GOOD GEAR RATING — 9/10 STARS

Summary: After testing the Roborock Q10 S5+ to see how it could handle the fur and mud tracked in by our two dogs, we are not sure how we could ever live without it again! For a busy family constantly on the go, the self-cleaning robot vacuum and mop in one is a total game changer. Easy to set up and program, it runs while I am working, so I end every day with pristine, spotless floors.

What I Love: 

  • The Roborock Q10 S5+ is designed to set it and forget it: You can program schedules, off-limit zones, and more, all from an app on your phone.
  • The Roborock self-empties every time it docks, with a bag that holds up to seven weeks’ worth of cleaning dust!
  • A dual anti-tangle brush design makes this the perfect vacuum for pet hair and rugs.
  • Mopping has never been easier or more effective with a vibration technology that leaves the floors completely dust (and water stain!) free. It even has a sensor that prevents it from mopping when it runs over the carpets or rugs!
  • Impressive reactive obstacle avoidance tech makes it ideal for days when you forget to pick up the kids’ toys or shoes near the front door.

Things To Keep In Mind:

  • It’s bigger than a Roomba, and needs a slightly larger area for its docking station. It doesn’t always fit under low couches or certain types of furniture.
  • Only the Roborock cleaning solution is approved for use in the mopping system.
  • It’s a little loud — almost as loud as a regular stand-up vacuum.

Living with two dogs and a cat, our hundred-year-old hardwood floors are rolling with tumbleweeds of fur — especially in the summer. A proper job with a stand-up vacuum could take almost two hours, and a weekly cleaning wasn’t cutting it. With summer temperatures rising and flash thunderstorms turning our yard into a mud pit, the dogs were leaving down fur in clumps and tracking in dirt so much that it sometimes took them mere minutes to undo an entire afternoon’s worth of vacuuming and mopping. I was feeling so discouraged by the state of our floors, but couldn’t spend more time than I already was keeping on top of it.

Enter the Roborock Q10 S5+.

This robot all-in-one cleaner vacuums and mops, easily programmed from a user-friendly app on my phone. The best part? The docking station not only charges and houses the cleaner, but it also empties the dust bag every time it docks! With a capacity to hold up to seven weeks’ worth of cleaning dust, this is on a level of hassle-free that I couldn’t wait to try out.

A Roborock Q10 Series robot vacuum box sits on a patterned rug in a living room, with a dog on a green sofa in the background.
A robot vacuum and its charging dock are on a table with accessories, power cord, two blue strips, and a quick start guide. A dog is lying on a couch in the background.

Setting it up

The box arrived with everything intact, no assembly necessary. Clear instructions with illustrations guide customers through the initial setup, which includes scanning a barcode to download the Roborock app and register your model.

A white appliance plugged into a wall sits on a wooden floor beside a plastic mat and an open quick start guide with installation instructions.
A Roborock charging station is plugged into a wall outlet and placed on a hardwood floor, sitting on a clear mat with blue strips.

One thing that stood out right away is that the docking station needs more space than I expected: The user manual suggests half a meter of clearance on either side and a full meter in the front. It needs to be set up on a flat, hard surface, flush against the wall in a location that gets good WiFi. There’s a storage location for winding up excess cord length in the back, so the whole thing looks as tidy as possible. There is also a moisture-proof mat with adhesive tape to attach it to the floor; this prevents water stains from the mopping cloth when the cleaner docks after a job.

The Roborock itself is big! We pulled out our old Roomba to show for size comparison, and the difference is striking. I wondered how this would affect its ability to slip into corners, but also thought the size might give it an advantage for more powerful mopping.

Two robot vacuum cleaners, one black and one white, are positioned on a hardwood floor near a charging station plugged into the wall.
A brown dog lies on a wooden floor near a patterned rug, with a white robotic vacuum and a wooden side table in the background.

After a few quick taps, the cleaner was docked and charging and otherwise awaiting my command! I couldn’t wait to take it for a spin.

The Roborock vacuum vs. dog fur

Our house was built in 1925, and we have all the original hardwood floors that are in need of some TLC. The wood is textured and full of divots, so we have several rugs all around the house. I was curious how the Roborock would handle the cracks and creases of the floor, which tend to collect fur, dust, and crumbs in embarrassing quantities. I also wondered how it was going to handle the varying height of our rugs, or if the thinner, washable one might even just flip up and get caught under it as it cleaned. Turns out, I shouldn’t have worried!

A white robotic vacuum cleaner is partially stuck under a green sofa on a patterned rug next to a wooden floor.
A white robot vacuum is stuck between a door, a piece of furniture, and a wall on a hardwood floor.

The vacuuming went super smoothly, and I was surprised at how well the Roborock navigated the tightest corners. It didn’t seem to have any trouble at all shifting around furniture legs and glided over all the rugs without issue. I was impressed!

There was one (literal) snag when it accidentally sucked up a thread unraveling from our kitchen mat. I got an alert on my phone, and when I opened the app there was not only a map that showed exactly where the Roborock was, but also an image illustrating the instructions.

Robot vacuum app screen showing a notification that the main brush is stuck, with instructions to remove and clean the brush, cover, and suction inlet.
A robot vacuum stuck partially under a rolled-up beige rug on a wooden kitchen floor near a refrigerator with photos and magnets.

After I disentangled it, the Roborock resumed cleaning. When it had gone over every room, it announced that it was done cleaning and took itself home to the dock, where it emptied its dust bag and started to charge.

All in all, I was impressed! Despite its size, it seemed agile and perfectly capable of navigating harder-to-reach corners. It was a bit louder than I expected, closer to the sound of a stand-up vacuum, but as long as we aren’t trying to watch something, that doesn’t seem to be a problem.

