Chinese company Dreame Technology is a fairly new name in Sydney, but it’s one that could easily make an impact in the coming months as more of the brand’s advanced robot vacuums rip into the increasingly crowded market. For the past few years, the market for robot vacuums has become just as fiery and competitive as that for air fryers and pizza ovens.
Yet, it’s the one category that’s most interesting for homes as a robot vacuum is usually the first contact people have with welcoming a robot into their home. Not only that, but, much like coffee machines, these neat little gadgets can eventually start paying for themselves and even put money back into your pocket.
So, yes it’s worth a hefty investment to find the one.
The question I’m asking here is simple – is Dreame Technology’s latest high-end robot vacuum, the Dreamebot X40 Ultra, such a robot vacuum? I mean, at just under $3,000, you’d hope so.
Yes, it’s one of the most expensive robot vacuums on the market so far, with a retail tag of $2,799.00. But on paper, the Dreamebot X40 Ultra does plenty to make up the value. After all, if you really want a device like this to start making you money (by saving you not only time, but cleaning bills – and sanity), then you need to invest heavily in the right one.
After spending a few weeks with this premium robot vacuum, I’m still trying to think of ways to criticise it. With something like this, you’d need to spend many months with it before you find issues.
Yet, I don’t foresee having any issue with this. Dreame Technology has, and I’m not biting my lip here, created what I think just may be the ultimate robot vacuum available in Australia.
The features aren’t much new. There’s no fancy tagline indicating a revolutionary new technology. Rather, it seems the designers focused on calibration and refinement, taking the typical high-end features of a robot vacuum cleaner and ensuring they work perfectly.
What are those features? Well, a fully-automated cleaning station for starters. Advanced mapping technology. An anti-tangle brush. A self-cleaning base. Superior obstacle avoidance. A tight algorithm that can map a house quickly and easily. And what Dreame Technology is calling “bionic robotic arm technology”
Design
Dreamebot seems to understand exactly how to smash the first-movers advantage. Because this company’s arrival into the Australian market is still fairly recent, there’s a certain high standard that needs to be met if people are going to move away from familiar names and give Dreame a go.
As such, the X40 Ultra is appropriately attention-grabbing. There’s no mistaking this robot vacuum for anything but top-of-the-line, with thick matte black plastic ensuring both the cleaning station and vacuum itself look and feel premium. The vacuum is also very lightweight so carrying it around – something I rarely had to do – is easy.
Dreame has clearly paid attention to the set-up process. I’m not sure exactly why, but it seems to set-up process is a big mental barrier for a lot of people who don’t yet own a robot vacuum. I’ve never used one that took an inordinate amount of time to set-up, or was overly complicated, but it seems to be a stigma people have for this category.
Any concerns are eliminated as soon as I pick the robot vacuum up out of its box and plug in the base station. I simply followed the instructions: use fresh water to learn the water tank, pour in the supplied cleaning solution, attach the mop pads to the base of the robot, and then charge the robot using the base station. There’s a QR code that you simply scan, which brings up easy step-by-step instructions. The entire process took just over ten minutes for me and was just as painless as similar high-end models I’ve tested from Roborock and Ecovacs.
Note that you can also purchase a TriCut Brush for under $200 in Australia. It’s an additional cost, but necessary if you own any pets. One of the main failings of modern robot vacuums is the ability to deal with really fine pet hair. It’s been a struggle for robot vacuum manufacturers for the past few years. Dreame has come up with an effective way to put the X40 Ultra on top.
This TriCut Brush is designed to catch and shred hair in real-time, which means less chance of fine hairs wrapping around the mop and disrupting performance. I don’t have any pets so wasn’t able to test this feature as it properly should, but given the X40 Ultra’s superior performance all-round, I don’t doubt that it’s an effective addition. Note that the TriCut Brush is also compatible with some of Dreame’s other robot vacuum models.
Performance
The first thing I notice when I run the X40 Ultra is the noise. This isn’t massage gun-grade noise we’re talking about, but there are robot vacuums that are less expensive but relatively quiet. That’s not to say that the X40 Ultra is loud. In fact, I could have this on in the background and still sleep soundly in my one-bedroom apartment.
