Roborock Saros 10R review: Strong and versatile cleaning

Similar to the Roborock Qrevo Slim, it comes with an innovative StarSight navigation system that foregoes the traditional LiDAR dome. This makes it particularly thin, as it’s less than 8cm high, allowing it to pass easily under most furniture. It also features the brand’s AdaptiLift chassis, allowing it to clear thresholds up to 4cm high.

Let’s see how it scores on a daily basis and whether it’s worth buying, especially compared to the other Saros models.

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Modern design and excellent build quality

For the new Saros lineup, Roborock has slightly updated their design with more modern shapes. The Saros 10R comes in a stylish dock, featuring a slightly rounded top. Most of the docking station is black, with the front façade covered in a dark mirror surface, making it feel particularly premium.

At the top, the Saros 10R comes with two water tanks, which aren’t concealed under a top cover. They come with built-in handholds, making them easy to grab to refill or empty. However, this design is a bit more prone to dust, which tends to accumulate under the grips. The dust bag and detergent tank are both accessible from the front, neatly hidden under the mirror-like panel.

The lower part of the dock features a removable washboard, similar to the one found on the Qrevo Slim. It comes with scrapers for auto-cleaning, as well as plastic beads to scrub the two rotating mop pads. This approach is quite surprising, as Roborock’s flagship models usually come with vibrating mops. This is what differentiates the Saros 10R from the Saros 10, as the latter comes with a vibrating mop and a LiDAR dome.

The underside features two rotating and liftable mop pads. The right one can also extend, allowing it to reach into corners and to clean along baseboards. Also, just like Dreame models, the Saros 10R can now automatically detach its mop pad and leave them in the dock, useful when cleaning thick carpets. The robot can also extend and lift its side brush, which comes in an arced shape to prevent hair tangles. As for the main brush, it comes with an upgraded DuoDivide anti-tangle brush, similar to the Qrevo Curv’s. They only require minimal cleaning about once a month, without hair getting wrapped around them.

The overall build quality is excellent, featuring sturdy materials, giving it a solid and expensive feel.

Comprehensive and intuitive app

When setting up the Roborock Saros 10R, the first step is house mapping. Its advanced sensors allow it to scan and differentiate rooms automatically. You can fine-tune the generated map by adjusting room divisions, setting no-go zones, and even placing furniture or adjusting the floor type. The Saros 10R supports up to four separate maps and can recognize which one to use based on its surroundings.

The SmartPlan mode optimizes cleaning by adjusting the approach based on the environment. Alternatively, you can personalize settings such as suction power, mop dampness, and rooms cleaning sequence. These preferences can be applied globally or customized per room, which is helpful to five high-traffic areas extra attention.

The Roborock Saros 10R also comes with a built-in RGB camera. This serves a dual purpose: remote home monitoring with two-way audio and capturing images of obstacles in its path. If you have pets, the robot can even locate it for you or take pictures of them while cleaning.

For voice control, you can operate the robovac through Google Assistant and Alexa. Additionally, the built-in Hello Rocky assistant is responsive and recognizes most commands. However, one limitation is that it doesn’t support cleaning multiple rooms in a single voice command.

Vacuuming efficiency

The Roborock Saros 10R comes with an impressive 19,000 Pa suction power, which is among the highest on the market. Its DuoDivide brush features two parallel rollers with a small gap in the middle. They come with rubber blades and hard bristles, while channeling hair into the gap. This approach helps lift dirt and debris from the floor and carpets, while ensuring no hair gets wrapped around the rollers. The side brush is similar to the Qrevo Curv’s, boasting an arced shape to prevent hair tangles.

Overall, the robot does an excellent job at removing dirt, dust and debris from the floor. The FlexiArm design side brush reaches into corners and furniture legs, ensuring it covers the entire surface. On carpets, the high suction power and dual brush rollers do an excellent job at reaching deep into the fibers, offering maximum efficiency.

When deep cleaning carpets or in vacuum-only mode, the Saros 10R can automatically remove its mop pads. This ensures it doesn’t wet carpets, while also giving it a bit more clearance. Otherwise, it can automatically lift its mop pads like most high-end models.

Great mopping results

For wet cleaning, the Roborock Saros 10R uses two rotating mop pads. These are liftable and detachable, helping ensure they only touch the floor in rooms where the robot mops. The dock washes them before, during, and after each cleaning cycle with 80ºC hot water. This is not only great to eliminate bacteria, it also helps dissolve hard and dried stains. In addition, the built-in detergent cartridge in the station ensures the cleaning solution is automatically dispensed and mixed with warm, clean water before being added to the robot’s onboard water tank.

The Saros 10R does an excellent job at removing everyday stains with a single pass. It’s also very good at removing tougher ones, like dried coffee or greasy ones. However, it sometimes requires a second pass to get rid of them. Depending on the selected settings, the robot can automatically detect dirty areas and automatically re-mop them to get rid of harder stains.

The extending mop also does a good job at reaching into corners and cleaning along baseboards. It sometimes leaves a small gap around thin furniture legs, but covers almost the entire surface.

