Key Features
Review Price:
£999- Powerful vacuuming36,000Pa of suction power
- Hot water mop cleaningDock washes mop pads with 100°C water
Introduction
When Roborock introduced the Saros name, it was partly to make its line-up of robot vacuum cleaners less complicated. I’m not sure that particularly worked, and here we are with the Roborock Saros 20 Neo, a slight tweak on the flagship Saros 20.
The core difference is in the navigation, with the Saros 20 Neo switching back to a retractable LiDAR dome and having a marginally less powerful navigation system, but at a slightly lower price. So, which one is the best, and is the Neo even worth bothering with? Read on to find out.
Design and features
- Retractable LiDAR dome
- Self-cleaning, self-emptying dock
- Flexible and powerful app
The Roborock Saros 20 Neo has a different docking station from the Saros 20, and it looks a little more like one you’d get with a Qrevo model, such as the Qrevo Edge 2 Flow. It’s a black, curved docking station that handles all the robot’s cleaning and emptying needs, and it shares many features with the Saros 20’s dock, even if the more expensive model looks slightly nicer.
There’s a 3L tank for dirty water and a 4L tank for clean water.
In addition, the docking station can take detergent, which is added to the separate tank underneath the two water tanks.
Water is heated to 100°C to clean the mop pads (the same as on the regular Saros 20), then air-heated to 55°C to dry the pads and prevent odours and bacteria.
There’s a 2.7L dust bag, which will hold up to 65 days’ worth of dust from the robot, so all-in, there’s not much daily maintenance to do.
That’s all very similar to the dock the Saros 20 ships with, although with that one the detergent and dust bag are easier to reach, as you don’t have to take the water tanks out to get to them.
Pull the robot vacuum cleaner out, and the main difference between the Saros 20 Neo and the Saros 20 is that this newer model has a retractable LiDAR dome, rather than the front-facing StarSight Autonomous System 2.0.
When faced with low furniture, the Saros 20 Neo can drop the LiDAR dome out of the way, making it 79.8mm tall: the same as the Saros 20. Of course, with the Neo, the retractable dome is something that could go wrong, whereas the Saros 20 has no moving parts in its navigation system.
Technically, the Saros 20 has a more powerful object detection system, using its 3D sensors and camera together, although my tests show little in it overall.
There’s a small bin in the Saros 20 Neo, which you can remove to clean the filter. That’s worth doing regularly, to prevent dust build up and a reduction in suction power.
Flip the Saros 20 Neo over, and the underside looks familiar: two microfibre mop pads. Here, Roborock says that downward pressure is 14N, compared to 13N on the older model.
There’s a FlexiArm mop, which can swing out to get close to corners or under furniture. There’s a good reach on it, but it doesn’t swing quite as far as the mop pad on the Dreame X60 Ultra Complete.
The side brush is also a FlexiArm model that swings out to tease dust from edges and corners.
As with the regular Saros 20, the Neo has a Duo Divide brush. This has a split in the middle, so that hair is channelled from the roller into the middle, and then sucked up without tangling.
Roborock has implemented the same climbing system, too. With AdaptiLift, the Saros 20 Neo can climb double thresholds of up to 8.7cm (4.4cm for the first and 4.3cm for the second). And, it can lift its body to move across and vacuum deep-pile carpet.
For carpet avoidance, the robot can lift its mop pads off the ground, but it can also drop them in the docking station for a proper vacuum-only mode.
There are shortcut buttons on the front of the robot for starting and stopping a clean, but for more advanced control you’ll want to use the Roborock app.
Once connected to Wi-Fi, the Saros 20 Neo needs to perform a mapping run to get its surroundings. This doesn’t take long, and ends up with a map of your home. The app suggests where rooms go, but it’s easy to split or merge rooms to get the layout you want.
Advanced settings include the options to set no-go zones, and to place furniture on the map, which acts as a quick-select zone, such as for cleaning up around a dining table after you’ve eaten.
Controls are very similar to those on other Roborock vacuum cleaners, with the choice to clean the entire home, a room (or rooms of your choice), or to clean a zone, either by selecting furniture or by drawing one on the map.
