Upgraded Roborock Saros Z70 Delivers Limited Enhancements
Well, hello there! The Roborock Saros Z70 is the brand new vacuum and mop robot on the block, boasting an extendable grip arm to manage household messes. We took it for a spin to see if it's the real deal or a flop!
Priced at around 1,700 euros, this robot claims to clear paths by moving obstacles like an expert magician. Can it leave rooms not only clean but also organized?
Slim and Stealthy
The grip arm is cleverly hidden within the robot, standing only 8 cm tall and thin enough to slide under low furniture. The tool pops out when needed, concealed beneath a flap at the top.
The Saros Z70 parks like other high-end vacuum bots in a charging dock. There, not only is its battery rejuvenated, but it also independently refills fresh water and discards dirty water. Its mop pads are cleaned, dried, or stored away at up to 80 degrees when not in use.
Exquisite Mapping
Setting up the app is swift, and you can send the robot to create a map of the rooms. Although it takes some time, the Saros Z70 usually navigates beautifully and cleans even the hard-to-reach spots.
The robot recognizes surfaces and lifts mops, side brushes, and roller brushes as needed. Transitioning between rooms, it can even overcome up to 4 cm high thresholds by lifting its chassis.
Packed with Features
The robot can store multiple maps with various levels, and users can set up no-go zones, edit rooms, or virtually place furniture. Additionally, a zone and the location of the included storage box can be designated. In theory, the Saros Z70 should deposit collected items in the box, but let’s see if it lives up to that promise!
The robot offers a slew of other features. For instance, it can snap photos of obstacles when requested. With its camera, the Saros Z70 can be controlled remotely via a smartphone or make video calls to play with your pet through the built-in speaker.
An Excellent Vacuum Cleaner
Despite the grip arm squeezing out space for only one brush roller, the robot presents a commendable performance as a vacuum cleaner. It left behind little or no debris on smooth floors during our tests, especially around corners due to an extendable side brush.
The Saros Z70 handles short-pile carpets or carpeted floors well when increasing suction power to a peak of 22,000 Pascal. It even extracts stubborn dirt on higher settings, although you may need to recharge it now and then on larger areas.
A Decent Mopper, But...
The wiping performance of the robot vacuum is fair for a cleaning robot. As long as there's no sticky sauce on the floor, it doesn't leave any streaks behind. If necessary, you can increase the water volume or run it twice to tackle those persistent spots.
To reach the last corner, the Saros Z70 can extend its mop. This suffices for everyday use, but you may still need to scrub those hard-to-reach spots manually. This is common among all wiping robots.
Gripper - Potential, Glitches, and Uncertainty
The Saros Z70 might underwhelm you in terms of the gripper, considering its hefty price tag. Roborock itself concedes that currently, only socks, slippers, or sandals up to 300 grams can be recognized and picked up efficiently. In reality, it rarely managed to work during our tests.
Only socks and large paper balls occasionally ended up in the storage box. In another mode, the robot could only transport these objects to a clean zone or collect them after cleaning.
Sorting - Lucky Dip
The robot only identified slippers and shoes in rare cases and drove around them, sometimes even driving over flat slippers. It never succeeded in transporting slippers to the designated zone in the practical test.
At times, the robot announced that it would pick up an object, only to disregard it later. And if a sock was actually picked up, the Saros Z70 sometimes placed it next to the box instead of in it about half the time.
You can also use the remote control to pick up objects. To do this, you drive the robot into a blue-marked area on the display near the objects, start the gripper, and then drive to the box or storage zone. However, this takes patience and precision.
The Bottom Line
The Roborock Saros Z70 is a highly efficient suction and wiping robot with excellent navigation skills. While many top models can do this as well, the promise of a gripper adds an exciting enhancement. However, if you want the robot because of the gripper, you'll have to trust that future updates will make it genuinely useful. At this point, it's uncertain whether the gripper performs consistently, so you might want to hold off and see how the technology evolves.
In the world of smart home devices, the Roborock Saros Z70 combines vocational training in vacuuming and mopping with the innovative technology of an extendable grip arm. One could envision this robot, alongside various gadgets, taking part in a community policy that aims to keep homes clean and organized.
For its exceptional mapping skills, the Saros Z70 is not only a decent mopper but also packs features like object recognition and remote control for added functionality. With the potential for improving the gripper's performance in future updates, this robot could be a perfect addition for those looking to smarten up their homes.
