The Govee Neon Rope Light 2 is a fun and flexible RGB light strip that’s easy to use and yet another example of why Govee remains a go-to when many people are shopping for smart lights.
TechRadar Smart Home Week
This article is part of TechRadar's Smart Home Week 2025. From lighting and switches to robot window cleaners and smart thermostats, we're here to help you pick the right devices to make your life easier, and get the most out of them.
I tested the 16.4ft / 5m model of the Govee Neon Rope Light 2, which is available to purchase on the Govee website for $99.99 /£99.99, as is the 9.8ft / 3m length, which has a list price of $69.99 / £79.99. At the time of writing, Govee US is offering the 9.8ft model for $49.99, and the 16.4ft for $84.99, and there’s a 20% discount off the five-meter model at Amazon UK, lowering the price to just £79.99, so it’s worth checking which retailer has the best offer before purchasing. I got to test the white model, but it’s also available in black, so it should blend in whether you’re making a statement in your living room or adding another element to your RGB-heavy gaming setup.
(Image credit: Future)
The material of the Neon Rope Light 2 looked good quality and was as smooth and soft to the touch as you'd expect from any of the best smart lights on the market. However, due to the nature of the material, it proved to be a bit of a magnet for dust and lint. It was flexible and easy to shape, but it still took two of us to recreate one of the example designs on the app – mostly because 16.4 feet / five meters was a lot to wrestle with on my own. The step-by-step process given by the app was blissfully easy to follow, with the rope light showing red sections to indicate where it should be curved or fixed.
I found the bendable metal clips really easy to work with, as I just needed to slot them over the base of the rope light and bend them into the required shape, before peeling off the backing of the 3M adhesive pad and sticking it in place. There were 10 of these bendable clips included, along with 15 plastic mounting clips, which were more than enough to recreate the design of the woman's face, but more are available to purchase for more complex designs, or if replacements are needed.
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I’ve tested quite a few Govee products to date, and I still can’t help but fan girl a little over the Govee Home app every time. It’s satisfyingly easy to navigate, and pairing it to the Neon Rope Light 2 was almost effortless, as the app detected it mere moments after I connected the rope light’s adapter to an outlet.
Even without connecting to the app straight away, I could easily cycle through warm and cold whites and kinetic color scenes using the control box wired into the power cord, with which I could also control the brightness level and turn the light on or off. There was a whole lot more to play with in the Govee Home app, with a pleasing number of ready-made color palettes and scenes to choose from, plus the option to create my own color sequences.
The level of customization available goes far beyond this, however, with settings such as Segment Management allowing me to fine-tune the color combinations to create satisfying gradients, complementary color combinations, and more. I could easily generate colorful effects using the AI generator too, and the Finger sketch function, which was one of my favorites to use with the Neon Rope Light 2, as it allowed me to simply pick a color and apply it to a very small or large segment, illuminating my creation on the rope light in real time. The only things I felt this feature was missing were a recently used color palette and the ability to undo, as I found it was easy to add color accidentally when trying to scroll down the page.
(Image credit: Future)
I’ve encountered most of these customizable settings before when reviewing other Govee smart lights, such as the Govee RGBIC LED Strip Light, but the shape mapping feature was a new one for me, and I’ve got to say, I was very impressed. The idea behind it is that the shape of the Neon Rope Light 2 is mapped from a photograph, allowing for better lighting customization, plus enabling the lighting effects to display accurately across the design as a whole.
To test this feature out, I created a large swirl pattern and took a photo when prompted by the app. I learned quickly that there needs to be a clear gap between each rope light section for it to map correctly, so I loosened the spiral ever so slightly, and it picked it up straight away on my second attempt. I tried out a couple of the Scenes to test how good the resulting effect was, and the Color Painting scene in particular made it clear how well this feature works, as colors strobed across the whole of the swirl.
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(Image credit: Future)
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I’m a sucker for anything bright and colorful, but the Neon Rope Light 2 took my appreciation to another level. The wide variety of effects makes it perfect for highlighting existing features with a solid color, or making a statement as a neon sign with some kinetic lighting, adding instant wow-factor to any room. It’s a pricey purchase, undoubtedly, but if you’re someone who’s always coveted a neon sign, or are looking for something a little different to zhoosh up your decor, then you’ll be quite happy with the Govee Neon Rope Light 2.
Govee Neon Rope Light 2 review: Price and specs
Price
$99.99 / £99.99
Model
H61D5
Colors
RGBIC
Number of light sources
420
Connectivity
2.4GHz WiFi, Bluetooth
App
Yes
Voice control
Yes
Additional features
Matter compatible, shape mapping
Should I buy the Govee Neon Rope Light 2?
Buy it if...
You want to make a statement This flexible rope light offers the opportunity to create a colorful neon sign that can be based on one of the many example designs, or your imagination, if you like to get creative.
You want an abundance of options The Govee Home app offers 64 preset lighting effects, 12 music sync modes, and a wide range of customizable settings, so you can fine-tune the lighting to your satisfaction.
Don't buy it if...
You want subtle and simple RGB lighting This flexible rope light’s clever format and abundance of features could prove overkill for anyone who simply wants to add some color to their space.
You don’t want a visible controller It’s unfortunate that the controller for the rope light is a fixed part of the power cord, as it could prove a bit of an eyesore if the chosen design or placement leads to it being visible.
Govee Neon Rope Light 2 review: Also consider
Govee RGBIC LED Strip Light If you like the sound of the Govee Home app and its multitude of preset scenes and color customization, but want something a little simpler and a lot cheaper, then I highly recommend the Govee RGBIC LED Strip Light. It doesn’t offer WiFi connectivity or voice control, but uses the same control box as the Neon Rope Light 2, and can be controlled with the app via Bluetooth. If this sounds appealing, then I highly recommend checking out my review of the Govee RGBIC LED Strip Light.
How I tested the Govee Neon Rope Light 2
I assessed the material and build quality of the Govee Neon Rope Light 2
I tested the different features and customizable settings
I followed the step-by-step process to recreate one of the recommended designs
I began by checking the quality of the Govee Neon Rope Light 2 and its accessories. I tested how flexible it was and experimented by creating various shapes.
I tested the different settings and features in the Govee Home companion app to see the different effects that could be achieved, and used Segment Management, the AI generator, and the Finger Sketch tool to create my own effects.
I followed the step-by-step process provided on the app to recreate one of the many example artworks from start to finish to assess how easy it was to shape and how well the fixings worked.
I created a swirl with the rope light to see how easy it was to use the shape mapping feature and how well it performed.
Keeping an eye on your property remotely has become an obsession for many of us. No matter where you are in the world you can see exactly who is in your house and who has come to the front door. You can even use your camera to monitor the miserable weather back home while you are abroad enjoying sunshine.
Now owned by retailing behemoth Amazon, Ring was originally set up by US entrepreneur Jamie Siminoff as ‘Doorbot’ in 2013, but has since gone on to become one of the biggest names in the home security industry. As the name suggests, the Outdoor Cameras (previously known as Stick-Up Cameras) are designed for outdoor use, though there is no reason why you couldn’t use it indoors too – it can be just as easily placed on a table or desk as on the wall outside.
(Image credit: Chris Price)
The Outdoor Camera Plus is certainly a versatile model with several mounting options, including a wall bracket (with wall plugs) as well as a rechargeable battery pack if a power cable isn't feasible (this wasn’t provided). Plastic covers stop water getting into the USB-C power port and the model is ‘weather-resistant’, not waterproof, so shouldn’t be submerged in water!
As with most home security cameras, set up is straightforward. Simply download the Ring app and scan the QR code with your phone’s camera to add the device to the app (several Ring devices can be viewed within the app, including cameras, video doorbells, chimes and alarms). You will then be taken through a set of voice-based instructions for syncing the camera to your home’s Wi-Fi, naming the device and updating its firmware. Usefully this new model features dual-band support so you can add it to either your 2.4GHz or 5GHz network as well as Amazon Alexa compatibility. For added security, two-factor authentication is also now provided.
When it comes to features, the Ring Outdoor Camera Plus doesn’t disappoint. You can set motion detection zones to avoid the camera capturing footage from, say, the swaying of tree branches. And it’s also possible to set up privacy zones that allow you to block out certain areas of the frame, even in ‘live view’. Instead, all you see on the screen is a black rectangle. It’s an unusual feature but one which is quite useful if you have neighbours concerned your camera can view/capture recordings from their property.
(Image credit: Chris Price)
Another unusual feature in the menu is Smart Responses. This enables you to send out a warning message to people to tell them they are being recorded. However, it isn’t live on this device – at least yet. Other more conventional features include motion sensitivity for adjusting the amount of footage you capture (useful if you want to preserve battery life) and motion schedules for setting the times of day you want to record movement.
But that’s not all. For those who subscribe to Ring’s monthly subscription plans, other functions are available too. These include ‘smart alerts’ which filter different types of motion into categories – ie parcel, person and vehicles. Providing you pay for the £15.99 per month Ring Premium service, there’s also an AI-driven smart video search tool that can identify certain objects in your device's recorded motion events.
(Image credit: Chris Price)
For example, just enter ‘dog’ into the search bar you can see all the times your dog has been captured by the camera while ‘red top’ will bring up footage of anyone wearing a red top in the recorded events. Particularly useful is that you can log into your Ring account on the web so you can view footage of all your cameras while working on your laptop, something which isn’t possible with more basic models.
Ring Outdoor Camera Plus: price and availability
Prices start at $69 / £69 / AU$179
Additional solar panel costs extra
Launched March 2025
Ring security cameras certainly aren't expensive to buy compared to some of the best home security cameras. At the time of writing, you can pick up the Ring Outdoor Cam Plus for £69 / $69 / $179 (considerably cheaper than the launch price). However, just like printer companies make their money from selling expensive printer cartridges, home security companies make theirs from selling costly subscriptions.
And really you don’t get too much more expensive than Ring’s monthly subscriptions. Whereas some companies, such as Blink, charge under $5 / £5 / AU$10 a month for a subscription, with Ring you are looking at double that – and that’s just the entry level subscription. If you want all the bells and whistles, such as the Smart Video Search outlined earlier, it will set you back a hefty $19.99 / £15.99 per month (and this top-tier subscription isn't even available in Australia).
In my opinion that’s simply far too much money, unless you are using the Ring for professional purposes such as monitoring, say, high street shops (in which case there are more advanced video surveillance systems available). Far better if you need to keep the recordings is to choose a security camera which provides the option of recording footage locally on a USB stick or MicroSD card.
Value score: 3/5
Ring Outdoor Camera Plus: subscription options
Ring Home Basic:
$4.99 / £4.99 / AU$4.95 per month
$49.99 / £49.99 / AU$49.95 per year
Subscription for a single device. Includes up to 180 days of video event history, person and package alerts, video preview alerts, and 10% off Ring.com purchases.
Ring Home Standard:
$9.99 / £7.99 / AU$14.95 per month
$99.99 / £79.99 / AU$149.95 per year
Includes everything in Basic, plus all devices at one location, doorbell calls, extended live view, alarm cellular backup, and daily event summary.
Ring Premium:
$19.99 / £15.99 per month
$199.99 / £159.99 per year
Not currently available in Australia. Includes everything in Standard, plus 24/7 recording, continuous live view, and smart video search.
Ring Outdoor Camera Plus: design
Upgraded from Ring Stick Up Camera
Versatile mounting
Flexible power options
With the Outdoor Camera Plus, Ring has made a few improvements over its predecessor, the third generation Ring Stick Up Camera (now called the Outdoor Camera). Most notable is its improved design, particularly the versatile mounting options. The Ring Outdoor Cam Plus can be mounted on a desktop/table, on a wall or roof eave using the screws and wall plugs provided. It can be mounted on the ceiling with an additional accessory (not provided as standard) and easily angled for optimum use.
(Image credit: Chris Price)
Power is provided via the USB-C connector in the middle of the camera (a power cable wasn’t provided with our sample). Alternatively, you can take the Lithium-Ion battery out by swivelling the base to the unlock icon and removing it (ensuring you remove the card covering the charging points). You can then charge it via the orange Micro-USB cable provided until it’s ready for installation. Spare batteries are also available to buy online at Amazon of course.
(Image credit: Chris Price)
Available in black or white, the Outdoor Cam Plus features a lens on the front which provides a 160-degree diagonal, 140-degree horizontal, and 80-degree vertical field of view. Underneath is a speaker while above there’s a small microphone for two-way conversations with visitors. When movement is recorded a solid blue light is displayed at the top of the unit while during set up this flashes blue.
Design score: 4/5
Ring Outdoor Camera Plus: performance
2K image quality
Stable video connection
Overly sensitive camera
Ring claims the Outdoor Camera Plus offers ‘brilliant 2K video quality’ but in all honesty there’s not a massive leap in quality between this model and its predecessor, the Ring Stick Up Camera. Whereas the previous model offered 1,920 x 1,080 resolution, this one boasts 2,560 x 1,440 (2K). In other words, an increase of 360 horizontal pixels and 640 vertical pixels – enough to see the difference when you zoom in to an image, but probably not otherwise.
(Image credit: Chris Price)
That said, I didn’t have any complaints about picture quality at all. Images are sharp even at night thanks to the ‘low-light sight’ feature (although colour is limited in low light) and the field of vision is also quite wide: 140-degree horizontal compared to 115 degrees on the Ring Stick Up Camera.
Another benefit is having dual-band Wi-Fi support (2.4GHz and 5GHz) which ensured images recorded on the camera and viewed in Live View were extremely stable even though the camera was mostly located in the back garden, a significant distance from my broadband router.
(Image credit: Chris Price)
One thing worth noting is that the Ring Outdoor Camera Plus isn’t as sensitive as some models which record every bit of motion detected, even moving branches. Instead, you will probably need to turn the motion sensitivity option up a little bit just to capture all the footage you want. This will in turn use up more battery power so it’s worth considering either using the mains or a solar panel as a power supplement.
After nearly two weeks our sample model was already down to 50% so you will probably have to take the battery pack out for charging once a month – not the worst we’ve ever tested, but not the best either.
Performance score: 4/5
Should you buy the Ring Outdoor Camera Plus?
Ring Outdoor Camera Plus score card
Attribute
Notes
Score
Value
While the actual camera itself is relatively cheap, the subscription which gives you most of the added functionality is very expensive.
3/5
Design
Available in black or white, the Ring Outdoor Cam Plus looks OK and is both compact and reasonably well designed. Suitable for a number of locations (indoors or outdoors) it can be powered by mains, battery or even solar power.
4/5
Performance
Offering 2K video quality, the Ring Outdoor Camera Plus provides stable, good quality, images in record mode and live view. However, battery life isn’t the best and the motion sensor isn’t particularly sensitive.
4/5
Overall
A decent home security camera, but the Ring Outdoor Camera Plus loses points for its expensive subscription packages and so-so battery life. Performance isn’t that much better than its predecessor, the Ring Stick Up Cam
3.5/5
Buy it if
You need a versatile home security solution
With support for battery, solar and mains power, the Ring Outdoor Camera Plus is particularly flexible. It can also be used indoors and outdoors.
You want the latest features
There’s no shortage of handy features including Amazon Alexa compatibility and different motion and privacy zone settings, as well as smart video search (if you subscribe).
Don't buy it if
You already have the Ring Stick Up Camera
While picture quality and design are slightly better than the Ring Stick Up Cam there aren’t too many other benefits to justify the upgrade
You don’t want to pay for a subscription
Unfortunately Ring charges more than most other home security camera manufacturers for subscriptions, and you'll need one to get the most out of the Outdoor Camera Plus.
How I tested the Ring Outdoor Camera Plus
I used the camera both indoors and outdoors
I installed it myself
The camera was integrated into my home system with other Ring cameras
Like most manufacturers, Ring makes adding new cameras to its app very simple indeed. Because I already had several Ring security cameras and doorbells connected to my existing app, I simply added another using the QR code at the back of the device. However, starting from scratch would have been just as straightforward.
I started off using the device mostly indoors to get the feel of it and then moved it to my garden where I mounted it on top of the shed focused on the back door. There it has remained ever since (about 12 days at the time of writing), capturing people and pets who go out into the garden. Ring provides a 30-day trial for all the advanced features, such as smart video search and person/package/video alerts, but after this runs out you will need to subscribe online at Ring.com (you can’t do this via the app).
Keeping an eye on your property remotely has become an obsession for many of us. No matter where you are in the world you can see exactly who is in your house and who has come to the front door. You can even use your camera to monitor the miserable weather back home while you are abroad enjoying sunshine.
Now owned by retailing behemoth Amazon, Ring was originally set up by US entrepreneur Jamie Siminoff as ‘Doorbot’ in 2013, but has since gone on to become one of the biggest names in the home security industry. As the name suggests, the Outdoor Cameras (previously known as Stick-Up Cameras) are designed for outdoor use, though there is no reason why you couldn’t use it indoors too – it can be just as easily placed on a table or desk as on the wall outside.
(Image credit: Chris Price)
The Outdoor Camera Plus is certainly a versatile model with several mounting options, including a wall bracket (with wall plugs) as well as a rechargeable battery pack if a power cable isn't feasible (this wasn’t provided). Plastic covers stop water getting into the USB-C power port and the model is ‘weather-resistant’, not waterproof, so shouldn’t be submerged in water!
As with most home security cameras, set up is straightforward. Simply download the Ring app and scan the QR code with your phone’s camera to add the device to the app (several Ring devices can be viewed within the app, including cameras, video doorbells, chimes and alarms). You will then be taken through a set of voice-based instructions for syncing the camera to your home’s Wi-Fi, naming the device and updating its firmware. Usefully this new model features dual-band support so you can add it to either your 2.4GHz or 5GHz network as well as Amazon Alexa compatibility. For added security, two-factor authentication is also now provided.
When it comes to features, the Ring Outdoor Camera Plus doesn’t disappoint. You can set motion detection zones to avoid the camera capturing footage from, say, the swaying of tree branches. And it’s also possible to set up privacy zones that allow you to block out certain areas of the frame, even in ‘live view’. Instead, all you see on the screen is a black rectangle. It’s an unusual feature but one which is quite useful if you have neighbours concerned your camera can view/capture recordings from their property.
(Image credit: Chris Price)
Another unusual feature in the menu is Smart Responses. This enables you to send out a warning message to people to tell them they are being recorded. However, it isn’t live on this device – at least yet. Other more conventional features include motion sensitivity for adjusting the amount of footage you capture (useful if you want to preserve battery life) and motion schedules for setting the times of day you want to record movement.
But that’s not all. For those who subscribe to Ring’s monthly subscription plans, other functions are available too. These include ‘smart alerts’ which filter different types of motion into categories – ie parcel, person and vehicles. Providing you pay for the £15.99 per month Ring Premium service, there’s also an AI-driven smart video search tool that can identify certain objects in your device's recorded motion events.
(Image credit: Chris Price)
For example, just enter ‘dog’ into the search bar you can see all the times your dog has been captured by the camera while ‘red top’ will bring up footage of anyone wearing a red top in the recorded events. Particularly useful is that you can log into your Ring account on the web so you can view footage of all your cameras while working on your laptop, something which isn’t possible with more basic models.
Ring Outdoor Camera Plus: price and availability
Prices start at $69 / £69 / AU$179
Additional solar panel costs extra
Launched March 2025
Ring security cameras certainly aren't expensive to buy compared to some of the best home security cameras. At the time of writing, you can pick up the Ring Outdoor Cam Plus for £69 / $69 / $179 (considerably cheaper than the launch price). However, just like printer companies make their money from selling expensive printer cartridges, home security companies make theirs from selling costly subscriptions.
