Dreame Bot L10 Pro – the robots are getting smarter, much smarter (review)

The Dreame Bot L10 Pro is one of the smartest and most powerful robovac/robomop we have reviewed. It is so smart that I was sure its lovely gender-neutral voice would start fishing for compliments. “Was it good for you?” or, “How did you like that 4000Pa suction?”

The Dreame Bot L10 Pro uses dual LiDAR (one more than most) that is effective to about 8 metres out. It builds a 3D, 360° map versus most other 2D maps. 3D means it can identify and avoid obstacles. This has one primary benefit – it is no longer mandatory to put stuff away before clean-up. And the cleaning pattern is pretty close to 100% coverage – apart from the tight corners that no round robot can get into.

As Dreame says, “Dreame Bot L10 Pro can quickly build the 3D environment while navigating with its new-gen LDS system. It achieves superb navigation use seen in autonomous vehicles. This advanced technology greatly enhances obstacle detection and navigation systems making the Dreame Bot L10 Pro the smartest robot vacuum (it mops, too).”

Spoiler alert: We have reviewed many robovacs over the past few years, and without fail, they all have flaws. The Dreame Bot L10 Pro is not perfect, but it is very close. However, you will note the words ‘over the past few years’ – we would be disappointed if the technology did not improve. Dreame Bot L10 Pro is tangible evidence of this.

Review: Dreame Bot L10 Pro – robovac and robomop

Global Website	here
Price	Approx $580 (will be updated after AU launch)
From	TBA – visit Dreame Official store on AliExpress
Warranty	12-months
Elevator pitch	Smarter than your average robovac
Country of Manufacture	China
About the company	Dreame (Est 2015) is a member of the Xiaomi Ecological Chain, as the driving force and leading enterprise of smart household cleaning appliances (at least in China). It focuses on high-end cleaning appliances by leveraging astrodynamics technologies (the study of ballistics and celestial mechanics).
More	You can read more robot vac/mop reviews here

First impression

Big, round, black polycarbonate with a turret, three buttons on top, and the usual front/side buffers. It is a vacuum (which it does well) and a mop (which it is average at) or can do both.

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On the outside, it is very like the thousands of clone-like results you get from, AliExpress. To get to the top of the heap, it has dual LiDAR, 4000Pa vacuum power and a static mop plate function.

Interestingly we are aware of other Xiaomi strategic partners – Viomi (reviews here) and  Roborock making a range of robot vacuum cleaners and more. They are all safe bets and compete strongly against each other, yet all use the Mi Home app.

In the box

• Robot vacuum cleaner
• Side brush
• Base and AU power adapter
• Mop Rack.
• Waterproof pad
• Manual

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Many other brands include extra mopping pads and brushes. The Dreame Bot L10 Pro is very new, and there are no accessory pack prices yet.

Setup – ultra-easy.

• Place the charge station near a power point with adequate front and side clearance
• Charge the device (about 6-8 hours which is relatively slow, but there is a good reason).
• Download and install the Xiaomi Mi Home app (Google Play or Apple App Store)
• Connect to Wi-Fi 2.4Ghz
• Start cleaning

It builds a map by running around the edges, first defining room limits. It then works in 4.5m squares, cleaning in a U-shape route in the middle, moving to the next square, etc. After the initial mapping is complete, the robot vacuum will clean by more logically by rooms.

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The Mi Home app – comprehensive

The Mi Home app is quite extensive and offers a range of features. The app can:

• Selective cleaning of areas or rooms
• Enabling disabling of areas where to clean or wash
• Virtual walls
• Scheduled cleaning
• Auto-selection of suction power
• Selection of the amount of water to use
• Do not disturb mode
• Cleaning history

You can also up to three store maps from different floors and set zones to clean. Just move the base station to each level, although these are reasonably inexpensive to buy (about $50).

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Obstacle detection – superb

The USP is that it uses dual LiDAR (most have one) to build a 3D map. It detects objects to 3mm and out to 8m, and it is very effective. And it is very good at sensing stairs and drop – no leap of death.

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It is fantastic, with two minor exceptions – hanging cords on the periphery of its laser vision and long shoelaces hanging outside the shoe.

Cleaning effectiveness – well above 90%

4000Pa on Turbo is very good compared to 2000-2500Pa on most. It has four power modes – Quiet, Standard, Strong, and Turbo. The power difference between quiet and Turbo is >100%, so approximately 25% increments. On standard (2000Pa), it is as powerful as most other brands on Turbo!

Standard, the default, is powerful enough to suck up dust, food crumbs, and pet hair from hard floor surfaces. Strong is better for long pile carpet. Our test outcomes (based on the amount of detritus collected from 100g in one pass).

• Hard floor – removes 99% dirt and dust except in corners and under some cupboard overhangs.
• Sisal short pile carpet – 93% dirt and detritus
• Longer pile carpet – 80% of detritus needing the second run to get over 90%

We don’t have pets, but my wife has longish hair. Shorter hairs (say <5cm) make it to the dustbin, and longer hairs wrap around the rotation brush. The brush has a limited self-cleaning hair removal ability, but it is easy to remove and manually clean.

