Roborock S7 MaxV: A SUPERHERO in the world of robot vacuum cleaners

Roborock S7 MaxV is a new product that, in terms of its functionality and design solutions, can rightfully be considered one of the The best robot vacuum cleaners of 2022In short, the robot is equipped with a state-of-the-art navigation system based on lidar and an active camera with computer vision. The cleaning module allows the robot to simultaneously vacuum and mop floors, leaving carpets dry and clean, as the cleaning pad platform automatically rises when entering carpets. Another key feature is the optional self-cleaning station and automatic cleaning pad rinse. The Ultra version of the robot vacuum cleaner becomes a fully-fledged automated cleaning machine. So, to avoid overwhelming you with too much information and to objectively evaluate the robot in both the standard and full configurations, I've decided to review the Roborock S7 MaxV separately and the Roborock S7 MaxV Ultra separately, as the option is quite expensive. For comparison, the official website of Lamobile, the brand's representative who provided the review sample, lists the price of the robot with a standard charging base at the time of writing at $600, or about $1,000. The Ultra version, however, will cost $1,000, or about $1,600. Let's first consider how great this robot vacuum is, and then I'll test the charging base separately and express my opinion in just a few issues. So, let's get started!

Equipment

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

The delivery kit is minimal and includes a charging base, power adapter, and documentation for the robot. The global version includes instructions in English.

Appearance

Now let's take a look at the Roborock S7 MaxV's design. It's round and black with red accents. The matte finish is stain-resistant and very high-quality, as is the build itself.

The front bumper is equipped with a system of sensors and cameras to detect and accurately avoid objects on the floor. Importantly, an LED light located under the camera helps detect objects even in complete darkness, which will be verified during testing.

On either side of the camera are terminals for charging the vacuum cleaner on the Ultra Station. There's also a wall sensor on the right side of the bumper. The height of the body is 97 mm from the floor.

The body features three mechanical control buttons: start/pause, forced return to the charging base, and local cleaning mode. The lidar is equipped with a spring-loaded cover to prevent the robot from getting stuck under furniture.

The 400 ml dust container is located under the top lid and is washable with water. The filtration system is entirely HEPA-based. A ventilation window with a self-cleaning curtain is located on the side of the container. When purchasing the self-cleaning station, it is important to remove the cover underneath the container from the body, allowing the robot to self-clean.

The 200 ml water tank is located at the rear. A mesh filter is installed inside to coarsely filter the liquid being poured in. The tank has an additional filling port for refilling from the station. This is a major advantage compared to similar robots.

Let's take a look at the robot's underside. It's equipped with six fall protection sensors. Next to the swivel caster is an ultrasonic carpet detection sensor and charging terminals for the robot on a standard base.

There's one side brush: a five-point silicone brush attached with a screw. The central brush is silicone and can be easily removed from both sides for cleaning tangled hair and pet hair. The central brush unit is floating, which is a plus.

The cloth is attached to the platform using Velcro and a groove. The center of the cloth contains a movable module, which, according to the manufacturer, moves at a rate of up to 3,000 times per minute.

It's also important to note that the platform with the cleaning cloth automatically rises when entering carpets, pausing the cleaning process, and returning to the charging base. This technology is called VibraRise and was first introduced in the model Roborock S7, which was also under review.

The robot's design is impressive. It's a great upgrade and a fusion of solutions into a single model. Roborock S7 and S6 MaxV, between which many found it difficult to choose the best option for their own conditions.

Technical specifications

The main characteristics of the Roborock S7 MaxV, as stated by the manufacturer:

• Li-Ion battery 5200 mAh.
• Suction power up to 5100 Pa.
• Operating time up to 180 min.
• Cleaning area up to 300 sq.m.
• Dust collector capacity is 400 ml.
• The water tank capacity is 200 ml.
• Obstacle clearance up to 20 mm.
• Dimensions: 350*97 mm.

The only change in the characteristics is the suction power, which has been almost doubled, which will be verified in tests.

Functional capabilities

Let's take a look at the Roborock S7 MaxV's features. The robot vacuum is controlled via the proprietary Roborock app. Installation and connection are straightforward; just follow the manufacturer's instructions.

