Roborock Q7 Max+ Review: Is the mid-range robot vacuum worth the money?

One of the highlights of the Roborock Q7 Max+ is the emptying base.

But what exactly does a "self-empty base" do, and what are the advantages? 🤔

How it works

Make sure the emptying base is placed in your home with enough space to the sides (approx. 50 cm each) and to the front (approx. 1 - 1.5 metres). This will ensure your robot vacuum can safely reach the station.

When cleaning is finished, your little household helper will return to the dock to charge the battery. At the same time, the mobile dust bag is emptied.

The emptying process takes about 15 seconds and is quite loud (70 dB).

The dirt is stored in a 2.5 litre dust bag in the emptying station. Depending on how dirty your home is, you will need to replace it after about 4 weeks.

P.S.: The station uses a disposable bag. This is unfortunate, as it introduces follow-up costs as well as unnecessary waste. 🤨

An indicator on the extraction station informs you (light shines red 🔴) when the dust bag is full and needs to be replaced.

Replacing the bag is a little "unusual" from our point of view:

• Pull the cover of the station upwards. This is a bit awkward. (With competitor models, you usually have to open a flap).
• Pull out the old dust bag with the help of a handle (the dust bag "closes" automatically when pulled out). This prevents the dirt from escaping.
• Insert a new dust bag.
• Done!

P.S.: Two dust bags are included in the delivery. So you don't need to worry about repurchasing them for at least the first 2 months.

After that, you can buy the dust bags cheaply from Amazon*.

You can decide for yourself how often the mobile dust container is emptied. These options are available in the app:

• No automatic emptying.
• Vacuum after each cleaning.

Advantages of an auto-empty dock

Automatic floor cleaning - no more manual dust bag emptying

If your home isn’t particularly small and you have children and/or pets, then your robot’s mobile dust box will have to be partially emptied after each cleaning session.

This can be quite annoying...

Thanks to the self-empty base, this task is a thing of the past.

This eliminates the most common maintenance task and almost completely automates floor cleaning.

Do you have allergies? Then the emptying base is a blessing for you!

Emptying the mobile dust box is particularly likely to release dust and harmful allergens into the air.

Inhaling these will lead to the usual allergy symptoms for sufferers. 🤧

But it doesn’t have to be this way!

Thanks to the self-empty base (and its self-closing dust bag), contact with dust is reduced to a minimum.

This means you can avoid inhaling allergens and the annoying allergy symptoms that come with it.

How well does the emptying station work?

The self-empty station works like a charm. In our medium-sized flat (no pets, no children), the dust bin was completely emptied approx. 97 % of the time.

But we wanted to test the emptying ability on a wider variety of dirt and debris. So we filled the dust bin with oats, dog hair, and other everyday dirt.

To be honest, we thought the auto-empty station wouldn't be able to handle it....

... but we were proven wrong. The container was completely emptied. 💪

All in all, we are thrilled with the self-empty station. Once you get used to this luxury, you won’t want to live without it.

The brush itself is made of rubber (instead of bristles).

Households with a lot of hair will really benefit from this, as hair cannot get tangled in the brush.

And the few hairs that do can easily be removed with a flick of the wrist.

Furthermore, the main brush can be disassembled at both ends. This makes removing any hair that may occasionally get stuck there much easier.

Unfortunately, the package contents do not include a hair removal tool.

Although hair cannot wrap around the main brush, it can wrap around the side brush.

And for some reason, the side brush cannot simply be unclipped, but must be unscrewed.

A knife or scissors is necessary to remove these hairs. ✂️

It’s also worth mentioning one flaw here: The brush can get damaged by sharp-edged objects, such as broken glass. Make sure to remove debris like this from the floor before letting your Q7 Max robot loose.

The emptying station, on the other hand, is a real blessing for households with a "hair problem." Because hair fills up the mobile dirt container very quickly... and you would have to (manually) empty the dust container almost daily. 🤚

Thanks to the self-empty base, this is not necessary. The robot’s dust box is consistently emptied automatically.

The Roborock Q7 Max Plus is a robot vacuum-mop combo. This means that your floors are both vacuumed and mopped... and all at once.

