Dreame L10S Ultra Gen 2 Review
A great-value robot vacuum and mop
Verdict
A brilliantly-priced robot vacuum cleaner and mop, the Dreame L10S Ultra Gen 2 has many of the same features as the more expensive L40 Ultra. Its powerful suction makes light work of dust on carpets and hard floors, while its mopping system is good enough to handle all but the toughest of stains. It does get tangled with hair, so those with pets or people with long hair may want to look at an alternative.
Pros
- Smart app
- Excellent price
- Powerful suction
Cons
- Confusing array of mopping options
- So-so mopping on tough stains
Key Features
- TypeThis is a robot vacuum cleaner and mop, which has a self-empty and self-clean docking station.
- MoppingUses dual microfibre spinning cloths with cold water and detergent.
Introduction
Taking many of the features of the high-end Dreame L40 Ultra, the Dreame L10S Ultra Gen 2 offers a similar experience at a much cheaper price.
It doesn’t quite have the deep cleaning ability as its big brother, but this is a great value, mid-range robot vacuum cleaner and mop.
Design and Features
- Self-clean and self-empty station with detergent
- Automatic mop lifting
- Smart object detection
The Dreame L10S Ultra Gen 2 looks a lot like the L40 Ultra, and even has a similar all-in-one docking station that can automatically empty the robot’s bin and wash its mop.
There are some subtle differences. First, this docking station doesn’t wash with hot water; it uses cold water and detergent from the tank. Secondly, it can’t automatically clean the washboard, so you’ll have to use the provided brush to clean. This docking station does still dry using hot air, though. Dreame provides 250ml of detergent in the box, and a 1 litre replacement bottle costs £12.99
Another major difference between this model and the L40 Ultra is that the docking station can’t remove the mopping pads when the robot is in vacuum only mode. Instead, the Dreame L10S Ultra Gen 2 has to rely on its mop-lift (10.5mm) to move over carpets. If you’ve got deep pile carpets, then the L40 Ultra may well be a better bet.
Otherwise, the docking station is very similar, and has a 4.5-litre tank for clean water (used to clean the mop pads and refill the robot’s tank), and a 4-litre tank for dirty water. This can be emptied manually, but there is a kit that allows the dock to be plumbed in if you don’t want this job.
There’s a 3.2-litre bag inside the docking station, which is enough for around 60-days’ worth of dust, automatically emptying the robot’s 300ml bin. Replacements cost £14.99 for a pack of three.
You shouldn’t need to touch the robot’s bin often, but it’s worth removing it once a month to clean out fully and to wash its filter.
The Dreame L10S Ultra Gen 2 looks much like any other robot vacuum cleaner, with a LiDAR dome on top that’s used for accurate navigation and fast mapping.
This particular model has an additional object sensor at the front, which is used to detect and navigate around items on the floor. It’s not a camera, as with the L40 Ultra, so can’t use AI to spot and avoid specific obstacles, such as shoes and pet mess. That’s similar to the navigation system on the Roborock Qrevo Slim.
Underneath, the robot has a single brush bar. This is a standard rubber model, and there’s not the choice of the anti-tangle brush that the L40 has.
There’s one side-sweeper brush, which is fixed in position, and can’t swing out to provide better edge cleaning.
The mopping pads are similar to the ones on the L40, with one able to swing out to get closer to the edge for deeper cleaning.
As with all Dreame robots, this one connects to the Dreamehome app for remote control. After a quick connection process, the robot is ready to map, a process that is relatively quick because of the LiDAR sensor.
After a successful map run, the app suggests a room layout. I found it mostly accurate, but I used the simple controls to merge and split some rooms, getting the layout that matches the Trusted Reviews Home Technology Lab.
As well as setting rooms, the app also let me set no-go and no-mop zones, a place furniture around my home. The latter is useful for quick clean-up jobs, such as selecting a dining table for cleaning around after dinner.
Control over cleaning is via the usual controls, with a choice of cleaning the entire home, a room (or rooms) of choice, or drawing targeted zones.
For each choice, there are cleaning settings, including a choice to vacuum, mop, vacuum and mop, or mop after vacuuming. For each mode, there’s a choice of four vacuum power modes (quiet, standard, turbo and max), plus 32 levels of mop wetness to choose from (far too many!).