On the main control panel, the robot creates a room map and automatically divides it into rooms. Below the map are three main operating modes: automatic cleaning of the entire available area, and room and zone selection. When selecting rooms and zones, you can schedule one to three passes of the area to be cleaned.

To the right is the section for adjusting cleaning parameters. General power and water flow rate adjustments are available. In this mode, the robot vacuums and mops simultaneously. You can also run it for wet cleaning only, without suction. In this mode, you can even set an intensive cleaning pattern, and the robot appears to move in a tighter, more serpentine pattern. Alternatively, you can run the robot in dry cleaning mode only, where you can also adjust suction power or select a super powerful mode. You can also customize cleaning parameters for each room individually. That's a plus!

Just above the map, to the right, are a number of other settings. The topmost one is for map information. Here, you can turn on and off additional information, rotate the map, and even enable a 3D map. You can also set virtual walls and no-go zones on the map, including separate no-go zones for wet cleaning mode.

The map editor offers additional features, such as manual editing of room boundaries, the ability to place furniture on the map, change flooring, and customize room cleaning procedures. All of this allows for more flexible cleaning settings.

A separate section is dedicated to remote home monitoring from your smartphone via the robot's camera. Here, you can select a point on the map where the Roborock S7 MaxV should go to display images of that area. Manual control is also available in remote monitoring mode. You can choose the image quality and even enable voice messages through the robot's speaker. Just in case you want to attract your pet's attention. Overall, I think this option is very interesting.

In the settings section, the first option is to select multi-floor map saving mode. The Roborock S7 MaxV supports storing multiple unique maps in its memory. It's also important to note that it can automatically recognize the desired floor, which is a plus!

The scheduled cleaning settings allow you to select the time, days of the week, cleaning mode, and even the desired rooms if needed.

When setting up the object detection system on the floor, you can disable it if necessary and configure it flexibly, including enabling the function of saving photos of recognized objects, indicating the presence of pets to the robot, and turning off the detection zone illumination at night.

When setting up carpet cleaning, there's a feature that automatically increases suction power when entering carpets and customizes the robot's behavior when detecting carpets. I'll stop here and explain everything in detail.

In Auto Carpet mode, the Roborock S7 MaxV automatically lifts the cleaning cloth in the carpet area. The robot first detects the carpet's boundaries, then cleans the carpet with the cleaning cloth raised, and then cleans the remaining available area. In "Carpet Avoidance" mode, the robot carefully navigates around carpets. In "Carpet Vibration" mode, the Roborock S7 MaxV moves across the carpet with the cleaning cloth lowered in a standard zigzag pattern.

Speaking of voice notifications, you can adjust the volume and select a language pack. Unfortunately, Russian is not available in the global version.

You can also disable the video streaming function and change the password for entering the remote monitoring mode.

In the robot's settings, you can turn off the indicator light, enable the child lock, set a time when the robot vacuum cleaner should not disturb you, and enable smart charging.

You can also specify a spot on the map for local cleaning and enable a rather strange but amusing mode called Cupid. In this mode, the robot searches for other robots, and if it detects one, it approaches and gently kisses its fellow robots. This entire process is accompanied by a romantic melody played by the robot. Roborock S7 MaxV engineers, why? 🙂

Additionally, there's a manual robot control mode, a cleaning log, a section for tracking consumables, and the ability to grant access to other users. Voice control via Yandex.Alice is also supported.

Overall, the robot's functionality is the most comprehensive available today, and it offers a wide range of adjustments for flexible cleaning parameters. That's a plus!

Testing

A detailed video review of the Roborock S7 MaxV, including all tests, has already been prepared and published on the channel:

Navigation

Finally, let's move on to the tests. First, we'll test the Roborock S7 MaxV's navigation in a room with obstacles. When entering the 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. Test successful!

Speaking of navigation within the home, the Roborock S7 MaxV cleans room by room, first along the perimeter, then in a serpentine pattern. There are no uncleaned areas, the cleaning speed is high, and this model has excellent navigation!

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.

The Roborock S7 MaxV was able to safely navigate around all obstacles, including a simulated pet feces trap, displaying the trap with a corresponding icon on the map. It did slightly snag a stuffed animal, but it wasn't a major issue.

It's important to note that it actually recognizes objects with high accuracy. That's a plus!

