Owners of pricier robot vacuums, especially the ones we review here at TechGadgetsInternational probably know by now that these vacuums are offering premium features for the premium price tag. Not only do they boast ultra-high suction power, but they also come with many features that help make these autonomous pucks more independent. We no longer have to rearrange our furniture for optimum vacuum performance and we don’t need to roll away our carpets when the vacuum starts mopping. What you pay for is pure cleaning power and extra smarts to ensure we trust our vacuums to do the job even when we leave the house.
The question is, which expensive vacuum should we trust more? The Roborock S8 MaxV Ultra is out with the usual spec flexing and it’s bringing AI to the conversation too. Let’s see if this offering is worth the hype.
Roborock S8 MaxV Ultra
Summary
With really high suction power, advanced object detection, and an automated dock, the S8 MaxV Ultra is Roborock’s biggest attempt to thoroughly cleaning the house while minimizing the extra effort you might have to do to finish the job.
Pros
- Compact base station
- Easy set up
- Automated cleaning
- Cleans very well
- Self-cleaning base station
- Cleaner dispenser
- Security camera
- Object avoidance
- Dirt detection
Cons
- Price
- Noise level
- Design
About the Roborock S8 MaxV Ultra
The Roborock S8 MaxV Ultra sits at the very top of the Roborock vacuum pecking order. Being part of the Roborock’s flagship S8 series, it not only possesses the full feature stack of the S8 series, but it also features the highest suction power in the family. Roborock is asking for $1,799.99 USD for that luxury which is a full $200 more than the S8 Max Ultra ranked below this one. Read on to learn more about the specific features exclusive to the “MaxV Ultra” model. For those new to Roborock’s naming scheme, that letter “V” is a meaningful distinction.
Watch my full hands-on review of Roborock S8 Max V Ultra
What’s in the Box?
Inside the large box, you get the robot vacuum itself with the VibraRise Mop Cloth, dual rollers, and spinning brush preinstalled. The charging dock comes packaged with its own components including a clean water tank, dirty water tank, cleaning solution cartridge, and disposable dust bag. The Roborock vacuum also includes a separate docking base known as the ‘8-in-1 RockDock’ which has a special ramp and power cord. Roborock provides a large quick start guide on a single paper to assist you with assembly and setting up the mobile app.
Set up
Setting up the machine is quite easy. You’ll just need to attach the ramp to the base station and situate it near a plug. Then settle the bot into the dock and let it get charged up. Once ready open the Roborock app and follow the steps to connect your bot to your home Wi-Fi. I was set up and ready in under 10 minutes.
With this bot, you’ll also want to take the extra step of filling the special cleaning fluid.
Your robot will want to go on an initial reconnaissance run of your house and it will be able to do this in just a few minutes. It uses the information from that recon, to build a detailed map of your house. Once the map is populated, you can use it to schedule cleanings, or initiate room specific cleanups.
The technology:
V is for Vision (and Vigorous too!)
Since the introduction of the Roborock S6 MaxV, Roborock reserved their most advanced obstacle avoidance technologies for the MaxV models and the S8 MaxV continues that tradition.
RGB Camera
With a built-in RGB camera, the Roborock S8 MaxV can essentially ‘see’ objects which is something that existing LiDAR Navigation technology cannot do on its own.
The camera + LIDAR combo forms the basis of Roborock’s Reactive AI 2.0 Obstacle Recognition technology and this helps the vacuum navigate around floor obstacles including objects as small as 3cm tall and 5cm wide. This feature is the same as its predecessor, the S7 MaxV Ultra and it houses the same chip and camera.
The Roborock S8 MaxV doesn’t just use the camera for object recognition either. The second use for the camera is as a security rover.
Using the Roborock app, you can remotely connect to the vacuum and get a real-time feed of the camera’s vision. The interface is pretty cool as you can see a mini map of the house as well as some on-screen buttons for manually controlling the vacuum. You can set what are called target points around the house and simply have the robot rove around from point to point so you can see what’s going on. It also has a pet locator where it will look around the house for your furry pals, and even an audio button so you can talk to your pets too.
The camera feed is very good, and the interface to use it is incredibly easy.
Using the robot as a mobile camera does require you enabling it inside the app and with a physical button press sequence on the device. Once you’ve enabled it anytime the camera is activated through the app, the robot will announce “remote viewing is activated”. That way you’ll always know if someone is taking a look.
The third thing the camera helps with is Dirt detection.
Roborock S8 MaxV Ultra can use what’s called its DirTect technology to dynamically alter its suction power depending on the dirt or dust detected by the bot. Plus, while mopping the mop and brush will automatically lift when it detects carpets to help prevent soaking or dirtying them.
Improved HyperForce Suction
Roborock S8 MaxV Ultra breaks new ground as the company’s first vacuum to hit a 10,000pa worth of suction power which is nearly twice as powerful as its predecessor. That doesn’t mean the vacuum will always operate this way as flexing its muscles requires using the battery-draining Max+ mode, but it will help make short work of those heavy pile messes on thick carpets.
