Roborock S8 MaxV Ultra

A bit of background to start with, we are a forced early retired couple due to physical disabilities that developed about three years ago, we have two dogs (a big male Sable GSD and a black/tan mini Dachshund) and one cat (chocolate point Tonkinese). The GSD and Tonkinese are shedding fur like there is no tomorrow, therefore due to our physical… Read more

limitations we decided to buy the S8 MaxV Ultra.

We bought the S8 MaxV Ultra around Oct/Nov 2024, to assist with vacuuming and mopping of all the tiled areas of our single storey house; lounge, kitchen, dining, family, hallway, main bathroom, second toilet, laundry, master bedroom and ensuite.

Unfortunately due to unforeseen hospitalisation of both my wife and myself at the same time, we started using the S8 MaxV Ultra only upon returning from hospital mid February 2025, hence this review covers almost one year usage less one week.

Set up of the S8 MaxV Ultra, was a breeze and mapping of the areas you want to use the S8 MaxV Ultra for, is done via the Roborock App all with the push of a button.

We have used it now for 1363h and covered a total of 63Km2 all within one year.

Score for vacuuming is five star, it’s unbelievable how good this S8 MaxV Ultra vacuums. The amount of hair it compacts in the dust bag is mind blowing for a robot vacuum cleaner. Unfortunately I have just replaced the dust bag but will make a video next time the dust bag is full, to show what I mean. Score for mopping is three star, I believe this is because of the vibrating mop system and of our dogs leaving skin grime behind on the tiles, the S8 MaxV Ultra is just not able to remove this satisfactory (yes we use the cleaning solution recommended by Roborock), see photos of some tiles that have been mopped last night. Although we let the S8 MaxV Ultra run twice (sometimes four times) over the same area it is just not able to clean the tiles properly, so we still have to mop manually which is unfortunately due to our physical limitations which is quite a chore for me.

The base station is somewhat bulky but that’s acceptable in my opinion, easy to set up and maintain. I clean the base station and the S8 MaxV Ultra on a weekly base, clean the water containers, water filter, brushes, main rollers red and black and replace the mop as well as the little rotating mop weekly. In my opinion the little rotating mop is useless and find that without it, the mopping results are better as it gets closer to the edge of the walls or other obstacles - I only replace the rotating mop so frequently because within one week it’s pretty worn out and as I bought a large amount of spares I just replace them until they are finished.

I’ve seen a lot of reviewers on YouTube saying that they clean the machine once every three months, while having dogs and kids, again in my opinion this is not possible just looking at the amount of dirt our S8 MaxV Ultra accumulates in one week besides that the S8 MaxV Ultra App notifies you to clean the sensors or water filter hence my statement it’s not possible to clean it only once every three months.

We are contemplating (still researching due to the lack of customer support of Roborock Australia) to buy the Roborock Saros 10R for mopping purposes only. I believe that the bigger rotating mops will work a lot better than the vibrating mop of the S8 MaxV Ultra. I base this on the fact that we have a Shark steamer with two rotating mops that actually removes the grime from the tiles, hence we cross our fingers and hope the Saros 10R does the same. We will keep the S8 MaxV Ultra but only to do vacuum cleaning as it excels in that category.

All in all we are absolutely happy with the S8 MaxV Ultra despite letting us down in the mopping category but it makes up when vacuuming the house, making our house as hair free as can be with our furry family members.

I do want to say one thing about the customer support of Roborock in Australia, they will need to improve their game as I score their support with a one star - in my opinion I don’t believe they actually understand the meaning of customer support. Roborock is lucky that they make such a good product, S8 MaxV Ultra, and I hope the Saros 10R will be the same, so that you don’t have to deal with customer support often or not at all, hence still researching other brands customer support reviews.

Do I recommend the S8 MaxV Ultra…yes!

Much better than I thought it would be – After reading heaps of reviews, this Roborock seemed to come up on top, with most poor reviews being about ads in the accompanying app. Which have not appeared in ours so far. It's navigation around a pretty cluttered space, especially at Christmas, plus roving pets is exemplary. It's leaving everything very clean, which is obviously what is all… Read more

about. We have a ton of cat hair, and that's all dealt with.

It all appears to be very well made with well thought through design and engineering touches everywhere.

Time will tell the full story, but so far very satisfied.

You won’t be disappointed! – Love its dual vacuum and mop function . Can be easily adjusted re floor type ( tile / carpet etc) and vacuuming strength and self lifts the mop ( dynamic lift) when it hits the carpet or four mats , and I’ve set mine to ‘ deep clean ‘ mode . Easy house mapping function and room and zone setting . The auto mop clean ( you can even set how often… Read more

you want the mop cleaned) when it returns to the dock and auto dust bag clean great too . Had a prior robot vacuum and mop but didn’t realise how good the S8 Max V Ultra was till I emptied the waste water container realising how much my prior one missed ! Also love the live camera you can view through and the fact the vacuum takes photos of direct obstacles such as cords and wires and lets you know via the app . The little side pad gets into corners that our prior vac couldn’t . Best house cleaning appliance we’ve ever purchased . New app takes a little to get used to but once navigated is ok. Very quick and easy setup and access to my wifi too .

