Roborock E5

The E5 is from Roborocks budget series of robot vacuum cleaners. It is a successor to the E4 model and has been upgraded in a few areas. The robot is built with gyroscopic navigation, a simple system that still enables it to clean systematically.

We have tested and reviewed the Roborock E5 in accordance with our testing methodology 1.1 for robot vacuum cleaners.

Roborock E4 vs. Roborock E5

The Roborock E4 and E5 are pretty similar. They differ in suction power (The E5 has a suction power of 2500 Pa, whereas the suction power for the E4 is 2000 Pa). Also, the E5-version comes with a remote control.

Who is the Roborock E5 suitable for

• If you are looking for a simple robot vacuum cleaner, that is easy to control and which does not even need to be connected to an app (you can instead use the supplied remote control), the Roborock E5 might be the right robot vacuum cleaner for you.
• If you are looking for a budget robot vacuum cleaner with good cleaning performance, The Roborock E5 is a good choice.
• The Roborock E5 is best suited to small and medium-sized households, because its navigation system is not that advanced. We recommend a robot vacuum cleaner with a camera- or laser-based navigation if you have a large household, for example, the Dreame D10s Pro or the Roborock S7.

Who should not buy the Roborock E5

• If you have carpets and want to use the mopping function, this robot vacuum cleaner might not be the right choice, because it is not built with an automatic function that prevents it from cleaning carpets when the mopping cloth is attached. The only way is to set up “invisible walls” or physical barriers manually. Also, there are no accessories included to set up “invisible walls” with this robot.
• The Roborock E5 is not built with object avoidance technology, preventing it from getting tangled in cables, driving into animal water bowls, etc. If you have a home where such items lie on the floor (and you don't clean them up before cleaning), you should not choose this robot vacuum cleaner. Instead, we recommend a robot vacuum cleaner with object avoidance technology, such as the Roborock S7 MaxV, the Roborock S8, or the iRobot Roomba j7.

Navigation

The Roborock E5 is built with a dual gyroscopic navigation system, enabling the robot to create an internal map and clean systematically, thus getting around and cleaning all rooms.

However, the navigation system is simpler than camera or laser-based navigation systems, and does not offer the same options for customizing the cleaning. In addition, the robot also tends to clean the same areas several times, which makes the cleaning process much longer. However, the gyroscope navigation technology is also what keeps the price of the robot vacuum cleaner down.

The robot vacuum cleaner gets around the home fine, but it runs over the same places several times, meaning cleaning takes a long time. For example, it took the robot 71 minutes to clean an area of 39 m². This means it cleans around 33 m² per hour. In comparison, the Ecovacs Deebot X1 OMNI and the Roborock S6 MaxV clean 60 m² per hour in the same household environment.

This inefficient process means a cleaning session takes much longer than robot vacuum cleaners with more advanced navigation. However, as our cleaning tests demonstrate (I will get into this later), the robot also does an excellent job in terms of cleaning performance.

Object avoidance test

The robot was tested in our object avoidance test, where we tested its ability to navigate around the following five objects:

• A fake poop
• A rolled up cable
• A piece of clothing
• A pet water bowl (filled with water)
• A can

The Roborock E5 is not equipped with cameras and does not utilize object recognition or avoidance technology. It is also clearly shown in the test where it fails to avoid any objects (and therefore achieves a score of 0 points).

The robot is built with sensors to sense large objects and therefore does not bump into them hard, but when it comes to smaller objects used in our tests, it cannot register them. It is worth noting that if you have dog bowls or the like, you risk the robot vacuum cleaner bumping into them and pushing them around or spilling water from water bowls onto the floor.

If you have pets, it might be a better choice to pick a robot vacuum cleaner with object avoidance technology, and then you might like the Roborock S7 MaxV, or the Roborock S8 instead.

Cleaning

The Roborock E5 has a maximum suction power of 2500 Pa, which is quite good, especially for robot vacuum cleaners in the budget price range.

We tested the robot's ability to collect sand and rice on a parquet floor. We conducted the following clean-up tests on a parquet floor:

• Test 1: We tested the robot's ability to pick up 50 grams of sand on a parquet floor.
• Test 2: We tested the robot's ability to pick up 50 grams of rice on a parquet floor.

In both tests, the robot did an almost perfect job and collected 98% of the sand, and 100% of the rice.
The robot vacuum cleaners that have been through this test have generally done very well. It shows whether the robot vacuum pushes the dirt away or manages to collect it.

In the test, the robot vacuum cleaner came out well in the corners, but compared to the more expensive robot vacuum cleaners we have done the same test on, it took significantly longer (approx. 2x as long) to clean the enclosed area where the test was performed.

Carpet cleaning

The Roborock E5 is built with carpet detection and increases suction power to maximum when it detects a carpet. It's a handy feature that provides deeper carpet cleaning, but it's a common function among robot vacuum cleaners. The disadvantage of this function is that the robot vacuum cleaner starts to make more noise when it cleans the carpet, but you can switch the function off if you want in the robot vacuum cleaner's app.

The robot vacuum cleaner did very well in our carpet cleaning test and collected 34 grams of sand (68%). This is better than many high-end robot vacuum cleaners we have tested have been able to do (for example, the Ecovacs Deebot X1 OMNI only collected 24 grams of sand). However, it should also be noted that the Roborock E5 took 2-2.5 times as long to finish the task and ran over the same spots repeatedly before it was finished.

Mopping

The Roborock E5 can simultaneously vacuum and mop. The robot can vacuum and mop up to 150 m² on one charge. The mopping provides an extra layer of cleanliness and enables the robot to remove stains that vacuuming alone cannot remove.

