Roborock Qrevo Curv review: the crème de la crème of robot vacuums

Roborock Qrevo Curv: two-minute review

I've tested and reviewed numerous robot vacuum cleaners over the years and Roborock is unquestionably my go-to brand for reliable, fuss-free vacuuming with smarts galore. The Beijing-based company's portfolio is chock full of sterling models that push the boundaries of design and function to the max. Where Roborock goes, others tend to follow.

Take the Roborock Qrevo Curv I'm reviewing here. With its immensely powerful suction of 18,500Pa, twin circular mops and ability to ride over thresholds up to around 4cm in height, it's one of the very best robot vacuums I've ever tested. I'd argue it's actually a better option than even the S8 MaxV Ultra, which many consider to be Roborock's flagship model.

In the pantheon of robot vac cleaning stations, the Qrevo Curv's dock is a refreshing change from the ugly norm. With its white, dome-shaped casing and not overly large footprint, this is one model you might not feel the need to hide out of sight. It's a clever bit of kit, too, given that it not only charges the robot and empties its small onboard bin but also washes the robot's mops with hot water and then dries them using hot air.

If you're willing to splash the cash on a brand that's renowned for innovation, reliability, high performance and convenience, the Roborock Qrevo Curv robot vacuum is a darn good place to start.

Roborock Qrevo Curv review: price & availability

• List price: $1,599.99
• Launch date: October 2024
• Availability: US now, UK to follow

The Qrevo Curv was announced in September 2024, and went on sale in the US in October. Originally it could be purchased direct from Roborock for a $1,399.99, but by November it had gone up to $1,599.99. It's also available on Amazon US for the same price.

That's very much in the premium price bracket, and one of the most expensive robot vacuums on the market right now. While for many people, there will be a more basic model that will do a perfectly good job for a much lower price, I'd argue the Qrevo Curv actually isn't bad value for money considering the build quality and smarts included. I have my fingers crossed for a discount in the Black Friday robot vacuum sales.

The Roborock Qrevo Curv is yet to be officially launched in the UK but you can express your interest by visiting the global Roborock website. Expect to pay in the region of £1,400 for the privilege of having one of the most accomplished autonomous cleaning devices in bot-land.

• Value for money score: 4 out of 5

Roborock Qrevo Curv specs

Roborock Qrevo Curv review: design

• Innovative vacuuming and mopping features
• Curvy dock self-empties and cleans/dries mop pads
• 'AdaptiLift' technology to bump it over high thresholds

In the past, Roborock has adopted a less-is-more attitude, with just a handful of sterling models in its roster. However, in around the space of a year, the company's portfolio has increased tenfold to now include a swathe of new models under the Qrevo sub-brand (nine models and counting) of which the Curv is arguably the most stylish and innovative.

Let's start with the bot itself. At a smidge under 13.9 inches in diameter and around 4 inches in height if you count the LiDAR navigation turret, the Qrevo Curv will scurry under most furnishings with ease. However, because it uses laser-based LiDAR to navigate, it will likely treat any valances around sofas and armchairs as solid barriers.

It is therefore advisable to lift any valances when performing the robot's initial mapping run so it can venture beneath. Thereafter, the bot should – but not always – punch through the valence and sweep up all the fluff and dust that inevitably gathers under sofas, arm chairs and beds. (Here's more on how to prepare your home for a robot vacuum.)

LiDAR is far and away the fastest and most efficient form of navigation since it occurs in real time while you watch its progress on the accompanying Roborock app. For added navigational accuracy and obstacle avoidance, the Qrevo Curv is also equipped with an LED headlight and a front-mounted RGB camera that can detect and recognize around 60 objects (though not, I should warn, the majority of dog mess).

On the plus side, a LiDAR-based model like the Qrevo Curv moves around the home using a logical up-and-down pattern rather than cleaning the room in confusing zig-zag fashion like most camera-based navigation systems.

Incidentally, this bot's camera can also be used to make two-way voice calls so you can interact with your pet. I would recommend experimenting with this feature while at home, in case your pet freaks out when it hears your voice coming out of the robot's speaker. The camera will also take snaps of your pet while on its travels, though this is a bit gimmicky since the bot's camera doesn't have an especially high resolution.

One of the standout aspects of the Qrevo Curv is its excellent cleaning efficiency. With a whopping suction power of 18,500Pa (way above the norm of between 5,000 and 10,000Pa), it picks up everything from fine dust to larger debris with ease, making it suitable for carpets of any depth and all types of hard floors. It also features automatic suction control depending on whether it's on carpet or hard flooring.

Heading to the business end, the Qrevo Curv is fitted with a unique tangle-free brush system comprising two short spiral-shaped rubber paddles positioned side-by-side, with a small gap between them so loose pet hair can be forced in the direction of the main suction area. All robot vacs are fitted with a spinning side brush that flicks detritus along skirting boards and in corners into the path of the suction area.

