Top 10 best Roomba For Hardwood Floors 2022 For Cost Saving

The media could not be loaded.  4/2/2019I am not getting paid for a review, I am just a random person trying to help others in their consideration of this product.First off, I primarily have hard floors, and that is what my Roborock S5 stays on 99% of the time. One thing to understand, these little vacuums are for maintaining floors, and are not made to handle heavy duty build up, sticky spills from juice or pop, or large chunks of food. They are meant to be used after a floor has been fully cleaned before first use and after it will keep your floors cleaned by taking care of the day to day use.I have 3 dogs in my house, as well as kids from age 2 and up. I always have a large amount of dog hair in my home and it’s just impossible to keep up with. So I’m listing a few catagories on this review on what I’ve seen so far in the past few days I’ve had this. This is my own opinion and may not be the same as others’ views.I received my Roborock S5 in quick order once purchased(2 days), in sparkling brand new order with not a thing wrong. It was a thing of beauty to look at. It was almost completely assembled once I pulled it out of the box, excluding the base needing to be set up and plugged in. With dogs, I worry that one of them may get at the vacuum, so I pulled out a drawer in the hallway and retrofit the floor with a ramp so it can be tucked into the wall with some protection. I did not give the vacuum the recommended 3 feet on either side, and even with a 1.5 inch ramp, it still manages to get in and out of the space just fine.Navigation: The Roborock S5 is a newer “smart navigation” vacuum that uses zig-zag patterns instead of the random navigation used in older or cheaper models. I have noticed that my S5 will split up each room in my house into sections that it will tackle in its own order, not necessarily what we think may be the best order. Example: The S5 will split my kitchen into 4 sections of cleaning, my living room into 3 sections, dining room into 3 sections, and hallway into 2 sections. Usually it cleans one hallway section first, then the kitchen in 3 sections, heads to the dining room to clean 2 sections, back to kitchen, finishes dining room, second hallway section, then living room. Seems odd, right? But I assure you, it cleans almost EVERYTHING. It picks up 95% of what is on the floors.It will start by going around the outside perimiter of a section first, then zig-zagging around the inside until that entire section is complete. It covers all of the floors and leaves nothing behind. I have noticed that the side brush spins at a faster rate on edges to help bring anything in the edges out, but slows down when not near an edge as to not fling debris everywhere. I love this type of navigation, where other vacuums have taken nearly 85 minutes to clean my house and not even gotten everything, the Roborock S5 does it in 40 minutes and gets it all, including edges and most corners.Bumping, close quarters and obstacles: This is one of my favorite things about this vacuum. The front bumper is a super sensitive, light touch bumper. 99% of the time when the S5 approaches a wall, chair leg, even a shoe, it will slow down to a crawl until it just barely touches the object, then it will stop and slightly change it’s course to go around the object. I have seen it go along a wall, come to a closed door and turn into the threshhold, go along the door, and when it meets the wall it compensates and moves just enough to get along the wall to continue going straight. It usually stays within 1/2 inch while doing walls / edges which is more than enough to keep the side brush rolling against it. If it meets an object in the middle of the floor, it will go completely around it and maps it out, compensates for the object and continues on course. I have also seen this vacuum run full force into a slender table leg that it didn’t detect so it could slow down, and the impact was trivial at best. It barely bumped it and stopped in its tracks. No big bang, no shaking or objects flying off a table, no damage to the table leg. (For pet owners) This robot has hit my dog’s water bowl a dozen times and never so much as rippled the water. Never the less, may be best to place a barrier from the app to be safe.Note: While going around sharp corners and between obstacles, you may notice a ticking noise. This is from the side brush being a bit too close on a corner, however I haven’t seen it to be a problem and there has been no damage to vacuum or objects from this yet. I personally won’t worry about it.While the navigation is all good and well, some people wonder how loud this is. This vacuum has 4 power settings (5 if you include the mopping setting), Mop, Quiet, Balanced, Turbo, Max. I usually run mine on Balanced, since I have mostly hard floors and this setting still picks everything up perfectly. Quiet can sometimes be too weak to pick up everything well, and you tend to hear the brushes more. I can watch TV and have a conversation easily on Balanced. Turbo, and especially Max, do tend to be quite loud and not so great on hard floors as it’ll blow debris around (namely hair) and those settings tend to do better on carpet. Videos tend to make the vacuum louder than it really is, I’ve found that it’s much quieter in person.Another thing I’ve noticed this vacuum does that others have had a problem with, it will go on black rugs and carpet! I may have lucked out, or perhaps the company fixed it, but attached is a video of mine going on a black rug with no issues. I tested out the cliff sensors to make sure they function properly and they work just fine.Mopping: The Roborock S5 is equipped with a mopping function. I’m not particularly a fan of the mopping attachment, it has a water tank that has a pad on the bottom. I followed the directions and soaked the pad first, wrung it out