The Roborock H60 makes a compelling case for ditching the cord without also spending a fortune first. It proved to be a solid chore do-er thanks to a comfortable design and a few handy tricks up its sleeve. It's an intriguing vacuum that'll set buyers back R3,000.
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Design
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Performance
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Battery
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Noise
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Value
Cords have been a nuisance to vacuum cleaners since the inception of vacuum cleaners. That was until someone had the bright idea of sticking a battery inside — and thus, the cordless vacuum was born. Some, like Roborock, have improved on the concept in the years since, to the point that anyone can have one for (relatively) cheap.
Roborock’s H60 (AKA H60 Essential) fits that bill. It’s a cordless stick vacuum that can be had for R3,000 in South Africa. We spent some time putting the H60’s hooverin’ abilities to the test and came away liking what we saw. Or rather what we didn’t see once the H60 had finished its job. Is it worth the price? Short answer — yes.
The little LED that could
As far as cordless vacs go, the H60 checks plenty of boxes. We’ve already mentioned the price, but it also shines in terms of comfort. It’s not the lightest vacuum we’ve had the pleasure of using, but at 3kg, we found little to complain about. Setting it up is as easy as plugging the loose bits into the right holes and pulling the trigger.
Most of that weight is relegated to the handheld base, which houses the battery and 500ml dustbin. Your kid might resist with excuses like “it’s too heavy”, but we like to think it builds character. And muscle. In the hands of a grown adult, however, the H60 proved easy to use, gliding across hard floors and carpets alike. Heck, it’ll even easily reach the oddest nooks and crannies you can find. You can thank the 90-degree bendable tube for that.
Fixed to the front of the primary anti-tangle brush, you’ll find an LED light that makes dust and debris easy to spot. For a home as covered in carpet (and cat hair) as ours, that LED came in handy pretty much everywhere. It definitely sped up the process and allowed us to hit nearly every room before the battery conked out on us.
The regular H60 only packs one ‘2-in-1 crevice tool’ into the box, and we didn’t find ourselves wanting more. It was more than happy to glide across a crumb-y keyboard and couch covers without leaving streaks in its wake. If you find yourself wanting more custom bits and pieces, you’ll have to throw down more dough.
Suction? You bet.
The Roborock H60 is certainly on the weaker side with only 115AW (Airwatts) of suction power to its name.
Airwatts are calculated by multiplying the airflow (in cubic metres per second) by the suction pressure (in pascals).
It’s a tightrope balancing act — delivering enough power to be useful, while retaining an affordable price. The H60 pulls it off with some grace, managing to keep our house spick and span without all that much elbow grease.
We have no trouble believing Roborock’s claims that the H60 utilises a 9-cyclone dust separation system and a 5-stage filtration system. In our time with the vacuum, we didn’t experience any sort of filter clogging, and the dust went right to the bin without a hitch. We can’t speak to it vacuuming up “99.95%” of particles, but the resultant floor was clean enough that we briefly considered eating off of it just to prove a point. Briefly.
The H60 has three modes, starting with eco and tapping out with turbo. We found that eco performed well on any and every hard floor, like your kitchen or bathroom tile. Handy, if preserving battery life is the secondary focus. When it came to carpet, though, turbo was just about the only thing that could penetrate the muck consistently.
That’s… fine, if you don’t have much carpet to aim at. But for larger homes covered in the stuff, it may present a bit of an issue. See, the H60 actually surpassed Roborock’s claims of a one-hour battery life when in eco mode, and hit the 75-minute mark before it gave out. Unfortunately, the same couldn’t be said for turbo, which chowed through the battery in 15 or so minutes. Charge times aren’t egregious, but they’ll definitely extend your chore time.
We wouldn’t have minded some sort of automatic detection system that could ramp up the power whenever necessary. Again, pricier cordless vacs can do just that, but if Roborock is looking at an easy get for a similarly-priced sequel, that would be our vote. Anything to keep the battery chugging along a tad longer.
Roborock H60 verdict
If you’re looking to cut the cord without first cutting a massive hole in your wallet, the Roborock H60 is an easy recommendation. It won’t out-suck the more expensive vacs on the market, and the battery can be a bit of a pain if you’ve got carpet for days. But for R3,000, it does a more than respectable job of keeping the house clean. You could certainly spend more on a cordless vacuum, but we’re not even sure that you’d have to.