Finally, the S8 MaxV Ultra has a built-in voice assistant. That may not sound very groundbreaking since you can issue voice commands to other vacuums, but this feature does not require a smart home device or even an Internet connection. The vacuum will recognize “Hello Rocky” as the trigger and you can tell it to do basic things like starting and pausing cleaning, mopping, and dust emptying.
Other Roborock S8 Improvements
Like other Roborock S8 variants, the S8 MaxV UItra gets some design improvements to back the suction upgrade. This includes a DuoRoller Riser Brush that minimizes the hassle of hair tangling around the roller, as well as a FlexiArm Side Brush to help pull dirt and debris found on tougher spots like corners and under furniture. Broader coverage extends to the mopping capabilities of the S8 too thanks to the spinning small circular mop pad on the side of the vacuum.
The “Ultra” Factor
The “Ultra” portion of the name mainly points to the various automation extras the S8 MaxV Ultra possesses. The dock can hold up to 580ml worth of detergent which automatically dispenses to the vacuum for mopping.
Cleaning tests
Let’s get to the cleaning power… I run all my robot floor cleaners through the same tests.
I will run it around the house for a week or two just to see how it does with day-to-day cleaning. Then I put it through a series of more vigourous tests. I spill dry things like cornmeal, rice and cracker crumbs on both carpet and hard floors. For the mop, I will create wet spills on the floor like coffee and soy sauce, and let some dry to test the mop’s scouring power.
With S8 Max V Ultra, I was really happy with the day to day cleaning it did. It was noticeable to me that the bot had been through the house after each outing. It was great at getting all the pet fur tumbleweeds and even mopping up coffee dribbles and spills.
Let’s see how it handles the dedicated cleaning tests…
On dry spills, it was beyond impressive. It was able to suck up almost everything in its path. It has an interesting way of moving that almost makes it look like it is seeing its way around. It targeted everything from cracker crumbs on the floor, to powering fine cornmeal from a rug. I’d say during my tests it got about 99 to 100% of all debris off the floor.
On to the mopping, and again I am impressed but not surprised at how good a job it’s able to do. On coffee or soy sauce it was able to wipe up everything often in a single pass.
I even created a special, large dried coffee spill on the floor and used a hairdryer to bake it on. I wasn’t sure the robot would be able to completely deal with this one…yet to my surprise I found it was able to scrub off most of the dried on coffee after just one pass, and then when it came around to finish it’s cleaning route it got most of the rest. It really only left behind a small mark, so I’d say when it comes to more thoroughly dried on spills it can get you about 95% of the way clean.
Self Cleaning and Drying
Once the vacuum finishes its run, the dock will automatically return to its base and empty the bot’s onboard dustbin into a sealed bag inside the base station. From my experience with Roborock’s flagship bots, the bag should hold several months worth of debris. Then the RockDock will wash the mop with warm water and cleaning solution, and dry the mop with warm air. While the auto emptying and washing process is loud, the drying is virtually silent.
When the dirty water tank fills up you can just pour it away. The device will let you know when it’s time to either empty or refill your tanks.
Overall Thoughts: Roborock S8 MaxV Ultra
If you’re questioning the steep asking price of robot floor cleaners, you’re not alone, but these bots have reached a new level of sophistication and all-in-one autonomy that means you can have clean floors without the work.
The whole idea of a flagship vacuum like the S8 MaxV Ultra is to tip the odds in your favor. With really high suction power, advanced object detection, and an automated dock, the S8 MaxV Ultra is Roborock’s biggest attempt to thoroughly cleaning the house while minimizing the extra effort you might have to do to finish the job. If you don’t think those extra features are worthy of the price tag, Roborock has lower-end models that still manage to keep the core features intact.
Let’s go over the pros and the cons
On the pro side, I like the simple design that’s relatively compact and unobtrusive. Roborock bots are easy to set up even for novices. The scheduling and room-specific cleaning features are no-brainers in a bot, but handy. The bot cleans really well, both when vacuuming and mopping.
With a self-cleaning and emptying base station, there’s almost no maintenance from you; just swapping out the dustbag every few months and tending to the clean and dirty water tanks when needed. And the option of using the cleaner dispenser gives you added cleaning power.
With the super-easy roving security cam option and the cameras also being used for dirt and object detection, this is pretty advanced technology.
So what are the downsides?
Typically the biggest complaints people have about robot vacuums like this revolve around the price, noise level, and the design. We’ve already talked about getting what you pay for with pretty advanced technology. If the noise is an issue, you can use the Roborock app to adjust how often it happens, or to keep that feature to only certain times of day, and if you’re looking for something a little more design forward, I guess the only recommendation here would be to place it in a lesser used room of the house.
I don’t find that any of these potential downsides distract from what a thoroughly smart, capable, and effective robot floor cleaner the Roborock S8 Max V Ultra is.
I think if you want the best of floor cleaning technology, this is a great option and I can definitely recommend it to you.
Roborock S8 Max V Ultra sells for about $1799USD/$2599CAD and you can get it from Roborock or Amazon. And if you’re looking for something a little more budget friendly or perhaps with fewer bells and whistles, I’ve reviewed many Roborock floor bots. Check out a couple of those reviews.
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