Dreame L40 Ultra review: never vacuum and mop again

The Dreame L40 Ultra takes care of both vacuuming and mopping. How well does the advanced robot vacuum cleaner work? We have tested the robot for you!

Dreame L40 Ultra review

The Dreame L40 Ultra is one of the most advanced robot vacuum cleaners of the moment. The smart robot takes over both vacuuming and mopping for you and also reaches the corners with extendable parts. That’s not all, because after vacuuming the bag is automatically emptied into the reservoir. The mop is also cleaned automatically. All you have to do is fill and empty the water tank, as well as the dust bag.

You don’t have to worry much about the Dreame L40 Ultra, but you do have to pay a considerable amount of money for it. The robot vacuum cleaner has a starting price of no less than 1199 euros. Is the Dreame L40 Ultra worth the money, or is it better to continue vacuuming and mopping yourself? And how smart is the robot vacuum cleaner really? You can read that in our Dreame L40 Ultra review!

Installation of the robot vacuum cleaner

The Dreame L40 Ultra comes with a base station and various parts. The package containing the robot vacuum cleaner is therefore quite large and heavy, but is divided into several smaller boxes. This makes installing the device very easy, because each box is self-explanatory when unpacking. Included is a special cleaning agent that the robot vacuum cleaner uses when mopping. Connecting was also no problem, we installed the Dreame using a QR code.

When installing the Dreame L40 Ultra, you immediately notice how chatty the robot vacuum cleaner is. Each step is explained, but unfortunately this is done in English. The app is available in Dutch, the robot vacuum cleaner itself only communicates in English. That’s not a big deal, although Dutch would have been a nice addition. Installing the base station, the robot vacuum cleaner and connecting to the internet took us about ten minutes.

We could not immediately get started with the Dreame L40 Ultra, because the device first has to create a map of the room. We have removed most of the furniture from the floor where possible, to give the robot vacuum cleaner plenty of space. Within ten minutes, the Dreame had created an accurate floor plan of the apartment. We have made a number of adjustments to this ourselves, although it took some searching in the app.

Dreame’s app could be better

Operating the Dreame L40 Ultra is mainly done via the app. We found the application difficult to find at first, because a number of functions were missing or well hidden. For this review we used the robot vacuum cleaner in an apartment, with thresholds that unfortunately turned out to be too high for the device. This caused problems when creating the floor plan, because the robot vacuum cleaner did not have access to, for example, the bathroom or the first bedroom.

We initially tried to add these rooms to the floor plan ourselves, but Dreame does not provide that option. It is possible to add multiple floors in order to map the spaces. That’s a shame, because for this money you expect an app that works without any problems. However, this problem was resolved automatically, because after a few cleaning rounds the rooms were automatically added by the smart robot.

We also have the option to add furniture and carpets to the floor plan in the app. That did not always work well, as it turned out to be very difficult to remove or move a carpet on the map after adding it. In any case, it is nice that the app has so many options, so you can set the order in which the robot vacuum cleaner cleans and how intensively this is done. The app is not very intuitive, so it takes some time to get the hang of it.

Also nice: in the app you can track the live location of the robot vacuum cleaner. Furthermore, the application has advanced functions, so you can enter scheduled commands to automate cleaning. We think this is a big plus, nothing is as nice as coming home to a clean house. The app works fine and connects quickly to the Dreame L40 Ultra, although the layout could be clearer.

Independent vacuuming

We are very pleased with the options you have when setting up the vacuum cleaner. With the CleanGenius, the Dreame L40 Ultra uses artificial intelligence to clean your home. That works extremely well, the robot vacuum cleaner works independently and doesn’t actually miss a crumb. The Dreame does a tour of our apartment twice a week and that is more than enough. So far we have not had to use the ‘old-fashioned’ vacuum cleaner ourselves.

