Qihoo 360 is a Chinese internet security company well known for its antivirus software. It is a relatively new player on the robot vacuum cleaners market. They released their first robot vacuum a year ago, and today, they have three models that are highly rated by customers and reviewers. Recently, we reviewed the 360 S6 and S5 models; now, we are going to talk about the latest and most powerful 360 S7 robot vacuum cleaner.
The 360 S7 is a high-end device that can compete with the flagship robot vacuums available on the market. With a price under $299.99, it is a good alternative to the more expensive iRobot Roomba i7 / s9, Neato D7 and Roborock S6, since it offers almost the same or even better features at a lower price. We conducted a lot of tests on the 360 S7, and in this review, we will share our thoughts about this device.
360 S7 Cleaning and mopping tests
What comes in the box
Appearance and build quality
360 produces high-quality robot vacuums, and the 360 S7 is no exception. All 360 robot vacuums have an average rating of 4.5 stars on Amazon. I have always liked the minimalist design, and the S7 meets my expectations.
It looks almost the same as the previous model 360 S5 that we reviewed recently. The 360 S7 has an amazing gold accent on top, which looks beautiful.
Unlike the S5, the S7 has a mopping attachment, so it can sweep and mop your floors at the same time. On the top is a tower, where a laser distance sensor (also known as Lidar or LDS) is located. The lidar rotates ~2000 times per minute scanning the surroundings.
In addition, there is a bunch of other sensors:
- cliff sensors protect the device from falling off stairs
- proximity and anti-collision sensors located on the soft front bumper help to avoid collisions with furniture and walls
- a wall sensor helps to get very close to the wall (1 cm) and provides better cleaning along walls
- an infrared sensor helps find the charging dock
- dustbin sensor, clogged filter sensor, etc.
Intelligent mapping
Data from the LDS sensor goes to a powerful ARM processor, which uses simultaneous localization and mapping algorithms (SLAM) to build a high-precision map of your house. From my experience, LDS+SLAM based mapping is the most accurate technology used in robot vacuums nowadays. The floorplan map created by the robot looks absolutely the same as your real house layout with an accuracy of up to 98%.
The 360 S7 has a huge advantage compared to other robot vacuums in this price range. It has an intelligent zoning feature. What does this mean? It can automatically divide the map of your house in to separate rooms that you can name later in the app ("kitchen", "bedroom", etc.).
I like this feature so much, and there are only a few models on the market that can do the same, but they are more expensive. Unfortunately, you cannot merge or divide (the latest updates brings this ability) the areas the way you can with the Roborock S6 but at the same time, the Roborock S6 does not support room naming.
When you need to clean only one room or a few selected rooms, you can just tap on them on the map and they will be cleaned. You can also schedule the robot to clean the selected room at a certain time and day of the week. The intelligent zoning works pretty well; the robot recognizes all my rooms.
Another advantage is the ability to store up to 10 different maps, which can be very useful for those with a multi-floor house. Also, you can create a few different maps for different needs. For example, by setting block-off zones, you can let the robot know where carpets are located. This is useful if you want to restrict the robot from going on the carpet when working in mopping mode.
Suction power
We tested the suction power of the S7 with a digital anemometer and were highly surprised by how powerful this device is. Even though the manufacturer claims it delivers 2,000 Pa of suction power, similar to other powerful robot vacuums, the 360 S7 showed much higher numbers on our tests. Our anemometer showed an air velocity speed of ~950 feet per minute, equivalent to 24.66 CFM.
It is the highest suction we have seen so far. According to Vacuum Wars review, the latest Roomba s9 shows 807 ft/min (~22 CFM), but the s9 costs twice as much as the 360 S7. In the latest comparison, the newest ECOVACS DEEBOT OZMO 950 does ~925 feet per minute, which is equivalent to 24.1 CFM, but the Deebot costs about $229.0. I have no idea how 360 achieves such strong suction, but it's an impressive result for a robotic vacuum cleaner.
Cleaning performance: carpets & hardwood floors
Thanks to strong suction, the 360 S7 cleans carpets very well. It picked up all the debris and dust that we scattered on our carpet. But it was not able to pick up all the hair used for our test. To be honest, after the tests, it was hard to get rid of the hair clogged in the carpet, even with a hand brush and a lot of effort. As we always mention in our reviews, robot vacuum cleaners are not suitable for shaggy or thick carpets. If the carpet is very thick, most likely the robot will not be able to climb on it; and if it can, it doesn't have enough suction to provide deep cleaning.
The 360 S7 has a great climbing ability. I always pay attention to this, since some robot vacuums struggle with crossing my door thresholds or middle-pile carpets. If your doors’ thresholds and carpets are lower than 2 cm, the cleaner should go through them without a problem. We've tested the unit with a 1.5 cm plank, and the robot crossed it very easily.
The manufacturer claims that the 360 S7 has a suction boost feature. This means the robot increases suction when on a carpet; however, we didn't notice it in our test. Who knows, maybe it just can't detect our carpets for some reason. I take my words back, in our further tests, the robot detected carpets and increased suction pretty well; I just forgot to switch the robot to the standard mode in the previous test.
I haven't noticed any problems with cleaning hardwood floors. It picks up everything from dust or scattered flour to bigger debris such as chips and crackers. With the mopping pad attached to the bottom of the robot, it provides even better cleaning on hard floors. In our synthetic test, we scattered lots of debris; and even with such a mess, the robot performed very well. We will publish a video of the cleaning test a little bit later.
Like most similar devices, this robot has a side brush that picks up debris along walls and corners. Since the 360 S7 always goes near walls and corners in a counterclockwise direction, having only one side brush is a pretty reasonable solution.
