Just six months ago, I put the Roborock F25 Ultra to the ultimate test at my place. Now I get to run the Roborock F25 Ace Pro through the gauntlet.
The F25 Ultra has been at the ready in a corner of my kitchen since last October. Ready to clean up a spill, mess made by cats and kids alike. The sentinel stands guard, only needing a tank of clean water.
Ace Pro vs. Ultra: Key Similarities
On face value, the F25 Ace Pro and the F25 Ultra look almost identical:
- same dimensions – ~26.5 x 24.6 x 110 cm
- same flat-lay height – 12.5 cm
- same clean water tank capacity – 1,000 ml
- same dirty water tank capacity – 720 ml
- same dock dimensions – ~35 x 31.6 x 115.7 cm
Even some of the core technologies are identical:
- SlideTech 2.0 (AI Assist) for manoeuvrability
- 180° FlatReach 2.0
- Blue light (Dust illumination)
- Drying at 95°C Hot Air (5 or 30 mins)
The differentiation between them are under the cover:
| Feature | Roborock F25 Ultra | Roborock F25 Ace Pro |
|---|---|---|
| Primary Tech | VaporFlow™ (180°C Steam) | JetFoaming™ (167M Microbubbles) |
| Suction Power | 22,000 Pa | 25,000 Pa |
| Hot Water Wash | 180°C at boiler | – |
| Self-Cleaning | Steam + 90°C Hot Water | 95°C High-Temp Water |
Two units, same product line, two very different approach to wet and dry cleaning.
Roborock F25 Ace Ultra on the left, F25 Ace Pro on the right.
App Integration and Initial Setup
Like all the Roborock devices, it is app supported. Unlike the robotic vacuums, it is not essential to setup the F25 Ace Pro to use it. However it is useful to connect up to get the latest firmware and language packs.
This is also where you can change the language, perhaps English is not your native language, or you want to practice your Espanol.
All you need to get cleaning is the fill the clean water tank, and the Foam Cleaning Solution tank. They are both side by side on the removable reservoir that forms part of the mop head.
JetFoaming vs. VaporFlow: Putting 25,000 Pa to Work
The F25 Ace Pro is the new king of suction power, trumping the F25 Ultra by 3,000 Pa.
However, instead of using pressurised steam for cleaning, the F25 Ace Pro uses the “JetFoaming” technology and detergent to create 167 million microbubbles to turn the detergent into a dense foam.
It’s worth noting with the F25 Ace Pro, without the detergent is is essentially just a cold mopping unit.
Why foam? In really simple terms, foam increases surface area, reduces surface tension and improve ability to get into the texture of your flooring and “capture” the dirt. The F25 Ace Pro then sucks it up with the 25,000 Pa of suction power and leave behind a clean floor.
In comparison, the F25 Ultra uses thermodynamics and kinetic energy to clean. Ordinary water at high temperature turns into a high energy gas (steam) and can penetrate dirt structure before cooling.
Have you ever frozen a bottle of water? Or beer? Water expands when frozen, popping the cap off. The same thing happens when it is cooling down – from steam to liquid to solid – it expands. With the F25 Ultra, this phase change from gas to liquid help “break open” dirt and stain, lift it from the surface it is bonded to and allow the suction to take it away.
At my place, the task that the F25 Ace Pro has to fulfil is to prove how effective it is at removing cat food that has been caked onto the floor tiles. Just as I did with the F25 Ultra when I reviewed it, I allowed the cats to do their usual for a few days. They have perfectly good food bowls and a mat to make a mess on, but they like to drag everything onto the floor first before eating.
The F25 Ace Pro has a few pre-set modes to help with cleaning. Ordinarily the Auto mode will do your maintenance run, but you might need to fire up the power.
| Mode | Suction Power | Water Flow |
|---|---|---|
| Auto | Standard | Medium |
| Turbo | Max | High |
| Eco | Eco | Low |
| Sponge | Standard | Low |
Roborock has included a 480ml bottle of Foam Cleaning Solution, with plant-derived active detergent. The bottle says it:
- kills 99% germs
- odor elimination
- jasmine scented
- safe and non-toxic
The last point is something I considered, given I have two cats at home. I did a bunch of research and reading up and the consensus is that the detergent is sufficiently diluted to be pet safe. So I took the plunge.
Tapioca came around to have a sniff. He was cautious but didn’t recoil or run away from the open bottle of detergent. Same as when I was using the unit, he happily wandered all over the area that I was cleaning. Whatever it is in the detergent, it is inoffensive to my Bengal so that is a big tick.
As for the cleaning prowess. As I mentioned earlier, I left the mess from the cats for a few days, kind of disgusting but … in the interest of testing in a real life environment.
If you had mental images of a foam party in Ibiza when running the F25 Ace Pro, I am going to disappoint you right now. There is quite literally nothing to see, other than a trace of wetness on the floor which disappears quick enough.
Caked on wet cat food generally require a bit of scrubbing and scraping to clean off. I had no expectations that a single pass of the F25 Ace Pro will leave my floor sparkling clean.
The first pass picked up almost all of the top level loose debris, but for the really caked on bits required quite a few passes but the results were actually quite impressive. It didn’t get everything off after multiple tries, but it got the bulk of it off and the last bit only needed a little bit of manual effort on my part to complete.
I feel that I could have possibly persisted to a better result – more akin to the F25 Ultra, but it was also a case of how much more time and effort to achieve it compared to a quick finish with a wet wipe.
I left it a bit dirty to test the Roborock F25 Ace Pro. Don’t try this at home. Ohhh wait ….
Maneuverability and Self-Cleaning Performance
Just like the F25 Ultra, the F25 Ace Pro has three settings for wheel assist – mild, moderate and strong. It helps to propel the unit along the way and reduce the effort required by you to move it along.
It also have a remote control mode, for reaching deep into an area that you can’t ordinarily get to.
To activate this, you have to lower the handle of the F25 Ace Pro until it is horizontal. There is a little wheel on the handle side to keep it from dragging on the floor and damaging the finish.
Last point to note is that it seems the self cleaning is a little noisier than the F25 Ultra, but once it is done, the slow drying of the mop rolling is pretty quiet. The fast drying? Comes at a decibel cost.
Final Verdict: Which Roborock F25 Should You Buy?
The F25 Ace Pro is a solid unit. My test results are not the spotless outcome that you see in a lab environment or ideal world. Ultimately it was a test on the more extreme end.
The convenience of the F25 Ace Pro means it is simple to do more regular maintenance cleans, rather than leaving it for too long and then have to deal with this scrubbing scenario.
I did a lot of comparison with the F25 Ultra in this review, so which one should you choose? Both are premium products in the Roborock line at the moment.
The F25 Ace Pro is great if you want the absolute maximum suction available, and don’t mind using a foam-based detergent to help tackle odors and heavy duty stains and dirt.
Go with the F25 Ultra if grease and oils mess are your regular bug bears. The heated steam approach tackles it more effectively, and also does not require restock of the cleaning detergent. Just clean water and you are good to go.
Either way, the Roborock F25 – both the Ace Pro and Ultra are reliable companions at my place. Also it is harder for the kids to ignore it standing there, silently judging them for creating a mess until they put the unit into action.
The Roborock F25 Ace Pro has a RRP A$1299.
DRN would like to thank Roborock for providing the review unit.
