The mark of a great handheld vacuum isn’t just the price or the performance. It’s also in the design and function.
Roborock is known far and wide for its automated robot vacuums. But what about all those little places that a robot vacuum can’t get? Whether it’s between a cabinet and a wall or something much higher in your home, Roborock wants to be the answer for all your vacuuming needs. The Roborock H6 is the company’s first cordless handheld “stick” vacuum, but this feels like anything but a first-try at a product.
Right off the bat, it’s clear that Roborock focused on aesthetics and versatility for the Roborock H6. The silver frame is awash with red accents, giving way to a transparent body that reveals the beauty of the machinery inside.
But it’s not just about beauty, it’s also about capability. At $449, the Roborock H6 includes a dusting brush, a crevice tool, a flex tube, a carpet brush, and a motorized mini-brush. To get all of these elsewhere, including the carpet brush with automatic suction increase, you’d have to shell out $150 more for the Dyson V11.
The Roborock H6 sports an ambidextrous design that’s easy to hold thanks to a large handle and light 3lb weight. Despite being only 3lbs, the Roborock H6 doesn’t feel cheap at all. In fact, the aluminum and polycarbonate build feels incredibly solid and high-quality; something expected of a great handheld vacuum.
One of my favorite points of the design of this handheld vacuum is the lock button. When pressed, this will keep suction on without having to hold down the trigger. That’s especially nice when dusting blinds or using the vacuum for an extended period of time. My only complaint here is that there’s no lock icon on the screen, but I’m not sure that really matters when it’s obvious that suction is staying on.
That OLED screen up top is a huge improvement over most vacuums in this class. This screen provides an easy way to switch modes and see how much battery life remains. The screen is just large enough to fit everything needed on the screen and make the information immediately glanceable. Pressing the button just behind the screen will swap between the three suction modes.
It’s obvious that each accessory was designed with a purpose and aesthetic in mind. Everything from the way the tool is shaped and functions, and even the connector piece up top is well thought out. All accessories connect together effortlessly, and can easily be connected and disconnected with a single hand.
There’s no confusion about which way to put the pieces together; they just click in, and it just works. That falls in line with the simplicity and ease-of-use expected of a handheld vacuum. It’s supposed to be quick and easy to use in a pinch. The Roborock H6 absolutely fits that description and hope.
Any accessory can be paired with the included flexible hose or long aluminum “stick”, or you can connect them straight to the base. This versatility opens up a huge range of ways to clean around your home and, personally, that’s exactly what I want in this type of vacuum.
I loved that the Roborock H6 was so light, as I was able to attach the small brush to the flexible hose to dust everything from my blinds to my ceiling fan. Even the soundbar in the living room accumulates an unhealthy layer of dust over time and needs to be vacuumed. It’s pretty refreshing to have a vacuum that isn’t awkward to clean these sorts of places. Now that’s a great handheld vacuum.
The included mount hangs on the wall and charges the vacuum while docked. All the accessories perfectly attach to the included mount, as well. The vacuum sits snuggly on this charger but doesn’t lock-in, so it’s simple enough to grab it and clean up emergency spills.
While we’re on the topic of messes, it’s nice to see that Roborock took the time to design a filtration system that can be easily emptied without making more messes. Emptying the bin is at easy as holding the bottom of the Roborock H6 over a garbage can and pressing down the lever on the handle. This opens up the bottom door and dumps everything from the dustbin right into the trash.
On top of that, the entire dustbin and filter can be removed and washed. Even many of the inside components can be washed which helps alleviate that old vacuum smell. That helps keep things clean and tidy over the lifetime of your vacuum. A washable filter also helps lower the cost of ownership over time, too.
Both top and bottom filters are easy to get to and remove, making it more likely you’ll actually want to clean them. Certainly the hallmark of a great handheld vacuum.
What needs improvement
As you’ll notice in the picture above, all of the small brushes can only be used at an angle. None of them work properly when held flat to the floor or any surface. That feels like a huge missed opportunity.
The only accessory that can be used from multiple angles is the large carpet brush. The carpet brush is powered, though, and will roll the brush as soon as suction begins. While it’s not going to harm anything to use a rotating brush on many hard surfaces, it’s possible that it could scuff up some types of wood or cork flooring.
This powered carpet brush is also quite large when compared to the other brushes. That makes getting into tight spaces a difficult task. Given that it’s the only brush that can run properly from multiple angles, this leaves a hole in the cleaning abilities of the Roborock H6. I also didn’t care for the dual-wheel design of the carpet brush, as it was overly difficult to clean in straight lines when trying to clean under furniture.
I also found that I needed a smaller hose or stick connector to get behind my bathroom vanity, as the gap between the vanity and the wall is small. That dashed my hopes of having an easy way to clean behind and beside these cabinets. This isn’t necessarily a deficiency of the Roborock H6, but it is a limitation.
Battery life and portability
As a cordless vacuum, it’s important that the Roborock H6 has enough battery life to actually get the job done. Thankfully, Roborock did a great job of balancing suction power and battery life in the regular suction mode. Testing showed that the vacuum’s rated 90-minutes of battery life in Eco mode holds true. The Roborock H6 still had 15% battery left after a full hour of cleaning. That’s with a mix of regular and max suction modes, which bodes well for normal cleaning cycles.
If you’re using only maximum suction mode, expect around 10-15 minutes of battery life. This was a bit surprising to me because it didn’t seem like max mode’s suction was exponentially higher. Max mode does gets the job done, though, and can dislodge debris like nobody’s business.
Quick charging would have helped alleviate any issues caused by short maximum suction battery life. Unfortunately, the Roborock H6 takes a long time to recharge. In my testing, it took between 3 and 4 hours to charge from 0% to 100%.
On the bright side, you could plug the charger into the vacuum and run it as a corded vacuum. At least that’s a reasonable backup solution.
On the top of the handle, you’ll find an OLED display. This screen displays the battery percentage and remaining cleaning time. This estimated time left feature is absolutely fantastic. Quite frankly, it holds a lot more meaning than a vague battery percentage.
The Roborock H6 excels in portability when compared to just about every other kind of vacuum on the market. At 3lbs, it’s incredibly light and can be easily held for long periods of time before you’ll get arm fatigue. Roborock made sure the vacuum can sit flat without falling over. That’s important when you have to set it down. This, in addition to that handy lock button mentioned earlier, makes the Rorobock H6 a dream to use.
I could definitely use a longer flexible hose, though.
Gotta have it
Roborock has excelled at creating incredible robot vacuums for years that focused on value at the core. Now, they’ve extended that expertise to the handheld vacuum space. The Roborock H6 is easily one of the best handheld vacuums in the space. It even offers a better value than Dyson’s V-series, too. Great design paired with a great price is already a win. But all the included accessories really make this the complete package.
The Roborock H6 is an easy choice as a great handheld vacuum, or even just to complement your robot vacuum.