I just tested a robot vacuum and mop — and this combo is remarkably good for under $500

When it comes to the best robot vacuums, it seems there’s a launch almost every few weeks, with surprising contenders like DJI getting in on the action. They enter into a fiercely competitive marketplace then, where many people are looking for a device that can do it all — vac, mop and deep/spot cleaning. And they need to do these tasks effectively while minimizing the need to clean mop heads, empty dusty bins, and remove pesky hair strands from roller brushes.

My first foray into robot vacs involved the Eufy RoboVac 11S, and while it generally helped more than it hindered, it was forever going around in circles, getting stuck under sofas, and needing hair cut from its brushes.

Enter the Dreame L10s Ultra Gen 2. Its name may be a mouthful, but it promises better mop coverage with its extendable mop head, 10,000 Pa of suction, and up to 60 days without needing to change a dustbag.

Let’s take a deep dive into this robovac’s features and see whether you can trust it to handle whatever mess you chuck onto the floor.

Dreame L10s Ultra Gen 2: Price and availability

The Dreame L10s Ultra Gen 2 is available for $499 from the Dreame website and is on sale for $449 from Amazon at the time of writing. For its vacuum and mop functionality, it’s on the cheaper end of the spectrum. There are also consumables to consider, such as the detergent solution for $17.99 and three-pack of dustbags for the same price.. With typical use, you can reportedly go up to 2 months between bag changes.

Dreame L10s Ultra Gen 2: Design

The base unit of the Dreame L10s Ultra Gen 2 stands fairly tall at just shy of 26 inches (60cm), so it’s not going to sit inconspicuously in your pad. That said, with its curved tower comprising white plastic and silver-effect panel, it has a pleasant and clean design. Its ramp extends out from the dock, and features textured tracks for easier docking and grooves for cleaning its dual mop heads.

Slide the silver panel out, and you can access a small, removable tank for detergent as well as its 2-liter dustbag. The dock’s top lid flips open and conceals two large tanks, one for clean water and the other for dirty water. On the back, there’s a recessed handle for carrying, which is handy if you need to shift the unit around.

The robot vacuum itself follows a similar look, with a nearly all-white design, LIDAR turret protruding at the top, and blacked-out sensors at the front. Besides its single rotating side brush, of note are the large, dual spinning microfiber mop heads that stick out from the base, which remind me of those floor buffers of yesteryear, plus a wide main brush comprising rubber flaps.

There’s also the standard front bumper and a trio of buttons for home, power, and spot cleaning. Flip open the top lid, and you can extract the 300-ml dust container, which is admittedly on the small side.

Dreame L10s Ultra Gen 2: Performance and test results

For fairness and impartiality, we use rigorous standardized tests when testing the performance of robot vacuums. Alongside using it regularly in the house, I placed the L10s Ultra within a separate 5-by-5-foot floor space, tasking it to collect 20 g of Cheerios, 20 g of kitty litter, and 5 g of cat hair in separate runs on both a laminated hardwood floor and low-pile carpet.

On hardwood, the Dreame L10s Ultra Gen 2 performed solidly, hoovering up 80% and 95% of the Cheerios and kitty litter, respectively, but it fared less well with the cat hair. Its strong fan sometimes redistributed the strands across the test area and the robot seemed to avoid the larger hairy clumps.

Many vacuums with AI object detection, like the L10s, can have trouble with larger clusters of dirt, yet they’ll happily hurtle headfirst into walls and larger obstacles — make it make sense! The rubber wheels also trundled over some Cheerios, crushing them into a fine layer of cereal, which got stuck in the wheel grooves, which wasn’t ideal.

On carpet, the results were stronger and more consistent, with results ranging from 80% to 90%. Very occasionally, I’d see the side brush flicking the odd Cheerio or morsel of kitty litter to a space the vac had already covered, so these rogue bits weren’t picked up.

Across the tests, I also noticed the large open aperture at the bottom of the dust container. While the dock typically extracts these contents into its dustbag, word of warning — be careful not to tip your contents out when manually removing this box. Plus, its 300-ml capacity was nearly maxed out by the end of each test, so in dirtier areas, expect it to trundle back to the dock continually to empty its findings.

With typical use, the Dreame L10s Ultra Gen 2 performed fairly solidly, with enough suction power to pick up most bits of dirt. It struggled a little bit navigating a slightly higher door threshold of around 1.4cm, but it eventually got over it. Additionally, for better coverage and less risk of flicking dirt around, two side brushes would have been better than a single spinner.

The mop handled stains like the ketchup I chucked onto the floor with ease. Its MopExtend function kicks out one mop head for better coverage, though I kept tabs on its cleaning areas, and there were definite gaps it hadn’t covered in the kitchen or hallway.

The Dreame L10s Ultra Gen 2 also runs fairly quietly, so I had no qualms about setting it on to help clean up after dinner, though bigger items would occasionally either get crushed or clogged in the wheel treads, causing some annoying rattling. Its fan is also strong, and more than once I felt a cold breeze rush across my feet as if I was due a ghostly visit.

The L10s Ultra Gen 2's route finding can often be puzzling, however. It would clean rooms in a bizarre order — go to mop part of the living room, then trail all the way back and vacuum the far side of the kitchen.

I chucked a handful of Cheerios along a skirting board to check the edge cleaning, and while the L10stackled some of the hooped cereal, it weirdly deviated from its straight line and never returned to finish up.

When activating the special AI feature, CleanGenius, things got even worse. It seemed to perceive the natural pattern of a hardwood floor as stains to mop up, circling back several times to have another go around with the mop.

Naturally, all this scatter-brained back and forth meant it took much longer to complete a cleaning run, so I’d advise turning off the AI functionality and using the custom settings instead for better room control and more consistent, effective cleaning.

Lastly, note that the dock’s washboard needs the occasional manual clean when it gets yucky — you’re given a brush that features a hair cutter to do so.

Dreame L10s Ultra Gen 2: App

Though the app for the Dreame L10s Ultra Gen 2 has a clean look to it, some functions could be better labeled for clearer use. Some phrases also have that awkward translated-straight-from-Chinese wording, but most people will figure out what the notifications mean.

That said, you get an impressive level of cleaning customization within the app, including going vac or mop only and mopping after vacuuming. You can even customize further depending on the room.

There are four levels of suction power, and an impressive (yet perhaps overkill) 32 levels of desired floor wetness, along with an adjustable mop-washing frequency. You can of course add extra maps and add no-go boundaries and walls, which is handy if you want it to steer clear of hazards or precarious areas.

Dreame L10s Ultra Gen 2: Verdict

A robovac and mop for under $500? You’re getting a fair bit for your money here, with pretty decent performance that sets this up as a good mid-range cleaner. Importantly, it does all the tasks you hate, like cleaning and drying mop heads, and you don’t have to change a dustbag for up to 2 months.

Naturally, there are some trade-offs — edge cleaning needs some work — you’ll probably need to run a hoover across your skirting boards — while its questionable route planning raises a few eyebrows.

The biggest issue I have is with its AI feature. The L10’s CleanGenius software needs a fairly big overhaul, as it’s often confused by irregular wood patterns and adopts some pretty random cleaning sequences. I’ve previously tested the Eufy E28, and while it’s a much more powerful cleaner, even its AI software had big issues with larger pieces of hair and dirt during tests, though it achieved a better overall results.

Overall, the L10s Ultra Gen 2’s standard cleaning mode is fairly effective for both mop and vacuuming, even if it doesn’t achieve 100% coverage. It's a good model to consider if you’re in need of one that can do various tasks while on a budget.