It seems that smart vacuum cleaners have become a piece of equipment that, for many, is almost essential to facilitate our day-to-day cleaning. A device that can help us sweep and mop the floor of our house, keeping it clean without practically having to think about it. There are already several vacuum cleaners of this type that have passed through my hands, some cheaper, others more expensive or even models dedicated solely to sweeping to better fulfill this function. Well, after having tried the Roborock S7 I can say that it is the best I have tried so far and, best of all, it is not the most expensive. Today I tell you about my experience after thoroughly testing this Roborock smart vacuum cleaner.
Design that improves (a lot) the experience
Do not expect that nowadays the physical aspect of this type of device will surprise you too much. We can find some models a little higher or lower, with one or two side brushes or, in any case, a somewhat more rectangular form factor but further from that there are no extremely surprising aspects. And this new Roborock model is another example of what I was telling you. A robot vacuum cleaner that can be black or white, which has a tank for dust and another for water (accompanied by a mop for scrubbing) and its side brush to drag dirt from the corners. At a first glance, we don’t see too many flourishes or big changes. But, like all good things, the differences are in the small details .
I want to start with something “unusual” when it comes to this equipment: the scrubbing module. A 300 ml tank with which we can clean a surface, according to the manufacturer, of up to 200 m² . In my case, the flat I live in has about 35 m² of “cleanable” surface, and the water tank lasts me for about 1 week of use.
Coupled to this tank, although independently, we find the mop to scrub the floor that we can remove if we need it to wash it by hand in the washing machine. This element will be the one in charge of distributing the water through the floor so that, when it passes over it, the stains are cleaned. So far everything is as we usually find in many models on the market but, in this case, this section incorporates two very interesting novelties:
- VibraRise System : which may sound strange, but it is nothing more than using ultrasound to make the mop vibrate very quickly to be able to clean the floor much better. In this case, the system doses both the scrubbing power and the amount of water to correctly adapt to any situation. We can regulate this through the smartphone app, of which I will now tell you more details.
- Lifting mop : another aspect that may seem like too much marketing, but quite the opposite. I don’t know how any manufacturer I have tried vacuum cleaners with the scrubbing ability had not come up with to come up with a self-lifting system for the mop. What advantages does this bring? On the one hand, we do not need to remove the module as soon as it finishes scrubbing the floor (something very important if you have parquet or similar) and, on the other hand, combining this aspect with the carpet detection system will not get them wet when it passes over it. of this.
Moving on to removing dirt, the Roborock S7 has a 470 ml dust container , accompanied by a 2500 Pa suction system , sufficient for most cases. The novelty of this system is the floating system of the main brush . It is a completely rubber brush, which is located in a module that the manufacturer has called “floating” because it is not fixed. That is to say, what it does is adapt to the surface through which it passes, making it remain in full contact despite the fact that the ground is not uniform.
And, regarding the issue of brushes, something that I would like to highlight about this robot (although it is not a novelty as such because there are other models that include it) is the side brush . Until now, all the vacuum cleaners of this type that I had tried had the typical blade with bristles on the tips to remove dirt from the corners. But, in the case of the Roborock S7, it has like two tiny hairs of silicone . This brush system does the same function as the others but, in my case, it does not get stuck with the hairs of a carpet that I have in my office.
In the upper part of this equipment we find 3 buttons , which will allow us to turn off / on the device, send it directly to the charging base, lock it or make it start cleaning a surface of approximately 1 m². In addition, we will be able to see the turret where the lidar sensor that will be in charge of the recognition and mapping of our house is located . Thanks to this, and the rest of its sensors, the scan does it perfectly, detecting any type of obstacle or barrier that you have in your home such as chairs, tables, plants or, even, it will detect carpets. As a curiosity, the only thing that has resisted in my tests has been the typical portable clothesline that we all have at home, I understand that because of its geometry close to the ground.
Regarding the tanks, both can be removed super easy for filling / emptying. We will even have access to the HEPA filter for cleaning that we can replace when we need it.
And, on the battery side, this model incorporates a total of 5200 mAh that, according to the manufacturer, will give it a range of up to 3 hours of use . In my case, cleaning my house usually takes about 50 minutes and the equipment uses around 25-30% of the battery. Of course, I have it set to maximum power in almost all rooms. Although we will talk about this type of configuration in the next section
Very complete cleaning app
Now I will comment on certain details of the application, or applications, that we will use to control this robot vacuum cleaner with our smartphone.
We can synchronize it very easily (following the instructions) with two applications: with the Roborock app itself , or with the Mi Home application (since this company works with Xiaomi to create many computers). The only difference that I have found between one and the other is that the updates arrive from the manufacturer’s own app and not from Xiaomi.
Once the robot is synchronized with the app, it will be time to perform the first scan of our house to create the map. This team can create up to 4 different maps , so if you have several heights in your house, you won’t have to have a robot per floor. Also, when you’ve scanned everything, it sets up a smart room division that works quite well. Although, if we want to modify or rename them we can do it from this app.
From this main screen we can see at a glance the status of our vacuum cleaner or, even, the exact point where it is if it is cleaning. In addition, we can vary between different ways of cleaning so that it takes care of the whole house, a specific room, or a specific area. And, if we click on the icon that looks like two overlapping circles at the bottom right of the screen, we will have access to customize the degree of aspiration and scrubbing of each room separately.
Then, by clicking on the button with the three dots in the upper right corner, we will have access to more settings of the app such as map management. Here you can establish limits , invisible walls or areas in which we do not want to scrub or even choose the sequence of cleaning all the rooms in our home.
In addition to other interesting aspects, there are two details that I would like to highlight within this application. On the one hand, there is the maintenance menu , which will indicate the status of the robot’s consumables so that we know at all times when we have to clean them or when to renew them.
And, on the other hand (and in the main menu of the app, not within the robot configuration) we will have access to the voice control functions. This device can be managed through voice commands from Alexa, Google Assistant or Siri . Through the tutorials that the app offers us, you can link it with both the Alexa app and the Google Home app. And, regarding Siri, using iOS commands or shortcuts we can also configure it. Therefore, simply by saying “Hey Siri, clean the house” the robot will be able to start with this task.
Complete and “economical”
Now that I have told you everything you need to know about the Roborock S7 and my experience after having tried it, it is time to talk about the economic section. And, for me, this has been a surprise.
This robot vacuum cleaner has an official price of € 549 . It may not be a cost that everyone can afford but, in my experience, I can tell you that it is quite inexpensive for everything it offers. What’s more, I have tried different of these devices that, doing less work cost more expensive.
So, if you were thinking of buying a new robot vacuum cleaner and had any doubts, I can assure you that there are few more complete options you will find in the current market for this price.
