I tested the Dreame Aero Pro Wet Dry vacuum and my home has never looked so spotless

Since the laminate vinyl flooring in my home is routinely subjected to the carelessness of a dog, an 11-year-old child, and the most egregious culprit (me), having one of the best vacuum cleaners is essential. And with footprints, mud, dust, dirt, and spills seeming ever-present, the traditional mop is often leaning against a wall in the kitchen.

Dreame’s Aero Pro Wet Dry Vacuum seems tailor-made for households like mine, in which spills are frequent, and a whole-house clean is often required. The Aero Pro has proven itself up to the task for all the messes I threw at it, from spilled wine to dripping honey, dog hair, human hair, the horrors of the downstairs bathroom floor, and everything in between. It’s just about perfect, though it could use some LED lights on the front and slightly larger water tanks.

Read on to find out how it performed in testing and why it’s one of the best robot vacuums for pet hair out there.

Latest Videos From

Dreame Aero Pro Wet Dry Vacuum review: Price and availability

The Aero Pro costs $449.99 on Amazon and on the Dreame website. The unit ships within 2-5 business days of ordering, and there’s a 30-day return policy. Shipping is free. Dreame offers financing through Afterpay. You can also purchase the Dreame Aero Pro through Amazon.

Dreame offers the Aero Pro with other configurations too, including a 1-year accessory bundle ($545.94) that includes everything you’ll need for a full year of operation, and a 6-month accessory bundle ($506.95). These bundles come with extra rollers and cleaning solutions, among other things.

Dreame Aero Pro Wet Dry Vacuum review: Design

The Aero Pro looks an awful lot like a normal vacuum cleaner. It comes with three main parts: a handle, main body, and charging base. Assembly involves inserting the handle into the main body and plugging in the base. That’s it. It takes all of a minute, if that, to assemble the unit. There’s also an extra filter, a cleaning brush, and cleaner fluid included in the box.

On the main body, you’ll find the clean water tank. The top is removable so you can fill the 1,000mL tank with clean water and the cleaning solution. As you use the Aero Pro, used water will then be directed to the used water tank, a 600mL vessel located higher up on the main body. This detaches for easy emptying.

The main body pivots fully flat so you can reach spaces underneath furniture. It folds down to a minuscule height of 3.88 inches, which makes it easy to reach places other vacs might not be able to venture.

The Aero Pro’s maximum suction comes in at a strong 25,000Pa, which makes it useful for most messes you’ll encounter on hardwood floors. The runtime varies depending on what mode you use, but you can get a max of 60 minutes in certain modes.

There are four operation modes:

• Smart Mode — auto adjusts suction and water flow, 40min runtime
• Quiet Mode — lower noise, steady cleaning power, 40min runtime
• Turbo Mode — enhanced suction and water flow for sticky spills, 35 min runtime
• Suction Mode — quickly absorbs water from floor, 60min runtime

Plus, there are two additional modes when the unit is not in use — drying mode and self-cleaning mode. The drying mode activates a 203-degree heating session that takes just 5 minutes and leaves the Aero Pro dry for storage or another use. This helps prevent swampy smells and ensures the Aero Pro is always ready to use for an optimal clean. The hot self-cleaning mode activates at the push of a button and cleans the critical components at 194 degrees.

Image 1 of 3

During mopping, fresh water is fed to the roller so it’s constantly rinsed. A scraper wipes the dirty water off the roller, while the Aero Pro’s strong suction not only removes stains, but also pulls the dirty water upward toward the used water tank. And while all that’s taking place, the TangleCut 2.0 feature lifts hairs off the floor and upward into the waste tank instantly so they don’t get tied up around the roller. You shouldn’t have to clean any tangled hair off the roller, ever.

Dreame Aero Pro Wet Dry Vacuum review: Performance

For several weeks now, I have regularly used the Aero Pro throughout my house. That means it’s been used on tile, vinyl flooring, and even the painted concrete in my garage. It has excelled in every situation.

