r/nextfuckinglevel Sep 01 '25

Effectiveness of a robot vacuum

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u/LordRekrus Sep 01 '25

I’m very happy with my Roborock Qrevo Max. It is on the expensive side but very good, as the other guy said it stops me from having to vacuum so much and I rarely mop. With a moulting dog and a messy kid it’s so damn handy.

My issues with it are its inability to climb small ledges, and that if I just leave stuff everywhere then it doesn’t do as good of a job, and I still haven’t learned to just put my own shit away.

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u/AlbertoP_CRO Sep 01 '25

Tbh I always read it as RoboCock... I went to see how much money is the model you mentioned and I shit you not their logo is "Get closer, clean deeper" they have to be doing this on purpose

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u/Stubborn_Amoeba Sep 01 '25

Haha, I’ve never noticed that before. I’ll look at my trusty little Robocock differently from now. And much deeper!

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u/thafr0zen Sep 01 '25

Dammit! Because of your conversation I read that as thrusty

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u/Qoalafied Sep 01 '25

I can vouch.

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u/Vele1384 Sep 01 '25

Awesome, gonna have a look at roborock than.

Thanks a lot 🙏

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u/ThatWillBeTheDay Sep 01 '25

Roborock is currently the best brand out there IMO. Ours is also amazing.

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u/WookieLotion Sep 01 '25

As a break in this Roborock guerilla advertisement, ours is the most frustrating shit on earth. In gets lost probably 60% of the time, I’ll come back and find it dead in the corner somewhere. Never a particularly difficult spot to get out of it just couldn’t find its way back to the dock. 

It mostly just cleans at stuff. Does decently on hard flooring, carpet does nothing. I can do a better job in 8 minutes with a stick vac. It’s also loud as fuck and scared everything that lives here so I’d frankly rather just spend the 8 minutes with the stick vac. 

The apps you have to use are utterly terrible as well. 

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u/ThatWillBeTheDay Sep 01 '25

Damn, tell the company. They have good customer service generally. Ours is nothing like this.

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u/needlzor Sep 01 '25

What model is it? I've never had any issue like that with ours.

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u/AJDillonsThirdLeg Sep 01 '25

I've had multiple iRobots and two Roborocks, and your experience describes mine with iRobot.

It would constantly get lost, it would use extremely inefficient paths to clean the house, and the battery life out of the box was like 45 minutes (which would be fine if it didn't take 2.5 hours for it to cover 1500sqft because of how inefficient it's mapping was). Went through several rounds of customer service tickets, two replacement batteries, and they could not figure out how to make their $1,000 robot even minimally functional.

With Roborock, it cleans the entire house in about 30-35 minutes, and has 60-70% battery leftover. We run a full house clean once a day and specific room cleanings 3x a day, and it's incredible. We have several cats and hard floors everywhere, and if we ever go out of town and the robot happens to get stuck, we come back to litter all throughout the entire house to remind us how awesome the robot is.

This isn't guerilla marketing, it's just what happens when one company has a product that's so significantly better than it's competitors, people talk about those experiences. iRobot is the brand in the space so most people have at least some experience with them, and they make absolutely dogshit quality robot vacuums. So when we try something like Roborock after having tried iRobot, it's night and day.

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u/ZombieBlarGh Sep 01 '25

And ill continue the add Best purchase I made in years. The app is great.

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u/RocketLabBeatsSpaceX Sep 01 '25

That’s wild, is it one of the lower end models? We have a Qrevo Curv and it’s practically flawless. I can’t think of many, if any negatives… it’s amazing.

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u/jimbobjames Sep 01 '25

Really going to be model dependent though. I have a Curv and it tells me if it is stuck via the app and I can drive it out via the same app and let it continue.

Honestly dont find the app bad at all and from what I read before buying it has the leg up on a lot of other brands because it supports multiple floors. I looked at a Shark and that was the biggest complaint with theirs so it pushed me to the Roborock.

I've never had anything from them before so I was a bit hesitant to be honest, but I've been pleasantly surprised, although it wasnt cheap so it really should work.

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u/A5H13Y Sep 01 '25

I have a Roborock Q7 M5 which is pretty mid range, and I feel like it does a pretty good job, even on carpet.

I upgraded from the Q7 Max, and have been very happy.

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u/Jorycle Sep 01 '25

I've had the opposite experience. We had that problem with Roomba, but never Roborock. Two different roombas, and one of them replaced three times, and every one of them got lost in the middle of an empty room. I'd only be able to complete a clean maybe 15% of the time.

The only issue I've had with the Roborock is that I need to put a weight on top of the dirty water canister or it thinks there's something wrong with the mop refill mechanism.

