The best hybrid robot cleaner for multiple floor types
Roborock S7 floor cleaning robot has a unique mop lifting function, which can prevent your carpet from getting wet, and at the same time, the effect of vacuuming and scrubbing is better than the competition.
Roborock S7 costs US$949.98, which is one of the most expensive floor cleaning robots we have tested, but it is also one of the only models that can mop and vacuum the floor at the same time. Unlike other hybrid cleaners that completely avoid the carpet when mopping the floor, the S7 will automatically lift the mop when it detects the carpet, thereby accomplishing these two tasks more effectively. It also has automatic trash emptying, good battery life, impressive obstacle avoidance and powerful vacuum suction. S7 will not disinfect your hard floors (it can only use water instead of cleaning solutions), but it will still scrub them until they glow. Therefore, if you are looking for the ultimate 2-in-1 floor cleaning robot, the Roborock S7 is the best we have tested and the winner of our Editor’s Choice Award.
The Roborock S7 can be used with or without the self-draining base, but the Roborock S7 kit we tested, which is worth $949.98, is bundled with the Roborock S7 and the self-draining base. You can also purchase these two products separately. The S7 itself is priced at $649.99 and comes with a standard base station. The auto-empty base is priced at $299.99. Whether you buy the bundle separately or each component, the cost is the same.
However, since the S7 bundle only comes with an auto-empty base (not a standard base station), you may need to purchase them separately in order to end up with two bases. The only disadvantage of purchasing separately is that when switching from a standard base station to an automatic emptying base, you need to remove the air inlet cover in the robot. It's not difficult, but it adds another step to the setup process, which I will cover in detail later.
S7 is suitable for hard floors and carpets, but it is most suitable for homes with both. With four vacuum power levels-quiet, balanced (default setting), turbocharged, and maximum-peaking with an impressive 2,500Pa suction power, it is a great choice for pets and carpeted families.
What makes this robot unique is that it can vacuum and mop the floor at the same time without wetting the carpet. Although other hybrid models, such as Ecovacs Deebot Ozmo T8 AIVI, can detect and automatically avoid carpet when mopping, the S7 goes a step further. When the robot senses the carpet, it lifts the carriage by 0.2 inches and continues to vacuum. In this way, it can dry your hard floors and vacuum your medium and low pile carpets in one go. This is the only robot vacuum cleaner we have tested with this feature.
With a diameter of 13.9 inches and a height of 3.8 inches, the S7 is one of the largest floor cleaning robots we have tested. The raised mapping sensor increases its height. Ecovacs Deebot Ozmo N8 Pro has a similar sensor with a similar height. If you are looking for a shorter robot vacuum cleaner that can pass under low-key furniture, we recommend you to use the Eufy RoboVac G30, which is only 2.85 inches high.
This robot does not have a physical remote control. You can use the three buttons at the top to control it, use your phone through the Roborock app for Android and iOS, and use your voice through Alexa, Google Assistant or Siri Shortcuts.
The clean/power buttons of S7 are located on the left and right sides of the Spot Clean/Child Lock and Dock buttons respectively. Short press the middle button to send the S7 out for cleaning and hold it to turn the robot on or off. Press the left button to start spot cleaning and press and hold it to turn on or off the child lock (all buttons can be locked). To manually return the robot to its base, press the right button. The clean/power button lights up in white when the robot's charge exceeds 20%, lights up in red when the battery charge is less than 20%, slowly flashes white when the robot is charging or starting, and quickly flashes red when an error occurs.
Above the button is a crescent-shaped status indicator. The robot lights up white when vacuuming, blue when vacuuming and mopping, orange when there is an alarm, and green when docking or charging.
The lid on the top of the robot hides its trash can, system reset button and Wi-Fi indicator. There is a small washable air filter inside the trash can.
On the rear edge of the robot is a 10.1 ounce water tank. In the box, you will get a carriage attachment with a removable and washable cloth. When you want the S7 to vacuum and mop the floor, just fill the water tank with water, damp the cloth, stick it on the extension board, and then slide the extension board along the bottom of the water tank until you hear a click. After success, the robot will say "installed with mop installed". After the mopping is over, simply remove the mopping tray, throw the cleaning cloth into the washing machine, and you can use it next time.
At the bottom, it has a main brush roller, a side brush for edge cleaning, six cliff sensors to prevent it from falling off the stairs, and the aforementioned carpet sensor. When the robot detects the carpet, it will automatically increase its vacuum suction, which is a useful function that Shark IQ Robot Self-Empty XL R101AE does not have.
The automatic emptying base is pre-installed with a 3 liter disposable dust bag, and there is only one in the box. Roborock said that each bag contains 8 dust, but this statement will vary depending on how often you use the vacuum cleaner and how much cleaning your home needs. Roborock sells a set of two replacement bags for $9.99, five for $16.99, and ten for $26.99.
