Roborock E5 Robot Vacuum + Mop Review 

I get to review a lot of vacuums, and a lot of robot vacuums. They’re handy gadgets that can cut down on your cleaning time and effort by automating the work for you.  Roborock has an entire army of robot vacuums and cleaning devices.Today I’m looking at the Roborock E5, which is a dual vacuum and mop at a budget price. Does this mean it’s lacking in features? Let’s dig in…

Roborock E5 Robot Vacuum + Mop Review

Let’s take a look at what you get in this kit: You’ll get the E5 bot, the charging dock, and a power cable, plus a remote control with batteries. There’s also an optional-use plastic floor mat to protect floors from any residual wetness.

Smarts & navigation

This robot vacuum and mop, while it’s smart is maybe not quite as brilliant as some other bots out there today. You can schedule for any regular day, or time using the Roborock app, so it can clean all on its own. But it’s understandable missing some premium botvac features… While the E5 doesn’t have the same mapping capabilities as higher end bot vacs, this version does have dual gyroscope motion tracking systems, bumpers, and internal navigation. What does that mean and what’s the difference? So, the bot knows where it’s been, and you can see a general outline of that in the app, you can’t label rooms and you can’t tell it to go clean the bedroom only, for example. You also don’t get any kind of details about what has been cleaned and what hasn’t like other, smarter Roborock vacuums. The internal nav is really just for the bot’s own internal use, to help it plan the best route to clean your home. I will also say, the bot seems to struggle a bit with getting to all areas of the house; it’s kind of just randomly finding its way around, so it’s not ideal if you need a specific room cleaned… but with that said, you can either drive your vacuum there using the remote control, or pick it up and place it where you want, then restart it. This isn’t meant to be a criticism, but I do want you to understand what you’re getting with this bot. If you think you need more power or control over the bot, there are other Roborock you can choose instead, but they do cost more. This vacuum and mop has a Spot Clean mode, where you can place the E5 bot near a mess or spill, and then open the app and hit the spot clean button. The bot has a physical remote control. The remote control is magnetic and can be attached to any convenient magnetic surface. In the app, there’s also a virtual remote with a joystick that essentially lets you drive it anywhere to go clean up.

Suction & power

The E5 uses 2500 Pa of suction to pull dirt and debris up from the floor. It’s able to handle hard surfaces with no problem. Soft floors may be different; you may have more difficulty cleaning a thicker rug or carpet. There’s also a deep carpet cleaning mode. When the E5 detects carpet, it turns on the automatic carpet boost and increases the suction power to maximum to pick up more dirt. I definitely noticed this at work and after the E5 had been in the room it made a noticeable difference.

How well does Roborock E5 clean?

I put all my vacuums through tests where they clean things like flour, rice and cracker bits from both carpet and floors. The E5 performed admirably. It has a very methodical cleaning pattern, cleaning in circles when spot cleaning or linear rows on regular duty. It was able to pick up finer dust, as well as bigger crumbs seemingly with ease. The E5 also has a climbing mode; it can climb up to 2 cm in height, allowing it to move over a door frame or other shallow obstacle while still being low enough in profile (only 3.5 inches tall) to fit under most of your furniture.

Getting hung up on obstacles: without navigation it struggles, stalls

I will say it didn’t get stuck on transitions, but this bot did have a penchant for getting caught on cords. Without Artificial intelligence like some of the newer, pricier bots, the price you have to pay is to pick up obstacles and hazards before you send it out. I did also notice the E5 seemed to stall out mysteriously. I’d hear it go quiet and go find it just randomly stopped somewhere. The Roborock  E5 uses a two brush system with a forked rubber corner brush and a larger floor roller in the middle. The side brush will move dirt and debris into the path of a large floor brush, which will drive the dirt into the vacuum itself. The dustbin is actually a pretty good size, allowing you to complete cleaning without having to empty as often. Dustbin removal is easy to do, and the side of the bin swings open for dumping. The filter and bin are washable too.

Mopping with Roborock E5

When it comes to the mopping, you’ll fill up the mopping plate, which is also the water tank, and snap it into place. The E5 will dampen the cloth on the underside and keep dust down. This is not a scrubber and there’s no suction, so it’s important to understand this mop is really just giving a light follow up wipe to the vacuum. You can’t use cleaner in the tank and if the tank runs dry the mopping simply stops. The E5 will both vacuum and mop simultaneously, and there’s no lifting of the mopping plate as far as I can see. It also doesn’t seem to avoid carpets with the mopping plate installed. It didn’t soak my carpets, and I didn’t notice any major wetness, but if you don’t want to risk it, just unclick the mopping plate.

Battery & charging

The Roborock E5 has a 5200 mAh battery that provides just over 3 hours of runtime and takes about 3 hours to recharge fully. The E5 is capable of remembering where it has already cleaned, so if your cleaning is interrupted by a recharge, it will remember where to pick up from.

Roborock E5 Robot Vacuum + Mop: Overall Review

Overall the Roborock E5 is a simple but capable vacuum for its price point. While it doesn’t have a lot of the smart technology of newer bots, it’s probably less than one-fifth of the price of those. Selling for about $309USD, it’s much more within reach for shoppers. Plus you’re getting both a vacuum and a light wipe to keep the dust down. It’s not overly noisy and the larger dustbin means less emptying. It vacuums really well, and helps keep the house clean on the regular. Downsides? It gets caught up a bit more than some other bots, but it lets you know when it is and you can help unstick it. It’s also missing a way to better manage the mopping plate when on carpets. But like I say, these are all things you can get I other bots, you’ll just need to increase your budget. I’m stopping short of recommending this bot; not because it doesn’t deliver on its promises, but only because I think there are smarter and more capable options including some by Roborock like the S4 ($429) or S7 ($649) that give you more features and greater value. **A note about Affiliate Links: TechGadgetsCanada is supported by our readers. Occasionally I will include affiliate links in my reviews. I do this partly for convenience of the reader (since I’ll almost always include a link to the company website or similar anyway) in case you want to read more or purchase, but I also may get a small commission from the click, which helps me keep the blog running. If you choose to use this link I thank you greatly for supporting the blog. There’s no obligation or cost to you for using these links.