Roborock S8 Max Ultra: Same flagship, but cheaper! Differences from the Roborock S8 MaxV Ultra.

The new Roborock S8 Max Ultra robot vacuum cleaner is a slightly simplified version of the flagship S8 MaxV Ultra. While its power and features have been slightly trimmed, the price has dropped to $1,300 instead of the MaxV's $1,400-$1,600. But don't underestimate it! This little guy still features a powerful cleaning module and an all-in-one cleaning station. It has a retractable side brush, two silicone turbo brushes, a vibrating cleaning pad with a lifting function for carpets, and an additional rotating cleaning pad for deep cleaning near baseboards and furniture. And that's not all! The Roborock S8 Max Ultra features self-cleaning, washes its cleaning pads with hot water, dries them with warm air, and automatically adds detergent during washing. I thoroughly tested the Roborock S8 Max Ultra, highlighted its pros and cons, and am now ready to share my impressions. So, let's get started!

Equipment

The robot vacuum cleaner arrived in a branded box like this:

In addition to the robot and station, the delivery kit includes a power adapter, a spare bag for the station, and documentation for the robot.

Standard equipment. Let's move on!

Appearance

Now let's take a look at the Roborock S8 Max Ultra's design. Let's start with the robot vacuum itself. It's round and comes in white and black.

A wall sensor is installed on the right. A sensor system for recognizing and accurately avoiding obstacles on the floor is located in the center.

The technology is called Reactive 3D Obstacle Avoidance, just like the S8 Pro Ultra. It's worth noting that this model doesn't have an active camera. This means remote tracking via a smartphone isn't supported.

Lidar-based navigation features a spring-loaded cover to prevent the robot from getting stuck under furniture. The control panel features three mechanical buttons.

The dust container is located under the top lid. It's compact, holding up to 270 ml of dry waste. The manufacturer allows you to rinse the container and filter with water. The filtration system uses a HEPA filter only.

This robot's water tank is non-removable. It's hidden inside the body and holds up to 100 ml of water. Water is pumped in automatically through the station.

The robot is equipped with six fall protection sensors on its underside. A carpet detection sensor is located next to the swivel roller. It has a single side brush, a three-beam design, secured with a screw.

This brush automatically extends to completely sweep debris out of corners, solving the problem faced by virtually all round robot vacuums. This technology is called FlexiArm Design.

The central brush unit is floating, which is a plus. The idea of ​​two turbo brushes isn't new, but Roborock engineers gave the technology a unique name in the S8 line: DuoRoller. In the Roborock S8 Max Ultra, the technology is called DuoRoller Riser. This is because the two turbo brushes can automatically rise when the robot returns to the cleaning station and when mopping. Both brushes can be removed from both sides to remove tangled hair and pet hair. Very convenient.

Regarding wet cleaning, this model's cloth holder is non-removable, which isn't very convenient. The cloth is held in place with Velcro and a groove. The platform has two movable modules instead of one. The cloth also has two separate sections. The cloth oscillates at up to 4,000 strokes per minute.

In addition to the main cleaning cloth, we see an additional round one located behind the wheel at the edge. It's used for cleaning dirt right up to baseboards and furniture. It's an alternative to the retractable cleaning cloth holder found on the Roborock Qrevo MaxV and flagship models from direct competitors Dreame, Ecovacs, and even Xiaomi. The round cleaning cloth rotates at up to 185 rpm.

It's important to note that the main and additional cleaning pads automatically lift when entering carpets, in dry cleaning mode, when returning to the station after cleaning, and when the robot exits the station to clean a selected area. The pads lift a record-breaking 20 mm. The updated cleaning module design is called VibraRise 3.0.

Speaking of the docking station, the Roborock S8 Max Ultra can automatically self-clean, refill with clean water, automatically add detergent during washing, wash the cloth with hot water, and dry it with warm air, increasing the robot vacuum's overall battery life. The docking station also automatically detects the soil level of the cloths, allowing for re-washing or cleaning particularly dirty areas.

