Key Takeaways
- The Roborock S8 MaxV Ultra offers powerful suction and smart features for hands-free cleaning.
- With voice control, obstacle recognition, and intelligent mapping, the Ultra can spot-clean specific areas.
- While it won’t replace a stick vacuum, the S8 MaxV Ultra’s performance makes daily cleaning easier and more efficient.
Robot vacuums offer hands-free cleaning, though they’re typically underpowered compared to traditional models. That’s what makes Roborock‘s latest model so interesting. The S8 MaxV Ultra is the brand’s “suckiest” bot yet — and that’s a great thing.
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However, power is far from all this vacuum offers. Its mix of cameras, sensors and onboard AI means you can say, “Hello Rocky, clean here” to start a spot-clean right where you are standing. The bot Ultra can automatically increase its suction power when it detects pet areas. It also includes a side brush and mop to clean the edges of walls and obstacles.
I spent a few weeks with the Roborock S8 MaxV Ultra — or rather, I spent some time doing other things while the S8 cleaned my floors for me. Here’s how the bot fared.
Roborock S8 MaxV Ultra
Premium Pick
The Roborock S8 MaxV Ultra is a powerful, smart robot vacuum-mop combo with a self-emptying dock. Its edge brushes clean well compared to similar bots, though it won’t replace a stick vacuum. Built-in voice control makes spot cleaning easy, while the app will also customize your home map and set a cleaning schedule.
- Dimensions
- Robot 350 x 353 x 103mm, Dock 409 x 419 x 470mm
- Dustbin Capacity
- 270ml
- Brand
- Roborock
- Price
- $1,799
- Connectivity
- Wi-Fi and Bluetooth
- Integrations
- Hello Rocky voice control
- Suction
- 10,000Pa
- Cleaning Modes
- Vac, mop, vac and mop
- Battery
- 5200mAh
- Mop
- Yes
- Brushes
- Dual roller brush
- Powerful suction
- Excellent edge cleaning
- Packed with smart features
- Self-emptying, self-filling mop
- Pricey
- Large dock
- Won’t replace a stick vac
Specs, pricing, and availability
The Roborock S8 Max Ultra begins shipping on April 22 with a retail price of $1,799.
Roborock S8 MaxV Ultra
- Dimensions
- Robot 350 x 353 x 103mm, Dock 409 x 419 x 470mm
- Dustbin Capacity
- 270ml
- Brand
- Roborock
- Price
- $1,799
- Connectivity
- Wi-Fi and Bluetooth
- Integrations
- Hello Rocky voice control
- Suction
- 10,000Pa
- Cleaning Modes
- Vac, mop, vac and mop
- Battery
- 5200mAh
- Mop
- Yes
- Brushes
- Dual roller brush
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Design, size, and build
A (mostly) hands-off charging experience
With a self-refilling and self-emptying mop, the base for the S8 MaxV Ultra sits on the larger side. It will take up roughly a 16 by 16.5-inch plot of your floor. The cord is bulky too, so the base can’t sit flush with the wall.
The reason for the bulk is due to the tanks on top: one for cleaning solution, one for dirty water. Each bin has a built-in handle, so it’s easy to pop off and carry over to the sink.
A panel in the front comes off to reveal the self-emptying dust bin. Rather than a reusable bin, the S8 MaxV Ultra uses disposable bags. This prevents that mushroom cloud of dust when you dump the contents into your garbage, but the trade-off is the recurring cost. The bags are rated to hold up to seven weeks of dust, however, so it’s not a purchase you need to make often.
Unlike a stick vacuum, you don’t typically tuck a robovac away in a closet when it’s finished cleaning, which means aesthetics matter. Thankfully, the Ultra is sleek enough to fit in with most decor.
My favorite part of the Ultra is the two pieces designed to clean corners.
That said, the casing is a dust magnet. I had to resist the temptation to channel my inner Monica Geller and pull out a mini vacuum to clean the vacuum.
The three buttons on the top of the robovac allow you to start and stop a clean cycle with a single press. The matte part of the body can pick up bruises. My unit earned a noticeable scratch at the top.
