Overall:I purchased the Roborock Q8 Max+ robot on January 10, 2024. It is worth every damn penny. It is a huge accessibility feature in my home (I have never been the type to manually vacuum as frequently as the robot vacuum is scheduled to vacuum - I would do once a month at most). I would recommend this vacuum to anyone looking for a smart vacuum. Could it be smarter? Absolutely - Robrock has since come out with newer vacuums that can allegedly detect and avoid pets.My house also smells much fresher since getting the vacuum - likely because anything that will generate a lingering scent is getting vacuumed up.The Roborock Q8 Max+ is my second robot vacuum cleaner. My first robot vacuum cleaner was an iRobot j7+. The Roborock will clean up over twice the amount of space as the iRobot did in half the time (Roborock: 301 sq. ft in 37 minutes vs. iRobot: 188 sq. ft. in an hour and 18 minutes). I have included the mapping time for both the iRobot (the grey and green map) and the Roborock map (black background, multicolored rooms) for comparison. The comparison is "same day" - iRobot did its cleaning in the morning, and Roborock did its first "whole house" clean that same evening (the day I got it).Unlike the iRobot, the Roborock Q8 Max+ rarely gets stuck. The times the Roborock *has* gotten stuck have been due to finding cords on the ground and attempting to eat them (the Roborock has yet to destroy a cord). The Roborock is also incredibly accurate at letting me know exactly where it has gotten stuck, so unlike the iRobot, it does not sit in "time out" for an extended period of time. Sure, the iRobot was better at avoiding cords, but honestly, those don't move around in the house much, and it's not a huge deal to move them out of the Roborock's pathing as needed (especially since the Roborock is so predictable about where it goes - there is no 'move the cords every day/every so often because it keeps finding them').Things Roborock has tried to eat:- a small mouse cat toy (toy got stuck between the rollers, vacuum kept on keeping on - I manually made it stop so I could take the toy out - I could tell by the sound something janky was happening)- a small remote control for a standing fan (honestly - saved me the trouble of finding the 'lost' remote)- A single HDMI cord (it was unsuccessful enough that it stopped vacuuming to talk to me and ask for help -also my own fault, cord was lying on the floor all tempting like)- 3 cords simultaneously - an HDMI cord, and two USB cords (it was unsuccessful enough that it stopped vacuuming to talk to me and ask for help)- a medium sock cat toy (it was unsuccessful enough that it stopped vacuuming to talk to me and ask for help)It has not destroyed any of the cords it has tried to eat, which has been my #1 fear with robot vacuums, as I have heard (never tested myself) manual vacuums can absolutely destroy power cords. The robot trying to eat cords and cat toys is why this gets a '4 stars' from me - in the robot's defense, it does not have a physical camera to be able to 'see' the cords (and thus avoid them).Suction Power:I have no idea what "5500Pa High Power Suction" even means, but I can tell you - when I tell it to go over the living room floor 3 times on Maximum power, it does a fantastic job at cleaning up the crumbs I want it to. I only need to tell it to perform this cleaning method once. With the iRobot, I had to tell it to go over certain areas twice multiple times before it would pick up everything I wanted it to pick up. I have never felt the need to pull out my stick vacuum cleaner to supplement the Roborock's cleaning (whereas I did feel the need to do so with the iRobot).I do have throw rugs in my bathroom, and the Roborock does just fine with those (or it did until I put objects from the shower onto the rug and took my sweet time removing them - those objects confused the robot and caused it to get stuck).Mopping:I have not tried the mop feature/functionality yet. I'll update this review when I eventually get around to it. I primarily purchased this robot for the vacuum functionality.Alexa Integration:While I am all for a smart home, I don't believe in integrating individual objects (vacuums, the Nest Thermostat, utilizing Alexa for individual Hue Lights, etc.) with my Amazon Alexa device. I cannot speak to how good or bad this robot is at Alexa Integration.Maps:The roborock has done an amazing job at mapping out my house. It took it roughly three runs to get the total vacuum-able space of the house mapped out - the first run was absolutely "good enough, run the robot for real" level of mapping, the second two was refining that map. The 'edit map' feature did come in handy - Roborock thought I had 13 rooms initially due to layout of furniture, but I was able to swiftly edit the rooms to be more accurate.The Roborock is good at proposing and respecting accepted "no go" zones (iRobot ignored those a couple of times. iRobot also took an entire week to map out the full bathroom. Roborock got that correct the first try). I have never zone'd the Roborock for specific areas to target cleaning - I would rather have the Roborock clean the entire room rather than "just in front of the oven." I do also set the cleaning schedule for Roborock to an excessive "twice daily" - I live alone with three cats. Twice daily is absolutely overkill, I just enjoy making a robot perform work for me.Roborock can easily run in the dark or in the light (iRobot would add excess rooms where they do not exist when it tried to run while there was not enough light available). It will also let you know where it thinks there is an elevated threshold it needs to remember to watch for in the future (I had a coat rack base it tried to vacuum over repeatedly - never truly got stuck, but it obviously struggled a bit, and it was smart enough to ask me to put in a 'high threshold' zone to avoid trying to vacuum while going over the coat rack base).Pets:This Roborock version does not avoid pets. I have a senior girl kitty who seemingly "enjoys" playing "chicken" with the iRobot ("I am old. I am tired. You aren't going to force me to move...oh, maybe you are. Ugh.") and losing. The Robodock is louder perhaps than the iRobot was, however, it is also far more predictable with the path it takes in rooms, allowing the cats to easily stay out of its way. The predictability of pathing has also lessened the stress of the cats as well - they have never loved either robot vacuum, but they haven't hated them, either. They do seem to prefer tolerating the Roborock vacuum, as they can predict where in the house it will go, and how it will navigate. I have noticed the cats will move towards the front of the house while the robot cleans the back of the house and vice versa. With iRobot, since the navigation was more "willy nilly" it was not uncommon to find a cat trying to dash out of the way of the robot, whereas with the Roborock, they are able to determine how they'd prefer to avoid the robot on their own terms ahead of time, and do not seem to be caught by surprise as to where the Roborock is going/coming from.Self-Emptying Bin:The Roborock has only ever emptied its bin after completing cleaning the full 301 sq. ft cleaning - iRobot needed to empty its bin multiple times. Again, I clean twice daily, so mileage on this feature may vary, but it does add to the 'predictability' factor of the robot for me (and more importantly - for the cats).Battery Life:No complaints here - after running for 37 minutes on the "whole house" clean, the battery level goes down to 56%. I have each room set up to utilize a different level of suctioning - Roborock is also good at guessing which rooms are more "high traffic" (based on room names, I imagine) and making its own suction level suggestions. I promptly ignored those suggestions and gave it my own custom input - I have been very happy with the results.Roborock App:I speak fluent user interface technology. The Roborock app was neither incredibly intuitive to me, nor did it have a steep learning curve. I feel the app is as complex as you would expect from a vacuum that has so many different features (mopping, suction level, room variance, the ability to edit maps, etc.). I will also say for myself, it's not a huge deal to get used to how the app works. Once I finished setting up the map and what suction I wanted where, I haven't had to go back and revisit those features, so trying to learn to memorize how to modify the map or suction isn't a goal that was needed. As far as making the robot do individual runs, the app is intuitive enough for that (Enter > choose the "rooms" option on the bottom > select the specific room(s) you want to target > select how many passes you'd like the robot to take > Optionally select the section level > hit the 'clean' button > Enjoy the sensation of having a robot clean up after you/your family).