I was stunned by the Dreame Aqua10 Ultra robovac's excellent cleaning performance – but it's slightly undermined by minor inefficiencies

Dreame Aqua10 Ultra: Two-minute review

Innovation in the world of robot vacuum cleaners is evolving by leaps and bounds – you only have to look at the Dreame Matrix10 Ultra and the Ecovacs Deebot X11 OmniCyclone to see how far we’ve come. While the Dreame Aqua10 Ultra isn’t so groundbreaking, it still boasts industry-leading vacuum suction (30,000Pa) and features I’ve not seen anywhere else – like all brushes getting raised when mopping and the mop getting covered when rolling over a carpet. In fact, this is Dreame’s first robovac to get a roller mop.

While these unique features are welcome additions, the Dreame Aqua10 Ultra shines where it matters the most – cleaning floors. I’ve previously said the same thing in my Ecovacs Deebot X8 Pro Omni review, but this Dreame does a better job of vacuuming carpets.

I wouldn’t put too much stock in that 30,000Pa of suction as that spec doesn’t always translate to 100% hair pickup on very dirty carpets, but I’d say it gets close – 98% to 99% – which is much better than most other robovacs I’ve tested. Edge cleaning on carpets, though, is a little disappointing in comparison, but this isn’t unique to Dreame – most side brushes don’t have stiff bristles to sweep up embedded hair, fur and fibres along room edges of wall-to-wall carpets, and suction power isn’t distributed evenly across the entire length of the central bar brush. In fact, even my Dyson V15s Detect Submarine finds it hard to get right to the edge where carpet meets wall – unless I use the crevice tool.

Hard-floor cleaning, however, is 100% pickup of all visible dirt and debris. Importantly, there's very little scattering of larger debris as the side brush is raised when it senses excessive dirt. And mopping by the roller results in perfect stain removal, no matter how old and deep-seated it is. I love that it dries the dust bag after each cleaning run, which means it can safely go over a little wet area and suck up some moisture, although I would still hesitate to send it over a large wet spill.

Mobility is fantastic, with extremely silent wheels, although the raising mechanism can be heard and the robot dropping back to its normal position after crossing a threshold sounds like something is breaking. And despite some teething issues when I first set it up, I found its navigation abilities quite efficient. I will admit, however, that it does occasionally clean one spot repeatedly even though it’s not excessively dirty, and that eats into its battery life.

Battery use is also affected slightly by the fact that its suction kicks in as soon as the robot exits its dock, so it’s using up precious power even before it gets to its starting point. In my tests, the battery would drop by 1% to 2% depending on which room I would send it to before it began its task. This isn’t a deal breaker for some homes, but it may not finish cleaning larger spaces in one go.

Another minor complaint I have is the app. As nice as it looks, it takes a little getting used to and, even for someone like me who has ample experience with robovacs, I struggled to find some necessary settings (in my case, carpet-cleaning options). Again, not a deal breaker – and I’m yet to meet a robot vacuum with the perfect app (Roborock comes close) – but a touch of streamlining would make it a lot easier to use, especially if you’re going to shell out a four-figure sum on the Dreame Aqua10 Ultra.

Dreame Aqua10 Ultra review: Price & availability

• List price: $1,599 / £1,299 / AU$2,999
• Released date: November 2025
• Available in most major markets, including the US, UK and Australia

With a suggested retail price of $1,599 / £1,299 / AU$2,999, there’s no denying that the Dreame Aqua10 Ultra sits firmly in the premium robovac space, although it’s not as expensive as the $1,999.99 / £1,399 / AU$3,499 mop-swapping Dreame Matrix10 Ultra. It’s still a flagship model and has features to justify its high asking price but, if clean floors is what you’re after, you can get something a little cheaper and not compromise on what’s important.

Case in point is the Ecovacs Deebot X8 Pro Omni: it performs wonderfully well although, like most robovacs, its app leaves much to be desired, and you get flagship cleaning for $1,099 / £1,099 / AU$2,499 at full price. Given how often robot vacuums get discounted, this Deebot can be had for around the $800 / £800 / AU$1,500 mark, if not cheaper. I suspect the Aqua10 Ultra will also see a similar treatment during major sales, but its full price stings a little.