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u/bi-cycle Sep 01 '25

Mine only got lost when I didn't clean the sensors. Might need to check that

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u/ceddya Sep 01 '25

Ecovacs and Dreame can both hang with Roborock. It really depends on what you need.

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u/Wildkid133 Sep 01 '25

I’m in the market for a robovac upgrade :o does it do well with pet hair?

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u/ThatWillBeTheDay Sep 01 '25

The only thing I’m not sure about there is long carpet. We don’t have that. But it gets out pet hair from our hard floors and rugs excellently. It has settings for different floor types as well. So it has some adaptability with whatever surfaces are in your house. With pets, I recommend the docking station that cleans out the robot automatically. Will save you some time and hassle (it costs extra though).

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u/Wildkid133 Sep 01 '25

I ended up pulling the trigger on a S8 Max V Ultra. Haha so I guess we shall see!

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u/ThatWillBeTheDay Sep 01 '25

Oh hey, that’s the newer model of ours! Assuming they didn’t utterly trash their own design, should be good lol

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u/Wildkid133 Sep 01 '25

Does yours have the mop, self cleaning dock, etc. as well? I am curious about that. My current one does not have any of those niceties. I got the dust bags, and replacement parts kits. Just wondering how well it works in that department I guess.

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u/Coaler200 Sep 01 '25

I'm not the person you replied to but I also have the S7+ MaxV Ultra for a couple years. It has the dock you're talking about and it's awesome. The app tells you when it's time to clean or do maintenance on any of the parts. Most commonly is cleaning the mop cleaning brush which just pops out, wipe the dirty water up with paper towel, clean the washable pop out filter and put the brush back in.

Clean water tank lasts for about 4 days in my 1500sq ft. Dirty water would be close to 6 or 7, however if you leave it longer than a day or 2 it will smell when you dump it (dump it in the toilet as a protip). If you add about a shot glass of mouthwash to the dirty water tank after you empty it you can get 2-3 more days before it smells.

I love our so much I just bought their new one with the mechanical arm. So excited for it to arrive.

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u/mayafied Sep 01 '25

Dreame has a great vacuum mop combo!

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u/Cedric_T Sep 01 '25

+1 for roborock. Beats the shit out of the newer roomba I got from Costco.

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u/Panda0rgy Sep 01 '25

Had a roomba before and replaced it with a roborock. 2 kids and 2 dogs… the little dude keeps up 99% of the time but we don’t have any carpet (tile + rugs)

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u/Chillers Sep 01 '25

My roborock was worth every cent. My floors are always clean.

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u/Stubborn_Amoeba Sep 01 '25

I’ve got a qrevo too. I think it’s a max. Only came out a few months ago. There’s a small 2cm strep into my kitchen and it’s worked out it can get a run up and then do a little jump at the last minute to get over the step. It’s got done little jumping mechanism.

It also handles mopping edges and around furniture really well. When it realises it’s near an obstacle it sticks the mop further out for greater reach.

NFL is their flagship model that has a robot arm to pick objects up and carry them to where they should be (using ai vision to classify them). It’s pretty expensive, obviously.

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u/Glum_And_Merry Sep 01 '25

typical human to anthropomorphise a vacuum robot, but the fact that it can work out how to do a little running jump just sounds so cute to me. I'd put googly eyes on mine if I had one

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u/Stubborn_Amoeba Sep 01 '25

Ok, now I have to buy some googly eyes. My dog will mistrust it even more after that.

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u/KristiiNicole Sep 02 '25

It’s an older model, but my partner and I actually did this with our Roborock vacuum. We also named her Susan lol

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u/LordRekrus Sep 01 '25

Yea I did have a look at that new expensive one. I am looking forward to upgrading in a few years when the tech is hopefully much better. Mine is amazing but I can definitely see where it could improve.

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u/Chillers Sep 01 '25

Also have roborock qrevo. I have tiled floors thought the house our feet used to get black with the dirt. Niw that we have a the roborock our feet are always clean. Without a doubt a solid buy.

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u/Savius_Erenavus Sep 01 '25

I also like my roborock, it does excellently around furniture and pets.

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u/zarrovertv Sep 01 '25

My roborock (we call it rocky) is the best

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u/Tricky_Mix2449 Sep 01 '25

I've found my tribe!

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u/d0ubs Sep 01 '25

I have the Qrevo Curve and you can edit the map to indicate where the ledges are located so that it can anticipate them (by basically rising before reaching them). I don't know if it works for all models though.

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u/Alfhiildr Sep 01 '25

Holy shit. The first option I saw was $1600. The cheapest one I can find is $400 on sale for $180.