However, the Qrevo Curv goes even further by having an arc-shaped FlexiArm side brush that pops out of the side by an inch or two whenever it detects the corner of a room. It works remarkably well, too.

By nature of their designs, many robot vacs struggle to climb over high thresholds between rooms, but Roborock has nailed this conundrum by dint of an AdaptiLift chassis that raises the entire bot by 10mm whenever it encounters a high threshold or similar barrier.

This means the Qrevo Curv can traverse even the tallest of room dividers with ease, and ride over other fixed obstacles up to around 4cm in height. You can see it in action above, filmed by TechRadar's Homes Editor when it was unveiled at IFA, but I also tested it out myself with books at home.

It truly is an off-piste machine that covers all bases when it comes to navigating an entire home. The raisable chassis also allows the Qrevo Curv to work effortlessly on the deepest pile since it doesn't get easily bogged down.

Like so many robots vacs these days, the Qrevo Curv can also mop floors. Normally I'm not a fan of mopping bots, mostly because they're not as thorough as an upright hard floor cleaner, let alone a mop and bucket. However, I will make an exception for this model, since its twin spinning toweling mops do a great job of giving any hard floor a very decent clean. Like the extendable spinning side brush, the Qrevo Curv's right-hand mop also extends outward to clean along skirting boards and around chair legs. Rather cleverly, the mops lift when vacuuming carpet, the brush lifts when mopping and both lift when heading back to base.

Let's take a close look at the Qrevo Curv's elegant cleaning station/charging bay. It's true to say that the majority of robot vacs' docks are not only pug-ugly to look at but they're pretty enormous in stature, too. While the Qrevo Curv's shiny domed cleaning station is indeed on the portly side (45 x 45 x 45cm), I consider it to be one of the better looking docks on the market. Mind, there's a very good reason this robot vac has such a large dock, since it needs quite a bit of internal space to accommodate its two substantial 2.4-litre water containers – one for clean water, the other for the dirty stuff removed during its mop cleaning regime.

The Curv's deep clean function uses 7C water to clean the mops for maximum grime removal, supposedly removing 99.9% of bacteria in the process. It will even rewash the mops if the base's cleaning sensor still detects some dirt. It then dries the mops using wafts of hot air at 45C. Incidentally, the base of the dock can be easily removed for periodical cleaning of fluff and any large detritus that's attached to the cleaning mechanism.

Robot vacs are divided into two main categories: those that come with a self-emptying dock – like the Qrevo Curv I'm reviewing here – and those that don't. If you have a lot of hairy pets in the home, I would avoid any robot vac that doesn't have a dust-emptying feature or you will have to empty the robot's tiny bin yourself and this will just make you angry.

By contrast, a model like the Qrevo Curv is fitted with a disposable dust bag that collects all rubbish and hair in the robot's bin after every cleaning session. The Qrevo Curv is fitted with a 2.7-litre dust bag which Roborock says should last for up to seven weeks of cleaning before it needs replacing. However, since I have five very hairy pets in the home, I've found myself changing the bag every three weeks or so.

Battery running time is rarely an issue with robot vacs since they will all head back to base for a topup, even mid-clean if necessary. The Qrevo Curv is equipped with a 5200mAh battery, providing up to 180 minutes of cleaning on a single charge, depending on the mode used. This long battery life makes it suitable for larger homes where it will automatically return to the dock to recharge if needed before resuming cleaning where it left off. At around 60dB in standard mode, the Qrevo Curv operates fairly quietly, especially when compared to other high-suction robot vacuums I've tested.

Finally, for those who fancy a fully-integrated floor cleaning system in their home, the Curv is also available with a plumbed-in ‘refill and drainage' feature that automatically fills it with clean water while emptying the dirty water tank.

• Design score: 5 out of 5

Roborock Qrevo Curv review: performance

• Exceptional vacuum performance on all floor types
• Traverses rugs with ease
• Very decent mopping function

Let's start with the setup, which is a veritable breeze since there are just two parts – the robot and the dock. Although Roborock suggests placing the dock in a position with several inches of space either side, I just plonked it between a box and my Gtech AirRAM 3 upright vac and it's had no trouble at all when docking. Syncing to the Roborock app was also extremely simple and involved nothing more than scanning a QR code under the robot's top lid.

Roborock’s Reactive AI navigation system is generally very impressive and in my numerous tests over the past 10 days it has effortlessly avoided most obstacles above two inches in height, while automatically optimizing its cleaning route when anything was in its way. Like so many robot vacs, there’s only so much a camera and sensors can see and once a small item is beneath the camera or close to the front when the robot turns, it will very likely fail to spot it.

