Dreame L20 Ultra Review: Vacuuming and wiping to perfection

Dreame L20 Ultra: design, workmanship and scope of delivery

Robotic vacuum

With its round shape and a diameter of 35 centimeters, the Dreame L20 Ultra remains in the classic line. However, with a height of 10,38 centimeters, it is comparatively tall and therefore cannot fit under every piece of furniture - it just barely fits under an Ikea Besta.

The LiDAR sensor gives the Dreame L20 Ultra its height.

On the top there is the laser tower for scanning the room and in front of it there are three control buttons: a power button, a "home" button for returning to the charging station and a button for the so-called spot cleaning. The lid is completely removable and is held in position with magnets. Below this is the removable 350 milliliter dust container, the QR code for setup and the WiFi reset button.

In contrast to other models, the lid of this device does not open, but can be completely removed for easy handling.

There is a camera in the direction of travel that enables obstacle detection and live image transmission. The camera is flanked by two bright LED headlights that make it easier for the robot to find its way in the dark. Multiple infrared sensors strategically placed and an integrated shock absorber complete the sensor package.

In addition to the centrally positioned LiDAR sensor, other infrared sensors are attached to the side, which help to detect obstacles.

In contrast to models with a removable water tank, the 80 milliliter tank is permanently installed here. It is filled automatically when docking via the 4,5 liter tank in the cleaning station. The charging contacts are also located in the rear area, so that the robot always parks in the station with the camera facing forward.

The flap through which the dust chamber is emptied directly into the extraction station is located on the left of the device.

There is a centrally placed rubber roller and an attachable side brush underneath the robot. However, the latter showed weaknesses in the test and often got caught in the carpet. A screwed model would probably have been a better choice here. The two mops in the rear area are held magnetically on the vacuum robot and can be removed for cleaning.

In contrast to models with two side brushes, this device only has one that transports the dirt to the main brush.

Cleaning station

The cleaning station of the Dreame L20 Ultra is a giant with dimensions of 60,65 x 42,6 x 49,9 centimeters, but its elegant design means it fits very well into different living styles. It is equipped with three illuminated buttons at the top: one to start cleaning, one to dry the mops and one to call the robot vacuum cleaner back to the station.

With its generous dimensions, the cleaning station is one of the largest of its kind.

When you open the lid, the water tanks are revealed: a 4 liter dirty water tank and a slightly larger 4,5 liter fresh water tank. In between there is a compartment for a cleaning agent cartridge, which Dreame offers as a consumable accessory. Another compartment houses a cleaning brush that can be used to clean the tanks and base plate.

Both water tanks are equipped with a practical carrying handle, which makes transport and refilling easier.

If you remove the gold-colored, magnetically held cover of the station, you will find the 3,5 liter dust bag behind it. A hidden lock prevents the lid from accidentally coming off or children playing around with it. Operating the station bagless does not work. But let's be honest, emptying is quicker and more hygienic with a bag.

The compartment offers additional space for a spare bag.

To dock, the Dreame L20 Ultra moves onto an angled base plate. This prevents water from getting on the floor when cleaning the mops and parking the vacuum robot. There is also a removable dirt tray in the cleaning station, which makes regular maintenance easier. However, the station does not remain completely dirt-free. Dried water leaves its mark and requires regular scrubbing.

You should also pay attention to how hard the water is. Over time, the self-cleaning process became louder and louder because the rotating nubs, which you can clearly see in the picture below, became sluggish and began to squeak. A drop of WD-40 can help.

Most of the dirt collected ends up in the removable dirt tray, which can be removed for easy cleaning.

Interesting things can be seen at the back of the station. Hidden behind a cover is the slot for “connecting the water connection set”. With the help of the set, you could connect the vacuum robot directly to the water pipe and drain and only have to worry about regularly cleaning the dirty water container. It is not yet known whether and when the set will appear in Germany.

application

Apart from the problematic side brush, the workmanship of the Dreame L20 Ultra leaves nothing to be desired. The cleaning station is functional and well thought out, even if it is not completely spared from dirt and the design of the dust bag holder can be seen as needing improvement.

Dreame offers a three-year warranty on this model, a clear sign of confidence in the product quality.

By the way, Dreame has increased the warranty on this device from two to three years. This covers manufacturing defects that occur during the warranty period. Dreame describes in detail which guarantee is available on which components Customer.

