Robot vacuum cleaners have come a long way since their inception and these machines are changing the cleaning routine of individuals. Whether for households or outdoors, they are meant to improve people’s lives, relieving them of chores and reducing stress levels. Robotic vacuum cleaners come in different budgets and needs, with vacuuming and mopping functions with little or no effort from users, creating a more tranquil environment.

Xiaomi’s sister brand, Dreame Technologies, hasn’t been around long, but the Chinese appliance manufacturer founded in 2017 has some interesting smart home products in its portfolio. Its Dreame X40 Ultra is a new hands-free robot vacuum bot that does everything like emptying bins, refilling mop tanks, and cleaning and drying their mop pads with limited interventions from us.

We have been using the Dreame X40 Ultra extensively over the past two weeks. Our practical test of the machine reveals the advantages and disadvantages of this comprehensive cleaning solution for floors. It has self-empty and self-cleaning features and boasts mop heads with MopExtend technology. The machine looks similar to the combo vacuum and mop robots, but it ships with an extending brush and mop pad.

With a price tag of Rs. 1,29,999, the Dreame X40 Ultra is the highest-priced robot vacuum we have tested to date. However, it is already available at much lower prices, currently costing just Rs. 99,999 on Amazon. Dreame provides a one-year warranty with its products purchased from Amazon (its official retail outlet). The company does not have any physical service centres that buyers can visit, but we were informed that it will arrange for the pickup and delivery of a product that requires repairs.

Dreame X40 Ultra: What’s in the Box, Design

The retail box of Dreame X40 Ultra includes a tall docking station, cleaning solution, side brush, two debris removal tools, two mop pads, a power cord, and the robot itself alongside documents. The base station houses containers for clean and dirty mop water. The robot cleaner comes in a round shape with a raised area on top that houses the laser-based navigation system. It includes an LED auxiliary light, camera indicator, AI-based IR camera, AI HD camera laser distance sensor and 3D dual line sensors, among others. It has a lid at the top, which gives easy access to the on-device dust bin. There are three buttons at the top: Spot Cleaning, Power (or clean) and Dock. These can be used to control the core functions of the vacuum cleaner without needing to set up the app. However, its entire feature set can only be accessed through the paired app.

Dreame X40 Ultra’s design looks and feels premium but is not very different from other products in the market

The initial setup of the Dreame X40 Ultra works smoothly with the Dreamehome app (available on iOS and Android). After installing the app, you scan a QR code on the robot to add it to the Wi-Fi network, and the app takes the user by hand and guides them through the installation. It offers a variety of functions, most of which we have already discussed in the test of the Dreame L10s Ultra (Review).

After installing the ramp, the base station can be plugged in and charged. Once started, the Dreame X40 Ultra creates virtual maps of the floor quickly with no trouble at all. The map is continuously tweaked with every move, updating the placement of pieces of furniture, laundry bags, and slippers. It has 2D and 3D map styles, and the new curtain zone in the app assists in cleaning under curtains without getting stuck on them. Beyond that, users can edit the map according to room partitions, set go zones, virtual walls or more. I found few or no errors in mapping, and the navigational accuracy was decent even in the dark, thanks to the 3D structured light.

The base station of Dreame X40 Ultra has self-emptying, self-cleaning, self-drying, self-refilling, and self-dispensing features with no interventions on your part. Another highlight is the automatic dispensing of cleaning solutions, paired with a large dustbin that supports hands-free cleaning for weeks. Once you fill the clean water tank and add the cleaning solution (200ml) bundled in the box, it is good to go.

While the app works great when setting up the vacuum cleaner, it needs a bit of polish. The interface feels a bit outdated; the most frequently used settings are a few layers deep in the app, and the camera output also lags a bit. The cleaning modes could have also been arranged in a better manner.

Dreame X40 Ultra: Cleaning and Performance

Dreame claims that its X40 Ultra offers 12,000Pa of suction power, which is impressive for a robot vacuum cleaner. The premium robot vacuum and mop offers many settings and customisations, from thorough carpet vacuuming to AI-guided cleaning. It can vacuum and mop simultaneously if needed, allowing for a quicker cleaning run. It offers quiet, standard, turbo and max suction power options. I primarily stuck to the middle standard and turbo options. Furthermore, it has a CleanGenius mode that allows the machine to choose the cleaning parameters for the users.

Cleaning modes of Dreame X40 Ultra include vacuum, mop, vacuum and mop, mop after vacuum, and customised room cleaning options. In the latter, you can set personalised suction and mopping preferences for each area. The option to vacuum first and then mop sounds like the manual cleaning method, which I liked most. It works with Amazon Alexa, Google Home, and Siri as well. You can also select the wetness levels from slightly dry, moist and wet options.

