Roborock S7 Max V Ultra robot vacuum + mop with Empty Wash Fill Dock

There’s a wealth of robot vacuums on the market these days to choose from. Whether you want the simplest vacuum only unit, or you want an entire floor cleaning system, companies are responding with a multitude of options. The latest product under the floor cleaning system banner is the Roborock S7 Max V Ultra with automatic Empty Wash Fill Dock.

Roborock S7 Max V Ultra robot vacuum + mop with Empty Wash Fill Dock

This bot is a dual purpose vacuum and mop, that can also clean and maintain itself. I recently had a chance to spend a couple of weeks with this new self cleaning robot vacuum and mop and in this review, I’ll tell you what it’s like to set up and use, how well it cleans, about the special features it has and if I think it’s a good pick for you.

Set up

Getting the Roborock S7 Max V Ultra set up was actually quite easy. Though the package is huge and there seem to be a lot of parts and pieces, everything goes together intuitively and it’s easy to get things set up.

Let’s take a look at the parts:

There is the base station, and the robot unit itself. In the base station there are three receptacles; one holds a sealed vacuum bag for emptying the robots on board dustbin, the other is a freshwater tank, and the third holds dirty water from cleaning the mop.

After unpacking everything and plugging it in, you’ll simply fill the freshwater tank, and there is already a vacuum bag installed for you. Next it’s on to getting the robot connected to your homes Wi-Fi.

Install Roborock app

For this you need the Roborock app, where you’ll sign into or sign up for an account. Getting things paired takes just a few clicks and includes entering your home Wi-Fi password. In under five minutes your a robot will be ready to go.

Design

Robot vacuum manufacturers have been making small strides in the last couple of years trying to make their devices look less utilitarian and more homey. Sadly I don’t think Roborock is embracing that viewpoint. This robot and docking station are definitely more techy and basic, no it does seem obvious Roborock has done its best to make things as streamlined as possible.

It does take up a very large footprint, which given all that is going on inside the space station is probably not surprising. The footprint of the full device when docked measures about 19 deep x 19 high x 16 wide and you will definitely need to find dedicated space for placement, where the bot also has enough space to back out of its garage easily. You also need access to a plug.

Cleaning performance: 5,100 Pa suction

When I test out a robot vacuum I put all the bots in my home through the same paces: I spill flour, sugar, rice or oats and crackers on both carpet and hard floors.

When, like this one they’re also mops, I also spill milk or soy sauce just to see what they do, though I will note these bots, like the Roborock S7 Max V Ultra are not designed to sop up large or wet spills; these are not shopvacs. They’re simply designed to give your floors a light wipe to keep dust and light dirt down.

I was really pleased with the cleaning performance of the S7 Max V Ultra. The bot was easily able to clean all types of debris from my hard floors and the addition of the mopping pad is actually a great follow up to the vacuuming, as that damp wipe helps keep any lingering dust at bay. With 5,100 Pa of suction, that’s pretty strong, and near the top end of what a lot of bot-vacs offer.

With small liquid spills, again, this is not designed to vacuum them up, but to wipe them with the damp mop. While my testing showed liquids did get smeared around a bit on initial passes, in subsequent passes it wiped up every last drop.

On carpets the S7 Max V Ultra didn’t seem to do as well; when I’d spill stuff on the carpet for it to vacuum (oatmeal, lentils) the vacuum tended to scatter some types of debris and it wasn’t able to get finer flour out of the fibres as well. Sometimes it was able to pick up the scattered dirt later on in it’s cleaning cycle, but sometimes I’d find stray lentils. Even so, for my day to day cleaning of pet hair and general upkeep of dirt on both carpet and hard floors, it worked extremely well.

Getting stuck: not a problem

Roborock vacuums have become one of my favourites for their heroic ability to avoid obstacles and keep from getting stuck. Even though my robot had to navigate some fairly tall flooring transitions plus things like rugs and mats, getting stuck was not a major concern with this vacuum. Of all the bots I’ve tried over the last few years, I’d say with confidence Roborocks get stuck the least of any brand.

Key Features: Roborock S7 Max V Ultra

Self Cleaning: Empty Wash Fill Dock

With many robot vacuums, you absolutely need to empty their onboard dust bin and or refill their mopping tanks at least once per day. While it’s not a big deal, some think it’s a dirty chore and would rather not have to do so much maintenance. Enter the Roborock Empty Wash Fill Dock.

When the Roborock S7 Max V Ultra is finished with its cleaning it will always return to its dock for recharging. While it’s there the Empty Wash Fill base station will also evacuate the vacuum’s onboard dustbin into a sealed vacuum bag, refill the mop’s on-board water tank, then run a cleaning cycle on the mopping pad.

Initially I was a little skeptical that this cleaning cycle was doing much of anything. Because it’s happening inside the base station and underneath the bottom, there’s really nothing you can see it would demonstrate its cleaning process.

A small brush arm  of some kind is rolling underneath and squeezing the dirty water from the pad, then sucking up that dirty water into the bin for disposal later. The proof is in the dirty water tank: When I emptied it, the water was brown, dirty and smelly, so something is definitely getting cleaned under there.

