While there are plenty of budget-busting robotic vacuum cleaners prepare to do your bidding, looking for one like the Roborock S4 Max, which integrates efficiency as well as affordability, is unusual. It gets the task down smartly and also successfully– without breaking your purse.
Lots of robot vacuums are filled up thos brim features and attachments that do not always function well. In order to pack in more and more attributes, some robotic suppliers have actually failed to remember the most basic feature of all: real cleaning efficiency. In our Roborock S4 Max evaluation, we found a vacuum cleaner that functions well and also has helpful, modern features. With quick mapping, single room cleaning, and automatic rug detection, the $429 S4 Max strikes the ideal equilibrium of performance, attributes, and also cost. All of that has actually earned an area on top of our best robotic vacuum cleaners list.
Roborock S4 Max: Price and availability
The Roborock S4 Max was launched in September 2020 and also is offered at Amazon for $429. Automatic carpet detection and also a bigger dustbin separate it from the older Roborock S4. If you’re trying to find advanced attributes, the $749 Roborock S6 MaxV adds onboard cameras for item discovery and mopping abilities.
Roborock S4 Max: Design
The Roborock S4 Max is an appealing, yet understated-looking vacuum. As one may anticipate, the Roborock S4 Max births a striking similarity to its feature-packed bit sibling, the Roborock S6 MaxV. The S4 Max sells shiny black plastic for matte black plastic with classy matte silver trim around the top of the robot. Measuring 13.5 inches in size, it’s 0.4 inches smaller than the S6 MaxV, while it’s truly noticeable when the two vacuums are placed side-by-side. Both are 3.8 inches high at their vertical bumper, also known as the disc that protrudes from the top of the bot. The rear of the S4 Max is coated in a lot more matte black plastic, settled with air exhaust vents.
There are just two rubberized switches atop the Roborock S4 Max: A power switch as well as a house switch. Press and also hold the power button to turn it on or off. A quick press activates cleaning progress. Rather confusingly, a long press of the home switch, which appears like a stick home, triggers spot cleaning mode, while a brief press sends it back to the dock. The Roborock S6 MaxV has an exclusive spot cleaning switch, that comes a lot more practical.
The Roborock S4 Max has a tidy, unencumbered look as it moves throughout your floor, thanks to a turn-up hood that hides its dustbin, Wi-Fi sign light, and also a cleaning tool. Generally, I prefer this dustbin placement. Not just is it simpler to detach, yet it’s also less complicated to see when your dustbin is nearing full. The dustbin on the S4 Max pulls out via a mini handle, keeping the sneezy things just a bit further from you.
The bottom of the Roborock S4 Max is equipped with two beefy rubberized wheels on either side of the brush roll and also an omnidirectional caster wheel at the front of the crawler. A five-spoke brush with rubber “bristles” sits to the side. The spokes are angled descending to help capture debris as well as pushing it towards the brush roll.
There’s nothing different concerning the dock included with the Roborock S4 Max. It’s similar to the one featured with the Roborock S6 Max. It’s unobtrusive and tiny, which looks excellent in a living room. Nevertheless, the vacuum cleaner pushed it around a couple of times when attempting to dock, in spite of the rubber grasps on the bottom. Roborock consists of a strip of double-sided tape to stick the dock to your floor, but I’d rather choose an undocked robotic vacuum cleaner than glue residue on a hardwood floor.
Roborock S4 Max: Superior Cleaning Performance
Lately, there has been plenty of robotic vacuum cleaners that pile on bonus and also features yet forget the most vital part– strong suction power. But the Roborock S4 Max is not one of those. It earned a total score of 96.25, comparable with the much more pricey iRobot Roomba s9 and also better than its (likewise much more expensive) brother – the Roborock S6 MaxV (90.56 ). In addition, it topped our previous leading robot vacuum cleaner, the Shark Ion R85, by two points, as well as bested the Neato D4.
When it involved grabbing cereal, the Roborock S4 Max was almost best, gaining an average pickup rate of 98.38, approximately less than the S6 MaxV’s 98.9 average, and far better than the Roomba s9’s 92.5 standards. The Shark Ion R85 achieved a high score of cereal picking.