until it did not drip, then attached it to the tank and filled it with water. While this did mop the floors, I don’t feel it was very adequate. The mopping function is basically just dragging a pad around on the floor while keeping the pad wet from the tank. It won’t scrub clean any sticky spills, and it even can leave some lighter things behind as well. Attached is a before and after picture of a coffee stain, showing that it cleaned most of the stain up, but left a bit behind. The vacuum suction does slow WAY down while mopping, and it is recommended to vacuum your floors first before mopping with this robot. It does, however, get the floors wet and I feel that it does a good job of taking any dust off the floor. Personally, I don’t feel I will use this function much, as it’s easier to mop myself, especially since I have kids that like to spill drinks or food everywhere.The App: This app, is by far one of the coolest and most helpful apps I have seen for a robot vacuum. It has a map right on the front page that will show a layout of your house, which is generated after the first full cleaning. You can put No-Go Zones, Barrier Tape, send it to a specific area for Zoned Cleanup, or send it to a specific area to do a spot cleaning! Spot cleaning is handy for dry spills such as crumbs, dry cereal, powder, etc. Starting from the center of the spill, the S5 will go around in widening circles until it has picked it all up! And since it has the map saved, it also has the docking base saved, with pin-point direction to get back to charge, even if it’s across the house.The app has many many other functions, like instructional tutorial videos for cleaning and maintenance, but it also has an option for “Care”, which is where you can see on a timer how much time is left before the recommended maintenance replacements and cleanings. I love this function, I don’t have to worry anymore about forgetting to replace parts! You can also manually control the robot from the app with a “joystick” option and run it around like a remote control car.Battery: The battery on this thing is HUGE. It cleaned my house twice, running for 80 minutes total, and STILL had 61% battery left. The best guess I have, is that this robot can clean 2000 sq ft before recharging. The company claims the S5 can run 150 min on one charge, but I’m betting it could go longer on Quiet mode.Maintenance: So far I have not had the Roborock S5 long enough to do any replacements or even general cleaning much, however I do empty the dustbin and clean it, along with the side brush and the main brush after every use (you are not required to do this, I just do because I want to keep it as clean as possible) it is absurdly easy to take this thing apart and clean it, everything unsnaps and snaps together smoothly and with ease. If you ever need assistance, there are training videos located in the app!I do have some tips, and last experiences to share. Check your firmware and update it as soon as you get it. Do it while the vacuum is charging for the first time. It only takes about 10 minutes. When you first run this robot, let it do a complete and full cycle of cleaning, including going back to the dock to charge. I made the mistake of NOT waiting, and instead while it was completed and going back to dock, I decided to send it to a certain location. This erased the map and I had to run it again to generate a new map. After it completed fully, the map stayed and I had no issues with it disappearing again.If the vacuum is returning to dock, try not to pick it up and move it. While it may find its way back, it may also get “confused” and mess up the pathing to get back.If you decide to make a “hidey hole” like I did into a wall, try to make sure the floor is as level as possible. I took the easy route and made a ramp for the vacuum to climb into. This works, and it gets in and out just fine every time, however when it is cleaning the hallway that the ramp is located in, it will climb halfway onto the ramp while cleaning, and drop off the other side. While it is not doing any immediate damage, I do worry about the long term damage it may have. I will be fixing mine to have a flat, even entry immediately.While this vacuum may be able to get around in tight spaces, sometimes, it may be better not to. I have two recliners side by side, and two end tables next to them on either side. My robot will find it’s way behind them and try to clean, but sometimes tends to get a bit hung up on the base of the chair sometimes. It always finds its way off, and comes out fine, but this is one of those cases where I will be taking advantage of no-go zones and barrier lines.Wrapping up, this vacuum is ABOVE and BEYOND better than most others, and it equals other vacuums that are hundreds of dollars more. While not being 100% perfect, I couldn’t ask more of this little helper. It cleans amazingly well, the navigation is great, pathing out objects works excellently, it always finds its way back to the dock, has an awesome app, and so much more. Not to mention it distracts my toddler and she follows it all over the house (which is a nice reprieve for the wife and I). I highly recommend this vacuum to any and all. It may be more expensive than the more budget friendly vacuums, but it is so worth the money.I have not yet seen the longevity of the S5, but I look forward to finding out how it holds up in the long run, and will be listing updates in the future.UPDATE 4/11/19Still running great, no issues. If anything, there’s been improvement. Cleaning time has reduced by 6 minutes. Can verify that it works like Alexa, however I have found its just to start and stop. Also, I have heard that starting the robot with Alexa will make it ignore barrier lines and no go zones, I can officially say that this is false. I start it with alexa every day and it still stays inside barrier lines. My house has never been so clean!

