Comparing The Latest Roborock S8 Pro Ultra To The S7 MaxV Ultra

Speaking of the premium robots out there, the Roborock S8 Pro Ultra and S7 MaxV Ultra. What the newest model brings to the table?

Roborock S8 Pro Ultra vs. S7 MaxV Ultra: Which Roborock Flagship is Better?

Plus the test results give you guys a bird's eye view of the strengths and weaknesses of each robot. 

Do-it-all base station

Both products are versatile robot vacuums with a do-it-all base station. 

The S8 Pro Ultra and S7 MaxV Ultra base stations utilize a similar framework with a horizontal configuration, where the water tanks and bags are lined up. 

Putting these products side by side the S8 Pro Ultra base station is slightly taller and wider than the S7 MaxV Ultra. 

Both utilize a ramp-style dock with a wide opening connecting to the robot's brush roll for the self-emptying cycle. This design as it does a better job of emptying the dustbin contents than a smaller dedicated port found in other brands. 

Both have the same pad-washing mechanism with bristles for scrubbing the pad back and forth. Aside from the size increase, there are other differences with the base station design. 

The first difference is the handle access. The S8 Pro Ultra has it at the back, whereas the S7 MaxV Ultra has it in front. 

Also, the S8 Pro container has a smaller opening where only half of it opens. 

The S7 MaxV provides better access to the inner components as the whole top opens. 

Other variances in the base station are stable mostly under the hood, so to speak. 

Roborock says the S8 Pro Ultra base station has five functions, from pad-washing to pad-drying. 

Nonetheless, the pad-drying feature lacking in the S7 MaxV Ultra shouldn't be a deciding factor since it needs to be damp for the mopping function. And it has pad-washing and self-refilling features, two more important aspects compared to the pad-drying feature. 

Robot design

Both utilize the same round frame a staple for all Roborock products.

And while robots like the Roomba S9 with a square front are excellent at cleaning edges, it struggles to navigate tight quarters. Hence most manufacturers use a round-shaped frame because it offers better navigating efficiency, especially in cramped areas. 

Underneath, both have the same layout but one significant variance is the twin roller system Roborock introduced in the S8 Pro. 

If there's one deciding factor between these products, it's this feature because the DuoRoller system as Roborock calls it offers better agitation and debris pickup on carpets. 

Another upgrade with the brush roll is it raises up during the mopping-only cycle, something absent in the S7 Maxv. 

This may not be a big deal at face value but can look at the caked-on dirt on the S7 MaxV brush guard, which is virtually absent in the S8 Pro. However, the S8 Pro uses the older bristled-tip side brush, which is a downgrade, because of the durability issues. 

Consumers can purchase the five-pronged all-rubber brush as a backup to replace the current one when it wears out. 

Roborock S8 Pro Ultra

$1599.99 on Amazon

Mopping

These robots have a mopping feature with a pad lift Roborock called VibraRise. 

The S8 Pro Ultra has the 2.0 version, but really the only difference is it has a second vibrating element. It retains the same 5-millimeter pad lift, and both are efficient at removing even hard-to-mop juice stains and did not stall. 

The S8 Pro's second agitating element makes it more efficient, but the S7 MaxV, even with only one vibrating element, got the job done so don't think it should be a huge deal breaker. 

Again, since these robot mop hybrids cannot pick up liquid it limits what they can mop.

Don't recommend using either on food-based stains because it will leave a surface residue.

One deciding factor is the non-detachability of the S8 Pro Ultra mopping bracket. 

You'll need to flip the robot to remove the pad, which needs washing eventually. 

Roborock's pad-washing feature is good enough that there's no need for frequent washing, but not having the detachable bracket is a downgrade over the S7 MaxV's detachable version. 

Another non-detachable item in the S8 Pro is the in-robot water tank, which isn't a big deal since the base station refills it. So there are no usability drawbacks with this design. 

Roborock S7 MaxV Ultra

$1399.99 on Amazon

Navigation

Since both options use LIDAR there isn't much variance with navigation as both will have the same pattern going around edges before moving toward the middle section.

Selective room cleaning or zoned cleaning unlocks the three-pass run and the crisscross pattern. But a single pass run is available for light-duty vacuuming tasks.

Both are efficient at picking debris, especially on hard floors, and this was the case during the coverage test, where both got almost everything after the first pass. 

The S8 Pro Ultra was slightly quicker, completing the second pass by the 18-minute mark around 2 minutes less than the S7 MaxV Ultra. 

Containment is available for the S8 Pro and S7 MaxV Ultra models.

Both have the invisible wall and no-go zone features as staples for blocking off-limit areas. 

These are usually enough for containment as the invisible wall can block diagonal areas, while the no-go zones will block select spaces.

Obstacle avoidance

Roborock reintegrated the ReativeAl technology in the S7 MaxV Ultra. But enhanced with an LED and lasers flanking the twin-lens camera.