And really you don’t get too much more expensive than Ring’s monthly subscriptions. Whereas some companies, such as Blink, charge under $5 / £5 / AU$10 a month for a subscription, with Ring you are looking at double that – and that’s just the entry level subscription. If you want all the bells and whistles, such as the Smart Video Search outlined earlier, it will set you back a hefty $19.99 / £15.99 per month (and this top-tier subscription isn't even available in Australia).
In my opinion that’s simply far too much money, unless you are using the Ring for professional purposes such as monitoring, say, high street shops (in which case there are more advanced video surveillance systems available). Far better if you need to keep the recordings is to choose a security camera which provides the option of recording footage locally on a USB stick or MicroSD card.
Value score: 3/5
Ring Outdoor Camera Plus: subscription options
Ring Home Basic:
$4.99 / £4.99 / AU$4.95 per month
$49.99 / £49.99 / AU$49.95 per year
Subscription for a single device. Includes up to 180 days of video event history, person and package alerts, video preview alerts, and 10% off Ring.com purchases.
Ring Home Standard:
$9.99 / £7.99 / AU$14.95 per month
$99.99 / £79.99 / AU$149.95 per year
Includes everything in Basic, plus all devices at one location, doorbell calls, extended live view, alarm cellular backup, and daily event summary.
Ring Premium:
$19.99 / £15.99 per month
$199.99 / £159.99 per year
Not currently available in Australia. Includes everything in Standard, plus 24/7 recording, continuous live view, and smart video search.
Ring Outdoor Camera Plus: design
Upgraded from Ring Stick Up Camera
Versatile mounting
Flexible power options
With the Outdoor Camera Plus, Ring has made a few improvements over its predecessor, the third generation Ring Stick Up Camera (now called the Outdoor Camera). Most notable is its improved design, particularly the versatile mounting options. The Ring Outdoor Cam Plus can be mounted on a desktop/table, on a wall or roof eave using the screws and wall plugs provided. It can be mounted on the ceiling with an additional accessory (not provided as standard) and easily angled for optimum use.
(Image credit: Chris Price)
Power is provided via the USB-C connector in the middle of the camera (a power cable wasn’t provided with our sample). Alternatively, you can take the Lithium-Ion battery out by swivelling the base to the unlock icon and removing it (ensuring you remove the card covering the charging points). You can then charge it via the orange Micro-USB cable provided until it’s ready for installation. Spare batteries are also available to buy online at Amazon of course.
(Image credit: Chris Price)
Available in black or white, the Outdoor Cam Plus features a lens on the front which provides a 160-degree diagonal, 140-degree horizontal, and 80-degree vertical field of view. Underneath is a speaker while above there’s a small microphone for two-way conversations with visitors. When movement is recorded a solid blue light is displayed at the top of the unit while during set up this flashes blue.
Design score: 4/5
Ring Outdoor Camera Plus: performance
2K image quality
Stable video connection
Overly sensitive camera
Ring claims the Outdoor Camera Plus offers ‘brilliant 2K video quality’ but in all honesty there’s not a massive leap in quality between this model and its predecessor, the Ring Stick Up Camera. Whereas the previous model offered 1,920 x 1,080 resolution, this one boasts 2,560 x 1,440 (2K). In other words, an increase of 360 horizontal pixels and 640 vertical pixels – enough to see the difference when you zoom in to an image, but probably not otherwise.
(Image credit: Chris Price)
That said, I didn’t have any complaints about picture quality at all. Images are sharp even at night thanks to the ‘low-light sight’ feature (although colour is limited in low light) and the field of vision is also quite wide: 140-degree horizontal compared to 115 degrees on the Ring Stick Up Camera.
Another benefit is having dual-band Wi-Fi support (2.4GHz and 5GHz) which ensured images recorded on the camera and viewed in Live View were extremely stable even though the camera was mostly located in the back garden, a significant distance from my broadband router.
(Image credit: Chris Price)
One thing worth noting is that the Ring Outdoor Camera Plus isn’t as sensitive as some models which record every bit of motion detected, even moving branches. Instead, you will probably need to turn the motion sensitivity option up a little bit just to capture all the footage you want. This will in turn use up more battery power so it’s worth considering either using the mains or a solar panel as a power supplement.
After nearly two weeks our sample model was already down to 50% so you will probably have to take the battery pack out for charging once a month – not the worst we’ve ever tested, but not the best either.
Performance score: 4/5
Should you buy the Ring Outdoor Camera Plus?
Ring Outdoor Camera Plus score card
Attribute
Notes
Score
Value
While the actual camera itself is relatively cheap, the subscription which gives you most of the added functionality is very expensive.
3/5
Design
Available in black or white, the Ring Outdoor Cam Plus looks OK and is both compact and reasonably well designed. Suitable for a number of locations (indoors or outdoors) it can be powered by mains, battery or even solar power.
4/5
Performance
Offering 2K video quality, the Ring Outdoor Camera Plus provides stable, good quality, images in record mode and live view. However, battery life isn’t the best and the motion sensor isn’t particularly sensitive.
4/5
Overall
A decent home security camera, but the Ring Outdoor Camera Plus loses points for its expensive subscription packages and so-so battery life. Performance isn’t that much better than its predecessor, the Ring Stick Up Cam
3.5/5
Buy it if
You need a versatile home security solution
With support for battery, solar and mains power, the Ring Outdoor Camera Plus is particularly flexible. It can also be used indoors and outdoors.
You want the latest features
There’s no shortage of handy features including Amazon Alexa compatibility and different motion and privacy zone settings, as well as smart video search (if you subscribe).
Don't buy it if
You already have the Ring Stick Up Camera
While picture quality and design are slightly better than the Ring Stick Up Cam there aren’t too many other benefits to justify the upgrade
You don’t want to pay for a subscription
Unfortunately Ring charges more than most other home security camera manufacturers for subscriptions, and you'll need one to get the most out of the Outdoor Camera Plus.
How I tested the Ring Outdoor Camera Plus
I used the camera both indoors and outdoors
I installed it myself
The camera was integrated into my home system with other Ring cameras
Like most manufacturers, Ring makes adding new cameras to its app very simple indeed. Because I already had several Ring security cameras and doorbells connected to my existing app, I simply added another using the QR code at the back of the device. However, starting from scratch would have been just as straightforward.
I started off using the device mostly indoors to get the feel of it and then moved it to my garden where I mounted it on top of the shed focused on the back door. There it has remained ever since (about 12 days at the time of writing), capturing people and pets who go out into the garden. Ring provides a 30-day trial for all the advanced features, such as smart video search and person/package/video alerts, but after this runs out you will need to subscribe online at Ring.com (you can’t do this via the app).
The Roborock Saros Z70 is the first robot vacuum on the market to feature a robotic arm, which means it can tidy away your clutter as well as clean your floors. That's the theory, anyway – my initial tests found the tech still has a little way to go, at least when it comes to autonomous pincering.
Most people I talk to about this robovac seem afraid that the OmniGrip will be over-zealous, and try to tidy away the cat. I had quite the opposite problem: I couldn't get it to automatically tidy away anything at all. The current list of objects it can handle is very short, and the "conditions" have to be perfect in order for it to be successful. However, there's potential: controlling the robotic arm remotely via the app works very well, and Roborock is busy improving the service, with more functions, bug fixes, and supported objects in the pipeline.
Elsewhere, the performance is up there with the very best robot vacuums on the market. Suction is excellent, the setup painless, and the dock takes care of the vast majority of maintenance tasks for you, including washing the mop pads with hot water. Speaking of which, I was especially impressed with the Saros Z70's mopping ability. It comes courtesy of two spinning mop pads, one of which kicks out to the side to clean right up to the edges of rooms, as well as under the perimeter of cabinets.
This bot uses Roborock's StarSight system for navigation, which means no raised puck, enabling the robot to venture under low-sitting furniture. I'm happy to report I didn't see any compromise in performance as a result of this new(ish) system – the Z70 navigated accurately and reliably throughout my review period.
That's all great, but the reason to buy this model will be for the robo-arm tech. (If you don't need that, you could go for one of the sister models launched at the same time – the Roborock Saros 10 and Saros 10R – and get the same excellent performance at a much lower price.) And while it shows plenty of potential, right now it's a little difficult to recommend the Z70 on that basis. That's the short version; read on for my full Roborock Saros Z70 review.
(Image credit: Future)
Roborock Saros Z70 review: price & availability
List price: $2,599 / £1,799 / AU$3,999
Launched: Jan 2025 (on sale May 2025)
Available: AU, US
The Roborock Saros Z70 was announced at CES in January 2025, and went on sale in Australia and the US in May 2025. At list price it costs $2,599 / £1,799 / AU$3,999.
While it's common for flagship robot vacuums these days to cost over a grand in the US and UK, this is the most expensive robot vacuum we've tested to date. (It's worth noting that US tariff changes have had a negative impact on pricing; the Z70 is more expensive now than Roborock had planned.)
I'm not overly surprised by its high price. Roborock is introducing a completely new technology, alongside an additional mechanical component. Based on the prototype models we saw at CES in January, there may well be more arm-equipped robovacs hitting the market over the next year or two, but currently the Saros Z70 is your only option. In terms of quality and innovation, it's a standout robovac; but you're paying a premium for the newness of the tech.
However, if you don't need the arm then I'd give it a wide berth. There are plenty of premium robot vacuums on the market offering the same features. They'll just as good a job of cleaning your floors, they just won't be able to tidy away your socks. Arm-less alternatives include Z70's sister model, the Roborock Saros 10, which costs $1,599.99 / £1,499.99, or a model such as the Dreame L40 Ultra for $1,499.99 / £999.
New robot vacuums are being launched all the time, and the competitiveness of the market means you can generally avoid paying list price if you're willing to be patient. However, I'm not convinced deals will be quite so forthcoming with the Z70, just because the offering is currently so unique. That said, there is early bird pricing available at time of writing.
Pincer arm can extend to pick things up, or retract when not required
StarSight navigation means there's no raised LiDAR puck
Comprehensive dock takes care of most maintenance
Let's start with the obvious here: the Roborock Saros Z70 comes with a big mechanical arm known as the OmniGrip. On the end of it is a pincer that's designed to gently but securely grip and lift objects weighing up to 300g. To avoid unwanted pincering, OmniGrip features are switched off my default. You'll need to define exactly what you want the arm to do, or else it won't do anything at all.
The idea is that it can pick small objects such as socks and tissues off your floor, and either move them out of the way for more complete vacuuming, or tidy them to a location of your choosing. Alternatively, because Roborock has recognized most of us are basically big kids, you can remote control the arm via the companion app, just for fun and frolics.
There's also a camera mounted on the OmniGrip's arm, to supplement the one on the front of the robovac. This helps with locating objects for grabbing and also expands the bot's security capabilities by enabling you to switch to the arm camera to get a higher-level view of your home. When not in use, the arm folds neatly back into the main body of the bot, to be hidden beneath a hatch. You'd never even know it was there.
(Image credit: Future)
This bot uses Roborock's StarSight technology for navigation, which also appears on models such as the Saros 10R and Qrevo Slim. Essentially it means that the bot is no longer reliant on a raised LiDAR puck. So with the arm tucked into its hidey-hole, the top of this robovac is completely flush, making the whole unit just 7.98cm tall. That means it can clean under low furniture that's inaccessible to taller bots.
(Image credit: Future)
The rest of the robot looks rather like many of Roborock's other premium models. Flip over the unit and you'll find a single, all-rubber roller and a side brush, both designed to avoid becoming tangled with long hair. This is achieved in the latter simply by positioning the brushes at an angle to the central axis, rather than radiating directly outwards, so the hair can slip off easily (hopefully into the main suction path). In mopping mode, both can lift up into the body of the robot, so they don't end up full of gunk.
As mentioned, as a hybrid model the Saros Z70 also has mopping abilities. These are courtesy of two spinning mop-covered discs, one of which can kick out to clean right up close to your room's baseboards. The mop pads can also lift when traversing carpet, or be dropped off in the base, so there's no danger of damp rugs at all.
(Image credit: Future)
Over the past year or so, we've seen a focus on improving how robot vacuums tackle more raised room thresholds, and Roborock is included. Like most of the brand's newest models, the Saros Z70 has an "AdaptiLift Chassis" whereby the left, right and front wheels can all raise or lower independently, enabling the bot to traverse over thresholds up to 4cm in height.
(Image credit: Future)
On to the dock. The Saros Z70's dock contains two large water tanks – one for clean water, one for dirty water – plus a smaller tank into which you can add detergent. These sit at the top and are directly accessible, rather than being hidden behind a hatch. There's also dust bag, which is hidden away.
The base is designed to be able to take care of as much robot maintenance as possible. When the robot docks, it will automatically empty its small onboard dustbin, refill its water tanks with warm water, and dispense detergent (if you've added it). It can wash the mop pads with hot (176ºF/80ºC) water – intelligently determining how dirty they are and extending cleaning times if necessary – and dry them with warm (131ºF/55ºC) air. It will also clean itself with hot (176ºF/80ºC) water, and the base is detachable for when you want to give it deeper clean. Finally, it offers speedy charging in just 2hrs 30mins.
It's one of the better-looking docks on the market right now. I miss the mirrored front that features on sister model, the Roborock Saros 10, although this matte version does mean any mess or clutter isn't reflected back at you.
Design score: 4.5 out of 5
Roborock Saros Z70 review: performance
Arm works well when manually controlled, but automation is unreliable
Vacuuming, mopping and navigation all excellent
Review model emits a rattling noise when cleaning
I started by performing the "Quick mapping" process, which was fast and painless, as I've come to expect from Roborock. The bot wandered into each room, looked around a bit, and I could see the map forming on the app as it went. Once complete, it assigned suggested rooms. It was broadly correct, but I was able to edit to split the main living space into a kitchen and living room, and re-label any spaces that weren't quite right.
Then I sent the bot off on a whole-flat vacuum and mop, using the default modes. It did a stellar job of navigating its way around. Roborock bots are generally great at this, but this is the first one I've reviewed that uses StarSight for navigation rather than traditional LiDAR. I'm happy to report I couldn't see any compromises in performance with this new system.
However, less positive was the irritating rattling sound the Saros Z70 made as it went about its business. You can hear it in the video clip below. I assume this is the result of the retracted arm or the lid; either way, it's not ideal, and not a problem I've experienced with any of the other arm-less robovacs I've tested.
OmniGrip arm
It's the USP here, so let's get on to OmniGrip arm – and whether or not it does what Roborock says it will. At time of review, the list of items suitable for pickup is short: socks, sandals (not shoes, in general), crumpled tissues and towels under 300g. Roborock plans to add more objects in due course, via firmware updates.
I started by remote-controlling the bot over to a cloth. With the cloth in its peripheral vision, it had no trouble taking over the final part itself, successfully navigating over to it and picking it up, at which point I could resume control and move it over to where I wanted it. There's potential for this to be helpful for those with mobility issues.
For the most part, however, you'd want this robot to take care of moving things autonomously. These functions can be toggled on in the "Robotic Arm options" section of the app (all are off by default), and you can ask it to move objects out of its cleaning path, so it doesn't have to skip that area, and/or to move specific items into areas designated by you. At the moment, the suggestion is that you use a (provided) cardboard Roborock "bin" for socks and crumpled paper, and then set a "shoe zone" for footwear.
The trouble is that conditions need to be perfect for the bot to actually clear anything away... so much so, that I've yet to have a successful run. First, the robot has to correctly identify objects it can move. I found this was fairly accurate in bright light, but when I tried it one evening in a less well-lit room, it identified two sandals and a sock all as "Carry out bags" and thus didn't try to pick them up at all.
Next, it needs to be able to pick up said objects. It failed to pincer a strappier sandal, and on successfully picking up another, it swung it into a doorstop, causing the strap to become twisted. I had to reset it manually (on the robot itself) following a repeated warning message.
Finally, it has to find its way to the designated areas. It seems a little unsure on this front at the moment. On one more successful run, it identified, returned to and successfully pincered some socks – only to spin around once and then put them back down 14 inches from their original position.
As I said earlier, Roborock is working on improving the arm function and I'm optimistic about the potential of this tech and the brand's ability to deliver on it. This is a new technology and Roborock is the first to bring it to market, so it isn't surprising that there are kinks to be ironed out. However, these issues make the Z70 difficult to recommend.
I'll be continuing to test this robovac and will update this review with a more complete picture of the arm's functionality once I've had more time with it.
Vacuuming
Moving on to more mundane (but still important) functions. How well does the Saros Z70 clean?
Given that the Saros Z70 boasts a massive 22,00Pa of suction power – matching the very highest you'll see anywhere – I had high hopes for this bot's cleaning ability. In general use, it seemed to do a very efficient job of vacuuming my apartment's medium-pile carpet, low-pile carpet and lino.
For a more objective view of its cleaning powers, I ran TechRadar's standard suction tests. I started by sprinkling oats and loose tea on my carpet, and setting it on a selective zone clean. There are four settings to choose from: Quiet, Balanced, Turbo and Max.
I ran one clean on Turbo, with the bot clearing almost all the oats and most of the tea, leaving only a sprinkling nestled in the carpet fibers. (The tea test is purposefully very challenging.) I then bumped up the robovac's setting to Max for a second clean, and it sucked up all but a single oat flake, and a few particles of tea. This is an excellent result.
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Oats and loose tea on the carpet before the suction test (Image credit: Future)
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The remaining tea after a single pass in Turbo mode (Image credit: Future)
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The remaining oats after a single pass in Turbo mode (Image credit: Future)
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Close-up of the tea left after a second pass in Max mode (Image credit: Future)
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The whole are after a second pass in Max mode (Image credit: Future)
I repeated the test on a lino floor. Since clearing debris off a hard floor is far less challenging, this time I used Balanced mode. It cleared almost everything on the first pass, with the second required only to capture the remnants that had been flicked around on the initial run.
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Tea and oats on a lino floor before suction test (Image credit: Future)
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What was left after a single pass in Balanced mode (Image credit: Future)
Mopping
Next, I moved on to the mopping test. For this, I spread a tiny amount of ketchup on a lino floor and left it to dry a little. You can select Low, Medium or High waterflow levels, or for more control you can opt for a "Custom" mode, which lets you select a waterflow between 1 (Slight) and 30 (extreme). That level of control is excellent, opening this bot up as an option for cleaning delicate floors that can deal with only a tiny bit of water, for example.
I used "High" waterflow, and instructed the Z70 to clean the selected zone twice. It removed some of the ketchup on the first pass, and most of the remainder on the second pass. However, a light film of ketchup remained, and needed wiping away manually. I've yet to find a robot vacuum at any price that can deal with challenging or dried-on spillages.
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Ketchup smeared on lino before mopping test (Image credit: Future)
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Remainder of ketchup smeared on lino after one pass (Image credit: Future)
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Remainder of ketchup after two passes (Image credit: Future)
In general use, I found the Z70's mopping very effective. The pads saturated fully, and I could see they were cleaning the whole floor, without leaving any gaps. One of the mop pads would also regularly kick out to clean up close to the edges of rooms and under the edge of my fridge or cabinets. I found it far more effective than the static, D-shaped pads found on some robovacs.
