Dreame L40 Ultra review: This advanced robot vacuum gets top marks

At a glance

Expert rating

Benefits

• Good cleaning results, both when vacuuming and cleaning
• Brutal suction power (11,000 Pa)
• Intelligent obstacle avoidance system
• Good access along edges and corners

Disadvantages

• The base station takes up space
• Deep cleaning takes a long time
• Always expensive

Our Verdict

Is this the best cleaning system currently? There is a lot to say about him. In terms of features, performance and cleaning results, the differences between the Dreame L40 Ultra and Roborock’s high-end X40 Ultra and S8 MaxV Ultra are subtle. Minimal maintenance and a user-friendly app with lots of customization options – at a significantly better price. Can it get better?

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Best prices today: Dreame L40 Ultra

$1,499.99

If you’re looking for the best automated floor cleaners on the market, look no further than the best models from the most reputable manufacturers, such as the S8 MaxV Ultra from Roborock or the X40 Ultra from Dreame. These are advanced all-in-one machines equipped with the latest technology available today. They’re effective at vacuuming, mopping, and navigating, but they come at a price: They’re among the most expensive robot vacuums available today.

But most manufacturers offer, alongside these “flagship” models, numerous options in different price ranges. Dreame, for example, offers its D series of simpler entry-level models. These low-cost variants lack the latest features and have limited suction power and obstacle detection and avoidance capabilities.

Dreame L Series Models

Next comes the L series, where we find successful models such as the L10 and L20 – excellent machines that we have rented over the years. Here it is important to choose the Ultra versions, which have the most features and are arguably the best when it comes to smart browsing and cleaning. These models can both fill the robot with clean water and deal with dirty water at the end of the cleaning session, while the robot itself can effectively identify and avoid obstacles in its path .

Dream

The latest model in the series, the L40 Ultra largely shares technology with the high-end X40 Ultra. At first glance, they are almost indistinguishable, although there are some slight differences.

The installation is barely worth mentioning. Modern robot vacuum cleaners are connected via Wi-Fi and to get started you just need to follow the step-by-step instructions in the provided app. Dreame does this in an exemplary manner.

In-depth application

After a short reconnaissance tour, which, thanks to the extremely efficient and precise navigation system (Lidar), only takes a few minutes, your house is ready for cleaning. In addition to the usual settings – such as naming rooms and adding no-go zones or virtual walls – there are a variety of features to explore within the app.

For example, you can fine-tune the cleaning mode for any room in the house and go into detail: adjusting the suction power, cleaning intensity and number of cleaning circles. You can also customize how the robot handles carpets: should it lift the mops (10.5mm) while it vacuums them, or leave the mops in the base station and deal with the carpets first before tackling the rest of the floor?

This means you can really adapt the robot to your home, and it’s definitely worth spending an hour or so exploring the app’s features.

Andreas Bergsmann

To complement the Lidar system, the L40 Ultra is equipped with an RGB camera and 3D structured light on the front to identify and avoid any obstacles – which it does brilliantly. Any “traps” I placed on the ground were immediately recorded and the app allowed me to see how the robot identified the obstacle. I might even correct it later if it was wrong.

Andreas Bergsmann

The robot also has a five-channel color dirt detection system which, together with the camera, identifies embedded stains. If such a stain is detected, more thorough cleaning is carried out. Whether this function is active or not can of course be defined in the application.

Clean up to the wall

Like the X40 Ultra, the Dreame L40 Ultra is equipped with Sidereach and Mopextend, meaning the side brush and straight mop pad can be angled to reach along edges and further into corners. The AI-based system determines if and when this is necessary, and it works very well. But the laws of physics still apply: the robot is round, just like the mop pad, so it can’t reach the last few millimeters in the corners.

Andreas Bergsmann

Andreas Bergsmann

The cleaning is truly first class. Suction power is specified at a maximum of 11,000 Pa – slightly lower than the X40 Ultra’s 12,000 Pa – but still enough to vacuum up anything in the robot’s path. The 5,200 mAh battery provides up to 194 minutes of battery life, depending on the setting, which is more than acceptable.

Periodically, the robot returns to the base station to fill the internal tank with water and detergent and to clean the mops with hot water (up to 65°C). At the end of the cleaning session, the dust bin is emptied and the mop pads are washed then dried with hot air.

Should you buy the L40 Ultra?

To summarize, the Dreame L40 Ultra is a cutting-edge robot vacuum cleaner that combines powerful suction capacity with advanced cleaning features and innovative accessories. The differences compared to the top-of-the-line X40 – slightly more suction power, slightly more powerful battery and 5°C hotter water – are honestly marginal and hardly worth the price difference. If you like Dreame as a manufacturer and want to benefit from the latest technology, this is the model to choose!