A Little Background: This review is coming from someone who works in the IT industry, so I’m very comfortable with technology. Features and settings that I say work great and are easy to setup may not come so easily to some. That said, I don’t have extensive experience with robotic vacuums. I have used the same ole Roomba 670 for the past few years and haven’t “upgraded” because, quite frankly, I was never really impressed with the technology. Don’t get me wrong, the 670 picks up great, but the pinball cleaning pattern just isn’t conducive with whole-home use and made it, at least in my estimation, “good enough for the high spots”. Coming from that, what I’m impressed with may not be so impressive to some. There’s your context, so apply it to my product review and dissect accordingly.Suggestions:1) Make sure it’s fully charged before doing anything. Download the app while you wait so you’ll have that handy once it’s time to begin setup.2) RTFM. It’s a pathetic little guide almost devoid of meaningful information but read it anyway. You may extract tidbits of info that you find useful.3) Once ready for setup, open the app and begin the wireless connection to the robot. Some access points will recognize that the client doesn’t support 5 GHz connections and isolate that band automatically, but if yours doesn’t choose the 2.4 GHz connection NOT the 5 GHz.Recommendations:1) Update the firmware immediately after setup is complete. This will ensure the latest fixes and features are available, potentially making for a much smoother experience. Access your robot in the app and open its settings. Click on “Firmware Updates” and apply if an update is available. Make sure the robot is fully charged before you start this process and don’t touch anything until it is completed. The robot will announce that the update is complete, and the app will indicate that the firmware is up to date.FINALLY! TIME TO CLEAN!*** Not so fast! IF you want to save the map generated by the robot, you’ll need to enable that option in settings FIRST! I really debated on whether to share this information or let folks experience the same joy I experienced when the first cleaning was completed, and I went to edit the map. Only then did I learn this setting needed enabling. Once again, access the robot in the app and open its settings. Open “Manage Maps” > Enable “Map Saving (Beta)” > Set the number of levels in your home you’ll use the robot in. There, now that I’ve robbed you of that wonderful experience start the robot and let it clean. Only pick it up or assist it if requested.Now, the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly:Good:1) Cleaning (Grade: A+): Suction is powerful on bare floors and the automatic carpet boost works great on runners and throw rugs. My floors are bare throughout the home with low-cut level loop style rugs scattered abroad. I cannot speak to the vacuum’s performance on carpet, but I’d guess it would perform great on low and medium level loop carpets. I’m not so sure about shag or cut pile style carpeting. Thinking about how these robotic vacuums work, I’m not too sure any of them would do much more than tug at the long, thick fibers. You can manually adjust the power of this vacuum in its settings, so a little experimentation might make all the difference between great or poor performance on carpeting.2) Pattern/Navigation (Grade: A+): The sensors on this robot are awesome and that means the software and engineering driving the robot is awesome. The robot cleans in a methodical back-and-forth pattern that overlaps just enough to ensure thorough cleaning, but not enough to amount to wasted energy. It calculates the cleaning area as it maps the surroundings, cleaning in small grids along its path. It does an excellent job of identifying objects and navigating around (or over) them. The cliff sensor works well, and the robot spends less time bumping into and getting stuck under objects, and more