• View or buy at Dreame UK / Amazon / Very

Dreame H15 Pro Wet and Dry vacuum review: two-minute review

Officially unveiled at CES 2025, the Dreame H15 Pro Wet and Dry vacuum boldly promises “a completely clean, untangled and spotless home with zero effort". While the claim might seem audacious, on test I found it almost completely held true. This is one of the very best wet and dry vacuums on the market.

The Dreame H15 Pro boasts several notable upgrades over its predecessor, the H14 Pro. Suction power has increased to 21,000 Pa (up from 18,000 Pa), the battery life is 20 minutes longer (an impressive 60mins) and the roller drying heat has been dialed up from 60C to 90C, which is great for swerving mold and nasty odors.

While it no longer includes the H14 Pro's LED-illuminated brush head or automatic detergent dispenser, these omissions are hardly deal-breakers. Not least because the H15 Pro has one unique feature that no other cordless wet and dry vaccum is currently offering – a retractable squeegee. This is a squeegee style strip at the front of the roller mop that automatically drops down to sweep excess water and debris back towards the roller mop and into the machine. It then automatically retracts to prevent streaks. The aim is to get closer to the walls, and it works extremely well.

Although heavy to lift, the auto-traction (powered) wheels mean its pretty easy to push around in use, and it also boasts excellent limbo-skills – it can slink under the lowest furniture, thanks to a lie-flat design.

There are four power modes, including a low-effort automated mode, and one you can customize via the Dreamehome app, and a vacuum-only mode. On test, was outstanding for cleaning spillages on hard floors, and great for deep-cleaning carpet with water too. Like almost all wet-dry vacuums, it's not effective on uneven flooring, and approach with extreme caution on delicate floors too – in Turbo mode it marked my engineered timber flooring with its over-zealous cleaning (sob).

Price-wise, it's one of the more expensive wet-and-dry vacuums on the market, but if you have a lot of (tough) hard floors and are looking for a low-effort, ultra-effective cleaner, it's worth the investment. Read on for my full Dreame H15 Pro Wet and Dry vacuum review.

Dreame H15 Pro Wet and Dry vacuum review: price & availability

• List price: £599
• Launch date: January 2025
• Availability: UK

The Dreame H15 Pro officially launched in January 2025, and at time of writing it's currently only available in the UK. I've asked about US launch plans and will update this review when I hear back.

With a list price of £599 (equivalent to around $775 / AU$1,230), the H15 Pro is one of the priciest wet and dry vacuums on the market. It's available to buy direct from Dreame, and at various third party retailers like Amazon and Very.

Its price reflects the advanced technology on offer – think AI-driven robotic arm, retractable squeegee and hot water bath brush washing. You might also be able to avoid paying full price – I've already spotted a £100 off discount on the Dreame UK website. With its recent market debut, it's likely that additional deals and promotions will emerge over time, potentially making for a more palatable price-tag moving forwards.

In terms of the wider market, one of the biggest competitors is Tineco, whose priciest wet-dry vacuum is $699.99 / £599 (head to our Tineco Floor One S7 Pro review to find out more about that one). Alternatively there's the well-established Shark HydroVac, which is our favorite budget option with a list price of $199 / £199.

Ultimately, if you’re after the latest cleaning technology and are willing to invest in a high-performance device, the H15 Pro is well worth a gander. For those on a tighter budget, however, it might be wise to wait for further discounts or consider less tech-packed alternatives.

• Value for money score: 4 out of 5

Dreame H15 Pro Wet and Dry specs

Dreame H15 Pro Wet and Dry vacuum review: design

• 180-degree lie-flat design and self-cleaning base
• Range of cleaning modes, including automated and vacuum-only
• Large, intuitive display panel, and optional audio commentary

The Dreame H15 Pro arrived in a large cardboard box – quite heavy but manageable for one able adult – and, once removed, was easy to put together. I just had to slot the handle into the main unit and plug the floor/cleaning base into the wall. Besides the main unit and charging base, it arrived with a bottle of detergent, a replacement filter, spare roller and cleaning brush.

My initial impression of the design was a little underwhelming. The black and grey color scheme, accented with chrome trim, isn’t ugly, but it doesn’t quite convey the high-tech aesthetic I expected from a product boasting cutting-edge innovation. The floorhead feels large and boxy, while the main unit lacks the refined, streamlined look of competitors like Dyson.

Things improved once I’d charged the battery to full juice and turned it on. The bright, LED display panel is generous and intuitive, making it easy to keep an eye on battery life, cleaning modes and error codes (such as empty water and blocked tube). During self-cleaning cycles, the display counts down progress.

There’s also a running audio commentary of every move you make, including turning on, drying, set cleaning mode etc, with a rather irritating robotic accent. You can’t change it, but I did turn the volume down in the app, and you can turn it off altogether if preferred.

Speaking of which, connecting to said app (Dreamehome) was relatively painless, I just needed to make sure I used our 2.4 GHz connection. The App platform is well designed and set out, though not terribly exciting in terms of functions – but this is not a robot so I guess there’s only so much you can set it up to do. (But if you really want zero effort and a multitude of control options, check out the best robot vacuums with mopping capabilities – Narwal’s Freo Z Ultra is my current favorite.)

