Robot vacuum cleaners were, a long time ago, the preserve of the cashed-up early adopter.
Which brings us to the subject of todays review:The Roborock S5.
But is it any good?
Hang on, Roborock?
Roborockisnt exactly a household name, and theres a good reason for that.
Its a relatively new brand, even by the standards of its fresh-faced competition.
So, what is it?
It is an independent company, and not a sub-brand of Xiaomi.
Well, that clears up that then.
Lets move onto the meat of the review: is the Roborock S5 any good?
What the Roborock S5 does well
Broadly speaking, Im quite pleased with the Roborock S5.
The day-to-day functionality of the equipment is solid.
I tested the unit on the ground floor of my house, which is completely open-plan.
In terms of suction power, I was pretty impressed with the Robovac S5s performance.
This accumulates under the vacuums hood in a small tray, which is easy to remove and dispose of.
Its worth saying Im a really big fan of the Robovac S5s hood.
It makes it easy to do the day-to-day maintenance tasks that come with owning a robot vacuum cleaner.
This makes it a compelling option for older people, particularly those who suffer from mobility issues.
On a side note, the hood also conceals a tool used to remove tangles from the devices brush.
This is obviously a huge plus, as it means that youre less likely to lose it.
The vacuum comes with a small selection of buttons that allow you to start cycles.
This is handy, but I didnt use it that much.
For my small house, it felt a bit like overkill.
I cant get no navigation (but I try)?
This brings me to arguably the weakest facet of the Roborock S5 navigation.
I should stress that as far as robot vacuum cleaners go, the Roborock S5 isnt my first rodeo.
Despite that, the Roborock S5 made some howling navigational errors.
Unfortunately, the problems persisted.
Rolling Stones references aside, I dont want to paint these problems as endemic.
Id say they cropped up around 20 percent of the time I used the Roborock S5.
Still, these navigational headaches were frequent and annoying enough to warrant mention.
Who is the Roborock S5 for?
On balance, I think I like the Roborock S5.
It does a lot of things well.
Its powerful enough to meaningfully clean your floor of dust and debris and isnt oppressively loud.
Ergonomically, its one of the nicest robot vacuum cleaners Ive tried out.
If youre tempted by the Roborock S5, it’s possible for you to grab it on Gearbest.
Thats 43 percent off the usual price of $666.47.
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