It may not sound familiar to you yet, but Roborock is a brand that is making a dent in homes with its robot vacuum cleaners. Participated by Xiaomi , this company is standing out for models that have a good balance between price, suction capacity and autonomy, such as the Roborock S6 or the Roborock S5 Max that we are talking about today. This robot vacuum cleaner stands out for several strengths. First of all, its autonomy of up to 150 minutes , which ensures that you can have your house clean in one go. Plus, it's smart and maps your entire home to clean without going through the same places again. And with the addition of having an accessory to mop the floors, although there is still a world left to replace the mop.
All this with the comfort of being able to control it through Roborock's own app or through Xiaomi Home . You can already find it in different stores such as Aliexpress or Gearbest with good sale prices below 500 euros . I've had the opportunity to tinker with the Roborock S5 Max at home for a month. Is it worth your purchase? What are your strengths and weaknesses? This has been my experience.
index of contents
- ROBOROCK S5 Max TABLE
- A smart and effective cleaning robot
- High autonomy
- Design and dust container
- A robot that vacuums ... And also scrubs
- Everything is controlled through the app
- Price and reviews
- What I liked the most about the Roborock S5 Max
- What could be improved from the Roborock S5 Max
ROBOROCK S5 Max TABLE
| Roborock S5 Max | |
|---|---|
| Navigation technology | Infrared, house mapping |
| Cleaning modes | Automatic, by zones, by rooms |
| Power | Silent, Balanced, Turbo, Maximum |
| Dirt tank | 460 milliliters |
| Scrub tank | 290 milliliters |
| Battery | 5,200 milliamps |
| Autonomy | Up to 150 minutes |
| Connectivity | WiFi, through the Roborock and Xiaomi Home app, compatible with Google Home |
| Suction power | 2,000 Pa |
| Surfaces | All surfaces and carpets |
| Noise | Up to 58 dB |
| Dimensions | 353 x 350 x 96.5 mm and 3.5 kg |
| Release date | Available |
| Price | For less than 500 euros |
A smart and effective cleaning robot
It is perhaps the great surprise that I have taken with the Roborock S5 Max, especially having tried its older brother Roborock S6. Both work through infrared sensors that are placed on its central part.
The Roborock S6 got more cluttered on its first few cleanings and was not as fast on its tasks. Meanwhile, the S5 Max has been able to map almost completely from the first pass and create a very effective cleaning routine. You can see that work has been done and well in this section.
Regarding the cleaning experience itself, the results are good thanks to the suction power of the robot (2,000 Pa) and to a very effective configuration between the vacuum cleaner itself in the central part and a propeller that helps to carry the dirt towards the area of aspiration. It is very low in height so it goes quite well under chairs and tables, although it does not get along as well with cables, clothing or various obstacles that you may have at home. The truth is that at this point it seemed somewhat below the S6, since I had to be more aware of saving it from a traffic jam. Once she even wrapped herself in the drawstring of a cloth bag and continued her cleaning process until I found she was dragging her around the house.
And what about rugs? The overall experience with the Roborock S5 Max is good. When it detects a carpet, it increases the power to pass through it and clean the dirt and dust that are embedded . What I have experienced on occasion is that it has not correctly detected the bathroom mat (I use one that is thicker and heavier than the usual ones) and has mistaken it as part of a wall instead of going over it. Other times it does go through without problems, so I am not very clear about the reason for the change.
High autonomy
Another of the strengths of the Roborock S5 Max is its autonomy, thanks to a 5,000 milliamp battery. According to official data, it is capable of reaching a usage time of up to 150 minutes without the need to recharge . As usual, it is a very optimistic figure that we will rarely reach (if it is ever reached in regular use). The fact is that it can handle a complete cleaning of an 80-square-meter house at turbo speed without problems, leaving almost half its battery at the end. Generally, this cleaning takes around 40 minutes. The area that has been cleaned is much smaller than the size of the house, since it has to face various obstacles that it cannot pass through (furniture, beds, boxes, etc.).
As with mid- and high-end robot vacuum cleaners, in the unlikely event that the vacuum cleaner runs out of battery in the middle of cleaning it will automatically return to the base and recharge to continue cleaning at the last point where it left off. In other words, we would not have to, we would not have to start over from scratch.
Design and dust container
The design of the Roborock S5 Max is one of the ones that I have liked the most so far. This is a robot vacuum whose height does not exceed 10 centimeters , which allows it to pass through the underside of chairs or tables without problems. In the front part we have some shock absorbers in the shape of a semicircle so that the collisions against the wall or any other object are softer. In general, with house mapping, these crashes rarely occur.
