. Life 150 hours. 2-pack $59.95
Side whiskers – silicone whisker design that seems as effective as nylon fibres. Life 200 hours. 2-pack $39.95.
Mop cloth Poly/nylon– (auto clean on the Ultra) can be hand or machine-washed. Replace 3-6 months or when needed. 2-pack $49.95
3L Dock dustbags – eight weeks approx. use 3-pack $39.95

Build – Pass+

It is solid, well-built and has metallic highlights. It is 350mm (round) x 97mm m(H) x 4.71kg, and a LED headlight helps the camera and 3D scanner in low light. There is a child lock setting to avoid accidental activation.

Inbox

Roborock S7 MaxV vacuum complete
1x HEPA filter
Recharge station
Charging cable

This is pretty austere, and we would have liked to see at least one spare dustbin bag, whisker and mop pad.

CyberShack’s view – Roborock S7 MaxV Ultra for an almost perfect clean

We have been reviewing robovac/mops for many years, and it is nice to see the technology start to mature to the point that it can be relied on for automatic cleaning with little human intervention.

The Roborock S7 MaxV Ultra is at the leading edge of robovac/mop technology. It does everything you could want in a self-cleaning robovac/mop.

Its main competition is the Ecovacs Deebot X1 Omni. Both have strengths and weaknesses.

For Roborock, I especially like the VibraRise to avoid mopping the carpet – it is one of the few that can vacuum and mop all surfaces simultaneously (carpet up to 4mm). Its Reactive AI 2.0 seems superior; if it does avoid pet poo, then it is a winner.

Its key USPs – VibraRise allows for a whole-of-home vacuum/mop, but it only works for low-pile (<4mm) carpets. Otherwise, you need to do separate passes for hard and carpet floors. Sill negotiation is excellent.

The Deebot X1 Omni needs a separate hard floor vacuum/mop, then a carpet vacuum. That means, say, a tiled bathroom off a carpeted bedroom needs a separate run. The Deebot’s dual rotating mop pads are more effective.

Its key USPs – Wins in the beauty stakes. It has better rotating pad mopping with water control for different surfaces, and the drying feature eliminates wet mop smells. It needs to do separate passes for hard and carpet floors.

And in a tie, both are excellent vacuums.

Roborock S7 MaxV Ultra– summary

(Deebot XI Omni as the baseline)

Item		Explanation	Grade
Shape	Round	All round robovacs have issues with edge and corner cleaning.	Tie
Lidar	2D	Gen 4	Tie
Sensor	Laser	Two lasers forward-facing sensor helps to avoid obstacles (IR Laser)	Tie
Quick map		Yes	Tie
Camera	Yes	3D forward-camera live video and 3D mapping as well as home monitoring Reactive AI 2.0 (Deebot True 3D)	Tie
Maps	4	Stores up to 4, but you must take the base station to each level (3)	Pass
Map edit	Yes	All the usual, including mop/no mop zones	Tie
App	Roborock	Google Play Store or Apple App store Modes include vacuum, mop or both, suction, battery level and cleaning diary, area clean, navigation pattern, schedules, etc. Real-time tracking	Tie
Edge		It gets closer to edges than many other round robovacs (Deebot has two whiskers and does a slightly better job)	Tie
Carpet		Uses a stronger suction setting and repeat clean patterns.	Tie
Sills	20mm	Pretty good up to 20mm (Deebot can struggle at 15mm or more)	Exceed
Other Sensors	All	Forward bumper sensor and cliff detector stops it from going down the stairs. Carpet detector	Tie
Suction	5100Pa	On Max+ (Deebot 5000Pa)	Tie
Dustbin	400ml	Adequate, given 2.5L self-empty function	Tie
Water	200ml	Adequate, given it returns to base every 15-20 minutes	Tie
Battery life		Up to 180 minutes depending on vac/mop and power levels and around half that on Max+. Mopping reduces run time.	Tie
Battery	5200mAh	14.4V/5.2A/75W and 20V/1.2A/24W charger Recharge time is about 4 hours (Deebot 6)	Tie
Wi-Fi	2.4GHz	Same as most robot vacuum/mops	Tie
Size	Round	350 x 97 (362 x 103)	Tie
Dock		Yes, mop clean and dustbin empty (dry)	Pass
Internet	2.4GHz	It can work without the app using push buttons but loses all smarts	Tie

Roborock S7 MaxV Ultra, Roborock S7 MaxV Ultra, Roborock S7 MaxV Ultra