The main cloth at the station is cleaned with a special roller. The base's bottom is self-cleaning with scrapers, which is very convenient. The additional cloth is cleaned in a separate area.

The robot's entry ramp is removable. The coarse filter for the additional cleaning cloth is also removable. A coarse filter for cleaning the water after washing the cleaning cloths is also included. The roller is removable and should be periodically cleaned of hair, fur, and other debris.

In the center of the station there is an easily removable lid, behind which is a garbage bag and a 580 ml detergent reservoir.

At the top there are tanks for clean and dirty water, with a capacity of 4 and 3.5 liters, respectively.

Regarding connection to the sewer and water supply, it appears that this station cannot be connected to utilities. However, the official website states that the Roborock S8 Max Ultra will also be sold with a separate, more compact station for connecting to water and drainage. Whether this version will be commercially available remains to be seen.

Overall, we see that a number of improvements have been made that have increased the robot's efficiency and autonomy. We'll test how everything works in real life.

Technical specifications

The main characteristics of the Roborock S8 Max Ultra, as stated by the manufacturer:

Robot vacuum cleaner:

• Li-Ion battery 5200 mAh.
• Suction power up to 8000 Pa.
• Operating time up to 180 min.
• Cleaning area up to 300 sq.m.
• Dust collector 270 ml.
• Water tank 100 ml.
• Obstacle clearance up to 20 mm.
• Robot dimensions: 353*97 mm.

Station:

• Clean water tank: 4 l.
• Dirty water tank: 3.5 l.
• Bag in the station: 2.7 l.
• Detergent tank: 580 ml.
• Station dimensions (L*W*H): 419*409*470 mm.

Here it is important to pay attention to the declared high suction power, which will definitely be verified in tests.

Functional capabilities

Let's move on to an overview of the Roborock S8 Max Ultra's features. The robot vacuum is controlled via the proprietary Roborock mobile app. Connecting to the network is straightforward; follow the manufacturer's instructions. My version is the global version, so the app interface is in Russian, but there are no voice prompts. English and other languages ​​are available. To ensure the robot vacuum speaks Russian, you need to order the localized version. This is important to keep in mind.

The main functions of the robot vacuum cleaner. I've highlighted the new features in color:

• Side brush extension in corners.
• Wash napkins with hot water (60 °C).
• Drying napkins with warm air (60 °C).
• Automatic mixing of detergent.
• Self-cleaning of the dust collector at the station.
• Refilling the tank in the robot through the station.
• Recognizing objects on the floor.
• Saving multiple cleaning maps in memory.
• 3D map of the room.
• Automatic zoning of premises into rooms.
• Selecting areas and rooms for cleaning.
• Virtual walls and no-go zones (and for wet cleaning mode).
• Suction power adjustment.
• Adjusting the degree of wetting of the napkin.
• Intensive wet cleaning mode.
• User mode.
• Setting the frequency of washing napkins.
• SmartPlan smart cleaning planning.
• Cleaning log.
• Setting up cleaning according to a schedule.
• Automatic power increase on carpet.
• Carpet cleaning in wet cleaning mode.
• Lifting napkins when driving onto carpets.
• Raising the central brushes in floor washing mode and when returning to the station.
• Yandex.Alice support.

As you can see, there are quite a few features, allowing you to flexibly customize cleaning parameters to your individual needs. That's a plus! They've also implemented an intelligent cleaning parameter detection mode, called SmartPlan. The proprietary "Hello, Rocky!" voice assistant is not supported in the Max Ultra. This is one of the differences from the older S8 MaxV Ultra.

Testing

A detailed video review with all tests has already been prepared and published on the channel:

Navigation

And finally, let's move on to the tests! First, we'll test the Roborock S8 Max Ultra's navigation in a room with obstacles. When entering a room, the robot vacuum first navigates the perimeter, then cleans the entire accessible area in a serpentine pattern. It recognized the legs of a clothes dryer and carefully navigated around this trap. The robot was also able to navigate around all four chair legs and a box, before returning to its base.

