I’m enjoying this neighbourly interplay between robot vacuums and stick vacuums.
Both categories are moving forward, respectively, by borrowing liberally from each other in an ongoing attempt to change the way we think about home cleaning appliances.
Since we started doing home tech reviews on the AU review, I’ve been able to test out plenty of robot vacuums and stick vacuums from various brands. Roborock is one of the most interesting out there, because the brand is most known for the latter category and has only now started putting out ultra-modern stick vacuums to compete with brands like Dyson and Electrolux.
The Roborock H60 Hub Ultra is one of the brand’s first attempts at jumping into the fiercely competitive market for cordless vacuums. Given their dominance of the robot vacuum market, it makes sense that they’ll try and bring the same sleek, futuristic design in an attempt to stick (pun intended, I guess) out.
Design
Making a stick vacuum interesting and unique would be much harder than making a robot vacuum interesting and unique.
The latter category still has plenty of bits and bops to refine, and it’s relatively nascent tech, so you have models coming out introducing new ways to engage all the time.
Not much can be done with the humble stick vacuum. Dyson is a pioneer in this category with vacuums that use lasers and smart technology to track down hidden dust and debris. Other brands have been in the scene for a very long time. Roborock has a lot of heavy lifting to do if it wants to stand out.
But one thing working in Roborock’s favour is its brand visibility. It is one of the leading brands for robot vacuums in Australia, and so it’s more likely someone who owns a Roborock robot vacuum would look to the same brand for a complementary stick vacuum.
Roborock have something similar to Dyson in that the roller head has a green LED light attached to it, bright enough to illuminate hidden dust and debris for a more thorough clean. This works tremendously well on hard floors, which is what my small apartment is mostly made of.
The stick is beautifully designed, but it doesn’t look much different from what you’d expect. There’s a barrel and pistol-styled grip, but no trigger to pull on. Control is done via a circular digital screen on the back, showing buttons to toggle power and speed while also displaying battery life.
The digital screen doesn’t give as much information as similar models from Dyson, but it’s great with the essentials. All information is displayed in a logical, easy-to-read way and you have what looks like a gust of wind to indicate performance mode. Although it would have been nice to colour-code the indications so that reading them becomes second nature much faster.
To have digital buttons instead of a trigger is an interesting move and presents a different tactile experience. I personally prefer having a trigger so I don’t have to keep pausing and restarting the vacuum, but this isn’t much of an issue.
Modern stick vacuums can bend and contort to reach under furniture; this one is no different. The adjustable telescopic wand is easy to transform and can fully extend from around 43cm to 65cm in length. These kinds of vacuums, which can change profile to fit into smaller spaces, are becoming more common, and the H60 Hub Ultra does it quite seamlessly. The adjustable height allows for the dock to come in a bit shorter as well, so the auto-emptying dock doesn’t have to be as tall and unwieldy as is usually the case.
The dock is attractive with a cuboid black-and-white design. Again, it doesn’t look big and out of place anywhere in the house, and is just the right size for its 3-litre dust bag, which is fully sealed and comes with HEPA filtration so you don’t get any nasty spillover when the vacuum is emptying.
Performance
Controls are simple, with three modes of cleaning – low, medium and high – all easily distinguished. I keep the vacuum set on low for most of my apartment, which has easy-to-maintain hard flooring and an open plan. I switch it to high when it comes time to clean the carpets and don’t feel like I need any more than just one run over the rugs.
I found the vacuum lasts a little over 40 minutes on one charge, which is more than enough to run it through my apartment, but may be a bit too low for larger houses. Given the fact that batteries are steadily improving each year, I can imagine homeowners might be slightly miffed at having to run this vacuum through at least two charge cycles before it gets the job done. For everyone else, the battery size is more than enough, especially if you keep this thing on Low for most of the time.
The LED headlight works as it should. It’s bright enough to pick up smaller debris that I’d miss otherwise, but you’ll want to be using this at night if you want to take advantage of the feature. It’s not bright enough for day use, and I can hardly see it when natural light spills in through the windows.
I find the 210AW suction power to be more than fine at pulling out stubborn dirt from fabric. Again, my apartment doesn’t really need anything too powerful since it’s mostly hard flooring, but this works like a charm on furniture and along trickier edges where the wand can’t get fully up against the surface.
Verdict & Value
Roborock currently has this top-performing model sitting at $499, down from $999. That’s an absolute steal for this very sleek, effective stick vacuum. Even at $999 it’s still quite a good get, given that you’re not just getting a stick vacuum, but elements of a robot vacuum that have been seamlessly bought over to genuinely heighten performance and give the best of both worlds.
The auto-emptying station works exceptionally well, and designers have integrated it without any friction. I do think more attachments should be expected at this price point, but for someone like me, without a big house or family to worry about, Roborock have entered this side of the market with the same kind of confidence that’s seeing the brand dominate the robot vacuum category.
Highlights: Design-forward and very attractive; auto-emptying station works perfectly; powerful suction
Lowlights: Light only really works at night; poor battery life
You can pick up the Roborock H60 Hub Ultra for $499 from roborockstore.com.au
