Roborock Q7 M5+
pros and cons
- Auto-emptying dock.
- Great for pet hair.
- Strong 10,000Pa suction.
- No camera or AI-powered obstacle avoidance.
- Basic mopping capabilities.
- Dust bags are a permanent cost.
on Google.
I’ve wanted a robot vacuum since I saw Rosie the Robot on The Jetsons. I’m still waiting for Rosie, but I’ve been using robot vacuums since the first iRobot Roomba rolled out in 2002. However, I haven’t been crazy about them for the last few years; they seem to be getting more expensive and more prone to acting up.
However, I recently found one I like at a reasonable price: the Roborock Q7 M5+
Behind that innocent face is an insane amount of fur ready to shed at a moment’s notice.
Steven Vaughan-Nichols/ZDNET
I eat too many crackers for my own good, and when the dogs don’t get to them first, I can end up with a mess, complete with crumbs that call for a vacuum.
Roborock’s LiDAR navigation is another practical advantage. It creates room maps and supports targeted room cleaning, scheduling, no-go zones, and virtual walls through the Roborock app. That means you can send it through high-traffic spaces daily while reserving less-used rooms for a separate schedule.
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The self-emptying dock is also important. Rather than being a deluxe feature, it changes the ownership experience. The robot can return after a cleaning cycle, empty debris into the dock’s bag, and remain ready for the next scheduled run. Roborock says the bag can support up to seven weeks of hands-free emptying, but that estimate will vary depending on your carpeting, pets, and home size.
I’m on week three of my unit cleaning my 1,000-square-foot office, home theater, and my wife’s studio four times a week, and the bag is just over half full. That’s a big win in my book.
Where it falls short
Roborock says this unit is both a vacuum and a mop. That’s sort of true. The Q7 M5+ uses a mopping pad and a water tank with adjustable water flow. The device does not scrub floors with rotating pads, lift its mop over rugs, or wash and dry the pad in the dock. It’s doable for a light maintenance pass on hard floors, but won’t replace a proper mop or compete with premium combination robots on dried-on drink spills or unfortunate dog stains.
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Also, while the dock empties vacuum dust, it doesn’t automate mop care. If you use the mopping attachment regularly, you will need to remove and rinse the pad, refill the water tank, and allow the pad to dry between runs. For me, the mop function does too little with too much trouble to be all that useful.
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That said, you can skip the purchase if your priority is hands-off mopping, robust obstacle recognition, or a robot that can safely operate in an unpredictable household without pre-cleaning. In that situation, paying more for a model with active mop washing, drying, and object recognition, like the Eufy Omni S2, is the better, albeit far more expensive, solution.