Roborock S8 Pro Ultra Vacuum Review

This vacuum feels very well-built. It's very similar in feel to the older Roborock S8, with a body made mainly from dense, high-grade plastic that looks and feels very premium. However, the overall design differs slightly from the older, cheaper model. Its charging contacts sit at the front of its body rather than its underside. Its brush rolls can also rise instead of being fixed in a static position. Its water tank is internally mounted, like the Roborock Q Revo, and it's fitted with Roborock's newer VibraRise 2.0 mopping system, which uses two smaller vibrating motors instead of the S8's single larger actuator.

Out-of-the-box setup isn't too difficult. You must download the Roborock companion app to complete the setup process and pair the vacuum with its docking station.

The Roborock S8 Pro Ultra has quite a few parts that require regular maintenance, but thankfully they're fairly easy to access. You can keep tabs on the maintenance intervals of different components through the 'Help' menu in the vacuum's companion app.

• Dirt compartment: You can easily remove the internal dustbin from the vacuum to empty it manually, but it isn't likely that you'll need to do this often, as this vacuum comes with a docking station that empties it automatically. If necessary, wash it with water, but remove the filter beforehand and ensure you use no soap. The dirt compartment must dry for 24 hours before you put it back in the vacuum.
• Washable filter: The filter is located inside the dirt compartment and can be unclipped from its housing pretty easily. The pleats are fairly well-spaced, so you can easily pull out any stuck-on debris. No specific maintenance interval is provided, but you can rinse the filter whenever it gets dirty.
• Brushrolls: You can access the twin rubber brushrolls by lifting the brush guard on the bottom of the vacuum and pulling them out. You should clean them by removing tangled hair or stuck-on debris twice weekly. It's worth noting that the roller bearings are only removable on one side of the brushrolls, making it a little trickier to clear out any tangled hair remaining on that opposite side. The manufacturer recommends wiping the rollers down with a soft cloth and letting them dry for at least 24 hours before reinstalling them.
• Side brush: Unfortunately, you'll need a screwdriver to remove the retaining screw holding the side brush in place, so it isn't quite as easy to clean as most of the other components on this vacuum. You should clear away any stuck-on debris once a month.
• Omni-directional wheel: The omnidirectional front wheel takes quite a bit of effort to pull free of its socket, and you'll probably need to use a pair of pliers or a flathead screwdriver for extra leverage. You should clear it of any tangled hair or debris every month.
• Mop cloth: The mopping cloth can be removed from its mounting plate and slid out. The manufacturer doesn't provide any instructions for cleaning it manually. Still, since the vacuum's multi-function dock washes and dries it, this isn't something you'll have to worry about too much.
• Sensors/Charging contacts: You'll have to wipe off the structured light sensor at the front of the vacuum as well as the metal charging contacts underneath the vacuum with a clean cloth every now and then.

The vacuum's multi-function dock incurs its maintenance requirements. The manufacturer has a full video breakdown on those maintenance procedures, which you can watch here.