I also appreciated the way the robot would automatically drop off its mop pads in the dock when embarking on a vacuum run. While the auto-lifting was reliable, I'm always just a little more comfortable when there are no damp mops in the vicinity of my carpet.
Dock functionality
The dock is designed to take care of most of the Z70's maintenance needs, and in my tests I haven't had any issues with its effectiveness, save for the fact some of the functions can be a little noisy.
I'm on the fence about whether washing the mops with hot water is something that's really required of the dock – I'd still give the pads a run through the washing machine periodically, regardless of whether or not this function is included. Self-cleaning takes around 3 mins 21 secs, although it's programmed to take longer if it senses the mop pads aren't clean at the end of that.
One benefit is that charging is remarkably speedy. I was recharging a Dyson manual vacuum at the same time, and found that the Saros Z70 juiced up far quicker than the Dyson.
Performance score: 3.5 out of 5
Roborock Saros Z70 review: app
Easy to use OmniGrip arm via remote control through the app
Well-designed and usable app with lots of customization options
So many options it can be a little tricky to find them all
Most control of the robovac is like to take place via the Saros Z70's companion app. One welcome addition here is the ability to use it to remote-control the OmniGrip arm. You drive it like a remote control car, navigating by using the view from the bot that you can see on your screen. If you spot something you want it to move, you can maneuver it into the vicinity and ask the bot to pick it up. It will do this automatically, but it's also possible to precisely adjust the angles of both the arm and the pincer, if required.
In my tests, I found all this reliable and straightforward, although the incessant repetition of "Remote viewing active" will mean you won't want to play with it for too long. (I haven't yet been able to find a way to switch this off.)
You can also switch views between the camera on the front of the robot and the mounted on the arm, which offers a view from higher up. The idea is to make it more useful as a security bot while you're out of the house.
In general, Roborock has done a great job of integrating the OmniGrip options into the app, making it as easy as possible to get started using the arm. The settings are simple to find and to switch on and off; they're straightforward to understand, even if the automated performance is still a little patchy.
(Image credit: Roborock / Future)
Elsewhere, the app is well designed and intuitive. There are plenty of precise customization options – so many, in fact, that it can take a while to explore them all. If you don't want to mess around in Settings, there's a "SmartPlan" mode that automatically analyzes the environment and cleaning history and uses that information to apply the settings it thinks will work best. There's also a built-in voice assistant, which you activate by saying "Hello Rocky".
App score: 4.5 out of 5
Should you buy the Roborock Saros Z70?
Attribute
Notes
Rating
Value
Wildly expensive, but this isn't surprising given it's the only robovac with an arm right now. If you don't want the arm, you can get excellent bots for far less.
3.5 / 5
Design
Combines most of the advanced features from the best robot vacuums on the market and adds a retractible pincer arm for good measure.
4.5 / 5
Performance
Pincer works well when remote-controlled, but automation is unreliable at the moment. Vacuuming, mopping and navigation are excellent.
3.5 / 5
App
Well designed and intuitive, with arm functions front-and-center.
4.5 / 5
Buy it if...
You love a cutting-edge gadget This is the first robot vacuum on the market to feature a mechanical arm. At present, this tech doesn't feature on any other model of robot vacuum.
You have mobility issues The robotic arm has potential to be very useful for people with limited mobility. The remote-control options are straightforward and reliable.
You have a cluttered home While the arm is in need of some refining, and assuming that happens, this bot could prove very useful in cluttered homes. It has the potential to tidy as well as clean, provided your mess isn't too heavy.
Don't buy it if...
You don't need a robotic arm There's no reason to buy the Saros Z70 if you don't need the arm – Roborock (and other brands) make many other excellent arm-less bots that are significantly cheaper.
You want tried-and-tested tech The arm technology is fresh on the market, which means there are some kinks to be ironed out. For reliable performance, it might pay to wait for a later generation (or at least until Roborock has had a chance to push out some firmware updates).
Dreame L40 Ultra The L40 Ultra is far more affordable than the Z70, but is still an outstanding robot vacuum. There's no arm, but the cleaning powers are excellent and the dock will take care of almost all maintenance for you, too. The suction specs are lower than on the Z70, but ample for most people's needs.
Roborock Saros 10 The Saros 10 is the sister model to the Z70. It doesn't have a pincer arm and, as such, is cheaper (although still premium). This model uses traditional LiDAR navigation rather than the new StarSight system, but the navigation puck can pop up and down so it can still clean under low furniture.
I used the Roborock Saros Z70 over the course of two weeks as my main vacuum. During this time, I tested all the OmniGrip arm functions, as well as assessing the bot's general cleaning powers and usability. I ran TechRadar's standard vacuuming and mopping tests, using oats and loose tea, to see how its cleaning compares to other models. I also spent time digging into the app and exploring the options available. Through all this, I compared my experience with other robot vacuums I've reviewed, from other brands and at different price points.
The Aura Aspen is a 1600 x 1200 11.8-inch digital photo frame. Sitting slap bang in the middle of the market, it retails for $229 (around £175) – while it’s currently only available in the US, the company has confirmed it will launch internationally later in 2025. In return, it offers a polished performance, neat design and unlimited cloud storage, making it a pretty reasonable investment.
Setting up the Aspen could not be more straightforward. Once you’ve downloaded the Aura app, you just need to tap +New Frame and plug in the frame. To connect your frame to Wi-Fi, simply enter the numbers displayed on the frame into the app, and it’ll connect to your home network. You’ll then be able to add users to the frame or just get on with adding photos.
And that could not be easier. You can navigate through the app – just tap Add Photos and pick an unlimited number of snaps and videos from your gallery – or use the built-in share button in most photo apps to share directly with the frame. After a quick upload, they’ll start appearing on the frame's screen.
Once they do, you’ll immediately see how impressive the Aspen’s screen is. While its display isn’t the highest pixel density we’ve seen – at 11.8 inches and a 1600 x 1200 resolution, it sits at around 170ppi – its images subjectively look about as crisp as we’ve seen from any of the best digital photo frames. However, it does occasionally overstep the mark (it was pretty unforgiving of the artificial bokeh on some of my iPhone 16 Pro snaps), making me wonder if it subtly sharpens images to give them that extra-well-defined look.
(Image credit: Future)
One area it absolutely nails, however, is color reproduction. Whether it’s the marbled turquoise and azure of the Ionian Sea or the riot of peach and magenta of rhododendrons in full bloom, the Aspen made every hue in my photos look rich and enticing. And it never strays into looking artificial; it’s steadfast in its accuracy, not once overstepping the mark into that lurid oversaturation that some screens are susceptible to.
To top off this strong performance, the Aspen also has a pretty decent feature set. Alongside the ability for friends and family to share their shots to your frame, the Aspen automatically detects the orientation of the frame and rotates images accordingly. Unfortunately, while you can manually crop images to center them according to your preferences, you can’t crop them differently for landscape and portrait, or select which images you’d rather appear in either orientation. Still, few digital photo frames I’ve tested handle this perfectly, so I can absolutely forgive this here.
And the Aspen has some innovative features that few other frames offer. Perhaps the most attention-grabbing is its colorization feature, which adds color back to black-and-white photos. The results are, inevitably, a bit hit and miss, as it tends to default to the most conventional colors for everything. For example, it rendered the rock and sand of Fuerteventura in drab khaki and dull beige, rather than their true colors of ochre and gold. Meanwhile, its in-app scanner allows you to ‘digitize’ – read ‘take photos of’ – existing physical pictures. Both of these are a lot of fun to play with, even if I suspect you won’t end up using them that much.
(Image credit: Future)
When it comes to controlling the Aspen, you can, of course, use the Aura app. However, for those who prefer a more tactile method of control, the frame has two touch-capacitive bars that sit on top of the frame in either orientation. These allow you to swipe left and right to select photos from your playlist, tap to hide photos or double-tap to see image info. While this is less futuristic than the Netgear Meural Canvas II’s touchless gesture control, it also feels much more intuitive and foolproof. Put simply, it’s one of the best control mechanisms I’ve ever used when reviewing digital photo frames.
And this kind of pragmatic yet refined styling is a design language the Aura Aspen seems fluent in. Its white 1.4-inch (35mm)bezels have a matte, textured paper effect, making them feel convincingly like an authentic mounting board. Meanwhile, rather than the flimsy stick some digital photo frames rely on, its stand is a sturdy arrowhead shape fashioned out of weighty metal, meaning I never had to worry about it tipping over. The device showcases this kind of dependable, considered build quality throughout, making it feel suitably premium.
If you’re already convinced and ready to pick up the Aura Aspen, I doubt you’ll be disappointed. For those on the fence, there is one more factor to consider: its price. Yes, at $229, it’s marginally pricier than the similarly impressive Pexar 11-inch Digital Picture Frame, which retails for $159.99 / £149.99 and offers a slightly higher 221 PPI pixel density. However, the Aura offers a more premium-feeling build and unlimited uploads and storage, so which frame edges out the other is a matter of your biggest priorities.
(Image credit: Future)
Aura Aspen review: price & release date
Launched April 16, 2025
Retails for $229 (around £175)
Currently only available in the US
Launched on April 16, 2025, the Aura Aspen is available in the US now. Customers elsewhere in the world will have to wait a little longer for it, as according to Aura, its international rollout is currently pencilled in for ‘later in 2025’.
The Aura Aspen retails for $229 (around £175), positioning it slightly above the $159.99 / £149.99 Pexar 11-inch Digital Picture Frame and far more than budget options like the Aeezo Portrait 01, which you can currently pick up for as little as $39.99 / £53.19 from Amazon. The Aspen is subscription-free, however, and that price includes unlimited transfers and cloud storage, so there aren’t any hidden costs or upgrade fees included.
It's available in a single size, but offers two colorways: Ink, the charcoal-hued frame we tested here, or Clay, a neutral beige color.
(Image credit: Future)
Aura Aspen review: specs
Dimensions
12.7 x 10.1 x 1.1 inches (323 x 257 x 28mm)
Display size
11.8-inch
Resolution
1600 x 1200, 170 pixels per inch
Aspect Ratio
4:3
Touch Screen
No
Sound
Built-in speaker
Orientation
Portrait or landscape
Storage
Unlimited cloud storage
Connectivity
Wi-Fi
(Image credit: Future)
Should I buy the Aura Aspen?
Attributes
Notes
Rating
Features
From a streamlined, user-friendly app to innovative features like photo recoloring, the Aspen has a decent feature set.
4/5
Design
Excellent build quality meet gorgeous aesthetics – it’s a work of art in its own right
5/5
Performance
Colors are vibrant yet faithful, the screen is bright and glare-free and the resolution is decent, even if bokeh occasionally looks a little sharp.
4/5
Value
Not the cheapest frame on the market, but its sturdy build and excellent finish more than justify the price.
4/5
Buy it if…
You’re looking for a lush, detailed display While it doesn’t have the highest resolution on the market, what the Aspen is capable of is rather impressive, offering gorgeous color and crisp details.
You want a frame that looks as good as your snaps Aesthetically, the Aspen is a gorgeous frame – not only is it made of premium materials, but its textured mount makes it feel like an authentic, high-quality picture frame.
Don’t buy it if…
You want the best bang for your buck The Aspen is great quality, but in terms of sheer value, the $159.99 / £149.99 Pexar 11-inch Digital Picture Frame offers similarly stellar performance for marginally less investment.
You want a massive screen At 11.8 inches, the Aspen is far from the largest screen on the market. If you want a frame that will occupy a decent amount of wall space, something like the gargantuan 27-inch Netgear Meural Canvas II might serve you better.
Aura Aspen review: also consider
Aura Aspen
Pexar 11-inch Digital Picture Frame
Aura Walden
Dimensions
12.7 x 10.1 x 1.1 inches (323 x 257 x 28mm)
7.4 x 11.2 inches (18.9 x 28.4cm)
15.7 x 12.7 x 1.2 inches (399 x 323 x 30mm)
Display size
11.8-inch
11-inch
15-inch
Resolution
1600 x 1200, 170 pixels per inch
2000 x 1200, 212 pixels per inch
1600 x 1200, 133 pixels per inch
Aspect Ratio
4:3
5:3
4:3
Touch Screen
No
Yes
No
Sound
Built-in speaker
Built-in speaker
Built-in speaker
Orientation
Portrait or landscape
Portrait or landscape
Portrait or landscape
Storage
Unlimited cloud storage
32GB
Unlimited cloud storage
Connectivity
Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi, SD card, USB-A, USB-C
Wi-Fi
Pexar 11-inch Digital Picture Frame One of my go-to recommendations at this price point, the Pexar offers an excellent balance of performance and price. Its true 2K resolution means it offers a staggeringly sharp 212 PPI pixel density, while colors are striking yet faithful. It’s not quite as gorgeous to look at as the Aspen, though. Read our full Pexar 11-inch Digital Picture Frame review.
Aura Walden If you love what the Aspen is all about but fancy a little extra screen estate, the Aura Walden is a great option. After all, we named it our best premium digital photo frame for a reason: it has a larger 15-inch display while still offering the same premium build quality and ease of use. Bear in mind, though, that the increased screen size means you get a lower 133 PPI pixel density. Read our full Aura Walden review.
How I tested the Aura Aspen
Tested the product over multiple weeks
Uploaded a wide variety of photos
Have many years of experience working with photography
I tested the Aura Aspen over several weeks. First, I used its app to set up the frame, upload images, and explore its various features. I tried sending both individual snaps and bulk uploading whole folders to see how it coped in terms of transfer times.
I uploaded a variety of shots, from brilliantly hued blossoms to detailed monochrome compositions designed to help assess resolution and color performance. I also tried the frame in a range of settings to help assess its capabilities at different angles and distances, and in different light levels.
When it comes to experience, not only have I tested a wide range of digital photo frames for TechRadar, but I’m an experienced photographer, having taken over 40,000 photos on cameras from my Canon DSLR to my iPhone 16 Pro. I also spent many years working in print publishing, giving me a keen eye for image resolution and color accuracy.
Not all robot vacuums live up to the promise of effortless cleaning – but the Ecovacs Deebot X5 Pro Omni gets pretty close.
As a premium all-in-one device that vacuums, mops and even cleans itself, the X5 Pro Omni is designed to keep your home clean day to day without any help. Unlike standalone robot vacuums that need more frequent attention, the X5 Pro Omni's base station handles (almost) everything – from emptying the dustbin to scrubbing and drying the mop pads. You will have to, of course, refill the clean water as necessary and clean out the dirty-water tank.
For this review, I tested the X5 Pro Omni in a 3-bedroom home for an extended period of six months, and it did a great job overall, despite dealing with two messy adults and an even messier Great Dane.
Setting up the X5 Pro Omni is quick and easy, and mapping is fast and pretty accurate, though I had to make minor room division adjustments after the first scan. The robovac navigates well around larger objects, but does sometimes suck up objects like cables or shoelaces, or other small items the sensors miss, meaning it’s best used in spaces that are relatively clear.
Performance is excellent across all floor types, including hard floors, carpets, and rugs. Higher suction modes work best to get dirt out of carpets or pick up heavier debris, while standard mode is fine for everyday cleaning on hard floors. Battery life is impressive and the bot has no trouble doing a full clean without needing to return to the dock and charge.
(Image credit: Future)
The X5 Pro Omni base station is one of its biggest strengths, and unlike competitors like the Dreame X40 Ultra, it reliably clears the robot’s dustbin completely, even with pet hair and heavier debris.
The mop washing system is equally effective, using 70°C hot water and scrubbing to keep the pads fresh, followed by hot-air drying to prevent odors. I also found that the 4L clean- and dirty-water tanks were large enough to only need emptying and refilling once a month.
The Ecovacs app offers fairly deep customization, and tracks details like where the robot has traveled, the amount of area cleaned and the total number of sessions, but doesn’t log obstacles detected like the Roborock app is capable of doing.
Unfortunately the app can be clunky to use at times, like having to navigate into advanced robot settings just to set a scheduled clean or different cleaning modes being triggered than what is selected.
The app prompts you to handle any long-term maintenance issues, replacement parts are easy to find, and consumables last more than a reasonable length of time. In my use, the dust bag typically lasted around 60 days (in my case, mostly being filled with dog fur) and the robovac filter needed cleaning at the same time.
The main brush, side brush and mop pads show the expected wear, and have plenty of life left in them after six months of constant use. Replacement-part costs are in line with other premium robot vacuums, but I found significant price variation across different markets.
While not perfect, the X5 Pro Omni is an excellent choice for those who want a robovac that takes care of itself, with great vacuuming and mopping performance, infrequent maintenance, and a powerful auto-emptying base station.
However, if your home has lots of cables or small clutter, or if you want a robovac with smarter object detection or a nicer app, you might need to look elsewhere.
(Image credit: Future)
Ecovacs X5 Pro Omni review: Price and availability
How much does it cost? Starting from $1,299 / £1,399 / AU$2,399
When is it available? Available to buy now
Where can you get it? You can get it in the US, UK, and Australia
Launched in late 2024, the Ecovacs Deebot X5 Pro Omni is available in most major markets, including the US, UK, and Australia. You can purchase it directly from the official Ecovacs website, Amazon and leading retailers.
At full price, the X5 Pro Omni costs $1,299 / £1,399 / AU$2,399. However, Ecovacs frequently offers discounts of around 20%, bringing the price down to a much more appealing amount. And, if you happen to shop on Amazon, you could potentially find even bigger price drops during major sales.
Of course, actually using the X5 Pro Omni will incur ongoing costs, particularly for consumables like dust bags, filters, mop pads and brushes. Based on replacing consumables as per the recommendations from Ecovacs, I estimate my annual maintenance costs at around $466 / £424 / AU$606.
Some parts, like the Anti-Tangle Main Brush, are significantly more expensive in the UK and Australia than in the US. Third-party alternatives are available but, as expected, Ecovacs recommends using official parts for optimal performance. That said, the most common cost will the dust bag.
Want to know more about consumable pricing, and how parts like the brushes hold up long term? Read through the rest of the review below, or jump to Consumables and Maintenance.
The Ecovacs Deebot X5 Pro Omni consumables kit (available to purchase separately) helps reduce running costs (Image credit: Future)
Premium robovacs from competing brands tend to be priced a bit higher than the X5 Pro Omni. For example, the Dreame X40 Ultra, which features detachable mop pads and 12,000Pa suction, is listed at $1,899 / £1,299 / AU$2,799. The less fully featured Dreame L40 Ultra costs $1,499.99 / £999 but isn’t available in Australia.
Similarly, the Eufy Omni S1 Pro, which has a slimmer design but a lower 8,000Pa suction, is priced at $1,499 / £1,499 / AU$2,699, while the Roborock Qrevo Edge comes in at $1,600 / AU$2,799 (currently unavailable in the UK).
Ecovacs also has the more affordable but still premium Deebot T30 Omni, which launched at £799 / AU$1,749 (but isn’t available in the US) and is often discounted to £699 / AU$1,199.
There are cheaper robot vacuums available, but the X5 Pro Omni balances premium features, powerful suction and fairly advanced automation at a price that makes it an appealing robot vacuum, especially when on sale.
Value score: 4 / 5
Ecovacs X5 Pro Omni: Specifications
Ecovacs X5 Pro Omni review: Design and features
Squared-off front, no LiDAR turret
Base station with auto-empty, mop washing and hot-air drying
Side-extendable mop pad
Where most robot vacuums are round, the Ecovacs Deebot X5 Pro Omni features a squared-off front (D-shaped) that's a little reminiscent of the Deebot X2 Omni. Ecovacs says this design helps the bot get the side brush into corners and improve edge cleaning. The shape also means it doesn’t use an extendable side brush.