I did tweak a few settings, such as personalizing a custom mode (with the most water and power of course) and changed the drying process to high speed, which takes it from 30mins to 5mins, because I’m impatient like that! But if you can’t be bothered with another app in your life, I don’t think you’d be missing too much by not connecting it.

The main design highlight in terms of user ease is the 180-degree, lie-flat design, which as the name suggests, means the whole thing can limbo right down to the ground to scoot under any furniture or gap measuring a minimum of 5.5in (14cm). This was handy for getting under my kitchen sofa and wall-hung toilets, but the floorhead was too bulky to slink under my kitchen island unit.

The charging base is quite large and not in any way beautiful – I’d need it to live in the utility room or other out of the way spot if it was a permanent resident in my home. I also didn’t like how the vacuum pitches forward when docked, like a drunkard, rather than sitting up straight.

Looks aside, the charging base does way more than just top up the battery – it’s a full-on cleaning station. When docked, it acts like a bath for the roller mop, using 240ml of 100C water to clean away dirt and bacteria, before drying with hot air. The idea is you’ll never have a smelly old water situation and the next time you reach for the cleaner, it’ll be ready with a clean mop, and it works really well.

Overall, the design is average, and the build quality could be better, but the functionality is superior, so I guess it depends on your priorities in life. Personally, I like everything in my home to look beautiful – shallow, I know – but the fact that the Dreame H15 Pro is exceptionally good (more on that next) and not offensive to look at, means I’d happily make an exception here.

• Design score: 3.5 out of 5

Dreame H15 Pro Wet and Dry vacuum review: performance

• Excellent cleaning (including edges) on almost all hard floor types
• Struggles with uneven floors, and so-so suction on carpet
• Beware: Turbo mode can damage delicate floors

I do have a robot mop that I love for day-to-day use but if I want my floors really clean, I’ve always found it hard to beat a good old-fashioned mop and bucket. While I am still not ready to ditch that completely, I’ll admit that on performance, the Dreame H15 Pro exceeded my expectations.

Right from the start, I was impressed by its decent suction power, and once I’d tweaked the water output to max on the app, the mopping performance matched it. With multiple cleaning programs at my fingertips (a button in the handle), I could easily switch between a deep clean Turbo mode for tougher stains to Smart mode for general use.

This latter mode automatically adjusts cleaning according to the surface/dirt levels and seemed to work well. Movement is self-propelled backwards and forwards, which makes light work of pushing it around the floors, and the head pivots smoothly, too.

Edge cleaning is often a challenge for vacuum/mop devices, but the Dreame H15 Pro truly excels in this area thanks to its innovative squeegee feature and adaptive cleaning technology. I particularly enjoyed watching the squeegee in action – it automatically lowered as you pull back, and rose moving forwards, dragging dirt away from the edges and corners as it went. During my testing, I placed flour right up to the skirting board, and the H15 Pro managed to pick up every last bit with impressive precision.

One of the first things I discovered, to my absolute horror, was that the Turbo mode marked my engineered timber flooring (sob), creating random ridges where the mop roller was presumably spinning too fast in one spot. Once I’d realized, or rather my husband pointed them out (he was not impressed), I went into the App and changed the custom mode to the gentlest power (soft) and the lower of the two water settings, and made sure I kept it moving at all times while the roller was rolling.

This did prevent any additional damage but made me quite nervous to use it on our wood flooring, especially since it was one of the main expenses of our renovation. If you have any kind of real timber flooring, I’d recommend you avoid the Turbo mode like the plague.

Beside the wood flooring, I also have vinyl laminate floors, porcelain tiles, reclaimed terracotta tiles and carpets through my home. I’d say the best results were on the vinyl and porcelain – truly excellent and easily as good, if not better, than using a manual mop. (The wood floor cleaning results were also good to be fair, but the fact they got badly marked wasn’t ideal – here's more on how to clean wooden floors.)

Our terracotta floors have such deep grout lines and so much rugged texture, the Dreame H15 Pro only really licked the surface, even in Turbo mode, so I still had to reach for my faithful mop and bucket. That's not surprising – figuring out how to deal with not-flat floors is a challenge that wet-dry vacuum makers have yet to overcome.

This particular floor cleaner can also be used on carpet. I gave the beige colored 100% wool carpet in my living room a quick mop in Turbo mode and was astonished by the dirt that came out – very satisfying. The stains stayed put sadly, and probably need specialist cleaning.

It can also used in Suction Only mode for carpets, but I'd say it was only so-so in this setting. I’d occasionally use it on the living room carpet if I was already busy mopping everywhere else, but if I really needed to get deep into the pile and dig out all the dog hairs, I had to bring out my normal cordless vacuum.

Mine is a Miele and super sucky, but TechRadar's best cordless vacuum guide has more recommendations if you need them. There’s also the issue of no detail tools for upholstery, cobwebs, skirting boards and so on. In short, I don’t think you could use this as your only vacuum cleaner.

