Most people assume that Roombas, which are nearly synonymous with robot vacuums, are still the best option on the market—but that could not be further from the truth. Roombas are fine, generally speaking, but it has been struggling to keep up with the competition for a while, long before its Amazon deal fell through and the layoffs began, leaving many people wondering what the future of Roomba will look like. Meanwhile, the competition has been picking up where Roomba left off.
Roborock, one of the most promising robot vacuum brands, makes some of the best high-end robot vacuums that you can buy right now. The Roborock S8 Pro Ultra is one such example, and according to price-checking tools, it is currently at its lowest price ever via Amazon. It’s on sale for $999.99 (originally $1,599.99) after a $600 discount. Yes, it is still expensive, but this is truly a premium robot vacuum.
This vacuum’s 6,000Pa suction power is powerful. For reference, the comparable vacuum from Roomba, the Roomba Combo j9+, is estimated (because Roomba doesn’t like publishing suction power figures) to be around 2,200Pa, according to T3’s review. Like most premium vacuums, the S8 Pro Ultra is self-washing, self-drying, self-emptying, self-refilling, and self-cleaning. It has a 200 ml water tank capacity for mopping and a runtime of 180 minutes.
While this is a premium robot vacuum, it is not perfect. PCMag’s reviewer said it lightly scratched their floor during testing. There is no camera for monitoring the vacuum while you’re away from home, which other competitors at this price point do have. Also, the mop cloth is not detachable, so if you have a plush carpet, it might get stuck, and there’s not much you can do about it.