The ultimate hands-off robot vacuum cleaner and mop
Not quite as profound a step forwards as the S7 MaxV Ultra was, the Roborock S8 Pro Ultra is still a great robot vacuum cleaner and mop, but only in the right households. If you have short pile carpet and hard floors, then the VibraRise system makes this cleaner hugely convenient, able to mop and vacuum without any human intervention. It does a brilliant job at both, scrubbing hard floors to make them shiny and picking up even big spills. If you have deeper pile carpet, then the mopping pad may rub on the fibres, which isn’t ideal; a robot without mopping or one where the mop pad can be removed may prove to be a better choice.
Pros
- Cleaning dock takes care of most maintenance
- Exceptional cleaning and mopping
- VibraRise is brilliant on the right surfaces
- Excellent app
- Brilliant navigation
Cons
- Very expensive
- Canu2019t remove the mopping pad
Roborock unveiled the next generation of its robot vacuum cleaners, the Roborock S8 Series back in January at CES 2023.
This year’s refresh follows roughly the same format as we’ve seen from the company over the last few years, with a new headline Roborock S8 Pro Ultra model sitting above the Roborock S8+ and Roborock S8.
One of the headline upgrades over the Roborock S7 Series, however, actually isn’t to do with the robot vacuums themselves.
New flagship for 2024: Roborock S8 MaxV Ultra review
Instead, the RockDock Ultra, which promises a new warm air drying feature for mop pads, automatic mop washing, dust emptying, self-cleaning and tank refilling, is the big improvement available on the flagship S8 Pro Ultra.
While most of the robot’s design is a step forwards, the non-removable mopping pad may cause some issues, depending on the make-up of your flooring.
As mentioned and, as with previous models, the S8 is available in a range. The cheapest option is the Roborock S8, which ships with the charging dock and robot only.
Next is the Roborock S8+, which has a cleaning station that fills the robot with water. Finally, there’s the high-end Roborock S8 Pro Ultra that has a self-empty, self-cleaning station, which I have on review here.
Roborock S8 Pro Ultra: Design and build
Externally, the Roborock S8 Pro Ultra looks like any other robot vacuum cleaner from the company, such as last year’s S7 MaxV Ultra.
Once again, the S8 is a round robot, with a LiDAR sensor on top.
The main robot has three controls: start a clean, return to dock and spot clean.
New rival: Ecovacs Deebot T20 Omni review
As with other Roborock models, I found that the start button was useful for quickly starting a clean, but I never touched the spot clean button, preferring to use the app instead.
Turn the robot vacuum cleaner over, and the changes become more obvious. Instead of a single roller underneath, as with previous cleaners, there are now two that spin in alternate directions, similar to the brushes on the iRobot Roomba j7+.
This not only aids pick-up, but the opposing rollers also prevent hairs from getting wrapped around. That’s true in my case: after weeks of use, the rollers remained clean.
There’s a single side-sweeping brush, which teases dirt out from the edges of rooms. Both brushes have a finite lifespan, but the app says when it’s time to check them for replacements.
There’s also a new sonic mopping pad. Using technology that’s appeared in electric toothbrushes, the mopping pad vibrates at high speed to agitate dirt.
While the older S7 had one sonic mopping area, the Roborock S8 Pro Ultra has two. This means that the cloth on the S8 is not compatible with the S7, or vice versa.
For the first time on a Roborock robot, the S8’s mopping bracket is not removable. Instead, it’s designed to lift only off the floor when it detects carpet; a feature that was introduced with the S7. How successful this is depends on how deep your carpets are. Being able to remove the bracket and prevent mopping entirely is useful in some homes and may make the S8 unsuitable for some.
It’s good to see the camera at the front, which is used to spot obstacles, such as shoes and pet mess, using AI.
Roborock’s technology has come a long way since it was introduced with the S6 MaxV, to the point now where it’s super reliable.
At the back of the vacuum cleaner is a lift-up flap that houses the small bin. This lifts out for cleaning (it’s worth doing this monthly, to remove any dirt and to clean the filter).
However, you won’t need to bother emptying the bin, as the dock takes care of everything on the S8 Pro Ultra.
A tweak to the dock that came with the S7 MaxV Ultra, the S8 Pro Ultra’s dock looks neater.
It has one tank for fresh water, automatically filling the S8 Pro’s water tank; a tank for dirty water scrubbed off the cleaning cloth; and a separate bin that takes replaceable bags.
