Mova Rover X10 Pool Robot Review: It Does So Much That It Forgets the Fundamentals

The Rover X10 had somewhat caused a stir at IFA: for the first time, we saw a pool robot move horizontally to clean a stair, thanks to small additional thrusters. We could hardly wait to test it, to see what this bundle of technology was capable of.

Mova Rover X10: an unboxing that’s truly dazzling

The unboxing of the Rover X10 is striking: with turbines and propellers tucked into every corner, this device looks more like a space-exploration robot than a pool cleaner…

If you read our tests, you’ll notice we have a soft spot for compact, lightweight robots simply because they don’t slow you down from starting a quick pool cleaning, whereas we’re often reluctant to haul out a big robot. Well, this one breaks our record for bulk and weight: 15.8 kg for a unit measuring 54 x 46 x 32 cm. It’s frankly far too heavy and bulky compared to all pool robots we’ve tested to date.

But there’s a reason for the bulk: the Rover X10 is the only robot offering vertical thrusters, four of them; they enable it to perform maneuvers unavailable to the competition. Beyond the weight, these lateral thrusters also reduce the width of the suction mouth: while the robot is wide at 46 cm, the suction mouth is just 15 cm wide. People say size doesn’t matter, but here it makes a significant difference.

On the other hand, this robot leaves a somewhat mixed impression, as its finish feels rather basic for a relatively high catalog price (though there’s a price quirk we’ll discuss later).

Mova chose to offer a double filtration in an interesting arrangement: the filter basket houses the main filtering material on three sides of a detachable section. This is an excellent idea, since the filter can be laid flat to rinse under the jet. It then becomes possible to switch from a micromesh-type filter to a standard filter. Not exactly, though: the 180-micron filter, which you typically see on nearly all robots, is doubled by a black material that looks suspiciously like insulation foam. With this double thickness, filtration should be finer than the base 180 microns, even if Mova doesn’t advertise it. A small caveat: when switching to micrometric filtration, two filter surfaces remain fixed in the basket, with an 180-micron filter (without the double thickness). The micrometric filtration is therefore not on the full surface.

The charging base matches the robot: imposing. Mova chose the safest technology, namely induction, but it is also the bulkiest and heaviest!

A little extra in the packaging: the AquaSonar which allows you to communicate with the robot while it’s underwater by converting the signals received via Wi-Fi into ultrasonic waves. This makes it possible to lift the robot out of the water to retrieve it before cleaning is finished, or to switch modes even when the robot is submerged. Rare (never seen directly in the robot’s packaging and not as an option) and handy.

Mova Rover X10: Is this a high-end or mid-range price tag?

This isn’t the usual topic of our tests, but with this robot, we must address pricing: its list price is €2,499, which is quite high. Yet on Mova’s site it’s listed on sale at €1,499 at the time of writing, and on some well-known sites it can dip to €1,299, creating a real gap. Rather than competing with the very top-tier robots, this Mova sits in a somewhat upper-mid price range, offering more technology than the competition.

Mova Rover X10 Review: it misses the stair climb, but not only that

The Rover X10 is one of those robots that takes a while to dive in: up to 3 minutes according to Mova, and far from a handicap, that’s a mark of quality, since it means the robot carries ballast that fills with water to dive, and more importantly, it will remain on the surface indefinitely once cleaning is finished, which makes retrieval easier. Do keep in mind that even completely dry, it already weighs as much as a heavy load.

Once down, the mapping of the basin begins: the Rover diligently traces the bottom along the walls, and in the end it yields one of the most accurate maps we’ve obtained so far. And if you enjoy letting it clean in the dark, you’ll be treated to its red LiDAR beacon, something never seen before!

The suction power of this robot is among the best on paper. With a stated 38,000 liters per hour, it’s simply huge. Yet despite this record power, we did occasionally find debris at the bottom after it passed. A disappointing result.
Another letdown: the full mode, meant to let the Rover X10 tackle stairs using its vertical thrusters. At its introduction, the robot stayed horizontal and climbed the stairs from the front. In our real-world tests across several pools, it detected the staircase… and never climbed it. Unlike other robots that attack walls and often clear debris, the Rover X10 remained at the base of the steps. We even tested the “shallow water” mode hoping it would finally climb: no luck.

The vertical thrusters also assist on-wall cleaning, pressing the robot harder against the surface. Its fairly prominent double front brush helps scrub the waterline regardless of configuration. The cleaning progression remains fairly segmented: the robot scrubs one spot, then moves down, then shifts along while staying on the wall. Unlike Aiper, where the robot slides laterally along the waterline for continuous cleaning, the Rover X10 cleans in steps. The final result remains very good, though.

The only real shortcoming, potentially fixable with a software update: the absence of a dedicated waterline mode. To clean the line, you must also clean the walls, which is a pity.

Don’t expect MOVA to have reinvented surface cleaning, because like all its peers, the Rover X10 delivers only average efficiency in this mode and it’s better to rely on a dedicated tool for that task. It’s handy in a pinch, but a skimmer would be far more effective.

The AquaSonar offers a satisfying autonomy of about three weeks according to our observations, but it’s still a nuisance to have another device to charge. It even ships with its own charger, but the connector matches the robot’s charger, so if you unplug the base, you can charge the AquaSonar with a single charger. Mova could have included solar sensors to stretch the battery life a bit longer, but we’ll console ourselves with the fact that it’s compact, and the absence of solar panels allowed the brand to place a small display on top to show the water temperature. Temperature that we would have liked to see on the main app page, not only on the remote page; more importantly, a temperature we’d like to check whenever we want, not just between connectivity hiccups. Because yes, the AquaSonar posed connectivity issues (not to mention a blocked update where we had to reboot this gadget to finish the setup); it even lost its pairing with the robot.

The largest robot also packs the largest battery: the new record for this Mova is 6 hours of bottom cleaning, and 12 hours in skim mode. That’s enough to handle very large pools. As usual, you pay for it with a nearly identical recharge time: 6.5 hours. Don’t forget to top it up a bit before putting it away, otherwise cleaning will be compromised for a good part of the day!

Mova Rover X10: Clubic’s Verdict