Emptying your vacuum and your wallet

The Auto Empty Dock is Roborock’s next step in his oh-so-noble endeavor to keep every inch of your floor pristine. As autonomous vacuums become more popular, Roborock took the opportunity to become an industry leader with its wide range of quality options. The latest offering from the Xiaomi-backed company, the Roborock S7 is a fantastic robotic vacuum cleaner – but how much better can it get with the addition of the optional Auto-Empty Dock? We tracked mud through our living rooms and kitchens to find out how powerful the dock is when paired with the Roborock S7. To find out more, stop by Android authorityRoborock’s Auto-Empty Dock Test.

• Roborock Auto-Empty Dock: $ 299.99

The Auto-Empty Dock is a first-party accessory for the Roborock S7 vacuum cleaner that reduces the time it takes to empty trash cans. The dock is 22.3 x 15.8 x 9.5 inches and weighs almost 20 pounds. A small ramp allows the vacuum cleaner to mount the dock to charge and empty the trash can on the device.

Robot vacuum cleaner: What are they and what should you buy?

When the Roborock S7 returns to the dock, the vacuum cleaner uses cleaning patterns to determine whether the garbage can on the device needs to be emptied. When the Roborock S7 is set to auto-drain, the dust is sucked into the 3L bag in the dock and sent through a HEPA filter to prevent it from escaping into your home. Roborock claims that the average user only needs to empty the trash can every eight weeks.

The Auto Empty Dock comes in white and black models, but currently both are sold out on Amazon, Walmart, and the Roborock websites.

The Roborock S7 and Auto-Empty Dock make a pretty weighty pair and it seems like setup is tricky, but that’s far from the truth. When I unpacked the Auto-Empty Dock, I only had to screw the ramp into the double cylinder piece with the screwdriver provided, replace the garbage can on the device and place the Roborock S7 on the charging electrodes. Aside from these few simple steps, nothing stands in the way of the overhead.

This thing is smart. When the Roborock S7 is set to auto-empty, you don’t even have to think about the trash can. The vacuum cleaner will estimate when to empty itself based on the size of your room and your cleaning habits. There are manual options you can set that will determine how often the S7 will automatically deflate, but I’ve found the Smart option to work very well so far.

In addition, you can set “do not disturb” idle times during which the S7 can still suck, but not emptied into the dock, in order to avoid the loud noises. This is perfect if you want to vacuum other rooms in the house while you sleep, but don’t want to be woken up by the loud emptying process.

What’s not so good?

The main disadvantage of the Auto-Empty Dock is its price. There’s no frosting – $ 300 for a non-essential accessory is pretty steep. It’s roughly $ 100 more than some competitors (like iRobot) charge for similar products.

Additionally, what that $ 300 will actually save you is worth considering. I didn’t have to empty my trash can, of course, which was great, but I still checked my S7 to refill its water tank and clean its brushes. It wouldn’t have been a big deal to include emptying the trash can in my regular maintenance routine, so I have to wonder if this $ 300 investment is worth it, especially considering there are cheaper options out there.

I had almost no problems actually using the auto-empty dock. However, I have noticed that the S7 sometimes leaves a small pile of dirt at the base of the dock. The Roborock S7 goes up the small ramp of the dock, and when it leaves the floor, it struggles to suck the remaining dust into its garbage can. I haven’t encountered this problem every time the S7 finished a cleaning cycle, but after some of the more demanding cleanings (like the often neglected area under my couch) I noticed the small buildup of dirt.

Roborock Auto-Empty Dock Review: Should I Buy It?

The Roborock Auto-Empty Dock works exactly the way you want it to. It streamlines a large part of regular maintenance and reduces the time it takes to clean the Roborock S7.

The real downside to this product is that it is priced at $ 299.99. There are high quality standalone robotic vacuums on the market for the same price as the iRobot Roomba 694 ($ 274.99). So is this accessory really worth it?

Continue reading: The current best offers for robotic vacuum cleaners

While the convenience and quality of the Roborock Auto-Empty Dock are fantastic, the high price makes it difficult to recommend. If you believe this will benefit your cleaning process then by all means go ahead – the dock is great! But if you are on the fence my advice would be to wait with this one. A good deal or a drop in price could make this a smart buy, but right now the Auto-Empty Dock is an expensive accessory that adds only marginal value to an already smooth user experience.

Top Roborock Auto-Empty Dock Questions and Answers

Q: Can I manually choose when the Roborock S7 empties the trash can on the device?

Answer: yes! The smart empty option is great, but if you ever want to manually empty the trash can on the device, you can too. You can do this via the app or take the trash can out of the device as usual.

Q: Is the Auto-Empty Dock compatible with other Roborock models besides the S7?

A: Unfortunately the Auto-Empty Dock is only compatible with the Roborock S7. If you don’t have the S7 but still want to take advantage of auto-drain, you’ll need to invest at least $ 950 in the vacuum cleaner itself, as well as the dock.

Q: Are the 3 liter bags that come with the Auto-Empty Dock reusable?

A: Roborock doesn’t say anything on their official website, although the Amazon page does mention that the bags shouldn’t be reused. At the moment Roborock does not sell bags separately. If the two bags that come with the dock get full there is currently no solution.