Verdict
Smarter and more powerful than its predecessor, the Roborock S8 Pro Ultra is a top-quality robot vacuum cleaner that’s largely maintenance free: it self empties, cleans its own mop and fills with water. However, the mop bracket is not removable on this model, so it may not suit homes with deeper carpets.
Pros
- Excellent navigation
- Can lift brush and mop from floor
- Powerful mopping
Cons
- Can’t removing mopping bracket
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TypeThis is a robot vacuum cleaner and mop all-in-one, which can lift its mop to move across carpets. -
Smart assistantsWorks with Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa.
Introduction
It was hard to imagine quite how Roborock could improve on last year’s S7 MaxV Ultra mopping robot vacuum cleaner. Yet, with the Roborock S8 Pro Ultra, the company has managed it with a new brush design, smarter and more powerful mopping, and a new cleaning dock.
Combined with Roborock’s excellent app, this is a super powerful robot vacuum cleaner, although it’s best for people with hard floors and short pile carpet.
Design and features
- Dual brushes and mop system can lift
- Mop bracket no longer removable
- Powerful mapping and obstacle avoidance
There are three versions of the Roborock S8, all of which have the same physical robot. The regular S8 is a mopping robot that ships with a standard charging dock. The S8+ ships with an auto emptying dock. The S8 Pro Ultra, which I have here, is the top of the range model.
Similar to the S7 MaxV Ultra, the S8 Pro Ultra ships with an all-in-one charging, self-emptying and cleaning dock. Here, Roborock has improved the overall design and has made the new dock a little neater to look at.
With the previous model, the two water tanks (one for used water, one for clean) and the bin were more on display; with this model, the tanks drop out of sight, giving a cleaner finish. This dock is more like the one on the Ecovacs Deebot X1 Omni.
As well as emptying the robot, the dock cleans the mopping pad, with the motorised stiff brush, and then uses warm air to dry it, preventing smells and odour build up. As with the previous model, the S7 must do a bit of manoeuvring to use the dock: it goes in one way for emptying and water refilling, but has to come out and turn around to charge.
This dock takes disposable bags, which hold 1.8-litres of dirt, which should work out to around six weeks’ worth of dust.
The S8 can be emptied manually, if required. You probably won’t need to do that, but the bin is worth taking out monthly, so that the filter inside can be cleaned.
From the top, the Roborock S8 Pro Ultra robot vacuum cleaner looks very similar to previous models that I’ve reviewed, with a LiDAR bump on top, which is used for fast and accurate mopping.
This robot has three buttons on top: power / start a clean; mop only; and return to dock. On the S8 Ultra, they’re a little hard to reach while the robot is charging, although I still appreciate the ability to quickly start cleaning without having to reach for my phone and the Roborock app.
Flip the robot over, and the changes are more obvious. Rather than a single brush, there are now two rubber ones that spin in alternate directions. Similar to the brushes used on the iRobot j7+, these brushes are designed to pick up dirt, while avoiding getting hair tangled in them.
On this model, the brushes can be lifted off the floor, which the vacuum cleaner does in mop-only mode and when it’s returning to dock after cleaning, preventing stains from being dragged across the clean floor.
This is the first Roborock robot vacuum cleaner that I’ve seen where the mop bracket is not removable. The cloth can be removed, but not the physical bracket itself. And, as the bracket has velcro on it, removing the washcloth leaves a rough edge behind.
Roborock’s VibraRise 2.0 system comes into play. With this system, the mop can be lifted up when in vacuum-only mode, when carpet cleaning and when returning to dock, with the idea that it keeps the wet cloth off the floor when it’s not needed. There’s a greater degree of lift on this mop than with the S7 model, but it’s not quite enough if you’ve got deeper pile carpets or rugs.
I’d ideally like the new lift system, which will suit most homes, plus the option to physically remove the mop bracket.
As well as the new lift, the VibraRise 2.0 system now has a wider sonically vibrated area on the pad, for more intense scrubbing.
As with previous models, the Roborock S8 Pro Ultra has one of the best apps in the business. Thanks to accurate LiDAR scanning, the S8 Pro quickly generates an accurate map of its surroundings. Multiple maps can be saved, and the robot will automatically position itself and work out where it is and which map should be used.
It’s the customisation options that really help. First, the map is split into rooms, with the software doing a great job of working out the split automatically, although I could manually override the settings.
Maps can also be edited, adding no-go and no-mop zones, with carpet highlighted automatically thanks to the carpet sensor. Plus, furniture can be added to rooms, such as sofas, dining tables and beds. Placing these in the rough location they sit gives extra cleaning options, such as telling the robot to clean around a dining table.