• Multi-function dock dirtbag: You can just pull the dirtbag from its housing after you open the top cover. Roborock dirtbags have a flap that closes when the bag is removed from its housing, preventing dust and debris from spilling out. It isn't reusable; you must throw it away when it's full. It has an advertised capacity of seven weeks' worth of debris, though you'll likely find it less than that depending on whether or not you have floors that gather a lot of dirt, dust, and pet hair.
• Multi-function dock dustbin filter: To access the base station's dustbin filter, you have to take out the dirtbag and then remove the filter cover. You can wipe it down to remove any stuck-on debris and cover it with a dry cloth.
• Multi-function dock clean water tank: You can simply grasp the integrated handle and lift the clean water tank upwards from its slot in the dock. You should refill this tank as necessary. No cleaning instructions are provided within the manual, but it won't need cleaning or rinsing often since this tank is only used for clean water. The manufacturer advertises its capacity as sufficient to mop a 3230sqft (300sqm) area without a refill.
• Multi-function dock dirty water tank: As with the clean water tank, you can just grab the tank handle and lift the compartment from its housing. You should empty it and clean it whenever necessary; the manufacturer recommends filling it with clean water, closing the lid, and shaking it.
• Multi-function dock water filter: The water filter sits near the bottom of the dock, near the charging contacts. You can simply unlock the filter latch, remove the filter, and then rinse it under water before drying it with a soft cloth.
• Multi-function dock high-speed maintenance brush: The high-speed maintenance brush is also near the bottom of the multi-function dock; it spins to clear off debris from the mop cloth. Just lift the red release latch and pull the brush out. It's a roller with pretty closely packed stiff bristles, so it can collect a fair amount of debris and hair, which you should pull off by hand. If it's especially dirty, rinse it under water and let it dry completely before reinstalling it.
• Multi-function dock air duct: Cleaning the air duct is a bit of a hassle since you can only access it from the underside of the dock. You'll need to remove the two water tanks, dirtbag, and the water filter and dock base plate before flipping the entire dock over. From there. you need to take out three screws to remove the air duct cover. You can then clear out any blockages and wipe off stuck-on dirt and debris with a clean cloth.

The Roborock S8 Pro Ultra incurs high recurring costs.

• Brushrolls: The brushrolls need replacing after 300 hours of use or every six to 12 months. Replacements can be purchased here.
• Side brush: The side brush has a service life of 200 hours or approximately three to six months of use. They're available in two colors. You can buy a two-pack of white brushes here and a two-pack of black brushes here.
• Filter: The filter needs replacing every 150 hours of use, according to the maintenance tab of the companion app. You can buy a two-pack of replacements here.
• Mop cloth: You should replace the mop cloth every three to six months. Replacements can be bought in packs of two, as seen here.
• Multi-function dock dirtbag: A single dirtbag is advertised to hold enough debris for about seven weeks' worth of regular cleaning runs. You can buy a six-pack of bags here.
• Multi-function dock high-speed maintenance brush: The user manual states that you should replace this brush every six to 12 months. You can find a replacement here.

The Roborock S8 Pro Ultra takes up a fair amount of space, though that's entirely down to its multi-function dock. It has similar capabilities to the dock bundled with the Roborock Q Revo but is shorter and wider, which makes it considerably harder to fit in smaller spaces.

The Roborock S8 Pro Ultra's debris capacity is impressively large. The dirtbags in its dock have a capacity of 2L, and the manufacturer advertises them to hold enough debris for seven weeks of regular cleaning sessions. The internal dustbin is on the smaller side for a robot vacuum, at 300ml, but since you don't have to empty it yourself, this isn't that big a deal.

Since the vacuum's internal water reservoir is built into the unit and you can't remove it, we can't verify its capacity. However, the manufacturer advertises it as holding 200ml of water.

Vacuum components

• Roborock S8 Pro Ultra vacuum
• Vacuum dustbin
• 2x 'Duo Roller Riser' brushrolls
• Brush guard
• Washable filter
• Mop Cloth

Multi-function dock components

• RockDock Ultra multi-function dock
• Clean water tank
• Dirty Water Tank
• Dirtbag compartment
• 2x Disposable dirtbags
• Dock base plate
• Dock power cable

Various accessories

• User manual and safety guide
• Quick Start guide

The vacuum's range is limited only by its remaining battery life, though it can't climb or descend staircases.

Despite packing a wider array of features than the Roborock S8, the Roborock S8 Pro Ultra weighs noticeably less, making it easier to carry up and down stairs. Unfortunately, there's no built-in carrying handle to provide a secure handhold.

This vacuum has exceptional battery performance. In its low-power 'Quiet' setting, it can run for almost five hours, while in its high-power 'Max+,' that drops to a little over 100 minutes, which is still enough to clean larger spaces. In both cases, the S8 Pro Ultra's battery performance exceeds that of the older Roborock S8. It also has a fast-charging setting that allows it to recharge its battery nearly 40% faster than the older model.