You can set the mop washing frequency based on area, time and by room. The area can be set anywhere between 10sq m to 35sq m, and the robot will automatically return to wash the mop pad after cleaning the pre-set area. If you choose the time, the robot will return to the base station to wash the mop pads according to the set time, ranging from 10 minutes to 50 minutes. It is also possible to set up zones that let the robot return to the base station after cleaning a single room or zone. Quick, standard, intensive, and deep routes can be opted for when using vacuuming and mopping tasks.

The Dreame X40 Ultra’s noteworthy feature is an extendable and liftable side brush that efficiently moves over 10mm up and down to get into edges and under furniture that sits lower. This side brush performed decently in our evaluations. One of the unique features of this device are its magnetic pads. The bot leaves them behind at the base station to vacuum carpets, thus eliminating the chance of rugs getting damp from the mop heads. Once completed, the bot returns to the dock to wear the mop pads and mop the entire area. The robot’s sensors ensure that the mops are being rewashed when necessary.

Dreame X40 Ultra has an extendable and liftable side brush

 

Also, thanks to the new MopExtend RoboSwing cleaning technology that lifts the mop heads up to 10.55mm square and protects the carpets from moisture. With this functionality, the mop head will spin out to clean right against the hard-to-reach spots like chair legs, sofa corners and kitchen cabinets.

Like the recent vacuum and mop combos, Dreame has used AI to identify objects here. Users can drop into the camera’s feed to remotely check on their pets. It performed well at picking up human hair (short) and lint, as I have a pet-free home. However, a few of my longer hair strands did tend to get tangled in its brush. So, for households like mine that have people with long hair, users have to perform the light task of removing the strands wrapped in the main brush at least once a week. Dreame is selling a TriCut brush separately designed to shred hair and avoid tangles and clogs. Despite the higher price tag, it still only has a single roller rubber brush.

Dreame has armed the base station with a 300ml dust bag that is claimed to last up to 75 days of use. It wasn’t even close to full in my two weeks of testing, but I think this will depend on how large the house is. After each run, the base station efficiently empties the dustbin.

Dreame X40 Ultra’s base station houses a 300ml dust bag

The onboard water tank of Dreame X40 Ultra is 80ml, and the machine has large capacity containers for dirt and clean water. As they are big, I only have to refill the clean water every couple of days. I chose to clear the dirty water after two or three runs so that it didn’t start to smell. But the tank was never half or more than that after multiple runs. Further, robots identify dirt and wet messes and prioritise them.

The Dreame X40 Ultra is quiet on its lowest setting but can get pretty loud when you increase its suction power. After cleaning the Dreame X40 Ultra, it washes the mop with hot water and dries it with hot air to eliminate odours. I found this process a bit noisy. If you have toddlers at home, the mopping and dirt removal will accidentally wake them up. The noise of vacuuming alone is tolerable and can be performed while taking a nap. The robot is intelligent enough to avoid auto-empty tasks during the DND period. It performs the self-cleaning ritual before and after cleaning sessions, and it is smart enough to decide if the brushes need to be cleaned in the middle of each vacuum or mop session.

Dreame X40 Ultra: Battery life

The Dreame X40 Ultra has a 6,400mAh battery that delivers impressive battery life. In normal suction mode, it vacuumed and moped my approximate 1,200 square feet home in about 50 minutes and still had 90 percent battery left. The coverage of area per charge depends on the size of your home and cleaning settings. In turbo mode, which uses more power to deliver higher suction, the device had 78 percent power after the run.

Verdict

For homes with a mix of carpeted and hard floors, the Dreame X40 Ultra is a good robot vacuum option. It will never make you worry about a dirty mop pad getting dragged across the rug because it lifts the entire mop head on top of the robot while cleaning soft flooring surfaces. But all of this comes at a price. For carpet-only homes, there are many affordable vacuum-only options to pick from.

The Dreame X40 Ultra delivers excellent performance in several areas as it assures the latest cleaning tech, hot water mop washing, and an extending mop pad alongside a liftable side brush. However, there are minor shortcomings like the app experience, additional dust bag, and cleaning solution costs.

If you have enough room for the base station (it takes up a lot of space) and the budget, this robot vacuum cleaner does everything I’ve ever wished for. It is suited for families with little ones or multiple pets and for users like me who get quickly overstimulated in a cluttered, dirty space. You won’t find comparable solutions from other manufacturers at the moment. For users with a budget, there are many great options at more affordable prices from brands like Xiaomi and Ecovacs.

Rating: 8/10

Pros:

• Powerful suction, effective cleaning performance
• Auto-emptying and mop cleaning base station
• Extendable and liftable side brush, liftable mop pads
• Hot water mop washing

Cons:

• Takes up a lot of space
• The app isn’t as user-friendly as it could be
• Recurring costs
• Expensive