Unlike many competing models, it doesn’t have a top-mounted LiDAR turret, making it shorter and better suited to cleaning under furniture.
The bot has a floating main brush that adjusts to different floor types, and a spinning side brush helps with cleaning along edges. It also features a 15mm (0.6in) mop lift, allowing it to vacuum carpets without transferring any dampness from the mop pads, and the right mop pad extends by 4cm (1.6 inch), improving coverage along walls and corners.
For navigation, the X5 Pro Omni uses dToF (Direct Time-of-Flight) laser mapping, combined with AIVI 3D 2.0 object recognition, an RGB camera, TrueDetect 3D sensors and anti-drop sensors. In other words, it uses fancy robot vision for navigation and obstacle avoidance, and has extra cliff sensors to avoid accidentally driving down the stairs. It can also use some of these sensors to spot stains that need another mopping pass to be fully cleaned up.
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The bot includes Ecovacs' Yiko 2.0 AI voice assistant, which lets you control a range of functionality, like adjusting cleaning tasks without pulling out the app.
The X5 Pro Omni can climb obstacles up to 22mm (0.87 inch), which means it can handle some thresholds and small lips in areas with slightly different floor heights. It also offers ZeroTangle tech, where the main roller brush features comb teeth for hair removal to avoid tangles.
The physical size and weight of the X5 Pro Omni are fairly typical, and the robot itself measures 31.3 x 34.6 x 9.5cm (12.3 x 13.6 x 3.7 inch) and weighs 4.3kg (9.5lbs), while the base station (or dock) is 39.4 x 44.3 x 52.75cm (15.5 x 17.4 x 20.8 inch), with a total weight of 11kg (24.3lbs). The dock needs 50cm (19.7 inches) of clearance on both sides and 150cm (59 inches) in front for proper operation.
The dock handles dustbin emptying, mop washing with hot water, and drying with hot air. It stores dust in a 3L (101oz) bag, which is accessed through a front-opening panel for easy replacement. The clean- and dirty-water tanks each hold 4L (135oz) and are located under a top lid, making them simple to refill and empty. The mop washing tray is removable and any buildup is easily cleaned, although the Roborock Qrevo Edge one-ups the X5 Pro Omni by also featuring a self-cleaning cycle for the tray as well.
Design and features score: 4 / 5
Ecovacs X5 Pro Omni review: Performance
Handles all floor types well
Struggles to get deep into corners
Mop pads lift high enough for carpets but not thick rugs
Overall, the Ecovacs Deebot X5 Pro Omni kept my floors clean just as well as I can with a stick vacuum and mop, and rarely required any help or intervention beyond normal maintenance. Once I had cleaning schedules set up, it handled most vacuuming and mopping automatically, and I only needed to step in for occasional spot cleaning or to pick up debris that was too large or in a corner it could not reach.
The bot works at a similar pace to other robot vacuums, taking around 1.5 minutes per square meter to vacuum and 2 minutes per square meter to mop, but since it can do both tasks at the same time, a full clean doesn’t take as long as it might seem.
According to Ecovacs, the 6,400 mAh battery provides up to 224 minutes of runtime, which is enough to clean up to 400m² (4,305ft²) per charge in optimal conditions. Ecovacs doesn’t break down battery life by suction level, but runtime will vary depending on settings and home layout.
Overall performance score: 4 / 5
Mapping and obstacle avoidance
The Ecovacs Deebot X5 Pro Omni created a detailed and mostly accurate map on its first run. It didn’t require any manual adjustments to the map itself, but I did need to tweak the room divisions in the app. Mapping is fast and easy to run a second time, which I had to do after the robot got lost and mistakenly added extra rooms that didn’t exist.
Obstacle avoidance is decent but not flawless. The X5 Pro Omni generally avoids larger objects, but isn’t great at recognizing cables, shoelaces or small items like pieces of paper towel. It will avoid some small obstacles, but anything lying flat on the floor is at risk of being sucked up or dragged along. It also tends to catch and tangle cables, so keeping the floor clear makes a big difference in how well it completes a cleaning run.
While it doesn’t have dedicated pet recognition, it does a good job of avoiding spills and larger debris. The app lets you set up no-go zones, though these aren’t pet-specific. Unlike the competition like the Dreame X40 Ultra, the X5 Pro Omni does not capture images of obstacles, so there’s no way to review what it avoided after a clean.
The Ecovacs Deebot X5 Pro Omni uses a wide range of sensors for mapping and navigation. Note how they get dusty over time – following the sensor cleaning reminders from the app is important. (Image credit: Future)
During testing, it rarely got stuck as long as the floor was relatively clear. When it did, it was usually due to cables, a thick rug or getting wedged behind a laundry basket or on a dog toy. It detects when it’s stuck and stops safely, rather than pushing forward and causing damage. If that happens, it has to be manually picked up and placed back on the dock, as pressing the power button doesn’t wake it. If told to return home via the app, it sometimes gets lost along the way and needs to be rescued by hand. On the plus side, these issues came up relatively rarely during use.
To test its ability to handle small steps, I made a simulated step between rooms using a section of plywood at the maximum 22mm height, and while it sometimes took two or three attempts, the bot made it across every clean.
The app includes a remote control mode that streams video from the onboard camera, and allows manual steering of the bot, which I found useful to check on my dog when not home. The video feature didn’t work the first time I tried, but functioned fine every other time I used it. Steering the bot feels slightly laggy but still usable, making it more suited for basic navigation adjustments rather than precision movement. The built-in two-way communication feature works for real-time voice interaction, though there’s no dedicated pet-tracking mode.
Despite the quirks covered above, overall the X5 Pro Omni handles navigation fairly well and happily adapts to changing environments. It moves effectively around furniture, shoes and baskets that shift between cleaning sessions, making it a solid choice for homes where the position of larger items may change frequently.
Mapping and obstacle avoidance score: 3.5 / 5
Vacuuming
I tested the Ecovacs Deebot X5 Pro Omni on wooden floors, tiles and rugs to see how well it handled different surfaces. Along with daily cleaning, I ran a series of controlled tests using flour, sand, rice, oats, dry dog food and dry leaves, scattering them in a corner on hard floors and then on a short-pile rug.
Performance across different surfaces was excellent overall. For most debris, the X5 Pro Omni was able to pick up nearly everything in a single pass, but two passes were best for thorough cleaning. Larger or heavier debris required additional cleaning cycles, and the side brush sometimes flicked smaller particles away before the main brush could capture them. The one downside was the robot vacuum consistently failed to get all the way into corners, or fully clean along edges.
The vacuum’s suction power can be set to Max, Strong, Standard or Quiet modes. Standard mode worked well for daily cleaning of pet fur, dust and light debris, but heavier dirt and sand needed Max suction to be fully removed. Carpets and rugs benefited from higher suction levels as Standard mode sometimes left behind some debris.
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Vacuuming test with oats (Image credit: Future)
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Some oats left after a single pass (Image credit: Future)
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The robovac dustbin needs manual cleaning once a month or so (Image credit: Future)
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The robovac dustbin filter can be replaced or cleaned when clogged (Image credit: Future)
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The filter responds well to vacuuming with a stick vac (Image credit: Future)
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After an extended test with no cleaning, hair builds up on the side brush, but it does not reduce performance (Image credit: Future)
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Hair builds up on the main brush over time, but vacuuming performnce remains decent (Image credit: Future)
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Removing the trapped hair is very easy and takes less than one minute (Image credit: Future)
My home has two people who shed a lot of long hair and, in my testing, hair buildup was manageable, but it still accumulated in the side brush and main brush over time, despite the anti-tangle feature. Both the side and main brush collected a noticeable amount of hair after just a week of use, but it doesn’t end up embedded and removal is easy. The wheels and mop pads remained tangle-free, making overall upkeep straightforward, and even leaving it a month between cleaning caused no problems.
I measured the noise levels of the X5 Pro Omni with a decibel meter at a range of 1m, with multiple passes and the results averaged. Using Quiet mode, it produces 41dB, which is low enough to be unobtrusive, and the wheel-drive system is actually slightly louder than the vacuum motor.
Standard mode is only slightly louder at 42dB, making it suitable for cleaning while watching TV or having a conversation. Strong mode increases the noise level to 44dB, which is still reasonable but more intrusive. At Max suction, it reaches 52dB, which is significantly louder and comparable to a stick vacuum at moderate power.
While vacuuming, noise levels remain fairly steady, but auto-emptying at the base station is much louder, peaking at 63dB. Mopping is quieter at 40dB, and general driving noise sits at 41dB, meaning the robot isn’t exactly stealthy when moving between cleaning zones. Mop washing reaches 37dB, so while not silent, it’s quiet enough not to be disruptive.
If wanting to run the vacuum at night while sleeping, Quiet mode is an option, provided you have a closed door between you and the robovac and aren’t a light sleeper. The dock should be placed away from sleeping areas, as the auto-emptying noise is quite loud and could be disruptive if triggered at night. To avoid this you can set Do Not Disturb times, where the dock will not activate the auto-empty functionality, but this does limit vacuuming performance for larger homes as the small onboard dustbin in the bot fills up.
Vacuuming score: 4 / 5
Mopping
For mopping, the X5 Pro Omni uses water with the Ecovacs cleaning solution optionally added to the clean-water tank. I tested with plain water and adding a cleaning solution, but didn’t find the latter made a noticeable difference unless having the bot do a deeper scrub.
During my testing, I scheduled mopping once a week but found that adding extra runs during wet weather helped keep the front and back door areas free of muddy footprints.
The X5 Pro Omni does a good job on open spaces, but it doesn’t reach under furniture edges as well as a handheld mop. The right-side mop pad does extend slightly, helping it clean closer to edges, but some tight spots remain out of reach.
For tougher messes, I tested the X5 Pro Omni by spilling sauce, 'stepping' in it and letting it dry a little on my wooden floors. In most cases, one pass was enough to fully clean up the mess, but two passes were needed for the dried stains. Turning up the water-flow setting was helpful in making sure the mop pads were wet enough to tackle stubborn spots. The automatic re-mop feature worked reasonably well on tiles, but the bot struggled to tell the difference between a speck of dried sauce and darker patches of wood.
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A slightly dried sauce stain (Image credit: Future)
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The robovac moves in... (Image credit: Future)
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Mop pads deploy... (Image credit: Future)
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It swings back for a second pass (Image credit: Future)
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The sauce is entirely cleaned up (Image credit: Future)
The mop pads are washed and dried by the base station after each cleaning run, with drying time adjustable between 2, 3 or 4 hours. You can also set it to wash the mops after each room, or at 10, 15 or 20-minute intervals. The base station washes the mop pads with hot water, scrubbing them against a textured cleaning tray to remove dirt and debris. While I found that this process was very effective, the mop pads still benefit from being machine-washed periodically to give a deeper refresh. It’s also recommended to inspect the pads regularly for wear and replace them as needed.
The X5 Pro Omni isn’t designed to handle large liquid spills, as its mop pads are meant for scrubbing rather than sponging up a lot of moisture. I found that if the robot is picked up after or during mopping (for example, to extract a cable or shoelace), it may dribble water, so don’t do that over anything you need to keep dry.
One somewhat frustrating quirk is that vacuum-and-mop mode is the default setting, and it can’t be changed to vacuum-only by default. Worse, if a mop and vacuum cycle is accidentally triggered, even if canceled immediately, the robovac will still run a mop wash cycle that can’t be stopped.
Battery capacity alone isn’t the only metric though. For example, in my testing the X5 Pro Omni can do a full double-pass vacuum of a three-bedroom house (around 50 square meters of actual floor cleaning) and only drop to 73% battery capacity.
Doing a full vacuum and mop at the same time drops it to 65%, and doing a vacuum then mop takes it to 60%. This means you can expect up to around 140 square meters of vacuuming at maximum suction, and over 100 square meters of vacuuming and mopping. With the suction power set to Standard, the total amount of floor area that can be vacuumed almost doubles.
My results here also support the claim from Ecovacs that the X5 Pro Omni can handle up to 244 minutes of cleaning on a charge.
As a comparison, the Roborock Saros 10 needs to stop and charge after three rooms when set to the maximum suction. Part of the difference is that the Saros 10 has a higher maximum suction power of 22,000Pa, vs 12,800Pa for the X5 Pro Omni, and higher suction does mean higher battery consumption.
One annoyance is that the X5 Pro Omni does not give the exact battery percentage when cleaning, as the Ecovacs app just displays 100 in the battery indicator. It’s not until the vacuum returns to the dock and you start another clean immediately that it updates the remaining capacity. Other times, the indicator works as expected.
The X5 Pro Omni will return to the dock to top up the battery as needed when cleaning. While a full charge can take over 4 hours, getting back to 50% only takes about 30 minutes.
Battery life score: 4.5 / 5
Dock performance
The Ecovacs Deebot X5 Pro Omni comes with a 3L (101 oz) dust bag, rated for up to 60 days of use. How long it actually lasts depends on your home’s size and how much debris is collected, but in my case, the manufacturer’s estimate was fairly accurate. The robovac’s 250ml (8.45 oz) dustbin is emptied automatically when full, or you can set it to Extra mode for more frequent emptying – useful for homes with pets or a lot of dust buildup.
Unlike the underwhelming auto-empty suction from the Dreame X40 Ultra's dock, the X5 Pro Omni’s base station has a well-thought out airflow design and reliably empties the dustbin. During testing, I didn’t experience any clogging issues within the dock itself, but blockages inside the robot's dustbin occasionally prevented proper emptying which, in turn, affect vacuuming up more dirt until manually cleared.
The robovac is supposed to detect when the dock fails to empty the bin, but I found these warnings to be inconsistent. There were times when the bin was clogged but the app never alerted me, so I had to manually check the dustbin after cleaning to ensure everything was working properly.
Increasing the emptying frequency can help avoid any potential issues, but in my use, clogging wasn’t a frequent issue unless I had accidentally left larger debris that the bit could suck up.
In testing, the mop washing and drying system worked well to keep the pads clean and stop any odors forming between uses. The dock heats water to 70°C (158°F) and pumps it through a wash system to rinse the mop pads, scrubbing them against a textured cleaning surface to remove dirt and grime. After washing, the dirty water is stored in a container in the top of the base station, and it dries the mop pads with hot air, with drying times adjustable to two, three or four hours. The scrubbing system is highly effective, and the mop pads always came out looking fresh after cleaning cycles and there was never an issue with smell.
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The dust bag is easy to replace via the front of the base station (Image credit: Future)
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The clean and dirty water tanks live under the top lid (Image credit: Future)
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Emptying the dirty mop water is as simple as opening the top of the dock, lifting the container out by the handle and emptying it in a sink. I only did this once a month and the dirty water did tend to smell when being tipped out, but the container was easy to rinse out and didn’t retain any odor. The clean-water container uses the same design and can be topped up at a sink, then put back into the dock.
The dock's noise levels vary depending on the task. Measured from 1 meter away (3.3 feet) mop washing is noticeable at 37dB but not disruptive, though the pumps are briefly quite noisy (46 dB) when running. The drying fan produces a low hum for a few hours but isn’t intrusive. Auto-emptying is the loudest part of the process at 63dB and although it only lasts 10 seconds, it’s still very disruptive if the station is located in a main living area or if done at night.
For households with pets or heavy dirt buildup, the dock performs well and reliably empties debris, though owners should occasionally check for clogs in the bot’s dustbin since warnings aren’t always accurate. Smaller objects left on the floor can cause issues, but aside from that, the X5 Pro Omni’s base station is a very reliable and hands-free system.
Dock performance score: 4.5 / 5
Ecovacs X5 Pro Omni review: App control
Reliable scheduled cleaning
Quick access to cleaning reports and history
Certain settings are hidden in sub-menus
The Ecovacs Deebot X5 Pro Omni can be controlled using the physical buttons on top of the robot, but the app is critical for unlocking its full potential. It provides access to the home map, lets you adjust cleaning settings and offers deep customization of scheduled cleans.
The app includes a cleaning history and reporting section, which provides a visual map of where the bot traveled during each clean. It also records the time of each session, the area cleaned and the total duration. Over time, this builds into a comprehensive cleaning log, showing the total square footage cleaned across all sessions, the number of cleans completed and total runtime. However, one notable omission is that the app does not log obstacles detected during a cleaning session, which means there's no easy way to see what might have blocked the robot mid-clean.
Most frequently used settings are easy to access, but some features are buried in sub-menus. For example, scheduling cleans is hidden under Advanced settings, and certain options are locked while the robot is in operation – like when manually triggering a dustbin empty, other settings can’t be adjusted until the process is finished.
Scheduled cleaning is very reliable, and in my testing, the X5 Pro Omni only failed to start once without explanation. If a scheduled clean is missed, the robovac resumes correctly at the next scheduled time. However, one frustrating issue is that if you set a clean for later in the day, the app doesn’t indicate that it’s actually scheduling it for the next day – only showing this after the schedule has been set.
Perhaps my least favorite bug is when doing spot cleans. If I sent the bot to vacuum up a mess, then later wanted to do another one-off clean, the app would show the previous vacuum-only mode was still selected – but when hitting start, it would actually trigger a vacuum and mop, not vacuum-only. Even if you canceled it immediately, it would spend a few minutes running a mop wash cycle before you could get it to do the actual vacuum.
The app also sometimes didn't properly register where the bot was or what it was doing. This was frustrating, because if you tried to trigger a clean, it would say the bot needed to return to the dock first – even though it showed the bot already in the dock on the app. Force quitting and restarting the app would fix the issue, but it was an annoying extra step.
To rule out an issue with my phone (a Pixel 9 Pro XL), I also tried the app on other mobiles and saw similar problems. Apple users may have a different experience – my colleague didn’t run into the same issues when using the app on an iPhone during her Ecovacs T30 Omni review, for example.
The app looks good, but can be frustrating at times (Image credit: Future)
Another small but unnecessary annoyance is that even when Do Not Disturb times are set (muting the robovac), it mostly works, but still loudly makes some announcements. For example, if the bot gets stuck during the day, and you arrive home late and need to manually place it back in the base station during the Do Not Disturb time, it loudly proclaims “start charging”. Another issue is that after turning down the voice volume to a quiet level, the "task stopped" announcement is still made at the loudest setting.
During testing I found the Wi-Fi connectivity to be stable, but it’s worth noting the robovac only supports 2.4GHz networks. I had some quirks when using it with a mesh network, but the issues were hard to pin down to a specific cause. That said, setting up a dedicated 2.4GHz-only network for the robovac helped make it more reliable.
During testing, I went on holiday, leaving a family member to house and dog sit. The robovac initially worked fine, but eventually stopped performing scheduled cleans. Despite easy remote access via the app, I couldn’t identify the problem and had to manually trigger cleans each day remotely.
After returning, I discovered the Do Not Disturb times had mysteriously reversed from 8pm–8am to 8am–8pm, preventing morning cleans. The app does give error notifications (but does not save them to the log), but I was unaware due to a daylight-saving bug that meant the scheduled clean was being triggered an hour earlier than I expected.
In terms of usability, the app provides a similar level of control to other brands, though some robovacs with more features offer slightly more customization. However, occasional lag and loading issues make the experience feel less polished than it should be. The voice and volume inconsistencies are also quite jarring, and take a little of the premium shine off the experience.
I also wish it had an easy delayed start option – like a quick way to select a one-time clean at a set time later in the day – especially because setting same-day scheduled cleans is not possible.
