Roborock S4 Max review: Multi-floor, room-by-room cleaning | Digital Trends

The S4 Max has multi-level mapping that lets you use it on up to four floors. It also has Automatic Carpet Boost, a higher suction option to pull dirt out of carpet fibers, and a slightly longer cleaning time / battery life so it can clean larger spaces on a single charge.

Brains and tech: Laser lidar navigation

The Roborock S4 Max has the ability to “see” around obstacles in your home thanks to its lidar navigation technology. The bot bounces lasers off the walls and furniture to determine the layout of your home and where it can and can’t go. This data is then used to draw a detailed map of your home. With the map drawn, you can designate specific rooms for room-by-room cleaning. That laser mapping also means the vacuum doesn’t accelerate blindly into table legs or walls.

After just one outing, my vacuum had created a usable (and accurate!) Map, and that’s significantly faster than some other pricier bots I’ve reviewed. Also, unlike a lot of other bots, the Roborock S4 Max is ready for you to label and customize your home map right from the get-go compared to other bots that might need multiple passes to create the map.

You can start, stop, and direct your robot home using the buttons on the top of the vacuum, but the real power comes in the Roborock app. You can start and stop cleanups, set multiple schedules, create virtual barriers or no-go areas, choose your cleaning power, and adjust your home maps or re-label rooms.

The app lets you create dividers between rooms, merge spaces, and label them for more specific cleaning. The app is easy to understand and to find the controls and settings for things, so I was able to get my home labeled quickly. The next time I wanted to do a targeted clean of my hallway, I was able to choose that area on my map, and send out the S4 Max. I was also able to schedule vacuuming of different rooms on different days.

Roborock’s marketing for this bot makes a point of saying the S4 is “hard to trap” and it’s “engineered to escape the areas where others would get stuck.” I found this to be true during my review period; I never saw it get stuck once. Regarding its climbing abilities, the S4 Max never got hung on flooring transitions, edges, or rugs. I can confidently say that of all the robot vacuums I’ve ever tested, this one got stuck the least.

If you are having problems with a bot like this getting stuck, you can create virtual barriers or no-go zones. You can bar your robot from entering specific rooms or certain problematic corners. Creating these zones is done through the Roborock app. I can confirm it’s quick and easy and very user-friendly to do.

Increased suction power on carpet

I was quite impressed with how well the Roborock S4 was able to clean my carpets and rugs. When I tipped out the dustbin I noticed it had picked up everything from very fine dust to bigger debris, pet hair, and even pieces of plastic.

Multi-floor cleaning

One of the major features of the S4 Max is that it can store up to four different floors in memory, along with every room on those floors. This might not seem like a big deal – after all, it can’t climb stairs on its own – but it’s actually one of the main selling points for this device. Unless you want to invest in a separate robot vacuum for each floor, the multi-level cleaning means all you have to do is let it explore the area once.

After it has vacuumed that level and made a map, all you have to do is place the vacuum on the floor you want to clean. The S4 Max will remember each room and automatically recognize where it is. It will deliver the same cleaning performance no matter which floor of your home it’s on, which makes it great for whole-house cleaning with little intervention from you; all it needs is a little assistance up and down stairs.

For most people, only two floors (and possibly a basement) are needed. If you live in a four-floor home, consider us jealous.

Different floor surfaces: How well does Roborock S4 Max clean?

The Roborock S4 was easily able to handle the different types of flooring too: I have carpet, rugs, tile, and hardwood and it cleaned each one well, and it even vacuumed dirt out of holes in my floor’s grout. I test out robot vacuums by spilling things like flour or sugar, rice, and cracker crumbs or cereal on both carpet and hard floors. I can confirm the bot picked up everything easily, and what it didn’t get on its first pass it got in subsequent passes. The Roborock S4 Max cleans in a very linear fashion too; it’s possible to see the nice lines it leaves in the carpet after it’s been through a room.

Bin emptying

The onboard dustbin on this vacuum really needs to be emptied after every use. I didn’t get any kind of notifications from the app if this bin was full; Neither push notifications nor passive alerts. I think it would be nice if it could send me emptying reminders, but I don’t know if it’s just not designed to do that, or if my iPhone isn’t playing nicely with the Roborock app.

The vacuum defaults to being parked on its charging base, meaning it’s always ready to go. With a full battery, Roborock says the S4 will non-stop for up to 180 minutes, equivalent to almost 300 square meters (3,200 square feet), and I can confirm the S4 Max cleaned my entire main floor (about 1,500 square feet) without needing to recharge.

The Roborock S4 Max combines premium features, a long cleaning period, and multiple power levels into a single, functional robot vacuum. Combine that with the easy-to-use app and you have a robot vacuum capable of handling any mess on any floor.

Is there a better alternative?

How long will it last?