The result of these improvements is better obstacle avoidance capability, even with smaller debris. 

It evaded almost everything that was thrown at it: pet faces, coiled wires, toys, and footwear. But it struggled with evading stretched wires and didn't completely avoid a weighing scale. 

However, using a camera comes with privacy concerns since the photos are stored in a cloud. 

Also, consumers are obviously wary of privacy issues of the CCTV feature despite the encryption and other security features. 

Hence, it's a significant factor why Roborock switched to an all-laser system in the S8 Pro they call Reative 3D.

Was tested both extensively, and there isn't much variance with obstacle avoidance. Both are adept at evading stuff like shoes, slippers, coiled wires pet faces, and even toys. The S8 Pro was better at evading the weighing scale and didn't even try to climb over it. 

However, both struggled with stretched wires since it gets too close and the side brush tangles on them. 

Airflow and cleaning performance

Was put these two categories together since there's a correlation between airflow and cleaning performance.

High-airflow robots tend to pick up more surface debris than low-airflow options.

Other aspects like brush roll design and navigation are critical. 

The S8 Pro only maxed out at 11.33 CFM two less than the S7 MaxV's output at 13.39 CFM. And this variance could be the swing factor between the newer S8 Pro Ultra and S7 MaxV Ultra. 

Based on experiments the S8 Pro was better at cleaning surface debris and embedded sand on carpets. Unfortunately, the S8 Pro's lower airflow affects its hard floor cleaning performance as it got lower averages, including sand which is my barometer on this surface. 

Also was noticed the S8 Pro side brush scatters debris a bit more than the S7 MaxV. 

That could be the lower airflow in play since it picks up less but need to try to experiment with switching the S7 MaxV side brush on the S8 Pro and see what happens. 

Fortunately, the difference on hard floors isn't as substantial as the deep cleaning experiments where the S8 Pro was nearly 10% better.

So this could be the deciding factor between these flagship Roborock options.

The S8 Pro also got a higher average on surface debris on carpets but the difference isn't as significant as on embedded sand. 

Unfortunately, the S8 Pro despite its twin-roller system wasn't good at cleaning hair. Only picking up 48 and 24% of five and seven-inch hair, respectively which is way off the S7 MaxV's pick up of 100 and 63%.  

Again, this is another proof of the S7 MaxV's higher airflow. 

App

There's little variance between the S8 Pro Ultra and S7 MaxV Ultra with app features. 

Both are compatible with the Roborock app one of the better options with the most frequent updates. And the last major update was released with the S7 MaxV and Q-series namely the 3D Map option and mapping run. 

The latter is the more helpful of the two since it fast-tracks the map-creation process, leveraging LIDAR's 360-scanning ability to identify the walls without the robot going through every nook and cranny. The 3D Map offers consumers a different perspective of the map from different angles. 

What's cool with the Roborock version is it's integrated into the main interface. 

So it's usable with other features like checking the robot's status using the 3D Map. 

One variance is the obstacle recognition results, where the app shows the detected obstacles. 

Since the S7 MaxV Ultra uses a camera it shows a snapshot of the object while the S8 Pro only shows a graphic. Another is the remote view found only in the S7 MaxV Ultra, which acts as a CCTV camera to see what the robot sees during the run. 

Again, this feature may be good or bad depending on your views on privacy. 

Other features like containment scheduling selective room cleaning and zoned cleaning come standard with both options. 

Other things to consider

With the higher airflow, the S7 MaxV Ultra will be slightly noisier maxing at close to 73 decibels while the S8 Pro peaked at close to 71 decibels. 

Run time will be similar since both use a 5200 mAh lithium-ion battery at 180 minutes in the lowest setting which is more than enough inside most homes unless you live in a huge mansion. 

The efficient navigation and mapping run solves most of the issues that plague options without them. 

Which option is better?

Despite the numerous upgrades Roborock put in the S8 Pro Ultra experiments reveal little variance with real-world performance. 

Both are efficient navigation options that will traverse around tight sections proficiently with minimal risk of getting wedged. 

Surface debris pickup is extremely close with the S8 Pro having the advantage on carpets thanks to the twin roller design while the S7 MaxV is better on hard floors since it has more airflow. 

Obstacle avoidance is also a toss-up with a slight advantage going to the S8 Pro since it avoided this weighing scale and didn't attempt to go over it whereas the S7 MaxV Ultra failed in this experiment. 

Mopping is also close despite the S8 Pro having two vibrating elements. The S7 MaxV Ultra has enough agitation to mop tough-to-clean juice stains without stalling, so don't see a dramatic improvement in this category. 

And both can't pick up liquid which limits the stains they can mop. 

So it boils down to two things - price and vacuuming performance. Do you need the improved deep cleaning performance of the S8 Pro or prioritize hard floors?