However, using the mopping function also comes with some drawbacks, mainly because the robot is built with gyroscopic navigation and therefore cannot create "no-go zones", and isn’t built with technologies that prevent the mop cloth from touching the carpet. The mopping cloth should not be used on carpets, so if you have carpets and you want to use the mopping function, you must manually set up barriers to prevent the robot from cleaning the carpets. The robot doesn’t come with any accompanying accessories to create barriers, such as magnetic boundary strips, which are accessories in some other budget robot vacuum cleaners.

We tested the robot vacuum cleaner's mopping capabilities. We tested the robot's ability to remove three dry stains of the following:

• A dry stain of ketchup
• A dry stain of coffee
• A dry stain of sour cream

Once again, the robot vacuum cleaner did an excellent job and completely removed the ketchup and coffee stains. The sour cream was partly removed. However, once again, the robot did take 2-2.5 more time than other robot vacuum cleaners we have tested to do the job. As you can see in the video with the mopping test, the robot vacuum cleaner manages to remove the stains because it runs over them so many times.

Battery

The Roborock E5 is equipped with a 5200 mAh battery, which is quite powerful and means it can clean for up to 200 minutes at a maximum. This is long enough to clean most households with one charge. However, the robot creates an internal map when cleaning, and if it doesn't finish cleaning before the battery runs out, it will return to the charging station, recharge and return with the cleaning after it has charged. This means it can also be used in larger households. However, we recommend a robot vacuum cleaner with interactive mapping capabilities if you have a large home, such as the Roborock S7 MaxV, or the Roborock S8).

App

The Roborock E5 can be connected to the "Mi Home" app from Xiaomi (Roborock is owned by Xiaomi). The setup is easy.

The robot doesn't create an interactive map. Therefore, the number of functions in the app is also limited: You cannot set “No-go zones", choose “Selected room cleaning”, etc., as you can with a robot vacuum cleaner with interactive mapping capabilities.

On the app's front page, you can quickly get an overview of the following:

• Area of cleaned area
• Percentage of battery left
• Time cleaned

Further, you can control the following:

• If the robot should return to the docking station
• If you want the robot to start cleaning
• Suction power settings (Silent, Balanced, Turbo, or Max)

The app allows you also to:

• Set further vacuum settings
• Set a Timer / Schedule plan
• Control the robot's voice and volume
• See the cleaning history
• See a maintenance schedule

The app is easy to navigate but doesn't have many functions, so that's to be expected.

With most high-end robot vacuum cleaners, you must have the app to control the robot correctly. This is not the case with this robot vacuum cleaner, which can easily be controlled with the included remote control.

Noise emission

We measured the robot's noise emission by registering the maximum registered noise emission and the average noise emission in three different suction power settings. The test was conducted in the following suction power settings:

• Silent mode
• Balanced mode
• Max mode (strongest suction power)

The result was the following:

• Silent mode: Max measured noise emission 63.6 dB and average noise emission 61.5 dB.
• Balanced mode: Max measured noise emission 64.9 dB and average noise emission 63 dB.
• Max mode: Max measured noise emission 70.4 dB and average noise emission 66 dB.

The measurements show the robot vacuum cleaner is average in terms of noise emission. It would have been quieter in Max mode if it had a lower maximum suction power.

Design and shape

The Roborock E5 has a round shape and is built with one side brush. The round shape is the most common across robot vacuum cleaners and is ideal as it allows it to get out of tight areas easily.

The robot has a 0.64 liter dustbin, which is large compared with other models and means you don't have to empty the dustbin that often.

The water tank has a capacity of 0.18 liters which is relatively small and means you have to fill the water tank often if you want to use the mop function.

We measured the width of the main brush of the Roborock E5 to 16.7 cm, which is a standard size. The main brush is made of hair and rubber.

The robot has an EPA 11 filter, which is washable.

Dimensions and weight

The robot vacuum cleaner measures:

• Height: 9.5 cm
• Width: 35.0 cm
• Depth: 35.0 cm

This is a common size for robot vacuum cleaners, and means that it is sufficiently low to clean under most furniture, such as a couch or bed.

Remote control

The Roborock E5 comes with a remote control called "MagBase™. The remote control enables you to:

• To control the robot's movement (can be useful if you want to direct the robot vacuum cleaner to an area with some dirt).
• Start / Stop cleaning
• Start "Spot Cleaning"
• Set the suction power level
• Return the robot to its Dock

The remote control can be helpful in households that want a simple robot vacuum cleaner to clean now and then without it having to be too technologically advanced (as it might be for a robot vacuum cleaner with required app setup, etc.).

The remote control uses 2 AAA batteries.

Climbing ability

The climbing ability is stated to be 2.0 cm by the manufacturer.

Dirt disposal base station

The robot vacuum cleaner doesn't come with a dirt disposal unit. Thereby you will need to empty the dust container regularly yourself and refill the water tank.

Maintenance

As with all other robot vacuum cleaners, the Roborock E5 requires regular maintenance and purchasing of new parts. In the app, you can find the time remaining before maintenance occurs for specific components.

The day-to-day maintenance consists of the following:

• Empty the robot's dustbin.
• Clean the robot's main brush.
• Refill the robot's water tank (if you use the mopping function).
• Clean the robot's mop (if you use the mopping function). Recommended to be cleaned every 60 minutes of use.

The more infrequent maintenance consists of the following:

• Cleaning the robot's sensors (every 30 hours).
• Replace the filter (every 150 hours).
• Replace the side brush (every 200 hours).
• Replace the main brush (every 300 hours).
• Replace the robot's mopping cloth (when needed). It is recommended to change it every 3 - 6 month.