Will it fit under the sofa? Robot vacuum heights compared, from 80 to 120 mm
The published height of 74 robot vacuums, grouped by what they fit under: eleven at 80 mm, thirteen up to 90 mm, the 92 to 99 mm majority and the tall ones, plus what the figure leaves out.
Maciej Ziółko · RoboVerdict editorial · Published · 5 min read
The figure nobody checks until the robot is stuck
Suction and mopping sell a robot vacuum; its height decides how much of the flat it cleans. Under the bed and the sofa lies a good part of a bedroom's and a living room's floor, and it is the part that collects the most dust. A robot that is five millimetres too tall cleans none of it, or wedges itself under the frame and calls for help. Seventy-four of the 83 machines in our catalogue publish their dimensions, and they run from 80 to 120 mm. Below they are grouped by what they fit under; the list of the lowest machines keeps the order up to date as the catalogue changes.
80 mm: as low as it gets
Eleven machines stand at 80 mm; their makers write 79.5 to 79.8, and we record whole millimetres. Nine are Roborocks: the Saros 20 and Saros Z70, which have no turret at all, the Saros 20 Neo, Saros 20 Sonic and Saros 10, the Qrevo Curv 2 Pro, Qrevo CurvX and Qrevo Edge 3 Pro, whose LiDAR retracts, and the Qrevo Edge 2, the mid-priced exception in a group of flagships. The other two are Dreames, the X60 Ultra and the X60 Max Ultra Complete. If the gap under the furniture is between 8.5 and 9 cm, the choice is made from this list and nowhere else.
Roborock Saros 20
Roborock's flagship: 36,000 Pa, twin spinning mops the dock washes at 100 °C, and a solid-state 3D sensor instead of a LiDAR turret.
88 to 90 mm: the retracting turrets
Thirteen machines need nine centimetres. The MOVA V70 Ultra Complete and V70 Ultra Complete X are 88 mm; the Dreame X60 Pro Ultra Complete, X60 Pro Master, X50 Ultra, Matrix10 Ultra, L60 Ultra and L60 Pro Ultra are 89; and at 90 stand the Dreame L50 Pro Ultra, the MOVA V50 Ultra Complete, Mobius 60 and S70 Roller and the Roborock Qrevo Edge 2 Flow. Almost all of them get there by lowering the LiDAR turret into the body; the S70 Roller does it with a sensor that has no turret, and as this is written it is the cheapest machine in this group at the prices we record.
92 to 99 mm: the fixed-turret majority
Thirty-three machines, close to half of those that publish a height, sit between 92 and 99 mm, and 97 mm is the commonest figure. This is what a classic LiDAR turret on a standard body comes to, from the Roborock Q7 M5 and the MOVA E40 Ultra to the Dreame L10s Ultra Gen 3. For these the practical requirement is a clear ten centimetres. Sofas on legs usually have it; beds with a storage drawer and low TV benches usually do not.
Above 100 mm: what makes a robot tall
Seventeen machines are taller than ten centimetres, and the reasons are worth knowing. A roller mop needs room for the roller and the water that feeds it: the Dreame Aqua10 Roller is 120 mm and the Roborock Qrevo Curv 2 Flow 119, the two tallest machines we list, and roller or pads explains what the roller buys in return. The eufy Omni C28 and Omni E28 are 110 and 111 mm, Narwal's Freo Z10 Ultra 110, and a row of Dreame and MOVA models with a fixed turret on a taller body stands at 104. The Aqua10 Roller is also one of the highest-scoring machines on this site, which is the point of this section: the best robot for the floor in the open is not automatically the best one for the floor under the bed.
MOVA S70 Roller
The entry-level S70 roller mop: 28,000 Pa, a 27 cm roller at 17 N that extends 4.4 cm and lifts 12 mm, a hidden sensor in a 90 mm body, and a 255 mm wide dock that washes at 80 °C and dries at 70 °C.
What the figure leaves out
- Turret up, turret down. A retracting LiDAR is low only while it is retracted: the Dreame X60 Ultra is 79.5 mm with the sensor down and 102.8 mm with it up, the L50 Pro Ultra 89.5 and 111.5. The robot lowers it by itself under furniture, so the low figure is the one that counts there, and the one we record.
- Measure the lowest edge, not the legs. A sofa on 10 cm legs often has a frame or a fabric skirt that hangs lower. Put a ruler under the lowest point, and measure on the rug if the furniture stands on one: a thick rug takes a centimetre off the gap.
- A few millimetres of air. Floors are not flat and neither are bed frames. A robot that fits exactly on paper wedges in practice; the makers publish the height of the machine, not the gap it needs.
- Nine machines publish no dimensions. Their pages say so instead of guessing: the Roborock QV 35A and QV 35S, the Dreame L40 Ultra CE, L40 Ultra Gen 2, L60 Ultra FE, L60 Ultra PE, D30 Ultra CE and Aqua10 Roller AE, and the Narwal Freo Z10 Pro.
What we would buy
Measure first. With less than nine centimetres of clearance the shortlist is the 80 mm group, and Saros 20 against X60 Pro Ultra Complete shows what nine millimetres of height cost and buy at the top of the range. With nine to ten centimetres the 88 to 90 mm group opens up, and the MOVA S70 Roller is the way into it without a flagship budget. If the flat also has tall door sills, read the threshold ranking next to this one: the Saros 20 and the X60 Ultra are on both lists. And if everything in the home stands ten centimetres clear, ignore this article and choose by what the robot does on the open floor.