The only stumble for the Roborock S4 Max was grabbing pet dog hair. Though it practically grabbed every one of the dog hair on hardwood, the vast majority of it was caught up in the brush roll but not in the dustbin. Just 8.5% of hair made it right into the dustbin; the rest was clumped around the brush roll and suction inlet. Still, the canine hair was caught up and also eliminated from the floor surface, so it counted.
On our carpet examinations, the Roborock S4 Max used similar, yet better efficiency than the Roborock S6 MaxV. It matched or went beyond the Shark Ion R85 when grabbing cereal and kitty litter, though weak a bit on pet dog hair. And while it didn’t fairly go beyond the iRobot Roomba s9 when cleaning up kitty litter and also pet hair on carpets, the $429 vacuum sure came close, tidying up 95% of the litter and also 88% of the pet dog hair. Unlike on hardwood, the large bulk of hair ended up in the S4’s bin, as well as did not get stuck on the brush roll.
Roborock S4 Max: Setup, application, and also mapping
Connecting the Roborock S4 Max to our home Wi-Fi and also the Roborock application (Android and also iOS) was relatively simple and also fast. Like most app-connected robotic vacuums, the application guides you through the procedure. The S4 failed and also didn’t connect the first time, yet linked swiftly on the second.
The Roborock app is user-friendly and also mostly functions well. The main screen for the vacuum presents the area cleaned, the battery life, and also the cleaning time above the current map. I liked that the application also tracks the S4 Max, showing both its present location as well as the course where it cleansed most recently.
You can pick from 4 cleaning modes within the app: Quiet, Balanced, Turbo, as well as Max. Along with the cleaning settings, there is an amount of customization within the application settings. Some choices, like instantly boosting suction when the carpet is found, struck me as no-brainers. Why don’t you want to use it out of the box? One more choice is establishing a do not disrupt timetable, which prevents the vac from cleaning, decreases voice prompt volume, and dims the indication light. There’s also another option to set your favored unit of measurement– feet or meters– although we observed our preference for feet in fact did not entirely carry over to the zone dimensions on the map.
One choice I want was added to the main setup web page: Map saving. Instead, you need to click the Edit Map button. I missed turning this on the first time and also lost the preliminary map the Roborock S4 Max created. This is likewise where you allow single-story or multi-story mapping, where approximately four maps can be conserved. It’s far less than the Roomba i7 and Roomba s9’s ten maps, however, it’s sufficient for a two-story house and also a cellar.
The Roborock S4 Max utilizes a LiDAR navigation system to plan its way, which enables a much faster mapping experience. Due to precision laser navigation, there is no spot is missed while Roborock S4 Max cleans your floor by treating walls and obstacles gently. Like the Roborock S6 MaxV and also the Ecovacs Deebot Ozmo T8, the S4 Max developed an exact map on its first operate. In comparison, the iRobot Roomba s9 and Roomba i7 use vSLAM and also cost more than one go to create an entire map.
As soon as the initial floor map was completed and conserved, I had the ability to create areas, no-go zones, and also invisible wall surfaces. Theoretically, creating room departments ought to be very easy, however, I encountered a “Reset failed” mistake when I attempted to split my kitchen as well as a dining room. Both Roborock’s support discussion forum and Reddit suggested the error was triggered by a room having more than one entrance. Because I had no problem making a dividing line for my washroom, this seems possible. The remedy was to create smaller-sized divisions along with edges and then merge those together. Fortunately, this method functioned, however, it was much more inconvenient than I wanted from a vacuum.
You’re able to give custom tags for them rather than having to select from a pre-populated list once areas are set up. While the tags are practical, they’re not necessary for room-specific cleaning. From this point, you’re able to tidy individual rooms. What’s another cool is that you can set specific times to clean up each area, such as cleaning up the cooking area at 8 pm every night after supper.
Wish to clean up a particular area promptly? Select Zone cleaning, which enables you to draw a box around the area you want to clean. It provides you extra control as well as the choice for a larger cleaning area than the onboard spot cleaning.
The Roborock S4 Max was really respectful of no-go zones and invisible wall surfaces I created within the app. It made a sharp turn as it “hit” the unseen wall surface I drew from my kitchen to dining room. Furthermore, it was considerate of the no-go area around my kitchen sink and also never crossed the boundary ship at one time. This adherence to unnoticeable limits was presented in the app as well, allowing us to check the robot’s work again.