The object recognition system was also tested in complete darkness. While the robot was able to recognize objects, its accuracy was somewhat compromised. It identified most of the objects, even imitation feces, but then the trap was lost and it drove into it during one of the driveways.

Overall, I still think the system is effective and very accurate. At the very least, artificial intelligence gives hope that it can self-improvement and the system will become even smarter.

However, the Roborock S7 MaxV doesn't recognize puddles and drives through them, so in areas where puddles can accumulate, such as in the bathroom, I recommend setting the floor mopping mode to "no suction" to prevent the robot from malfunctioning when sucking up liquids.

Suction power

The Roborock S7 MaxV's suction power is actually very strong. It was able to suck up debris from a 10 mm-deep crevice, just like the smaller Roborock S7. I didn't notice any significant difference in power based on my test results or overall cleaning experience. But in any case, this is a truly powerful robot vacuum!

Dry cleaning of laminate flooring

The collection quality of various types of debris on laminate floors is good. Only a little debris remains in corners, where round robotic vacuums can't reach. All debris is collected in the dust bin. It's important to note that the central brush doesn't get tangled in hair. It's wrapped around the sides under the caps, and the hair is easily removed from the brush. That's a plus!

Cleaning the carpet

The Roborock S7 MaxV also does a good job of cleaning carpets. It's worth noting that the silicone side brush can twist on medium-pile carpets, and the silicone center brush is still slightly inferior to a conventional bristle-petal brush in terms of picking up debris on carpets. However, the cleaning performance is still high for a home environment.

Wet cleaning

The cleaning performance is also excellent. The cloth presses firmly to the floor and absorbs dirt. All that's left is a narrow, unwashed area along the baseboard, a weak point of all the robot vacuums reviewed. It's worth noting that the Ultra Station delivers maximum wet cleaning performance. This allows the robot to rinse the cloth during cleaning, removing streaks and dirt.

Looking ahead, I'd like to point out that the robot is also capable of removing difficult, dried-in stains in the same manner, but only in conjunction with a special station, which will be demonstrated in more detail in a separate review.

Obstacle clearance

The Roborock S7 MaxV has excellent maneuverability. It can navigate even 2 cm thresholds while still lifting a napkin. That's a plus!

Driving on dark surfaces

However, the Roborock S7 MaxV still struggles with deep black surfaces, detecting them based on elevation changes. Unfortunately, the issue remains unresolved, and the brand is aware of it and posts information about it on its website.

Noise level

Finally, we measured the Roborock S7 MaxV's noise level in different modes. At minimum power, the noise level is between 60-61 dB. At medium power, it rises to 63-64 dB. In Turbo mode, the noise level is around 66-67 dB, and at maximum power, the peak noise level was 75.1 dB.

I can say that the noise level in the first three modes is quiet, given the increased real power. And again, due to the high power, the noise level is naturally higher at maximum power. So, I have no complaints.

Personal opinion

The Roborock S7 MaxV has been thoroughly reviewed and tested. our evaluation system he managed to gain 151 pointsAnd this is with a regular charging base, mind you. Definitely one of the best robots without a dock.

I'll share my personal opinion about the robot. I liked the following:

1. Excellent navigation.
2. Very accurate system for recognizing objects on the floor.
3. High suction power.
4. Simultaneous dry and wet cleaning.
5. Lifting the napkin when driving onto carpeted surfaces.
6. Remote home monitoring via smartphone.
7. A wide range of functions for flexible adjustment of cleaning parameters.
8. High quality dry and wet cleaning.
9. A separate self-cleaning station and a combined self-cleaning and rinsing station are available as options.
10. Good cross-country ability.
11. High-quality assembly and high brand authority.
12. Convenient cleaning of the central brush.

When it comes to shortcomings, there are rather minor comments compared to the advantages listed. Namely:

1. The robot vacuum cleaner is afraid of black floor coverings.
2. Doesn't sweep out debris in the corners.
3. There remains a narrow unwashed area along the baseboard.

These issues are common to virtually all existing robot vacuums, and unfortunately, even Roborock hasn't yet been able to address them. Nevertheless, the new S7 MaxV has truly proven that the work has been done, and the model incorporates all the most advanced cleaning solutions. As I mentioned earlier, a separate review of the Ultra station will be published in the coming issues, where I'll thoroughly test its effectiveness and all its nuances, comparing it to similar products from other brands.

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