A major advantage of the Dreame L40 Ultra is the extendable ‘arm’. A part slides out of the device at corners or edges of the wall, so that the edges are also properly included when vacuuming. A nice addition, because we notice that the robot vacuum cleaner misses virtually no dirt even at the edges. In the beginning, the Dreame had some trouble with the carpet, but the ‘Deep cleaning’ function in the app offers a solution. The carpet is now also cleaned thoroughly.

With the LiDAR scanner, the Dreame L40 Ultra navigates through the apartment almost without any problems. Collisions are rare, but the table legs of the dining table unfortunately remain difficult for the device. That is not very strange, because a robot vacuum cleaner of this price cannot work wonders on these sloping table legs. The robot is a fairly large device, so we keep removing the chairs from the ground to make room for the Dreame. This is recommended, because it also ensures that the area under the table is properly cleaned.

Extendable mops

Perhaps the device’s best feature: the Dreame L40 Ultra can also mop. This works very well, because the robot vacuum cleaner has two brushes that are pressed to the ground. The Dreame therefore cleans the floor thoroughly, partly thanks to the supplied cleaning agent. In practice this works extremely well, the device leaves no traces and removes (light) stains. The mop cloths are automatically lifted above the carpet, so that the carpet does not get unnecessarily wet. The detection of the carpet sometimes goes wrong, so that is an area for improvement for Dreame’s software.

Just like when vacuuming, the brushes can extend, so that they also include the edges and corners of the room when cleaning. We are very pleased with this, the Dreame L40 Ultra doesn’t miss a spot or edge. After mopping, the floor also dries nicely, no streaks from mopping are left behind. We partially cleaned the really dirty places in advance with a cloth, so that the robot vacuum cleaner could do the rest. That worked well, with the Dreame we no longer need another mop.

After mopping, the Dreame L40 Ultra cleans the brushes itself. That’s not all, because they are also dried for three hours (adjustable to your preference). You will notice that it is a high-end product, because this ensures that the cloths do not smell or become dirty. This cleaning system works well, we take the mop brushes in the wash every few months and that is more than enough.

Refill (and clean) base station

You can largely leave the vacuuming and mopping to the Dreame L40 Ultra, but you will have to maintain the base station yourself. This is a fairly large reservoir, for which you have to find a good place in the (living) room. Fortunately, the base station looks quite sleek, so it doesn’t look out of place in the corner of the room. In the station you will find a container for dirty and clean water. We have been using the robot vacuum cleaner for a month now and have had to empty and refill these water reservoirs twice. That is a small effort for the number of tasks that the Dreame takes over.

The dust bag is far from full, we suspect that you will have to replace it every few months. That is the only disadvantage of the base station, because you have to restock certain parts. The device comes with cleaning agent and brushes for mopping, but these need to be replaced after a while. For this we are dependent on the parts that Dreame offers, which could become a problem if new generations of the robot vacuum cleaner come onto the market with different parts. Fortunately, for the time being you can also go to other providers such as Amazon for these parts.

Dreame L40 Ultra review: conclusion

The Dreame L40 Ultra is an extremely advanced robot vacuum cleaner that serves as an actual replacement for your vacuum cleaner and mop. Using artificial intelligence, the robot cleans your house even when you are not there. The extendable ‘arm’ and mopping brushes also ensure that the edges of the floor are properly covered and not an inch is missed during cleaning. In principle, the smart robot doesn’t bump into anything, but it doesn’t hurt to make it easier to place chairs or other furniture in front of the Dreame. This way, every corner is included in the cleaning round.

As a user, you have many options in the Dreame app when setting up the robot vacuum cleaner. This app takes some time to find, but then you can operate the Dreame L40 Ultra according to your own wishes. It is a pity that the robot vacuum cleaner does not communicate in Dutch, although that does not alter the fact that the device cleans extremely well. You pay a considerable amount for the robot vacuum cleaner, but then you no longer have to worry about your floor. The Dreame L40 Ultra is therefore the solution if you want to outsource vacuuming or mopping.

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