Overall, the mopping results are very good. However, a vibrating mop would have provided even better results. We’ll compare them when we review the Roborock Saros 10 and assess which model does a better job at removing stains.

Good navigation and obstacle avoidance

The Roborock Saros 10R features an advanced navigation system that forgoes the traditional LiDAR dome in favor of a 3D time-of-flight system with dual-light solid-state LiDAR. It’s essentially an improved version of the one found on the Qrevo Slim. This innovation allows for a slimmer robot compared to most models, making it easier to clean under low-clearance furniture.

Roborock claims this new approach enhances navigation, even in complex environments. I have to admit the overall results are better compared to the Qrevo Slim. The Saros 10R generally navigates well and hasn’t taken awkward routes. However, it does sometimes need to position itself before starting to clean. It also tends to struggle to navigate around large obstacles to find its way, such as a suitcase blocking its usual path back to the dock.

Obstacle recognition is good, thanks to the built-in RGB camera and 3D sensors. The robot effectively identifies and avoids most obstacles, including smaller items like cables. Most of the time, it gets close enough for precision cleaning but not close enough to cause issues. However, I personally find the results to be lacking compared to other Roborock models with a LiDAR dome. This is mostly due to the robot often randomly bumps into obstacles, like table legs or even shoes. Thankfully, the robot documents detected obstacles by capturing images and marking them on the map, allowing you to see exactly what was in its way.

Noise and battery life

The Saros 10R operates at a relatively low noise level, making it comfortable to use even when you’re at home. Whether you’re working or watching TV, it remains unobtrusive—especially on the lowest settings.

The dock is also relatively quiet, even when washing or drying the mop pads. Additionally, Roborock’s Do Not Disturb mode lets you disable the loudest functions during specific timeframes, ensuring minimal disruption. This makes it a perfect choice if you plan to schedule regular cleaning at night when you’re sleeping in the bedroom.

In terms of battery life, the Saros 10R can cover approximately 200 square meters on a single charge. During our tests, the battery life seemed to last over 200 minutes, which is even higher than the 180 minutes Roborock mentions. If the battery runs low mid-clean, it automatically returns to the dock to recharge before resuming where it left off.

Easy maintenance and care

The Saros 10R is designed to minimize maintenance as much as possible. Both the main roller and the side brush feature an anti-tangle design. As a result, maintenance is effortless, with very little hair getting wrapped around these components. While occasional cleaning is still recommended for optimal performance, it requires minimal effort.

The docking station also enhances hygiene by using 80ºC hot water and 55ºC hot air to wash and dry the mop pads. This process effectively reduces bacteria, mildew, and unpleasant odors while improving the cleaning efficiency. However, unlike most Roborock flagships and the new Saros 10, the Saros 10R does not feature a dedicated mop-cleaning brush. Instead, it relies on a washboard with plastic pimples to scrub the mop, which isn’t as effective. For best results, it’s best to remove the mop pads about once a month and run them through the washing machine.

The washboard itself is fully detachable, making it easy to rinse in the sink. Additionally, it features built-in scrapers that help keep it clean during the mop-washing process. These do a great job at keeping the baseplate clean. The dock only requires a basic filter cleaning about once a month, which is very little maintenance work overall.

Also, the Saros 10R comes with a built-in detergent tank, automatically mixing some with clean water refilling the robot’s water tank. Its water tanks and dust bin are also big enough to require limited maintenance, depending on your usage. Also, in certain markets, a self-refilling dock is available, meaning you don’t need to deal with water tanks.

The robot also features a small brush to keep the caster wheel clean. It isn’t particularly effective, and some hair still gets wrapped around it. The best approach is to remove the wheel occasionally and clean it manually.

Is the Roborock Saros 10R the right robovac for you?

The Roborock Saros 10R is an impressive addition to Roborock’s lineup, offering a modern design, powerful performance, and a feature-packed experience. Its 19,000 Pa suction power, dual-brush system, and rotating mop pads make it a strong contender in the high-end robot vacuum market. Its thin profile and AdaptiLift chassis allow it to navigate low-clearance spaces and cross high thresholds, giving it excellent versatility.

The StarSight navigation system is innovative, making the Saros 10R one of the slimmest high-end robot vacuums available. While its navigation is generally reliable, it doesn’t quite match the precision of Roborock’s LiDAR-based models, occasionally struggling with obstacle avoidance and route planning. That being said, its RGB camera and 3D sensors help mitigate these issues, and over-the-air updates could further improve its performance over time.

On the cleaning front, the Saros 10R delivers strong results, especially with its hot water mop washing system and automatic detergent dispensing. However, the lack of a vibrating mop puts it a step behind models like the Saros 10, which may be the better option if you prioritize stain removal.

Overall, the Roborock Saros 10R offers a great balance of power, convenience, and smart features. However, if precision navigation or deep mopping performance is a priority, you may want to consider the Saros 10, which we’ll review soon. It should offer better mopping performance and more precise navigation. Its retractable LiDAR dome also gives it the same clearance, probably making it a better option for the same price.