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Mar 13, 2024

Dreame L20 Ultra Test: The new robot vacuum king?

Robot vacuums are designed to provide you with active support in the household. This not only saves time, but also a lot of nerves. Nevertheless, a vacuum robot does not ensure that your floors are

Robot vacuums are designed to provide you with active support in the household. This not only saves time, but also a lot of nerves. Nevertheless, a vacuum robot does not ensure that your floors are always freshly cleaned on its own. As a user, you have to empty the dust container and fill the fresh water tank every second or even every day – assuming the mopping function, of course. Fortunately, these sometimes annoying maintenance tasks no longer exist in many flagship models. This is made possible by base stations that have a cleaning and suction station. These ensure that the wiping unit always stays clean and damp and also empty the robot vacuum’s dust container. A prime example of such an all-in-one solution is the brand-new Dreame L20 Ultra. The device sets new standards, especially in the area of water supply and disposal. Whether the high price of just under 1,200 euros justifies the extra user comfort is something we want to take a closer look at today in the Dreame L20 Ultra test.

The large-sized package left me hoping for a lush scope of delivery. And as it turned out, I was not disappointed. So Dreame offers here not only essential components such as vacuum robot and base station. On top of that, there is a bit of consumable material like an additional vacuum cleaner bag.

The scope of delivery includes:

The Dreame L20 Ultra is the successor of the Dreame L10 Ultra (test), which we highly praised. You might not even realize that at first glance. Apart from the completely different color selection, Dreame also shows a lot of courage and shines with a completely revised design that looks very sophisticated. In places, it reminds me of the also very attractive Ecovacs Deebot X1 OMNI (test). The housings of the vacuum robot and base station are kept in a mixture of matte white and silver. Small accents in noble bronze loosen the whole thing up a bit.

Dreame gives the top half of the base a fluted design, somewhat reminiscent of modern acoustic panels in miniature. Thanks to the chic look, no one is guaranteed to feel embarrassed when placing the vacuuming and mopping robot with base station in the living room. And that’s just as well. After all, the Dreame will be hard to miss given its rather bulky dimensions of 606.5 x 426 x 499 mm. This is where its chic design comes in handy. However, those with little space at home should still consider the size. On the top of the station, you’ll find a total of three touch-sensitive buttons.

On the robot vacuum itself, we find the common circular design. The top side is kept in the noble gray of the base and scores with a clean look. Besides a bronze company logo, we also find the LiDAR tower and three controls. To access the inner workings, such as the QR code and the protective case, you simply lift off the top like a lid.

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This is namely magnetically attached. On the front, we find a bumper, the camera unit for object detection, and two LEDs. The charging contacts are located on the back, which are used by the base to charge the robot vacuum cleaner. A look at the underside reveals the side brush as well as the centrally placed main brush. This is made entirely of rubber, which should please pet owners in particular.

Finally, hair is less likely to get tangled with this material. On top of that, we find the two circular wiping pads here. These are fixed in the corresponding holders via a magnetic mechanism. In terms of build quality, both the base and the robot vacuum are on an extremely high level.

No cracking or creaking at any point here. On top of that, you don’t have to fear ugly fingerprints or annoying scratches due to the matte look. It is fair to say that this combination of robot vacuum and base is one of the prettiest on the market. Personally, I like the ensemble very much in any case.

At the heart of the Dreame L20 Ultra’s navigation is LiDAR technology. The corresponding technology works in the small turret on top of the robot vacuum cleaner and allows even in total darkness best overview. The fact that this works really well is not only evident from the precise map that the device creates of your home. The high speed of the L20 Ultra is also impressive and a sign that it always finds its way around. The route of the smart household helper follows a certain pattern.

Thus, it travels the room in up-and-down motions, which makes for a blazing fast cleaning tour in rooms without a lot of furniture. If it encounters obstacles in the process, it skilfully avoids them. But then you have to reckon with a longer cleaning time. In the test, I could literally rely blindly on the LiDAR sensors. The smart household helper drove through my apartment in bright daylight with just as much overview as it did in the dark of night. With the Dreame L20 Ultra, you can just feel how big the advantages of LiDAR technology are compared to alternatives based purely on camera images.

In addition to navigation, of course, the object or obstacle detection plays a major role. Parents in particular will know the importance. After all, suction robots like to eat LEGO bricks or get tangled in cables or shoelaces lying around. For object detection, Dreame relies on a camera in combination with two LED light sources that sit to the right and left of it.

The big advantage is obvious. This allows the robot vacuum to detect obstacles even in the dark and does not have to rely on error-prone night vision. And the whole thing pays off in many situations. For example, the L20 Ultra reliably avoids shoes, books, cuddly toys and other objects lying on the floor. The prerequisite, however, is that these are not too small.

