‘Unbeatable clean’: Honest review of Dreame L20 Ultra robot vacuum
Dreame’s new robot vacuum and mop comes with a fully automatic base station and impressive new tech. But is it worth the premium price tag?
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The Dreame L20 Ultra Robot Vacuum and Mop might be the closest anyone has gotten to re-creating The Jetson’s Rosie the Robot, at least when it comes to daily upkeep. It’s packed with customisable settings, including the option to spot clean small areas so you don’t have to wait 30 minutes for it to reach the actual spill. (Having reviewed multiple robot vacs, this has been a total game changer for me during testing).
The new Dreame model also has MopExtend, which juts the mop out up to 2mm for a deeper clean along edges and hard-to-reach corners.
You can additionally expect a fully automatic base station that not only self-empties, but washes and hot air dries the mop as well as refill the unit with water and detergent.
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With spring feeling a lot more like summer these days, my allergies have started acting up earlier than expected. And while I love my dog, the warm weather has also levelled up her shedding game so vacuuming daily is a necessity.
The saying, ‘you get what you pay for’ usually applies for appliances. So, when Dreame released the Dreame L20 Ultra*, one of the most expensive options on the market at $2799, I knew I had to try it out.
For most two-in-one robot cleaners, many consumers are forced to settle with a decent vacuum and a ‘kind of okay’ mop. But if price is any indication of how good the L20 Ultra is, then this is the robot cleaner worth waiting for.
HOW WE TESTED THIS PRODUCT
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In this article
- How much is the Dreame L20 Ultra?
- Features
- Design
- Navigation and mapping
- Is the Dreame L20 Ultra good at vacuuming and mopping?
- Maintenance
- Is the Dreame L20 Ultra worth buying?
PROS OF THE DREAME L20 ULTRA ROBOT VACUUM AND MOP
+ Powerful 7000Pa Vormax Suction System.
+ Fully automatic base station (self washes, dries and empties).
+ Can customise cleaning settings per room, schedule tasks and more.
+ Has a 3.2L sealed dust bag that can hold up to 75 days worth of dust and debris.
+ Large separate water and dirty water tanks.
+ MopExtend Edge-Cleaning.
CONS OF THE DREAME L20 ULTRA ROBOT VACUUM AND MOP
– Very expensive.
– Mop pads fall off and need to be reattached.
HOW MUCH IS THE DREAME L20 ULTRA ROBOT VACUUM?
The Dreame L20 Ultra sits on the higher end at $2799 (now on sale for $2499). If you’re looking for something cheaper, Dreame offers a variety of robot cleaners to suit most budgets, starting from the wallet friendly Dreame D9 ($699) to popular premium options like the Dreame L10s Ultra (now on sale for $1799, down from $2599). There’s also the Dreame D10s Plus ($1299) for anyone looking for a good mid-range model.
DREAME L20 ULTRA FEATURES
After taking the Dreame L20 Ultra on a test drive on tiles, hardwood floors and rugs, I think the Dreame L20 Ultra’s efficiency made me a little addicted to cleaning … well, robot cleaning. Here’s a breakdown on the general tech specs:
- 7000Pa of suction power
- 4.5L clean water tank
- 4L dirty water tank
- 80ml water tank (inside the robot cleaner)
- 350ml dust box
- Up to 260-minute runtime (vacuum-only or mop-only in quiet mode)
- Up to 180-minute runtime (vacuum and mop in quiet mode)
- Size of base station: 423mm x 340mm x 568mm
- Size of robot vacuum: 350mm x 350mm x 97mm
- Dust bag capacity: 3L
- Noise level: 59dBA on quiet mode (similar to a fridge)
- Can use voice control with voice assistants including Alexa, Siri and Google Assistant.
What’s in the box
Aside from the robot vacuum and fully automatic base station, you can expect a few accessories:
- Base station
- Side brush
- Two mop pads
- Two mop pad holders
- Multi-surface floor cleaner
- Cleaning brush
- Two replacement dust bags.
Runtime
The best thing about the Dreame L20 Ultra is that it only needs one pass to achieve a great clean, which helps minimise the runtime and wear on the motor and other accessories.
I live in a small to medium sized house, and it takes around three hours to complete a whole house clean on standard mode. And since the Dreame L20 Ultra rarely gets tangled or stuck, I began to start the clean whenever I was heading out of the house and used the Vacuum and Mop mode (with Max suction power and Deep mop power).
I would then often run the vacuum again in the evening, but only over my bedroom and high traffic areas – namely, the living room and kitchen. (Keep in mind the house is still definitely clean from the morning sweep. I mainly like to run the vacuum multiple times to test how well the unit will perform over time with natural ‘wear and tear’.)