Since the onboard water tank for the mop is quite small, this is actually a great way to keep it full, and in my testing it took about 2 weeks of semi-regular use for it to need refilling. You can actually hear it gurgling during the cleaning and refilling, and a cleaning cycle takes about three and a half minutes.

In short, I feel like the Empty wash Fill Dock is a great feature of this robot, that cuts way down on the amount of emptying, refilling and maintenance you need to do.

VibraRise mopping system

One question that usually comes up with dual robot vacuum and mopping units is, don’t they soak carpets and rugs? The answer with this robot is: not at all. The Roborock S7 Max V Ultra has a very unique system called VibraRise that is able to lift the mopping plate off the floor when it detects carpet. The effect is subtle but noticeable; it clears most carpets by a few millimetres and means your carpets never get even the least bit damp. This technology works and it is impressively successful. The other thing the VibraRise technology does is it oscillates the mopping plate about 3,000 times per minute, which gives it a subtle scrubing action that seems to help clean the floors a bit better than merely dragging a damp cloth around, as many other mopping bots do.

Mapping and smarts: Roborock S7 Max V Ultra

The Roborock S7 Max V Ultra has a camera built in to the robot, a structured light 3D scanner, as well as LiDar for navigation.

All that sounds fancy, but what does it mean? Using a combination of the camera’s eye, light sensors and lasers it’s better able to see its way around your home, navigate obstacles like boxes or packages, and even steer clear of fallen cords, socks and the like—in the day or in darker conditions. This new bot is also able to see and avoid very small objects, up to about 2” wide and 1” tall… which could mean that a dropped earring, for example, might not end up lost inside the vacuum bag.

App: room labeling, smart scheduling, voice control

Some of these other features won’t come as a surprise to anyone who’s had their eye on a robot vacuum or mop. Using the Robo rock app, it’s possible to create rooms and zones in your house so you can schedule room by room cleaning.
When the Roborock S7 Max V Ultra first heads out it will use all of its technology and visualization to draw a map of your home which is saved inside the Roborock app. With the map completed, which happens within the first couple of outings, you can go in and delineate rooms and label them. This will allow you to set cleaning schedules to have certain rooms vacuumed on set days, or to do a daily sweep and wipe of the hallways, for example. Roborock’s app is very easy to navigate and pretty easy to figure out how to manage your rooms in the map.

Clean zones

Adjustable suction and waterflow.

Similar to naming your rooms, you can create specific cleaning zones in your house inside the Robo rock app. Zones different from rooms in that they are moveable or areas that allow you to focus cleaning on a particular area within a room. One example of this would be busy work triangle in the kitchen or the high traffic area around the front door. Creating these zones is done with a few clicks inside the app and if you name them intelligently, you can even ask your virtual digital assistant to clean them.

Google, Siri & Alexa voice control

Speaking of our digital assistants, you can link your Roborock app to either Google or Alexa and even set up commands for Siri for hands-free voice control. Just say things like, “Alexa, clean the kitchen,” or “OK Google, wash the hallways” and your bot will head out for its mission.

Depending which assistant you want to use, there are different methods of set up, which I’m not going to take time with here. I had my bot connected to Google Assistant in minutes and was easily able to ask it to clean.

Adjustable power

This floor cleaning robot is able to adjust both the vacuum suction power ( 4 levels from Quiet to Max) and the mopping scrubbing intensity (3 levels from Mild to Intense)

Remote viewing

It’s possible to use your robot as a mobile security camera around the house. Doing this requires a few steps and this is designed to maximize privacy and your security with having a mobile camera in the house. You’ll need to press physical buttons on the robot in order to make this happen. Then you’ll be able to access the camera in the app and drive the robot anywhere for a look. I guess this is a nice back up security system or a way to keep an eye on your pets, but I did not feel the need to use it during my review period.

Overall review: Roborock S7 Max V Ultra

Overall, this is a fun, capable and handy new robot floor cleaning system that I didn’t know I needed. It addresses some of the hassles of robot vacuum ownership: key among them forgetting to empty the dust bin, fill the water tank, or wash the mopping pad. The tanks are large and give you lots of cleaning time before you need to tend to them. The mop cleaning seems to work quite well and the robot seems to stay quite tidy. When it comes to overall cleaning power, the Roborock S7 Max V ultra is a super capable vacuum that’s easily able to keep my floors clean between regular vacuuming. I also love that the mopping and vacuum suction are adjustable; able to give me a quick quiet vacuum if I’m on a Zoom call, or a full deep clean while I’m out with the dogs.

The mopping, while not a substitute for a full floor mop, does help keep dust, dirty dog paw prints and light dirt at bay.

Downsides? The entire unit takes up a ton of floor space and some owners may find it challenging to situate it where it has proper access to its base while not taking up a ton of real estate. Well not a downside per se, this unit is understandably pricier than a basic robot vacuum.  The S7 MaxV won’t be available to purchase until Mid-April and the dock won’t be available until May.
Pricing: S7 MaxV + Empty Wash Fill Dock) | $1399.99.

Overall if you want a dual purpose robot vacuum and mop with all the basics and a host of special features too, that can clean and maintain itself, I can definitely recommend the Roborock S7 Max V Ultra. Get one here from Roborock’s website or from Amazon.

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