Barrier detection and also area cleaning capacities
You can make use of the app to send out the vacuum out to clean the whole home (on the floor it’s situated, these bots still can not climb upstairs), specific zones, and even particular areas. This cleaning can be accomplished with the selection of numerous suction modes, consisting of Silent, Standard, Medium, and also Turbo.
Quiet is sensibly peaceful (not completely quiet) as well as could be used to clean your house before you even wake up in the early morning – relying on exactly how hefty a sleeper you are. The quieter cleaning modes indicate the robot can clean up for longer before having to recharge, but won’t clean as efficiently as when on the higher suction settings.
We thought Turbo mode to be effective. We routinely discovered ourselves emptying the dustbin when utilizing this mode, which in itself is reasonable proof that the S4 is a good cleaning device. It also planned to catch up dirt and dust when out for a tidy after an additional rival bot on test had already offered the house a sweep.
The Roborock S4 can clean up for as long as 3 hours on the lowest suction power, however, we usually located that it would certainly get through four or five rooms in under 40 minutes in a satisfactory way prior to going back to its dock base.
The Roborock S4 cleans in a regular route. It guides from one area to another area, passing up and down in a z-shaped cleaning pattern, zig-zagging its means regarding. On thicker carpet, it leaves sparkling track marks in the fibers displaying where it’s been in the same way an expert mower leaves lines in the newly trimmed grass.
It also carries out well on any surface. We saw the S4 cleaning both pile carpet and hard floors. The floating main brush indicates it can clean in between crevices and adapt to compensate for the area it’s cleaning. The side brush has a vibrant rate and functions well at cleaning up the edges of areas and skirting boards as well.
Aside from auto cleaning, you can drag and choose an arrow over certain areas of your house within the app to send the robot to clean up that location or simply pick a specific room for it to go and also tackle with. There’s likewise a pin-and-go feature to let you drop a pin on the online map as well as control it to go spot clean.
If there are areas you don’t desire the Roborock S4 to go, after that you can establish “no-go” zones and virtual obstacles, indicating you can stop it from entering into rooms without also having to close the door. It additionally implies you can define locations within a space that the bot needs to avoid as well, be that to stay clear of overturning a vase or a heap of Lego a child is playing with. The cleaning modes are incredibly flexible.
Sensor Maintenance
In order to keep your Roborock robot working appropriately, clean the sensors once a week. The sensing units are your Roborock’s “eyes” that let it see where it’s going as it’s cleaning your floors. If they become dirty, your vacuum might start encountering objects, missing out on places, as well as not charging correctly. Cleaning the sensing units is incredibly simple and all you need is a soft fabric.
Make use of a soft, dry fabric to clean up the sensing units. A dry towel is all you require to eliminate dirt and other debris that’s obstructing the sensors. A microfiber or cotton towel will work. Do not use anything rough to clean the sensors, like paper towels or the harsh side of a sponge, given that it can scrape them.
Do not make use of tap water or various other cleaners on your Roborock’s sensors. Roborock advises not using anything moist to wipe down any type of part of a Roborock vacuum, including the sensing units. It might damage it if fluid gets inside of your vacuum.
Tidy the sensing units as soon as a week to keep them working effectively. When dirt and debris collect on the sensors, your vacuum will not work properly. To avoid this, try to keep in mind to clean up the sensing units a minimum of once per week. Think about cleaning them after every usage so you do not fail to remember.
Roborock S4 Robot vacuum: Verdict
Make one thing the best. That’s the most accurate review, to sum up, the Roborock S4 Max. Rather than attempting to tack on a mopping plate or other useless attributes that raise the price but rarely boost efficiency, the Roborock S4 Max just does well. While it’s $100 more than the Neato D4, the S4 Max supplies much better performance and also it’s able to save more than one map.
The older Shark Ion R85 does not provide mapping or automated rug detection and can not actually take on even more contemporary robots. The mapping on the S4 Max is systematic as well as fast– even despite the misstep I ran into– and the robotic does as it’s told. If you want to purchase a smart robot vacuum with outstanding cleaning power and also advanced functions like single room cleaning along with scheduling, the $429 S4 Max will certainly offer you well.