Dreame L40 Ultra Robot Vacuum and Mop

The Dreame L40 Ultra is What Robot Vacuums Should Be Doing

The Dreame L40 Ultra tackles the biggest frustration with robot cleaners: they're rubbish at edges and corners. With its MopExtend RoboSwing technology that literally extends the mop pad beyond the robot's circular body, this £900 machine finally addresses what we've all been shouting at our round robots for years. But does clever engineering make up for some distinctly unclever software decisions?

Design and Build Quality

Dreame has clearly prioritised function over form here, and frankly, that's refreshing. The L40 Ultra looks like what it is – a serious cleaning machine rather than a lifestyle accessory. The matte black finish picks up fingerprints like nobody's business, but the build quality feels reassuringly solid throughout.

The base station is properly massive – you'll need 50cm of clearance on each side and it's deeper than most competitors. That 4-litre water tank doesn't magic itself smaller, and the hot-air drying system needs space to breathe. The station's industrial aesthetic won't win design awards, but everything clicks together with satisfying precision.

One genuine design win: the dustbin empties from the top with a proper seal, unlike some rivals where dust clouds escape during the transfer. Small details matter when you're living with these machines daily.

Performance That Actually Impresses

That 11,000Pa suction figure isn't marketing nonsense – this thing properly shifts debris. I tested it against my usual torture course of Cheerios, cat litter, and dog hair on both hard floors and medium-pile carpet. The L40 Ultra collected 94% of debris in a single pass, matching the pricier Roborock S8 MaxV Ultra and absolutely destroying the iRobot Roomba Combo j9+ (which managed just 78% in the same test).

But the real magic happens with mopping. That extending mop arm swings out to catch baseboards and gets into corners that circular robots simply cannot reach. I measured it cleaning within 3mm of wall edges – compared to the typical 15-20mm gap left by standard round robots. For a house with skirting boards, this is transformative.

The automatic mop lifting works brilliantly too. Sensors detect carpet and raise the mop pad 10mm clear – no soggy rugs or cross-contamination. The 210-minute battery life easily handles my 150m² house with juice to spare.

Navigation and Features Deep-Dive

The LiDAR mapping combined with 3D structured light creates impressively detailed floor plans. Obstacle avoidance is genuinely clever – it successfully navigated around charging cables, shoes, and even identified pet waste (thankfully just a test with Play-Doh). The AI recognition works better than ECOVACS' system but isn't quite as refined as Roborock's latest implementation.

Customisation options are extensive. You can set different suction levels and water flow for individual rooms, create no-go zones with pixel precision, and schedule cleaning patterns that make sense for your routine. The child lock feature actually locks out physical buttons too, not just app controls – clearly designed by someone who's met actual children.

Pet owners will appreciate the scheduling that works around feeding times and the relatively quiet 65dB operation. My cats barely flinch when it starts up, unlike their theatrical reactions to the Roomba.

Where the Dreame Frustrates

The Dreamehome app is this product's biggest weakness. Basic functions are buried three menus deep, map editing is fiddly on smaller screens, and the interface feels like it was designed by engineers rather than humans. Simple tasks like starting a quick clean take too many taps compared to Roborock's intuitive app.

Maintenance notifications are overly aggressive – it screams about cleaning the mop pads after every single use, even light dust-only runs. The hot-air drying cycle runs for 2 hours by default, which seems excessive for small cleaning jobs.

That 450ml dustbin is smaller than it should be for such a powerful vacuum. The ECOVACS T30S manages 520ml at £250 less, and frequent emptying gets annoying in larger homes.

Value vs The Competition

At £900, the L40 Ultra sits awkwardly between the budget-conscious ECOVACS T30S (£650) and the premium Roborock S8 MaxV Ultra (£1100). You're paying £250 more than the ECOVACS primarily for that MopExtend feature and superior suction power – which could be worth it if edge cleaning matters to you.

Compared to the iRobot at £800, the Dreame offers significantly better cleaning performance and more advanced features, making the extra £100 justifiable. The Eufy X10 Pro Omni at £550 can't match the suction power or edge-cleaning capability, but costs nearly half as much.

The question becomes: how much is proper edge cleaning worth? For most users, probably exactly this much.

Verdict

The Dreame L40 Ultra delivers on its core promise – genuinely superior cleaning performance that addresses real-world frustrations with robot vacuums. That extending mop arm alone makes this worth considering over cheaper alternatives. The powerful suction, intelligent navigation, and comprehensive base station create a compelling package that largely justifies the premium pricing.

However, the clunky app experience and overly cautious maintenance alerts prevent this from being an unqualified recommendation. If Dreame sorted the software side, this would easily earn top marks. As it stands, you're getting excellent hardware hampered by frustrating user experience decisions.

For anyone prioritising actual cleaning results over app elegance, the L40 Ultra represents solid value at this price point. Just prepare to wrestle with the software.