Corner cleaning is not perfect, but it was never a problem for me and the 360 S7 performs as well as the other round cleaners in the industry. Like the round-shaped robot vacuums available on the market, the S7 always leaves a small spot in the corner (5x5 cm) that can't be reached by the side brush.
The 360 S7 is equipped with an average-sized dustbin of 550 ml, and it will be enough for most households, if you use the robot a few times per week.
If you have pets, you might need to empty it more often. I used to clean the dustbin after one or two cycles. If the dustbin is full and the filter is clogged, it reduces the suction significantly, so keep this in mind and do not forget to empty the dust bin and wash the filter from time to time.
Easy to clean roller brush
The robot uses a mixed rubber & bristle roller brush, very similar to those we have seen in other robot vacuums.
I like that the roller brush has detachable side parts since it is much easier to remove any tangled hair. There is a tool you can use for cleaning the brush to cut and untangle hair.
It is very convenient that there is a special place for the tool under the robot's lid, so you always know where to find it.
Wet mopping function
The 360 S7 has a wet mopping feature. You can easily attach the mopping pad to the bottom of the robot. The mopping pad has a water container and a cloth. It's the same wet mopping feature we have seen in other robot vacuums, and there is nothing special about it: the water drips on the cloth, the robot moves and wipes the floor with it. Some people like the mopping feature based on 360’s technology, while others consider it useless since it can't remove stubborn stains. I personally find it nice to have. I use it occasionally when having no time or I simply don't want to mop the floors manually; and it does make a difference for me.
The water container holds up to 150 ml of water. It is enough for 30 minutes of continuous mopping; then you need to refill it. I like that you can use block-off zones to forbid the robot from going on carpets when it is working in mopping mode. You just need to set block-off zones in the app by drawing rectangles where your carpets are located.
Battery life and charging dock
The 360 S7 is equipped with a 3,200 mAh battery. We tested the robot vacuum in different modes, and depending on the mode, the battery lasts:
- ~110 min in Silent mode
- ~80 min in Standard mode
- ~48 min in Powerful mode
In Standard mode, on one charge the vacuum can clean a ~120-sq.-meter apartment. For sure, you can use it in a larger house. Thanks to the "recharge and resume" feature, if the S7 can't finish on one charge, it will automatically return to the charging dock, recharge to 80% of the battery capacity, and go back to the breakpoint to continue the job. I've tested this feature and it works pretty well: recharging from 20% to 80% takes approximately one hour, then it is ready to continue the interrupted cleaning process.
From my experience, the robot has never had any problem finding the charging dock. The dock looks very minimalist, and it doesn't have a protruding platform. Instead, the contacts are placed on the front side of the charging dock.
App control
If you want to use all the smart features of the 360 S7 robot vacuum cleaner, you will need to install the 360 Smart AI app from Google Play or Apple Store. On the main screen of the app, you can see a map of your house and track the robot in real time. At the bottom of the screen are a few buttons: start/stop, recharge, changing suction mode (silent, standard, and powerful mode), and a "More" button that leads you to additional features.
The app has a lot of useful functions.
Intelligent zoning
When the robot has finished its first cleaning cycle, it automatically divides the created map into separate rooms. You can manually name each room later. Then you can use this feature to clean a specific room by tapping on it on the map.
You can also select a few rooms if you don't want to clean your entire apartment. Very convenient!
Block-off zones (off-limit areas)
If you want to forbid the 360 S7 from going into a certain place in your house, you can draw a rectangle on the map and the robot will not go to this area. You can specify as many block-off zones as you want. You can even save a few maps with different restricted areas.
You can also use the block-off zones for mopping mode to mark your carpets on the map, so the robot will not go on these carpets when the mopping pad is attached. It is a great feature: in sweeping mode, the S7 ignores these zones, but when you attach the mopping pad, it avoids carpets. I've never seen this feature in other robot vacuums that we have tested.
Custom zoned cleaning
If you need to clean a spot or part of a room, you can draw a rectangle on the map, and the S7 will go and clean the specified area. You can specify a few zones; they will be cleaned consistently.
Storing up to 10 different maps
This feature is useful for those with a multi-floor house. You can store separate maps for each floor. When you move the robot to another floor, choose a map from the "Select Map" menu and start the cleaning.
Other useful features:
- Scheduling
- Cleaning history
- RC mode (allows you to control the robot like a radio car)
- Firmware update
- Maintenance
- Share the device with other family members
In the Settings menu, you can adjust the robot voice volume and turn on/off the button light (if it is disturbing you at night).
Where to buy the 360 S7
360 S7 is available on Amazon for $299.99.
What I don't like in the 360 S7
Overall, this is a great robot vacuum, but there are some things to think about. It would be great if it had a larger battery so it could last longer on one charge in powerful mode. This would be much better for those with big houses with carpets and pets. You can set block-off zones only as rectangles, and you can't draw custom lines on the map, for example, as you can do with the Roborock S5/S6. Also, you can't manually change the rooms (merge or separate some rooms) that were automatically divided by intelligent zoning. Even though all my rooms were recognized without any issues, if you have a complicated layout, your house could be divided incorrectly and you will not be able to fix it manually.
Conclusion
The 360 S7 has very strong suction the likes of which we have never seen before. It has a great build quality, a nice minimalist design, a lot of smart features available in the app, and very good cleaning performance on any type of floor.
The robot is ideal for those who live in a big house with one or more floors with a mixed surface of bare floors and carpets (not shaggy ones), and for those who have pets.
If you are looking for a decent robot vacuum that has smart features, is suitable for more than a one-floor house, has extra power, and can do mopping, I would definitely recommend this robot vacuum since it beats all the competitors with the same or an even higher price.
If you have any questions or thoughts about the 360 S7, please leave your comment below.