Want to keep an eye on Fido when you’re away? The S7 MaxV Ultra has a live view camera, too. Roborock has thrown in nearly every feature we’ve seen on high-end robot vacuums into the S7 MaxV Ultra. But do all these capabilities add up to a winning machine that can stand among the best robot vacuums available today? Read our Roborock S7 MaxV Ultra review to find out.
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Roborock S7 MaxV Ultra review: Price and availability
The Roborock S7 MaxV Ultra was released in May 2022 for pre-order for $1,399 and includes the automatic Empty Wash Fill Dock. This dock includes an self-emptying dustbin and two water tanks for clean and dirty water. The dock will automatically refill the robot’s on-board water tank with clean water while also extracting the dirty water. Without a doubt, this is the fully loaded model. Don’t need all of that mopping automation? The Roborock S7 MaxV Plus comes with just a self-emptying dustbin for $1,159. If you want to empty the dustbin yourself, the Roborock S7 MaxV standalone robot vacuum and mop is available for $859.
Roborock S7 MaxV Ultra review: Design
I like big docks and I cannot lie. But the Roborock S7 MaxV Ultra dock is gigantic. If the Millenium Falcon needed a loading dock, it could probably use this. The dock is 16.5 inches high and there are three separate removable containers at the top. One for clean water, one for dirty water, and one for the dustbin bag. Adding to the overall size of the dock is the entrance ramp that must be attached to the dock in order for the S7 MaxV to find its way home. While functional, that ramp takes up a lot of space, giving the dock a footprint of 19.4 inches by 16.5 inches. For comparison, the iRobot Roomba j7+ dock has a footprint of 15.5 inches by 12.25 inches. The Roborock S7 MaxV Ultra is a good-looking robot, clad in matte black with red accents around the edges. Three physical buttons for spot cleaning, power, and docking sit up top. Pressing and holding the spot clean button turns on child lock mode which stops the bot from responding to button presses until it’s disabled. The child lock can also be enabled and disabled from the app. Like its sibling, the Roborock S6 MaxV, the S7 MaxV Ultra has two cameras placed on the front side of the robot; it uses AI object recognition to identify obstacles that could hinder cleaning such as shoes or electrical cords. It will also identify the arch nemesis of all robot vacuums: pet waste. While Roborock doesn’t offer a cutesy P.O.O.P guarantee like iRobot does with the Roomba j7+, it did avoid a pile of fake dog poop on the floor and recognize it as an obstacle — though it thought it was fabric instead of dog poop. On the underside of the Roborock S7 MaxV Ultra you’ll find a rubber brush roll and a tri-spoke side brush with rubber bristles. A microfiber mopping pad and plastic plate snap into the lower half of the bot, which enables the mopping features. The water tank that feeds water to the pad resides at the rear of the robot. I like that the massive Empty Wash Fill Dock removes the need to manually fill the water tank onboard the S7 MaxV Ultra. It will automatically fill with clean water when needed via the clean water tank on the dock, removing much of the hassle of mopping. The upside of that giant ramp on the dock? I felt comfortable leaving the mop attached to the robot after it completed a cleaning. With other robot mops, I worried that it would damage my floor underneath it.
Roborock S7 MaxV Ultra review: Vacuuming performance
The Roborock S7 MaxV Ultra cleans in a predictable pattern that outlines the edges of a room before cleaning in a S-shaped pattern within the outline. It follows the same pattern when mopping and is able to do both actions at once. In our lab tests, the Roborock S7 MaxV Ultra performed very well, earning an overall average score of 91.26. That’s nearly the same as the iRobot Roomba j7+ (91.83) and a hair above the Roborock S6 MaxV (90.56), though it fell about 5 points below the vacuum-only Roborock S4 Max. The Roborock S7 MaxV Ultra was excellent on hardwood, earning a near perfect score of 99.6 on our Cheerios pick up task — performing slightly better than iRobot Roomba j7+ and the Roborock S6 MaxV. The S7 MaxV Ultra wasn’t quite as strong when it came to kitty litter, picking up 94.8% of it. But, once again, it was nearly identical to the Roomba j7+’s score of 94.45. One test where the Roborock S7 MaxV Ultra beat the Roomba j7+ was pet hair pickup on hardwood. The S7 MaxV Ultra cleaned up 98.5% of the dog hair in our test area while the Roomba j7+ fell 6 points behind. The Roborock S7 MaxV Ultra was also impressive in our carpet tests – mostly. It excelled at picking up Cheerios and kitty litter, but faltered when cleaning up dog hair from our carpeted test area. Its pickup rate of just 58% of the hair is the lowest score among similar robot vacuums. The Roomba j7+ was its closest competitor, but that vacuum picked up 72.5% of the dog hair in our test area. Despite this hiccup, the S7 MaxV Ultra still performed well overall.
