Dreame L40 Ultra Robot Vacuum and Mop Review

Dreame L40 Ultra: Introduction

• Type: Robot vacuum cleaner with mop
• cosmic union: Self-cleaning and self-emptying spring
• Navigation system: LiDAR

The Dreame L40 Ultra marks a big step forward for the company, seamlessly moving from cheaper robot vacuums, like the Dreame D10 Plus, to a flagship model that competes with the best and, in many cases, outshines them.

Its price compares it to models like the Samsung Bespoke Jet Bot Combo, but it actually far surpasses it and is more on par with more expensive models like the Roborock S8 MaxV Ultra.

The L40 Ultra has it all: extendable side brushes and mop, obstacle avoidance with AI technology, tons of suction, hot water mop cleaning, and a powerful app.

With multiple options for treating the carpet and avoiding soaking it with mopping pads, this is one of the best robot vacuums I’ve tested.

Read on for our full review and find out why…

Design and components

• Self-emptying and self-cleaning docking station
• Extendable side brush and mop pad.
• Optional water connection kit

Like many recent robot vacuums, such as the Roborock Qrevo Slim, the Dreame L40 Ultra comes with a self-emptying and self-cleaning docking station.

It is a similar size to the competition, which means you need to have plenty of space (width and height) to fit it.

This docking station contains two water tanks: a 4.5 liter water tank for clean water, which is used to fill the robot’s mopping tank and to clean the mop pads with hot water at 65°C (followed by drying with hot air), and another 4 liter tank for dirty water.

In this proportion, it is necessary to empty the dirty tank at approximately the same time as it is necessary to refill the clean tank, since some water always remains on the ground.

If you don’t want to mess with water tanks, there is an optional water connection kit, which connects the station to the water mains and drain.

Open the front of the docking station and you’ll find a removable detergent holder, which is a nice addition at this price.

Detergent is normally reserved for more expensive robot vacuum cleaners, such as the Eufy Omni S1 Pro.

Dreame provide a 250ml bottle of their cleaning solution in the box, with 1 liter replacement bottles available for £12.99.

Next to the detergent holder is the 3.2 liter bag, which slides in. It’s a pretty big bag, so each one should last about two months. Replacements cost $15/£15 for a pack of three, which is about what the competition charges.

As this is a high-end robot vacuum cleaner, the Dreame L40 Ultra includes the latest technology.

A LiDAR dome is used on top for fast and accurate mapping and navigation, and this is joined on the front by the AI ​​Action Camera, which is used to detect dirt and avoid obstacles.

Inside the robot there is a small 300 ml container; The size does not matter, as the robot returns to the dock to empty it periodically.

It is worth removing the container and cleaning it and its filter once a month to maintain optimal suction power.

At the bottom are two microfiber scrubbing pads, which rotate to agitate and remove dirt. These mop pads can lift up to 10.5mm off the floor when carpet is detected to prevent soft floors from getting wet.

That will allow the robot to move over most short-pile carpets, but the Dreame L40 Ultra has another trick for dealing with longer-pile carpets: it can leave its mopping pads on the dock.

The dual lift/remove option is something I’ve only seen on the more expensive Samsung Bespoke Jet Bot Combo AI+ 3-in-1.

For better edge performance, the side brush is a SideReach model and the left mop pad is a MopExtend model, meaning both can swing out of the robot body.

Dreame provides two brushes. There’s the standard floor brush, but also a TriCut model that has grooves to keep the hair straight, so it goes into the trash, instead of getting tangled. If you have pets or people with long hair in your home, install the TriCut brush.

the application

• Many cleaning options
• Too many mop humidity levels
• Allows granular cleaning

The Dreame app is advanced and has all the features and more you would expect. Life with the Dreame L40 Ultra begins with a mapping run, where the robot learns the layout of your home.

In the end, the app suggests rooms automatically, and it was pretty good, with just a few minor tweaks like merging and splitting rooms to get the layout right.

Rooms can be named, and furniture could also be added in their approximate location, such as tables, sofas, and beds. It’s helpful to add these as furniture acts as quick pick zones, making it easy to clean around an area, like cleaning up after eating.

There are also options to set no-mop and no-mop zones, so you can keep the Dreame L40 Ultra away from any areas where it might get stuck, or if you have delicate floors or carpets that you prefer to handle by hand.

For each room, you can select the type of flooring, with the option of vertical or horizontal hard floors. This allows the robot to clean in the direction of the floor to make sure everything gets between the joints.