There are so many settings and options on this machine that I haven’t had a chance to test them all out, but in addition to being able to program schedules and rooms, you can program no-go zones, and even tell it to go back over an area if you feel like it missed a spot. The vacuum is able to do this and then resume its original cleaning program, with no extra attention needed from the user! Love that.

Mopping without moving a single rug

As excited as I was about trying out the mop function, I was also a little leery about what sort of prep I’d need to do. All our rugs are very deliberately anchored with heavy furniture, and I had assumed we’d need to pick them up so the Roborock could properly do its thing.

Reader, I am happy to report that the Roborock Q10 S5+ has such sophisticated sensor technology that it automatically stops mopping when it goes over rugs or carpet. (Is your jaw on the floor? Mine was!)

“The Roborock Q10 S5+ has such sophisticated sensor technology that it automatically stops mopping when it goes over rugs or carpet.”

With this barrier to set up removed, I just had to figure out how and where to put the water and cleaner. Which is where I ran into the one thing I wasn’t instantly in love with about the Roborock: The brand only approves the use of its own cleaner in the mopping system. I’d expect a product with such specifications for one of its primary functions would include the cleaner (or at least a single-use size!) in the first shipment. I looked through all my materials and packaging to be sure, but alas, there was no Roborock branded cleaner to be found. So I had to run the mopping system with water only.

This part was slightly less intuitive than the vacuum setup, but luckily, the illustrated instructions were there to save the day. I had to first locate, remove, and rinse the mop cloth, which was already a bit worse for wear from its few laps around the house while vacuuming. The illustrated instructions were right on the Roborock itself, and coordinated precisely with the written instructions in the manual.

A smartphone screen shows a robot vacuum app with a "Carpet" mode notification, explaining the robot will lift its mops to vacuum carpeted areas, with a photo of a rug on a light floor.
Close-up of a robotic vacuum cleaner with its cleaning pad removed, showing the underside and mop attachment instructions on the detached part.

After prepping the mop cloth and reattaching it to the cleaner, I flipped the Roborock back over to locate the dustbin and water tank combo unit. The instructions were to “fill it directly with tap water,” but there was no limit line or any indication about what would be enough or too much. So I went with my gut and hoped for the best.

Instead of filling it directly from the sink, I used a fancy watering can. It made it easy to keep the rest of the tank dry before putting the stopper back on and reinstalling to the Roborock.

A hand holds a clear plastic dustbin from a robot vacuum, with the vacuum base on a wooden floor and a rug partially visible.
A white robotic vacuum cleaner on a wooden floor sits next to a copper watering can with a curved spout, near the edge of a blue and white patterned rug.

At each step, a voice announced what had happened. “Mop cloth removed,” “Dustbin and water tank attached.” It was like having a little assistant affirm that I was doing all the steps correctly, which I appreciated!

After putting the Roborock back in its dock, I went to the app and changed the cleaning mode to mop. Then I hit the go button and held my breath. I was convinced it was going to leave little damp spots at the edges of the rug at least — it didn’t seem possible to switch modes that fast! I followed it around like a woman possessed, running my hands and feet over the rugs in its wake. And they were always dry!

I stalked the Roborock through the dining room for about ten minutes, watching its meticulous route mopping along the hardwood before whirring to vacuum mode on the rug. Amazed and satisfied, I went to my office to work while it finished up. I got a notice on my watch when the job was done, and went downstairs to find pristine floors, dry rugs, and my new best friend nestled in its dock, charging.

A white robot vacuum is cleaning the hardwood floor next to a patterned rug and a white bookshelf filled with books near a glass door.
A smartwatch displays a notification stating "Roborock Q10 S5+: Finished cleaning. Returning to the dock" above a laptop keyboard.

Is the Roborock Q10 S5+ worth it?

I’m not sure how I could be more enthusiastic about this product. As someone familiar with the general benefits of a robot vacuum, it provides all the user-friendly, background cleaning that would make any busy pet owner put it in the top three of their daily gratitude list, no question. The intuitive, fast setup, user-friendly app, and detailed yet simple instructions (with helpful illustrations!) mean that this product gives a superstar first impression. The dual detangling comb and brush mean it would take something truly gnarly (like, say, a partially unraveling kitchen mat) to interfere with its powerful suction tech. And the self-emptying dock? Chef’s kiss! Add to all this the mopping system and anyone looking to streamline their time spent housekeeping without sacrificing on spotless floors will be a very happy customer.

“Anyone looking to streamline their time spent housekeeping without sacrificing on spotless floors will be a very happy customer.”

The more I’ve used it and started to experiment with the settings, the more I can see how customizable the Roborock actually is. Everything from child locks to no-go zones and the ability to program multi-floors makes this robot cleaner as close to something from “The Jetsons” that I’ve ever seen!

The Roborock Q10 S5+ usually costs $549, but is currently on sale for $349. When I compare this to my Roomba, which cost $249, does not self-empty and only vacuums, the Roborock is looking like a steal. If you are looking for an all-in-one, foolproof cleaner that can keep your floors dust-free while you go on about your day, this might be the robot for you!

This story is in partnership with our friends at Roborock.

Stephanie H. Fallon is a Contributing Editor at The Good Trade. She is a writer originally from Houston, Texas and holds an MFA from the Jackson Center of Creative Writing at Hollins University. She lives with her family in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia, where she writes about motherhood, artmaking, and work culture. Since 2022, she has been reviewing sustainable home and lifestyle brands, fact-checking sustainability claims, and bringing her sharp editorial skills to every product review. Say hi on Instagram or on her website.