What's in the box

There are crucial differences in the scope of delivery between the normal Dreame L20 Ultra and the Dreame L20 Ultra Complete. The latter comes with a huge accessory package that supplies the robot vacuum cleaner for a whole year. Otherwise the models are identical.

The Complete Edition comes with an extensive accessory package that includes everything that is required for regular maintenance of the device.

In addition to the basic model, the Complete Edition also includes a large number of spare parts and extras that make the vacuuming and wiping experience even more convenient. From extra mops and HEPA filters to a replacement roller and side brushes, everything is included. The special cleaning agent that can be used in the cleaning station is also included in sufficient quantities.

In the conventional version, the accessory package is narrower. The only additional accessories included are an additional dust bag for the pre-installed dust bag in the station and a cleaning cartridge. There are no extras, such as the replacement roller.

Dreame L20 Ultra: Setup and App Usage

Furniture

The Dreame L20 Ultra can be controlled either via the in-house Dreamehome app or the Mi Home app, although the choice of app is ultimately a matter of taste. Both apps are very similar in functionality. We chose the Dreamehome app for our test.

The setup went smoothly and was completed in just a few minutes. All steps are clearly explained in the app. If you still encounter difficulties, the multilingual manual will help, which also contains a list of all error messages. A small but important note: The robot only supports 2,4 GHz WiFi networks, a 5 GHz network is not compatible.

Surface

The interface of the Dreamehome app is clear and intuitive. Here you can quickly find what you are looking for. Helpful tips after setup also guide you through the different functions of the app. If a room map is not yet available, the app suggests a quick map. The room map is created within about 10 minutes.

Various settings can be made via the Dreamehome app: from the segmentation of rooms, to the creation of cleaning plans, to the direct control of the vacuum robot and the cleaning station.

The app offers the possibility to save maps for up to four floors. Prohibited zones, virtual walls, and even furniture and carpet edits can be set. However, there were difficulties in displaying the 3D map in the test. Here and there, there were also minor translation errors in the app.

live image transmission

An interesting addition is the live image transmission from the integrated camera, which is protected by a four-digit PIN. There is no mechanical cover for the camera, but you can completely disable it in the app.

Live image transmission interface

While the picture quality doesn't work wonders, it's sufficient to check, for example, whether the stove is switched off or where the pets are at the moment. The vacuum robot can be controlled in camera mode using a virtual control pad or by marking it on the map.

Control by map marker or directional pad

It also has a microphone and speaker for two-way communication. In the dark, two LED headlights provide adequate lighting.

Voice control

As a convenient alternative to the app, the Dreame L20 Ultra also offers control via voice command. Alexa, Siri and Google Home are supported, which makes the robot particularly versatile in operation.

Overall, the app control convinces with a wide range of functions and ease of use, although there is still room for improvement. It remains to be seen whether Dreame will fix the existing bugs before the market launch.

Dreame L20 Ultra: practical test

Strong suction power

If you put the Dreame L20 Ultra on your shortlist for a vacuum and mopping robot, it is certainly because of its outstanding suction power of 7000 Pascal, which is achieved by its Vormax suction technology. This figure is significantly higher than what other top models on the market can currently offer. In the test, we spread 100 grams of household dirt on various surfaces. The robot vacuum cleaner was able to vacuum up a full 97 grams of tiles and at least 95 grams of carpets. A result that is more than convincing.

The two LED headlights on the Dreame L20 Ultra enable efficient cleaning even in poorly lit or dark areas.

An interesting feature is the Dreame CleanGenius. The Dreame L20 Ultra automatically recognizes how dirty a room is and which cleaning strategy is the optimal choice. By default, the CleanGenius is in “Daily Mode”. There is also an “Ultimate Mode” for more intensive cleaning.

In the test he CleanGenius recognized that the hallway is more polluted than other rooms. This is also logical because the hallway is directly behind the front door and most of the dirt is carried in from there. CleanGenius subsequently decided that he would clean the hallway a second time at the end of the first cleaning cycle.

The dust chamber is emptied so that hardly a crumb remains - a plus in terms of user-friendliness.

Low-maintenance rubber roller

It is particularly pleasing that hair very rarely gets caught in the rubber roller without bristles. This minimizes the maintenance effort and makes the use of the robot much more pleasant in everyday life. The L20 Ultra is also surprisingly quiet. While other models with a similar roller construction often emit an annoying squeak, this is hardly noticeable with the Dreame L20 Ultra.