Speaking of navigation within the home, the Roborock S8 Max Ultra cleans room by room, first along the perimeter, then in a serpentine pattern. Every 15 minutes, as specified in the settings, the robot vacuum returns to the station and washes the cleaning pads, then returns to clean where it left off. It's a clever design that the robot picks up not only the cleaning pad but also the central brushes when returning to the station and back to the cleaning point. This is a plus. There are no uncleaned areas, the cleaning speed is high, and this model's navigation is excellent!

Obstacle recognition and avoidance

We'll also test the floor object recognition system separately. For this purpose, we placed various household items around the room that could interfere with the cleaning process and even block the robot's brushes, causing it to malfunction.

In good lighting, the Roborock S8 Max Ultra was able to recognize and accurately navigate around five of six objects. It also drove over a simulated pet trap, later accurately recognizing and mapping the trap. So, we see that the artificial intelligence in the Roborock S8 Max Ultra accurately identifies what's on the floor.

Even in complete darkness, he was able to recognize five of the six objects and carefully navigate around them. This time, he slightly missed a toe and again drove over the pet's surprise.

So, I can say that the obstacle recognition system is well implemented in this model, but it still needs some improvement. Since it's artificial intelligence, it's possible that the robot will become smarter with each new cleaning session through self-learning.

Suction power

The Roborock S8 Max Ultra's suction power is questionable. Despite the higher figures, the robot was able to suck up debris from crevices as deep as 2 and 4 mm. The result is the same as the flagship S8 MaxV Ultra with 10,000 Pascals. It's worth noting that in real life, it's slightly more powerful. Roborock S8, S8 Plus and the S8 Pro Ultra, which were previously reviewed. They, in turn, were only able to suck out debris from a 2 mm gap.

As I mentioned in my S8 series reviews, it's likely due to the brushes and aerodynamics. Somewhere in the design, something was overlooked, and as a result, suction power is lost.

Dry cleaning

The collection performance of various types of debris on laminate floors is good, but there's a caveat. Some debris still remains in the corners, even after two sweeps. This is clearly a problem with the algorithm of the retractable side brush, as with the Roborock S8 MaxV Ultra. The robot needs to linger longer in the corner, and the brush itself needs to extend into the corner exactly when the robot stops. As it is, it flies out at the entrance, leaving a small amount of debris near the corner, and the robot quickly leaves the area before it can effectively sweep everything. Overall, the idea is good, but the implementation is still rough. But I'm sure this issue will be fixed soon.

It's important to note that the silicone central brushes didn't get tangled with hair. That's a plus! All debris is collected in the dust container.

Carpet cleaning

But silicone turbo brushes have their drawbacks. For example, they don't clean carpets as well, even with high suction power. While the Roborock S8 Max Ultra can thoroughly clean low-pile carpets, medium-pile carpets can become stuck with debris that the robot vacuum can't reach.

Self-cleaning

Immediately after the "dirty tests," I'll check how well the Roborock S8 Max Ultra self-cleans. We see that the dust bin is completely full. We return the robot to the station and start self-cleaning. The result is excellent. The dust bin is completely empty, the test is a success!

Wet cleaning and carpets

When it comes to wet cleaning on carpeted floors, the robot offers several different modes of interaction. It can carefully navigate around the carpet during wet cleaning, or it can enter and touch the carpet with its cleaning pad if you want to clean it with the robot. It can also clean carpets during wet cleaning, automatically lifting the cleaning pads when entering the carpet.

Wet cleaning

The cleaning performance is also excellent. The cloth adheres well to the floor and absorbs dirt. Moreover, thanks to the station, the robot vacuum cleaner first wiped away the dirt, then rinsed the cloth, and then wiped the floor again, removing all streaks and leaving the floor clean—the main advantage of such stations.

Removing difficult stains

The Roborock S8 Max Ultra does a good job of removing tough stains like dried-on coffee and sauce stains from the floor, albeit with difficulty. It manages to remove tough stains with just a few trips to the cleaning station. To be precise, it took the robot 11 passes to completely remove the stains. Consequently, the vibration module does improve the cleaning performance, albeit slightly.