time cleaning the floor. It does a tremendous job at edge cleaning as well. This robot has true “smarts”. Goodbye pinball wizard robot vacuum.3) Mapping (Grade: A+): It’s mind blowing to watch how quickly this thing maps the room and its surroundings. Once you have the damned setting enabled to save the maps, features such as spot cleaning, room/zone editing, and no-go zones seem to work great. I’ve seen several complaints about mapping, but I’d point out an important caveat to that feature and that would be the word (BETA) beside the setting. When software (or in this case a feature) is in beta, bugs are to be expected as it is rolled out. Because the mapping feature is disabled by default, enabling it means you are agreeing to the UAT (User Acceptance Testing). Sending a detailed email to support about the bugs you are experiencing will help advance the development and push the software stable more quickly. Much more quickly than leaving a product review like “mapping sucks”, “mapping is garbage”, etc. Until it is stable, issues with mapping are on YOU as soon as you toggle that setting. They seem to be very actively updating and improving the software, so I expect this feature to be stabilized sooner than later. Unfortunately, testing takes the one thing we all hate to sacrifice…time.4) Features (Grade: A+): To highlight a few: Manually adjust the vacuum power, Pin n Go (tap a spot on the map and deploy for spot cleaning), In-app Remote Control, Scheduling, Mapping, No-Go Zones, Room and Zone Editing, Cleaning History, Guided Maintenance Scheduling and Monitoring, Firmware Updates. This thing is packed!5) Durability (Grade: A+): Of course, the true measure of durability is time, but you know how it is when you can tell you’re holding and looking at a well-made product. This vacuum has that look and feel that is reassuring that it will last for a long time to come. I’ve also witnessed it climb in and out of a table stand with legs made of square metal tubing on multiple occasions, and had I not seen it, I’d have placed money against it being able to do so. The legs are black, so I guess it doesn’t “see” them? I don’t know, but it’s tripping. If it were cheaply made there’s no way the drive train would be stout enough to traverse that obstacle.Bad:1) Dust Bin (Grade: C+): The dust bin is tiny. I mean really tiny. I mean it’s really, really tiny. Roborock has announced an automatic dumping dock is forthcoming, and I hope they have the good sense to make it compatible with a wide variety of their robots, because they’ll make a fortune selling the things if the other models have capacities like this one. I’d buy one right now if it were available for the S4 Max. If they rush it or allow marketing to dictate the development and make it only compatible with the latest and greatest robot in a bid to push consumers to upgrade, they’re going to miss out on a lot of revenue. They’ll be severely underestimating my ability and willingness to push pause, dump the bin, and resume cleaning if they decide to go that route.2) Documentation (Grade: C-): It’s thin. It’s so thin it’s almost transparent. It is the weakest link in Roborock’s chain. You can read the manual, in-app help, and every FAQ on the website and hardly glean a single thing of note. Sure, it mentions most every feature but elaborates on almost none of them. It’s as if robotic vacuuming with Roborock is a delicacy that you must cook yourself, but they want you to prepare it without giving away the recipe or any of the ingredients. I have no idea why I’m bitching about it though. I’ve really had no need for it, but it’s still true for those who do.Ugly:Absolutely None!Buy it. You’ll love it if you’re coming from an outdated model with a fraction of the features. I’m sure you’ll appreciate all that it has to offer if you’re coming from a slighly older model looking to upgrade, or crossing over from a rival brand in search of something better.