That said, there are some people out there who may want to engage Quiet Mode as soon as possible. It’s effective, and it does a lot to mask the higher frequencies of the vacuum, but this isn’t exactly a silent assassin when it comes to destroying debris.
One of the main things I want to note about my time with the X40 Ultra when compared to some of the other robot vacuums I’ve tested is how one-and-done the pass throughs are. Not that I sit there watching the robot vacuums constantly (that would defeat the purpose), but I often find that most robot vacuums need to pass through a room at least twice before it picks up the majority of debris.
The section power on the X40 Ultra (10,500Pa) is so strong that I didn’t need the vacuum to run over areas a second time. And when it did, it seems a bit lower as if it knows how good of a job it just did and is a bit insulted that I asked it to run through a second time.
Most of my floors are hardwood with only a few carpeted areas across my one-bedroom apartment. Performance is perfect on hardwood, and near-perfect on carpet. I didn’t notice that larger debris can be missed at times, but the robot vacuum is smart enough to know when the job isn’t completely done and will run through again to pick up that large debris.
Designers have cleverly worked in an extending side mop that is a big reason why I’d recommend the X40 Ultra over other high-end robots. This is not only the most powerful robot vacuum I’ve tested, but the object detection is damn near perfect. Object avoidance is a big issue for most robot vacuums, and even some of the more premium models don’t get it right. I didn’t see the X40 Ultra bump into a single object once during the few weeks I’ve spent with it so far.
And this is why that extended brush comes in use. The robot vacuum can actually precision clean around objects, which not only helps the robot keeps a fair distance from each object, but ensures that debris isn’t missed despite the robot protecting itself at all times.
Mopping is the other big part of any robot vacuum. Dreame use a technology they are calling CleanGenius to help the robot automatically detect stains and quickly mop them up while they are still easy to clean.
Connectivity
The Dreame Home app has been refined to be exceptional from a UX point of view. This was my first time using a Dreame product so I wasn’t familiar with the app beforehand, but it was easily one of more intelligible connected apps I’ve used for a smart home appliance.
The absurd level of customisation speaks to the diversity of home owners who’d want to buy one of these bad boys. Although I’d say it’s much more suited to a bigger house, seeing as smaller dwellings (especially ones with no pet) really wouldn’t need something this overpowered.
Regardless, whatever your need, you’re almost guaranteed to have it covered by the app. Choose from different suction power levels, for example, and set up your own cleaning schedules. Say if I wanted the robot to mop one room per day, and maybe vacuum two rooms per day, I simply have to schedule it in. I can be as hands-off or hands-on as I want.
Verdict & Value
Is the Dreamebot X40 Ultra the best robot vacuum on the market? I’d be shocked if it wasn’t. And for just over $2,500, you’d kind of hope so as well.
That said, the price tag is the major barrier here. Do you really need something this good? If you want the best, and you’ve got the income to justify it, then by all means, this is the best options you’ve got in Australia right now. But $2,500 is an obscene amount of money for normal people to spend on a robot vacuum cleaner.
First decide you’re need. If you’ve already tested out something much less expensive and it’s not quite cutting it. Skip the trial-and-error and just get this one. It’ll start putting money back in your pocket, both by saving you a substantial amount of time, and by negating the need for a monthly cleaner, in no time. And really, that’s the value we’re looking at with a high-end robot vacuum cleaner. It just might take a bit longer before the performance outstrips the cost.
You also might want to check out Dreame’s other robot vacuum cleaners. The brand is clearly banking on this being a big market in Australia, so you’ve got options at all price points. From my experience, Dreame really cares a great deal about providing value so I have no doubt that some of these less expensive models would be just as good for more manageable tasks.
FOUR AND A HALF STARS (OUT OF FIVE)
Highlights: Exceptional cleaning; perfect object avoidance; can use an extended arm to clean around objects; gets the job done the first time
Lowlights: Can be quite noisy in normal mode
Price: $2,599 from Dreame Technology Australia
X40 Ultra supplied to author for the purpose of review.