Blind spot

As for the blind zone between the edge of the case and the baseboard or furniture, it is absent thanks to an additional round cloth that washes right up to the edge.

Washing quality of napkins

I'd like to immediately talk about the effectiveness of the station itself. Let's start with the cleaning quality of the wipes. Even after extensive testing, the wipes look significantly better after washing at the station. The water heating function and automatic detergent mixing undoubtedly improve the cleaning efficiency. In everyday use, after washing the floor, the wipes are thoroughly rinsed at the station. We can see that the water pressure doesn't wash anything out of the wipes. The water is clean.

A few words about the wipe's drying process—it's really effective. After 4 hours, the wipe is completely dry. That's a plus!

Station maintenance

Maintaining the station is also easy. The drain is easily removed for cleaning in the sink, the coarse filter for the main and additional cloths is rinsed with water, and the tray underneath is also wiped with a cloth if needed. The tray under the roller itself is wiped clean of accumulated dirt. Ideally, the inner tray would be completely removable, but maintenance is not too difficult as is.

Obstacle clearance

The Roborock S8 Max Ultra has good maneuverability. It can climb over 2 cm thresholds. That's a plus!

Driving on black surfaces

Driving over black carpets is no problem. The robot glides over the black carpet as if nothing had happened.

Noise level

As for the noise level, it ranges from 57 to 69.5 dB, depending on the selected operating mode. This is an average figure.

Personal opinion

The Roborock S8 Max Ultra robot vacuum cleaner has been thoroughly reviewed and tested. our evaluation system he managed to gain 202 pointsExactly the same amount as I scored. Roborock Qrevo MaxVBoth entered the top ten in overall ranking of tested robotic vacuum cleaners at the time of writing this review. And it currently has over 160 robots. For comparison, the older one S8 MaxV Ultra It scored 212 points and placed fourth. I'll highlight the pros and cons of this robot vacuum cleaner, and then share my opinion.

I liked the following:

1. A state-of-the-art station for 2024 self-cleaning of the dust bin, washing and drying of wipes, and automatic detergent mixing. It effectively accomplishes all its tasks.
2. An accurate object recognition system that does not go blind in the dark.
3. Two silicone turbo brushes for collecting debris, which are very easy to clean from hair and fur.
4. Improved lifting of wipers when driving onto carpets.
5. Raising the central brushes in floor washing mode.
6. Wash the floor right up to the baseboard thanks to an additional cloth at the edge.
7. A retractable side brush, which, with the refinement of the algorithm, completely solves the problem of sweeping out debris in corners.
8. High-quality dry and wet cleaning.
9. Capable of removing even the most difficult stains.
10. A large number of functions in the application.
11. The robot vacuum cleaner is not afraid of black surfaces.
12. Good cross-country ability.
13. High-quality assembly and high brand authority.
14. Availability of a full warranty and service support.

As for the shortcomings, I would like to highlight the following comments:

1. The version of the station that was received for review cannot be connected to the sewer and water supply.
2. The algorithm for sweeping out trash in corners needs some improvement.
3. The claimed suction power was not confirmed in real-world tests.
4. There is no active camera for remote home monitoring.
5. The system for identifying objects still requires some improvement.
6. The robot's dust collector has a small capacity.

The main ones are still the first three, and the most significant, in my opinion, is the crude implementation of the side brush function. This is one of the main features of the new product. I really hope that this situation will be corrected soon. The lack of an active camera may, for many, be considered an advantage of the robot, as there is always the possibility of surveillance, which some users fear so much. In any case, the Roborock S8 Max Ultra has become even more efficient, more autonomous, and even slightly more powerful, compared to the previously released one. Roborock S8 Pro UltraCompared to the larger S8 MaxV Ultra, the main difference is that the simplified model lacks an active camera, a low-light camera, and control via the proprietary "Hello, Rocky!" assistant. It's also slightly less powerful. But the price is lower. It all depends on what's most important to you. Therefore, this robot vacuum cleaner is definitely worth considering.

On that note, I'd like to end this review. If you have any questions, please ask them in the comments. Happy shopping, everyone. Bye!