Dust tank / water tank

The Roborock Q7 Max Plus has a split tank consisting of:

• Dust tank (capacity: 470 ml.)
• Water tank (capacity: 350 ml.)

Somewhat "unusual" is the fact that the water tank is located inside the robot. This means that a quick glance isn’t enough to tell whether there is still enough water in the tank.

This makes it clear: Even larger households (> 120 m²) can be mopped on one tank, even with the strongest water flow level.

Mop base included

After mopping, the little household helper returns to its dock to charge the battery.

The base station is designed so that the wet mop does not rest on the floor.

Positive: You don’t have to remove the wet mop immediately after cleaning (there is no contact between the wet cloth and your floor).

Mop pad and mop plate

The mop plate (including the attached mop pad) is attached to the robot vacuum cleaner from behind.

Detaching and reattaching the mop plate is very easy. 👌

The mop itself doesn’t make a very convincing first impression (very thin and rough).

If you take a closer look at a high-quality mop cloth from a competitor, the difference immediately jumps out at you.

On the positive side, we have to note that the mop extends over the entire width of the robot. This ensures that hardly any area is left unmopped, which is especially noticeable when cleaning skirting boards.

Furthermore, additional downward pressure of 300 grams is exerted on the mop, thanks to the spring-loaded mop module.

The downward pressure is supposed to ensure a better mopping performance. In our experience, however, this is not enough to significantly improve the cleaning result.

Control the water flow rate via the Roborock App

The water output can be chosen in the mobile app. Three levels (low, medium, maximum) are available.

P.S.: Those who want to completely personalise this can even choose from 30 different options.

This is quite a handy feature. It allows you to adjust the water flow rate according to how dirty or sensitive your floors are.

In our flat (laminate, tiles and PVC), we had the best experience on the highest water flow level.

What is the right water setting for your flat?

It is difficult to make a general statement here. We recommend experimenting a little. You will soon find out which amount of water gives you the best results.

Have your floors mopped 2 or 3 times in a row!

With the Roborock Q7 Max+ you can set your floors to be cleaned not just once, but two or three times in a row.

This provides a slightly better mopping result, as each spot is mopped several times.

No carpet detection

If both the mop plate and the mop cloth are attached, carpets will also be mopped.

The Roborock Q7 Max has no special sensors to prevent this. This is one of the robot’s flaws.

To prevent this, you have the following options:

• Define a no-mop zone around your carpet. This will then be completely left out during cleaning.
• If it is a rug, you can put it away before cleaning (this is what we usually do).

Mop cloth is only dragged behind

The Roborock Q7 Max simply pulls the cloth along behind it. The cloth is continuously dampened via the water tank.

• The mops are not replaced or cleaned at the station during a cleaning session.
• There are no "scrubbing movements" (“sonic mopping” vibration / rotating mop plate).

So as you can see, this is not really advanced mopping technology. It’s enough for cleaning up light dirt and dust. But stubborn stains will need to be dealt with separately.

Conclusion on the mopping ability

We find that the mop is a useful "bonus", no more and no less.

Light dirt and dust are removed, and your home feels cleaner and fresher.

It won’t completely replace manual mopping (self-explanatory). This was and will never be the goal of a robot vacuum-mop hybrid.

We also found the mopping pattern somewhat uneven. Thus, light water spots were occasionally visible after cleaning. However, the following helped:

• Adding of a special floor cleaner (available at Amazon*).
• Cleaning the room 2x or 3x in a row. Then the water stains are spread out and removed.

Are you looking for an excellent robot vacuum cleaner with mopping capabilities? You can find the best models in our review. Below is a quick look at the top three options. 👇

During its "maiden voyage," the Roborock Q7 Max+ creates a map of your home. You can follow this process live in the app. 🗺️

Big advantage: The Quick Mapping feature makes map creation very fast.

For our 80 m² flat, the Roborock Q7 Max took just 8 minutes. 🏎️

The rooms are automatically divided up. If you are not satisfied with how it’s done, you can make changes afterwards (divide rooms / merge rooms).

