If you’re looking for the final boss cleaning solution for hard surfaces, the Roborock F25 Ultra does not disappoint. I put the wet-dry vac through its paces, while making my kitchen smell absolutely horrible in the process, all for the sake of an accurate review.

6/10

Weight

21.38 pounds

Filters

1 x built-in + 1 x extra

Brand

Roborock

The Roborock F25 Ultra is a powerful wet-dry vacuum with four cleaning presets, including steam and hot water modes for deep cleaning the toughest stains on hard surfaces. The vacuum features AI-assisted wheels, a charging dock, self-cleaning, self-drying, and several customizations when using the Roborock app. 

Pros & Cons

• Excellent cleaning performance
• AI-assisted wheels
• Great battery life
• Solid companion app

• Heavy and not the easiest to store
• Can be difficult to push
• No cleaning attachments
• Overpriced

Price and availability

The Roborock F25 Ultra retails for $800 and is available on Amazon, retailers like Best Buy, Walmart, and Target, and directly through Roborock. However, it’s already been spotted on sale for as low as $600 at major retailers like Amazon and Best Buy. The vacuum is offered exclusively in a matte black finish.

The F25 Ultra is a sleek-looking machine, but when factoring in the required charging station and the lack of a wall-mounting option (it’s probably too heavy, anyway), the vacuum ends up eating a lot of real estate. I couldn’t find a good home for it in my mid-sized apartment, so I resorted to placing it in the smaller of two bathrooms. At over 21 pounds, it’s weighty, which can prove challenging when carrying it around your home.

Other than the wet-dry vac itself, the Ultra also comes with a maintenance brush, an extra washable filter, a user manual, some floor cleaning solution, a charging station, and a power cord. I was surprised not to find any cleaning attachments for getting into the tougher nooks and crannies of the homestead, so don’t go and throw out your regular vacuum.

Features, setup, and getting it rolling

Credit: Michael Bizzaco / How-To Geek

Roborock went all out when outfitting the F25 Ultra with cleaning tech. Delivering up to 22,000Pa of suction power, the wet-dry vac is able to switch between four cleaning modes: Auto, Sponge, Steam, and Hot Water. Mode-switching is as simple as pressing the mode button on the Ultra’s handle (you can also switch between presets in the app). It didn’t take me long to get everything set up and the Ultra connected to my 2.4GHz Wi-Fi.

Linking to the internet isn’t mandatory, but I recommend doing so to ensure the vac is always running the latest software. Conveniently, the Ultra’s water tank—which also houses a detergent chamber—is removable, so you’ll be able to hold the tank under a tap as it fills up. Roborock was also kind enough to provide a bottle of cleaning solution that auto-mixes with the Ultra’s water-dispensing system, providing up to 30 days of use per fill.

On a full charge, the vac provides up to an hour of battery life when set to Auto mode. Roborock claims you’ll get about 15-20 minutes when set to Steam or Hot Water, and when you’re finished cleaning, the powered docking station both charges the Ultra and sanitizes its JawScrapers roller brush. I’ll stand behind Roborock’s battery claim; carpet outweighs hard surfaces in my apartment, so I never saw the Ultra dip below the 70% threshold.

Let me be extra-clear about something: the F25 Ultra doesn’t maneuver like a traditional vacuum. This is because it uses AI-assisted wheels to cart the vac around your home, which definitely took some getting used to for me. You’ll still need to push and guide the vac, but I’d say the Ultra’s motorized tech handles about 70% of the work. On occasion, the Ultra’s motorized drive system felt overzealous, almost tugging out of my grip when idle. Its turning radius is solid, but directional adjustments, especially small pivots, can still feel a bit stiff.

Ultra messes, meet the Ultra vacuum

Credit: Michael Bizzaco / How-To Geek

To ready the vac for cleaning, you’ll need to place a foot on the water tank as you push down on the handle. I tested the Ultra across a medley of disgusting concoctions and decided to kick things off with a steam test. I lathered my kitchen floor in vegetable oil, maple syrup, and cooking spray to seal it all in.

According to Roborock, the Ultra climbs up to 302 degrees Fahrenheit, but it takes close to two minutes for the steamer to heat up. You’ll also need to keep the vac angled—as if you’re about to start cleaning—for the entire preheat duration. I cannot express the sheer bewilderment that befell me when I glided the Ultra through the mess, and it devoured 80% of the mess in one shot.

I was so amazed I had to bend down and run my hand across the linoleum, and it was residue-free. In fact, it was cleaner than before I covered it in filth. I did a couple of more passes over the sticky zone, then took the opportunity to steam-clean the rest of the kitchen floor.

Next up was Hot Water mode, which I challenged with a foul medley of leftover coffee, ketchup, and uncooked rice—a concoction so vile I dubbed it The Horrendous. In this mode, the Ultra heats water up to 187 degrees Fahrenheit, and once again, it erased the entire mess in just a few quick passes.

Credit: Michael Bizzaco / How-To Geek

While set to Auto, I ran the wet-dry vac through a mixture of coconut shreds, rice, and some water, and this is one of the only times I ran into cleaning troubles. The Ultra isn’t a traditional vacuum: while it did an impressive job picking up most of the rice and coconut shreds, a few bits were left behind, which actually made for a perfect test of a mess detection feature called the DirTect Smart Sensor. As I pushed it over the pile, I could feel the Ultra automatically ramping up power to handle the mess.

Credit: Michael Bizzaco / How-To Geek

A word to the wise: Be very careful about emptying the contents of the Ultra. Everything you suck up (from liquids to solids) goes into the vac’s muck tank, which you’ll want to empty into a sink or bathtub. Make sure the drain is sealed, though — I learned the hard way that coconut shreds are great at clogging a tub. Oh, and be prepared for ungodly smells.

Self-cleaning and the Roborock app

Credit: Michael Bizzaco / How-To Geek

One of my favorite F25 Ultra features was its robust self-cleaning mode. You can activate this function by pressing the self-clean button on the vacuum’s handle or via the Roborock app (for iPhone and Android devices). You’ll also need to make sure the Ultra is docked on its charging station for self-cleaning to work.

Once self-cleaning begins, it takes about 10-15 minutes to complete the average sanitization, a process you can customize in the Roborock app. When finished, you can manually activate self-drying in the app, but you can also program the Ultra to start drying once self-cleaning is complete. You’ll even have the option of choosing between fast drying and quiet drying.

While there are far fewer app menus and screens than I’m accustomed to with my Roborock Saros 10R, each of the Ultra’s cleaning modes can be customized, with options including suction power, water level, and how much force is applied to the adaptive drive wheels.

You can also tap the settings icon in the top-right corner of the screen to check details like detergent levels, maintenance reminders, and access a clever feature called Remote Control Mode. This lets you steer the Ultra like a remote-control car when it’s laid flat — perfect for cleaning under couches, tables, and other hard-to-reach areas.

Should you buy the Roborock F25 Ultra?

This is a tough call: On the one hand, the Roborock F25 Ultra is one of the most efficient cleaning machines I’ve ever tested. But it’s awkward to work with at times, disgusting to empty, and a few hundred dollars overpriced. That said, if you’re not worried about it taking up space, and your home or business is mainly made up of hard surfaces, its wet-dry performance is hard to beat.

6/10

Weight

21.38 pounds

Filters

1 x built-in + 1 x extra

Brand

Roborock

The Roborock F25 Ultra is a powerful wet-dry vacuum with four cleaning presets, including steam and hot water modes for deep cleaning the toughest stains on hard surfaces. The vacuum features AI-assisted wheels, a charging dock, self-cleaning, self-drying, and several customizations when using the Roborock app.