Forget the Gen5Detect — this budget cordless vacuum does everything a Dyson can do for hundreds less

The Dreame Z30 is a handheld cordless vacuum designed to offer many of the same features that you’d find on a premium model, like a Dyson — only at an altogether more palatable price. Well, when I say “like a Dyson”, I only really mean Dyson.

Is that a fancy way of me saying that Dreame vacuums are essentially cheap Chinese Dyson knock-offs? Yes. But is that a bad thing? No. Dyson dupes make up a significant part of the market these days, so you can’t escape them either way. But just because a vacuum is a dupe, doesn’t mean it can’t mix it with the best vacuums around.

I’ve been testing the Dreame Z30 for six weeks now, and I think it can indeed mix it with the big boys. This dupe is Dreame’s knock off of the Dyson Gen5Detect, replicating that vac’s styling, accessories and perhaps most importantly, its totally rad turquoise detection light.

The thing is, on paper at least, the Z30 is as good as, perhaps better than the Dyson. It spins faster, sucks more air and costs less. So should you save the money and get the knock off?

Find out in my full Dreame Z30 review.

Dreame Z30 review: Specs

Dreame Z30 review: Price & availability

The Dreame Z30 theoretically costs $499 at Amazon or $599 at Dreame in the U.S., which is already significantly cheaper than the outrageously expensive $949 Gen5Detect. However, if you’ve paid $599 for the Dreame, you’ve been hoodwinked. It’s one of those perma-on-sale products and is usually available for $249.

In the U.K., the Z30 is slightly pricier, relatively speaking, costing £349 at Amazon and Dreame. Again though, it’s often reduced to £299 and, either way, is still a lot cheaper than a Dyson.

Dreame Z30 review: Design

The Z30 comes packaged securely in recyclable cardboard, with its bits and pieces bagged up in recyclable soft plastic. Once out of its packaging, the Z30 is clearly a Gen5Detect dupe. The long, tubular bin and diagonal hand guards are pretty shameless rip offs. It’s very hard to feel sorry for a brand that overcharges quite like Dyson, though.

I actually prefer the design of the Z30, which looks and feels more premium than its budget price tag would suggest. The plastics are all high quality; the rear screen is bright and uses an elegant typeface; and the whole thing has a reassuring heft to it. Whereas Dysons is all about bold colors, the gray and black Dreame is pared back and understated. We’ve had Dysons in the family for years, and the colors always end up looking dated after a few years, — I think the Z30 will age better.

Size & weight

Despite its heft, at 43.5 x 10 x 10 inches and 4.8 lbs the Z30 is a hell of a lot easier to lug around the house than the Gen5Detect (7.7 lbs) or the chunky Samsung Bespoke Jet AI Ultra (14.1 lbs). In fact, it’s lighter than almost all of the top picks on our best vacuum cleaners guide. The exception is the Dreame R10 Pro, which weighs 3.6 lbs, so that’s the model to pick if you’re after something lightweight.

My arm and hand started to get tired after about 20 minutes of cleaning. For context, I’m a fully grown (perhaps a little overgrown, at least around the midriff) adult man. Mileage will obviously vary based on your build and arm strength.

Controls

On the rear of the main vacuum body is a display showing suction power and battery life. There’s a power button and a button to switch between the three power modes. All very self-explanatory and easy to get to grips with.

When you turn the vacuum off, a recap of your cleaning metrics shows on screen. Pretty pointless if you ask me, but I’m sure someone, somewhere keeps track of all that info on a spreadsheet — to each their own.

Accessories

The Z30 comes with a generous seven accessories in total, including the default multi-surface roller brush which features the turquoise detection light (more on this later). There’s a soft roller for hard floors and a mini roller for stairs; a combination tool and a rotating soft brush, both for crevices and whatnot; plus a soft brush attachment for dusting. There’s also a pet hair detangler for, well, detangling pet hair — but good luck to anyone that can get a vacuum that close to a cat or dog without them freaking out.

