Dreame L40 Ultra Crew One Week In Review
- Vacuuming & Carpets+1 pts
It vacuums at least as well as my neatos, and has better toe kick/edge cleaning.
- Mopping+1 pts
The mopping is a pleasant bonus, and seems to work well.
- Navigation & Obstacle Avoidance+1 pts
I just thought I'd share my initial observations of the pair of Dreame L40 Ultra's I picked up with the BF price of $399, and hope this helps someone who is lost in the "what to buy" loop. (lengthy, TLDR at bottom) First, I'm an involuntary "neato refugee", being forced into the retirement of my "robo army" of 3 neato D series that have served me well over the past 10 years. My house has about 1600 sq ft of tile floor with some area rugs spread here and there, but no deep carpet, and we have the robots run every night while we sleep. As I was (mostly) happy with my vac only neatos, I hadn't been paying much attention as things progressed over the past few years. (they are just vacuums, they suck up dirt, and don't get stuck, I'm happy) So forced into a short time window with the imminent shut down of the neato servers, I spent many hours reading reviews, experiences, and opinions to try and figure out what might fit my needs versus the "oh that's cool, I want that.." that I inevitably fall into, and probably would have succumbed to if I was only buying 1 unit. After all that, I decided on the L40 ultra because it just seemed to have a lot of features at the best price point that would allow me to buy 2 units, and hopefully replace the 3 older units. Since I don't have any deep carpets, I figured I could get by with the "lower" suction, as I expect that is still better than what I had. I had no idea or expectation about the mopping function, although I understand the spinners and warm water washing are desirable over static pads, and since we don't regularly have young children in the house, would at least be a good starting point. My concerns were (and still are) centered mostly on reliability, as it seems no company has a universally stellar reputation when it comes to after sale service. OK, so I finally took the plunge and bought them from the big A. They arrived quickly and undamaged. I took my time, set up one, ran through the process of mapping and trying to learn the software. The mapping was very quick and accurate. Blows neato's version away for sure. The software is also light years ahead of what I'm coming from. It's a little clunky and intuitive, with a lot of things buried in menus that don't immediately make sense. But after playing with it, once you know where it is, it's fine. The second unit set up, mapped, and I quickly set up schedules for both, as I was familiar enough with the software to do that. So, I filled up the fresh water, selected an area to clean, and started the show. My first impression was "how quiet", as I didn't hear what sounded like a 747 spooling up the engines for takeoff. Next, I noticed it was slower than the neatos to vacuum the same area, probably partly because the vacuum brush is about 1/2 the size, but there's nothing out there that has neatos brush, so it is what it is. It vacuums at least as well as my neatos, and has better toe kick/edge cleaning. The mopping is a pleasant bonus, and seems to work well. We have cats, and while we are used to picking up toys before scheduled run times, we miss one every now and then. The L40 has done a great job of recognizing and avoiding those instead of making them a robo-snack, and spending the rest of the night "blooping" away like the neatos. TLDR/bottom line: So far the L40 Ultra exceeds our expectation in terms of cleaning and function. The software takes a little effort to figure out, but meets our needs. Time will tell in regards to reliability and longevity. For my needs and environment (hard floor, area rugs) I'm happy with these, especially at the BF pricing. They don't feel "cheap" at all, especially compared to the old neatos.
- Noise+1 pts
My first impression was "how quiet"
- Reliability & Support0 pts
My concerns were (and still are) centered mostly on reliability