Q8 Max
With 30 levels of mop customization, Roborock Q8 Max makes cleaning the house easy.
Pros
- Great power suction
- Mopping really works
- Accessories make this device more convenient
- Great battery life
Cons
- Mop cloth is reusable, but doesn’t look like it
- App could be more customizable
- Robot doesn’t recognize mirrors
| Buy From | List Price | Sale Price | |
|---|---|---|---|
 | $599 | $449.25 | See It |
At IFA 2023, Roborock announced several new products, including its new Q8 Max Series robot vacuum. While the company said most products would be available in October, Roborock waited for Prime Big Deal Days to finally release its new Q8 Max Series in the US. Over the past few weeks, BGR has been testing this device, and we tell you if this could be a true ally of your house cleaning as both a robot vacuum and a mop.
Design and specifications
Roborock Q8 Max is what you expect from a robot vacuum. Made in black or white, it weighs 6.6 lbs and offers a fair size, with 13.9*13.8*3.8 inch dimensions, which is great for entering under some beds and shelves.
It has 5,500Pa high power suction, a DuoRoller Brush that ensures it’s cleaning all dust, ScratchSafe wheels and brushes to avoid scratching your floor; it offers PreciSense LiDAR Navigation to avoid stumbling into objects (which will talk more about that later), and Roborock also sent the RockDock Plus, which helps the vacuum clean itself for up to seven weeks straight.
Compared to the Roborock Q7 Max, this new version has a higher power suction (5,500Pa vs. 4,200Pa), and the Roborock Q8 Max now offers 30 customization levels of mop, which the company praises for deep cleaning.
As a first-time user of a robot vacuum and mop, I really didn’t know what to expect from this product, except for “Will it actually clean my house?” But I’m impressed.
Setting up is easy, but I wish the app offered this one tweak
Roborock provides two options to set up the new Q8 Max – or any other robot vacuums. You can download the company’s app or Xiaomi’s Smart Home app. Both have a similar interface, but I like Roborock’s better.
After you take the robot out of the box, you can use a QR Code to set it up or just look for the model you purchased. The onboarding process is really easy, and it won’t take long until you do the first scan of your place.
With a LiDAR scanner and Reactive Tech Obstacle Avoidance, I hoped Roborock Q8 Max would be slightly clever. It understands depth and won’t fall from stairs, but I have some mirrors on the floor, and it was weird to watch the robot vacuum trying to cross the mirror in the office and the living room.
That said, Roborock’s app lets you edit the rooms by adding No-Go Zones, putting furniture, editing the surface, or even how you would like Q8 Max to clean your house. One thing I would love to have on the app is the ability to delete a room. For whatever reason, the robot captured a mirror I had in my living room as if there was a completely other room in my place. I wish I could just delete that.
Before cleaning, you can select the suction power and the water flow. Every time you tap a new configuration, the robot vacuum will make a sound. The water flow can go from “Slight” to “Extreme.” My favorite configurations are “Balanced” or “Turbo” for suction power and “Medium” for water flow. You can also go a step further and set cleaning each room automatically based on the floor and room type.
Better robot vacuum than a mop
When you ask the Roborock Q8 Max to start cleaning, you need, of course, to remove your kitchen rugs, chairs, and mostly cables. Q8 Max is fierce and will try to eat your cables if they’re in their way.
In general, I feel like the robot vacuum cleans the dust very well, and after the first time it stumbles on some furniture, it actually learns not to do that again. I only wished it had a real-time view as when it identifies my office chair is on its way, it will clean around it, but even if I moved it, the robot would still come back later to try to clean the spot it couldn’t.
That said, I enjoy that Roborock Q8 Max cleans all the edges of a room, and then it goes back and forth to ensure all parts are clean.
Its mop capabilities are excellent, but its cloth stops fitting perfectly after you wash it for the first time. If you try to reuse the fabric, it won’t stay firm to the robot. The cloth’s velcro faces where the robot is going, so it rolls back and doesn’t clean as intended.
That said, while the mop cloth is reusable, I think users might need to keep buying new ones to ensure it keeps cleaning as intended. But if you have a new cloth, you’ll see that not only is the floor clean, but using it for both vacuuming and mopping is really handy.
Battery and accessories
With a 5,200 mAh battery, Roborock says Q8 Max can clean non-stop for up to four hours. Here, it usually cleans for 60-70 minutes, and the battery is consistently above 50%. I recommend getting the RockDock Plus for more convenience, as it can collect dust for seven weeks straight.
In addition, mopping your environment may get a little expensive, as these mopping cloths are made for being thrown away after usage – as I told you above. You might be able to use it twice, but once you remove it, they do not fit perfectly again, as it won’t hold strong on the robot.
Roborock also recommends its own solution for vacuum mops, but, of course, you can use your own.
Is Roborock Q8 Max worth it?
Roborock Q8 Max costs $599.99, but you can get 25% off on this product during Prime Big Deal Days. As my first experience with a robot vacuum, I’m impressed with the built-in quality and how intuitive the app is.
Power suction is really important when selecting a robot vacuum, and I think Roborock did a great job by improving this capability with the new series. Mopping is also handy, but you’ll need to keep spending on more mop cloths in the long run.
That said, I still consider this robot vacuum a helpful accessory, but I still need to do my own deep cleaning occasionally. Fortunately, it has become less often, as I can rely on this robot for everyday house maintenance.