These are more-or-less synonymous with the six tools of the Dyson Gen5Detect, although the Z30 has an extra accessory in the form of the rotating duster.

You’ll also find four hose extensions (including the default long arm, which can be removed) and a charging plinth that has space to stow three accessories. I station my three most used tools there: the mini roller, combination tool and soft duster.

Switching out tools and therefore converting the Z30 between upright and handheld modes is super easy. Simply press the button on accessories to release them from the main body, then click a new tool into place.

Dreame Z30 review: Cleaning capabilities

The Dreame Z30 is a powerful cordless vacuum cleaner. It has a 310AW rating, which means 310 air watts (essentially how hard it can suck air) and spins at 150,000RPM. This is more powerful than the Dyson Gen5Detect (280AW, 135,000RPM). In fact, the only Dyson that can out-power the Z30 is the V16 (315AW, unspecified RPM), which isn’t available in the U.S. at the time of writing.

The Z30’s on-paper power translates to real-world results, too. I tested it on a variety of surfaces: thick-pile carpet, shorter-pile carpets and rugs, woven rugs, hardwood floors, tiles, furniture and stairs. The Z30 proved capable across them all, as I’ll cover below.

The Z30 uses HEPA filters, which trap microscopic particles such as pollen or viruses and prevent them being spat back out into the air. HEPA filters are a must for those with allergies, and you’ll also find them on the Gen5Detect and cheaper Ultenic U12 Vesla.

The Z30 has three modes. There’s an eco mode, which isn’t good for much; a high power mode, which is excellent but short-lived; and an automatic mode (the default), which detects suction and “intelligently” adjusts. It’s unclear what “intelligently” actually means, but auto mode works extremely well regardless, ensuring optimal suction per-surface and thereby maximizing both cleaning and battery life.

Carpets, rugs & stairs

The Dreame Z30 performed exceptionally well on my thick-pile carpets, sucking up all the visible hair from my two large dogs, as well as my wife’s discarded ginger locks. You can hear the Z30’s auto mode going into overdrive on carpet, but I occasionally had to switch to the full power mode for stubborn pet-fur trodden into the thicker pile.

Our stairs are carpeted, too, and this is where pet fur gets trodden in most. I used the Z30’s mini roller head and it did a fantastic job. Its auto-adjusting plastic plate ensures a good seal and maximizes suction at all angles as you move the vacuum — this means you usually only need to go over each step once. The Z30 pulled up all the stubborn, trodden-in pet hair using its automatic mode.

We have a heavy woven rug under the table in our dining room, which gets constantly bombarded by food debris dropping from the table. The Z30 again proved extremely capable, picking up the larger debris from the rug in only one or two passes. Again, I used the automatic mode here as the rug is on hardwood floor — I could hear the Z30 adjusting suction as I switched between the two surfaces.

The Z30 lies virtually flat and the multi-purpose roller pivots left and right, so I had no issues getting under sofas and chairs, and into tight alcoves. Corners and edges are a bit of an issue for the default roller, though, so I had to carry the combination tool for skirting boards and tricky to reach areas.

Hard floors

Most of my downstairs is hardwood floor, with textured wood-effect tiles in our conservatory and utility area (I know: wood-effect tiles? Blame the previous owner). Our upstairs bathroom has a slate tile floor.

The Z30 is fantastic on hard floors and a single pass in automatic mode using the multi-purpose roller sucks up virtually everything. The detection light is also most effective on hard flooring, showing up all the dust, hair and dirt so you can see which areas you’ve covered.

Again though, edges are the multi-surface roller’s weak point. Happily, you can switch to the soft roller brush, which gets much closer to edges and can help scoop up dust from skirting boards. It still isn’t as effective as my Gtech Air Ram 3, though, which has spinning brushes to lift dirt from edges — with the Z30 I still found myself reaching for the combination tool more than with my Gtech.