And this is what the final result looks like: Large objects such as doors (1), table legs (2), cupboards (3) etc. are automatically placed on the map as "obstacles" (or their contours).

Once the map is created, it can be customised according to your wishes. For example, you can set up virtual walls, define cleaning areas, name rooms, etc. We will go into the entire range of possibilities in the chapter "Mobile phone app". 📱

Furthermore, furniture can also be placed in the map. 🪑🛌

You can select the desired furniture with a simple tap in the app and explicitly choose to vacuum underneath it. Cool feature. 🆒

P.S.: A total of 4 maps can be saved.

So if you live in a multi-storey house, the Roborock Q7 Max+ is a good choice for you.

3D Mapping

You can decide whether the map should be displayed in 2D or 3D view.

Apart from the fact that the map looks a bit fancier (but at the same time also more confusing), we could not see any advantages.

From our point of view, this is more of a gimmick. 👶

In our test, the Roborock Q7 Max was able to cross thresholds of up to ~1.9 cm.

Ordinary doorsteps, carpets etc. are therefore no challenge for the robot hoover.

If your door thresholds are higher, you can use a special door threshold ramp (available from Amazon*) to help.

The Roborock Q7 Max+ can also be operated with the Amazon voice assistant (Alexa Roborock Skill) or the Google Assistant. 🗨️

This lets you fully integrate the device into your smart home.

Cleaning can be started and stopped by voice command. Furthermore, the little household helper will clean specific rooms on command.

We like the option of voice control with Alexa. Even if the range of functions is less extensive than in the Roborock App (see previous chapter).

The volume of the Roborock Q7 Max+ depends on the suction mode. Just remember: The stronger the suction power, the higher the volume.

We measured the following decibel values in our test:

• Level 1 (Quiet): 53 dB
• Level 2 (Balanced): 57 dB
• Level 3 (Turbo): 60 dB
• Level 4 (Max): 67 dB + unpleasant whistle
• Emptying station: 70 dB

Thus, the robot vacuum cleaner is pretty average in terms of noise level. This is especially true in the medium vacuum levels (which are probably the most frequently used), which are not particularly quiet, but not really loud either.

When you are at home and the little household helper is cleaning your home, use the lowest suction level. This way, the noise level should not really bother you.

If you require more thorough, intensive vacuuming, you can always schedule it for when you are out of the house in the app. This way, you can avoid the bothersome noise.

The emptying process of the self-emptying station is quite loud at 70 dB. However, this is nothing unusual and can be observed in all robot vacuum cleaners with a self-emptying base. Since the emptying process only lasts about 15 seconds, the brief increase in volume is tolerable.

Setup

Very practical: A quick start guide is included in the package contents.

This describes step by step the necessary measures to get the robot running for the first time. 👣

After unpacking, just a few steps are necessary before the robot can get cleaning.

First of all, place the self-empty station against a wall. Make sure to leave enough space to the sides (approx. 50 cm.) and to the front (approx. 1 - 1.5 metres).

Then you can unpack the robotic vacuum cleaner and place it on the charging dock. The charging process can take a few hours.

The device can be switched on via the power button on the robot vacuum itself. Now you can send the Roborock Q7 Max+ off to clean (provided the battery has enough juice).

Package contents

The package contents are very limited.

• Robot vacuum cleaner itself
• Auto-empty dock
• 2 x hoover bags for the dock
• Mop plate together with attached mop pad
• Detailed instructions manual (multilingual)
• Quick start guide

Spare parts such as extra side brushes, filters, mop pads, etc. are not included in the package.

We put the Roborock Q7 Max+ through its paces.

We wanted to find out if this product still offered the usual “Roborock quality”, despite the affordable price.

And after our extensive tests, the answer is clear: Yes!

It is by all means a rock-solid cleaning robot.

Its numerous strengths (powerful suction, auto-empty dock, smartphone app) are offset by some minor weaknesses (e.g. mopping performance).

The manufacturer deliberately leaves certain premium features to the side to keep the price affordable.

So if you want the reliability of a Roborock and can live without some top features, the Q7 MaxV is an excellent choice for you.