As well as cleaning the mopping pad using a motorised scrubber, the dock also dries it with warm air, which prevents any nasty smells or bacteria from growing.
That’s similar to the mopping dock on the Ecovacs Deebot X1 Omni.
Roborock S8 Pro Ultra: Features and in use
Roborock definitely has the best navigation and features, and the Roborock S8 Pro Ultra makes full use of this.
First, the robot is extremely quick to map a home, with LiDAR scanning proving to be accurate. Once complete, the app automatically splits a home into rooms, doing a pretty good job of guessing where doors are; if it does get things wrong, it’s easy to quickly edit the map.
LiDAR is also useful for navigation. Combined with the camera on the front, the S8 Pro can quickly move around a house, and rarely gets stuck.
AI image recognition is brilliant, with the robot avoiding cables, shoes and pet messes automatically. Smaller objects, such as cable ties, might not be caught, but for the vast majority of jobs, the S8 can go about its business without me having to tidy in front of it.
Ultrasonic carpet detection is in place, so that the Roborock S8 Pro Ultra can detect when it has hit soft flooring.
The default behaviour is to lift the mop off the floor by 5mm, so that the robot can vacuum without pausing. When it works, it’s brilliant, but if you have deep pile carpets or rugs, the S8 Pro may not be able lift its mop high enough.
The only alternatives are to set the robot to avoid carpets in the app or to ignore carpets and mop away; if the mop bracket could be removed, then the S8 Pro could just be set to vacuum everywhere.
VibraRise is also available on the motorised floor brush, so that the Roborock S8 Pro Ultra can be set to mop only, without adding muck to the floor. At the end of a clean, both the mop and brush are lifted, letting the robot trundle back to its dock without leaving a trail behind.
Cleaning performance is exceptional, with suction power hitting 6000pa, up from 5100pa on the S7. With that excellent brush, the S8 Pro can pick up most mess on a single pass and even the biggest spills on two.
It even does well around the edges of rooms, although corners will need to be finished with a regular vacuum cleaner from time to time.
Roborock S8 Pro Ultra: Mopping function
Sonic scrubbing, with the two zones, is at its peak here. Set the Roborock S8 Pro Ultra off on hard floors and it will dash around, scrubbing away at tough stains with 3000 vibrations per minute.
There’s control over the cleaning intensity, which I set to maximum.
Stick the robot into mop only mode, and there’s also control over the route, offering fast, standard, deep and deep+ cleaning, depending on the level of muck you want it to deal with.
I found that this robot managed to deal with some fairly tough, engrained stains. Largely, I could leave the robot to go about its business, only stepping in with a regular floor cleaner every couple of weeks.
In the right home, the VibraRise system does mean that the Roborock S8 Pro Ultra can be set off, vacuuming and cleaning across all surfaces. Use a rival, such as the Deebot Omni X1, and the mopping pad has to removed to get the robot to move over carpet.
Roborock S8 Pro Ultra: App and digital assistants
The Roborock app is brilliant. Once a map as been created, it can be edited. It’s nice to be able to add furniture, such as beds and TV stands, to the floor.
Drop them in the rough position that they are in the real world, and the S8 can be set off to clean around them. That’s surprisingly handy: after a meal, for example, the robot can be told to just clean around the table.
No-go zones are available, but not no-mop areas; the only option is to set what happens when the Roborock S8 Pro Ultra detects that it’s on carpet.
If you prefer, the robot can also have a zone set by drawing a square on the map, and selecting if it should be covered once or twice. See, who needs the spot clean button?
For vacuuming and mopping, the vacuum power and mop intensity can be set (I stick both on maximum), plus there are Mop-only (the floor brush lifts) and Vacuum-only modes (the mop pad lifts).
Of course, there’s the option to schedule a clean, although I usually find it easier to start the robot on demand. Voice control is available via Amazon Alexa and the Google Assistant.
Roborock S8 Pro Ultra: Battery life and maintenance
Battery life is quoted at 180-minutes although this is on the lowest power mode. Up this to maximum and it drops, although not noticeably so.
We’re at the point now, where even on maximum modes, robot vacuum cleaners can tackle large areas on a single charge and, as I found out, have enough left in the tank to tackle a spot clean.
Maintenance is largely handled by the dock, although you will need to empty the dirty water tank, add fresh water to the clean tank, and replace the bin when done.
Plus, it’s worth cleaning the robot’s sensors with a cloth, and cleaning out the bin manually once a month.