Cleaning tests

During my standard vacuuming tests – using flour to simulate fine debris and oats for larger particles – the performance truly surpassed my expectations. For the flour test on engineered wood flooring, I used Smart mode so the machine could choose the setting that would offer the best results. And it clearly knows its onions because it only took one pass to completely clear away the flour, including those hard-to-reach grooves between the planks. The efficiency was nothing short of impressive.

Next came the oats test, again on engineered wood, and this time the Smart mode wasn’t quite cutting it – the oats were being pushed around rather than suctioned up – so I switched to Turbo mode, and they were eradicated in just a few more passes.

Next, I spilled the beans, literally, on the porcelain tiles in our cloakroom (I wasn’t risking staining our wood flooring I’m afraid; divorce is too expensive these days!). In Smart mode, the Dreame H15 Pro gobbled them up in two sweeps: mind = blown.

I also tried a puddle of blackcurrant squash on the porcelain and the same results, gone in two passes. Over the weeks of reviewing, I reached for the Dreame H15 Pro whenever there was a liquid spill (usually around the dishwasher and dog bowls), and it never once failed me.

Maintenance

Filling and emptying the unit was hassle-free thanks to a smart design that separates the wet and dry compartments. The latter did get pretty grim because the contents were all mushy and wet but that’s where the brush accessories comes in handy.

You do have to put the detergent in the water reservoir each time, but the bottle comes with a handy dosing cap and it really wasn’t difficult. I found I could mop my entire ground floor (five rooms plus hallway) before needing to refill the reservoir, usually before it could clean the mop roller. The App and audio alert tells you when to refill and empty the waste-water unit. Both clip in and out easily.

After each mopping session, the self-cleaning base kicked in. It was rather noisy – my decibel meter App recorded cleaning at 74 dBA, which is pretty intrusive given that I’d located the base in my open-plan kitchen/living space. To cut down on disruption, I mostly used the rapid 5 minute program. I also turned off automatic cleaning, preferring to do it myself as and when I felt it was required, because it seemed a bit excessive to go through a clean cycle if I’d just mopped up one small spill.

Another bonus of this model is the hair-evading mop roller, which has some kind of hidden cutting tool that ensures hair doesn’t tangle around it. I can confirm it works perfectly.

• Performance score: 4.5 out of 5

Dreame H15 Pro Wet and Dry review: battery life

I found the battery life on the Dreame H15 Pro to be more than adequate for our four-bedroom home – admittedly I didn’t use it as much on the carpeted bedrooms or living room but I could cover the rest of the house, including the two upstairs bathrooms and play room, without running out of power if I stuck to Smart mode. The battery lasts an impressive 60 mins and the LED panel kept me updated on the current charge, so I could tell if I’d need to recharge but I never did. I did notice the power draining more quickly in Turbo mode, but that’s to be expected.

• Battery score: 5 out of 5

Should you buy the Dreame H15 Pro Wet and Dry vacuum?

Buy it if…

Don't buy it if…

How I tested the Dreame H15 Pro Wet and Dry cordless

I put the Dreame H15 Pro Wet and Dry vacuum through its paces for four weeks this spring in our Victorian, four-bed detached family home, which hosts two messy children and two even messier and especially hairy spaniels. With an open-plan downstairs and a mix of flooring – porcelain, terracotta, luxury vinyl, engineered oak, wool carpets, and plenty of flat-weave rugs – I had the perfect testing ground. I used it as my main vacuum (except on the staircase – too heavy!) and tried every cleaning mode. I even ran some messy tests with flour, oats, and baked beans, measured noise levels with my iPhone, studied edge-closeness and tracked battery life and charging times.

Read more about how we test

First reviewed March 2025

• View or buy at Dreame UK / Amazon / Very

Dreame H15 Pro Wet and Dry vacuum review: two-minute review

Officially unveiled at CES 2025, the Dreame H15 Pro Wet and Dry vacuum boldly promises “a completely clean, untangled and spotless home with zero effort". While the claim might seem audacious, on test I found it almost completely held true. This is one of the very best wet and dry vacuums on the market.

The Dreame H15 Pro boasts several notable upgrades over its predecessor, the H14 Pro. Suction power has increased to 21,000 Pa (up from 18,000 Pa), the battery life is 20 minutes longer (an impressive 60mins) and the roller drying heat has been dialed up from 60C to 90C, which is great for swerving mold and nasty odors.

While it no longer includes the H14 Pro's LED-illuminated brush head or automatic detergent dispenser, these omissions are hardly deal-breakers. Not least because the H15 Pro has one unique feature that no other cordless wet and dry vaccum is currently offering – a retractable squeegee. This is a squeegee style strip at the front of the roller mop that automatically drops down to sweep excess water and debris back towards the roller mop and into the machine. It then automatically retracts to prevent streaks. The aim is to get closer to the walls, and it works extremely well.

Although heavy to lift, the auto-traction (powered) wheels mean its pretty easy to push around in use, and it also boasts excellent limbo-skills – it can slink under the lowest furniture, thanks to a lie-flat design.