Thus, I unfortunately had to find out in the test that the smart household helper took a cable under my sideboard under its wing and got stuck without further ado. That’s a pity, but not a big deal. After all, this weakness is currently shared by almost all robot vacuums. In this regard, you should simply free your apartment from possible sources of danger that could lead to damage.

Of course, the core function of any robot vacuum cleaner is vacuuming. So it’s no surprise that Dreame has made the lion’s share of revisions right here compared to its predecessor. The L20 Ultra now offers an impressive 7,000 Pascal. For comparison: The L10 Ultra had considerably less with 5,300 Pascal, but still a really good value. Dreame has improved this for one reason in particular. The performance on carpeted floors is supposed to be even better. The robot even offers the so-called “Carpet Boost” in the app. Here, the maximum performance is called up as soon as the device registers a carpet with the help of its sensor. Of course, 7,000 Pascal is an outstanding value that the competition cannot keep up with. For example, a Roborock S8 Pro Ultra (test) offers 1,000 pascals less.

However, the high suction power is naturally accompanied by a correspondingly high operating volume. On top of that, the battery level shrinks significantly faster. In the test, I found that the “Standard” mode is perfectly sufficient for the usual dirt. If you want more or less, you can choose between a total of four levels. Here you can choose between “Quiet”, “Standard”, “Strong” and “Turbo”. What struck me positively during the cleaning tour was not only the great cleaning results on hard and carpeted floors. On top of that, the L20 Ultra automatically turns on its two headlights at the front as soon as it enters a dark room or circles under furniture. This not only serves its orientation, but also creates a practical control option for the user.

More exciting than the suction performance is the mopping function of the Dreame L20 Ultra. Here, the flagship has some exciting features to offer, which we’ll take a closer look at. Firstly, there is the handling of carpeted floors. Since these are not supposed to be mopped, of course, the question arises as to how the smart household helper deals with them. On the one hand, you can set in the app that the robot should avoid carpeting altogether. If the sensor detects a carpet during a cleaning tour, the L20 Ultra will bypass it without further ado. You can also specify that the carpet should only be vacuumed. In this case, the robot lifts the two wiping pads by 10.5 mm and drives over the carpet exclusively with the suction function.

Experience has shown that this only works well with short pile carpets. Long floor carpets regularly get damp even with liftable mops. For this, Dreame has a third option up its sleeve. This allows you to regulate that the vacuum robot parks its mop pads in the station without further ado before it drives onto a carpet. If you opt for this option, the L20 Ultra first runs over hard floors that are to be mopped with a damp cloth. It then parks the mop pads in the station to work on the remaining carpet exclusively with the suction function. An ingenious feature!

The mopping results of the L20 Ultra can really be seen. This can be attributed to the rotating mops, which apply contact pressure to the floor to tackle even dried stains. I especially liked the results in the edge areas. Here, the L20 Ultra works with edge sensors that sit on the side of the case and are designed to bring the device as close to the edge as possible. In combination with the MopExtend feature, the robot thus also reaches the usually quite dirty corner between the floor and the baseboard. In doing so, it extends its mop and leaves a mini distance of 2 mm to the molding.

Vacuum robots with all-in-one station should provide, first and foremost, maximum user comfort. This is because the maintenance work here is minimal. The L20 Ultra forms a real prime example in this regard. The station is capable of several functions. Firstly, there is the suction function. After each cleaning tour, the robot vacuum returns to the base. Once there, the accumulated dust and dirt is sucked up and forwarded to the vacuum bag. According to Dreame, changing the bag should only occur about every 75 days.

The regular emptying of the dust container, so hated by many, is thus already omitted with the L20 Ultra. But of course, the smart household helper doesn’t do everything on its own. You have to take care of the water supply and disposal and use the included cleaning agent from time to time. But the rest really happens by magic. Should the L20 Ultra want to use its mopping function, it automatically returns to the station and has its two mopping pads moistened with a mixture of fresh water and cleaning agent.

While mopping, the robot returns to the station at regular intervals to have the pads cleaned. The great advantage of this procedure is that the squeegee does not spread the dirt around your home, but always wipes with freshly cleaned mops. The same happens at the end of the cleaning tour. The resulting dirty water is sucked off and transferred to the dirty water tank. Once the wiping surfaces have been cleaned, a drying phase of just under two hours begins. Here the mop pads are dried with hot air at a temperature of 45°C, which is intended to prevent odor formation.

However, you will have to perform two tasks at regular intervals. So you have to fill up the fresh water tank and empty the dirty water tank. The latter in particular is extremely important, as otherwise bad odors will quickly develop. Dreame uses almost gigantic water tanks so that you rarely have the “pleasure” of performing these tasks. The fresh water tank holds an impressive 4.5 liters.