The soft roller is nevertheless fantastic for cleaning textured hard floors, such as my wood-effect floor tiles and slate bathroom tiles. The denser, soft brush gets into every nook and cranny to lift dirt. The roller also features a detection lamp to help you spot dust, although it’s less powerful than the lamp on the multi-surface roller.

Furniture & dusting

I also tested the Z30 on my sofa, chairs and footrests. The mini-roller was ideal for these, pulling up pet hair and dust, leaving my furniture looking fresh and clean.

There’s also a dusting head and various extension tubes, so I was able to use the Z30 to dust my picture rails, doors, raised surfaces and lampshades. Very handy.

Volume

With its 20.2 ounce/0.6L bin, you’ll find yourself needing to empty the bin virtually after every room. This is symptomatic of cordless handhelds, though, including the Gen5Detect. If you need lots of volume, check out a large capacity vacuum like the Shark Stratos AZ3002.

Dreame Z30 review: Battery life

Dreame claims the Z30 will last 90 minutes, which is a stretch. If you’re using the eco mode then perhaps it’s possible, but this mode is very weak and not suitable for deep cleaning. In the Z30’s automatic mode I was able to achieve around 30-40 minutes over a mixture of carpets and hard floors. That equated to four rooms, a small downstairs bathroom, a hallway and stairs — so my entire downstairs and staircase.

Charge time is, according to Dreame, 4 hours. However, in testing it was more like 5 hours from 0-100%, with 20% charge gained per hour.

This performance isn’t particularly poor versus the competition — the Dyson Gen5Detect lasted for 42 minutes in testing in its auto mode, for example. However, what it means is that the Z30 isn’t (by default) suited to deeper whole-house cleans. And that’s a shame given how competent and powerful it is.

Dreame doesn’t appear to stock a battery for the Z30, either, as with a second battery you could feasibly clean an entire house with the vacuum.

Dreame Z30 review: Storage & maintenance

The Z30 is extremely easy to store thanks to the included floor plinth, which also serves as the vacuum’s charging dock. This means there’s no need to drill into walls to mount, making the Dreame ideal for those renting.

I was able to stow the vacuum in my utility area next to a plug socket, which kept it out of the way. The only issue I have is that the only component with a charging connector hook is the long extension hose — this means you can only store and charge the Z30 when in its tallest configuration, so you can’t stow it under worktops. Annoying.

The Z30 uses a washable HEPA filter, which is great news. Generally, non-washable HEPA filters need to be replaced every six months. However, Dreame simply recommends you tap out and wash the Z30’s filter every four to six months, so you’ll only need to replace the filter if it becomes damaged or is impairing the vacuum’s function. Replacements for the Z30 cost around $20 at Amazon, so it’s not a big deal if that does happen.

Dreame Z30 review: How does it compare?

As I’ve mentioned throughout, the Z30 is up against the Dyson Gen5Detect and is much better value for money. It boasts many of the same features as the Dyson, such as a detection lamp, automated modes, washable HEPA filters and similar accessories, but for much, much less money.

The Gen5Detect has slightly better life, but we’re only talking a few minutes in the automatic mode. Spare Gen5Detect batteries are easier to come by, though, giving the Dyson more potential as a ‘whole house’ cleaner.

The Z30 is pricier than our favorite budget cordless vacuum, the Ultenic U12 Vesla ($149), but more powerful with a wider array of accessories and features — I’d happily pay the extra $100 for the Dreame.

Dreame Z30 review: Verdict

The Dreame Z30 is a fantastic cordless vacuum for light and medium duties. It’s powerful, versatile and cheap. Don’t get me wrong, the Dreame Z30 isn’t perfect. Its battery life is middling at best, while secondary batteries are difficult to get hold of. With a charge time of up to five hours, it’s therefore limited to single-storey cleaning — disappointing given it otherwise has the performance required for deep cleans.

When it comes to value for money, though, the Z30 is too strong of a proposition to ignore. You could go out and buy a Dyson for hundreds of dollars more, and get virtually the same features. But unless you’re a brand snob, why spend more?