Noise
When running quiet mode, this Dreame robot vacuum and mop really was whisper quiet and any sound was mainly noticeable once you’re in the same room. Compared to other models I’ve tested, Dreame’s new release is certainly the most discreet and unlikely to be that much louder than the standard setting on many other robot vacs.
While the highest mop setting is still fairly quiet on max mode, vacuuming can get quite loud when operating Max suction power (it’s enough to make you turn up the TV, but not disrupt the fun).
DESIGN
The Dreame L20 Ultra has a sleek white design and features some metallic colouring to give that luxe, contemporary feel. It weighs just under 4kg, so it’s not too heavy to carry when you need to transport it to a different mapping area.
The Dreame L20 Ultra lets you control the robot vac in a variety of ways. Firstly, the top of the unit contains convenient on-board controls for docking, spot cleaning and power. You can also access a variety of modes via the brand’s Dreamehome app, including a remote control which is great for spot cleaning. There are additionally three buttons on the base station, namely Start or Pause, Drying and Leave or Dock.
For anyone who loves voice control, this model is compatible with Alexa, Siri and Google Assistant.
The base station contains a large 4.5L clean water tank and 4L dirty water tank, which was super handy since it didn’t need to be refilled (or emptied) too frequently. I could get at least three or four cleans before needing to take the water tanks out, or more if I did mostly selected-room cleaning.
I really liked the mop washing function, which helped soften stubborn stains by washing the pads at 58C, as well as the hot air drying feature to minimise mildew and that awful smell manual mopping sometimes leaves due to bacteria build-up.
I also loved how the base station has a little compartment for the cleaning brush and a slot to store a replacement dust bag.
However, the base station is fairly bulky – which is to be expected from any robot cleaner and docking station with similar features.
EASY TO SET UP
The Dreame L20 Ultra was the easiest appliance I’ve ever assembled and only took a couple of minutes. The side brush and mop pads slid easily into their respective slots, and the app was super responsive so it made connecting to the robot vacuum and Wi-Fi quick and simple.
Mapping also took 20 minutes, which is one of the shortest mapping times I’ve experienced.
Settings
The Dreame L20 Ultra offers plenty of customisability, so keep in mind it may take time to get used to all of the settings. Some version of these modes can be found in many robot cleaners, except for ‘mop-washing frequency’ and ‘cleaning along the floor direction’.
• Pet Environment: takes into account pet waste, dog bowls and other pet-related items.
Customise room cleaning: choose specific settings for different rooms (e.g. use deep clean for bathrooms and quiet clean in the main bedroom).
• Mop-washing frequency: the robot cleaner will return to the docking station to wash the mop pads after completing each room or zone, or after cleaning a certain room size between 10 and 15 square metres.
• CleanGenius: includes Routine Cleaning (more efficient and won’t re-clean dirty areas unless you choose to) and Deep Cleaning (intensive, higher water consumption and longer runtime).
• Dock settings (wash, dry and empty): can access the self-cleaning functions via the app or buttons on the docking station.
• Cleaning along the floor direction: reduces potential streaking and scraping.
For those who have large area rugs and carpet, you can adjust how the robot vac approaches the clean. This means you can set the mop pads to either lift or detach when it detects carpet, as well as clean the carpet clean the carpet after tackling the rest of the house, or avoid carpets entirely. How handy!
NAVIGATION AND MAPPING
Unlike previous robot vacuums I’ve reviewed, the Dreame L20 Ultra doesn’t constantly bump into furniture and move aggressively across the house. It drives gently and avoids objects really well, except dog bowls – which has been a problematic obstacle for all the robotic cleaners I’ve tried (regardless of whether you’ve activated some sort of ‘pet mode’).
However, the navigation is a little weird and would see the robot vacuum part of one area before heading to another, then returning back to clean what it didn’t previously. But it still gets the job done, so there’s definitely some method to its madness.
If you’re worried about items getting stuck or eaten, the app has a clever feature that adds obstacles to the map in real time so you know where and what exactly is in the way. You can also opt to give the robot vac camera access and get pictures of potential traps.
HOW WELL DOES THE DREAME L20 ULTRA CLEAN?
Unlike other robot vacuum cleaners I’ve tested, the Dreame L20 Ultra only needs to make one pass to achieve incredibly clean and shiny floors. It would likely take any other model multiple sweeps, on deep clean, to get a similar finish. Results wise, this Dreame robot vac is unbeatable for daily cleans and the high price tag makes sense.
On the downside, this robot vac had trouble with stubborn sticky messes like dried-in sunscreen. But it was the occasional detaching mop pads that make this pretty perfect unit (kinda) suck. Although this might just be a case of bad luck, rather than a universal issue. Replacing the mop and giving the holders a good clean should fix it.
Is the Dreame L20 Ultra robot vacuum good at vacuuming?
