Roborock S8 Pro Ultra: the top new product of 2023! What can this robot vacuum cleaner do?!

The Roborock S8 Pro Ultra is one of the best robot vacuums of 2023. This new model boasts several cutting-edge design features. These include a cleaning module with two silicone turbo brushes, a cloth lift function when driving on carpets, a vibration platform for more thorough cleaning, a system for recognizing and gently avoiding obstacles on the floor, and a station where the robot vacuum self-cleans and washes and dries its cloths. For such a feature set, you'll have to pay at least $1,100, or $1,200 at the exchange rate at the time of writing. Below, I'll thoroughly test the Roborock S8 Pro Ultra and then express my opinion on whether it's worth the money. 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:

1. Power adapter.
2. Spare bag for the station.
3. Documentation for the robot with translation into Russian.

The package contents are standard, as always. There are no spare parts for the robot vacuum itself. Let's move on!

Appearance

Let's take a look at the Roborock S8 Pro Ultra's design. Let's start with the robot vacuum itself. It's available in white and black. Its body is traditionally round and measures 97 mm in height.

The mechanical bumper on the right side houses a wall sensor. At the front, we see a system of sensors that allow the robot to recognize objects on the floor and carefully navigate around them while cleaning.

The system is called Reactive 3D. It's worth noting that this model doesn't have an active camera. This means it can't be monitored remotely via a smartphone.

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 cover. It holds up to 350 ml of dry waste. The manufacturer allows the container and filter to be washed with water. The filtration system is exclusively HEPA-based. The water tank is not removable on this robot. It is hidden inside the body and holds up to 200 ml of water. Water is pumped in automatically through the station.

Let's take a look at the robot vacuum's underside. It has six fall protection sensors. A carpet detection sensor is located next to the swivel roller. There's a single side brush: a three-pronged unit secured with a screw.

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 Pro Ultra, the technology is called DuoRoller Riser. This is because the two turbo brushes can automatically rise when the robot returns to the docking station and when mopping. This is a very interesting solution and will be demonstrated in tests. Both brushes can be removed from both sides to remove tangled hair and fur. Very convenient.

Regarding wet cleaning, the cloth holder on this model is non-removable, which is inconvenient. The cloth is held in place with Velcro and a groove. We can see that the platform has two movable modules, not one as in previous models. The cloth also has two separate sections. This is why the updated design was named VibraRise 2.0.

Speaking of the station, it also received an updated design and features. At this station, the Roborock S8 Pro Ultra can automatically self-clean, refill with clean water, wash the cleaning cloth, and dry it with warm air, increasing the robot vacuum's overall battery life. The robot's access ramp is removable, making it very convenient for maintenance. Self-cleaning still occurs through the central brush assembly. The garbage disposal has been moved to the side.

The cleaning pad is done with a roller with bristles. Beneath it is a tray for collecting dirty water. The roller itself moves across the entire surface of the pad as it is cleaned. Dirty water passes through a filtration system consisting of a coarse filter and a fine mesh. This is a plus. And here's what the charging terminals look like, as well as the nozzle for refilling the robot. Oh, and just as importantly, this station comes equipped with a hot air dryer out of the box, which is a plus. The vents for blowing out warm air are located in the drain. In this situation... Roborock S7 MaxV Ultra The hair dryer was purchased separately.

At the top of the station there are three compartments: a tank for clean water, a tank for dirty water and a garbage bag located under the top cover.

Overall, the design hasn't seen a significant leap forward, in my opinion, compared to the previously released Roborock S7 MaxV Ultra. The main changes are the new dual turbo brushes, dual vibration mop, and the station itself. The latter is already equipped with a hair dryer for drying the mop, but unfortunately, according to the brand, it's not compatible with the drain/water connection module. However, there are no complaints about the robot itself: it's well-built and incorporates most of the advanced features, making it versatile and effective.

Technical specifications

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

• Li-Ion battery 5200 mAh.
• Suction power up to 6000 Pa.
• Operating time up to 180 min.
• Cleaning area up to 300 sq.m.
• Dust collector capacity is 350 ml.
• The water tank capacity is 300 ml.
• Obstacle clearance up to 20 mm.
• Robot dimensions: 353*97 mm.

Station:

• Clean water tank: 3 l.
• Dirty water tank: 2.5 l.
• Bag in the station: 2.5 l.
• Station dimensions: 514*426*450 mm.

Of the characteristics, only the suction power has been increased, which will definitely be verified in tests.

Functional capabilities

Let's move on to an overview of the Roborock S8 Pro Ultra's features. The robot vacuum is controlled via the proprietary Roborock mobile app. Connecting to the network is straightforward, following the manufacturer's prompts. My version is localized, so not only the app interface is in Russian, but also the voice notifications.