The rubber roller is characterized by its low-maintenance design, which significantly reduces the maintenance effort.

Innovative wiping with MopExtend technology

Dreame went one step further with the L20 Ultra and introduced the so-called MopExtend technology. This enables the robot to automatically extend its mops a little. This makes it easier to get into corners and hard-to-reach places like chair legs and baseboards. In the test, the robot vacuum came within 2 millimeters of edges with the help of MopExtend technology.

For comparison: Without the extendable mops, the vacuum robot leaves about 4 centimeters of air. Nevertheless, even with MopExtend, there were some marginal areas that were out of reach or that the vacuum robot simply ignored. Overall, however, the advantage of the MopExtend feature is clearly visible, which was shown well by the fresh wipe track.

The settings can be used to determine how frequently MopExtend is used. In intelligent mode, the robot decides itself when it makes sense to activate this function. However, you can also specify that the vacuum and mopping robot uses the function for every cleaning cycle. However, Dreame itself does not recommend this and mentions that it reduces the cleaning performance and cleaning efficiency.

Thanks to the MopExtend technology, the Dreame L20 Ultra can also reach hard-to-reach edges for a thorough cleaning.

Dreame does not go into the exact reason. One assumption would be that the mechanism of the extendable wiper arm is wearing out. Our long-term test will show whether this is actually the case.

Intelligent carpet detection

One of the special advantages of the Dreame L20 Ultra is its ability to intelligently combine both suction and mopping. Not only can it do both at the same time, the robot also shows remarkable adaptability when transitioning from hard floors to carpets.

Compared to other models, the Dreame L20 Ultra offers the ability to lift its mops significantly higher.

The vacuum robot automatically lifts its mops at carpet edges so that there is a distance of 10,5 millimeters between the mop and the floor. In most cases, this is sufficient to prevent carpet fibers from getting wet.

The mop lifting enables an ideal adaptation to different floor coverings.

If you have high-pile carpets, you don't have to worry about them getting soaked when you drive over them. With the automatic mop separation, Dreame has introduced another interesting function that was designed for exactly such cases. The Dreame L20 Ultra is able to automatically park its mops in the station, which means that mops on carpets do not become an obstacle in the first place.

It then drives back to the station, docks the mops back on and continues the cleaning process. It all works fully automatically and without manual intervention. Both worked without any problems in the test, which makes the Dreame L20 Ultra one of the most versatile vacuum and floor mopping robots on the market.

Automatic mop drying

After the cleaning cycle, the cleaning mops are dried. According to Dreame, the hot air flow has been optimized so that drying takes place at up to 45°C. This means that the mops dry faster and odors are avoided. The drying time can be set to two, three or four hours in the settings. The default setting is two hours, which is enough for the mops to dry.

For a consistently thorough cleaning performance, it is advisable to clean the mops regularly in the washing machine.

The background noise that occurs during drying can be heard as a soft whirring. However, this is the case with all devices with hot air drying. Louder for some, quieter for others. Dreame is about average in terms of volume.

Navigation and obstacle detection

The Dreame L20 Ultra navigates safely and has well-functioning obstacle detection. For the test, we placed several items around the room, including a white USB cable, a toy ball, and a sock. He recognized each of these objects in the light and in the dark and avoided them. That is not a matter of course. Cables in particular push many obstacle detection systems to their limits.

The Dreame L20 Ultra scores with excellent obstacle detection.

In the Dreamehome app, you can also use a photo to show exactly what was recognized. This even goes so far that the recognized objects are divided into different categories with the help of artificial intelligence and the probability of the category applies.

cleaning time and battery

Because the Dreame L20 Ultra moves very carefully through the rooms, regularly washes the mops and cleans with CleanGenius, it takes a little longer to clean than other models. For a comprehensive cleaning of 60 square meters, it takes about 105 minutes. Depending on the structure of the apartment and the degree of soiling, the value can be slightly higher or lower.

According to Dreame, the battery capacity is 6.400 mAh. This is more than the standard value, which is usually given as 5.200 mAh across manufacturers. Larger living areas of 140 square meters can be vacuumed and mopped in one go without any problems. A full charge takes three and a half hours.