There’s also the CleanGenius setting, where the robot will apply cleaning settings by area automatically. However, this model doesn’t have the advanced dirt detection features of the L40 Ultra, and can’t be set to return to clean tough stains automatically.
There are advanced controls over the MopExtend technology, including an option for Gap Cleaning, where the robot can extend its mop to clean under some furniture that it can’t physically get under, such as the lip underneath a freezer door.
Performance
- Powerful vacuuming
- Mops well on standard stains
- Good edge performance
I started the Dreame L10S Ultra Gen 2 off by testing its ability to clean carpet. I added one teaspoon of flour to the test carpet, set the robot to its highest power setting and set it for two passes, which it did by going once horizontally and once vertically over the area. Rated at 10000Pa, this vacuum has similar suction power to many high-end cleaners, and it shows. Performance is excellent, with just some tiny traces of dust if you look hard.
Moving on to the hard floor test, with the same spill, the Dreame L10S Ultra Gen 2 did well, collecting most, but not all of the spill. It was nothing that another pass didn’t solve.
Edge performance in vacuuming mode was good, although without an extendable arm, the Dreame L10S Ultra Gen 2 did leave a clear trail of mess behind.
Switching to vacuuming and mopping mode, the Dreame L10S Ultra Gen 2 did better, able to get very close to the edge of my kitchen.
I then switched to the mopping tests, starting with my dried coffee stain. Using its combination of cold water and detergent, the Dreame L10S Ultra Gen 2 easily removed that mess.
I found that performance with my red wine stain was similar, and the Dreame L10S Ultra Gen 2 managed to remove that stain easily.
My ketchup stain proved very tough for this robot and it struggled to get the stain out. After two passes, the ketchup was still very visible.
Each additional pass removed the stain a bit more, but for very tricky stains you’ll want to use a traditional hard floor cleaner instead.
The Dreame L10S Ultra Gen 2 did a reasonable job on the mud stain, sucking up the loose particles, but there was still an outline of mud left behind after two passes.
I could fully remove the stain after an extra couple of passes.
I finished up testing with my human hair test. As the Dreame L10S Ultra Gen 2 has a standard rubber brush, all of the hair got tangled.
I measured the Dreame L10S Ultra Gen 2 at 64.4dB, which is relatively quiet for a robot vacuum cleaner. It produces a low, constant hum that’s not too annoying.
Battery life is quoted at a maximum of 260 minutes on the lowest power setting. Running all of my tests one after another, I managed two full passes of the Trusted Reviews Home Technology Lab for vacuuming on maximum mode, and multiple targetted mopping passes.
Navigation is generally very good. I found that the Dreame L10S Ultra Gen 2 could get close to furniture for cleaning, and avoided some obstacles on the floor, such as some loose packaging. The robot did run straight into my fake pet mess, though.
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Should you buy it?
You want great performance without paying too much
A great all-rounder, this vacuum cleaner mops well, and has suction power that rivals the best and most expensive robot vacuum cleaners.
You want deeper mopping or tangle-free vacuuming
More expensive cleaners with rollers or hot water can mop better, while the best models can deal with long hair without tangling.
Final Thoughts
A brilliant combination of power and performance, the Dreame L10S Ultra Gen 2 is a solid mid-range robot vacuum cleaner.
It’s excellent at vacuuming carpets and deals well with all but the toughest of stains on hard floors. The only real drawback is that hair can get tangled around the brush bar, which may mean you want an alternative choice from my guide to the best robot vacuum cleaners.
How we test
Unlike other sites, we test every robot vacuum cleaner we review thoroughly over an extended period of time. We use industry standard tests to compare features properly. We’ll always tell you what we find. We never, ever, accept money to review a product.
Find out more about how we test in our ethics policy.
Used as our main robot vacuum cleaner for the review period
We test for at least a week
Tested with real-world dirt in real-world situations for fair comparisons with other vacuum cleaners
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FAQs
The L40 Ultra has slightly higher suction, an anti-tangle brush bar, can drop its mopping pads entirely, and its docking station uses hot water and can automatically clean the washboard.
Yes, the optional connection kit lets you attach the docking station to mains water and drainage.
Full specs
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Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