I found the Aero Pro cleans up messes super quickly, and while it leaves a little bit of streaking in some situations — mostly on darker surfaces like the tile by my front door — everywhere else it has left sparklingly clean finishes.

I used it in my garage to clean up a major spill that I didn’t want to test inside on the laminate flooring. I purposely spilled a bottle of old wine and let it spread, and sit for a few minutes. It took seconds to clean it up with the Aero Pro on the auto setting. It was a much easier process than pulling out the mop, spreading it all in a circle, and then finally cleaning the mop by hand. The mess was gone in seconds, and I didn’t spare a second thought for cleaning the Aero Pro at all.

It was especially impressive in my basement bathroom, which also features dark tile (the same as the stuff I have in the entryway to the house). The Aero Pro once again proved quick and easy to use, leaving very little moisture behind, so there’s not much waiting for the floor to dry. Since we’re a family of long-haired folks, there tend to be stray hairs just about everywhere (and dog hairs too). The Aero Pro munched it all up, and there were exactly zero strands wrapped around the roller afterward.

It’s easy to change modes on the fly. There are two buttons mounted on the top of the LED screen: one is the power button, and the other is the mode select button. The screen itself is bright and clear. Each mode does something different, so it’s best to learn them ahead of time so you know what’s best for each type of mess. Largely, I left it in auto mode and let the Aero Pro do the deciding for me.

The only issue with the mode select feature is the voice that announces which mode you’re in. It’s kind of garbled, and difficult to hear over the sound of the Aero Pro itself. I couldn’t really hear what the voice was announcing as I cycled through the modes. This feature probably could have been left off the unit with no detriment to the Aero Pro itself.

If I had the opportunity to swap that feature for another, I’d choose LED lights on the front of the main body to make it easier to see what parts of the floor are clean and which need attention. This is a common feature on most vacuums these days, and it seems like it would be an obvious bonus on the Aero Pro.

The water tank lives on top of the main body, and you’ll need to replace this water frequently if you’re cleaning with the Aero Pro a lot. I do wish both the clean water tank and the used water tank were both a bit larger so I could go longer between exchanges.

The charging dock is small enough to tuck into a corner of a room, though it needs to be plugged in, which discounts storing this in most closets. The recharge process is quick — a full charge from zero in about four hours — and I found the run time to be reasonably within the advertised range. You can clean your whole house (as long as it’s not a massive mansion) with one charge if you’re judicious about what power level you use.

Dreame Aero Pro Wet Dry Vacuum review: Accessories

The Dreame website lists a few key accessories for the Aero Pro: the Dreame Multi-Surface Cleaning Solution ($18), and the Dreame Accessory Cleaning Kit ($21). Aside from those, the rest of the parts listed on the accessories page are largely replacement parts you’ll need for long-term service.

Dreame Aero Pro Wet Dry Vacuum review: Competition

The wet dry vac space is growing rapidly, and there are already some big competitors making quality products, including Bissell and Shark.

One of the Aero Pro’s closest competitors is the Tineco Floor One i5 Stretch Wet Dry vacuum ($299). It also offers 20,000Pa of suction, a lay-flat design, anti-tangle roller, and hot cleaning, but it maxes out at 30 minutes of run time. Additionally, the i6 Stretch has up to 40 minutes runtime but costs $399. The Aero Pro bests both units on price versus runtime and key features.

Dreame Aero Pro Wet Dry Vacuum review: Verdict

Overall, I love the Aero Pro for its quick and easy cleaning and low water use. There’s not a lot of waiting around for your floors to dry after you clean. It has tackled big and small messes, both wet and dry, and even sticky, with ease. It’s cleaner than a mop, easier to maintain, and less of a hassle overall.

However, it could use larger water tanks and some LED lights on the front to complement its thorough cleaning capabilities. But otherwise, the Aero Pro is a top choice in this category for whole-house cleaning on hardwood floors and other non-carpeted surfaces.