The Dreame X50 Ultra Climbing Robovac Is More Than a Gimmick

A growing percentage of Americans are living with robots, and the first robot a household usually acquires is a vacuum. Less expensive models might do a decent job of wheeling around the house and picking up a good amount of dirt, but to truly have a hands-off experience, you'll need to shell out the big bucks. Premium vacuum and mop models, like the Dreame X50 Ultra offer you a self-emptying charging base, not only for the vacuum, but for the mop water, too. They have a slot in the tower for cleaning solution so you don't ever have to add it to the robot yourself or spend your own time sanitizing the mop pads. The robots know when to recharge, or clean themselves, and can use AI to intelligently learn the challenges your home has and get better at cleaning over time. They have brushes that extend out from under the robot, promising to get into tight spaces and up against walls. They feature absurd levels of suction power, and promise to suck away anything on the floor. The X50 Ultra promises all of this, but that's not even what it sells itself on.

This robot can actually yeet itself

The big deal on the X50 is the ability to climb, and while Dreame says it can only get up and over a 2.5-inch threshold, that's not nothing. I actually watched it surmount a three-inch step day after day, and I was never less tickled by the experience of watching it do so, especially with how effortless it seemed. This works because the X50 has a liftable chassis in front, and uses this to huck itself over steps. Because of this, I was able to hide the charging station in a laundry room that was previously off limits to robots due to the threshold in and out of it. Even low thresholds have been the bane of other robots' existence for years, so a robot that treats them as no big deal is, well, a big deal. And I'm excited to report that it works.

But the ability to cross thresholds wouldn't mean much if the Dreame X50 Ultra were bad at cleaning. Luckily, it succeeded on multiple fronts.

A retractable LiDAR tower for getting into tighter spaces

Credit: Amanda Blum

Based on appearance, the Dreame X50 Ultra doesn't look much different from last year's robots, which means it can fit in tight places. The tower, which comes in black or white molded plastic and metal and stands 25-inches tall, will fit in cabinetry or tuck under tables if you'd like to hide it. The robot itself was also designed to be slimmer (3.5 inches) than its predecessors to better slide under low furniture, hampered only by the pop up tower the robot engages for LiDAR navigation. That pop up will retract back into the robot when it senses low clearances, and at that point, the robot will rely on the onboard cameras, lights and AI to navigate, which it does well enough most of the time.

The best mapping I've seen yet

Credit: Amanda Blum

I was impressed by how quickly the robot mapped my house, despite the space being incredibly large and featuring a labyrinthian layout involving long hallways and wings. The map might have been the most accurate I've seen yet, showing clearly the layout of furniture, floor types, rugs, and other obstacles, and making incredibly educated guesses about what kind of room was being logged, including laundry, bathrooms and dining rooms. This may not seem like an important detail, but how accurately the robot can detect different floor types and where walls are portends how well the robot will be able to clean those spaces. To get close enough to a wall to clean it, it must know it is there. And to adjust to a new floor surface, it must understand what kind of floor it is.

Extending brushes and rollers, not suction power, count

So much is being made of the suction power of new robots, with numbers that have jumped to absurd levels. One of my favorite robots, the Switchbot K10+, does a great job sweeping at only 2,500Pa. The X50 Ultra is rated for 20,000Pa, in comparison. Does that translate to sweeping that's ten times better? No, but that doesn't mean the X50 does a bad job.

Credit: Amanda Blum

A good metric for finding out how good a job a robot will do is to examine the onboard brushes that direct dirt, dust and detritus into the robots suction path, and the rollers that push it into the robot. Last year, robots started toying with mechanics that extended these brushes out from under the robot, reaching into corners, under toe kicks, and into crevices. This allowed the, to get closer to walls and into smaller spaces. The X50's brushes extend further, on arms that reach out, and the effect is noticeable. I repeatedly ran the robot after meal prep in my giant kitchen, and despite the floor being littered with cooking debris, the robot didn't leave any crumbs behind, even under the toe kicks and well under the refrigerator.

But there is a downside. The X50 uses two rollers under the robot, and while I'm seeing a lot of innovation in other types of robots, the X50 suffers from the same problems all two-roller robots have when encountering large debris like wood chips or dog toy fluff: it gets stuck. When trying to suck up this kind of material, the robot pauses and you have to clear the rollers, which while rare, does defeat the purpose of a robovac. In some cases, the onboard AI identified the fluff as potential dog poop, and avoided it altogether, which I suppose does solve the issue but then raises another one. Still, in an environment laden with dust (we're in the desert), the X50 managed to keep the floors dust free throughout my three week test with very little human intervention needed.

