Xiaomi Roborock S6 review: a powerful robot vacuum cleaner

In the midst of a boom, robot vacuum cleaners have become, in just a few years, the ideal companions of more classic vacuum cleaners. Let's be clear, the latter will not yet completely replace the good old vacuum cleaner (with or without wire). The principle of a robot vacuum cleaner is to vacuum your floor every day to remove as much dust, crumbs and various types of dirt as possible, but a more thorough weekly maintenance will be necessary, especially if you have a large space.

Presentation

The Roborock S6 is a fairly classic vacuum cleaner in appearance. A round, all-plastic shape, the latter has on top a LDS lidar laser telemetry sensor, three physical buttons and a trapdoor to access the bin inside. All around the device (sides, bottom, top) there are up to 14 sensors that detect collisions, obstacles, different floors, etc. Needless to say, this little S6 is packed with technology to clean your home as well as possible.

Its height is about 10cm, which allows it to pass most of furnitures. The two large wheels allow you to climb up to 2cm high, particularly practical for door sills, but also for carpets. Finally, the brush on the side is larger than the S5, it brings a lot of dust back to a large central rotating brush located underneath in order to suck it up, all working perfectly.

The S6 weighs 6kg, but it doesn't seem to slow it down too much! With a power slightly above the S5, this model is faster and above all more efficient in suction (2000Pa). Moreover, what is interesting about this new feature is the possibility of choosing between 4 suction modes, such as "Night" mode, which allows the vacuum cleaner to make a minimum of noise, and "Max" mode, although brilliant and battery consuming, which remains the most efficient mode. However, unless you have a really very dirty floor, the "Balanced" mode is very suitable, with a noise around 60db (up to 50% less noisy than the S5).

Roborock S6 Daily usage experiences

The Roborock S6 can works with the Mi Home app from Xiaomi (the Chinese manufacturer having invested in Roborock). Since its beginning, this app has evolved enormously, it is now localized, in French and allows many settings on the robot vacuum cleaner, ranging from language change, programming, remote access, to firmware update.

Mi Home APP allows you to fully control the robot vacuum cleaner, it is the one you will be able to use for programming it, for example. Not only is it possible to program the S6 for regular starts, but also to choose which room it should pass through if you do not want it to make your entire house. This is also where you can select areas where you should not go or time slots where it should not work. In the app you will also have access to the wear and tear of the various parts of the vacuum cleaner and those requiring maintenance or change, to the cleaning history, to remote access (from a place outside your home or even from abroad) or to a virtual remote control if you wish to operate it yourself. Note that the app can also send notifications to your smartphone to notify you when the robot has finished cleaning, how long it took, if it encountered a problem during the cleaning, if it is blocked, etc.

The Roborock S6 is equipped with Z-shape technology for cleaning. That is to say, during a first cleaning, he will determine the contours of a room of about 4 to 8 m², then he will meticulously zigzag through a precise diagram in order to clean the entire space. He will repeat this operation on the parts he will detect until he has finished everything. It will then return to its base by itself and recharge. On the app, this will take the form of a virtual card, in which you will be able to discover its path and especially the different rooms of your house in different colors. This is very surprising, because the precision is there, and you can then intervene on the spaces, naming them, modifying them, refining them with virtual zones or even prohibiting them. At home, it takes about 40 minutes for 40 m², but its battery gives it an autonomy of up to 3 hours depending on the suction mode chosen (5,200 mAh battery). An interesting detail is that it automatically detects that it is on a carpet, and will modify its suction to adapt it to the surface.

A quick word on the mop mode. The S6 includes this mode, it is delivered with a tank and two mops. The installation is simple and quick, but it is important to note that with this equipment, the robot will deposit water, certainly a thin layer, but wherever it goes, including carpets and rugs. So it is not ideal, because even if it is possible to delimit areas where it should not go, collateral damage will always exist. Then, let's admit it, this mode is an extra feature, but don't convince us...

The S6 has a dust collector of 0.4 l, which is still quite small, so you will have to empty it quite often, once or twice a week in my case. The latter is accessible from above via the main hatch, it is very easy to remove and can be recovered as well. This is also where the anti-allergen filter is located.

Finally, it should be noted that Roborock announces compatibility with Alexa and Google Assistant, except that at the time of writing this test, this compatibility in France does not yet seem effective.

Our opinion

Roborock offers us a nice usage experience. Efficient, less noisy and always equipped with a multitude of features, it will become an indispensable companion. Despite its higher price than the previous model, the progress made in part recognition and management, autonomy and suction power with low noise levels make it one of the best in its class.