After a first cleaning, the app also suggested adding areas of carpet, but I found it was overzealous to select the entire floor.

Using this option prevented the robot from mopping the hard floor area of ​​the kitchen, so I removed the carpet layer and let the robot automatically detect the floor type while cleaning.

For carpets, the default option is to lift the mop pads, but you can override this and tell the Dreame L40 Ultra to drop the mop pads; Mop pad removal is automatic when the robot is put into vacuum-only mode.

It’s worth playing with the more advanced settings to get the kind of clean you want.

For example, MopExtend can be configured to open when it detects a space to clean under furniture where the robot cannot fit, such as a refrigerator; There is also the possibility of intensive cleaning around the furniture legs.

General cleaning options include cleaning the entire house, a specific room (or rooms), or areas you draw on the map.

Dreame uses CleanGenius by default, where it will adapt the energy and water flow according to needs. This setting can be combined with the automatic cleaning mode, where the robot will automatically return to heavily soiled areas to give them a second clean.

However, you can also configure the robot manually, with the option to vacuum, mop, vacuum and mop, mop after vacuum, and custom room settings, where you can set the mode per room.

With manual options, there are four suction modes to choose from and 32 settings for mop humidity. The latter is clearly excessive and makes it difficult to determine which mode to use. After all, is there much difference between putting 24 and 25?

Most modes offer the option of quick or standard routing, depending on the level of cleaning you want, but select mop-only mode and you can choose intensive and deep routing modes for an even deeper clean.

The camera on the front is used for object avoidance, but activate stain recognition and the Dreame L40 Ultra will also intensely clean any areas where there are stains. Based on my testing, I would definitely turn this feature on.

There is a remote viewing mode for the camera, so you can use the robot to see what’s going on in your home.

Since the camera is low and aimed at detecting things on the ground, you can’t see much of what’s going on, but it can occasionally be useful, such as locating a pet.

Performance

• Suction power of 11,000 Pa
• Excellent mopping
• Powerful edge cleaning

With a nominal power of 11,000 Pa, the Dreame L40 Ultra is on par with the most powerful robot vacuum cleaners. That shows how he goes about his business.

I found that this robot easily cleans even the toughest spills on hard floors and carpets. The cleaning is as good as you would get if you did it by hand with a cordless vacuum cleaner.

Use edge modes with mopping and vacuuming, and this robot can get very close to the sides of the room, to the point where you’d realistically only need to clean the edges by hand once a month or so.

This robot shines at mopping. Using detergent and hot water to prep the pads, the Dreame L40 Ultra quickly removed most stains, and even very difficult stains, such as ketchup stains, could be removed with four passes in total.

Use this robot daily for maintenance and you will have hard, sparkling clean floors, free of debris and you will rarely have to bother with mopping by hand.

I also found that the robot managed to avoid getting tangled in hair, despite being used in a house with three people with long hair. It’s always good to see tangle-free brushes working properly, as cutting through matted hair is not a fun job.

Battery life is 194 minutes on the lowest power setting. That effectively means you don’t need to worry about running out of power, even by setting the robot to maximum suction and setting it to make two passes over an area.

At 71.3 dB at the highest setting, the Dreame L40 Ultra is a little louder than some of the competition, although the downside is that the cleanliness is so good that I don’t mind a little extra noise. And this robot is not particularly annoying to listen to.

Navigation is excellent and the Dreame L40 Ultra managed to get close to the furniture for a deep clean but without hitting it.

It also avoided cables and fake pet clutter around me by marking obstacles on the map, so I knew where to tidy up to allow the L40 Ultra to clean up the next time it was turned off.

Final thoughts

The Dreame L40 Ultra is fighting in a very crowded space within the robot vacuum market, but it has enough to stand out.

For flexibility and power, this combination is very hard to beat, with excellent vacuuming and mopping performance and very flexible application.

how we test

When we publish our reviews, you can be sure that they are the result of “living with” long-term testing.

Cleaning robots typically live within an ecosystem or range of products that supposedly all work in harmony. And they are designed to offer a variety of different cleaning options. It is therefore impossible to use a robot cleaner for a week and give a verdict.

Because we test the smart home kit all day, every day, we know what matters and how a particular smart cleaning machine compares to alternatives you might also be considering.

Our reviews are complete, objective and fair, and of course, we are never paid directly to review a device.

Read our guide on how we test robot vacuums to learn more.

Frequently asked questions

Dreame L40 Ultra: Specifications