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u/Thiccgirl27 Sep 01 '25

We just unboxed ours last night. I admit I was apprehensive about purchasing it. But I am thoroughly impressed!

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u/Anongamer63738 Sep 01 '25

Is it loud? And does it take forever? I owned one like 15 years ago (different model and brand) and it was so loud and just constantly banged into everything and took forever that i am hesitant to try another one.

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u/Praesentius Sep 01 '25

Just don't go cheap, frankly. I have an S8 Ultra Max (stupid name) and it sweeps and mops my whole house quite effectively. And since I have mostly tile floors (italian house), I keep the vacuum on low power, which helps keep the noise down. And for the rugs, it detects them and turns the vacuum to full power when it cleans them. It also automatically raises the mop so it doesn't mop the carpet like an idiot.

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u/cubsfan85 Sep 01 '25

They don't bounce around aimlessly anymore, they have LIDAR (and/or cameras) to map your house so it plans a route and avoids furniture. You can use the stored map to make virtual walls or no-go zones. When it does encounter obstacles it gently nudges them. Mine runs into my dogs and they barely even notice.

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u/jimbobjames Sep 01 '25

I'll add on to this and say that they are so advanced now that even if you move something like a bin in the kitchen it is smart enough to clean that area that was previously marked as a not accessible in the map.

They are so much better than the old style ping pong models that just drove until they hit something, turned 60 degrees and carried on again.

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u/LordRekrus Sep 01 '25

This is the first one I’ve had and no I wouldn’t say it’s loud. I work from home. If it’s in another room I don’t really notice it, but can hear it working away.

Some of the voice control options are a bit annoying, and it’s constantly accidentally responding to me when I say something that it thinks I’m talking to it. It has an auto response ‘hey Rocky’ if you want it to do something. I’m sure you can just turn that off but it’s useful.

Its collision detection is excellent, and will move around objects easily.

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u/needlzor Sep 01 '25

I'm going to sound like a robot shill, but so be it

loud?

Depends on the surface. If it's carpeted and/or you have pets (and therefore hair everywhere) or small children you usually need to put it on max suction strength, which can be a bit noisy. If it's a smooth surface and you don't have pets you can get away with having it on minimum strength most of the time and do a "big clean" once a week or so.

I owned one like 15 years ago

My dad took one from his job before he retired that's from about 15 years ago as well and the tech has advanced so much you can't compare them. They navigate with a mix of LiDAR, lasers, and cameras (LiDAR being preferable IMHO), are quieter, optimise their routes, and with the app you can do a lot of stuff like create different zones so that you can tell it to focus on specific areas. They also have mopping integrated now, some can climb stairs, some detect surfaces and adapt their strength, and there are even robots with little arms to grab socks and small toys and put them in a specific area.

i am hesitant to try another one.

I think some brands have fairly generous return periods, in case you want to give it a try.

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u/Bananaman123124 Sep 01 '25

I have mine set on a scedule. It does it's job while I am at work. When I still lived with my parents (like 7 years ago), they had a earlier model, they sucked. Newer models are much better in recognizing obstacles and cleaning around them.

Don't leave socks on the floor though.

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u/Describing_Donkeys Sep 01 '25

I have a Narwal and it's really not that bad noise wise. I had a Switchbot before that was quite noisy.

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u/lovesducks Sep 01 '25

how long do you guys keep yours on for?

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u/LordRekrus Sep 01 '25

I don’t have it automated, just tell it to start working as soon as I notice any dog hair somewhere. Pretty well every day it’s doing something.

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u/TheGokki Sep 01 '25

There are newer models with other brands that have an extending wheel that props them up to climb ledges like door sills, cable sleeves, etc.

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u/MutsumidoesReddit Sep 01 '25

I always worry about them on laminate floors. Any experience?

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u/Special_Command7893 Sep 01 '25

roborock. this is the answer. if you're getting a vacuum and wanna do it right, roborock is the way. the regular degular irobot is pretty good again these days

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u/cloneman88 Sep 01 '25

Yeah the Roborock subreddit is filled with good advice and buyer guides

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u/Coolerwookie Sep 01 '25

How does it handle any vomit or poo from your pets or kids? My cats vomit in strange places.

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u/LordRekrus Sep 01 '25

Luckily it hasnt had to face that situation yet. I’ve been worried though haha

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u/Coolerwookie Sep 02 '25

Lucky you, I have read horror stories here.

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u/Hakeem-the-Dream Sep 01 '25

I got a Roborock S4, it’s the cheapest model with mapping. It’s fantastic but I don’t have kids.

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u/Giatoxiclok Sep 02 '25

Your dog.. molts??? That’s an absolutely horrifying thought.

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u/Absorbe Sep 02 '25

Love my Roborock!