The dirt tank is 460 milliliters . Enough for a thorough cleaning. In my case, it can also withstand a second cleaning without having to change it, although it is best to change it after each session. To access the tank, simply lift the lid of one of the robot's halves and extract it through a tab. Here we also have the button to reset the robot and start the connection to the WiFi and a small brush to clean the equipment.
A robot that vacuums ... And also scrubs
The Roborock S5 Max also incorporates a scrub tank and a mop attachment to hook on the bottom. So is the scrubbing going to stop? That's too much to say at this point. The truth is that the feeling is that the function has been improved compared to the Roborock S6 in my experience, with a well balanced system that distributes the water very evenly. Although in the end the amount of water that fits in the tank is small (something logical considering the reduced size of the vacuum cleaner), with a 290-milliliter tank, I have been able to carry out between two and three cleanings at home with the degree of use of water to the maximum.
Of course, what this mop does is moisten the floor very gently . That is, forget about cleaning stains that have remained on the floor or do a more thorough cleaning. It is used as a final touch to cleaning the house but not as a substitute for traditional scrubbing.
What you do have to bear in mind is that the Roborock S5 Max does not detect carpets with this mode , so if you are going to use the scrubbing mode, you have to set aside the carpets you have at home.
Everything is controlled through the app
Until recently, to operate the robot vacuum cleaner we had to do it through Xiaomi Home and with a Mijia account (a secondary Xiaomi firm). It was a matter of time before Roborock had its own app to gain independence and brand image . The new Roborock app is quite easy to use. In fact, another of the pleasant surprises that I have had is that the connection and configuration process with the robot is much faster.
After detecting the equipment, you have to configure the Roborock account and in a couple of minutes we will have it ready to go. From the app you can see the mapping that is formed of the house when the robot cleans. At the top we have the area that was cleaned in the last session, the battery charge status and the time it took to carry out the cleaning. At the bottom right there is a button from which you can access the cleaning modes and the water level of the robot.
In the first point, we have four different modes according to the desired power: silent, balanced, turbo and maximum . The first two modes are quite quiet and you can be watching TV or reading without it being annoying. Yes it is true that with the turbo mode and the maximum can be heavier, but without being exaggerated. In general, my experience is that the Roborock S5 Max can be the perfect butler robot that does not disturb while you work . If you want to use the silent mode you have to bear in mind that there is usually more dirt on the road than with the more powerful modes.
As for the water level, we can choose between not downloading anything and three different levels. By the way, you can choose the area through which you want the vacuum cleaner to clean and also define those areas that you do not want it to clean. There is a function that can go unnoticed and that is very cool. The option to mark rooms directly on the map and focus cleaning on one or more of them . The point is that first you have to enable the saved Map Mode through the vacuum cleaner settings so that the “Room” tab appears. Once you activate it, you will see how the robot marks the rooms of the house. You can edit these rooms so that they correspond to the rooms in the house (sometimes it is not clear which ones they are).
But perhaps the most attractive thing about this mode is the option to configure the power of the vacuum cleaner and the amount of scrubbing water specifically for each room. That is, if you are reading in the bedroom you can tell the Roborock S5 Max that every time it passes through the room, lower its revolutions to silent mode so as not to disturb. Or raise it to the maximum when passing through a place that tends to accumulate more dirt. Without a doubt, a great advance in robot intelligence.
Roborock S5 Max Photo Gallery
Neither could the options be missing to schedule cleaning at a certain time or the do not disturb mode, which prevents the robot from activating at certain times of the day.
Finally, I really like the app that you have a panel to see when you should carry out maintenance on the different elements of the robot: the filter, the brushes and the sensors.
Price and reviews
The Roborock S5 Max is a robot vacuum cleaner that has many arguments to become a good cleaning companion at home. It's pretty smart, with a mapping system that gives good results from the first cleaning . It has more than enough autonomy, so it will not be left half in its work. And the most important thing is that it cleans effectively. Of course, it suffers the same as the rest of the robot vacuum cleaners on the market: it does not reach the corners where there is no space for the robot to pass. Today there is no panacea for automatic cleaning and you will have to go over from time to time those dead corners where you will see dust accumulate. All in all, a purchase to take into account if you want to make a more powerful investment in a robot vacuum cleaner andyou have something more than 450 euros .
What I liked the most about the Roborock S5 Max
-Your smart mapping system
-The autonomy that allows a deep cleaning without having to do it in two parts
-The system to divide the house into rooms and configure a different power and scrubbing for each one
-Its low height and the effectiveness of the vacuum
-The overall performance when facing carpets
What could be improved from the Roborock S5 Max
-On some occasion you have overlooked a carpet mistaking it for an obstacle
-You have to be careful not to leave obstacles in your way that could end up curling up on your side brush
-Its price is high if what you are looking for is a cheap robot vacuum cleaner