But, the magic is all underneath. Two rubber brushes help prevent hair tangles. The mop pad is a large cloth that vibrates rather than spins. However, my favorite part of the Ultra is the two pieces designed to clean corners — a flexible brush arm that extends beyond the-bot and a spinning mini-mop pad that cleans along the edges.
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Usability and smart features
Voice control, obstacle recognition and mapping
The S8 Max Ultra is so feature-packed that even two weeks into my review, I was still discovering new tricks. The Roborock app allows you to adjust suction power and mop vibration intensity. The Ultra will map your house, labeling things like furniture and potential hazards such as stairs or the dog’s water bowl. My unit got a surprising number of labels right when building a map of my home, though it had a few minor guffaws like labeling the shoe rack a bed. Either way, you can modify the map inside the app. By separating rooms, I could also create cleaning schedules for specific areas.
The Ultra uses cameras and sensors to detect obstacles. It recognized cords and stairs, as well as obstacles like a stubborn rug corner that it needed to ignore. The bot is also capable of recognizing and avoiding pets. The AI object recognition is smart enough to know not skip an area of your home just because it once spotted a cat napping there. The mapping helps the bot clean an entire room without missing open areas and in neat sections.
My unit got a surprising number of labels right when building a map of my home, though it had a few minor guffaws like labeling the shoe rack a bed.
The app also assists with maintenance. Besides notifying you when the water tank is empty, it also lists tasks that should be done regularly. For example, it recommends cleaning the Ultra’s sensors after 30 hours of use, so it can continue to see obstacles.
Built-in voice control allows you to start a cleaning by saying, “Hello, Rocky.” But by far my favorite feature was the fact I could say “clean here” to get the Ultra to do a spot-clean. This is key because pulling out the app and narrowing down the cleaning area to a small spot feels like a long enough process that it’s almost easier to pull out a regular vacuum instead. However, the greatest strength of the Ultra is that you can leave it largely on its own. It was able to clean daily for me without oversight. The tanks and dust bags last quite a while without needing to be emptied or refilled. Additionally, the mop not only washes but dries itself.
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Performance compared to stick vacuum
Great suction and great edge cleaning
I haven’t yet met a robovac that makes me want to toss my stick vacuum. But with 10,000Pa of suction power, the S8 MaxV Ultra made it possible to go at least twice as long between manual cleanings.
The suction is strong enough to pick up larger pieces of debris, and the rotating side arm does an excellent job of cleaning right up to the corner carpets. The Ultra does a tremendous job compared to other robot vacs I’ve tested. However, on thicker high pile carpeting, it left behind some pet hair and dirt.
It did occasionally throw up a corner of the rug while traversing it, preventing that upturned corner from getting clean.
On hardwood floors, the mop pad easily wiped away dogs footprints, making me dread rainy days a lot less. My only wish is that the Ultra had multiple rotating pads like the QRevo MaxV. Like with my carpets, I can’t throw away my mop just yet, but thanks to the Ultra, I can go at least twice as long before picking up the rugs and furniture and doing a good manual scrubbing.
The built-in obstacle detection is key to the Ultra producing a good clean. A few times I watched the vac wiggle across the edges of my throw rugs to clean right up to the edge of the rug. However, it did occasionally throw up a corner of the rug while traversing it, preventing that upturned corner from getting clean. That said, a bit of rug tape will go a long way.
The edge brush and mop do a great job of cleaning corners. However, the vac’s size can hinder its ability to get in close. The Ultra is just a few millimeters too tall to fit under the lip at the bottom of my kitchen cupboards, so it left behind crumbs along the edges here.
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Verdict: Is the Roborock S8 MaxV Ultra worth the price tag?
The Roborock S8 MaxV Ultra helped keep my floors tidy with a daily cleaning that often involved no input from me. While it won’t replace a stick vacuum, I was able to go twice as long between manually cleaning my floors.
While it won’t replace a stick vacuum, I was able to go twice as long between manually cleaning my floors.
At the same time, the S8 MaxV Ultra is one of the most expensive robovacs I’ve used. If you expect to throw out your regular vacuum for that price, you may be disappointed. Occasionally, the Ultra may also get stuck when its power inadvertently flips up the corner of a rug. Overall, the S8 MaxV Ultra is an excellent cleaning bot, but that performance comes at a cost.
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