Still, despite these frustrations, the app is mostly reliable and offers a good balance of customization and control, and hopefully Ecovacs will continue to work on improving the experience over time.
App control score: 2.5 / 5
Ecovacs X5 Pro Omni review: Consumables and maintenance
The Ecovacs Deebot X5 Pro Omni comes with one dust bag, two side brushes, and a set of washable mop pads in the box – but no cleaning fluid is included. While this is enough to get started, you’ll need to order replacement dust bags within 60 days, and other consumables including filters, mop pads and side brushes will need replacing on a set schedule.
Under normal use, the dust bag should be replaced every 60 days, side brushes and filters every few months and mop pads periodically based on wear.
Consumables can be purchased through the Ecovacs website and third-party retailers like Amazon, though availability varies slightly between regions. For example, the quarterly maintenance kit is not available in the US, while six-pack dust bag sets are only sold in the US and not in the UK or Australia.
The app tracks the lifespan of consumables by usage percentages and notifies users when replacements are recommended. These estimates tend to be on the conservative side and, in my testing, parts like the main brush and mop pads lasted longer than suggested, though this will of course depend on your usage.
Routine maintenance is straightforward, with the main brush and robovac dustbin checked weekly, side brushes and sensors every two weeks, and filters and mop pads cleaned or replaced monthly. Hair buildup occurs over time, but manual removal is simple, and no issues were noted with hard-to-reach areas during testing.
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Despite the anti-tangle features, hair builds up on the main brush over time (Image credit: Future)
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The side brush collects hair, but is easily removed and cleaned (Image credit: Future)
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The front wheel is well designed and does not trap hair (Image credit: Future)
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The main drive wheels do a great job of avoiding any tangles (Image credit: Future)
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Removing hair from the main brush is easy – just cut along one side and it slides free (Image credit: Future)
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The mop wash station is self cleaning, but does build up debris over time (Image credit: Future)
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The mop wash parts can be removed for a deeper clean in the sink every few months (Image credit: Future)
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The dust bag seals when removed, which avoids any mess (Image credit: Future)
Based on my usage in a small 3-bedroom home, I estimate consumables will cost up to $465.79 / £423.85 / AU$606.30 per year. For larger homes, costs will scale accordingly. Some notable price differences exist between regions – for example, the anti-tangle main brush is 88.9% more expensive in the UK and 54.9% more expensive in Australia compared to the US. However, Australia tends to have lower prices overall for consumables, while the UK has some of the highest accessory costs.
Third-party consumables are available, though Ecovacs advises using official parts for optimal performance. I did not test any non-official replacements.
With regular maintenance and timely consumable replacements, I found the X5 Pro Omni quite easy to keep in top condition and ongoing costs are similar to other premium robovacs. Be aware, though, there can be significant regional price variations.
Consumables and maintenance score: 3.5 / 5
Should I Buy the Ecovacs X5 Pro Omni?
Buy it if…
You want a powerful auto-emptying system
The X5 Pro Omni’s self-cleaning dock has strong suction and reliably empties the robot’s dustbin, and never clogged during testing.
You want a hands-free mopping system
With built-in water tanks, automatic mop washing and hot air drying, the X5 Pro Omni keeps its mop pads clean with minimal effort on your part.
You want the latest features in a robot vacuum
The X5 Pro Omni offers powerful suction, smart mapping and an advanced all-in-one dock, making it one of the more feature-packed robot vacuums in its class.
Don’t buy it if…
You have a lot of small objects on the floor
While the X5 Pro Omni can avoid most large obstacles, it struggles with cables, shoelaces or flat items like paper towels, and may get stuck if the floor isn’t kept clear.
You only have carpet
The X5 Pro Omni has a strong vacuuming system and mop lift, but if your home is fully carpeted, a vacuum-only robovac will save you money without sacrificing cleaning performance.
You want a polished app experience
While the level of customization and control is decent, the app feels clunky and unpolished at times, and I ran into many small but frustrating issues during my testing.
Also consider
Not sold on the Ecovacs X5 Pro Omni? Below are a few alternatives that are worth considering.
Dreame L10s Ultra This slightly older model doesn’t have quite as many features as the X5 Pro Omni and isn’t as powerful, but it’s still a great option and can often be found for less than half the price. Read our full Dreame L10s Ultra review
Eufy Omni S1 Pro One of the few robovacs that can compete directly with the X5 Pro Omni, the Eufy Omni S1 Pro is a feature-packed alternative with an innovative rolling cylinder mopping system. Read our full Eufy Omni S1 Pro review
Ecovacs Deebot T30S Combo While not quite as good at dodging cables as the Ecovacs X5 Pro Omni, the Deebot T30S Combo stands out with a stick vacuum that slots into the side of the its dock, keeping it ready to go for any extra cleanup. Read our full Ecovacs Deebot T30S Combo review
How I tested the Ecovacs X5 Pro Omni
I used the X5 Pro Omni as my main vacuum cleaner for six months
My testing space included hard floors and carpet
I performed specific grain-size and wet-spill tests
I used the Ecovacs X5 Pro Omni daily for six months in a home with a dog and two adults, and with polished wooden floors, tiles, carpet and medium-pile rugs. The weather during the test period included both wet and dry conditions. I started with an initial deep clean, followed by ongoing daily vacuuming, with mopping once or twice a week – plus extra spot cleans as needed. I tested both the automatic mode and manually customized cleans using schedules and shortcuts.
I documented cleaning performance over the testing period and conducted a range of specific tests with different debris sizes to further gauge vacuuming ability. I also tested dry and wet spills to evaluate the mopping prowess. Additionally, I strategically placed debris – including fur, leaves and hair – in problem areas like corners to assess the robovac’s effectiveness in daily use.
During my testing period, I changed the base station vacuum bag 4 times, manually cleaned the mop cleaning system in the base station, and performed the full range of maintenance checks as prompted by the app.
Roborock has been making excellent robot vacuums for a while now, with the Qrevo series stepping it up over the Q and S series bots. With more suction power and a wider feature set compared to older models, the Roborock Qrevo Slim and Roborock Qrevo Curv performed really well in our tests. The Roborock Qrevo Edge joined its siblings in January 2025 and is quite effective at autonomous cleaning… provided you use it for the daily (or regular) cleaning tasks.
It’s essentially the love child of the Curv and the Slim: it uses the exact same technology as the former with an identical bot, but inherits the self-cleaning dock design from the latter. So instead of a curvy dock, it’s a more traditional design that’s simple to set up and use.
It’s a nice-looking dock, but I question its lack of proper sealing. The lid of the dirty-water tank in the unit sent to me for this review had tiny gaps even after being clipped closed and I found that if I didn't clean it out soon after a mopping run, it would begin to smell.
It’s similar with the dust bag too, wherein I found that it can emit a slight odor when the bin in the bot is being cleaned out automatically. That means you might have to replace the dust bag sooner than necessary which, in turn, will increase the ongoing costs of running the Qrevo Edge.
There’s not a lot to complain about when it comes to the robot vacuum’s cleaning prowess as long as it’s not expected to handle tough spills. There’s 18,500Pa of suction power, which I found to be good enough to clean up a carpet with hair or fur tangled in the fibers, although a few strands always get left behind as robot vacuums are meant as ongoing maintenance cleaners rather than being the primary cleaning appliance.
It’s also quite good at picking up fine powders and slightly larger debris like oats, but it regularly misses room edges. That’s not unique to the Qrevo Edge but, given its name, I was expecting slightly better edge-cleaning performance.
Mopping, too, is also good when it comes to day-to-day cleaning on hard floors and I found it was excellent at sensing the change in floor type to raise its mop pads when necessary. However, despite the extending mop pads, it often missed about an inch along the edges of a room during my testing, and it can spread tough wet spills (like ketchup or milk) across a floor if you aren’t careful with setting up the correct cleaning routine.
Roborock claims that the Qrevo Edge can handle thresholds of up to 4cm, which is true, but it's worth noting that it takes time to cross over, trying to determine the best angle for it and the amount of power it needs to push itself over.
While it excels at being an effective autonomous cleaner for the daily or regular cleaning tasks – and its SmartPlan feature is a game changer in those circumstances – its inability to tackle tough spills when doing a zone clean and get to room edges consistently makes it hard to recommend at its premium price point.
The Roborock Qrevo Edge is a good bot, but it belies its name when it comes to edge cleaning (Image credit: Sharmishta Sarkar / TechRadar)
Roborock Qrevo Edge review: price & availability
List price: $1,599.99 / AU$2,799 (“coming soon” to the UK)
Launched: January 2025
Available: In select markets, with wider availability later in the year
The Qrevo Edge was released a few days before the Roborock Saros 10 series was announced at CES 2025 in January. In fact, the Edge is now part of a duo, with the Qrevo EdgeC joining it in March at a lower price point and with some missing features.
The Roborock Qrevo Edge will set you back $1,599.99 / AU$2,799 in the US and Australia at full price, but it’s already discounted down to $1,299.99 / AU$2,499 when purchased directly from the Roborock online store. Some authorized retailers are also offering the same or a better discount in most markets where it’s already available.
UK pricing and availability is yet to be confirmed, but it’s definitely being added to the Roborock catalogue as it’s listed as “coming soon” on the British website.
Despite the discount, the Qrevo Edge is still an expensive robot vacuum cleaner. That’s exacerbated when you consider that the more powerful Roborock Saros 10 (22,000 Pa suction compared to 18,500 Pa in the Edge) is the same price in the US and AU$200 more in Australia. It costs £1,499.99 in the UK. In fact, the Saros 10 has a retractable LiDAR puck that allows it to go under furniture to clean, potentially making it a better investment.
You will need to consider ongoing costs as well. The dust bag will be the most frequent purchase you make but, at some point, you will need to replace the mop pads too due to wear and tear. These aren’t too expensive as you won’t need to replace them too often (the dust bag has a 2.7L capacity that could last you 2-3 months, depending on use), but if you take into consideration the Roborock detergent for mopping, that will quickly add up.
If you’re after good value, something like the Ecovacs Deebot T30 Omni (or the T30 Pro Omni) would be ideal. It cleans just as well as the Qrevo Edge, if not better, although it lacks some of the features you’ll find on the Roborock. Still, the bang for buck you get from similar models to the Deebot is a lot more.
• Value score: 3.5 out of 5
The front of the robot has a camera and a light, alongside navigation sensors (Image credit: Sharmishta Sarkar / TechRadar)
Roborock Qrevo Edge review: specs
Roborock Qrevo Edge review: design
Sleek, modern dock
Easy to set up, but may require frequent cleaning
Extending side mop and brush, anti-tangle split main roller
The Roborock Qrevo Edge’s design isn’t particularly standout – it’s nothing we haven’t seen before – however, its white body (dock and robot) makes it look sleeker than its actual footprint would suggest.
The robot is of a similar size to other models, and the dock’s tray – where it sits to get cleaned and recharge – barely extends out beyond its radius, giving the impression of not taking up too much space.
It’s quite a tall dock though, so you may not be able to tuck it under a countertop or kitchen island, like you can with the Ecovacs Deebot T30 Omni, and you’ll need a good amount of clearance to lift the two tanks out of the dock. So it’s going to need a little open space around it.
The dock is nice looking, but just doesn't exude 'premium-ness' (Image credit: Sharmishta Sarkar / TechRadar)
Robot design
The bot in particular will be very familiar to anyone who’s ever seen a robovac before, let alone used one. The most obvious feature on the circular robot is the puck-like LiDAR housing on the top. The puck has the Roborock logo in a silver-grey color that adds a touch of class.
Also on top is a magnetic cover to keep the 325ml onboard dustbin out of sight, with cutouts for the LiDAR puck and two buttons. You won’t need to access the dustbin much – only to clean the filter every once in a while or if the self-empty function fails. Even the buttons need to be used sparingly.
On the front there's a camera and additional navigation elements. You can use the camera to run security checks while you’re away or look in on your pets remotely. There’s also a light on the front that comes on automatically if the robot is cleaning in a dark area or room.
A semicircular bumper protects the front, and it’s got just enough give to absorb bumps into furniture and larger obstacles.
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The side brush is attached to a flexible arm for better edge cleaning... (Image credit: Sharmishta Sarkar / TechRadar)
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..and the bristle angle helps too (Image credit: Sharmishta Sarkar / TechRadar)
The undercarriage has a lot going on. Two large wheels catch your attention first and these help the Qrevo Edge traverse thresholds of up to 4cm high. Roborock calls this AdaptiLift, which has been inherited from the Curv and found its way into the newer Saros 10 as well. There’s also a smaller wheel towards the front of the robot for better maneuverability.
The main roller brush is quite unlike any other I’ve seen before. Instead of being a single bar, it’s made up of two pieces and split in the middle. Both halves have bristles and fins and, to avoid getting hair and fur tangled in said bristles, Roborock says the split design helps strands get pushed to the middle from where they’re sucked into the bin.
There’s also a spinning side brush and, again, it’s designed differently to what’s commonly seen on other brands. The brush has only two sets of long bristles (compared to the usual three), both curved to avoid hair entanglements and push dirt and debris towards the main roller.
The arm that the brush is affixed to can extend outward to give the bristles a longer reach. Roborock calls this FlexiArm technology and it’s also used to extend the mop pads as well.
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The central brush is designed to push hair or fur towards the middle... (Image credit: Sharmishta Sarkar / TechRadar)
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..which means the roller is essentially two pieces (Image credit: Sharmishta Sarkar / TechRadar)
Again, it’s a familiar design for the mops – two circular pads attached to the plates via some seriously strong Velcro. During my testing I found that the pads extend out individually, never both at the same time as I’ve seen on other brands, and both can be raised 10mm to avoid medium and high-pile carpets from getting wet.
Unlike other premium models like the Dreame X40 Ultra, the mops don’t detach if you want a vacuum-only run.
There is, of course, a small water reservoir tucked away somewhere inside the robot, but the design is such that you can’t see it at all. It gets filled automatically from the clean-water tank in the dock every time the bot needs to do a mopping session.
A magnetic lid covers the onboard dustbin, but has cutouts for the LiDAR puck and the control buttons (Image credit: Sharmishta Sarkar / TechRadar)
Dock design
Like many other premium all-in-one robot vacuums, the Qrevo Edge’s self-cleaning dock is a do-it-all pit stop.
It houses two water tanks inside, both of which can be pulled up from the top. They’re marked by different silver drops on a corner of their lids to differentiate them – one for clean water, the other collects dirty mop water.
Both look identical at first glance, but closer inspection reveals a small difference in shape, which allows the clean-water tank to have a larger capacity of 4L compared to 3.5L of dirty water. That’s quite a bit and should allow for two mopping runs of an average two-bedroom home, if not more.
If there's any issue with the tanks – whether the clean water needs refilling or one of them hasn't been placed back correctly – the indicator light on front of the dock turns red. You will occasionally get a voice prompt, plus there'll be a notification on the app.
The tanks close via a hinged lid that clips into place, but the seal isn’t as good as I’ve seen in other all-in-one robovac models. This allowed a bit of nasty odor to escape when I forgot to clean out the dirty water after one cleaning session, meaning you might want to ensure the left-hand tank is washed out as soon as possible.
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The internals of the dock are well designed, allowed it to be as low maintenance as possible (Image credit: Sharmishta Sarkar / TechRadar)
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The lid of the dirty-water tank doesn't close properly, which could lead to you smelling nasty odors (Image credit: Sharmishta Sarkar / TechRadar)
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Each tank is denoted by a droplet icon – one for clean... (Image credit: Sharmishta Sarkar / TechRadar)
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..and the other for dirty mop water (Image credit: Sharmishta Sarkar / TechRadar)
Below the water tanks is a covered nook for the dust bag. The cover comes off very easily and replacing the bag is also just as easy.
As with other all-in-ones, the base tray that the robot sits on has ridged sides, which allows the mop pads to be scrubbed when they’re being washed. Not only can the dock refill the bot’s onboard water reservoir, empty the bin, wash the mop pads with hot water (167ºF / 75ºC), then dry them with warm air (113ºF / 45ºC), but it can also self-clean that tray.
Overall build quality isn’t too bad, but the lids on the water tanks not closing properly takes away from the premium-ness of the whole design. Moreover, the plastic dock – a material that's not uncommon – just doesn’t quite exude oomph despite the silver details. It’s not that it looks cheap, it just doesn’t look… well, premium.
• Design score: 4 out of 5
Access to the dust bag is easy, as it changing it out. It's the same bag as used in the S-series Roborock robovacs (Image credit: Sharmishta Sarkar / TechRadar)
Roborock Qrevo Edge review: performance
Excellent vacuuming on higher settings; can handle tangled hair in carpet fibers
Mopping also very good on higher settings, but regularly misses edges
SmartPlan is efficient in terms of navigation and battery life, but the automated cleaning may not suffice
If there’s one thing Roborock does well, it’s providing an easy setup for its robot vacuums. My colleagues have said previously that they’ve not faced any setup issues with other models from the brand and it was the same here. In fact, you don’t even need the manual to get you started, it’s all quite intuitive.
As soon as the robovac was connected to my Wi-Fi network, I checked how much battery it had and immediately sent it off on its initial mapping run. This took just six minutes to complete in a test space measuring approximately 40sqm and containing a carpeted bedroom and tiles in the rest of the apartment.
The initial map was quite accurate in the layout of the test space, and I was then able to edit the rooms: adding furniture and dividing open-plan spaces into their correct room names.
The test space was single-storey, so I wasn’t able to see how well the cliff sensors function. It also had no pets, so I can’t comment on how well the Qrevo Edge’s pet avoidance features work, but I conducted all the other standard TechRadar tests to see how it held up.
The Qrevo Edge is very good at identifying changing floor types (Image credit: Sharmishta Sarkar / TechRadar)
Vacuuming
The Qrevo Edge’s 18,500 Pa suction power shows itself off quite well when it comes to its vacuuming prowess. I found it very hard to fault it, even when on lower suction settings – albeit on hard floors that aren’t too dirty. The higher suction options are very effective on carpets, even those with entangled hair within the fibers.
As with other Qrevo machines, there are five power levels to choose from: Quiet, Balanced, Turbo, Max and Max+. Importantly, the app allows you to choose from just a single vacuum-only run or two, meaning it can take on some tough jobs.
As good as the Qrevo Edge is at vacuuming, I do have to note that you shouldn’t expect perfection. I found that hair on carpets are mostly sucked up – say about 98% of the strands – but some will remain. This is more so if you happen to have hair, fur or dirt along the edges of a carpeted room as the side brush just doesn’t have the force to gather these up and pull them towards the central roller.
The proof is usually in the pudding and when I looked at how much dirt the Qrevo Edge collected after its first vacuum-only run (done at the Max+ setting) in a single carpeted room, I was impressed that its higher suction did a far superior job than the 11,000 Pa Ecovacs Deebot T30 Omni that it replaced in my home.
Even the Turbo and Max modes do a good job on carpets, provided you don’t have pets shedding on them copiously – they’re effective for the usual dust-sucking chores. And I had no issues with tangled hair on the main roller brush.
To test how well the Qrevo Edge can handle other kinds of dirt and debris, I conducted TechRadar’s standard tests by sprinkling some oats, tea dust (from a teabag) and tea leaves onto a mid-pile carpet.
I first set the Qrevo Edge to do just a Zone clean for the carpet only, which defaults to the SmartPlan setting wherein the bot chooses its own suction mode depending on floor type. As you can see from the video clip below, it does a pretty good job, although its navigation in this mode is a little erratic.
