The Roborock S8 MaxV Ultra isn’t spectacular, but hoovers well

Good news for shoppers – if you buy a top model from Roborock, Dreame or Samsung, it’ll cost over CHF 1,000, but you get an appliance that works well and cleans thoroughly. Nevertheless, it does matter which model you choose. Because there are definitely differences in the details – and these can be decisive depending on your own cleaning needs.

I tested the Roborock S8 MaxV Ultra in everyday use over the last few weeks and will focus on how it compares to other top models in this review.

Pro: master of corners and edges

The Roborock S8 MaxV Ultra has two extendable parts. They help clean the edges and corners. In Vac&Mop mode, which is activated by default, the robot vacuums and mops at the same time. The edges of the selected rooms are cleaned first.

The Roborock drives very close to the edge. Thanks to the LIDAR sensor and camera, it can do this without touching furniture or walls. When cleaning, it extends the side brush at the front, which wipes away dust and dirt directly in front of the robot. It has a special mini mop at the back that also wipes the edge area with a damp cloth.

The result is impressive. So far, in the tests I’ve conducted, hardly any other robot vacuum has cleaned the edges and corners so precisely and cleanly. This is always easy to see on the dark tiled floors in the bathroom, where I can see exactly where the robot has cleaned and where it hasn’t thanks to the slightly damp lines on the floor.

Incidentally, a separate, small washing and drying station is built into the base station for the small mop.

Pro: rugs? No problem!

I have a small shower mat in the bathroom that I don’t want to move every time I clean. And the Roborock S8 MaxV Ultra knows exactly how to handle it. It recognises the mat, climbs onto it without folding it up and vacuums it.

It stops mopping and it can lift the panel with the wiping cloth up to two centimetres high. This way, my bathroom mat doesn’t get the tiniest bit wet, even if the robot has just mopped.

Pro: deep cleaning doesn’t have to be loud

While the robot vacuum cleaners aren’t quiet at my workplace, but not particularly loud either, the suction station is a different story. As soon as it starts to vacuum dust and dirt from the robot into a bag, it gets really noisy.

So I was pleasantly surprised that the Roborock is the quietest model I’ve tested so far in both disciplines. I measured 60 decibels when cleaning and 70 decibels when vacuuming. When I compare the figures with the values measured in the last major comparison of four top vacuum cleaners, what I perceived to be true is also backed up with figures.

Pro: long hairs not wrapped up

I was amazed when I repackaged the test device to send it back to the manufacturer. Normally I have to remove hair from the brushes. After all, the majority of our household not only has hair, but long hair. It tends to wrap around the rollers and I have to remove them periodically.

I’m pleased to say, that’s not the case with the Roborock S8 MaxV Ultra. The two counter-rotating plastic rollers are a little dusty, but I only discover a single hair that got caught. The rest was always put into the dust container and vacuumed from there into the base station. Perfect for long-haired households!

Neutral: cleaning performance as good as expected

If I pay over 1000 francs for a robot vacuum, I expect clean rooms and precise navigation. The Roborock easily meets these expectations. I didn’t have a daily schedule for the whole apartment to be cleaned at once, but rather let the robot run on occasion where it didn’t get in the way and where it was needed.

So I’d usually give it two or three rooms, which it would find quickly and reliably and then clean efficiently. I didn’t find any streaks afterwards, the floor isn’t too damp after mopping, and all dust particles and animal hair were vacuumed up. I also get the expected good cleaning performance in everyday life.

The Roborock S8 MaxV Ultra is quite tall at 10.4 centimetres. The LIDAR scanner tower protrudes upwards more than on many competitor models, which measure 10 centimetres or less. Depending on the height of the sofa, bed, etc., half a centimetre more or less can make all the difference.

If your home has thresholds, don’t expect miracles. The Roborock S8 MaxV Ultra is said to be able to climb up two centimetres, similar to most of its competitors. However, there’ll soon be alternatives with heels that are four to five centimetres high – the first model is even from Roborock itself.

Neutral: compact but wide and open station

The base station not only sucks up the robot’s dust container contents, it also cleans the damp pick-up cloth with warm water and then dries it with hot air at 60 degrees. Ideally, you won’t have to do anything for weeks. You should just empty the dirty water regularly, as it can quickly smell bad. But this is a weak spot amongst all robot systems.

The station has two special features. At 47 centimetres, it’s significantly shorter than many other stations at 50 to 60 centimetres. However, you need a relatively large amount of space for the width of almost 41 centimetres.

Another unusual feature is that the base station’s fresh water and waste water tanks are directly accessible. With Samsung, Dreame and the like, these are discreetly hidden under a cover. The disadvantage of the low height is that these tanks, holding 2.5 and 3 litres, are around 1 to 1.5 litres smaller than those of many competitors.

Neutral: app and object recognition are okay

Operation via the app is self-explanatory and well made. You can be very specific in what should be cleaned, when and how. Sometimes frequently used functions require a few clicks, for example if you want to vacuum but not mop.

I also like the fact that you can activate a do not disturb mode so that the robot deactivates automatic emptying or mutes voice alarms during the night, for example.

Thanks to the camera and artificial intelligence, the robot also recognises obstacles. This doesn’t always work smoothly, but there’s usually a good reason. The cat toy is recognised as «fabric» where the robot could get entangled. The cat tree as «furniture» where the robot could get stuck. The water bowl with its base isn’t a «dustpan», but here too it makes the correct conclusion: drive around it instead of climbing on it and possibly getting stuck.

Con: scan takes too long and is inaccurate

The Roborock isn’t the most reassuring when scanning the entire home at the very start. It took 27 minutes to complete. By comparison, the Samsung Jet Bot Steam+ covered the same area in a record 10 minutes, while many other competitors did it in 10 to 15 minutes.

Does the automatically generated map of the S8 MaxV Ultra make up for it? Unfortunately not. Instead of eight rooms, it divides the apartment into four rooms and scans through the glass doors further onto the balconies than any of the others did. It thinks the two bathrooms are bedrooms and the dark tiled floor is parquet.

So I have to do quite a lot of reworking manually. This turns out well, but takes longer than necessary and expected. The Roborock seems almost overzealous here, as it has identified all possible obstacles and entered them on the map. Many other models only do this during cleaning. Surprisingly, the Roborock S8 Pro Ultra I tested at the beginning of the year didn’t have these problems.

After all, I only have to do the extra work once, and as soon as the map is in place, navigation and cleaning happen without any problems.

Con: mop plate vs. round mops

There are two different techniques for mopping. Many robots use two round mops that rotate to clean the floor. Roborock has also built this technology into some models.

With the S8 MaxV Ultra, however, the manufacturer relies on High-Speed Sonic Mopping. The robot has an integrated plate in the shape of a semicircle that takes up almost the entire rear half of the underside. A cleaning cloth is simply stretched onto these with a guide rail and Velcro fasteners. The robot drags this across the floor, also vibrating up to 4000 times per minute.

For normal soiling, this has a similar effect to rotating mops. The situation is different if the degree of soiling is greater. I did two tests, with dried yogurt and fresh yogurt. The S8 MaxV Ultra struggles in both cases. It doesn’t detect any heavy soiling on either of them and it doesn’t run over them several times. Despite vibration, it hardly removes the dried yogurt and the fresh stains are mainly smeared. I’m better off cleaning it by hand.