In comparison, the Ecovacs Deebot X11 OmniCyclone brings some cutting-edge tech to the table – fast charging and an agentic AI helper to name just a couple – and does away entirely with the replaceable dust bag. It costs $1,499 / £1,199 / AU$2,999 and potentially offers better value for larger homes.

Dreame, however, is known for pricing its robot vacuums quite high – the X50 Ultra Complete, which uses traditional mop pads instead of a roller and doesn’t have all the fancy features of the Aqua10 Ultra, has a list price of $1,699 / £1,299 / AU$2,999.

• Value score: 3.5 / 5

Dreame Aqua10 Ultra review: Specs

Dreame Aqua10 Ultra review: Design

• First Dreame robovac to get a roller mop
• Boasts step-vaulting feet and a retractable navigation turret
• Boxy and classy dock design with dual-detergent dispenser drawer

The moment I took the Dreame Aqua10 Ultra out of its box, my first thought was, “It looks like a large Marshall speaker!”. If you aren’t familiar with this speaker brand, they’re quite boxy and most of the models I know about have a black finish. This is in no way a complaint; it’s my brain making connections I didn’t expect it to – and I love the look. It’s very classic, with clean lines and metallic accents that ooze ‘premium-ness’. Somehow even the green light around the main control button of the robot while it's charging makes it look fabulous rather than garish.

There are a lot of thoughtful design elements here other than the looks, like soft rubber washers that make it easy to remove the dock cover, a dual detergent dispenser drawer and a retractable navigation puck on the top of the robot. It even comes with a brush to clean the wash tray, which I’ve even used to scrub the dirty-water tank.

Robot design

Sticking with the usual round robot, the Aqua10 Ultra isn’t all that different from many of its premium competitors, with a sleek look – a black robot in my case – that’s enhanced by a retracting navigation puck. When docked, the puck stays lowered and has a ring of green light when it’s moving up or down, or when it’s charging – but is unlit when fully topped up and on standby.

The top of the puck is brass coloured and houses the main controls. It looks like a single button that’s divided in two, with one half to power the robot up or down, while the other half is to send it back to its dock (home button).

Around the puck is a fully removable lid, under which you’ll find a dust box which, strangely, is a lot smaller than I’ve seen in competing models. It’s just 220ml and while it’s not affected my cleaning routines, I suspect it will be emptying itself a lot more frequently in homes with pets.

Under the lid is also the Wi-Fi indicator light and the all-important QR code to get you set up with the companion app. Watch out for how much you handle the robot, though, because it’s highly prone to picking up fingerprint smudges that aren’t easy to wipe off (I’m fussy, what can I say?).

(Image credit: Sharmishta Sarkar / TechRadar)

(Image credit: Sharmishta Sarkar / TechRadar)

(Image credit: Sharmishta Sarkar / TechRadar)

The front of the robot, as with all others like it, is the camera window that houses not one, but two AI cameras with HD quality that, Dreame says, allows it to capture a 3D image of the robot's surroundings. A side sensor window is also visible towards the end of the bumper.

The undercarriage is where all the action is and here’s where the Aqua10 Ultra differs from many of its competitors. Firstly, it has a dual-brush system for better cleaning on carpets and hard floors alike without hair tangles.

Second, it’s the first Dreame robot vacuum to get a roller mop and here too there’s been some innovation. The roller is made from slightly more bristly fibres than fluff or microfibre to allow it to get into cracks or grouting to ‘scrub’ as it passes over hard floors. It also has a fluffer that spins in the opposite direction to the roller to keep the fibres, well, fluffed so it’s effective at all times.

Importantly, this is the first robovac I’ve tested that actually has a cover for the roller that engages automatically when it senses a carpet. I couldn’t even see the cover when it was doing a mop and went over my living room rug, but no part of my colorful carpet was damp, something I’ve experienced with other robot vacuum cleaners. The roller also extends to clean along edges, although it does miss corners like pretty much every other robovac I’ve tested.