While all the oats and tea leaves were cleaned up, I could see some tea dust still on the carpet. As a comparison, I sprinkled a little more dust from a teabag and used my Dyson V15s Detect Submarine in Auto mode to clean it up and saw similar results. I repeated the tea dust test with the Qrevo Edge on the carpet in Max+ mode and found no reason to complain.
It’s a different story on hard floors though. For the exact same test performed on tiles, I found that the side brush scattered the larger debris (oats) when doing a Zone clean on the default SmartPlan settings. The scattering happens on all other settings, but when changed to doing a 2x vacuum at Max, it did a better job.
Where it fails quite badly is edge cleaning. I expected most of the tea dust I had scattered along a room edge on a hard floor to be picked up, but sadly that wasn’t the case. Even running it on a 2x vacuum-only run at Max+ made no difference. I had to use the crevice tool on my Dyson to clean up the tea dust remaining on the floor.
Moreover, if you have gaps between tiles or wood panels on your floor, fine dust will invariably get moved into the grouting or the gaps and even the Max+ setting does nothing to clean that up. Larger debris getting caught in those spots, though, will get cleaned, provided you use the maximum suction setting.
To be fair to the Qrevo Edge, though, robot vacuums weren’t designed to be your primary cleaner, but rather for ongoing day-to-day or regular cleans. You'll still want to have one of the best vacuum cleaners on hand for the more difficult jobs, particularly for carpets and sucking up dirt from nooks and crannies.
Mopping
Like its vacuuming prowess, the Qrevo Edge does a good job of mopping too – again, only if it’s not taxed by too many spills. The regular cleaning jobs of dusty footprints and spilt water is excellent.
This mopping performance is helped by four water-flow levels – Low, Medium, High and Custom/Gentle. I found the Low and Medium weren't very effective for the kind of tiles I had in my test space, as the pads didn’t saturate enough for my needs and barely dampened the floor. While this is excellent for sensitive floor types (like some wood panels), the High setting was perfect for me and that’s what I left it at for the various Routines I set up via the app.
The Custom setting, while allowing you to choose the water-flow level, doesn’t ‘scrub’ as well as the other three and that, again, is good for sensitive floor types. If you do need a better clean, you can set the robot to sense areas of excessive dirt and it will automatically return to do a second mop after it has washed the pads following the first attempt. During my testing, though, this feature failed most of the time.
Depending on your cleaning needs, you can set the bot to mop-only, vacuum then mop, or do both at once. Personally, I’m not fond of the last option as I'm a little paranoid that the mop pads will pick up more dirt and won't get washed properly.
I found that it was also a good idea to assign the order in which it cleans rooms as this can reduce track marks from its own wheels over an area it has just mopped – this can be done in the app by just editing the saved map.
Like I did for vacuuming, I performed a couple of mopping tests to see how well the Qrevo Edge does.
While we usually use ketchup in our standard mopping test, I had none at the time and used oyster sauce instead. I allowed a small spill to dry out a little, but also plopped some of the fresh viscous liquid on another part of the floor to test the scrubbing action on dry and wet messes.
Even with the water-flow rate set at High, the Qrevo Edge had minimal effect on the dried-out sauce on the Standard ‘route’. The route is how the robot moves through a space while cleaning and there are four options for both vacuuming and mopping. After setting the robot to do a 2x mop run in the Deep+ ‘route’ setting, though, most of the dried oyster sauce was cleaned, but not fully. I ended up wiping that spot myself.
No matter how often I mopped my floors, the dirty water was... very dirty (Image credit: Sharmishta Sarkar / TechRadar)
Cleaning up a wet spill was another matter altogether. On a default Zone run (which uses the SmartPlan option), the sauce was mopped but, of course, got stuck on the side brush (I’m glad I was able to rinse it), smeared the undercarriage and the mop pads left long, brown streaks as the bot moved on.
After allowing it to go back to the dock for a mop wash, I immediately set the Qrevo Edge to a 2x mop at the High water setting to clean up the remaining mess, which it did well.
I’d expect situations like these are extreme and most users wouldn’t allow their robot vacuum to encounter such messes, but it’s worth noting that it doesn’t handle bigger dry messes well either. For example, I sprinkled copious amounts of talcum powder on a wet bathroom floor, then allowed that to dry completely. On a High water-flow setting, white streaks were left on the bathroom floor, much like the oyster sauce.
While I can’t fault the Qrevo Edge’s mopping issues as it’s not unique to it, I regularly found that it didn’t go all the way to the edge of a room despite the extended mop pads. More often than not, about an inch of floor space along skirting boards would remain unmopped. And that was disappointing, particularly since this robot vacuum comes at such a high price and, conspicuously, has 'Edge' in its name.
Obstacle avoidance could be better – the Qrevo Edge couldn't identify a cable in its path (Image credit: Sharmishta Sarkar / TechRadar)
Navigation and obstacle avoidance
For a day-to-day regular cleaning run, I found the Qrevo Edge’s navigation to be impeccable. There are two Routes (or paths) you can select in the app when it’s vacuuming or vacuuming and mopping at once – Fast and Standard – but you’re provided four when you opt for mop only – Fast, Standard, Deep and Deep+. These Routes determine how much of the floor gets covered and, after testing all of them, I found that the Qrevo Edge follows the chosen Route correctly.
The Route you opt for will, of course, affect battery life and the app gives you a warning every time you change navigation. Despite that, I personally preferred the Standard (for vacuuming) and Deep for mopping as the results were the best.
Importantly, selecting a 2x cleaning run will automatically prompt the Qrevo Edge to clean in the opposite directions for the two sessions, which I thought resulted in even better results than a single Deep mopping session.
The only reason it didn't chew up the cable was because it had already partially swallowed a sock (Image credit: Sharmishta Sarkar / TechRadar)
The only time navigation was erratic was if I had chosen a Zone clean for a quick session, which defaults to the SmartPlan navigation. This uses deep learning to determine which part of the zone or room the Qrevo Edge should clean first and I found its movements weren’t as precise on a carpet. It was slightly better on hard floors though.
Still, the SmartPlan navigation is quite efficient. Having learned that there is a medium-pile rug in my living room, for example, the Qrevo Edge always did a vacuum-only clean first on the rug, then went back to the dock to wash its mop pads to clean the rest of the tiled living-room floor. On the rug, though, it wouldn’t always move in straight lines, but I didn’t see that it missed any spots.
A lightweight obstacle just gets pushed around as it moves (Image credit: Sharmishta Sarkar / TechRadar)
The Qrevo Edge’s obstacle avoidance could be better though. While it manages to identify some obstacles in its path and place a marker on the map, this functionality wasn’t consistent. To test this further, I placed its own packing box in its path once and it didn’t add a marker on the map, but it did so for a chair I had moved from its original location.
To check its effectiveness avoiding smaller objects, I ran the standard TechRadar tests of placing a cable, a sock, a slipper (aka flip-flop or thong, depending on which part of the world you live in) and a shoe in the robot’s path.
It nearly swallowed the little sock, which got stuck on the central roller, and because of the sock taking up space on the undercarriage, it ran over the cable without getting entangled. The first time it encountered the slipper, it went over it, but the subsequent times it just pushed the lightweight rubber footwear along in front of it. The shoe was the only obstacle it managed to avoid each time it encountered it on its path.
Its camera quality isn't the best, but it's good enough for a security check (or looking in on your pets if you have any). You can even use the call button to speak to your kids or pets (Image credit: Sharmishta Sarkar / TechRadar)
This shouldn’t come as a surprise though as most robot vacuums have difficulty with the smaller obstacles and would chew up a slim charging cable or a sock. That’s why all brands recommend you pick up the smaller items before you do a cleaning run.
That said, Roborock does call out the Qrevo Edge’s obstacle avoidance, so I expected more. It’s perfectly fine for general cleaning, but the performance doesn’t quite match its high price tag.
The robot can use its onboard camera to take a picture of the obstacle and, when you tap on the corresponding marker (if any) on the map in the app, it will come up. Every time I wanted to try this feature with a specific obstacle, it didn’t place a marker on the map. The only time it worked was for a chair that is permanently a part of the map.
Dock performance
Other than the bit of bad odor I could smell when I hadn’t cleaned out the dirty water the day of the cleaning run, I can’t fault the dock’s performance. There’s plenty of suction that pulls out nearly every bit of dust, debris and hair from within the onboard dustbin.
The only thing I found in the bin after a self-empty was a thin film of fine dust along the sides, which is perfectly normal and can be washed out. Just be sure to fully dry out the bin before placing it back into the robot again.
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A white indicator light on the dock says everything is A-OK... (Image credit: Sharmishta Sarkar / TechRadar)
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..but turns red when you've removed a tank or it's not sitting correctly, or there's something else the matter (Image credit: Sharmishta Sarkar / TechRadar)
Even the washing seems adequate. At the time of writing, I’d used the Qrevo Edge for two months, running it a couple of times a week, and the mop pads still look good to me. That said, I found the mop pads looked a lot better after three months of using the Ecovacs Deebot T30 Omni, and I also found the air drying to be more effective in the competition as it uses hot air rather than warm as in the Qrevo Edge.
This means the mop pads take longer to dry on the latter and, if there’s not a lot of ventilation in the area you’ve positioned the robot vacuum, you could smell the pads if there's even a little dampness left. During my testing, I had to increase the air-drying time to eliminate any smells.
Another indicator of how well the mop washing works is the color of the dirty water in the tank – it was always dark brown, even if I ran the robot on subsequent days, thinking the floor wouldn’t be too dirty. Boy, was I wrong.
The dock’s self-cleaning features also includes one for the tray the robot sits on (and uses to scrub the mop pads). That can get grimy too and the 5-minute self-cleaning session means you need the least amount of work to maintain this machine.
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The brand-new mop pads before the first use... (Image credit: Sharmishta Sarkar / TechRadar)
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..and their condition after about 8 weeks of use, two to three times a week (not too shabby) (Image credit: Sharmishta Sarkar / TechRadar)
Battery life
Battery life is where the Qrevo Edge truly shines. It’s got a 6,400mAh pack that easily did a full clean session on Max suction and Standard/High mop (on a vacuum-and-mop run) in one go in my test space and still had about 36% battery left.
If I set the robot to do 2x cleans at its highest settings, then it would run down to about 12% battery, head back to the dock for about three hours, top up till about 48% and finish the rest of its cleaning. That’s an impressive battery performance in my books considering it was doing power-intensive sessions.
Roborock says that the Qrevo Edge is capable of fast charging (up to 30% quicker than previous models apparently), but I saw no evidence of that during my testing. Considering it took about three hours to get just 40% topped up during my testing, I think the best time to run these kinds of modes is when you’re away for the day – that way, you can return to a clean home and not get impatient with half a job done.
• Performance score: 3.5 out of 5
A light can automatically come on if the Qrevo Edge is cleaning a dark room or under the bed (Image credit: Sharmishta Sarkar / TechRadar)
Roborock Qrevo Edge review: app
Very detailed app as compared to some of the competition
Offers plenty of precise control
Matches system dark mode that looks very classy
Roborock arguably has the best-designed app that I’ve used for a robot vacuum cleaner. When you first download it, it will ask if you want it to match your phone’s system settings, which means it will automatically convert into dark mode and I found that it looks very nice indeed – colors pop and everything is clearly laid out.
It will take time to get used to the app, though, but that’s only because there’s a lot going on. In fact, I kept discovering quirks and better ways to use the robot all through my two-month testing period and I don't think I've still completely figured it out at the time of publication. While my test space was a single-storey home, the Roborock allows you to save multiple floor maps and swap between them, although you will have to go through the Edit Map menu to do so.
Map editing is a lot more straightforward here than I’ve found with other robovac apps, and it identified carpets and hard floors in the test space correctly, requiring minimal intervention on my part. You can add furniture if you wish, but that can be fiddly. The usual features of adding no-go zones and virtual walls are also available.
The Roborock app is very detailed, starting from map building and editing (Image credit: Sharmishta Sarkar / TechRadar)
Diving into what the robot can actually do is time consuming, particularly if you plan to set up custom Routines. The app gives you some default options that you can edit, but it’s not always as straightforward as its map editing.
For example, a couple of full-home routines I tried to set up refused to show me a vacuum-only option, but only gave me a vacuum-and-mop. I had to then break up that option and have two Routines for a full-home clean.
You can always edit those Routines as you learn more about the app, but it really shouldn’t be as difficult as it is currently set up.
There are also plenty of options in the settings to go through (Image credit: Sharmishta Sarkar / TechRadar)
Perhaps the best part of the app is the SmartPlan option you’ll see as soon as you select the robot vacuum. While you can run this from the get go, you won’t get the best clean early on.
I found that it’s the most effective after you’ve run the robovac a few times throughout the home on specific Routines. It will use this information, leveraging some AI smarts, to customize the best cleaning path, suction and mop settings for subsequent runs.
There are some other advanced features in the app that you can use, including using the onboard camera to do a quick security check around your home while you’re away. You can guide it remotely using the app navigation, but you can also keep the camera on while it's cleaning.
You can set up custom routines or enable Rocky, the onboard voice assistant (Image credit: Sharmishta Sarkar / TechRadar)
You can even photograph obstacles or conduct a video call with your pet. The camera features are turned off by default, which is a good thing, and all photos and videos are saved locally, according to Roborock. Moreover, you’ll even need to be the primary account holder to enable these camera features, adding a layer of security.
Roborock has its own voice assistant called Rocky, which is available to use on the Qrevo Edge, but the prompts it can understand are very limited. There are more Siri voice prompts, but even these I found to be a little unreliable. You can connect the Qrevo Edge to Google Home or Alexa, which offers better control but, again, quite limited prompts. In general, I think the app itself should be your go-to for full control of the robot vacuum and its dock.
• App score: 4.5 out of 5
The mop pads lift up 10mm and I never found a damp streak on my living room rug (Image credit: Sharmishta Sarkar / TechRadar)
Should you buy the Roborock Qrevo Edge?
Buy it if...
You have thresholds around the home
The Qrevo Edge can tackle heights of up to 4cm and, even though it might look like it’s struggling, it takes time to figure out how much power it needs and the best angle to get over the threshold.
You want an efficient robovac for day-to-day cleaning
Despite its impressive specs and features list, the Qrevo Edge is better at tackling the easier regular cleans, rather than handling the tough jobs. It's navigation, though, is arguably its best feature, arguably being one of the most efficient I've seen.
You want a low-maintenance robot vacuum for the most hands-off experience
Other than having to regularly clean out the dirty-water tank, the Qrevo Ege is arguably the most hands-off robovac I’ve tested. Its dock can take care of a lot for you, including cleaning up the mop-pad washing tray. Even the 2.7L dust bag won’t need replacing too often thanks to the larger capacity, but be wary of smells.
Don't buy it if...
You want value for money
Given its issues, I’d be hard pressed to recommend the Qrevo Edge at its full price. There are plenty of other cheaper options available that perform just as well, if not better. Although be aware that you will need to make a few sacrifices if you opt for cheaper models, like not having the same amount of suction or a self-cleaning mop-washing tray.
You want a simple robot vacuum
The Qrevo Edge is a do-it-all robovac with an app that has a heck of a lot of detail. If you don’t need all its bells and whistles, and would prefer a simpler self-emptying option, there are plenty to choose from and you’ll also save money in the bargain.
You want the very best in mopping and edge cleaning
While the regular mopping runs with the Qrevo Edge are very good, its penchant for creating more messes on the tougher spills is disappointing. Other models like the Eureka J20 (with a roller mop) and the cheaper Ecovacs T30 Omni are better moppers, and even handle edge cleaning more efficiently.
Roborock Qrevo Edge: alternatives to consider
Dreame L40 Ultra/X40 Ultra
If money is no object and you’re after one of the best in autonomous cleaning, consider the top-of-the-range Dreame L40/X40 Ultra. The L model is widely available in most markets, but the X option is available in Australia. Both offer similar specs and performance, including excellent suction and mopping, plus a few smart features that make cleaning as hands-off as possible.
As one of the best robot vacuums representing excellent value for money, the T30 Omni might not have the same suction power as the Qrevo Edge, so it won’t be as good on a dirty carpet, but if you predominantly have hard floors, I can’t recommend this highly enough. The Pro model, which doesn’t cost much more than the standard, is just as good, but you get a couple of additional features – voice assistant support and better mopping.
Used in single-storey, one-bedroom apartment with mixed flooring
Used two to three times a week for eight weeks
Tried various settings and modes, with specific tests for fine dust and larger debris
(Image credit: Sharmishta Sarkar / TechRadar)
I used the Roborock Qrevo Edge regularly for a period of two months in an approximately 40sqm one-bedroom apartment that has both full carpet and hard floors (tiles). This test space has no pets, but I did my best to make sure there was enough of my own hair on the carpet to make for tougher cleans.
I also set up several custom routines, running each at least two or three times to test for not just cleaning abilities, but also consistency. I even ran it on some default settings and modes, particularly testing the SmartPlan option several times for Room and Zone cleaning.
I ran TechRadar’s usual tests for suction, mopping and obstacle avoidance, plus did an extra test to test for cleaning fine dust and powder (using talc).
I compared its performance with other robot vacuums I’ve tested previously, having gone from the Ecovacs Deebot T30 Omni directly to using the Qrevo Edge.
Originally launched in May 2024, the Roborock Qrevo Master is a high-end robotic vacuum and mop that produces an impressive blend of power, intelligence and convenience. Boasting 10,000Pa suction, dual rubber rollers and flexible side brush, the Qrevo Master effectively tackles dust, debris and pet hair on a variety of surfaces, while its dual spinning mops and consistent downward pressure ensure a very decent level of hard floor cleaning and light stain removal.
Navigation is always a key standout feature among Roborock models and this one's no different. The Qrevo Master's LiDAR mapping and AI-powered obstacle avoidance allows the bot to maneuver around furniture and most larger household objects. However, when it comes to small obstacle avoidance there are more efficient models out there that perform better in this regard.
The Qrevo Master's self-maintaining dock, meanwhile, adds an extra layer of convenience, automatically emptying the dustbin, refilling the robot's water tank and washing and drying the two mop pads. For those seeking a premium, low-maintenance floor cleaning solution, the Qrevo Master is an excellent choice, and holds its own against the best robot vacuums on the market, despite not being the very newest model out. Read on for my full Roborock Qrevo Master review.
List price: $1,599 / £1,199 / AU$2,199 (regularly discounted in all territories)
Launched: May 2024
At list price, the Roborock Qrevo Master costs $1,599 in the US (although at time of writing, it was down to $899.99, which is the kind of price you should expect to actually pay for this model). In the UK it's £1,199, but again you should expect not to have to actually pay that – at time of writing it's down to £799.99. In Australia, the list price is AU$2,699 but it's currently discounted to AU$2,199.
Even at those discounted prices, it's still a premium robot vacuum. However, it's far from the most expensive model on the market – most brands' newest flagship models are well into the four figures in the US and UK.
At time of writing the Qrevo Master is still a relatively new model – it launched May 2024. However, the world of robovacs moves fast, and there are now several newer bots in the Roborock range. It occupies a spot somewhere in the middle of the Qrevo lineup, between the basic and budget-friendly Qrevo Q5 Pro+ and the expensive but excellent Qrevo Curv. The latest options to join the lineup are the Saros 10 and Saros 10R, both of which cost far more than the Qrevo Master and introduce some cool (if not wholly essential) new tech.