Rooms can be cleaned individually, plus there’s an option to only clean a set area drawn on the map. The latter is very handy for cleaning up a specific spill on the floor, say after cooking.
For cleaning, the Roborock S8 Pro Ultra can be set to Vacuum & Mop, Mop only or Vacuum only. Custom settings for vacuum power and scrub intensity are available; I typically set them to the highest levels.
Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant controls are available, with commands to start and stop a clean, and to return the vacuum cleaner to its dock.
Performance
- Exceptionally powerful
- Good edge performance
- Scrubs brilliantly
This is one of the best robot vacuum cleaners that I have tested. First, its navigation is second-to-none. Thanks to the front-facing camera, the robot avoided many common obstacles, including shoes, cables and pet mess. Roborock’s AI object detection has improved massively over the years, and is now at a point where it’s exceptionally reliable.
I’d still pick up items that I didn’t want sucked up by mistake, or anything that could potentially cause issues, but otherwise the S8 does a good job of skirting around problems or powering through and sucking up mess.
Can this robot get stuck? Sure, every robot can. I’ve got a low cabinet next to a chaise longue. If the S8 goes under there at the wrong angle, it can get a little confused, but it’s nothing a no-go zone didn’t fix. For the most part, this robot can be set off with very little manual input.
Cleaning power is very good. I started off by sprinkling a teaspoon of flour onto my carpet. Here, the S8 managed to pick up most of the mess on a standard pass. Running the cleaner over the mess again got everything, showing that this model can deal with even very tough spills.
Next, I put human hair onto the carpet and let the S8 pick this mess up. Here, it did a brilliant job: the hair was gone, and none of it got tangled around the brush heads.
I then moved onto the hard floor test. I put a teaspoon of flour onto the floor, and the Roborock S8 Pro Ultra picked up all of the mess.
Doing the same thing at the edge of the room, the robot managed to get most of the mess, bar a small trace of dirt that was partly under the kitchen plinth. That’s still impressive and reduced the number of times I had to reach for a full-size robot.
Finally, I went with the mopping option. My hard floor gets rubber marks on it from where I move around appliances for review in the Trusted Reviews lab. These can be hard to remove, but the Roborock S8 Pro Ultra did a solid job, scrubbing them right up to the edge of the room. That’s an exceptionally good performance.
I measured the Roborock S8 Pro Ultra at 70.4dB loud on its maximum setting. It doesn’t produce an annoying noise, so is quite palatable to have on while I was around.
Battery life is excellent. I found that even running the vacuum cleaner on full power, there was enough charge to clean an entire floor, and have enough power left to tackle some spot jobs.
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Should you buy it?
You want the ultimate flexibility and performance:
High-quality cleaning, combined with a system that can adjust between carpet and hard floors makes this a brilliant choice.
You want to remove the mop bracket:
Got thicker carpet that the mop cloth may catch on? A robot with a removable mop may suit you better.
Final Thoughts
In many ways, the Roborock S8 Pro Ultra is a true triumph of power and engineering. Mopping and vacuuming performance are excellent, mapping is top notch, and the self-empty dock means there’s little day-to-day maintenance. For most homes, the rise system, which lifts the mop and brushes off the floor, will work brilliantly, letting the Roborock S8 Pro Ultra move from hard floor to carpet and back without having to fiddle about removing the mop bracket. For mixed-floor homes, that makes the Roborock S8 Pro Ultra compelling.
However, if you have deeper pile carpets, the S8 may still catch the fibres with a wet mop, and there’s no way to remove the bracket to prevent this from happening, as you could on the older machine or on rivals, such as the Ecovacs Deebot Omni X1.
If you’ve got the right floors, this is a triumph, but if you need to be able to remove the mop bracket or don’t want to spend as much, check out my guide to the best robot vacuum cleaners.
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Used as our main robot vacuum cleaner for the review period
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FAQs
The standard S8 has the robot and a normal dock, and must be emptied and filled with water manually. The S8+ has to have its bin emptied manually, but fills with water from the dock. The S8 Pro Ultra has a dock that self empties and also refills water automatically.
This helps the robot spot and avoid common obstacles, such as shoes, cables and pet mess.
Sustainability
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As part of this mission, whenever we review a product, we send the company a series of questions to help us gauge and make transparent the impact the device has on the environment
We currently haven’t received answers to the questions on this product, but we will update this page the moment we do. You can see a detailed breakdown of the questions we ask and why in our sustainability info page.
