Roborock Q5 Max+ Review

The “plus” in the name refers to the additional dust bag stored in the dock for extra storage. When the robot's onboard 0.8-liter dustbin fills up, it automatically returns to the dock, empties itself, and then resumes cleaning. It's a great feature for larger homes or anyone who wants to empty the vacuum less often.

Cleaning Performance

I was, frankly, blown away by just how impressive the Q5 Max+ cleans, ending up atop our rankings, beating robots that cost up to a thousand dollars more.

On carpet, this robot sucked up 84% of the mess on the floor, recording the best percentage pick up than any other product we tested. Our tests are conducted on conventional carpets you would have in whole rooms. These are shorter fiber, or low pile carpets. As opposed to shaggy rugs, where Robot vacuums just aren't powerful enough to attack high pile effectively, as they're fundamentally limited by their form factor, unfortunately.

The Q5 easily handled our suite of debris, which was meant to showcase a range of sizes and particle types, including Cheerios, sand, and rice. It moved quickly through the test space, making it an efficient option, especially for larger cleaning jobs in homes with lots of square footage. What set it apart was its ability to collect more sand than the competition. Deeply embedded dirt and dander are tough for any vacuum, let alone a compact robot, so it was impressive to see that the carpet not only looked clean from afar, but also had noticeably less sand trapped between the fibers up close.

Pick-up percentage on hardwood surfaces was even better (92%) — commonly the case, though, since these surfaces have fewer crevices for grit to hide in. That being said, the Q5 Max+ still sucked up more material than the whole line up, except for the Narwal Freo X Ultra, which was only a single percent behind. Cheerios and rice were completely captured on the first go-round, while the more stubborn sand took a few extra passes. Depending on how long your cycle lasts, you may not get everything on the first cleaning schedule, but it will most likely be sucked up on the second.

A separate edge test using coffee grounds showed similarly solid results from the Q5. Many competitors leave behind lines of dirt or small piles along walls as they maneuver, but that wasn't the case here—this robot picked up nearly everything right up to the edges. The only poor coverage was in the corners, where up to 2" of coffee was left in some cases. This is not unexpected, unfortunately, as a round robot will have trouble reaching into corners, though a few models we've tested have specific features designed to help in this area, like extendable spinning side brushes. Make sure you have a broom on hand, as I've noticed that some dirt can accumulate in corners.

Navigation

The Q5 Max+ is equipped with a very capable Lidar system, sitting atop the unit in the little circular head, and is responsible for an accurate mapping of your floor's layout, while also boasting a respectable object detection capability for larger objects.

I was happy to see some good overlapping passes, generally with tight clearance turns around chair and desk legs, which I appreciate for all the crumbs that fall from eating. By my measurement, only a small length along one wall was missed; otherwise, this robot hit every square inch at least once.

Object detection was great for most items, but not entirely reliable for everything. This is pretty common for models relying solely on Lidar: furniture and anything tall enough to be in direct sight of the laser are seen and preemptively avoided.

The Q5 Max+ doesn't come with advanced cameras or AI-based object recognition; instead, it relies on underbody sensors to detect obstacles. That means it often bumps into things first before registering them. What makes this model stand out, though, is how quickly it reacts. It typically senses the object and navigates around it without getting stuck, which isn't something we can say about most robots in this price range.

This makes it one of the more dependable options if you're looking for a robot you can trust to finish its cleaning run, so long as your space is reasonably picked up. Loose socks or cords might still trip it up occasionally, and it won't recognize rare hazards like pet accidents. But if your floors are mostly clear, the Q5 is more capable than most at this level.

Pet Hair

We put down a huge fistful of fur into our testing carpet, massaging it into the carpet, and even used a heavy roller to further press the hair into the carpet, replicating what a pet owner would find in their own home. We were also curious about longer hair, so we added in brightly colored hair extensions to see if there was any tangling around the brush roller.

The Q5 Max+ continued its impressive cleaning performance, picking up 82% of the pet hair and extensions we laid down. That's substantially higher than the average of 57%. There was a wide range of performances in this test, so noting that this model did well really helps show that it shines when it comes to cleaning, and would be your best bet if you have different flooring types or various cleaning needs.

Furthermore, the amount of hair caught on the main roller brush was minimal, usually where most robot vacuums accumulate so much that it affects their cleaning performance. The strands that eventually accumulate over time are usually along the sides of the brush, which actually makes it easier to clean because the end caps are removable. This grimy task, at least, isn't too bad for the owner.

App Performance

I never once had the app glitch during months of testing, which is more than I can say for a lot of other models. Robot tech has come a long way, but there are still plenty of quirks to deal with in programming. With other vacuums, I've had them lose connection, get lost mid-clean, or even start cleaning on their own, which gets frustrating fast. But with the Q5 Max+, the app and robot never dropped connection, never lost our Wi-Fi, and every command went through almost instantly.

I was also impressed with just how intuitive everything was. All major features, like suction settings and cleaning schedules, were easily found. The feature set is certainly not as extensive as more expensive models, but all major standard settings (child lock, virtual barriers, smart mapping) were included, and absolutely no hunting had to be done.

As seen with more expensive Roborock products, some futuristic traits are available with this model as well: 2D and 3D map displays, real-time location tracking, multi-map saves (for multiple floors), and virtual barriers to set an area for the robot to leave alone. A robust suite of map modifiers enables you to edit your surfaces to distinguish between carpet and hard surfaces.

Mopping

The Roborock Q5 Max+ is not capable of mopping. There are other options in our tested lineup if you want to check out hybrid mop and vacuum combos, including some from Roborock.

Noise

Testing directly next to the unit at standard suction levels fluctuated between 61 and 64 dB. This is slightly more than average, and in my opinion, is close to a standard upright vacuum. It's pretty loud. I find it hard to focus on work when it's cleaning the room I'm in, so I'd recommend scheduling cleaning cycles for when you're not home. That's easy enough if you head into the office, but it can be a little trickier for those of us working from home.

Voice notifications were fairly normal, but announcements are made extensively. Seemingly every command and change of state is declared: 'Returning to Dock,' 'Starting to Clean,' 'Emptying Dust Bin!' So feel free to click on that Do Not Disturb mode and never look back.

Should You Buy the Q5 Max+?

The Q5 Max+ is our top product, in large part because it's going to be a perfect companion for almost every household. It's affordable and does everything well (except for mopping… you'll need to look elsewhere for that). As long as you can find a place for the tower dock, and you don't have a ton of tiny objects lining your floor, you won't be disappointed by this robot vacuum.

What Other Robot Vacuum Should You Consider?

If you do want a mopping assistant, though, there are several good options out there. The Q5's brother, the Q7 Max+, is a very capable mopper that's also affordable, or look at the more expensive Narwal Freo X Ultra if all you have are hard floors. If you want better navigation around objects, the Roborock S8 Pro Ultra has additional cameras to help identify smaller objects on the ground, giving you more reassurance that it can complete the job.