This is going to be an ongoing review with lots of updates I am sure.07.18.2021: I come with a long history of robovacs, specifically (exclusively) Neato Robotics. Until my (ongoing) issue with their new D8, I’ve had five Neato’s in my past. They simply don’t last. My venerable Neato D7 was the best ever. But it inexplicably took a dive down our loft steps and is currently in intensive care with Neato being repaired. And I impulse bought the new D8. It lasted ten days before going dark. I’m on my third D8; it’s still in the box unopened in the garage and will definitely be returned in favor of…The Roborock S7! Now, THIS is what a robot should be. It’s currently only on its second clean run, so much yet to observe and learn. But right out of the box it was a success. Setup was easy (nice REAL instruction manual), set up with WIFI seamless (ask me about the D8 WIFI sometime), and it was cleaning in minutes. The app is miles above Neato. You can actually watch the robot move in-app and see exactly where it has cleaned. Amazing. And everything the company says about the app’s abilities and features is true, It automatically color codes all your rooms so you can instruct the robot in any manner of cleaning routines. No-go zones and “invisible walls” are easy to set up. It does caution against falls (no drop sensors?) but after you do an initial run (safely blocked from staircases, etcetera), you can ad an invisible wall and you’re good to go. I assume.Our S7 cleans our lower hardwood floor. About 765 square feet. Clean time was 1:19 minutes and it had 33% battery life left. The Neato D8 was taking on average 2:45 (sometimes as long as three hours!) to do less footage (it wasn’t as effective getting all the floor vac’d) including numerous trips back to charge. Even in vacuum power>MAX, the S7 vacuumed in a fraction of the time. And it’s more quiet.I have not experimented with the mop feature yet. That was a secondary consideration for me as our floors are steam-mopped bi-monthly. But based on what others have said, it works. I am running three clean cycles first to get all the accumulated dog hair up before I install and test that.Now, my first (small) list of gripes. The dirt bin is tiny. We have a Siberian Husky that sheds twice a year–six months at a time. And two Beagles that drop what look like Gremlins all over the floor. After the initial break-in vacuum run, I popped the dirt bin out and it literally pooped a giant glob of hair out! But it never experienced a slow down of the motor, and the entrance chute was clear. So this thing can suck! I reckon the subsequent cleanings won’t jam it up as badly. We haven’t really vacuumed in a few days since all our bots were down or non-functioning. But all that hair didn’t deter the S7. And the HEPA filtering is very nice.Also, I experienced one error code, lifted wheels if I recall. It got hung up on a thin exercise mat in our mudroom. It curled up the corner and got hung. Easy fit. Picked it up and it was on its way. It did not have any issue with two plush area rugs in front of the bathtub and bathroom sink area.That’s all the issues so far.Back to the app. I am amazed at the detail and functionality. I find myself wasting time just watching it on the screen! And the robot (this is obvious looking at the patterns the robot makes) very meticulously goes left right left right (or up down up down) when vacuuming, once it outlines the room first. The Neato’s just seem to aimlessly wander around, eventually getting everything (but at the expense of charge).Everything is picked up now, and I even moved the dining room chairs out (this was a major source of pain for me with the D8 as it would spend a majority of its time tangled up in the chair legs). So the jury is still out on how the S7 will handle chair obstacles. Check back.One last thing that was a concern for me was the round shape of the S7 as opposed to Neato’s signature D shape. I wondered how well the S7 would do with corners, nooks, and crannies. The Neato’s excel here. But the huge side brush of the S7 gives it, effectively, a D shape with great reach. It’s easily three times the expanse of the Neato side brush. So, so far, no issues with the S7.So far the S7 is perfect. It’s well built, heavy construction, low profile (it easily glides under all our furniture and beds), and is FAST. And the mapping and accuracy are top of the line in my experience.I’ll post back more reviews of the mopping feature and other observations in the coming days and weeks.UPDATE 07.20.2021: Dang it! I’m an idiot. I returned my Neato D8 but picked the S7 as the return! Practically impossible to contact Amazon about this, so we’ll see what happens. But I digress…Still working great, the S7. Attached the mop pad and filled the tank. It mopped (and vacuumed) the house again. Did a good job. Just have to remember to wet the pad first. Had one WiFi issue today where it could not connect. I suspect this was on our end. It reconnected during the mop run and everything rectified itself. Still absolutely loving the job it does. Ironically, the Neato D8 issued a major firmware update today (but I sent it back) that seems to address many of the issues it had. But no support at all for legacy Neato products (like our venerable D7) so I am done with Neato.UPDATE 07.28.2021: S7 continued to perform admirably. The skill and perfection exhibited during the actual cleaning phase continue to amaze me. I have been running a deep mop as well as deep clean now on every morning run. I was confused at first as it wasn’t remembering the mop command from day to day. But user error on my part: you have to program that into the scheduling. Once I did that it mops every day. Just have to remember to fill the mop tank, but if you don’t no biggie.I also love the ability to pick up the phone and tell the robot to clean/mop a particular room of the house. This is really helpful when, say, your son closes the door to his room while the robot is doing a scheduled cleaning.Also, continue to be amazed at how fast it cleans and mops. We’re averaging 780 sq ft in 80 minutes.UPDATE 08.15.2021: Still love the S7! We have had practically no issues since first run. I experienced one weird “trapped” error and it was in the middle of the floor. However, a day later the app reminded me to clean the sensors (it keeps track of this for you), and once I did this I never had another issue. I believe one of the bottom sensors caused this error.I added a screen shot on how well the robot negotiates table and chair legs. Amazing. This was always a major problem for our Neato D8.Now, a minor complaint about the mopping feature. As others have eluded to, it leaves streaks on the floor. Not a deal breaker as I guess they are clean streaks! But they are very noticeable. Contrary to the warnings in the instructions, I’ve have tried plain water, distilled water, a mixture of Mop-n-Glo, and also a mixture of white vinegar and water (this is what our cleaning lady uses when she does our floors). Everything streaks, even if you wash the pad between mops. Further, I cannot see any problem using solutions other than water, but it doesn’t seem to help any.Finally, I have to say that this really is an amazing bot. You definitely need to empty the bin daily (at least we do with the Husky) but fit and finish is truly amazing, and the app and all the data presented continues to amaze me.