There are four power modes, including a low-effort automated mode, and one you can customize via the Dreamehome app, and a vacuum-only mode. On test, was outstanding for cleaning spillages on hard floors, and great for deep-cleaning carpet with water too. Like almost all wet-dry vacuums, it's not effective on uneven flooring, and approach with extreme caution on delicate floors too – in Turbo mode it marked my engineered timber flooring with its over-zealous cleaning (sob).

Price-wise, it's one of the more expensive wet-and-dry vacuums on the market, but if you have a lot of (tough) hard floors and are looking for a low-effort, ultra-effective cleaner, it's worth the investment. Read on for my full Dreame H15 Pro Wet and Dry vacuum review.

Dreame H15 Pro Wet and Dry vacuum review: price & availability

• List price: £599
• Launch date: January 2025
• Availability: UK

The Dreame H15 Pro officially launched in January 2025, and at time of writing it's currently only available in the UK. I've asked about US launch plans and will update this review when I hear back.

With a list price of £599 (equivalent to around $775 / AU$1,230), the H15 Pro is one of the priciest wet and dry vacuums on the market. It's available to buy direct from Dreame, and at various third party retailers like Amazon and Very.

Its price reflects the advanced technology on offer – think AI-driven robotic arm, retractable squeegee and hot water bath brush washing. You might also be able to avoid paying full price – I've already spotted a £100 off discount on the Dreame UK website. With its recent market debut, it's likely that additional deals and promotions will emerge over time, potentially making for a more palatable price-tag moving forwards.

In terms of the wider market, one of the biggest competitors is Tineco, whose priciest wet-dry vacuum is $699.99 / £599 (head to our Tineco Floor One S7 Pro review to find out more about that one). Alternatively there's the well-established Shark HydroVac, which is our favorite budget option with a list price of $199 / £199.

Ultimately, if you’re after the latest cleaning technology and are willing to invest in a high-performance device, the H15 Pro is well worth a gander. For those on a tighter budget, however, it might be wise to wait for further discounts or consider less tech-packed alternatives.

• Value for money score: 4 out of 5

Dreame H15 Pro Wet and Dry specs

Dreame H15 Pro Wet and Dry vacuum review: design

• 180-degree lie-flat design and self-cleaning base
• Range of cleaning modes, including automated and vacuum-only
• Large, intuitive display panel, and optional audio commentary

The Dreame H15 Pro arrived in a large cardboard box – quite heavy but manageable for one able adult – and, once removed, was easy to put together. I just had to slot the handle into the main unit and plug the floor/cleaning base into the wall. Besides the main unit and charging base, it arrived with a bottle of detergent, a replacement filter, spare roller and cleaning brush.

My initial impression of the design was a little underwhelming. The black and grey color scheme, accented with chrome trim, isn’t ugly, but it doesn’t quite convey the high-tech aesthetic I expected from a product boasting cutting-edge innovation. The floorhead feels large and boxy, while the main unit lacks the refined, streamlined look of competitors like Dyson.

Things improved once I’d charged the battery to full juice and turned it on. The bright, LED display panel is generous and intuitive, making it easy to keep an eye on battery life, cleaning modes and error codes (such as empty water and blocked tube). During self-cleaning cycles, the display counts down progress.

There’s also a running audio commentary of every move you make, including turning on, drying, set cleaning mode etc, with a rather irritating robotic accent. You can’t change it, but I did turn the volume down in the app, and you can turn it off altogether if preferred.

Speaking of which, connecting to said app (Dreamehome) was relatively painless, I just needed to make sure I used our 2.4 GHz connection. The App platform is well designed and set out, though not terribly exciting in terms of functions – but this is not a robot so I guess there’s only so much you can set it up to do. (But if you really want zero effort and a multitude of control options, check out the best robot vacuums with mopping capabilities – Narwal’s Freo Z Ultra is my current favorite.)

I did tweak a few settings, such as personalizing a custom mode (with the most water and power of course) and changed the drying process to high speed, which takes it from 30mins to 5mins, because I’m impatient like that! But if you can’t be bothered with another app in your life, I don’t think you’d be missing too much by not connecting it.

The main design highlight in terms of user ease is the 180-degree, lie-flat design, which as the name suggests, means the whole thing can limbo right down to the ground to scoot under any furniture or gap measuring a minimum of 5.5in (14cm). This was handy for getting under my kitchen sofa and wall-hung toilets, but the floorhead was too bulky to slink under my kitchen island unit.

The charging base is quite large and not in any way beautiful – I’d need it to live in the utility room or other out of the way spot if it was a permanent resident in my home. I also didn’t like how the vacuum pitches forward when docked, like a drunkard, rather than sitting up straight.

Looks aside, the charging base does way more than just top up the battery – it’s a full-on cleaning station. When docked, it acts like a bath for the roller mop, using 240ml of 100C water to clean away dirt and bacteria, before drying with hot air. The idea is you’ll never have a smelly old water situation and the next time you reach for the cleaner, it’ll be ready with a clean mop, and it works really well.

