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The Roborock S8 MaxV Ultra ($1799.99, available in April) is a mouthful of a name, but this iteration of the S8 line has earned every syllable. Roborock’s new flagship has kept everything that I loved about the S8 and added a voice assistant, improved the cleaning base, jacked up the suction, and given the brushes extending arms to reach out to edges of rooms.The result keeps the S8 line as my favorite robot vacuum cleaner, and the one to beat.
Better disguised water tanks and an additional cleaning solution reservoir
This version of the S8 doesn’t appear fundamentally different from the S8 I reviewed previously. The tower is substantial, although less so than recent Eufy or Ecovacs vacuums. The important distinction here is that the S8 is now available with a conventional base, where you have clean and dirty water tanks, or the R&D (rinse and drain) version, which has a very small base, but is piped directly into your water line, so it can fill and drain on its own. For this review, we tested the conventional base.
Roborock offers the S8 in black or white, and it has the same matte and gloss molded plastic details on the base and the robot. The tanks are now a bit more hidden in the base, rather than being part of the architecture. From the front you just see a solid panel, but the tanks are still easily accessed from the top of the unit. In fact, the front of the unit is held on magnetically and pops off so you can access the vacuum bag behind it, as well as another new feature—a tank just for cleaning solution. I loved this feature; it meant I didn’t have to add it to the water each and every time I topped up. The robot itself looks like previous Roborock entries—the upgrades are only evident if you flip the robot over.
Easy setup and integration
I’ve never had trouble connecting getting Roborock models set up; they come basically assembled out of the box, and connecting the unit is as simple as pressing a few buttons. The machine will announce what step it’s completing in the setup, and the app will guide you as well. As with previous floorbots from this brand, I never had a problem with the machine going offline during the time I tested it. I easily paired the vacuum in Google Home, and Roborock works with Apple Homekit and Alexa as well. As with the Q Revo I reviewed earlier this week, the S8 MaxV Ultra ships with Rocky, a voice assistant, on board. As I noted before, the voice assistant is a fun addition that works, but has a very limited vocabulary and command list. If you learn the exact phrasing you need, you can ask the bot to clean a specific room, the whole house, or return to base by getting its attention using the call, “Hello, Rocky.” Supposedly, you can ask Rocky to get the robot to come to you and clean where you are, but all my tests of this have failed—the robot sailed past the spot I was standing in. I imagine there will be updates to Rocky in the future.
Exceptional vacuum power
The previous S8 model earned my respect for the way it was exceptional at both mopping and vacuuming. Usually floorbots excel in only one area, like the Switchbot K10+, an exceptional vacuum but poor mop. Like its predecessor, the S8 MaxV Ultra does a remarkable job as a vacuum on deep pile carpet—enough that you get the distinctive tracks in your carpet a good vacuum leaves behind. This was true of the S8 Pro Ultra, but the MaxV Ultra almost doubles the suction power, going from 6000Pa to 10000Pa, one of the highest in the industry, and you’ll notice a difference. I could occasionally hear something rattling around in the S8 as it vacuumed away, which isn’t a bad thing necessarily—it means the bot won’t shut down all the time, it can deal with something foreign and keep going. Occasionally I’d get called to clear the rollers, but that’s expected. It happened even less with this model than the previous S8.
On hard floors and rugs, the S8 MaxV Ultra continued to impress. The latest models have taken the brushes almost every floorbot has and given them extending arms (Roborock calls them “Flexi-arms”), so they can shoot out from under the robot, reaching into corners, under toe kicks, under nearby items. This is a huge leap forward, as it allows the robots to hug the wall, whereas previously the few inches along the wall were a blind spot. It was fascinating to watch the brushes kick out to capture debris.
Enhanced mopping performance
While the S8 is an exceptional vacuum, there are other good vacuum robots on the market—but Roborock has the best mopping robots on the market. My floor constantly has muddy paw prints and stains of unknown outdoor origin. My kitchen floor is often a battlefield of dried peanut butter or yogurt from dog toys. The S8, which has a mop pad that is constantly rinsed and then flushed with clean, hot water as the robot moves, tackled even the most stubborn stains on the floor. Sometimes it would require an extra pass, but the job gots done. That mop pad has been improved, too: It now is larger and also extends a bit to get edge-to-edge. The Q Revo MaxV has spinning brushes instead of the mop pad, and they can extend well away from the robot. I expected those to work better than the mop pad, but the S8 continues to surprise me. The mop pad vibrates to get rid of dirt and stains. Like the Q Revo, you’ll need to occasionally step in with a manual assist, but it’ll be less often with the S8.
How to choose Roborock models
The Q Revo is a highly competent and reliable floorbot and substantially less, at $1199. Still, I think the S8 distinguishes itself with extra conveniences and features. If you could directly connect it to your water line, the S8 would be a no brainer. Even without that feature, the additional suction power makes a difference, and though it might seem small, the cleaning solution tank is a really convenient addition that makes the mop work better. The Q Revo has spinning brushes versus a mopping pad, but both reach out to hug the wall. Only the S8 has high-speed sonic mopping, which helps to bust up stains and gunk on the floor. You’ll be happy with the Q Revo, but there’s a reason the S8 is the flagship for Roborock.
Other robot vacuums to consider:
The app remains easy to use
Roborock’s app continues to be easy to use, and offers at least as much features as any other bot I’ve found, without being overwhelming. You can just let the robot clean the whole house each time, but it’s quite easy to edit maps and set up rooms and zones so you can clean select areas instead. Choose between four levels of intensity for mopping and vacuuming, although the only reason to use less than the max is noise—while not loud (67 decibels), you won’t want to conduct a Zoom with the S8 running at your feet. You can set schedules and get very satisfying reports on the ground covered. The S8 MaxV Ultra has the remote control feature I really like and has added on-board video to the floorbot.
Bottom line: there’s a reason this is the flagship model
I firmly believe that robots are one way we’ll equalize the burden of housework in the future, but that’s only true if the robots work really well autonomously. Over the last two years I’ve watched floorbots take gigantic leaps forward toward this goal, and while even the best of them needs intervention occasionally, Roborock bots need it less. The S8 MaxV Ultra is the most reliable vacuum/mop combo on the market right now, with exceptional performance in both areas, and the ability to continue working, even when there’s a small issue to be fixed later, like clearing the rollers. This cleaning ability has really become edge-to-edge, which gets you one step closer to never having to mop or vacuum again. The app and the integration with most voice assistants and multi system hubs means you can easily get the robot to do what you want, and the on-board voice assistant, Rocky, can only improve. $1,799 is a lot to drop on a vacuum, but the S8 is a vacuum and mop that is at your beck and call call, and reliably so. If you can afford it, it’s a fair price to pay for a competent household assistant. The S8 MaxV Ultra will be available in early April.