Like its X50 Ultra and Matrix10 Ultra siblings, the Aqua10 also gets the ProLeap system that allows the robot to traverse shallow steps – it can climb 4cm in one step, and another 4cm in a second step if it needs to. It’s no stair climber though, this only helps it get across higher thresholds that some other robots would have trouble with. At setup, the app will even ask you if you want it to use one ‘foot’ at a time, like a human, or raise both feet and roll over.

(Image credit: Sharmishta Sarkar / TechRadar)

(Image credit: Sharmishta Sarkar / TechRadar)

I’ve gotten to a point where I wish robovac makers would use stiffer bristles for the side brush because I’ve seen them all struggle to push dirt when moving over carpets, although they work very well on hard floors. It’s the same here – stiffer bristles on my fully carpeted bedroom would have been fabulous. This isn’t a complaint, more a wish for the next iteration.

Dock design

I was sent a black unit for this review, although I’ve seen pictures of a white model too. Either way, the base station for the Aqua10 Ultra looks darn good. Sharp corners and clean lines are reminiscent of mid-Century architectural aesthetics and, as I’ve said before, I get Marshall speaker vibes. And that’s a compliment – I love it!

A lot of thought has gone into the various parts of the base station too. For example, I love that the front cover that hides the dust bag and detergent dispenser is tight thanks to a rubber washer around it, but it comes off and slips on smoothly – no harsh clicks or excessive elbow grease needed as I’ve experienced with other such models that make me feel like I’m about to break something.

(Image credit: Sharmishta Sarkar / TechRadar)

(Image credit: Sharmishta Sarkar / TechRadar)

(Image credit: Sharmishta Sarkar / TechRadar)

(Image credit: Sharmishta Sarkar / TechRadar)

I have to mention the dispenser here before moving on. It has two slots for different solutions (there’s a bottle of detergent and pet odor neutralizer in the box – color-coded so you know which goes in what slot), so you could switch up your detergent use if you wish, but the grip to pull the dispenser out of the base station is designed for right-handed people. That’s not to say left-handers can’t remove it, it will just need a little wrist twisting.

(Image credit: Sharmishta Sarkar / TechRadar)

(Image credit: Sharmishta Sarkar / TechRadar)

(Image credit: Sharmishta Sarkar / TechRadar)

Above this slot is the covered hatch for the two water tanks, while below is the housing for the robot itself. Inside, the wash tray can be removed for cleaning as necessary and you’ll find a brush in the box to aid with that. In fact, I found the brush to be handy in scrubbing out the dirty-water tank when I’ve forgetfully let a little ecosystem grow inside it.

Handily, the rear of the base station has a niche for your fingers when you need to move it to another location, plus cable management that is missing from some robovacs I’ve previously reviewed.

• Design score: 5 / 5

Dreame Aqua10 Ultra review: Performance

• Arguably the best vacuuming and mopping I’ve experienced with a robovac
• 100ºC/212ºF roller mop washing
• Mostly good navigation and battery life, but it could be better

Getting the Aqua10 Ultra connected to my phone and set up for mapping barely took any time. Before the map creation, though, I allowed the robot to charge fully while I tried to get familiar with the app.

Mapping took no more than seven minutes in the test space for this review, which was a one-bedroom apartment of about 40sqm/430sq ft area. It has mixed flooring, with wall-to-wall carpeting in the bedroom and two types of tile flooring everywhere else. The map was accurate for the most part, but I merged and divided a couple of rooms to delineate the open-plan space.

One thing I loved about the initial mapping process was that I didn’t hear the robot at all. Other such models I’ve tested, I’ve at least heard the wheels – here, not a sound. Wheels are well oiled and very smooth, at least on the tiles in my test space.

I then had some teething issues with the Aqua10 Ultra in that my very first task for it was a single-room clean, which it refused to do. I kept getting a ‘destination not found’ error. Even after a full reset and remapping, the issue didn’t go away. I later got it to do a full-home clean (what Dreame calls “global cleaning” in the app) and everything worked a charm after that, even custom routines or single-room cleans.

