One of the most popular questions I receive is which robot mop is the best so I have decided to compare the three robot mops, the Roborock S7, ILIFE W450, and Narwal T10. Those three are not like other hybrid robot vacuums as they use spinning mopping pads, scrubbing brush, or vibrating mopping plate.
In this video, we’ll have a closer look at the three and put them through a bunch of mopping tests.
Roborock S7 vs. ILIFE W450 vs. Narwal T10: main features and differences
The ILIFE W450 is a dedicated robot mop with a spinning scrubbing brush and is the only here that does not vacuum the floors. The robot has two large containers inside, one for clean and one for wasted water. When the robot mops, it continuously supplies water to the scrubbing roller to keep the roller clean. It washes the roller and absorbs dirty water into a separate container so it doesn’t drag dirt around the floor as most other robots do. To build a map and navigate around, the ILIFE uses a camera.
The Narwal T10 uses two spinning mopping pads for mopping and a dedicated vacuuming port for vacuuming, it does not do both at the same time, you have to manually switch between vacuuming and mopping modules. The robot has an auto-cleaning base that washes the mopping pads and soaks them during the mopping process.
The Roborock S7 in my opinion is the most convenient robot to use in homes with a mixed surface. It vacuums and mops at the same time, lifts the mopping pad when on carpet, mops the hard floors, and does all this in one cleaning cycle.
Dried stains removing performance
Firstly testing stain removing performance. I use a dried-on coffee as well as chocolate yogurt and mud.
When testing the ILIFE W450 I set the slowest movement and the highest brush speed. After the first pass, the ILIFE W450 removed mud stains almost completely, partially removed coffee stains, and left yogurt stains almost untouched.
The Narwal T10 removed mud and coffee, yet still left yogurt stains. I added Narwal cleaning solution into the water tank when the Roborock and ILIFE were tested with clean water only. The reason for this is that Roborock doesn’t recommend adding any cleaning solution in the water tank and ILIFE sells a cleaning solution separately.
The Roborock S7 has a deep mopping mode which means the robot shuts suction down and moves in narrow lines. To my surprise, the Roborock did the best job removing mud and coffee completely and partially removed yogurt stains after the first pass. Compared to the Narwal spinning pads and ILIFE’s scrubbing brush, the Roborock vibrating mop does the job the best at least at removing dried stains.
After letting the robots make two more passes, the ILIFE was not able to remove dry yogurt stains, the Narwal picked up two yogurt stains and left 3 stains, and the Roborock did clean the floor completely so we clearly have a winner in this test. I assume the ILIFE would do a better job with a cleaning solution. The Narwal’s pads don’t provide enough pressure to the floor to remove stains better.
Honestly, I have never seen a robot that would remove old stains completely and you would need occasionally to do the manual job anyways.
Corners cleaning
I made a few stains near corner to test the robots performance.
As to reaching the walls and corners, the ILIFE leaves big areas near corners untouched as its brush can not get closer to the walls.
The Narwal’s D-shape body along with spinning brushes reaches corners pretty well leaving only a small spot in the corner.
The Roborock S7 was in between the two showing better results than the ILIFE but because of having a round body, it was a bit worse than the Narwal.
The Narwal T10 is a clear winner in cleaning corners.
Unlike most hybrid robots that drag a dirty mopping pad around the floors, the ILIFE W450 continuously washes the roller as it mops and absorbs dirty water into a separate water tank at the same time.
The Narwal does not have a built-in water tank so it returns to the base every once in a while to wash the pads and pre-wet them for further cleaning. The base contains 2 large water containers for clean and dirty water.
The Roborock S7 doesn’t have any of these, and because of that it also would drag the dirty pad around the whole cleaning cycle. When it’s done, you need to wash the cloth manually or in the washing machine.
Cleaning liquid spills
You have to keep in mind that not all robot mops are used on wet spills. Unlike the T10 and S7, the W450 is safe to use on all kinds of spills, it absorbs everything into the dirty water container. So the Roborock is not recommended for use on wet spills, the Narwal can be doing the job on some spills and the ILIFE is safe for every type of liquid on the floor.
The floors are not getting too wet after the Roborock or Narwal however the ILIFE supplies more water on the floor. It also has the option of drying out the floors after mopping if you feel like it.
Dried mud stains test
The next test is gonna be with dried-on mud stains.
The ILIFE W450 was able to remove most of the stains after the first pass, yet it seems like it performed worse than the Narwal and Roborock in this test. Maybe it would remove stains better with a special ILIFE cleaning solution which I don’t have so I used only water.
The Narwal T10 was slightly better, only a few stains left after the first pass. After returning to the station to wash the mopping pads, it removed the stains completely in two passes.
The Roborock S7 was the best in this test as it removed all the stains in one pass. It also finished the job twice faster than the ILIFE and Narwal. Seems like the vibrating mop really makes a difference.
The Roborock S7 makes the floor slightly wet even on the higher water level so it’s better to pre-wet the mopping cloth before starting the robot.
The Narwal T10 doesn’t have a built-in water tank, so it returns to the base a few times during cleaning to wash and rinse the mopping pads. It leaves nice wet trails behind.
The ILIFE has a large water tank and continuously supplies clean water to the brush when cleaning. It makes the floor pretty wet, especially on higher water mode.
What is the price difference and where to buy?
- ILIFE W450 is availabe on Amazon for $349.99. You can also order it on Aliexpress for $226.46.
- Roborock S7 on Amazon for $649.99.
- Narwal T10 on Amazon for $1049.0.
Conclusion: which one is the best?
So which one would be the best choice? As always, it depends on your needs. The ILIFE W450 might be a good choice if you already have a robot vacuum without the mopping function or if you don’t mind manually vacuuming your floors before mopping. It’s the best choice for wet spills as it absorbs liquids into a separate container. It can’t climb on anything higher than 3 millimeters, so you would need to manually move it between rooms if you have door thresholds. It doesn’t clean corners and near walls, so these areas should be cleaned manually once in a while. The ILIFE doesn’t return to the charging dock automatically, you should manually take it to the charging plate after mopping. You can get it for around $300 when it’s on sale, which is much cheaper than the Roborock S7 and Narwal T10.
The Narwal T10 would be a good choice for a house with mostly hard floors. It has an amazing self-cleaning base which I like a lot, it automatically refills water, washes, and dries the mopping pads. It doesn’t require a lot of maintenance when you use it in mopping mode and it also vacuums your floors, however, you need to switch between the vacuuming and mopping modules manually, the robot doesn’t mop and vacuum at the same time. It’s the best at cleaning corners and along the walls. You can add the Narwal cleaning solution to the water container which will make your floors even cleaner. It doesn’t perform well on carpets because there is no roller brush that would agitate the debris of carpet. It’s the most expensive model of the three, but that’s the price you pay for the self-cleaning base and low maintenance requirements.
The Roborock S7 is a unique device which is good at both - vacuuming and mopping. It is the first robot vacuum that automatically lifts its mopping pad when detecting a carpet.
A vibrating mopping pad makes it the best at removing stains.
The Roborock app is polished and feature-rich and the robot’s navigation intelligence is probably the best on the market. It would be a great choice for any house, with carpets or only hard floors. But unlike the other two, the Roborock S7 doesn’t wash the mopping pad during and after the cleaning cycle meaning it drags all the dirt collected on the mopping pad across your house. It should not be an issue if your floors are relatively clean though. Unlike the Narwal T10, the Roborock S7 requires you to manually replace the mopping pad and wash it after every cleaning cycle.