Skip to main content
Customer Review
Reviewed in the United States on February 22, 2023
I hate vacuuming. Always have. Unfortunately, in the division of chores in our house, it became my responsibility. So a few years back I got a robot vacuum for xmas, but it was a cheaper one, and it was kinda "meh." Can't remember the brand. It did inspire me to buy a Roborock S4, though, which I loved. Unfortunately, after one too many of my son's charging cords got run over, my S4 finally died around Thanksgiving 2022. Technically, I could have bought replacement parts, but whatever. This was my excuse to upgrade. I did my homework (thank you Vacuum Wars) and opted to stay with the Roborock brand. The S7 Vmax Ultra is way better than I could have hoped! I love the Roborock app. It's easy to use, including setup. I really liked the quick mapping feature on the S7. It allowed me to map the house and set up the rooms and barriers/no-go zones quickly. I thought the automatic division of rooms was so-so, I think I ended up redividing them all manually. With the S7, I am using the scheduling feature to ensure that it runs regularly, as opposed to manually starting the cleaning like I did with the S4. I did not think I'd like the automatic dustbin emptying as much as I do. With my S4, it always felt good seeing the amount of dirt collected when I ran it. However, as my wife pointed out, that always led to a dust cloud on top of the trash can when you threw anything else away, which we don't have now since the S7 dust is all contained in a disposable bag. I did a few unofficial tests with the mop on my kitchen floor. My overall impression is that it is a pretty decent mop. I used to Swiffer it like once a month or so, but now I just let my Roborock do the job on Saturdays while we are out of the house. So that was an unexpected win! We are actually going to remove the carpet in most of the downstairs next year (right now my dining room is carpeted...terrible choice if you ask me), so having the mop for our new flooring will turn out to be really nice. One unexpected byproduct of owning a robot vacuum is it's helped train our son to pick up his toys. When we got the S4, he was fascinated by it, so it was easy to tell him, "Pick up your toys so we can run Rob!" After a while it became a habit which has more or less stuck, although I usually do a visual sweep of the house before I leave for work on the days our S7 runs just to be sure. I guess that's a possible drawback of the bag system, there's no finding any little toys or whatever that get vacuumed up. Luckily, he's old enough now that it's not really an issue. So I guess I've prattled on long enough about all the stuff I love about this machine, so it's time do discuss the negatives, as there are a few. Number one is with the auto scheduling feature, it is lacking in a "skip the next scheduled cleaning" button. Recently my wife was home sick for a day, and I had to go in and manually remove Tuesday from the list of days it was scheduled to run as I didn't want to disturb her if she was asleep on the couch. The automatic dustbin emptying feature is LOUD for like 30 seconds. Not really a complaint, just was unexpected. So a "skip cleaning" button would be nice. Next, while the bag system has it's merits, I really do hate buying something just to throw it away. Having a dumpable bin would be a nice option. Also, it would let you see if anything of value was sucked up. I haven't bought any bags (or other replacement parts) yet, but I'm guessing they aren't super cheap. Next, the obstacle avoidance feature is supposed to identify and avoid stuff left on the floor, but I'm unimpressed. I did a test, and it ran smack into a pair of slippers as well as a belt lying in the middle of the room. Also, it wrapped up a charger cord that had fallen off the table. No damage done, but it did stop the vacuuming that day. Pretty small complaint list, if you ask me. This machine is pricey, don't get me wrong. I did save like $400 by getting a black friday deal, but it's still a lot of money for a vacuum. However, the benefits are very much worth the cost if you can swing it. Our house is so much cleaner than it has ever been. When the morning sun shone in the windows, you used to just SEE the dust floating in the air. That is no longer the case, or at least not nearly as bad. Our allergies are not nearly as bothered as they used to be. Once it's set up, you can mostly forget about it. One improvement I forgot to mention is that I like the brush better on the S7 than the one on the S4. It doesn't have bristles, just rubber fins that seem to do just as good of a job without constantly needing the lint cleaned out of them. My wife has long hair, so be aware that you will still need to clean that off of the brush regularly. I do it once a week using a seam ripper I purchased from a fabric store, as the S7 does not include one like the S4 did. So if you are still reading, thanks! I've really enjoyed writing this review. I can't say enough good things about this machine. While it is not perfect, it has taken a chore that I absolutely hated and never did frequently enough and turned it into a job that takes like 10 minutes of effort a week, and minimal effort at that. For anyone wondering, I've been using my S7 for 3 months as of now. Our downstairs is approximately 900 square feet, with about 2/3 of that being carpet. The remainder is a mix of tile and LVT. It has a multi-level function which I used on the S4, but haven't set up yet on this one. Eventually I will do the upstairs and basement as well since it can store multiple maps for different levels of the house. I run the vacuum 3 days during the week and a vacuum/mop cycle once on the weekend. Sometimes I run it more just cause I can. I like to tell people "I think I'm going to vacuum my house now" while we're out doing something, and then show them the app and start a cycle. I know, I'm a nerd. But my house is clean!