Vacuuming tests

Dreame lists the suction power at an industry-leading 30,000Pa, but don’t get taken in by that number – a few factors go into how well a robot vacuum can suck up hair, dirt and debris, including airflow through the inside of the bot. That said, the Aqua10 Ultra doesn’t disappoint.

I don’t think I’ve been better impressed by any other robovac as much as I’ve been by this Dreame. I made sure there was a lot of hair embedded into the carpet fibers of the bedroom before its first real test and it did a fantastic job on its Intense setting (there is a Max suction too). On hard floors, Standard is more than enough for regular cleaning tasks, although I would recommend switching it up to Intense if you’re trying to clean up a relatively dirty section of tile or wood.

(Image credit: Sharmishta Sarkar / TechRadar)

(Image credit: Sharmishta Sarkar / TechRadar)

(Image credit: Sharmishta Sarkar / TechRadar)

The Aqua10 Ultra is a rare robovac that also managed to get bits of dirt out of grout too. I tested this by sprinkling some tea from a bag into spaces between tiles in my kitchen and not a speck of black was visible on the white background after it was done on its Intense suction setting. Other premium models I’ve tested have struggled with this task.

Another vacuuming feature I love is the raising of the side brush. This happens every time the robot senses a very dirty area with larger pieces of debris (oats in testing) to prevent scattering. And that translates to 100% pickup across the entire area.

(Image credit: Sharmishta Sarkar / TechRadar)

(Image credit: Sharmishta Sarkar / TechRadar)

(Image credit: Sharmishta Sarkar / TechRadar)

The only time I used Max suction power was when I allowed dust and hair to collect on the bedroom carpet over three weeks and pickup was about 98%, with only the edges suffering from a not-so-good vacuuming. The reason that edge cleaning on the carpet suffers is not unique to Dreame, it’s all robovacs – the bristles of the side brush just aren’t stiff enough to push all hair and debris within carpet fibers along room edges towards the central brushes.

I tried the lowest suction setting (Quiet) only once and I wasn’t particularly impressed – it might be fine if your floors are cleaned daily and you don’t have pets or kids.

Mopping tests

Mopping is probably what the Aqua10 Ultra was truly designed to do and it does it very well. Not only is the roller continually washed with fresh water as it’s mopping, but you also get two choices of pressure the roller can apply on floors. The latter might seem like a good thing on paper but, to be honest, Light pressure is fine for daily mopping when the floors are relatively clean. I would think Normal pressure is what most users would need on a regular basis.

With water levels set to high (level 27) to suit the kind of tiles in my test space, I found the Aqua10 Ultra was capable of tackling most dried stains. Dusty footprints are very easy for it to remove, but it also managed to get rid of spilt-and-dried tea. It even got rid of an unidentified caked-in stain close to my living room rug that my previous robot vacuum wasn’t able to mop up.

For the first time when testing a robovac I felt comfortable sending it to mop up a small wet spill – and that’s only because Dreame promised that the central and side brushes would be raised. Sure enough, a few drops of water weren’t an issue and any moisture that got sucked into the onboard dust box and, hence, into the dust bag, isn’t going to be an issue as the bag in the dock is dried after every single vacuum or mop-after-vacuum session is complete.

Admittedly this test is based on small spills, like a few drops of water on the bathroom floor or a tiny bit of milk on the kitchen tiles, but I’ve previously avoided sending any robovac over something wet, no matter how small. That being said, I’d still be very hesitant to get the Aqua10 Ultra to clean a larger wet spill as I’d worry about the filter inside the onboard dust box.

If you’ve got mixed flooring, you can choose what action the robot takes when mopping – avoid carpets altogether, raise the roller mop or cross without cleaning. I had the Aqua10 Ultra set to mop-raise at all times and, the best part, the roller has its own cover that automatically engages as soon as it senses a carpet.

I’ve never been able to see the cover engage, but I’ve had no damp patches on my carpets, not even the edges or corners where other robovacs would be too slow to raise mops.