Overall, the design is average, and the build quality could be better, but the functionality is superior, so I guess it depends on your priorities in life. Personally, I like everything in my home to look beautiful – shallow, I know – but the fact that the Dreame H15 Pro is exceptionally good (more on that next) and not offensive to look at, means I’d happily make an exception here.

• Design score: 3.5 out of 5

Dreame H15 Pro Wet and Dry vacuum review: performance

• Excellent cleaning (including edges) on almost all hard floor types
• Struggles with uneven floors, and so-so suction on carpet
• Beware: Turbo mode can damage delicate floors

I do have a robot mop that I love for day-to-day use but if I want my floors really clean, I’ve always found it hard to beat a good old-fashioned mop and bucket. While I am still not ready to ditch that completely, I’ll admit that on performance, the Dreame H15 Pro exceeded my expectations.

Right from the start, I was impressed by its decent suction power, and once I’d tweaked the water output to max on the app, the mopping performance matched it. With multiple cleaning programs at my fingertips (a button in the handle), I could easily switch between a deep clean Turbo mode for tougher stains to Smart mode for general use.

This latter mode automatically adjusts cleaning according to the surface/dirt levels and seemed to work well. Movement is self-propelled backwards and forwards, which makes light work of pushing it around the floors, and the head pivots smoothly, too.

Edge cleaning is often a challenge for vacuum/mop devices, but the Dreame H15 Pro truly excels in this area thanks to its innovative squeegee feature and adaptive cleaning technology. I particularly enjoyed watching the squeegee in action – it automatically lowered as you pull back, and rose moving forwards, dragging dirt away from the edges and corners as it went. During my testing, I placed flour right up to the skirting board, and the H15 Pro managed to pick up every last bit with impressive precision.

One of the first things I discovered, to my absolute horror, was that the Turbo mode marked my engineered timber flooring (sob), creating random ridges where the mop roller was presumably spinning too fast in one spot. Once I’d realized, or rather my husband pointed them out (he was not impressed), I went into the App and changed the custom mode to the gentlest power (soft) and the lower of the two water settings, and made sure I kept it moving at all times while the roller was rolling.

This did prevent any additional damage but made me quite nervous to use it on our wood flooring, especially since it was one of the main expenses of our renovation. If you have any kind of real timber flooring, I’d recommend you avoid the Turbo mode like the plague.

Beside the wood flooring, I also have vinyl laminate floors, porcelain tiles, reclaimed terracotta tiles and carpets through my home. I’d say the best results were on the vinyl and porcelain – truly excellent and easily as good, if not better, than using a manual mop. (The wood floor cleaning results were also good to be fair, but the fact they got badly marked wasn’t ideal – here's more on how to clean wooden floors.)

Our terracotta floors have such deep grout lines and so much rugged texture, the Dreame H15 Pro only really licked the surface, even in Turbo mode, so I still had to reach for my faithful mop and bucket. That's not surprising – figuring out how to deal with not-flat floors is a challenge that wet-dry vacuum makers have yet to overcome.

This particular floor cleaner can also be used on carpet. I gave the beige colored 100% wool carpet in my living room a quick mop in Turbo mode and was astonished by the dirt that came out – very satisfying. The stains stayed put sadly, and probably need specialist cleaning.

It can also used in Suction Only mode for carpets, but I'd say it was only so-so in this setting. I’d occasionally use it on the living room carpet if I was already busy mopping everywhere else, but if I really needed to get deep into the pile and dig out all the dog hairs, I had to bring out my normal cordless vacuum.

Mine is a Miele and super sucky, but TechRadar's best cordless vacuum guide has more recommendations if you need them. There’s also the issue of no detail tools for upholstery, cobwebs, skirting boards and so on. In short, I don’t think you could use this as your only vacuum cleaner.

Cleaning tests

During my standard vacuuming tests – using flour to simulate fine debris and oats for larger particles – the performance truly surpassed my expectations. For the flour test on engineered wood flooring, I used Smart mode so the machine could choose the setting that would offer the best results. And it clearly knows its onions because it only took one pass to completely clear away the flour, including those hard-to-reach grooves between the planks. The efficiency was nothing short of impressive.

Next came the oats test, again on engineered wood, and this time the Smart mode wasn’t quite cutting it – the oats were being pushed around rather than suctioned up – so I switched to Turbo mode, and they were eradicated in just a few more passes.

Next, I spilled the beans, literally, on the porcelain tiles in our cloakroom (I wasn’t risking staining our wood flooring I’m afraid; divorce is too expensive these days!). In Smart mode, the Dreame H15 Pro gobbled them up in two sweeps: mind = blown.

I also tried a puddle of blackcurrant squash on the porcelain and the same results, gone in two passes. Over the weeks of reviewing, I reached for the Dreame H15 Pro whenever there was a liquid spill (usually around the dishwasher and dog bowls), and it never once failed me.

Maintenance

Filling and emptying the unit was hassle-free thanks to a smart design that separates the wet and dry compartments. The latter did get pretty grim because the contents were all mushy and wet but that’s where the brush accessories comes in handy.

