Is the Dreame X40 Ultra worth the cost? We review one of the most expensive robot vacuums on the market

If there's one chore my partner and I have a mutual hatred of, it's vacuuming.

The time, the effort, the noise... and mopping? That's a whole other annoyance.

So when we got the chance to try the Dreame X40 Ultra, we were positively giddy. An elite device that maps your entire home, vacuums and mops without complaint? That's exactly what this little machine claims to do.

But at $2799, the Dreame X40 Ultra is definitely one of the most expensive robot vacuums on the market.

So is it worth the hefty price tag? Let's test it out and see.

NOTE: Prices are accurate at time of publishing.

Dreame X40 Ultra Robot Vacuum and Mop

Get it for $2779

Set up

As soon as I got it out of the packaging, the Dreame X40 just felt... slick. There's no mistaking this is a Dreame X40, with a sleek black station and matte plastic ensuring it looks premium.

Setting up was simple and user-friendly, with all the accessories (including a floor cleaning solution) packed neatly inside the box ready for use.

All I had to do was download the app, attach the base station, fill a tank with fresh water and attach the mop pads and in minutes it was all systems go.

With robot vacuums, mapping works by scanning your environment with cameras and sensors to create a map of where it'll clean. I often have wires and all sorts lying around, so was intrigued to see how the Dreame X40 would manage.

After clicking one button on the app, I was impressed as I watched the machine waltz through my two-bedroom apartment, checking out every nook and cranny before returning to base – and voila, a map appeared on the app in seconds.

It identified each one with ease to mop/vacuum accordingly. Smart, sophisticated and speedy; it was certainly impressive so far.

My apartment was mapped and ready to go – now, for the fun part...

How well it cleaned

First things first – we have a cat called Luna, and despite our best efforts and mat placement, she likes to kick her clean litter out of her tray like she's having a dance party. Would the vacuum be able to pick this up with ease?

The answer is yes, but it did take a little bit of time to do so.

We initially had it set up to vacuum and mop that part of the floor at the same time, but we later realised we needed some extra suction to pick up every grain of litter.

You can easily customise the app to suit you, so I set the Dreame X40 to vacuum with maximum suction power followed by an intensive clean with the mop. It came out clean as a whistle, and I was very impressed.

That's the thing – there's a lot of settings for you to play around with, but once you get it right for your space it works a treat.

As for the carpets... I must say, you don't realise how much your floor is in need of a vacuum until it's been done.

Once the Dreame X40 had darted around, the carpets looked immaculate – almost like when you walk into a freshly made-up hotel room, and the carpets have those lines so you know it's clean.

There was only one time I had to send the Dreame out for a re-do, and that was because it didn't quite pick up every tiny piece of the faux Christmas tree that had fallen on the ground. But after a quick click of a button, all was well.

You do need to manually empty the dirty water tank and remove the dust box and filter in the bottom of the robot, but that's about as hard as it gets. VERY impressive.

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The bonus features

If you're going to spend this amount of money on a robovac, there's got to be some bells and whistles that make it worth it. And for me, the robovac.

The suction is phenomenal. I have hair extensions, and it managed to pick up my malting hair (I'm aware this doesn't make me look cool, but it's a real issue) with ease.

I know friends who have felt cheaper robot vacuums don't do this job well, but the Dreame X40 doesn't have that problem.

There's also a single side brush designed to reach 'unreachable' spots and it made everything look sparkling. It's not particularly noisy, and the self-cleaning at the dock makes everything so simple.

Object avoidance can be a huge problem for many robot vacuums, but I didn't see the X40 Ultra knock into anything during the time I've had with it so far.

I won't lie, a great addition was also the pet camera – yep, there's a camera on the front that offers two-way video calling, allowing for remote interaction with pets. Was Luna the cat freaked out? Perhaps. Did I enjoy it? Obviously.

In fact, whatever you need from a robot vacuum will probably be covered in this app. I've been loving setting up my own cleaning schedules, and right now I can't even recall a life where I had to do everything manually.

The verdict

As predicted, this Dreame X40 Ultra is another level of luxe. The suction is brilliant, the design is great and I honestly have no complaints about the product whatsoever.

It is quite possibly the best robot vacuum out there, in my opinion.

But at $2799, you'd hope it would be.

It's a classic case of getting what you pay for; if you've tried cheaper models that haven't given you what you wanted, the Dreame X40 Ultra will tick all your boxes and more.

But if you're happy without all the bells and whistles, Dreame also has a selection of more inexpensive models that will definitely fit the bill.

For me? I think I've been ruined for all other robot vacuums after trying this one.

Our writer loaned the Dreame X40 Ultra for the purpose of this review.

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