This is a feature-packed robot vacuum. Overall, it's similarly equipped to the Roborock Q Revo. Like that model, it has the brand's Auto-Mop Lift feature, which lifts its mopping pad by 5 millimeters when the vacuum detects that it's passing onto a carpeted surface, so there's no need to take off its mopping pads if you want the vacuum to clean carpets and mop floors in the same cleaning job. Unlike that model, however, the Roborock S8 Pro Ultra's brushrolls can also lift, so they don't drag on the floor while the unit is running a mopping cycle. There are five different suction power modes: the energy-efficient 'Quiet' mode, the default 'Balanced' mode, 'Turbo,' 'Max,' and 'Max+,' which is meant for cleaning extremely stubborn debris. There are also a variety of carpet-specific cleaning functions, where it uses its ultrasonic sensor to detect whether or not it's on carpet: 'Carpet First' mode, 'Carpet Boost' mode, and 'Deep Carpet Cleaning,' the last of which directs the vacuum to only clean carpets after it's finished cleaning the rest of your home. You can also set it to avoid all carpets or, on the opposite end of the spectrum, disable the carpet-detection function entirely so that it may mop rugs and bare floors. This isn't desirable for normal carpets, but it's especially handy for mopping any rubber mats you might have in your home.

There are a variety of mopping options, too. You can choose between three levels of water flow to its mopping pads: 'Low,' 'Medium,' and 'High.' There are also four levels of route mapping settings, which effectively allow you to choose between fast and deep mopping on a sliding scale.

The Roborock S8 Pro Ultra also features Roborock's Reactive 3D system, which uses a structured light sensor and infrared camera to spot hazards, but this type of sensor ultimately isn't as sophisticated or as effective as the RGB-color camera-based system found on the Roborock S7 MaxV.

This vacuum has a three-armed side brush to direct debris into the path of its twin rubber rollers. It also comes with a washable mop cloth that's mounted on two vibrating motors to scrub away stains.

The Roborock S8 Pro Ultra does a good job of cleaning hard floors. Its suction inlet is positioned high enough to easily pass over bulky debris like cereal and suck them up. That said, you might need to manually clean finer debris piled up against walls or in corners.

The Roborock S8 Pro Ultra does a good job of handling debris on high-pile carpet. It struggles a little with finer debris pressed right up against walls and in corners but clears away large and medium-sized debris like cereal or rice without too much trouble on this surface type.

The Roborock S8 Pro Ultra performs decently on low-pile carpet. As with its performance on high-pile carpet, it has a hard time with finer debris left along walls and in corners, but it's otherwise pretty good at dealing with larger solid debris.

This vacuum does a fantastic job of dealing with pet hair on low-pile carpet. Within a single cleaning cycle, it can clear away the majority of strands, with barely anything remaining. Its twin roller head performs far better in this regard than the Roborock Q Revo's single-roller head.

Real-world suction performance is poor. The manufacturer advertises this vacuum as having the same 6000 Pa as the S8. While that's relatively powerful for a robot vacuum, its suction inlet is still positioned too high above the contact surface to generate a tight seal on bare surfaces.

The Roborock S8 Pro Ultra's airflow performance is decent for a robot vacuum. It's sufficiently powerful enough to lift up heavier debris.

This vacuum is remarkably quiet. Even with the vacuum running nearby in its most powerful setting, you won't have to raise your voice too much to be heard by someone standing nearby.

The multifunction dock is noisier than the vacuum when using the self-empty function, with a peak volume of 74.2 dBA.