You do have to put the detergent in the water reservoir each time, but the bottle comes with a handy dosing cap and it really wasn’t difficult. I found I could mop my entire ground floor (five rooms plus hallway) before needing to refill the reservoir, usually before it could clean the mop roller. The App and audio alert tells you when to refill and empty the waste-water unit. Both clip in and out easily.

After each mopping session, the self-cleaning base kicked in. It was rather noisy – my decibel meter App recorded cleaning at 74 dBA, which is pretty intrusive given that I’d located the base in my open-plan kitchen/living space. To cut down on disruption, I mostly used the rapid 5 minute program. I also turned off automatic cleaning, preferring to do it myself as and when I felt it was required, because it seemed a bit excessive to go through a clean cycle if I’d just mopped up one small spill.

Another bonus of this model is the hair-evading mop roller, which has some kind of hidden cutting tool that ensures hair doesn’t tangle around it. I can confirm it works perfectly.

• Performance score: 4.5 out of 5

Dreame H15 Pro Wet and Dry review: battery life

I found the battery life on the Dreame H15 Pro to be more than adequate for our four-bedroom home – admittedly I didn’t use it as much on the carpeted bedrooms or living room but I could cover the rest of the house, including the two upstairs bathrooms and play room, without running out of power if I stuck to Smart mode. The battery lasts an impressive 60 mins and the LED panel kept me updated on the current charge, so I could tell if I’d need to recharge but I never did. I did notice the power draining more quickly in Turbo mode, but that’s to be expected.

• Battery score: 5 out of 5

Should you buy the Dreame H15 Pro Wet and Dry vacuum?

Buy it if…

Don't buy it if…

How I tested the Dreame H15 Pro Wet and Dry cordless

I put the Dreame H15 Pro Wet and Dry vacuum through its paces for four weeks this spring in our Victorian, four-bed detached family home, which hosts two messy children and two even messier and especially hairy spaniels. With an open-plan downstairs and a mix of flooring – porcelain, terracotta, luxury vinyl, engineered oak, wool carpets, and plenty of flat-weave rugs – I had the perfect testing ground. I used it as my main vacuum (except on the staircase – too heavy!) and tried every cleaning mode. I even ran some messy tests with flour, oats, and baked beans, measured noise levels with my iPhone, studied edge-closeness and tracked battery life and charging times.

Read more about how we test

First reviewed March 2025

Dreame D9 Max Gen 2: two-minute review

The Dreame D9 Max Gen 2 is an entry-level robot vacuum designed for those seeking cleaning convenience on a budget. While it doesn't offer the same advanced features as the best robot vacuums on the market, it's a very capable cleaner that delivers good value for money. I'd definitely count it among the best budget robovacs I've tested.

This hybrid robot vacuum and mop is well built, if a little on the large side, with a compact charge-only dock. Set-up is straightforward, and I was impressed by its mapping and navigation, which was quick and painless (which isn't always the case with budget bots).

In terms of cleaning power, the D9 Max Gen 2 performed well in suction tests, tackling fine debris or chunkier spillages without issue. I was less enamored with its mopping skills, however. The design of the mop pad isn't the best and I'm not sure it's worth the effort, delivering only the lightest wipe-down of my lino floors. Another potential downside is the unreliable object avoidance; if you often have clutter on your floors and don't want to have to tidy before every vacuuming run, this isn't the robovac for you.

The app is well designed and intuitive. While you won't get the kind of granular control or automation offered by pricier bots, it covers the main bases. The only exception is that I couldn't see a way to set up a cleaning schedule or time a cleaning run.

For the price, then – which is solidly in the budget bracket – I think the D9 Max Gen 2 is a good buy. Dreame makes some of our favorite premium robot vacuums (including the excellent Dreame L40 Ultra), so I'm not surprised to find that its budget offering is of a high quality. I'd recommend it to anyone looking for a wallet-friendly, fuss-free robovac that navigates reliably well and helps you stay on top of your vacuuming. That's the short version; read on for my full Dreame D9 Max Gen 2 robot vacuum review.

Dreame D9 Max Gen 2 review: price & availability

• List price: $299.99 / £219 / AU$699
• Launched: Confirming
• Available: US, UK, Australia

In the US, at time of writing, the Dreame D9 Max Gen 2 is available direct from Dreame US or via Amazon, and has a list price of $299.99. In the UK, it has a list price of £219, and is available to buy direct from Dreame UK, as well as a range of third-party retailers such as Amazon, B&Q and Currys. In Australia, the robovac costs AU$699 at full price, but can be found discounted to AU$399 on the Dreame AU site at the time of writing. Note that I spotted the vacuum being offered at big discounts in all territories while writing this review.

Even at list price, this bot is firmly in the budget price bracket – we count any robot vacuum under $500 / £400 as budget at TechRadar. For that price, it feels very well-built, and the features are in line with what I'd expect.