After having done a great deal of research, I am very, very happy with the product – now that I have a better grasp of it’s strengths and weaknesses. You can read all about the reasons to love the product on the page, so I will share the things the marketing material doesn’t mention. I purchased both (not at the same time) the eufy by Anker, RoboVac G30, and this Roborock S7+ Robot Vacuum and Sonic Mop with Auto-Empty Dock here on amazon… and I need them both. Hear me out.One practical issue is that “scheduled cleaning” may be included on the S7+, but isn’t a really an option. To properly use the S7+, you must clean or change the mop pad, you must wet the mop pad, and you have to fill the water tank. So there is no such thing as unattended operation. Any indication otherwise is skeptical. For example, the user manual says that you should empty the water tank and detach and clean the mop between uses. If you do that – you can’t schedule cleaning. If you don’t do it, you need to make sure that the S7+ goes to the dock with a full water tank. You’re involved any way you look at it. Then when it starts cleaning, the mop will be too dry, and only thin, wet streaks will make it onto the floor until 1/4 of the tanks reserves are used up soaking the mop cloth.Also, the best mopping setting, “Fine Mopping” disables the vacuum. That was unexpected. The “normal” setting is good for most things, but when I want to mop the floors, I want to do a proper job of it.On the other hand, I do like to spray something on the floors ahead of the robot and I wouldn’t want the liquid floor cleaner vacuumed up in the process. You can’t put any cleaning solution in the water tank, so the S7+ is basically water and a wet washcloth dragging across your floor. That’s not to say it isn’t good, 99.99% of the time, a wash cloth across the floor a few times a week is all I need to keep the house clean. I prefer to have some type of solvent diluted in a spray bottle and applied to the floor so I use Lundmark floor cleaner for the tiles and Lysol floor cleaner for the laminate floors.You should understand that the ENTIRE Mop Attachment does not vibrate for the scrubbing action. It does not. There is a smaller, stretchy area in the middle of the mopping pad called the vibration area. The mop mount has an area that wiggles. It wiggles the vibration plate. The vibration plate is velcro’d to the vibration area of the mop pad, and that is the only part that “scrubs.” So it scrubs in the middle, but not the full 11 in. width of the pad – it is not edge-to-edge.So, my house runs smoothest when the eufy RoboVac G30 vacuums the house first (it’s smaller, gets into more places, and a low-profile to get under furniture), and then I activate the Roborock S7+ to do the mopping. I DO wonder if this means I should have purchased a dedicated mopping robot with spinning pads, but most of them are not very smart and most of them don’t work with Alexa.The onboard software needs some work. The S7+ definitely knows where the vacuum is in the head, doing a fine job whenever I use it. But it has NO idea where its rear-end with the mopping pad is going. This is never more obvious than on an outside-curve. The refrigerator is ever so slightly rounded, and bows out a bit, and the S7+ gets its nose all the way around it, but the mop never comes near the edge. There is about 8 in. in front of my fridge that the S7+ has never been able to mop. It does a find job moving in a straight line under the cabinets and dishwasher, but that outside-curve foils the S7+ every time. I have to get my swiffer wet jet to clean that area. Also, the software is too conservative when it maps out the room. It reminds me of how some older children use a coloring book. The S7+ will go around the outside edge of the room cleaning about a 12 in. wide strip along the way. Then it will go back and forth within the outline to clean the area. However, it proceeds to mop WITHIN that original 12 in. strip. Never again reaching the edges. So it misses the opportunity to mop the spaces it failed to reach in front of the refrigerator. If the onboard software was updated, it could fix a tremendous amount of dead areas. There is a lot of criticism of the bump-and-pivot style, non-laser units, like my RoboVac G30, but it never, ever misses a spot. And I have since duct-taped a swiffer duster pad to its butt, so every time it turns around, it dusts the baseboards.Another weakness in the S7+ is that it has a VERY difficult time with rather common door saddles. This, I really don’t understand, but it appears to be mechanical. The saddle in the door frame between my hallway and bathroom doesn’t seem high at all. The