Mopping can be done with detergents and a small bottle ships in the box to get you started. Dreame doesn’t specify that the floor cleaner needs to be proprietary, but I’d err on the side of caution and purchase what the brand recommends to avoid damaging the internal mechanisms and voiding warranty.

Dock performance

The standout feature here is the dust-bag drying, which you will need to toggle on in the app under Dock Settings. When switched on, the dock will dry the dust bag with warm air after every cleaning session. This prevents odors building or an ecosystem growing inside if moisture gets trapped when the robot vacuums over a few drops of water or any other small spill.

That's not all, though, because the Aqua10 Ultra also looks after the roller well by washing it at 100ºC / 212ºF. That's as good as sterilization and eliminates any odors, washes out stains and gets the roller ready for its next clean. This feature is optional and, if you don't have pets, you could just have the roller cleaned with warm water, sterilizing it every once in a while. The usual hot-air drying takes place to make sure the roller is dried between uses.

The first time I used the Aqua10 Ultra, though, I thought it was using a lot of water, but from the second mopping run onwards, water use has been quite efficient and I didn't need to constantly ensure the clean-water tank was topped up. The only thing that needs doing is ensuring the dirty-water tank is cleaned frequently or you will have nasty odors to contend with. However, not only does the tank have a tight lid, but there's another lid (not hermetically sealed, though) between you and the bad smells. You still wouldn't want to leave dirty water in there for long.

The Aqua10 Ultra dock also allows you to ensure the wash tray is cleaned thoroughly. This is done via the app to start, wherein clean water is poured over the washboard and excess moisture is removed from the roller. The robot will then exit the dock so you can use the provided brush to scrub the tray – just click on finished button on the app when you're done and the dock will take care of the drying once the bot is nestled back in.

Long story short, dock functionality is just as good as the robot's cleaning.

Obstacle avoidance & navigation

Not only does the Dreame Aqua10 Ultra clean well, but its obstacle avoidance is superb. Every robot vacuum I’ve tested until now has gotten thin charging cables entangled with the central bar brush – not so here. Even when unfurled (lying stretched out on the floor), the Aqua10 Ultra’s sensors can spot a cable and it just cleans right along the side without trying to roll over it (as pictured below).

I have one area in my living room where most robovacs get confused – a narrow section of hard floor edged by a wall on one side, a carpet on the other, plus a couch and a slim-legged chair to add to confusing textures. Not only did the Aqua10 Ultra navigate around the legs of the chair well, but it also managed to ensure the strip of hard floor was cleaned each time without the mop rolling over the rug.

The automatic 4cm raising of the robot, however, is a little temperamental. Even with a threshold marked in the app – which should tell the robot to rise, step over and carry on – I found the Aqua10 Ultra didn’t often register the threshold and would try to navigate it as any other low-rise obstacle, trying to find the best way over it. When it did rise automatically on its wheels, it was a fun sight to see.

Overall, navigation is great, although I have to note that I had teething issues. Immediately after setup, I wanted to test the robot’s functionality in just one room and it just couldn’t “find the designated area”. A full reset and remapping didn’t fix the problem either. However, it worked just fine if I opted to do a full-house clean (what Dreame calls a “global” cleaning), after which choosing a single room or a zone was fine.

Battery life

Running on a 6,400mAh battery, which is quite standard these days, the Aqua10 Ultra should, on paper, give you upwards of 200 minutes of cleaning. In reality, that’s not going to be the case as most users won’t be running it on its lowest settings to conserve battery life.

In my testing, I found battery use inefficient during its first few runs where the drain was quite significant – dropping from full to 40% on Intense vacuuming after running for 30 minutes. That improved to falling to 62% on the same setting for the same duration as I used the bot more.

Depending on what kind of custom cleaning routine you choose, it’s possible an average one-bedroom home could be cleaned without needing additional time at the mains, but larger homes will definitely have a full-house cleaning interrupted due to battery drain. This is more so if you have mixed flooring as the robot automatically increases suction on carpets.