• Value for money score: 4 out of 5

Dreame D9 Max Gen 2 specs

Dreame D9 Max Gen 2 review: design

• Hybrid robovac and mop with compact, charge-only dock
• Single rubber roller and one side brush
• Fixed, D-shaped mop pad with small integrated water tank

The Dreame D9 Max Gen 2 is a hybrid robotic vacuum and mop. It's sports the standard, round design with a raised navigation puck, and is available in black or white. Size-wise, it's at the larger end of the spectrum, measuring 13.8in / 35cm in diameter, and it features two physical buttons: Power and Home. However, for most controls you'll want to use the companion app.

This model uses LiDAR for navigation, hence the raised puck. This is the fastest and most accurate robot vacuum navigation technology, and widely used – but not always a given in budget-friendly models (some use the more basic vSLAM; see how the two compare in our LiDAR vs vSLAM explainer). There's also a camera at the front of the bot.

Flip it over and you'll find a single rotating side brush, a rubbery roller, two chunky wheels, and a smaller, third mini-wheel for balance. In general, I prefer rubbery rollers such as the one here over bristled brushrolls, since the latter tend to become tangled with hair. Some bots will have dual rollers (the main examples being Roborock and iRobot Roomba models); but in general, this looks like a pretty standard setup.

Slightly more unusual is the approach to the mop pad. Dreame has integrated a wide, very shallow water tank onto the underside of the D-shaped mop pad. Other robovacs will have a separate tank inside the bot itself, but that uses up valuable dust-storing space. Here, you're getting a slightly higher onboard dust cup capacity, but the bot won't hold much water.

The mop pad/water tank comes on and off using a combination of clips and magnets (not as complicated as it sounds!), so it doesn't need to be attached when you're just vacuuming.

This kind of fixed, D-shaped mop pad tends not to be as effective at scrubbing compared to the spinning, dual discs found on more advanced models. However, it's as I'd expect for a robot vacuum in this price bracket.

The mop pad also can't lift and lower to allow the bot to traverse over carpet without leaving damp patches, which is a feature also seen on pricier robot vacuums. In fact, more advanced Dreame bots can dock themselves and drop off their mop pads when they're not required – but again, you'd need to pay a fair bit more for that kind of functionality.

A hinged lid on top of the bot can be opened to reveal the onboard dust cup with integrated filter. This is very slightly fiddly to remove from the inside of the bot. There's also a brush and hair-cutter tool, for easier maintenance.

The dock is of the basic, charge-only type, rather than the kind that houses a larger dustbin into which the bot's smaller bin will automatically empty. That has the benefit of being far more compact – good news, if you have a small home. However, it also means you'll need to take care of emptying the bin manually, which will be annoying if you're regularly dealing with large volumes of dust or pet hair, for instance.

You'll also need to manually refill the bot's water tank, as well as clean and dry the mop pads. For a dock that can do this for you, you'd be looking in a significantly higher price bracket.

• Design score: 3.5 out of 5

Dreame D9 Max Gen 2 review: performance

• Good navigation, but unreliable object avoidance
• Vacuuming generally good, can struggle with larger debris
• Mopping okay, but just for very light cleans

The app walked me through the initial setup, which included linking the bot to my home Wi-Fi and connecting it to the app – all nice and straightforward.

On setup, it prompted me to do a fast mapping run, where the bot just creates a map of your space but doesn't clean. This took under five mins, and involved the bot meandering into each room and vaguely looking around. After that was complete, it created a very rough map of the space, without trying to separate rooms.

I then set it off on its first cleaning run. I was pretty impressed. The bot covered everything with minimal fuss, only getting slightly muddled when trying to traverse the slanting edges of some rooms. It also became stuck when it was making its way around the border of my low hearth – although did manage to escape on its own eventually.

With the first cleaning run complete, the app split the map into what it thought were rooms (mostly correct), and I tweaked and named each room. It is possible to create multiple maps, but I didn't do this as I live on a single floor.

Navigation & obstacle avoidance

In general, the Dreame Max Gen 2 navigates very well. I could see it adjusting its path when it was about to reach an obstruction, although at times it did also seem to find its way by bumping into things.

However, it isn't as reliable when it comes to obstacle avoidance. I ran TechRadar's standard tests using a shoe, sock and cable on my floor, and the Dreame failed to spot any of them, eating the cable, doing its best to eat the sock, and pushing the shoe around until I picked it up and took it away to safety. This bot probably isn't the best choice if you have a lot of clutter on your floors.

Suction performance

The Dreame D9 Max Gen 2 has four suction modes: Quiet, Standard, Strong and Turbo; and can be set to vacuum, mop, or both.

To assess cleaning power, I ran TechRadar's standard tests. I started by sprinkling tea and oats on separate patches of carpet. I bumped up the suction setting to Strong (it's Standard by default) and set the bot to vacuum that area.

It cleared most of the tea in one pass, and almost all of it in two. I then boosted suction up to Max, and remote-controlled the bot over the area to clear the final remnants.

I was impressed with how it handled the oat spillage, too. It cleared almost all of it first time and the rest on second pass, and it didn't ping them around, either.

However, in my general use of the vacuum on carpet, I had a few minor complaints. Occasionally, the bot would deposit larger debris – a tiny bit of leaf, for example – in another area of the room after initially seeming to have picked it up.