The size of the auto-empty base is 15.1 x 12.4 x 18.0 (HWD) inches, which is much larger than the S7 standard base station (3.9 x 5.1 x 5.9 inches). The larger dock uses a two-chamber design with a washable HEPA air filter on the left. According to Roborock, it can capture 99.99% of particles as small as 0.3 microns. The disposable dust bag is located on the right. When the robot stops after cleaning, the automatic emptying function will automatically start. It became very loud in about 30 seconds—about the volume of an old upright vacuum cleaner—because it sucked all the debris in the robot's trash can into the dust bag, and at the same time exhausted clean air from the outlet at the top of the HEPA chamber.
S7 is simple to set up, but if you use the auto-empty base, additional assembly is required.
The automatic emptying base is divided into two parts, and you need to tighten five screws to connect them. Fortunately, the screwdriver is neatly stored at the bottom of the device, and the screws that need to be tightened have been inserted and marked with a screwdriver icon. Compared with the fully assembled Deebot N8 Pro automatically emptying the base, this setup requires more work, but anyone should be able to do it.
Next, if you purchase the automatic emptying base separately, you need to remove the trash can in the device and then pop out the air inlet cover. This step is necessary, so the items in the trash can can be sucked into the empty base automatically. I used the tip of a knife in this part, which made it a lot easier. Be sure to keep the plastic air intake cover so that if you want to use a standard base station, you can put it back in the robot. Then plug the auto-empty trash can back into the device (not the standard trash can used with the standard base).
After that, find the position of the base, plug in the power, press the power button on the robot, and manually place it on the base to charge. Whether you are using a standard base or an auto-empty base, Roborock recommends setting it to at least 1.6 feet away from objects on either side and at least 4.9 feet away from any object.
While waiting for the robot to charge, you can download the Roborock sweeping robot application, create an account, and then connect the robot to your phone. When I checked S6 MaxV, I already had the application and an account, and it only took a few minutes to connect S7 with its companion application.
When you open the Roborock app, it will ask you which model you want to set up. Select S7, enter your Wi-Fi credentials, and press Next. The app will instruct you to open the robot’s lid so that you can see the Wi-Fi indicator, then press and hold the Spot Cleaning and Dock buttons (located on the side of the power button) for three seconds, until you hear it say "Reloading Set Wi-Fi.” When in pairing mode, the Wi-Fi indicator slowly flashes blue. When you see the flashing light, press Next.
From there, press Connect to device Wi-Fi, then go to the phone’s Wi-Fi settings menu, click on the network that starts with "roborock-vacuum", wait for it to connect, and then return to the Roborock app. When the robot is connected to your Wi-Fi, just click Use Now to complete the setup. In the test, the application prompts me to install the firmware update, which only took a few minutes.
S7 works quickly and efficiently. It can intelligently navigate your home, first around the edge of the room, and then cover the middle with a straight line, instead of randomly playing table tennis from wall to wall like some cheap robot vacuum cleaners.
It can vacuum my main floor of about 1,000 square feet in an hour. After completing the first run, successfully navigating back to its dock and emptying the trash can, the robot still has 58% battery life. When vacuuming and mopping the floor at the same time, its moving speed will be slower, and it takes more than 90 minutes to complete the same amount of space.
After setting its vacuum power level to "balanced", it takes 115 minutes for the battery to run out. This is better than the results we got from Deebot Ozmo N8 Pro and Shark IQ Robot XL. In our tests, they had cleaning times of up to 96 minutes and 97 minutes in similar modes, respectively.
Keep in mind that increasing the suction power of the robot will drain the battery faster and vice versa. Roborock claims that the 5,200mAh battery can provide up to 180 minutes of running time, probably in quiet mode.
When the battery level of the robot is below 20% in the test, it will navigate back to its base without problems and will not let me start another cleaning run before charging. If it runs out of power before completing a run, it will return to its base and charge, and then continue cleaning from where it left off.
S7's navigation and obstacle avoidance capabilities left a deep impression on me. In five complete test runs, it never got stuck. On several occasions, I observed it twisting over obstacles that prevented the death of smaller robots, including clumps of carpets, long curtains, and messy ropes.
However, this is not the quietest robot vacuum cleaner I have tested, especially when vacuuming carpets. According to the readings of the NIOSH sound level meter application, when vacuuming hard floors in the balance mode, it emits a sound of about 58db, which exceeds the volume of the N8 Pro (55db). On the carpet, I measured its volume to be about 69db, which is close to the CDC's threshold (70db) that people usually find annoying. If you are sensitive to noise, like me, you can always arrange for it to be cleaned when you are not at home.
