If you're looking for some robotic help when it comes to keeping your home clean and tidy, Roborock is one of the biggest names in the business, and the S7 is the newest model from the brand – a robovac that we've been extensively testing in recent weeks.
The big upgrade here from the Roborock S6 MaxV that we looked at last year is on the mopping rather than the vacuuming side: the S7 deploys new sonic mopping technology, using high-speed vibrations to apply up to 3,000 micro-mops per minute.
At-a-glance:
- Powerful vacuuming and mopping
- Intelligent route planning
- On the more expensive side
Not only that, but there's now surface auto-detection, which means the Roborock S7 can lift the damp mop out of the way on carpets. On the S6 MaxV, it's necessary to manually switch between modes – here, the robovac can take care of multiple surfaces and cleaning methods in the same run.
We should also mention that the S7 is the first Roborock product to work with the auto-emptying dock that's in development. That dock won't be out until later this year – you get the standard charging dock with the S7 – but it's worth bearing in mind.
Aside from the sonic mopping and the auto-lifting, the S7 matches the S6 MaxV rather closely, with the same 2,500 Pa of suction power on the vacuuming side, and smart LiDAR-based detection to help it avoid chair legs, sofas and other obstacles – something that the device managed flawlessly in our tests.
Right from opening the box up, the Roborock S7 exudes a premium level of quality. With the Android or iOS app installed on your phone, you can be up and running and launching your first clean in a matter of minutes, with the S7 trundling around the floor and making a 3D map of your rooms as it goes.
The robovac is very clever in the way it covers the ground it needs to cover, criss-crossing it efficiently and making return runs where needed (Roborock says it uses a series of algorithms to work out where to go next). The battery should last at least an hour or so, but if that's not enough for a particular floor, the S7 returns to its dock for a recharge. It can't climb or go down stairs though.
Vacuuming and mopping performance is very good, in our experience. There are three types of intensity to choose from with both types of cleaning – more thorough cleaning takes longer, and is louder – but at the highest setting you won't see much left behind at all. The Roborock S7 occasionally misses the most deeply embedded bits of dirt, but that's par for the course on a low-profile robovac like this.
In other words, you won't be able to completely do without your normal vacuum and mop in the future, but you won't have to use them anywhere near as often with the Roborock S7 running through its duties once a week or so. Surface dirt and dust gets picked up every time, with only more serious stains left behind – ground-in grime that you wouldn't expect a vacuum like this to catch anyway.
On this model, Robock has switched to an all-rubber brush, which means easier maintenance and a more comprehensive clean. The brush is actually mounted inside a "floating" module, which means that it can adjust its distance from the floor as it goes – another small but significant design change that means you're going to get a better clean with each pass.
The mopping is even more impressive: whatever Roborock has done with its sonic mopping tech, it does a fine job of removing even deep and dried muck from the floors – on hard surfaces, the S7 was able to lift off just about everything we tested it against,
At maximum intensity, the Roborock S7 can get across about 10 square meters (108 square feet) in 20 minutes or so, draining about 15 percent of the battery along the way. Emptying the robovac is as easy as taking out the bin and getting rid of the contents – at least until the auto-emptying dock gets here.
Through the app you can see where carpets have been detected – which it did with perfect precision in our home – and tell the S7 what to do when it encounters them. You can also set no-go zones for the device, tell it to focus on particular rooms, adjust the vacuuming and mopping strength, check up on battery levels and more.
The app is also able to save multiple maps for the floors and rooms in your home, so you can set up different cleaning schedules for different times if you need to get the robovac working while you're out. Roborock has been in the robovac business for a long time now, and it shows in how polished and feature-packed its app has become.
Rounding out the specs, there's a 470 ml dustbin and a 300 ml water tank fitted to the Roborock S7, with a 5,200-mAh battery packed inside. If you're wondering if the robovac will get around your chair legs, it measures approximately 35 centimeters (almost 14 inches) in diameter, and stands about 10 centimeters (nearly 4 inches) tall, with the LiDAR scanner sitting up at the top of the robotic cleaner.
There are a few negatives to mention: without the camera that the S6 MaxV has, it can't tell what the obstacles in front of it are, and therefore has no pet poop avoidance capabilities. It takes a long time to charge (around four hours), and remains on the expensive side – the Roborock S7 is available for an official retail price of US$649.99, in black or white.
Everything considered though, this is a hugely impressive robovac. It cleans as well or better than you would expect from a vacuum cleaner of this size, it can't be faulted in the way it gets around rooms and floors, and it's likely to make a major difference to your cleaning routines. If you need both vacuuming and the mopping in one device, then the Roborock S7 is hard to beat.
Product page: Roborock S7
