S6

I wanted to wait for the Roborock s6 Max but realized that I did not need the s6 Max camera as we don't have pets or children. I've had this vacuum for just over 2 weeks and it (named Nikola as in Nikola Tesla) is amazing and much better than the iRobot i7 it replaced! I will update if I notice any issues in the next few months.-Mapping-Only requires one run through an area to develop a complete map of the floor. I have two floors and it mapped both floors perfectly. My previous vacuum required 2-3 practice runs to develop a map and even then it still considered a downstairs room which was about 80% of the size with a different configuration to be the same as an upstairs room. Via the phone application, one can place no Zones for vacuuming and no Zones for mopping on the same map. Sizing the no Zones takes some trial and error. For my no mopping zones, I had resize the no go Zones 3 different times to perfect this for one area.-Navigation-It is very efficient and takes less than 1/2 time to vacuum a room/floor from the iRobot i7. A room that took the iRobot i7 37 minutes takes the Roborock s6 16 minutes. The application allows you to see in real time the vacuum path that Nikola is taking. It also does not bump into walls or furniture like other robotic vacuums, which the i7 did; so I named it Mr. Magoo. Also, because it uses Lidar, I can vacuum the entire downstairs at night without turning on the lights.-Battery life-It is said that the battery life is up to 180 minutes. This is true only if one is using it on the lowest suction. If you have all medium pile carpet, the battery life is closer to 90 minutes. The vacuum will return to the docking station when the battery gets to about 20-25% of its charge. When it charges up to 75%, it will restart from the area it left to finish that area. My downstairs, approximately 1,200 square feet, is a combination of medium pile carpet, 15% of the area, low pile area rugs, 35% of area, and hardwood floors, 50% of area, and this takes the vacuum 71 minutes. Upstairs, 1,500 square feet, is 90% medium pile and 10% tile and this takes about 93 minutes of vacuum time which does not include time to recharge as it drops below 20-25% charge.-Quiet. It makes so little noise compared to other robotic vacuums. I am able to keep the tv on normal volume and Nikola can vacuum away.-Software-The updates are great. With the latest update, you can map and save at least 2 different floors and I believe up to 3 floors. The vacuum can now clean over carpet that has black patterns or color whereas before this was not possible. My favorite part of the application is the "Maintenance" screen that shows how much time left to replace/clean certain parts of your vacuum. For example, I have 131 more hours left and then I should replace my filter or in 11 hours more of vacuum time, I should clean the bottom cameras/indicators on the vacuum, etc.-Mopping-I was not looking for a mop in a vacuum but I'm pleasantly surprised at how well the mop function works. The mop tank is not large but it can mop about 1,000 square feet of flooring. I used mostly water and some Bona to mop the hardwood floors and it seems to do a good job.-no Handle-My only suggestion would be to include a built in handle for the Roborock s6. It takes me 2 trips to move the docking station and the vacuum from one floor to another only because the vacuum unit does not have a built in handle that I can carry with only 1 hand.-6-5-20 Update on Rugs with black patterns. After my review, I noticed a number of others indicating that the s6 does not vacuum over rugs with black patterns. I read the same on various forums before I purchased Nikola. In fact, in the Facebook Roborock group, there was an entry on October 2019 that showed an s6 user with the same rug that I had (shown in the above photo) where he said the s6 could not navigate over his black patterned rug. So, I purchased a non-black patterned rug at the same time I purchased Nikola. (I hate needing to purchase one thing after buying something else; just like there is no such thing as a "free" dog.) Both the s6 and the new rug were supposed to arrive on the same day. Unfortunately, the rug arrived a week later but I was anxious to use Nikola. Over the week, he easily vacuumed 3 different times over my rug with the thick black patterns.Thus, I’m assuming there was a software update that arrived after viewing the October 2019 entry in the Facebook Roborock group forum that allows for the s6 to vacuum over rugs with thick black patterns. Or, the hardware that came with my white s6 is a later version to allow for this.

Bought Roborock after reading lots of reviews on the various robot cleaners. I purchased the white model as I felt it looked crisper and more modern than the black version. I have a very large floor plan and set Roborock out to map the house. I had it set on balanced and increased suction for carpet. I had the base for Roborock set up in the laundry room which is the furthest from the other end of the house. I sent Roborock to work. It started off gangbusters but when it got to the first room it went part way in and turned around and left the room untouched. Roborock did this in some other rooms also but I let it go not sure what was going on. Needless to say the battery on the Roborock would not last to map my entire house. Before it ran out of battery I stopped it and physically returned it to the dock to charge. I remove the map that had been done. I tried it again thinking maybe a lower power setting would get Roborock to map the entire house. It again missed rooms and didn’t have enough battery to do the entire house. I again erased the map. Getting frustrated I thought I would give it one more shot. Roborock started off as before and missed some areas. This time I let it go till the battery was low and Roborock returned home for a charge. The app showed a message stating that Roborock would resume cleaning as soon as it was charged. Roborock charged an removed itself from the dock and went back to where it left off and started cleaning again. Once again it ran out of battery doing my large square footage. It returned to the dock and resumed cleaning again after charged. This is when I got a real surprise, those areas or rooms that were looked over before were now in the sights of Roborock. Roborock went back to any missed rooms and areas and did a cleaning and returned to the base. I now had a complete map of my room. Now I can select a room and have it cleaned or select a zone. I would suggest you clean the brush and filter bin after each cleaning. If it bin does get full don’t worry Roborock will verbally remind you. If you are cleaning a lot of carpeted area I would believe the filter bin would fill up faster than tile or wood floors. I have not used the mop feature and most likely won’t because of the size of the area. Not sure I would use Alexa with the unit I think it would be just as easy to use the app.Overall cleaning has been good. For lite sleepers not sure it would be best used at night. Roborock does not like rugs with tassel ends so remove them. Also make sure all lose electrical cords are out of the way. I would also remove any fragile items that could be damaged or knocked over by Roborock bumping into it.