Dreame X40 Ultra Complete review: expensive, but pretty much perfect

«Pour out the dirty water soon», says the robot after intensively cleaning the entire apartment. I’m amazed that my new cleaning assistant has even thought of that. The Dreame X40 Ultra Complete doesn’t say this because the tank’s full, but because the dirty water starts to stink after a few days.

The robotic vacuum cleaners we’ve tested so far have only ever sent a notification when the tank is really full. But then it’s too late. It’s happened to me time and time again that I’m only reminded by the awful smell of the dirty water rotting away.

The waste water warning is just a small detail, but it symbolises how thoroughly the manufacturer has developed its top model. Everything about the Dreame X40 Ultra Complete is well thought out.

Careful, quick and precise

Installation only takes a few minutes. If you still have to register an account with the manufacturer, it’ll take a few minutes longer. You start off by installing an update, then you can select some default settings. For example, whether the mop should swing out automatically using the AI feature.

The X40 Ultra Complete created the map for my apartment in around eight minutes. The cheaper brother L10s Pro Ultra Heat took twelve minutes, while its competitor Samsung’s Jet Bot Steam+ took ten minutes. The X40 is super fast – and still precise. The map of the apartment is accurate and the room layout is almost correct. I have to separate off part of the living room and assign it to the hallway. As well as separate the two bedrooms. The robot even recognises the direction tiles and parquet are laid in. To avoid scratches, the is the only direction it will clean in.

As always in my apartment, the X40 scanned through the glass doors onto the balcony – something all robots with LIDAR scanners do. With Dreame, I can simply hide this additional «space». I only have to do that once, then it won’t bother me anymore.

Getting into the corners

A massive advantage of the X40 Ultra Complete is that it’s specially equipped for cleaning edges. There’s an extendable round brush at the front and a mop at the rear. So when it cleans, it runs along the edges separately and removes the hard dirt first. After that, it wipes this away with the damp mop.

And it’s not just the edges it cleans remarkably well. The robot’s extendable arms get in the corners too. Unlike the cheaper competitors, there are two options available which makes cleaning even better.

The cleaning performance in general is excellent. If you let the robot run regularly, you’ll only have to clean the places it can’t reach – for example in narrow gaps behind or next to furniture.

The X40 Ultra Complete is just under ten centimetres tall. This puts it in the mid range and can vacuum under my sofa and bed. It should be able to overcome thresholds of up to 2.2 centimetres. But if you have really high thresholds, then it’s definitely worth waiting for the specialised models.

X40 Ultra Complete strengths

The Dreame flagship is equipped with everything I could ever wish for. The 4.5-litre tank in the base station supplies the robot with water, which can also be mixed with detergent if required. The mops can be dried with water heated to 70 degrees and then with hot air.

What’s practical is that the vacuum deposits the two round mops at the station if they’re not needed. For example, when mapping the apartment at the start or when it’s only supposed to vacuum and not mop.

Another clever design is that the robot can lift all three cleaning accessories up to one centimetre if necessary – the side brush, the large roller in the middle and the two round mops. This makes it easier to separate the cleaning processes. The roller, for example, doesn’t get wet and the damp mops aren’t pulled over the bath mat.

I don’t notice any of this in everyday life, it all happens fully automatically. I simply enter what I want to have cleaned in the clearly laid out app and the robot does it. It manages my 4.5-room apartment of 120 square metres in around two hours in fully automatic «CleanGenius» mode. It vacuums and mops at the same time and, when needed, goes over particularly dirty areas several times.

Dreame’s app masters this well. It only takes a few clicks to get the cleaning started. You can select either fully automatic or user-defined – for example, vacuuming only without damp mopping. Choosing the areas I want to vacuum is quick and easy, whether it’s the entire apartment or individual rooms.

But I also have the option to change the suction power, the routing, the cleaning intensity or the degree of moisture each time. I can even predefine special settings for individual areas. For example, I can set a room to always have as quiet cleaning as possible or, in another room, the humidity reduced to a minimum because of the parquet flooring.

By the way, a nice extra touch is the accessory package that comes with the Ultra Complete. In the packaging I find a replacement brush, two additional side brushes, twelve wiper pads, three dust container filters, three dust bags and a one litre bottle of cleaning solution. In other words, I’m set for years to come.

X40 Ultra Complete weaknesses

The disadvantage of big water tanks for fresh water and waste water is how large the base station has to be – almost 60 centimetres tall. It takes up quite a lot of space, especially because the station with docked robot protrudes 45 centimetres into the room. Still, at 34 centimetres, it’s no wider than other models.

Another thing I noticed is long hair gets caught quite easily in the standard brush. I had to remove these every few weeks and cut off the tangled hairs.

But Dreame has thought of a solution to this problem. Dreame offers a roller as an attachment to various vacuums that cuts up long hair and prevents it from wrapping around itself. This also works wonderfully, but it’s a shame the manufacturer hasn’t included this accessory free of charge, at least for the expensive flagship model.

Cleaning equipment accessories

Dreame DRAC4469

4

Cleaning equipment accessories

Dreame DRAC4469

4

The Tricut 1.0 is currently available as an accessory. It did a good job for me. The Tricut 2.0, which is supposed to be even better, will be released in November.

What can AI do?

Artificial intelligence has two functions in Dreame. On the one hand, it controls when and how often the side arms extend. On the other hand, the robot recognises and avoids obstacles with the help of AI.

As far as I can determine from observations and the cleaning result, the first function worked well when I tested the vacuum. However obstacle recognition could be more precise.

That’s only if you want it to do that. You can decide whether the robot should only rely on the sensors or whether it can record and analyse images. In the privacy policy, which you can access at any time via the app, you can see exactly what happens to the photos too. They’re uploaded to the Dreame server in encrypted form, analysed there and then displayed in the app. The manufacturer has no access to it.

Except when I use the «Feedback» option on a photo and report an inaccurate obstacle detection. Dreame can then use the photo to improve the AI function. So you basically have control over what happens to the photos.

The obstacle detection and object allocation are so good, that I was able to find a ball that had rolled under the sofa. More important, however, is how well it avoids cables.

The experiment with an artificial dog poo didn’t work at all. The Dreame X40 Ultra Complete doesn’t recognise it as an obstacle and runs over it. However, I can’t tell if other models are better at this because I don’t have anything to compare it against and this is the first time I’ve used it.

Is the surcharge justified?

The X40 Ultra Complete costs considerably more than 1,000 francs. That’s a steep price, of course. Especially because there are also excellent vacuum cleaners that cost significantly less than 1,000 francs. Dreame also has strong internal competition, such as the Dreame L10s Pro Ultra Heat, which I tested a few months ago and which scored top marks.

So what makes the Dreame X40 Ultra Complete better? Certain functions such as depositing the mops or the extendable front side brush can’t be found on the cheaper models. Plus, the top model can do many things that bit better. It has slightly longer battery life, slightly stronger suction power and slightly faster navigation.

Whether that justifies such a high price is a personal decision. I can get on board with a price of 1,000 to 1,100 francs or euros. But the improvements aren’t worth more than that.