RoboVac G30 has no issue getting over it. The S7+ fails to enter the room 6 out of 10 times. Once the nose goes over the saddle, the middle of the body catches a fulcrum point, and the wheels cannot push the robot over the saddle. Sometimes it can, but it fails enough that I have learned to place the S7+ in that room before I issue the command to “Start Cleaning.” It seems to have no problem leaving that room, but isn’t good at entering it. So again, there is no such thing as unattended cleaning.Just a final note. These things I have mentioned are not a big deal to me. In the grand scheme of things, my floors have never been this consistently clean. Many people point out that these robots can’t scrub and clean as effectively as a person with a mop – that is clearly true. However, the S7+ keeps you very far ahead of the game, and this “frequent maintenance” very dramatically reduces the need for manual mopping.

I have had several Eufys over the years and I always swore by them as a great little robovac. The Eufy is half the price of the Roomba and I always thought a robovac is a robovac, right? Wrong!The Eufy does a good enough job, wandering aimlessly around sucking up dirt and getting stuck… a lot. I finally got tired of going to help it and realized I may as well vacuum myself if I have to keep going to help it out all the time. The Roomba was on sale and I was so ignorant of what it actually brings to the table that I bought it because it was thicker so I figured it wouldn’t get stuck under as many things. Little did I know, this thing is on a whole different level.There is plenty of information out there on how to do mapping runs and design your layout etc. and I admit I didn’t do any of that and still don’t understand it well enough to explain it to anyone else, so I won’t try here. In “Eufy mode” I used it the same way and just set it going in a room. Only after it finished did I realize it was learning my floor plan and after a few times it had enough information for me to name rooms, set no-go areas and set up favorites etc. The first time I looked at the app and realized it was sending me pictures (pictures!) of obstacles and asking me whether this was a permanent or temporary obstacle and what area was carpet vs non-carpet, did the penny drop as to why the Roomba was more expensive. Through trial and error I now have a fully mapped house with named areas, no-go zones (such as under the treadmill) and known obstacles. I LOVE this thing!Where I have had issues (not sure they are serious enough to be called “cons”) I explain below.It never gets stuck under anything. In a month of running it almost every day, it has only twice sent me a message saying it was “near a cliff” which I eventually figured out was because it was on the edge of a rug with a light border and a darker inside pattern. It relies a lot on light to make its judgements so if the light isn’t terribly good in the room a thing like the floor going from a light to a dark color seems to confuse it. On brighter days it has made that transition without issue.For the same reason I figured out why a couple of times it returned to base without finishing the job (you know this because it tells you – the message was “path blocked”). I came to realize it doesn’t like to run in the dark. On both occasions I had left it running overnight and when Alexa turned off the lights and it couldn’t “see” it gave up and went home.When I first got it, it would stop and tell me the bin was full when it wasn’t and I thought this was going to be the most serious downside, because it had not been running very long when it would think the bin was full, even though the bin is quite large (larger than the Eufy). I have two long haired dogs and I found that the dog hair was obscuring the sensor for the bin, making it think it was full when it wasn’t even close. Setting it in the app to run with a full bin fixed that and unless you have either a really large area or a lot of pet hair in one run, I don’t believe it will end up getting clogged running with a truly full bin.Lastly, yes, it is noisy… but that is a small price to pay for such a time saving way to keep my floors in such good shape. I have come to like the sound of it, knowing it is running and makiung my life easier :)I haven’t tried it yet with Alexa, so I don’t know about that. The battery life could perhaps be a bit better, but if it hasn’t finished (I have one large area where this happens) it just goes back to base and recharges before resuming and completing the job. Again, you know this is happening because it tells you.Definitely a good buy and (sorry Eufy!) I can’t believe I waited this long to get one.