Main functions of the robot vacuum cleaner:

• Self-cleaning at the station.
• Rinsing the napkin at the station.
• Drying the napkin with warm air.
• Refilling the robot's water tank via 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.
• Cleaning log.
• Setting up cleaning according to a schedule.
• Automatic power increase on carpet.
• Carpet cleaning in wet cleaning mode.
• Lifting the napkin when driving onto carpets.
• Raising the central brushes in floor washing mode and when returning to the station.
• Voice notifications in Russian.
• Yandex.Alice support.

As you can see, there are quite a few functions, allowing you to flexibly customize cleaning parameters to your individual needs. That's a plus! Regarding the station settings, you can adjust the wiper rinse interval, choosing to return to the station after each cleaned room or after a set time (from 10 to 50 minutes in 5-minute increments). You can also select the wiper wetting intensity during washing, the self-cleaning mode, and the wiper drying time (from 2 to 4 hours).

Testing

A detailed video review of the Roborock S8 Pro Ultra, including 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 Pro Ultra'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 also navigated around all four chair legs and a box, before returning to its base. Test successful!

Speaking of navigation within the home, the Roborock S8 Pro Ultra cleans room by room, first along the perimeter, then in a serpentine pattern. After each room, as specified in the settings, the robot vacuum returns to the station and rinses the cleaning cloth, then returns to clean from where it left off. It's a clever design that when returning to the station and back to the cleaning point, the robot picks up not only the cleaning cloth but also the central brushes. 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 Pro Ultra was able to accurately navigate around four of the six objects. It also passed over a simulated pet surprise and a charging cord. It was later able to untangle itself from the cord without causing an error, and even displayed the pet surprise as a corresponding icon on the map. The second time, the robot recognized the cord, but pushed a sock toward the kitchen cabinet. The robot did touch some objects during cleaning, but most importantly, they didn't interfere with the cleaning process or disable the robot. Thus, we see that the artificial intelligence in the Roborock S8 Pro Ultra accurately recognizes what's lying on the floor. Even in complete darkness, it was able to recognize most objects and navigate around them accurately.

So, I can say that the obstacle recognition system is well implemented in this model. However, there are some issues with how accurately it avoids objects. These aren't critical, but the system still needs some improvement. Since it's artificial intelligence, it's possible that the robot gets smarter with each cleaning session through self-learning.

Suction power

The Roborock S8 Pro Ultra's suction power is questionable. Despite the increased suction power, the robot was able to suck up debris from a 2mm-deep gap. The younger versions also achieved similar results. Roborock S8 And S8 Plus, which was previously reviewed, so this is definitely not a coincidence.

As I mentioned in the S8 review, the motor itself is likely at least as powerful, and likely even more so. I suspect the issue lies in the brushes and aerodynamics. Somewhere in the design, something was overlooked, and as a result, suction power is lost. Some may call the test unfair, but I'm used to judging power based on actual cleaning results, so the test results didn't confirm the claimed high power.

Dry cleaning

However, the collection of various types of debris on laminate floors is good. Only a little debris remains in the corners, where round robotic vacuums can't sweep. All debris is collected in the dust bin. It's important to note that the central brushes don't get tangled in hair. That's a plus!

Cleaning the carpet

The Roborock S8 Pro Ultra also does a good job of cleaning carpets. It's worth noting that the silicone turbo brushes are slightly inferior to a conventional bristle-petal brush in terms of dust collection on carpets, but the cleaning performance is still high for a home environment. Test passed!

Self-cleaning

Immediately after the "dirty tests," I'll check how well the Roborock S8 Pro Ultra self-cleans. I ran it again in a room with a large amount of debris, which the robot picked up without difficulty. 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 clean, with no debris remaining between the turbo brushes and behind them in the suction opening. A similar issue was observed with previous models due to the self-cleaning principle of the central brush. With two tube brushes, there are no issues; the test was successful!

Wet cleaning

The cleaning performance is also excellent. The cloth presses firmly against the floor and absorbs dirt. All that's left is a narrow, unwashed area along the baseboard, a weak point of almost all the robot vacuums we reviewed. Moreover, thanks to the station, the robot vacuum first wiped away the dirt, then rinsed the cloth, and then mopped the floor again, removing all streaks and leaving the bulk of the floor clean—the main advantage of such stations.

Removing difficult stains

The Roborock S8 Pro Ultra does a good job of removing tough stains like dried-on coffee and sauce stains from the floor. It manages to remove tough stains with just a few trips to the cleaning station. Consequently, the vibration module does improve the cleaning performance, albeit slightly.

Wet cleaning and carpets

For wet cleaning on carpeted floors, the robot has four different modes of interaction. It can carefully navigate around the carpet in wet cleaning mode, enter the carpet and apply the cleaning cloth to the carpet if you want to clean it with the robot, or clean it separately after a full cleaning cycle. And, of course, the best option is to automatically lift the cleaning cloth when entering the carpet.

Lifting the turbo brushes

I'll demonstrate the central brush lift function separately in floor cleaning mode. To do this, I spilled water and milk on the floor. We started the robot vacuum cleaner in floor cleaning mode. It collected all the liquid on a cloth. We turned the robot over and saw that the cloth was wet, but the brushes were completely dry.

