Jalen Sigh Tech

Verdict

Although part of the company’s more budget range, the Roborock Qrevo Slim is anything but: it has the FlexiArm brushes of its high-end siblings, powerful mopping, the highest suction of any Roborock vacuum cleaner, and AI object detection. Add in the new Time of Flight navigation, which sees the LiDAR dome removed so that the robot can get under more bits of furniture, and the powerful app and this is just about the most flexible robot that I’ve reviewed.

Introduction

Roborock makes some absolutely brilliant robot vacuum cleaners, but it’s line-up is starting get extremely confusing. Here, I have the brand-new Roborock Qrevo Slim, which is a far more advanced robot than the almost identically named Roborock Qrevo S.

Don’t get the two mixed up, as the Qrevo Slim has a brand-new StarSight Autonomous System for navigation, which makes it shorter and able to fit under more furniture, more suction and edge brushes. In many ways, the Qrevo Slim is a high-end robot that has more in common with the company’s ‘S’ range.

Design and Features

• New navigation system removes LiDAR dome
• Dual rubber floor rollers
• FlexiArm side brush and edge mop

New robot vacuum cleaners are usually variations on a theme, so it’s nice to see something genuinely new in the Robrock Qrevo Slim: the StarSight Autonomous System, which uses front and rear-mounted Time of Flight (ToF) sensors for mapping and navigation.

Alongside more precise mapping, the other benefit of this system is that there’s no need for a LiDAR dome on top, so the Roborock Qrevo Slim is just 82mm tall, rather than 103mm tall for Robrock’s next most similar model. This allows the Slim to fit under a wider range of furniture, so it can clean places that other robots can’t reach.

This robot also has a camera on the front, which is used in combination with the ToF sensors to detect and avoid common obstacles. This camera can also be remotely viewed, once enabled physically by pressing robots on the vacuum cleaner, and has a mode where it will look for and take pictures of pets.

There are two versions of the Roborock Qrevo S available. I’ve got the one with the standard Multifunctional Dock 3.0, which has dual 4-litre tanks, one for clean water and one for dirty water. There’s also a plumbed-in Refill & Drainage version available. Both docks are the same width, but the tank-based version is a little taller.

Both docks are designed to clean the robot’s circular mopping pads, using hot water, refilling the mopping tank, and drying the mopping pads with hot air. There’s no option for detergent with this model, as you get with the top-of-the-range S8 MaxV Ultra

You also get self-emptying, with dust sucked into the large 3-litre bag installed at the bottom of the dock. That’s big enough to hold dirt for around seven weeks.

To get dirt from the floor to the docking station, there’s a small regular bin inside the robot vacuum cleaner. Although you won’t need to touch it often, the bin should be removed and cleaned, and its filter should be washed regularly to maintain its performance.

On the underside of the robot is a familiar layout. Dual microfibre pads for mopping can lift up to 10mm off the ground when a carpet is detected. That’s good enough that the Roborock Qrevo Slim can move over most shortpile carpets without soaking them.

If you have deep pile carpets, then a robot that can lift or remove its mopping pads, such as the Samsung Bespoke Jet Bot Combo AI+ may be a better choice.

The Roborock Qrevo Slim shares some features with the high-end Robrock S8 MaxV, including the DuoRoller rubber brushes, which contra-rotate to prevent hair from getting tangled. These can also lift off the ground so that the Roborock Qrevo Slim can mop without marking.

As with the S8 MaxV Ultra, there’s a FlexiArm Side Brush, which can swing out to better clear dirt from corners and edges, and the right-hand mopping pad is a FlexiArm version, able to swing out for complete edge cleaning.

With 11,000Pa suction, the Roborock Qrevo Slim feels much closer to the S range than it does the traditional Qrevo range.

Control of the robot is via the Roborock app, which remains one of the best in the business. After a short mapping run, the app automatically guesses where rooms are and uses the camera to detect furniture. It’s trivial to partition the map, add and remove furniture, and set no-go zones.

For cleaning, you can use SmartPlan, where the robot decides which modes to use and how to tackle cleaning and mopping. Alternatively, you can choose between vacuuming and mopping, vacuuming only and mopping only.

All modes have a choice of suction power and water flow, but you get additional options if you select one of the single modes. With mopping only, there are two additional route modes that give deeper mopping. With vacuuming there’s an extra Max+ suction mode. All modes have the choice of one or two passes, with two passes useful for dirtier areas.

In the main settings, there are some additional cleaning options, including Automatic Re-Mopping, where the dock detects how dirty the mop pads are and sends the Roborock Qrevo Slim back for a second pass if required.

There are also advanced settings for dealing with carpets, including cleaning the room first and then tackling carpets or vacuuming carpets first with dry mop pads before mopping.

Roborock has built its own voice assistant into the product, with a ‘Hey Rocky’ all that’s needed to fire it up and start a whole-home clean or even that of a room. It works well enough but there are the usual Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa integrations too.

Matter support is there, or will be there once there’s a controller that will support robot vacuum cleaners.

Performance

• Deep vacuuming
• Powerful mopping on all but the toughest stains
• Excellent edge performance

With its 11,000pa suction power, the Roborock Qrevo Slim has more suction power than the S8 MaxV Ultra. That power translates into real world use, provided you have the right settings and power modes selected.

I started off with my standard carpet test, adding a teaspoon of flour onto my test carpet. After two passes, the mess was greatly reduced, with just a little bit of leftover mess.

Switching to vacuum only mode and putting the robot on its highest power setting, I found that the robot managed to pick up what was left.

I then moved to the hard floor tests. With flour placed in the middle of the room, the Roborock Qrevo Slim managed to get everything in a single pass.

Edge performance was excellent, with the FlexiArm managing to get the dust right up to the kitchen plinth. Some mess was left behind, away from the edge, but this was easily collected with a second pass.

I tested the Roborock Qrevo Slim against human hair, where the contra-rotating brushes and concealed scrapers managed to pick up everything without tangling.

I then moved on to my mopping tests. I started with coffee stains, which the Roborock Qrevo Slim easily removed with a single pass.

I found the same with the dried-on red wine stains, and the Roborock Qrevo Slim only needed a single vacuuming and mopping pass to collect the dirt.

For tougher tests, I used dried-on mud, which consists of a stain and solid particles. I was pleased to see that two passes were all that was needed.

My ketchup stain was harder to tackle, and the Roborock Qrevo Slim struggled in vacuuming and mopping mode, slightly reducing the mess but leaving a lot of it behind.

I then swapped to the dedicated mopping mode and gave the Roborock Qrevo Slim two passes with Deep Clean+ turned on and maximum water flow. That really reduced the stain, and then a second go removed it. As you can see from the shot below, the Roborock Qrevo Slim did a brilliant job.

I measured sound at a quiet 59.8dB. It’s easy and comfortable to sit in the same room as the robot as it goes about its business.

Battery life is quoted at 180 minutes on the lowest power setting. I found that there was enough battery power to have two passes of vacuuming and mopping in the Trusted Reviews Home Technology Lab, with enough power left to tackle spot cleaning. Even for a very large floor, the Roborock Qrevo Slim has the power to cope.

Navigation is excellent with this vacuum cleaner. It managed to clean right up to solid objects, such as kitchen plinths and fridges, without bashing into them. I also found that the obstacles I left around, including fake pet mess and cables, were skirted with ease.

Thanks to how short the robot is, it easily managed to get under furniture. In fact, I had the kitchen plinth off while testing, in order to install a hob for testing, and the Roborock Qrevo Slim managed to dive under the kitchen cupboards, and get out again.

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