Image: Roborock
The Roborock S8 MaxV Ultra is a premium-priced robot vacuum cleaner… that can also track where your pets are, amongst other features. Here’s what you need to know, as well as my early thoughts.
Robot vacuum cleaners have become a lot more intelligent over the time I’ve been reviewing them; the early models were frankly very stupid and terribly limited, but newer models, especially in the premium space have started to get particularly good.
Roborock’s latest premium offering is the Roborock S8 MaxV Ultra, and the company has just announced Australian release details.
How much is the Roborock S8 MaxV Ultra in Australia?
The Roborock S8 MaxV Ultra will sell in Australia for $2,999 — which really does put it in the premium price tier for robot vacuums.
When can I buy the Roborock S8 MaxV Ultra in Australia?
The Roborock S8 MaxV Ultra will be available to buy from the 1st of May 2024 in Australia.
What’s new and special about the Roborock S8 MaxV Ultra?
The Roborock S8 MaxV Ultra is a robot vacuum cleaner with a few extras to try to justify that asking price.
It’s a combination mop and vacuum with what Roborock claims is improved AI that can detect different dirt types and adjust cleaning parameters accordingly. On the vacuum front, it features up to up to 10,000Pa of suction power, as well as what it calls its VibraRise 3.0 Mopping System for improved floor cleaning.
The mop head can lift up to 20mm above the ground which theoretically means you could keep it in place and clean both hard floor and carpets and rugs without needing to remove it.
The cleaning side brush on many vacuums is fine for areas where the vacuum goes over, but that can leave areas — especially at the side of furniture — where those brushes don’t go. It uses an extending brush arm — Roborock’s term for this is that it’s a “FlexiArm” — to get into those spaces, which should improve overall cleaning efficiency.
On the smart assistant front, while there’s support for your typical Siri/Alexa/Google trio, Roborock is also shipping it with its own inbuilt assistant, called “Rocky”. Rocky can apparently work even when offline with simple voice instructions if that’s your bag.
Also read:
Dreame W10 Robot Vacuum Cleaner and Mop Review
Kobold VK7 Review
For pet owners, Roborock is throwing in the claim of picking up 99.5 of hair left in carpets… as well as helping you find and photograph your pet if you’re away from home.
An app button will set the Roborock S8 MaxV Ultra not so much as to clean the house as to travel around until it finds your hound or moggy, so you can work out whether they’re happily sleeping or howling out the neighbourhood waiting for you to return.
Roborock S8 MaxV Ultra: Alex’s early take
Roborock announced the Roborock S8 MaxV Ultra at CES 2024, so it’s not coming to the Australian market first as an entirely unknown device.
I’ve not yet gone hands-on with it — though that should be within a week or so at this point — but I’m curious to see how well it does compete and compare within that high-end premium robot vacuum cleaner market.
It absolutely does sit in that premium space, and for a lot of people that’ll be a price too high to manage, though these kinds of devices do sell — so clearly there’s a market out there for them.
The extending arm idea isn’t one that’s totally unique to Roborock, and neither is having your own voice assistant, though my experiences with the latter for some brands hasn’t been that stellar in the past. I’ll have to hold judgement on that until I can test it out, especially to see how well it deals with an Aussie accent.
I’m curious about the whole pet detection and finding idea; while in theory it’s a smart use of object recognition and another way to use your robot vacuum, I’ve sometimes found that pets really don’t like robot vacuums.
Given it doesn’t levitate, I do wonder how well the Roborock S8 MaxV Ultra will manage to grab snaps of my cats if they’re already up on the kitchen bench when I’m out, for example.
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My RoboRock Q7 does a superb job vacuuming my complex shape, crowded home.
It sounds like the S8 MaxV substantially improves the “mopping” – on the Q7 that’s just sliding a damp cloth over the surface once each pass with minimal dirt lifting capability.
The rest of the new features don’t sound worth the money