The Qrevo Curv is also not very good when it comes to spotting phone cables and will happily ride over them. However, at no point has any cable become snagged under any robot I’ve tested to date – invariably the cable is spat out the other side. And that’s the case with the Qrevo Curv.

Would I trust this robot to avoid a dog mess? Not on your Nelly. In this regard Roborock has some catching up to do to compete with iRobot, whose poo detection is usually very good but still not wholly reliable. The moral with any robot vac is to make sure there isn’t any clutter on the floors – as they all advise in their manuals. After all, you wouldn’t start manually vacuuming the floor with socks, cables and loose Lego bricks all over the shop.

Crucially – for me at least – the Qrevo Curv has behaved remarkably well on my loose rugs without too much ruffling of the edges. I put much of this down to the excellent and very innovative chassis-lifting system and the decent gap between the front of the unit and the floor. To date this bot has negotiated all my rugs with consummate ease, even the really thin, loose ones. And that hasn’t been the case with so many other models I’ve tested.

When it comes to vacuuming, I have no compunction in awarding this model a full five stars. It sucks like a limpet and I really do rate the excellence of the pop-out side brush, which captures stray matter much more easily than models with a fixed side brush. It passed the raw oats test with flying colors, collecting every solitary oat flake without flinging them all over the place. Really impressive.

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I’ve always been gobsmacked by the way all the Roborocks I’ve tested over the years have handled pet hair – tons of the stuff. And though some models’ cleaning stations have very occasionally had a spot of bother sucking the most tangled clumps of hair out of the bot’s bin, I think Roborock has improved this area because I haven’t any issues to report with the base’s suction power.

In fact, you can set this model to two levels of emptying frequency: 'Balanced', which is suitable for a cleaner environment; and 'High', which empties the bin during a cleaning session – perfect for pet owners. Basically, after 10 minutes or so into a long task, it will trundle back to the station to have its bin emptied and then carry on where it left off.

If there’s one area I would say could be improved, it’s the smaller-than-average size of the cleaning station’s 2.7-litre dust bag and the weird way it sits in the dustbin chamber. This smaller size means more regular disposal of the bag for pet owners than the usual stated month. It's still a very strong contender if you're on the hunt for the best robot vacuum for pet hair, though.

Its mopping, too, is surprisingly good and much of this is to do with the unit being fitted with spinning mops instead of a rear-mounted pad like the Roborock S7 and S8 models. In my mop test the Qrevo Curv made a very decent fist of removing some dried soy sauce off the kitchen floor after a couple of passes. No, I don't think it's as thorough at mopping as an upright hard floor cleaner or bucket and mop, but for day-to-day use the mops have definitely made a difference to the kitchen floor's appearance, and that's good enough for me.

My final test involved me taking the Qrevo Curv upstairs for use on a very deep pile carpet I inherited from the previous owner and, most surprisingly, it sailed through the trial without ever bogging down. Must be that AdaptiLift feature again. Mind, it did leave a few wheel tracks in its wake but nothing too untoward.

• Performance score: 4.5 out of 5

Roborock Qrevo Curv review: app

• Extremely comprehensive
• Easy to use once mastered
• Acres of customization

The Roborock app is extremely comprehensive and takes a good deal of time to navigate through its myriad of settings and preferences. Integration with the app is seamless, allowing users to set no-go zones, virtual walls, schedule cleaning times for both rooms and specific zones, monitor the unit's performance in real time and even add furniture icons to spice up the map. Alternatively, you can leave all the programming to Roborock's SmartPlan feature, which generates suggested cleaning modes while adjusting settings and preferences to suit your floor plan.

The app and bot are also compatible with voice assistants like Alexa and Google Assistant, adding an extra layer of convenience. Oh, and you get a wide choice of languages and accents, too, so if you live in the UK you can select an English sounding voice which sounds a little like the voice of Alexa.

• App score: 5 out of 5

Should you buy the Roborock Qrevo Curv?

Buy it if...

Don't buy it if...

How I tested the Roborock Qrevo Curv

My home is open plan with mostly wooden hard floor so it's a relatively easy household for any robot to navigate. Nevertheless, I've tested some models that have had a lot of trouble traversing the numerous rugs I have scattered around without ruffling them up into a bundle or becoming trapped. I have had no such issues with the Qrevo Curv. In fact, on a reliability scale of 1 to 10 this one gets a 10 for trustworthiness. It means I can be away from home and when I arrive back I don't have to spend half an hour looking for a stranded bot while readjusting all the rugs. The fact it sailed through all my vacuum and mopping tests without a hitch speaks volumes for the quality of the Qrevo Curv's design and the software that runs it.

Read more about how we test robot vacuum cleaners

First reviewed November 2024