This Dreame vacuum might have the best objective avoidance and anti-tangle technologies I’ve seen. I only had to remove the robot vac from a cord and a newspaper pullout that fell on the floor. This was definitely impressive considering other models I’ve reviewed typically got stuck in rugs and power cords more frequently, making it less hands free.
When it comes to hair, the Dreame L20 Ultra has seriously strong suction power and successfully handled my dog’s fine pet fur (as well as any moulting from my own head). For my own hair, I set the robot vac to Max vacuum suction and Deep mopping since it was working on bathroom tiles. But standard vacuum and mop levels is usually fine for daily upkeep. This small bathroom took nine minutes to deep clean, which isn’t bad.
Mats were kind of hit or miss and would sometimes move the mat around as it vacuumed, but surprisingly never got stuck. But if you have any very lightweight mats, make sure to store them somewhere else – these typically get tangled with any robot vacuum.
When it came to debris, the Dreame L20 Ultra picks up crumbs and small pieces really well, and picks up most of the larger bits. On the plus side, it doesn’t blow air and spread the mess (another common issue with many robot vacs and stick vacs).
Is the Dreame L20 Ultra robot vacuum good at mopping?
The Dreame L20 Ultra made my floors incredibly shiny and spotless – but mainly for mostly clean floors, rather than tough stains. It usually left the surface streak free, but opting for the deep clean mopping mode sometimes made my floors a little more damp than I would have preferred. For those who have hardwood floors, it might be safer to stick to standard water flow and save the more intensive settings for tiles.
The biggest downside was the mop pads. Similar to removing dirty shoes before entering a house, the Dreame L20 Ultra politely takes off its mop pads and stores them in the docking station whenever you opt for the ‘mop after vacuum’ or ‘vacuum-only’ modes. While this is a useful way to prevent wetting carpet or rugs, the detachable design makes the robot vac less hands free. When you need to vacuum in another mapping area (i.e. an area where the base station isn’t located), you will need to wait for the mop pads to detach before moving it.
Although it’s worth noting the mop pads mainly came off in the same area, likely after getting caught on a cord that ran under the bed and along the wall. Thicker cables, such as extension cords, didn’t appear to cause as much trouble.
The robot seemed fairly water efficient and I was surprised how much mopping an 80ml water reservoir achieved. The unit didn’t seem to re-fill as often as I thought it would, especially when using the more powerful settings. However, very dried-in stubborn stains are going to need at least two passes, preferably using Deep mopping mode.
If there’s a lot of long hair in the mix, I learned it’s best to clean the brush before mopping – otherwise, I’ll find strays being mopped around.
To be honest, the MopExtend function looked cool but I couldn’t really tell how much of a difference it made. Either way, the robot cleaner got to most areas where it needed to and left the floors looking good.
IS THE DREAME L20 EASY TO MAINTAIN?
The Dreame L20 Ultra is very easy to maintain since it’s self emptying, washing and drying. Plus, there are no parts that are particularly difficult to clean.
With any robot cleaner, it’s a good habit to empty the dirty water tank after each session, otherwise it will start to develop a bad smell and become a germ party. For the Dreame L20 Ultra, you will also need to remove and rinse the washboard with water once a month (or earlier, depending on how much grime builds up).
When cleaning the underside of the robot cleaner, it’s probably better to use a toothbrush since the regular brush can be a little too big in some parts.
The washboard seems to get the dirtiest, especially after constantly using Deep Clean and Max settings for majority of my daily cleaning. Make sure to keep this relatively clean because there’s only so much regular automatic washing and drying can do to prevent any germ build-up from spreading across the house.
IS THE DREAME L20 ULTRA ROBOT VACUUM AND MOP WORTH BUYING?
The Dreame L20 Ultra is a great robot vacuum and ideal for anyone who prefers to have a variety of customisation options. It’s powerful and the brush rarely gets tangled with hair or small items, so there’s need to worry about the robot cleaner stopping mid-clean or causing a mess while you’re out at work.
When it comes to vacuuming, the Dreame L20 Ultra does an excellent job at picking up fine hair and pet dander. It’s not perfect with corners and areas with cables, but this is fairly standard for most (if not all) robot vacuums. If you can’t clean it with a regular stick vac head, the robot vacuum won’t be able to reach it either.
As for the mop function, the Dreame L20 Ultra is great for daily upkeep but struggled with cleaning hard stains that were over a day old. The pads also occasionally fell off and needed to be reconnected, but all in all, it has one of the better mop functionalities in a robot vac and mop cleaner.
Overall, the Dreame L20 Ultra is a decent premium robot vacuum and mop and absolutely worth considering if you’re after a daily cleaner with plenty of customisability and minimal maintenance. Having tested multiple robot vacuums over the years, the Dreame L20 Ultra gave my house an unbeatable clean and that’s all you can ask for from a robot vacuum cleaner.
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*Product has been loaned by Dreame or a 100 per cent independent, honest review.
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