That’s 2 liters more than was still the case with the L10s Ultra. The dirty water tank is also pleasingly voluminous at 4 liters and represents a big upgrade to the previous flagship. Dreame is in the perfect place here. After all, I experience it again and again that base stations simply come along with small water tanks. As a result, the devices then don’t really deliver on their promises, as you’re often forced to refill them.

A guarantee for high user comfort of any robot vacuum cleaner is a good app. That the Dreame app is one of the best on the market, we have already been able to feel in the past. The application, which is available for iOS and AndroidOS, is already used when setting up the smart household helper. After downloading it from the respective store, you first have to scan the QR code of the robot vacuum underneath the cover. Then, transfer the L20 Ultra to your wireless home network and set it up step by step.

You then also start the robot’s maiden voyage via the app. This only takes a few minutes, as the smart household helper uses it to map your premises. After the first trip, you can see in the app how the robot has divided your home into different rooms. This should make targeted cleaning easier later on. If the L20 Ultra makes a mistake, you can of course edit the map later and make adjustments. In my test, the floor plan from the app matched my actual floor plan, which spared me that.

As part of the mapping, multiple floors can of course be saved. This is an interesting feature for house dwellers or residents of a duplex apartment. If the standard 2D map is too boring for you, you can also use its three-dimensional counterpart. In this case, you can even insert furniture such as a couch or sofa into the 3D image of your apartment. I don’t consider this to be a really useful feature. However, it is a fun gimmick. Not only the LiDAR sensor is used for mapping, but also the camera unit at the front. This detects objects and finally maps them as obstacles in the final map.

The variety of individual cleaning settings you can make on the L20 Ultra is really big. For example, you can place no-go areas and virtual walls in the map. The robot vacuum then reliably avoids these areas. I always use this feature at my dog’s feeding area, for example, so that he can eat undisturbed. Based on the map, you can send the robot vacuum cleaner to certain rooms via the app. You can even specify the order in which they should be visited. On top of that, you can set the cleaning mode for each room.

There is only carpet in the living room? Then you can set only vacuuming for it. In the bathroom and kitchen are the tiles in need of special care? Then simply increase the level of the wipe function here. In addition to the predefined rooms, you can also simply define zones within rooms and set a specific cleaning option. The device doesn’t always have to clean everything at once. You can also send it to just one room and then it will return to its base station.

The fixed cleaning schedules are particularly practical. Here you can specify when the smart household helper should make its tour through your apartment. Of course, the most convenient time is when you are at work. This way, you always return home with freshly cleaned floors after work. Alternatively, Dreame also offers you the AI-supported CleanGenius feature. It decides for itself when your apartment needs cleaning. You only determine how often and in which rooms the whole thing should take place.

In addition to the clear app, the support of the voice assistants Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant naturally ensures a high level of user comfort. For example, you can send the robot vacuum to certain rooms via voice command. Strictly speaking, the Dreame L20 Ultra is not just a vacuum robot with a base station. The camera on the front also turns the smart household helper into a walking surveillance camera. You can steer it through your home like a remote-controlled car or simply follow the robot’s route. Dreame has obtained TÜV SÜD certification for data protection here. This is evident, among other things, by the fact that you have to determine a four-digit code to use the feature.

Also, the camera shuts off after a few minutes of inactivity. Another gimmick that I would primarily use to keep an eye on my pets while I’m out and about. By the way, to save your visitor from any nasty surprises, the Dreame L20 Ultra always gives a warning message that the camera recording is active as of now. I also want to say a few words about the battery. With 6,400 mAh, it is considerably larger than in the L10 and L10s Ultra. Dreame itself speaks of a runtime of up to 260 minutes in “Quiet” mode. This is an impressive value, but it naturally decreases significantly when the suction level is increased. The charging time in particular is said to have improved. Dreame speaks of a 30% performance increase here.

The Dreame L20 Ultra is not only a really good vacuum robot, but nothing less than a small revolution in this field. Apart from the chic design, high build quality, reliable navigation and great suction as well as mopping performance, it is namely more independent than any vacuum robot before. This is not only due to the intelligent wiping function, which offers various other smart wiping functions in addition to MopExtend. The sheer gigantic water tanks also ensure that you hardly have to do anything yourself. The crowning glory is the huge 3.2-liter vacuum bag, which only needs to be replaced about every two and a half months. Apart from these three tasks, the L20 Ultra takes care of everything fully automatically. But of course, the whole thing comes at a price. For example, the high-end vacuum robot with cleaning and extraction station comes with a hefty price tag of 1,200 euros. However, that is still significantly cheaper compared to a Roborock S8 Pro Ultra.

The Dreame L20 Ultra is the new reference in the field of robot vacuums. User comfort, suction and mopping performance are at a top level.