When you know where to clean, you can choose how to clean: vacuum only, vacuum and mop, mop after vacuuming, or mop-only. Cleaning settings including leaving the Saros 20 Neo to work things out itself or to manually set the vacuum power, mop level, route (faster or slower, depending on the coverage you want), and the number of passes (up to two).
Vacuum options include four main power modes, plus an additional high-power mode for vacuum-only. Mopping is a slider with 30 selectable water levels. As I’ve said before, this is too many, and a simpler, smaller choice would make more sense.
Performance
- Excellent vacuuming performance
- Powerful mopping
- Excellent navigation
I set up the Trusted Reviews Home Technology Lab with a series of challenges for the Saros 20 Neo to get through. I started with my carpet test, adding 20g of flour to the test carpet. After two passes, the Neo’s 36,000Pa suction power was enough to pick up everything, leaving the carpet looking clean.
I then added flour to the hard floor, which proved to be easy for the robot, which collected everything.
For the tough edge test, I sprinkled flour right up against the kitchen plinth, and set the robot off. After vacuuming and mopping, it had got most of the mess, but I had to tackle the rest by hand.
After adding human hair to the test carpet, the Roborock Saros 20 Neo picked it all up, and the DuoDivide brush did its job, as not a single hair was tangled.
I then moved on to my mopping tests. My coffee stain was removed immediately, with two passes enough to clean the floor.
The same was true with my red wine stain, which was also removed in two passes.
My mud stain was first tackled with vacuuming to pick up the loose particles, and then the mopping system cleaned up the rest.
That left my tough ketchup test. With stain recognition turned on, the Roborock Saros 20 Neo did a good job of going over this mess multiple times, but as the ketchup had dried firm, the robot reduced it significantly after two passes.
I then sprayed the stain with kitchen cleaner, left it for five minutes, and then sent the Roborock Saros 20 Neo out to clean again. This time it got everything.
Navigation is excellent. I left down a shoe, some fake pet mess and some cables, and the Roborock Saros 20 Neo moved around them all. It could also get under my sofa, although the robot had to plan how to do this and when to lower the LiDAR dome. With the Roborock Saros 20, the permanently slimmer body makes it a bit better at sliding under furniture.
Battery life is rated at up to 256 minutes, but there’s no need to worry. My test lab is the same size as a large floor in a home, and there was enough power to make two passes, with enough power left for spot cleaning.
I measured sound at 58.3dB, so it’s pretty quite for general vacuuming.
Should you buy it?
You want top-end specs at a lower price
With most of what the Saros 20 can offer but cheaper, the Roborock Saros 20 Neo will suit most people.
You want the absolute best
The permanent lower profile of the Roborock Saros 20 makes it slightly better for getting around, while the newer Dreame X60 Ultra Complete has a few extra cleaning tricks.
Final Thoughts
The Roborock Saros 20 Neo does most of what the Roborock Saros 20 can, but at a lower price. Both have similar vacuuming and mopping performance, and similar navigation ability.
The original Saros 20 is a bit more nimble, as it doesn’t have a LiDAR dome to rise and lower, and its dock is easier to manage, with the bag and detergent reachable without removing the water tanks. For the money, the Roborock Saros 20 Neo is excellent, and you can find some cheaper alternatives in my guide to the best robot vacuum cleaners.
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How We Test
We test every robot vacuum cleaner we review thoroughly over an extended period of time. We use industry-standard tests to compare features properly. We’ll always tell you what we find. We never, ever, accept money to review a product.
Find out more about how we test in our ethics policy.
- Used as our main robot vacuum cleaner for the review period
- We test for at least a week
- Tested with real-world dirt in real-world situations for fair comparisons with other vacuum cleaners
Does the Roborock Saros 20 Neo have a LiDAR dome?
Yes. It has a retractable LiDAR dome that drops out of the way for low furniture, taking the robot’s height down to 79.8mm.
How often do you need to empty the Roborock Saros 20 Neo’s dust bag?
Not often. The dock has a 2.7L dust bag that holds up to 65 days’ worth of dust from the robot.
Can the Roborock Saros 20 Neo climb over thresholds?
Yes. Its AdaptiLift system can climb double thresholds of up to 8.7cm (4.4cm for the first and 4.3cm for the second).
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