Dreame X50 Ultra – the robot vacuum cleaner with legs
No robot vacuum climbs higher than the new Dreame X50 Ultra Complete. It performs extremely well in all areas – justifying its high price.
The world of tech is a never-ending epic battle with competitors trying to one-up each other with every new generation of products. In the case of digital cameras, it was all about sensor sizes; in the case of smartphones, the number of lenses. Now, there’s a climbing competition underway among robot vacuum cleaners.
Roborock was one step ahead of the bunch, launching the Qrevo Curv at the end of 2024. In my test, it managed a threshold of three centimetres. At the time, there was no other robot that could manage an obstacle of this size without a ramp. Enter the Dreame X50 Ultra Complete, which claims to go over obstacles of up to six centimetres.
How high the Dreame really climbs
To compare the robots with each other, I bought square lengths of wood of different heights. I deliberately chose the highest level of difficulty: a right-angled obstacle. This way, you can be sure that the vacuum cleaner will manage the threshold in your home.
The manufacturers use a bit of a trick to calculate the maximum height. They do so using a stepped obstacle, which makes things easier for the robot. Roborock claims four centimetres of clearance for a double step, but it only managed three centimetres when I tested it. On the Dreame website, you can also see that the maximum clearance of six centimetres is made up of 4.2 centimetres for the first step plus 1.8 centimetres for the second step.
18-millimetre threshold
At just under two centimetres, the Dreame has no problem at all. It’s interesting to note that the threshold already appears in the app after just two crossings. You then have the following options: add the obstacle to the map and have the robot always climb over it, delete the obstacle (if it was only temporary), or tell the Dreame to never cross it.
As soon as the threshold is marked on the map, the Dreame first cleans the area in front of it, then crosses the obstacle and cleans the area behind it separately.
28-millimetre threshold
The X50 also tackles this height without any problems. You can see the technology it relies on nicely here. In addition to the main wheels, it has two extendable legs with small wheels at the ends. The robot positions itself in front of the obstacle, then pushes its front half over the threshold until its legs are touching it. At this point, the legs fold in towards the back, propelling the robot over the obstacle.
The Roborock also managed this height in my test, but it struggled much more than the Dreame. Dreame’s leg system clearly shows its technical superiority here.
41-millimetre threshold
Even this height is no real obstacle for the Dreame X50. The robot masters the 41 millimetres just as effortlessly as the 28 millimetres. As you can see in the video below, in this case it leads with one leg and then follows with the other.
50-millimetre threshold
According to the technical specifications, the Dreame should only make it over an obstacle of this height if it’s split in two; 4.2 centimetres is the robot’s official limit. But it still manages the 50 millimetres, even if it does take a little longer. The X50 drives up to the obstacle as usual, but then realises that the angle is insufficient. Once on the threshold, it manages to stretch its legs again to push itself over.
60-millimetre threshold and the bottom line
This is the real endpoint. The Dreame makes several attempts to overcome the rather high 60-millimetre obstacle but ultimately fails. Even so, the Dreame didn’t get stuck on the obstacle. Instead, it tried to find a way around it or simply completed the rest of the cleaning job.
The Dreame X50 climbs higher than the competition thanks to an impressive bit of tech. The robot sets the record at five centimetres, clearly beating the competition from Roborock, which only reached around three centimetres.
A nearly perfect set-up
The Dreame X50 Ultra makes entering the world of robot vacuums easy for newcomers. Setting it up is simple, fast and amazingly precise. You download the app, have to create an account (as with just about any robot vacuum) and can then connect to the Wi-Fi with just a few clicks.
The most important functions are then explained step by step, and you can choose if you want the sensor tower to retract if space is limited, for example. The app is available in many languages.
The first important step after setting up the app is to map your home. The X50 Ultra scanned the 120 square metres of my 4.5-room apartment in seven minutes – a new record and a whole minute faster than the X40 Ultra Complete!
For comparison: the budget Dreame L10s Pro Ultra Heat took twelve minutes, while the Samsung Jet Bot Steam+ took ten minutes. The climbing competitor, the Roborock Qrevo Curv, took an eternity to complete the exact same procedure – 17 minutes – and was highly inaccurate to boot.
That’s day-and-night compared with the X50 Ultra, which is fast and extremely precise. The X50 is the first model to recognise and correctly assign all the rooms in my complex apartment layout. The only correction I had to make was to assign a small part of the living room to the hallway because it’s more convenient for the cleaning programme.
The robot knows exactly where to retract its sensor
The sensor on the robot’s topside offers a huge advantage for navigation, as it allows the robot to scan its surroundings better. However, it also makes it harder for the vacuum cleaner to get under furniture such as beds or sofas.
With the sensor, the X50 Ultra is 11.1 centimetres tall, which is too tall for many pieces of furniture that have low ground clearance. Dreame has thought of this: the sensor can be retracted, shrinking the robot’s height to 8.9 centimetres.
With the sensor tucked away, cameras at front and back of the robot take over navigation to clean under your sofa or bed. An LED light turns on to help it get to even the darkest corners.
What’s fascinating is that the robot can use its sensors to calculate how much space it needs. After a few cleaning passes, it remembers the areas in which it has to retract the sensor tower, and plots the bed and sofa on the map.
Cleaning as it should be
There’s a reason why I’m bringing up the topic of cleaning at the very end of this review. The X50 shows no weaknesses, but also no strengths in everyday use compared to its predecessor or other top models on the market. Robot vacuums have reached a level that can hardly be improved upon.
In any case, the X50 is extremely uncomplicated. It does its job, vacuuming and mopping exactly the way I want it to. Thanks to the extendable brushes, it cleans edges and corners too. Use the Dreame regularly, and you’ll be able to skip cleaning the floors manually.
The reliable obstacle detection is particularly pleasing. For example, cables are reliably navigated around, and other objects that are in the way are documented and reported in the app. You’ll have to actively enable photos to be taken and uploaded to the cloud. In addition to the lidar scanner, the Dreame always uses its cameras for navigation. So, if you want to use the robot, you’ll have to trust Dreame in terms of data protection.
Using a little trick mentioned in the article below, you can make optimum use of the base station for maximum autonomy and have the robot clean your entire home several times before you need to do anything. Without said trick, however, it’s worth emptying the waste water tank at least every other day.
In a nutshell
Top marks in all respects
The Dreame X50 Ultra is one of the best robot vacuums currently available. It shows no weaknesses in everyday cleaning and offers all technologically possible features: a retractable laser tower, extendable brushes and mops that are automatically cleaned with hot water in the base station and dried with hot air.
The robot vacuum also climbs higher than all its competitors. With its legs, the X50 can easily navigate thresholds of up to five centimetres. If you have obstacles like this at home, this model is for you.
Pro
- Solid climbing system
- Perfect navigation
- Intelligent maps and functions
- Perfect, fully automatic cleaning
- Retractable laser tower
Contra
- Expensive
- Bulky base station
Header image: Lorenz Keller
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Lorenz Keller
Senior Editor
Lorenz.Keller@digitecgalaxus.chGadgets are my passion - whether you need them for the home office, for the household, for sport and pleasure or for the smart home. Or, of course, for the big hobby next to the family, namely fishing.
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