One small issue that Dreame could consider fixing is not getting the suction to start as soon as the bot leaves the base station. I found that a minimum of 1% battery would always drain before it reached its starting point. That might not seem like much, but that clocks up when it needs to empty its dust box regularly during a single vacuuming session. And unlike the Ecovacs Deebot X11 OmniCyclone, it doesn’t have fast charging to top up a little while its mop is being washed.

• Performance score: 4.5 / 5

Dreame Aqua10 Ultra review: App and voice control

• Nicely designed app, but some setting options are unclear
• Custom routines have limitations
• Voice control is easy, but has limited functionality

The Dreame companion app in its current form isn’t bad at all – in fact, it’s one of the more appealing apps, with perhaps just Roborock outdoing it. However, it took me a while to wrap my head around the app as right from the get go I found no option to start the mapping process. A bit of playing around with it solved that problem, and the resulting map was accurate and I found it easy to edit.

What I love about the editing process is that I could manually add thresholds, something I’ve not seen on any other robot vacuum app – although I will admit that didn’t work as I expected it to (the bot sometimes didn’t even realize it needed to raise itself). In fact, the map adds room names intelligently as it’s being created, but it doesn’t always get it right.

Dreame gives you a heck of a lot of control over the cleaning routines, like adjusting cleaning parameters such as suction strength or mop water flow rates on a per-room basis, while scheduling, remote control and notifications help keep cleaning convenient. This is the first time I’ve seen a robovac brand offer extensive control over the ‘intelligent’ automatic mode – I could choose my own suction and water levels here, while all other brands use machine learning to set these automatically. Dreame calls this the CleanGenius mode.

It took me a while to figure out how to set up custom Shortcut routines, like Bedroom Clean, or Daily Clean. Even then, I had to ensure I'd saved and tapped on any tick icons or it didn't save anything. Roborock and Ecovacs, on the other hand, have made setting up custom routines a lot simpler.

I also couldn’t figure out why none of the carpets in my test space were getting vacuumed as they’re set to be ‘avoided’ by default and the app doesn’t make that clear – even when you choose to vacuum carpets first. These are little things, but small changes could make the app a lot more streamlined and easier to navigate.

I've also noticed that the Dreame app is slower to respond compared to some other brands I’ve tested – it’s just a few seconds of lag between choosing a clean and the robot exiting the dock, but I’ve seen other brands work a little quicker.

Smart home integration with Alexa, Siri and Google Assistant is available, but the Dreame voice assistant is quite quick to respond if you wake it up. The voice commands you give it are limited in nature, like telling it to start a saved Shortcut or returning to the dock, but it’s an excellent hands-free experience. There’s even Matter support on board for future smart home integration if you ever set up a central hub.

• App & voice control score: 4 / 5

Should I buy the Dreame Aqua10 Ultra?

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Dreame Aqua10 Ultra review: Also consider

How I tested the Dreame Aqua10 Ultra

For this review, I used the Aqua10 Ultra for a period of five weeks, running it on mixed flooring an average of twice a week (there were times when I ran it about four times in a day for various tests).

I initially had issues with the robot unable to navigate to its designated area, but that issue was solved after it did a full-home clean. The test space, as mentioned earlier in this review, was a small one-bedroom apartment with carpet in the bedroom and tiles everywhere else.

I spent quite a lot of time trying to understand the app, but once things were set up as I wished them to be, running the Aqua10 Ultra was easy. I performed full-home cleans, custom routines, single-room cleans, even zone cleaning for some tests. I used the shower divider in the bathroom to test its ProLeap system to clear thresholds.

I also used the provided detergent and odor neutralizer in the dock.

I put the Aqua10 Ultra through TechRadar's usual tests for vacuuming and mopping (using oats and tea from a bag for the former, and a dollop of chutney for the latter). I also conducted our standard obstacle avoidance test, but paid special attention to how it handles cables as Dreame does advertize it to be excellent.

As you've probably already read, the Aqua10 Ultra passed all its tests with flying colors, and my complaints were mostly minor.

Read more about how we test vacuum cleaners

[First reviewed December 2025]