(Image credit: Future)
While not the best or most advanced robot vacuum in the Roborock lineup, the Qrevo master is still a mighty fine option that delivers on many fronts, not least its excellent navigation and vacuuming skills.
While there are other sterling robot vac manufacturers out there – namely Dreame, Eufy and Narwal – I personally always gravitate to the Roborock brand simply because the Chinese company's products are so reliable and usually ahead of the curve. Where Roborock goes, others follow.
Is the Qrevo Master good value? I'd say it sort of is given that most robot vacs with this level of smarts retail for around the same price. Nevertheless, there are some outstanding cheaper options around if you know where to look. (In the UK, the phenomenal Xiaomi X20+ performs almost as well as the Qrevo Master for around £500 less – it's the best budget robot vacuumI've tested, by some margin).
Value for money score: 3.5 out of 5
Roborock Qrevo Master specs
Roborock Qrevo Master review: design
Slightly basic looking hybrid bot, and a little on the tall side
Dual rubber brush rollers and rotating mop pads
Comprehensive dock, including mop cleaning and drying
I guess I've been spoiled by the clean Scandinavian-style design aesthetics of Roborock's latest premium models, the Saros 10 and 10R, because the Qrevo Master's robot unit looks a bit old fashioned with its large, plastic LiDAR unit and oversized bumpers. At 10.3cm in height, it's also quite tall which means it will have trouble passing under some low-slung furniture.
Roborock's newer (pricier) robots outshine the Qrevo Master in this area – the Saros 10 has a puck that can pop up and down, and the Qrevo Slim and Saros 10R don't have a puck at all. All look significantly slicker and more modern than the Qrevo Master.
I'm not too enamored of the medical white color scheme of my review model – I much prefer the back version that appears in the studio photos in this review.
(Image credit: Future)
Let's tackle this model's navigation system first. Like all the very best robots, the Qrevo Master uses LiDAR and an RGB camera to find its way around a home, and its accuracy is second to none. In fact you can see the results during its very first mapping run in real time on the Roborock app. The RGB camera can also be used to monitor a room by driving the robot around like a remote controlled car.
(Image credit: Future)
However, while the Qrevo Master's large obstacle avoidance (furniture legs, etc) is above par – its Reactive AI software can identify and avoid 62 objects across 20 categories – its obstacle detection isn't as precise as the company's very latest navigation systems. After all, today's technology moves at such a pace that something considered groundbreaking a few months previous is very soon superseded by another that's lightyears ahead.
You do get a very decent tranche of vacuuming tech with this unit, including very effective dual rubber brush rollers with an anti-tangling device and an automatically extendable side brush that pops out in corners of a room. This model boasts 10,000Pa which is short of its higher-end stablemates but still perfectly acceptable for practically all cleaning scenarios, bar perhaps very deep pile carpet.
There are five levels of power to choose from – Quiet, Balanced, Turbo, Max and MAX+. Since the robot's battery is more than up to the task of vacuuming a large space (it has a running time of about 60 minutes in Max mode) , I would always opt for Max or MAX+ because, well, why wouldn't you?
(Image credit: Future)
On the mopping front this model comes with two circular toweling pads and, like many current high-end models, one of the mopping pads can also extend outwards to clean along skirting boards and around furniture legs. Both mops are pushed into the floor while they spin at 200rpm, giving any hard floor a good seeing to. This style mop tends to do a more effective scrubbing job than the static D-shaped pad still found on many robot vacuums – even the high-end models.
The mops themselves are pre-dampened by a small onboard 80ml water tank that is in turn filled in the dock just before going out on a mopping run. You can select up to 30 levels of water flow in the excellent Roborock app.
Of course, one wouldn't want any damp mops running slipshod over one's lovely carpets so the mops on this model lift by a few centimeters whenever the bot is traversing carpets or rugs. Likewise, its vacuum brush rollers also rise up whenever the robot is mopping or returning to base.
Dock design
At 521 x 340 x 487mm, the Qrevo Master's dock is considerably taller than many of its peers and that means it will be harder to position without it being too conspicuous. In fact this dock shares some design aesthetics with the Dreame L40 Ultra I reviewed a while back, including a very similar looking dust bag cover. But thankfully Roborock steered away from giving it any tasteless gold colored details.
(Image credit: Future)
It's not the most unpleasant looking dock I've seen, but compared to the gorgeous mirrored finish Roborock has applied to its Saros range, it certainly could do with a bit of a facelift. Thankfully the black option doesn't look quite as ungainly because, well, it's black and therefore less noticeable in a room filled with wooden furniture.
Like all good contemporary hybrid robot cleaners, the Qrevo Master's dock offers a fully automated maintenance system that empties the contents of the robot's small internal 220ml bin into the dock's larger 2.2-liter dust bag whenever it has finished a vacuum session. Having a robot with a self-emptying feature is an absolute must, especially if you have shedding pets in the home. Without one you will need to continually empty the robot's tiny bin yourself, sometimes halfway through a cleaning session and, believe me, that's no fun.
(Image credit: Future)
Since this model also wet mops hard floors, it comes equipped with a mop cleaning facility that washes both mops with hot water at 60C to break down dirt and bacteria. Aside from emptying the mucky contents of the 3.5-litre dirty water tank, filling the 4-liter fresh water container, and very occasionally removing the entire mopping tray from the dock to rinse and scrub it under tap, there's very little human interjection required with this machine.
Design score: 4 out of 5
Roborock Qrevo Master review: performance
Very good vacuuming and mopping performance
Reliable LiDAR navigation but poor obstacle avoidance
Effective dock with minimal human interaction needed
This robot vacuum does a lot of different things, so to keep everything clear, I've separated this section into a range of different performance elements. I'll start with navigation performance, then move on to obstacle avoidance. Next I'll get into vacuuming and mopping performance and finally I'll cover how well the dock held up during testing.
Navigation performance
Top marks as usual to Roborock for this bot's navigation prowess. From the moment you set it all up – a breeze, it must be said – the bot trundles off without getting lost and quickly maps your entire floor plan in about five minutes. It then returns to its charging station and proceeds to dock as accurately as a spaceship.
(Image credit: Future)
I've since placed the Qrevo Master in our village hall – an extremely demanding 127 square metres of wooden flooring – and the Qrevo Master has never once lost its way or missed a section. Sometimes very large spaces with lots of reflective windows can affect a robot vac's LiDAR navigation performance and this usually manifests itself as a strange anomaly on the app's map interface where the room is mysteriously multiplied in size. This happened on a couple of occasions with the Dreame L40 Ultra. By contrast, the Qrevo Master's complex three-room map hasn't altered at all in three weeks of regular use.
Obstacle avoidance
This is the only test where the Qrevo Master showed its Achilles Heel. For my test I used a collection of small and large dog toys, plus a phone cable. At first the Qrevo Master simply steamrollered even some of the larger toys. Activating the 'Pet' setting in the Reactive Obstacle avoidance menu in the app makes a big difference to Roborock bots' detection skills, but I double-checked and I had indeed already selected this option.
I then ran the test again and, for some bizarre reason, it behaved a little bit better – as if it was going through a learning process. Nevertheless, like the vast majority of bots I've tested, it ran right over the small nylon dog bone and failed to extricate itself. And, while it at first appeared to avoid the charge cable, it soon changed its mind and simply ran over it and then dragged it around the rug.
(Image credit: Future)
It's difficult to tell why this model had such issues with obstacle avoidance, but in its defense, its day-to-day schedules have always gone without a hitch – when it has encountered a stray dog toy, it's simply pushed them to the side when not actively avoiding them. However, I agree that this is not ideal given the cost of the machine in the first place.
Hence, if you have a messy home with small items littering the floor, you'd be better off with the Roborock Qrevo Curv, the newer Roborock Saros 10R or the Dreame L40 Ultra. All three of these bots excel at obstacle avoidance.
Vacuum performance
For my hard floor test I measured 22 grams of oats, uncooked orzo, cornflakes, flour and a crushed cheese cracker. I then set a cleaning zone in the kitchen and commanded the robot to perform two passes using Max power. While some of the debris was scattered by the spinning side brush (a common occurrence with all robot vacs), it generally performed extremely well, collecting 21g when measured on the scales.
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Before the vacuuming test... (Image credit: Future)
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... and after (Image credit: Future)
Granted, a few remnants of oats remained and some flour was left in the cracks but this was easily fixed by using a standard stick vac to finish the job. While not as successful as, say, the Roborock Saros 10R or Dreame L40, the Qrevo Master still proved to be very adept at hard floor sweeping.
Before (left) and after the vacuuming test on a rug (Image credit: Future)
I then set up a similar medium-pile rug test using the same 22g of ingredients. This test produced excellent results, with 22g back on the scales. However, it had also collected some extra pet hair and dust in the process so I would say pickup was nearer to 21g. That's an excellent result in my opinion. Best of all, I couldn't see any remnants on the rug from head height – and that's about as much as anyone could wish for.
Mopping performance
I'm not a big fan of robot vacs that also mop because I don't believe any of them are capable of replacing a human's ability to deeply wash a hard floor or target a specific area using either an old fashioned mop and bucket or one of those newfangled wet-and-dry cordless mops that are doing the rounds.
For instance, I would never consider going through the rigmarole of sending a robot mop to attend to an accidental spill when I can get the job done in a fraction of the time. However, I can see robot mops being useful at keeping on top of a pre-cleaned floor if programmed to run a series of regular mopping schedules.
(Image credit: Future)
Since this model uses two circular spinning mop pads, I knew before even starting my test that it would be efficient enough for a pass. And sure enough it mopped up all traces of the milk and soy sauce mix I spilled on the floor – in a single sweep no less. It even continued to move over the same spot a number of times, just for good measure. However, like most robot mops I've tested, it did leave a slightly sticky but invisible residue behind after the floor had dried. After the cleaning test, the robot duly returned to its dock to have the mops cleaned and dried using hot air to help keep mold at bay.
(Image credit: Future)
Dock performance
Since I have two Labradors and three cats, my home is always full of hair. In fact, I often find odd strands of Labrador hair in the most surprising places. As a consequence of all this hair, some robot vac docks I've tested have become blocked due to an excessive amount of hair stuffed into the robots' tiny bins.
If the dock's suction isn't powerful enough, chances are a bundle of hair will block the air intake, either where the robot meets with the dock's suction tube or, more than likely, at the end of its travel where the suction tube connects with the dock's dust bag. This kind of anomaly is easily rectifiable but also unnecessarily messy, especially given the fact that you buy a robot vac to do all the graft so you don't have to.
(Image credit: Future)
Well I'm pleased to say that the Qrevo Master's dock suction levels are easily high enough to draw everything out of the robot's bin and into the dock's large 2.2-liter disposable dust bag with no issues whatsoever. (I'd rate it amongst the best robot vacuums for pet hair in this regard.) In fact, the dock's suction was powerful enough to draw a heavy snooker cue tip into the dust bag, and not many robot docks are capable of that level of suction.
(Image credit: Future)
As a postscript, I should add that this robot has been employed full-time in our village hall for several weeks now, and the hall's main floor, its kitchen and toilet area have never looked cleaner. The Qrevo Master vacuums this enormous 127 square metre space three times a week and mops it twice a week. At no time has it ever got stuck in five weeks of regular use. It deftly vacuums the entire hall (even beneath a pile of chairs in one corner), keeps the hall's loos spick and span and stays on top of any kitchen mess. This just goes to prove that robot vacs – and mops – are just as suitable for commercial use as they are for domestic settings.
Performance score: 4.5 out of 5
Roborock Qrevo Master review: app
Highly customizable
Easy to navigate
Extremely comprehensive
I've said it before and I'll say it again – right now there is no better robot vac app for sheer comprehensiveness and ease of use than Roborock's. This app has it all, from scheduling and specific zone tasks, to a myriad of deep customization tweaks. That includes changing the amount of time the bot returns to the dock to have its dustbin emptied, editing the room surface and direction of wooden flooring, adding no-go zones, even adding furniture icons to the map so it looks like something out of the Sims.
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(Image credit: Roborock / Future)
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(Image credit: Roborock / Derek Adams)
Another great thing about this app is that you can programme a set of ‘Routines' like ‘vacuum the lounge' or ‘mop the kitchen' and save them all on the home screen for instant access. Roborock's tech bods left no stone unturned when developing this app and the results speak for themselves.
App score: 5 out of 5
Should you buy the Roborock Qrevo Master?
Buy it if...
Your home has a complex layout
The Qrevo Master's navigation is top dollar.
You have pets in the home
This model handled my two dogs' and three cats' hair extremely well.
You need a robot that also mops
The Qrevo Master does a very decent job of mopping, and the comprehensive dock also takes care of various maintenance tasks.
Don't buy it if...
You want the best of the best
Newer Roborock models have more cutting-edge features, including things like retractible navigation pucks for cleaning under low furniture.
You have a cluttered home
The Qrevo Master isn't a master of obstacle avoidance, so you'll want to tidy up before sending this bot out.
You're on a tight budget
There are lower-priced options on the market, albeit with less comprehensive docks.
How I tested the Roborock Qrevo Master
I lived with the Qrevo Master for several weeks to get a real feel for its performance. I also TechRadar's standard robot vacuum tests to assess performance.
The first thing we're looking for is overall suction performance on different floor types. For this, I spilled a selection of loose ingredients on both hard flooring and carpet and observed the results. Did the robot sweep it all up in a single sweep or did it snowplough everything? Did it scatter the ingredients in the process? Did it leave anything behind after a few passes? I then ran similar tests using liquids, to test this hybrid robot's mopping efficiency.
Aside from performance, I also looked at the design of the robot and self-emptying dock, tested the effectiveness of its obstacle avoidance, and considered how quickly it mapped my home's floor plan when first taking it out of the box. I spent time digging into its app to see how extensive and usable it is, and if any improvements could be made.
Launched in January 2025, the Roborock Saros 10 is a premium robot vacuum with some seriously cutting-edge features. Primary among these is a navigation puck that retracts down into the bot when it senses it's entering a low-height space. That, combined with a suspension system that can bounce it over tall thresholds, means this bot can reach places other robovacs can't.
On test, I found that both these features worked reliably well. And while the pop-down puck will only really come into play in homes with furniture that's a quite-specific distance off the floor, if you do fall into this category then this robotic will prove a game-changer. No more shifting the sofa once every six months to find a horrifying amount of dust sitting below it!
I was also impressed with the Saros 10's cleaning powers. Suction is strong enough to pull large volumes of dog hair off carpeted floors without fuss, and the anti-tangle roller does exactly what it's designed to do. Mopping is good, too, with the lowest mopping modes creating only the lightest mop; perfect for floors that are sensitive to too much moisture. On balance, I still think spinning mop pads (such as those that feature on the Saron 10's sister model, the Roborock Saros 10R) do a better job of scrubbing, but I did like how the additional mini side mop on the Saros 10 got right up to the edges of rooms.
I should also give special mention to the impressive hands-off dock, which not only empties dust and charges the bot (in double-quick time), but also dispenses detergent, washes the mop pads with hot water, and dries them with warm air. All this while looking far more stylish than basically any other dock I've seen in all my time reviewing robovacs.
At list price, the Saros 10 is far from cheap, but it's roughly in line with other brands' top-of-the-range models offering similarly advanced features. If you just want decent cleaning and are happy to take care of some of the maintenance tasks yourself, there are cheaper options to be found. However, if you're after an advanced model that makes use of the very latest tech and requires minimal intervention from you, this might be the best robot vacuum for you. Read on for my full Roborock Saros 10 review.
(Image credit: Future)
Roborock Saros 10 review: price & availability
List price: $1,599.99 / £1,499.99 / AU$2,999
Launched: January 2025
Available: Worldwide
The Roborock Saros 10 was one of three new Roborock robot vacuums announced at CES in January 2025, alongside sister model Saros 10R and the Saros Z70, which has a mechanical arm.
At list price direct from Roborock, the Saros 10 costs $1,599.99 in the US, £1,499.99 in the UK, and AU$2,999 in Australia. At time of writing, it isn't available via any third-party retailers, but it may come to Amazon at some point.
That price puts it firmly into the premium bracket for robovacs. In fact, it's one of the most expensive models we've tested so far, although its price is roughly in line with many other brands' top-of-the-range models. Build quality, performance and featureset help justify that price somewhat, and I'm not going to score it down too much on price because I'm glad this kind of innovation exists in the robovac world – plus, it's a truly excellent robot vacuum. Having said that, I'd still hold out for a discount (or for the price to come down over time) before buying one.
This is a super-advanced robot vacuum, and you don't need to spend this much to get an appliance that will keep your floors clean. For most people's needs, there are models at even half the price that will do the job – especially if you're willing to sacrifice the mop washing / drying / self-cleaning dock functions, all of which will bump up the price significantly.
Note, however, that there are a couple of ongoing costs to factor in, too. The first is replacement dust bags, although with a 2.5-liter capacity, each bag should last a decent amount of time. The second is floor cleaner: Roborock recommends you use only its own branded detergent, and I'm disappointed to report it's very expensive.
Value for money score: 4 out of 5
Roborock Saros 10 specs
Roborock Saros 10 review: design
Pop-up navigation puck and bouncy chassis for traversing thresholds
Bulky but smart mirrored self-empty dock, with mop cleaning
Side mop and brush, and split main roller for directing hair
The bot itself looks similar to your standard disc-shaped robovac, but the main difference here is that rather than having a fixed navigation puck, it has one that can pop up and down. It will generally be up (this allows for better navigation); however, it will retract when the bot is docked and if it senses it's entering a low-height space.
On the front there's also a camera and additional navigation elements. The camera can also be used as a security cam, or to check in on your pets while you're out.
(Image credit: Future)
Flip it over and you'll find two chunky wheels and a smaller front wheel, all of which can raise and lower independently to get the bot over tall thresholds. It's designed to be able to traverse thresholds up to a total of 1.6 inches / 4cm in height, including double-step thresholds, using the same AdaptiLift technology included with the Roborock Qrevo Curv. The bot learns the best process for each threshold in the mapped area.
The roller is rather unusual. It combines rubber fins and bristles, and is split in the middle to allow hair to escape into the bin, rather than becoming tangled and requiring you to then manually cut it off.
There's a spinning side brush that tucks itself away when it isn't in use. Again, the design is a little unusual: it has two arms, which sit near each other and extend at a slanting angle, to resist hair from becoming tangled.
There's a D-shaped mop pad and anti-tangle roller design (Image credit: Future)
For mopping, the Saros 10 has a fixed, D-shaped mop pad. This has two vibrating zones that are designed to help dislodge dirt, and can also press down on the floor. (It's still not my preferred style – I find dual-spinning discs do a more thorough scrubbing job, which is the reason for docking a half-mark in this section).
There's also a tiny extra side mop designed to get closer to the edges of rooms. Cleverly, if you opt for a mode where the mop isn't needed, it can drop the mop off in the dock, so there's no danger of damp carpets.
The onboard dustbin is hidden beneath a magnetic top panel (Image credit: Future)
The panel on the top of the robovac is magnetic, and can be removed to reveal the onboard dustbin. You shouldn't need to access this often – only if the self-empty process fails because something has jammed the mechanism. Presumably there's also a water tank in there, but I couldn't find it.