This vacuum does a great job of maneuvering itself in its 'Standard' pathing mode. Its LIDAR sensor maps out rooms quickly, and the vacuum cleans in an organized, thorough pattern. It's small enough to fit under most tables and chairs and gets nice and close to furniture legs without getting stuck on them. The Reactive 3D Tech real-time object avoidance system is also fairly good at spotting obstacles, which you can see on the in-app coverage map. That said, it has trouble with power cords and thicker rugs, both being hazards on which it can easily get stuck. Its hazard avoidance system is slightly less sophisticated than the color camera-based technology found on the Roborock S7 MaxV, which is even better at assessing obstacles.

The Roborock S8 Pro Ultra does a poor job of sealing in fine particles. Like the Roborock S7 MaxV, fine allergens bypass its filter and are blown straight out of its exhaust port.

The Roborock S8 Pro Ultra has poor crack-cleaning performance. It struggles with drawing up fine debris wedged deep within crevices, but its side brush also tends to scatter debris around rather than direct it towards the suction inlet. Running the vacuum in the 'Max+' suction mode makes little to no difference in performance. You can see the final results of said test here.

The Roborock S8 Pro Ultra's stain-clearing performance is okay when set to its 'Intense' water flow mode and the pathing set to 'Deep Clean+.' Its new VibraRise 2.0 mopping system uses two smaller vibrating motors compared to the older Roborock S8's single-actuator arrangement, which seems to put less force to the ground and has a smaller overall area, resulting in slightly inferior stain-clearing performance. The brush-raise system could also play a part in this; on the older model, the brushroll can lightly scrape against a stain, helping to chip away at it. You can opt to keep the brushroll down on this newer model, which does seem to slightly improve performance, as seen here and here, but it also results in stain residue being left on the rollers, which is far from ideal.

Running a second pass results in slightly better overall performance, but ultimately it's a pretty marginal improvement. You can see the result of running a second pass here.

On the upside, the multi-function dock's mop-washing feature works very well; you can see how the mop cloth looked before cleaning here and after cleaning here. It misses a small amount of debris on the very edges of the pad, but ultimately, it's cleaned pretty thoroughly.

The Roborock S8 Pro Ultra isn't designed for dealing with liquid spills. While it can lift its brushrolls, the manufacturer still recommends not using it on wet surfaces. Besides, its mop cloth can only absorb a small amount of liquid.

The Roborock S8 Pro Ultra has a broad array of physical automation features. Most obviously, there's the multifunction dock, which not only empties its dustbin but also refills its water tank and washes and dries its mopping pads.

There are three physical control buttons that you can use to perform basic functions, without having to use the app. The power button doubles as a general 'Clean' button, sending the vacuum off to map your home and start a cleaning session. You can press the 'Dock' button to return the vacuum to its base station for self-empty. Holding the button down has the unit return to its dock to run a wash cycle on its mop cloth. Pressing the 'Mop' button has the vacuum start a mopping-only cleaning run, while holding it down engages the child lock.

The Roborock app has a remarkably dense feature set; you can see its interface here.

After it's mapped out your home, you can set up no-go zones, designate specific cleaning zones to spot clean, split, merge, and name those areas, manually set the surface type for different areas, and set the suction and mopping modes you want for individual rooms and even tweak the order through which it moves through each room. You can also set 'Entrapping Areas,' zones in which the vacuum will slow down to minimize damage on delicate surfaces. It also offers multi-level mapping for up to four floors.

You can turn the Reactive 3D hazard avoidance system on or off or tweak its behavior via two different sub-settings: 'Less Collision' mode prioritizes avoiding contact with walls and furniture at the expense of lower-precision scanning in tight spots, and 'Pet' mode boosts object detection performance for avoiding hazards like pet waste, but may degrade overall coverage.

The app also has a 'Help' sub-menu that gives you a projected service interval for its filter, brushroll, side brush, sensors, and mopping pad.

There are also quite a few configuration options for the multifunction dock. You can adjust the frequency of mop-washing cycles, the mop-washing intensity, and the mop-drying cycle length. You can also adjust how often the vacuum will return to its dock to self-empty depending on the size of your home or simply leave it up to the vacuum itself.