When mopping the floor, Roborock said that S7 uses "sonic vibration technology." The robot provides three scrubbing levels for this task: mild, moderate, or intense. Don't bother with mild or moderate patterns; so far, strongly provides the best results. My only complaint is that the robot can only be cleaned with water, not cleaning fluid. Roborock made it clear to avoid the use of cleaning fluids and disinfectants that "may corrode the water tank".
If you are looking for a robot that can disinfect your floors, I suggest you buy the Bissell SpinWave wet and dry mop for $399.99 or the Samsung Jetbot mop for $299.99, both of which support cleaning solutions and scrub the floor with a rotating pad.
Nevertheless, despite only mopping the floor with water, S7 did a good job. After two passes with the scrubbing level set to medium, the dirt is full of mop, and my hard floor looks and feels much cleaner. After one pass with the scrubbing level set to strong, my floor was shiny and streak-free.
In addition, its mop lifting function works perfectly on low-pile and medium-pile carpets. As soon as the S7 senses the carpet when mopping the floor, it will lift the cloth rack and continue to vacuum. When this happened, I walked behind the robot to make sure it didn't wet the carpet.
There is no problem with the automatic emptying of the trash can. After about six test runs, I checked the robot’s trash can and it was completely empty except for some dust and dog hair stuck in the filter, which means that its contents were successfully transferred to the bag every time middle.
By connecting S7 to your phone via the Roborock app, you can access many smart functions.
With its raised light detection and ranging (LiDAR) sensor, S7 can quickly map your home in its companion app. It mapped my main level after the first cleaning run.
Once it has created your floor plan map, you can merge, divide, and name various spaces for areas and custom cleaning. You can also create virtual walls and restricted areas to block certain areas, as well as areas where mopping is prohibited.
If you have an open floor plan, you may want to divide the space into different rooms. It is also helpful to merge the hallway with other rooms. In the test, I divided the open kitchen, dining room, and living space into three separate rooms, and merged the corridor and the corridor bathroom into one room. There was no problem. I tried to name each room several times, but in the end I succeeded.
The app provides comprehensive, room and area cleaning options. If you leave it as the default option, the robot will move from room to room until it covers the entire level. For targeted work, you can select a single room on the map and send the robot directly there. The area option even allows you to draw a square around the space you want the robot to clean up on the map.
Before sending the robot to clean, you can configure the vacuum power and mopping scrubbing level for the entire space or by room. When using the room or area cleaning option, you can set it up to three times.
The app also supports multi-level maps, allowing the robot to automatically identify up to four floors. While working and after completing the cleaning task, the robot will show its exact path on the map, so you can see where it is and what it has cleaned. In the app, you can also set a cleaning plan and view the history of robot cleaning operations.
In the test, S7 worked seamlessly with Alexa and Google Assistant. After connecting the assistant through their respective apps, I can use voice commands to control the robot, such as "Hey Google, tell my Roborock sweeping robot to start cleaning" and "Hey Alexa, turn off my Roborock S7".
Despite its high price, Roborock S7 provides everything you would expect from the price, including automatic trash emptying, smart functions for customized cleaning, simultaneous vacuuming and mopping, and virtual boundary support. Most importantly, its performance is as good as a floor cleaning robot for $949.98; S7 has excellent handling, long battery life and strong suction. The robot's automatic mop lifting function can scrub hard floors and vacuum carpets at once without wetting them. This is a real innovation that can clean and operate more efficiently than competitors. All these qualities have earned S7 our Hybrid Robot Editor's Choice Award.
Roborock S7 and Ecovacs Deebot Ozmo T8 AIVI shared our Editor's Choice Award in this category, and its optional automatic emptying station is priced at $1,049.98. Deebot cannot lift the mop, so it needs to run twice to mop and vacuum the carpet. However, it can also be used as a mobile indoor home security camera, allowing you to remotely view real-time video at home. Both are great options for good value for money. For a more affordable alternative, we recommend the $799.99 Ecovacs Deebot N8 Pro, which offers many of the same features as the S7, but does not last long or the navigation is not smooth.
Roborock S7 floor cleaning robot has a unique mop lifting function, which can prevent your carpet from getting wet, and at the same time, the effect of vacuuming and scrubbing is better than the competition.
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Angela is a smart home and wearable device analyst for PCMag. She previously worked as a PCMag reporter for eight years. Prior to that, she was a reporter for SC Magazine, covering hackers and computer security. She has also written for several newspapers, including the North Valley Suburbs in New Jersey, the Dominion Post in West Virginia, and the Union Town Herald in Pennsylvania. She graduated from the Perely Isaac Reed School of Journalism at West Virginia University.
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