Great daily mopping, still struggling as a deep cleaning tool

While I found the machine did a nice job mopping the floors on a daily basis, it struggled, as most robots do, with dried liquids on the floor. During daily runs, the X50 was able to tackle a really large floor without me having to change the tank of water on the tower, but as it was simply mopping a generally already clean floor, it didn't demand much. If liquid was dropped on the floor, the mop competently cleaned it up, so long as it was still wet. But once I introduced dried stains in the kitchen, like juice or mud, the robot struggled.

That's not necessarily a surprise. As of yet, most robots don't have the scrubbing power a human with a handheld mop does, but the X50 was supposed to be better. Remember, that liftable chassis means the robot can also exert pressure on its backside, where the mopping pads are. In reality, models like the Dreame are getting closer to perfect, and they do make a good dent in tough stains, making it easier to follow up and finish the job manually with a sponge or towel. But know that if an offending substance is dried on, the robot probably can't go it alone.

The app isn't perfect, but the bells are whistles are there if you dig

The X50 Ultra has all the in-app features I now expect to see in a premium robot. Overall, the app isn't unpleasant to use, but I found a lot of functions buried deep in the interface. For instance, I knew there was a way to share control of the robot, but I had to run off to search the internet to find out how to do it. An average person would not have found or known about the function, since it's buried.

The same experience holds true across the whole program. I still think Roborock and Switchbot have cleaner app experiences, but again, that doesn't mean that Dreame offers less overall. It's just not as upfront with its functionality, so you may need to dig a little to find features like remote control of the robot or a breakdown of the wear and tear on your robot's parts.

No evidence of robot learning, yet

One of the big changes we've seen in robot vacuums this year is the addition of AI, which robots use in conjunction with onboard cameras to analyze what's in front of them, and what to do about it. This is part of why the map I discussed earlier is so much more accurate than those made with previous, LiDAR-only robots. The robot is meant to continually learn your home, and get better at cleaning it over time.

However, while I was generally happy with how this robot cleaned, I will admit I did not get a sense that the robot got better at cleaning over the three weeks I tested it. The few times the robot got stuck, it did so in the same spot: a corner with plenty of light, space and exit points. At one point, I cleared a bigger exit path for the bot, hoping it would remember it. It did not. Still, it was the only trouble spot in a massive home—interesting given that I have some actually difficult to navigate furniture placed elsewhere.

What my tests looked like

Credit: Amanda Blum

I routinely test robot vacuums, and both my canine and I are exceptional at producing floor detritus for robots to gobble up. Aside from what I've already discussed, for three weeks, I ran the Dreame through a large home in the desert, ensuring every feature was challenged. The robot had to tackle thresholds and steps, every kind of flooring you can experience, and complicated furniture setups. As a base level test, It ran a few times a week on a routine, to see how well it could execute a whole house clean. Additionally, I ran it on Friday nights after group dinners, and in the kitchen after cooking each night. Additional spot cleaning was done on individual zones, notably between the couch and coffee table, a notorious crumb collection spot.

I also purposefully introduced obstacles like floor stains, pets (and their accompanying floof), kids' messes, and crumbs of all sizes. Plus, I moved furniture around to see how the robot reacted, and asked it to break up its routine, as well as let others handle it for me to see how easy it was to learn.

In the end, it passed nearly all of these tests without issue. While it'll still get stuck sometimes, for general use, it's a great pick.

Like it or not, expensive robots work better

The unfortunate reality of buying robot vacuums is that you get more by paying more, so the flagship models tend to have the most to offer. Still, many that I test aren't worth the prices they command, which often land in the $1,400-1,800 range. The X50 Ultra is the first model outside of Roborock to actually earn my respect, which is extra impressive given that it comes with an innovative new feature, which a company could easily gouge you on if desired. It outperformed other recent, similarly priced models from Narwal and Eufy with ease, and while the Roborock Saros will try to climb a threshold, the X50 is the first I've seen to actually do it. For that reason, if you've got high thresholds or a step that keeps getting in the way of your cleaning, I'd choose the Dreame X50 Ultra over the Roborock S8 MaxV Ultra, Q Revo MaxV or the Saros 10. Using it isn't exactly as easy as waving a magic wand, but it's dang close.

Even better— at time of writing, the Dreame X50 Ultra is available on Amazon for $1,699, with a $200 off coupon available at checkout that knocks it down to $1,499.