This is the worst bot vacc I've owned. Had it for 4 months. From unboxing the suction was poor, the brushes are constantly getting full of hair as it doesn't go into the collection bin. This pics were taken in November, not long after unboxing. It… Read more

runs into everything, gets stuck every clean and goes through a tank of water at a super quick rate. The previous model was better until the cliff sensors crapped out just after 12 months. I don't have carpet or mats anywhere in the house. The last straw was when it told me it was stuck when it was sitting in the middle of the lounge room floor with NOTHING around it. I'm clearly less intelligent than it for purchasing it in the first place. Sent it back, I'll stick to my free Kmart bagless until something good actually comes on the market.

I’ve got both the older SE 7 model and the newer SE 8 and the latter does a far better job in all areas but also has more bugs and gremlins to contend with on the unit itself and via the excellent App. It disconnects from the network regularly and… Read more

often sits sulking in a corner for no apparent reason. The 8 has a long history with the LIDAR rotating turret ceasing operation and that is a major problem. I had it occur once but found that a single human hair had jammed inside it, easy to remove with tweezers but it is a big worry nonetheless! The recommended procedure to remove the turret yourself seems similar to deactivating a land mine!

But all up it does a great job and worth having in spite of the “usually fixable” issues and worth the money but ………. Customer Support borders around zero! No way you can talk or chat with a human and that is its biggest short falling!

Accessories like brushes, mops etc. come at eye watering prices and I would imagine most owners find eBay or Amazon lessen the pain by up to 75%

I’m really enjoying this so far—it’s been a huge help in keeping on top of things. I have an elderly beagle on water retention tablets who sometimes doesn’t make it outside in time. He tries, bless him, but accidents happen, and the constant mopping… Read more

was driving me mad. Being able to quickly clean and sanitize, then send Rocky around, has been a game-changer. It’s keeping me sane and the house smelling fresh. The deep clean on the carpets is also fantastic—the floors look better than they have in years, and it’s pulling up loads of pet hair.

Downsides:

I wish I could change its name. My dog is called Lucky, so Rocky gets confused whenever I call him. It also responds to the TV (watching Loki was chaos!) and has even interrupted a few work meetings. My workaround: volume turned way down.

It would be great if Roborock offered a pet-safe cleaning additive to help neutralize odours, especially urine. My workaround: spraying a solution before it mops.

Even with object collision off and edge brush extension on, it still tends to avoid the edges. My workaround: running my regular vacuum with the edge attachment before Rocky goes out.

This is the best time saver ever. The vacuum is so easy to set up & map out & registers which is carpet & which is floor boards & changes accordingly. Fantastic suction & cleaning. It doesn’t bother my dogs & cat when they’re sleeping, just goes around them. It really saves my back from manual vacuuming & mopping, highly recommend it! Show details

Worked initially, than came the problems returns and more problems. We have returned this thing over three times. The support is pretty bad I’m fed up with it. Constant dust blockages, it “forgets” where it is. I spend more time maintaining it, rescuing it and cleaning it than it’s worth. Look initially it was great it’s just degraded so quickly… Read more

it’s like an old blind pet now. Not happy with the service and honestly wouldn’t buy this brand again. Stick with something that can offer you better support imo

Our machine has been back to Roborock 4-5 times (I've lost count) for repairs within 12 months. This time, the repair was approx 6 weeks only for it to be picked up and used the first time to find another fault. Not acceptable for the price we pay. Clearly we have a lemon, but they insist on sending it away for repairs everytime, just replace the machine already! Show details

Roborock makes excellent products, until the moment you actually need support. I’ve owned Roborock vacuums before and liked them so much that I bought a brand new, top-of-the-line model. That’s where the problems started. Online advice and official information conflicted about whether the unit included a plumbing kit for direct water and drain… Read more

connection. Some sources said it was included, others said it wasn’t. Even when I contacted AI-based support, they told me the plumbing kit should have been included. That means even their own systems and support channels don’t actually know what’s included with their products in Australia, which is embarrassing for a brand at this price point.

Trying to contact support is even worse. The phone line is useless and simply hangs up. You are forced into chat, which doesn’t understand anything properly. Emails are clearly handled by AI, but they don’t disclose that, and when they claim to escalate to a human, nobody ever responds. You spend around $2,000 on a product and can’t even speak to a real person when you have a genuine question. That’s unacceptable.

I’m giving this zero stars out of five. I genuinely believe I’ll never purchase another Roborock product again purely because of how appalling the support has been. No company selling premium-priced products should be allowed to operate without a functioning phone support system. Customers shouldn’t be forced into email-only support where responses are optional and accountability is nonexistent. And if AI is used, customers deserve to be told.

This whole experience has left me burnt. I will be returning this product and will not buy Roborock again, which is disappointing because the products themselves are great. But great hardware means nothing if the company won’t support it.

Great for clean floors. I love the zone cleaning and room cleaning settings. You get to skip the kids areas until you are ready to go there. You save so much time on house work. Love it. The only thing is the time it takes to get the parts when it’s time to replace warm out parts. You can’t buy in store and it takes 4 weeks plus to get the parts online. Show details