This feature is actually important, as there may be areas in the home where puddles are likely to form. For example, the bathroom, or perhaps the area near the litter box or changing area, if your pet doesn't always hit the target. In these areas, you can set the floor cleaning mode to no-suction in the user mode, ensuring that the Roborock S8 Pro Ultra won't throw liquid into the dust bin with its brushes and malfunction, as has happened to many robot vacuum owners. Ideally, the system would be improved so that the bumper sensors would accurately detect puddles on the floor, and the robot vacuum would automatically raise its turbo brushes when puddles are detected. But at least this is already very good.

Rinsing quality of the wipe

We also tested the wipes' rinsing performance. We smeared some dirt on the floor beforehand. The floor was clean after the test. Here's the wipe after the test; we can see it's absorbed all the dirt. We run the wipe's rinse function, wait, and observe. Visually, the wipe is much cleaner. We remove it and check it under running clean water. Some dirt is washed away, but it's not critical. I can say from experience that the rinsing performance is good, no worse than similar products. There are no complaints about the wipe's rinsing performance.

Maintenance of the station is also easy. The drain is easily removed for cleaning in the sink, the coarse filter is rinsed with water, the tray underneath is also wiped with a cloth, and the roller tray itself is wiped with a damp cloth. Ideally, the inner tray would be completely removable, but maintenance is not too difficult as is.

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!

Obstacle clearance

The Roborock S8 Pro Ultra has excellent maneuverability. It can navigate even 2 cm thresholds while still lifting a napkin. That's a plus!

Driving on black surfaces

And FINALLY, Roborock engineers have solved the problem of its fear of black surfaces. The Roborock S8 Pro Ultra, like its smaller siblings the S8 and S8 Plus, is not afraid of black carpet and moves across it with ease. That's a plus!

Noise level

I measured the noise level myself. It ranges from 58 to 73 dB, depending on the selected operating mode. The noise level is standard.

Personal opinion

The Roborock S8 Pro Ultra robot vacuum cleaner has been thoroughly reviewed and tested. our evaluation system he managed to gain 180 pointsIf not for the issues identified, this device could have been a contender for the title of best robot vacuum cleaner of 2023. But even with this result, it made it into the top 5. tested robotic vacuum cleaners At the time of writing this review, I'll highlight the pros and cons of the robot vacuum cleaner under review, after which I'll share my opinion.

I liked the following:

1. Availability of a station for self-cleaning the dust collector, rinsing and drying wipes.
2. An object recognition system that doesn't go blind in the dark.
3. Good navigation. Roborock has the best navigation system on the market, in my opinion.
4. Effective self-cleaning of the dust collector and cloth.
5. Complete drying of the napkin with hot air.
6. Two silicone turbo brushes for collecting debris, which are very easy to clean from hair and fur.
7. Lifting the napkin when driving onto carpets.
8. Raising the central brushes in floor washing mode.
9. High-quality dry and wet cleaning.
10. Capable of removing even the most difficult stains.
11. A large number of functions in the application.
12. The robot vacuum cleaner is not afraid of black surfaces.
13. Good cross-country ability.
14. High-quality assembly and high brand authority.
15. Availability of a full warranty and service support.

As for the shortcomings, I would like to highlight 3 main comments:

1. The claimed suction power was not confirmed in real-world tests.
2. There is no active camera for remote home monitoring.
3. The system for identifying objects requires improvement.
4. The station cannot be connected to the sewerage and water supply.
5. There is no automatic addition of detergent to the stations.
6. Doesn't sweep out debris in the corners.
7. There remains a narrow, unwashed area along the baseboard.

The main complaint, of course, is the power. I wouldn't want this to discourage anyone who's interested in this robot, and those who've already ordered it shouldn't be disappointed. In fact, the Roborock S8 Pro Ultra cleans well on both hard floors and carpets. Yes, there's a loss of power, but in a home environment, you likely won't notice the difference.

The active camera is a moot point. For some, the lack of live streaming may be a plus, but for others, it may be a compelling reason to opt for the previously released Roborock S7 MaxV Ultra or a newer model from another brand.

Here, the lack of the ability to connect the station to utility lines, an increasingly popular solution, was a disadvantage for the new model. Accordingly, due to its higher real power, as well as the presence of a camera and an optional module, the predecessor S7 MaxV Ultra wins points. However, the new model has its own undeniable advantage: two turbo brushes. It's a matter of personal preference.

Ultimately, I can say that the Roborock S8 Pro Ultra is a good option for those looking for a versatile and effective robot vacuum with full regional support. It offers Russian language support, voice assistant support, and a full warranty and service, which can't be said for flagship models from competing brands. It's reliable, neat, autonomous, and functional. And the price is on par with premium alternatives. Therefore, it's important to weigh all the pros and cons against the competition and then make the right choice for yourself.

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