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There is no full dustbin detector. We have a pretty clean home, but we recommend emptying it every 100m2 (hard floor) and 75m2 (mix).

Under cupboard and sill and negotiation

It is about 80/95mm high at the turret and will get under most cupboard overhangs. But the LiDAR tends to avoid that, so you still need to use a hand vac to get under the edges.

25mm door sills are no issue, but this reduces to 20mm with the mop pad. On this point, its wheels/motors are replaceable units.

Battery – twice the capacity of most

It is 5200mAh for a claimed two-hour runtime on quiet mode. The DC 19.8V/1A/19.8W dock charger takes about 6-8 hours for a full charge. That is lengthy but remember the battery is 14.4V/5.2A/74.88W – nearly twice the capacity of most.

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We regularly achieved 120 minutes for separate runs of the vacuum and mop.

When low, it returns to the dock, charges and then goes back to the last place it cleaned to start again (unless it is during Do Not Disturb time). You must detach the mop plate for charging.

Note: Battery life depends on complete charge cycles – 0-100%. Lower cost robovacs use 200 cycle batteries and better ones twice or more than that. We could not ascertain cycles, but you should get three years at least with weekly use. Then they are easily replaced.

Noise – quiet enough

60dB quiet ranging to about 70dB at 1m. Overall it sat around 60dB except when automatically ramping up for carpet.

Mop – standard static mop plate

It uses a proprietary microfibre cloth with a slide-in front channel. That attaches to a typical static plate dragged behind the robot – no agitation or pressure. Rinse it every 15m2, or it can leave streaks. Only one pad is in the box, so it will be an early purchase.

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The water reservoir is 270ml (about half the size of many), but relatively frugal water use means 100m2 coverage. You can select low, medium, or high. Medium seems best as it left little water residue.

You can easily set no-mop zones. This is important to avoid rugs and crossing carpets to get to bathrooms, etc., or use magnetic stripes (not supplied). You can also set it to vacuum only with the mop attached (handy to cross carpet to get to a bathroom).

Specialised detergent with a rich non-acidic surfactant (think Micelle water used in makeup removal) is available from the Dreame official store. We did not try this, but it should optimise the removal of greasy food. Dreame also suggests that you can soak the microfibre pad with antibacterial detergent and make a separate run if you want to kill bacteria.

Summary: It is like most other static plate mops. It is more of a maintenance mop for hard floors.

Voice control – Alexa with others coming

Not tested. It does not currently work with Google Home or Apple HomeKit, but the Mi Home app is compatible, and appliances are added all the time.

Error Handling – does not get confused

We encountered only one error when a hanging cable became entangled. It recovered and started cleaning.

We tried it on a shag pile rug – no. Only the Neato D7 has conquered that.

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Maintenance – low-cost replacement consumables

The app keeps track of recommended replacement times. Given a 2-hour vacuum/mop per week, most consumables last at least a couple of years. Parts are mainly from AliExpress and, based on the previous D9 model, are low cost.

I particularly like the washable dust bin and HEPA filter (most don’t allow HEPA washing), although Dreame recommends replacement every three months.

Build/Design – another round one

It is 353 x 350 x 96.8mm x 3.7kg – a typical round robot shape. Now the round shape means two things. First, it cannot get into tight corners, so you will have to hand vac those. Second, the brush is about 16cm versus a typical D-Shape brush at 28cm. In other words, it takes twice the passes to clean the same area. This is reasonably fast at 1m2 per minute.

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We have an entry foyer with dark grey tiles, steps and a stainless-steel wire handrail. Where some robovacs have jumped to their deaths, Dreame avoids robovac lovers leap.

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Wi-Fi caveats

It uses Wi-Fi 2.4Ghz for an extended range from the router. We did not experience any signal dropouts, but if you ever do, it is likely the router – not Dreame.

Privacy

While a robovac should have a low privacy risk, we suggest carefully reading the Privacy Policy and Terms and Conditions you must agree to before using any product.

All collect some personal information when you sign up to enable the company to target its own and third-party advertising to owners. A robovac can collect:

• Location
• Home layout
• Wi-Fi network credentials
• Phone details
• Registration information – name, email, phone number
• If a device has a camera, image and microphone, voice

It does not appear to collect more than needed to do the job. We have been using Mi Home for some time, and I am happy that Xiaomi is reputable.

GadgetGuy’s take

I like the Dreame Bot L10 Pro – it has become my wife’s new favourite. Practically it is not up to the Neato D7 for brute cleaning power, but it is very close. It has it all over the Neato D7 with the dual LiDAR. It has been flawless for the four-week test. We can start it cleaning regardless of the preparation work we need to do with single LiDAR.

It is quite fast, 1m2 per minute (Neato is considerably faster), has excellent battery life (double the size of most), vacuum power (double the size of most), mop hard floors at the same time, automatic carpet detection and more.

It is not perfect, but it is far better than the 2020 single LiDAR and camera models.

The only disappointment is the mop – that is the same with any static plate mop.

Rating

It scores very well as a robovac on hard floors due to its cleaning efficiency and dual LiDAR – easily 9/10. Good speed and battery life also earn points.

As a mop, it passes (again like all static mops) on hard floors as a maintenance mop, so 8/10.