MOVA S10 Robot Vacuum Review — Budget LiDAR Robot Vacuum With Mopping

We recently named the MOVA S10 our favorite option in its price range. It’s often available for under $200, while many flagship robot vacuum/mop combos sell for several times that. The broader story is how much the budget category has improved. For much of Vacuum Wars’ history, the Roomba 600 series set the baseline in the entry-level tier. Today, you can get a more feature-rich experience for similar money—especially in navigation and mopping. In this review, we compare the MOVA S10 to the Roomba 600 series to show what’s changed.”

Overview: MOVA S10 Robot Vacuum and Mop Combo

The MOVA S10 comes in two package options. There’s a version with an auto-empty dock called the S10 Plus, which we’ve reviewed, though it’s harder to find. And there’s the standard MOVA S10 package, which includes the robot vacuum and charger. We’ll focus on the standard package in our MOVA S10 review.

Navigation: LiDAR Mapping vs. Random Movement

Navigation is one of the biggest differences between the MOVA S10 and the Roomba 600 series. The S10 has smart navigation with a top-mounted LiDAR sensor, allowing it to map your floor plan and vacuum in straight, efficient rows. It knows where it has been and where it hasn’t, which is one of the biggest advancements in modern robot vacuums.

In contrast, the Roomba 694 uses random navigation. That means it bounces around until its battery runs low. Sure, it covers space reasonably well for the time, but it can miss rooms. It’s also inconsistent and doesn’t create a map. So you miss out on many important app features that the S10 offers.

Mopping Features: Vibration, Carpet Lift, and Evaluation Results

Another major difference is that the MOVA S10 includes a mop. It has a single vibrating mop pad (VibroTurbo) with 3.5N of pressure. It includes RoboSwing, electronically controlled water flow, and one standout feature: it can lift its mop pad by 7mm whenever it detects carpet.

This keeps carpets dry and allows for vacuuming and mopping mixed floor plans in the same run. These mopping features are typically found on robots priced between $600 and $1,000.

In our mopping evaluations, the MOVA S10 performed really well. It scored 115 points (average is 112) in our dried-on stain assessment.

It also left very little water behind—just .20 grams, compared to the 1.04-gram average. And its combined mopping performance score was 36 points, which is well above the 23-point average. All of this is impressive for the price point, and remember: the Roomba 600 series and most competitors in this price range don’t mop at all.

Obstacle Avoidance Performance

The MOVA S10 includes front-mounted obstacle avoidance using 3D structured light sensors, something almost unheard of at this price range. In contrast, the Roomba 600 series has no such sensors. But the S10’s obstacle avoidance performance was below average. It avoided only 4 of 24 objects compared with an average of 17 in our evaluations.

Still, because the S10 creates a map, you can set virtual barriers in the app. That’s something you can’t do with the Roomber 600 series.

Vacuuming Performance: Airflow, Suction, and Brushes

When it comes to vacuuming, the two robots are closer, but the S10 still pulls ahead in most categories. It had significantly more airflow at 20 CFM than the Roomba 694’s 9 CFM (average is 17 CFM).

For suction, the S10 measured 0.87 kPa compared with the Roomba’s 0.06 kPa. The category average is around 0.97 kPa. However, both did well at picking up debris from hard floors and carpets.

The S10 uses a single-sided brush and a single rubberized main brush, while the Roomba 694 uses a dual-brush system. One of them has old-style bristles, and it’s one of the few robot vacuums still using that type. It hurt the Roomba’s hair-tangle performance.

Hair Tangle and Deep Cleaning Results

In our 7-inch hair tangle evaluation, the S10 had a good score with only 28% of the hair getting caught in its roller—slightly above average. The Roomba, by contrast, had nearly 100% of the hair caught in its rollers, which is the worst score ever recorded.

Overall, both performed very well with pet hair. The Roomba scored 93% in our 2.5-inch flattened pet hair pickup on carpet, which is slightly better than the S10’s 89%. But they both beat the 81% average.

In our carpet deep clean evaluation, the S10 outperformed the Roomba. It scored 90% versus 86%, and the category average sits at 77%. So, both robots do well with sweeping and deep cleaning, but the MOVA S10 still performs more like a much more expensive robot vacuum.

Battery Life and Navigation Efficiency

With battery life, the MOVA S10 easily outperformed the Roomba 600 series. The S10 ran for 260 minutes on low power compared to just 60 minutes for the Roomba and well above the 162-minute average.

As for navigation efficiency, the S10 covered 0.73 m² per minute, compared to 0.42 m² per minute for the Roomba. The S10 was nearly identical to the 0.72 m²-per-minute average.

Reliability and Quality Control

Our only concern with many budget robot vacuums is quality control. Do the robot vacuums hold up over time, or do issues appear shortly after purchase?

We monitor this by watching Amazon one-star review percentages, which are often a reliable signal. The S10 has been performing well in this area.

Final Thoughts: MOVA S10 Review

As for the Vacuum Wars Top 20 rankings (updated weekly), neither model makes the list. The S10 is by far the highest-ranking robot vacuum mop combo in its price range; however, it sits at around 51st overall. The Roomba 694 (the top model in the 600 series) ranks 110th. So there’s a big performance gap in favor of the MOVA S10.

The bottom line is that budget robot vacuums have changed dramatically. If you haven’t shopped for one since the early days when they bounced around randomly and didn’t mop, you should consider the MOVA S10. It’s a great entry point into the modern robot vacuum world without overspending.