Roborock S7 MaxV Ultra review: Mopping performance
At first glance, mopping with the Roborock S7 MaxV Ultra seems like every other hybrid robot vacuum and mop. However, this robot is smarter than it looks. Roborock employed its VibraRise mopping on the S7 MaxV Ultra, which does two things: First, it sonically vibrates the mopping plate to add a true scrubbing motion to the microfiber pad; second, it physically raises the mopping plate 5 millimeters when carpet is detected. The best part is that it actually works. Roborock first introduced this technology on the original S7 and I was impressed by it then. The company states that it cannot be used in conjunction with carpets over 4 millimeters, but, thankfully, the app allows for no-mop zones. Since the bot also detects carpet and displays it in the app, it’s easy to see where no-mop zones should be added. Though the Roborock S7 MaxV Ultra’s trustworthiness and mopping capabilities are better than any other 2-in-1 robot I’ve used, it’s not enough to replace a manual mop or even a bottle of spray cleaner and a rag. Case in point: I poured a line of soy sauce on my kitchen floor and used a room specific cleaning option to clean it up. Even with the floor cleaner mixed in, the S7 MaxV Ultra wiped up the soy sauce, but then smeared it all over the part of the floor it hadn’t cleaned yet, leaving a sticky mess. The upside of that mess was the self-cleaning Empty Wash Fill Dock. When the Roborock S7 MaxV Ultra starts or stops mopping or detects that its microfiber pad is dirty, the robot backs itself up into the dock and a small bristle brush within the dock cleans the pad by moving back and forth underneath it and spraying fresh water. Dirty water from this cleaning is extracted and sucked into the dirty water bin, while clean water is used to rinse the pad and top off the robot’s internal water tank. After the pad is rinsed at the end of a cleaning run, the robot exits the dock, turns around 180 degrees and docks itself for charging and dust removal. It’s pretty ingenious.
Roborock S7 MaxV Ultra review: Setup, app and mapping
The Roborock S7 MaxV Ultra supports maps for multiple floors and creates an accurate map after just one run. Short on time? A quick mapping-only run took less than 15 minutes. After mapping was complete, I was able to view 2D and 3D versions of the map. There’s also an option for a Matrix map. To use this, you’ll need a Pro-level iPhone 12 or 13. I tried it on my iPhone 13 Pro by carefully walking around my first floor with my phone scanning the floors, walls, and furniture. The result was a sort of gimmicky-looking 3D layout of my home. The regular 3D version of the map was easier to look at in the app and I found the old-fashioned 2D map the easiest to use. There’s a lot going on in this app and while some of it might be overkill, it sure is fun to play around with. Thanks to the camera on the front of the robot, it’ll helpfully identify and label some obstacles, as well as furniture and some rooms. After creating a map of my first floor, the app successfully identified the bathroom and living room, including the sofa and two chairs (named a “single sofa”). While it correctly identified my dining room table and chairs, it decided the three barstools in the kitchen were obstacles instead of furniture. Like the iRobot Roomba j7+, the S7 MaxV Ultra is open to feedback — giving you the option to ignore detected obstacles on future cleaning runs. However, I still prefer the option in the Roomba app of marking something, such as a shoe, as a temporary obstacle. If you choose to ignore an obstacle in the Roborock app, you’ll have to create a new map in order for it to be recognized again. Want to check on the cat while you’re out? The Roborock S7 MaxV Ultra has a live view option within the app paired with a directional pad to send the bot wherever you want it to go. Alternatively, you can watch a live view of it cleaning— in case you’ve ever wondered what your baseboards look like up close. There’s a fair amount of security built-in to Roborock’s live view. Enabling it requires pressing a series of buttons on the robot and creating a unique unlock pattern within that section of the app. That unlock pattern must be used any time you want to take a peek– even if you do it multiple times in one cleaning run. The robot also announces “Remote viewing activated” when turned on and repeats “Remote viewing active” approximately every 15 seconds. The Roborock app is loaded with options for vacuuming, mopping or doing both at once. It offers both zone and room-specific cleaning along with no-go zones. There are four suction modes and three scrub modes to choose from, which can be customized for individual rooms. I found that the Moderate scrubbing intensity mode resulted in enough water on my floors — to the point that I’d be hesitant to use the Intense mode.
Roborock S7 MaxV Ultra review: Verdict
The Roborock S7 MaxV Ultra does a lot. It vacuums, mops, detects rugs, cleans itself, and even lets you check in on your pets when you’re away, but all of that technology comes with a very hefty price tag – $1,399 to be exact. It is the most expensive robot vacuum package I’ve ever reviewed. That being said, there is a lot to like about the S7 MaxV Ultra, from strong vacuuming performance to a basic mop that cleans itself and doesn’t require laying out mopping pads and water tanks to dry after use. It’s convenient to use and good for keeping floors respectable between deep mopping sessions. I prefer the temporary obstacle avoidance option used by the iRobot Roomba j7+, a vacuum-only device that’s currently $599, but if you’re looking for similar performance and want the ultimate 2-in-1 robot vacuum and mop, the Roborock S7 MaxV Ultra is an excellent, albeit very expensive, choice.
