Robot vacuum cleaners have become hugely popular in recent years, in part because of the work of iRobot / Roomba, in part thanks to companies that have followed suit and done well with the competition.

Although 549 euros is quite a lot of money, the Roborock S7 does its two functions very well and is cheaper than the competition.

This is where the Roborock S7 comes in, the latest high-end vacuum cleaner from the Chinese company that, in addition to cleaning, also scrubs the floor. In the union of both functions for a relatively affordable price is the main bonanza of this product.

It is true that 549 euros cannot be said to be a low price, far from it, but it is perhaps one of the cheapest combos that do both tasks. Other companies spend more than 1,000 euros and almost always need two vacuum cleaners to do the job well. There are also cheaper ones, but less effective, which is not something we want either.

Saving on gadgets, both in the space they occupy in the house (because a robot vacuum cleaner must be in its base charging when it is not used) and in what they cost is the goal of any consumer of this technology.

Roborock has made several improvements to the S7 over its direct predecessor. I wish they had implemented the self-cleaning tank that the high-end Roomba already includes and that they are going to sell separately, but this is one of the few drawbacks that can be put to it.

One thing that has surprised me is the speed, because in a house of 80 meters, it cleans in less than 50 minutes almost always. Sometimes the task has been complicated, but the average has been frankly good. Like any robotic vacuum cleaner, you will have to clean the most difficult corners and spaces, yes. Cleaning Sunday is not going to take away even the most expensive of any of the best brands, but the maintenance of the floors, even with three cats (like me), does it wonderfully.

If you consider its use in this way, I recommend using the silent mode, especially if you telecommute, as is my case. The difference in noise and vacuum power is noticeable, but it does the job well. There are three other modes of use, optimized for cleaning and balanced consumption; turbo, noisy and recommended if your floor is messy or you are considering using it on long-pile carpets; and the full power mode, which turns the Roborock S7 into an airplane turbine, cuts battery use to less than two hours and at least hasn’t compensated me at all.

All modes of use, as well as mapping, is as smart as a vacuum cleaner of this style would get. I don’t know if it is a LiDAR radar thing (like the one used by some autonomous cars), but it does it well. You have to configure it first in its official application and bother to see that it has understood the shape of the floor correctly, but once that is done, you do not have to bother to pay attention to it beyond emptying the tank. If it runs out of battery, the application alerts you and it returns to its base by itself before running out of life to go back to work once it has recharged the batteries.

One problem that I can highlight is that, although the Roborock S7 claims to clean carpets well, I don’t think it does it quite well. Whether you vacuum or scrub it, a slight shake makes you see that it is not very clean. Nothing happens and it seems logical to me that a little robbery cannot leave them like the whistle, but if this is an important point for you, I hope you take it into account.

My scrubbing experience has not been spectacular either. Like it or not, nothing beats a man squeezing the mop well against the floor to clean the tiles. Robot vacuum cleaners, of all kinds, are limited to passing a damp mop and little else, which for maintenance is fine, but may not be enough.

The Roborock S7 does not do badly, I insist, but for me it is not a substitute for traditional scrubbing nor can its vacuum replace a good pass with a traditional bag and hose vacuum cleaner.

So I return to my initial approach. Robot vacuum cleaners, all of them, serve to take away a little work at home, but they will never replace traditional cleaning and if you want your house to be 100% clean, you will have to not only clean the dust, but also sweep or vacuum you at least once a week (it depends on how obsessive you are with cleaning, I’m not going to judge you for it).

Perhaps that is why I like that robotic vacuum cleaner brands recognize this a little by the small mouth and offer partial aspirates as an option once they have learned your home. Why vacuum the bathroom if there is not so much filth and you cannot access everywhere? Better to configure it to make several passes to the living room or office or bedroom. All of this is possible with the app.