Dock design
The Saros 10 dock is one of those does-it-all units that not only charges the bot and empties its small onboard dustbin, but does a whole load more besides. It can refill its onboard water tank, disperse detergent, clean the bot's mop pads (at up to 176ºF / 80ºC), dry them (at 140ºF) over the course of a few hours, and also clean itself (at up to 176ºF).
It's designed to be able to recognize what's on the mop and adjust the temperature to suit; so it knows to use hotter water for grease and coffee stains than items such as mashed potato.
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The dustbag sits between a press-to-open front hatch (Image credit: Future)
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Clean and dirty water tanks are beneath another door on top (Image credit: Future)
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The dock has mop cleaning and self-cleaning capabilities (Image credit: Future)
As such, the Saros 10 is fairly bulky. However, it's one of the best-looking docks I've seen, with a smart, mirrored front that simply reflects the rest of your room back at you. So if it looks messy, that's on you.
The dustbag is hidden behind a front flap that opens when you press it, and two large water tanks (one for clean, one for dirty from cleaning the mop) are housed in the top, again behind a door.
There's a removable ramp up into the dock, and inside you can see the brushes for cleaning the mop pad.
Design score: 4.5 out of 5
Roborock Saros 10 review: performance
Excellent vacuuming on higher settings; can handle pet hair
Mopping also very good on higher settings – edge mop is useful
Navigation great but object avoidance unreliable
Setup was painless. I unpackaged the bot, left it to charge on its dock, and then was prompted to complete a quick mapping run. Here, the bot made its way briefly into each room, looked around a bit, then left. It then provided me with a suggestion of what it thought the rooms were, and their floor types.
By default, the navigation puck is up while the bot is cleaning (Image credit: Future)
I was testing this bot in a town house with multiple levels, so I repeated the process for each floor, carrying the bot up to each level to do so (advanced though this robovac is, it still can't climb stairs).
The initial plans were generally very accurate. After they'd been created, I went back in and corrected room types, removed unnecessary areas (it included the stairs when mapping higher levels, although its cliff sensors reliably prevented it from trying to go down them), and added no-go areas.
Vacuuming
On the vacuuming front, there are five power levels to choose from: Quiet, Balanced, Turbo, Max and Max+ (there's a battery life warning with this mode). You can also opt to clean the space once or twice. I did find this bot a little noisy in vacuum-only mode, but it certainly wasn't any louder than a manual vacuum.
To try out vacuuming, I first set off the Saros 10 to clean each floor of the house, using a mix of different power levels, in vacuum-only mode. After cleaning, and before the bot returned to the dock, I inspected the onboard bin to see what it had gathered collected.
The Saros 10 did a great job of pulling pet hair from the carpeted rooms (Image credit: Future)
I found Turbo mode was enough to extract plenty of dog hair from carpeted floors, and even more if I amped it up to a higher power mode. I was also impressed that the bot had no trouble auto-emptying, even when full with hair. I could hear the tell-tale "whoomph" sound as the wodge of dog hair made its way from the onboard bin to the dock dustbag.
I was also generally impressed by the roller design – there was next-to-none of my long hair wrapped around it at the end of a vacuuming session. That isn't the case with some of the robovacs I test.
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Oats and tea on carpet before the suction test... (Image credit: Future)
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... and after one pass with the Saros 10 (Image credit: Future)
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... after two passes with the Saros 10 (Image credit: Future)
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... and after three passes, bumped up to Max+ mode (Image credit: Future)
To test how the Roborock Saros 10 handles different kinds of debris, I ran TechRadar's standard suction tests. I sprinkled a teabag of dry tea on the carpet, alongside a handful of oats. I then ran the vacuum over them. On first pass in Turbo mode, the results were a little disappointing – the bot failed to pick much up, and what it did, it spat back out on a different area of carpet.
I ran another spot clean in Max+ mode and was far more impressed. This time, the bot picked up most of the debris, both large and small. To be clear, this is a tricky test. I went back over the tea spillage area with my Dyson Gen5detect vacuum and even that struggled to get the very last specs of tea from the carpet.
It's worth pointing out here that, in general, robot vacuums are designed for maintenance cleans – for deep cleaning, you'll still want to keep one of the best manual vacuums to hand. Among robot vacuums I've tested, the Saros 10's suction performance in general was very good.
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Oats and tea on a tiled floor, ready for the suction test (Image credit: Future)
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The results after one pass with the Saros 10 (Image credit: Future)
I ran the same test with tea and oats on a hard, tiled floor. This time, the bot picked up almost everything first time in Turbo mode, albeit with a fair bit of flicking around of debris. The only remaining bits were in the grouting cracks, and I managed to get those by remote-controlling the bot over the relevant area afterwards.
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Oats and tea sprinkled along the edge of a room (Image credit: Future)
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The Saros 10 did a decent, but not perfect job of clearing it (Image credit: Future)
To assess this bot's edge-cleaning powers, I sprinkled team and oats along the edge of the tiled kitchen. It did a pretty good job of clearing it, although it did ping everything around a bit, and there were a few remnants left that it was quicker to tackle with a manual vacuum that try and get the bot to handle.
Mopping
There are four mopping levels to choose from – Mild, Standard, Intense and Extreme. These increase not just the amount of water used, but also the enthusiasm of the scrubbing. Standard mode is really very light; I found the floor had almost completely dried by the time the bot had finished cleaning the room.
That's great news if you have floors that are sensitive to too much moisture – wooden floors, for example. However, if that's not the case and you want a more thorough mop, you'll want to deploy one of the higher mopping modes.
The Standard mopping mode is quite light (Image credit: Future)
You can choose for the bot to mop only, vacuum first and then mop, or do both at once. I tend to avoid combination mopping and vacuuming since it will often lead to messy rollers and side brushes, due to the combination of water and dry debris. In mop-only mode, the Saros 10 really is extremely quiet.
On test, I found it could take a while for the mop pads to fully saturate, and especially in Standard or Mild modes. Initially, I could see damp streaks on the floor where the bot had cleaned incompletely. However, the tiny extra side mop does a good job of getting right up to the edges of rooms.
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Smeared ketchup waiting to be cleaned (Image credit: Future)
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After a couple of passes, there was still a little left (Image credit: Future)
For my mopping test, I smeared a tiny bit of ketchup on a tiled floor and left it to dry. After one pass in Standard mode, the Saros 10 had hardly cleaned up any of it. Amping it up to higher mop levels yielded better results.
On balance, while this bot does a good job of mopping, I still prefer the spinning dual disc-shaped mop style when it comes to pure scrubbing power.
Navigation and obstacle avoidance
The pop-up puck is an interesting one, because in reality it's a very specific situation in which it's actually useful – you need furniture that's taller than 3.3inches / 8.2cm but shorter than 4.5inches / 11.4cm (the height where the puck wouldn't need to retract) off the ground. If you have that, though, it's super useful.
There's only one piece of furniture in my testing house that falls into the correct bracket, and the puck worked exactly as stated here. It also didn't impede navigation at all, although said piece of furniture is quite small, so it probably didn't present the biggest challenge.
I also ran TechRadar's standard obstacle avoidance tests, placing a sock, a charge cable, and a shoe on the floor, spread apart. I also added a box of tissues, for good measure. Results were mixed here.
The bot tried to eat the sock. It successfully identified and avoided the shoe, and at first also the tissue box, although it then went back and pushed it around a bit.
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As expected, the Saros 10 didn't spot this cable (Image credit: Future)
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It did avoid my shoe, but pushed around the tissue box for a while (Image credit: Future)
The Saros 10 also chewed the cable. That isn't a massive surprise, because I've yet to come across a robot vacuum that can successfully spot cables. However, it's something Roborock specifically states the Saros 10 can do, so it's disappointing in this regard.
In general use, however, I found this robovac pretty good at obstacle avoidance. There are various bins, speaker bases and ornaments on the floor that it successfully avoided – but as mentioned, it isn't quite the "exceptional" obstacle recognition and avoidance promised by Roborock.
Advanced features include the ability to use the robot to hunt out, photograph, and even video-call your pet. I did not try these features, because I suspect the dog would find such an intrusion wildly unsettling rather than reassuring.
Any photography and video features are turned off by default. To enable, you have to manually press some buttons on the robot vacuum, and you also have to be the primary account holder.
Battery life
I can't fault the Saros 10's battery. While it's less of an issue with robot vacuums than a cordless stick vacuum – because the bot will automatically return to the dock to charge whenever it runs out of juice, before resuming its cleaning task – it's still helpful for a robot to offer decent runtimes. That's especially true if you're going to use it in a house with multiple floors, where it can't always get back to its charge dock without help.
The Saros 10 managed an impressive amount of cleaning on a single charge. I was concerned that the Max+ mode – which comes with a "battery draining mode" warning – would run the battery down super quickly, but on test it trundled through three complete room cleans in vacuum-only Max+ mode (from a not-full battery in the first place) before running out of juice. Impressive.
(Image credit: Future)
Roborock also promises fast charging; it claims the dock will take the robovac from flat battery to full in 150 minutes. On test, I found this accurate. I went from 14% battery (at which point the bot told me it needed to return to dock to recharge) to 100% in under two and a half hours. If it goes flat mid-task, the bot will also figure out how much more power it needs to complete the task, and only charge to that point, for maximum efficiency.
Dock performance
Based on a couple of weeks of testing, the dock seems to be performing as stated. I've experienced no issues with the bin failing to empty completely, and the washing function seems to be working as claimed based on how clean the mop pads look and how dirty the water in the waste water tank is.
I'll update this section when I've been using the bot a little longer, and have a more complete view of the dock performance over time.
Performance score: 4 out of 5
Roborock Saros 10 review: app
Lots of settings for precise control
... but will also figure things out automatically, if you prefer
Generally very usable, with a few usability quirks
The Roborock app is well designed and nice and usable, although it can take a little time to learn your options and explore all the settings at first – in part because there are so many of them. There are also a few areas I found unhelpful. For example, to swap between different floorplans in a multi-storey home, you need to go via the "edit map" menu, which feels unintuitive.
Otherwise, mapping is straightforward, and you have the option to set no-go zones and invisible walls, as well as removing sections that are added in error. You can also add furniture, and create cleaning preferences for different rooms and floors.
Strangely, you can't manually select the floor type for each room. You can create "carpet areas", but this is fiddly – no areas can overlap, making things tricky if the plan includes carpet rooms and hard floor rooms. The app will automatically identify floor type, but the areas that have been designated as carpet isn't always clear. I'd prefer to be able to set this as a backup – no one wants a mopped carpet.
A relatively new addition to the setup is SmartPlan 2.0, which uses AI to customize the cleaning route, suction power and mop settings based on the bot's knowledge of its environment and previous use. Roborock says it can even reduce suction power during designated "quiet hours".
In short, you can have as much or as little control as you want here. If you don't want to get involved, you can basically leave the bot to figure out everything on its own, and it will do a very good job. Alternatively, you can really dig into the different features and set up everything exactly as you want it.
App score: 4.5 out of 5
Should you buy the Roborock Saros 10?
Buy it if...
You have low-sitting furniture The retractible puck is a game-changer if you have furniture that's between around 3.3in / 8.2cm and 4.5in / 11.4cm off the ground. It means this bot will be able to successfully clean this space, no shifting of furniture required.
You have tall room thresholds The Saros 10 can clear thresholds up to 1.6in / 4cm tall, and it will learn the best way to get over each one and replicate it each time, too.
You want a hands-off option The dock takes care of pretty much all maintenance tasks, from cleaning and drying the mop pads to dispensing detergent. It looks good, too.
You have delicate hard floors The lighter mop modes are very gentle and use only a little water, making them perfect for hard floors that are sensitive to too much moisture.
Don't buy it if...
You'd prefer no pop-up puck It worked very well on test, but if you don't like the sound of the retractible puck then Roborock has a couple of models that use a newer navigation approach and don't require a puck at all: the Saros 10R and the Qrevo Slim.
You're on a budget The Saros 10 doesn't come cheap, and there are plenty of lower-priced options on the market that will work perfectly well for many people's needs – especially if you're not fussed about advanced features such as the retractible puck and in-dock mop pad cleaning.
You want the very best mopping I found the mopping very good here, but not as rigorous as the dual spinning disc-style mops. We were also very impressed with the roller mop found on the Eureka J20 robot vacuum, which continually siphons off dirty water and replaces it with clean water.
Roborock Saros 10: alternatives to consider
Eufy X10 Pro Omni
At time of writing, this bot sits at the top of our best robot vacuum ranking as the model we recommend to most people. It's significantly cheaper than the Saros 10 but not as cutting-edge. There's no pop-up puck here; threshold clearance is much lower; it can't dispense detergent; plus the dock is significantly less stylish. However, it still cleans extremely well, and the mop is great (it uses the dual spinning pads).
The 10R is the sister model to the 10, and it's extremely similar, except it uses a different navigation method. Rather than the retractible puck, it uses a new form of LiDAR that doesn't need a puck at all. We found it worked extremely well when we tested it. It also swaps the D-shaped mop pad for two spinning discs.
I used the Roborock Saros 10 regularly for two weeks in a four-storey town house that has a mixture of carpeted and tiled floors, and houses a very hairy cocker spaniel. I used it to map and clean each of the levels, exploring the different settings and modes. For a more objective performance review, I ran TechRadar's standard suction tests (using dry tea and oats on hard and carpeted floors), mopping tests (using ketchup and juice on a hard floor), and obstacle avoidance tests (using socks, a cable and a shoe). I compared my experience of the Saros 10 against other robot vacuums I've tested, in terms of both ease of use and cleaning performance.
Setup of the SmartWings motorized shades definitely took some doing. The included screws were so soft that they were stripped right away. Still, we got them installed. Then, getting them up and running also took a bit of doing and required a call to customer service to get everything connected properly. Once all that was done, the blinds worked like a dream. They do everything you want smart blinds to do. You can connect them to just about any platform such as Apple HomeKit, Amazon Alexa, Samsung SmartThings, and Google Assistant via Matter over Thread. Control them with your voice, tap to operate them on your phone, or set up automations. Open and close them all the way or just partially. You can also just use the included remote control.
The blinds are battery-operated, and can be recharged via a wall outlet or with a small solar panel that attaches to your window. I installed the blinds over a month ago, and I haven’t had to recharge the battery yet. I set up an automation in Apple HomeKit so the blinds open at sunrise and close at sunset, which works beautifully.
You can order SmartWings Smart Shades directly from the SmartWings website or from Amazon. The price varies by size but starts at $154.99 (£119.50/245.92 AUD.) I selected the Zebra Blinds; the size and style you see in my photos goes for $424.95 (£327.74/674.13 AUD.) You will need to measure your window precisely before ordering; I’d recommend watching the video on SmartWings’ website to ensure you do it correctly.
There are many styles and colors from which to choose; I selected the "Zebra Shades 60% Blackout Translucent 75mm Eloise" style with the light grey fabric.
Value score: 4/5
SmartWings Motorized Smart Shades: design
Attractive
Smooth and quiet operation
Not the easiest to install
You will need a drill in order to install the SmartWings blinds. The included screws are soft and thread quite easily. If you're not careful, you may need to find alternative screws in order to get the blinds installed.
(Image credit: Karen Freeman / Future)
Other than the screw threading issue, installation is fairly straightforward with a power drill and the included instructions and hardware. The solar panel is a simple peel-and-stick application.
Then you'll need to set up the blinds with your smartphone or device of choice. You'll also need to have a home hub of some kind if you want to be able to control your blinds from outside the home. I used my iPhone to set it up in Apple HomeKit and my mini HomePod as a hub. This also took some doing, as the included instructions aren't the most clear. After talking to SmartWings' customer service, which was remarkably easy to get ahold of, I was able to get the blinds up and running.
(Image credit: Future)
The underside of the blinds motor has a small button and a USB-C port. The USB-C port is used for charging; you can charge up the blinds using the solar panel or directly to a wall outlet. The button is used during setup. It's hard to press and hold that button with a finger so the customer service rep I spoke with recommended using a pencil eraser to get the necessary traction. That worked great.
You may notice that the blinds seem a bit narrow for my window. That's entirely on me, since I measured the blinds for an "inside the frame" placement before realizing that my window frame doesn't allow that kind of installation. I had to install it on the outside of the frame instead, so the blinds don't fit perfectly.
(Image credit: Karen Freeman / Future)
I think these blinds look just fine. There are probably prettier smart blinds out there, but the simple, streamlined look works for my space. I do wish they'd been a little easier to set up and install, but luckily that only needs to be done once. Overall, they are well-designed blinds. Watching them open and close is actually kind of mesmerizing and soothing.
Design score: 4/5
SmartWings Motorized Smart Shades: performance
No app download necessary
Matter motor over Thread protocol allows you to use any platform
Motor is smooth and quiet
Because the SmartWings Smart Blinds have a Matter motor which uses the Thread protocol, they are platform agnostic. This means that you can set up the blinds to work with any platform, such as Google, Samsung, Amazon, or Apple. I'm Apple everything, so I set it up on my iPhone in Apple's HomeKit. You don't even need to download a SmartWings app; I just used the Home app on my iPhone.
If you only need to control your blinds from within your home, you could just set it up on your smartphone and leave it at that. However, if you want to be able to control your blinds from anywhere, you'll need some kind of home hub. I used my Apple HomePod mini.
Once you get everything connected, control is very straightforward. Just tap the controls on your smartphone. The iPhone Home app allows you raise and lower the blinds to a specific percentage, use Siri to control the blinds, and set up Automations so your blinds open and close automatically when you want. Of course, you can also just use the included remote control, which has its own holder that you can attach to the window frame.
(Image credit: Karen Freeman / Future)
Once you take the time to set up your SmartWings Smart Blinds with your platform of choice, the possibilities are endless. I used Apple HomeKit set mine to open at sunrise and close at sunset, but you could also set them up to open and close at specific times or when you're doing certain activities. I also frequently use my voice to tell Siri to open and close the blinds, fully, or part way. It all works quite smoothly and the mechanism isn't loud at all.
Performance score: 4.5/5
Should you buy the SmartWings Motorized Smart Shades?
Buy it if
You want to control your blinds from your phone or tablet
The SmartWings Smart Blinds allow you to do all the things you want from smart blinds from any platform you like.
You want custom blinds
You don't have to choose from just a few sizes; you can get the blinds to fit the precise measurements of your window. Plus, there are many color and style options.
Don't buy it if
You're on a tight budget
I don't think the price is unreasonable for custom smart blinds, but you might go another way if these give you sticker shock.
You want the easiest installation/removal
You do need a drill and some patience to install these. They may not be ideal for renters since you'll be drilling holes in the window frame.
SmartWings Motorized Smart Shades: also consider
Looking for something a little different? Here are two other options you might want to consider.
SwitchBot Roller Shade
SwitchBot makes a roller blind on a budget. It does work with a variety of platforms and SwitchBot's own app. Choose from a variety of sizes and you can even swap out the fabric for one of your choosing. View Deal
SwitchBot Blind Tilt
Save some serious dough using your existing blinds and adding this handy device. It's renter-friendly since there is no drilling required. Read our SwitchBot Blind Tilt review to learn more.View Deal
How I tested the SmartWings Motorized Smart Shades
I installed the SmartWings Motorized Smart Shade in an office window in my home. I set it up with Apple HomeKit on my iPhone and my HomePod mini as a hub. I spent several weeks with the blinds before reviewing. I controlled the blinds various ways during that time: the Home app on my iPhone, my voice and Siri, and the included remote control. I also set up an Automation in HomeKit to have the blinds open at sunrise and close at sunset.