I also found it wasn't amazing at dealing with hair. I have long hair, and the bot would occasionally to roll it into clumps and leave it on the carpet rather than pick it up. However, there was hair in the bin when I came to empty it, and none wrapped around the brushroll, so it isn't a total fail on that front. (If you're looking for the best vacuum for pet hair, we have a separate guide that's worth consulting.)

I repeated my tea suction test on hard floor. On the first pass, the D9 Max Gen 2 seemed to just push the tea leaves around everywhere. On the second and third passes, though, it had gathered pretty much everything.

The oats were pinged around even more enthusiastically, however; but, again, almost all were sucked up eventually. Only a few escaped and that was because they'd bounced their way out of my set cleaning zone.

It's worth stating that robot vacuums are great for everyday maintenance cleans, but even the priciest models fall short of the results achieved with a decent manual vacuum. When I went to empty the Dreame's bin after use, it was packed full of dust and hair, so it certainly picked up plenty from my apartment; but following up with my Dyson Gen5detect saw even more dust collection.

Mopping performance

To mop, you need to clip on the full water tank with pre-dampened mop pad attached. I found filling the tank a little fiddly since it's so thin and the opening is small, and getting the wet mop pad back on proved a bit tricky, too. To Dreame's credit, the unit didn't leak at all while I was attaching it back onto the bot, as I had feared it might. There's no option to use this bot with a floor cleaner.

There are three water levels to choose from, and I selected the middle one for my mop tests. You can also choose from a couple of intensity settings: Daily mopping and Deep mopping (where the robot moves in "a dense Z-shaped pattern"). I opted for the latter, because the app warned there was a "risk of skidding" in this mode, which sounded exciting.

In fact, there was no skidding and I couldn't really see a difference in how it was moving compared to how it had previously navigated the rest of my apartment. However, it did an okay job of mopping, leaving a light, even sheen of water across the floor and clearing a wet spillage I'd introduced.

To see how it fared with trickier spillages, I smeared a tiny bit of ketchup on the floor. Unfortunately, it barely touched this at all, even after traversing the area three times. It seems that the vacuum isn't exerting enough pressure with its mop pad to clear anything other than surface dirt. That's not too surprising for a bot at this price point, but it's worth bearing in mind if mopping is a priority.

There's also some maintenance to be aware of. You'll need to remove and rinse the pad shortly after a mopping session (the app prompts you, which is helpful), as well as running it through the wash fairly regularly so it doesn't end up smelling. After my mopping session, there were bits of tea and oats on the pad along with the ketchup, even though I'd run the vacuuming tests separately, first. Next I drained the tank, although the placement of the inlet meant I couldn't empty it completely.

Since the D9 Max Gen 2 can't lift its mop pads, you'll ideally want to avoid situations where the wet mop is being dragged over a carpeted area. As such, this bot isn't ideal for apartments such as mine, where there's a big carpeted room meeting three rooms with lino.

In short, I'm not wholly convinced this machine is better off for having mopping capabilities, or that I'd end up using them often. If you really want hands-free mopping, I'd recommend investing more in a machine with spinning circular mop pads that are able to lift over carpet, and a dock that can clean them.

• Performance score: 4 out of 5

Dreame D9 Max Gen 2 review: app

• Nicely designed and easy to use
• Main functions covered, except you can't set a cleaning schedule
• Pricier options offer more granular control

The Dreame app is well-designed and intuitive. It doesn't offer tons of settings compared to more premium options, but most of the key ones are covered.

The map is clear, and you can follow the bot in real-time as it makes its way around the home. You can split and merge rooms, add "zones", and create no-go zones if there's something you know is going to cause problems.

There's also an area where you can adjust your suction and water settings. If you switch on "customized cleaning", you can set personalized suction power and water for each area. It's also possible to adjust the order in which the bot cleans you rooms. While you can launch the bot remotely, you can't set a regular cleaning schedule for it to follow.

• App score: 4 out of 5

Should you buy the Dreame D9 Max Gen 2?

Buy it if...

Don't buy it if...

How I tested the Dreame D9 Max Gen 2

I used the Dreame D9 Max Gen 2 as my main vacuum for a couple of weeks to get a feel for its general usability and performance. I also ran a series of suction tests to assess its cleaning power, asking it to pick up fine (tea) and chunky (oats) debris on hard floor as well as carpet. To test obstacle avoidance, I scattered common items you'd find around any home over my living room floor to see if it would bump into them or navigate around them. I also noted how effective it was at mopping, and whether it could cope with wet (water) and sticky (smeared ketchup) spillages.

During my review period, I assessed how easy it was to set up the D9 Max Gen 2, the accuracy of its navigation, and if it generally performed as I'd want it to. I compared my experience with other robot vacuums I've tested, both budget and premium models.

Read more about how we test robot vacuum cleaners.

• First reviewed March 2025

Eufy E20: two-minute review

The Eufy E20 is an ingenious piece of design. It's a self-emptying robotic vacuum that also doubles as both a stick and handheld vacuum, so when it's finished cleaning the floors, you can take over and vacuum the stairs, a sofa, or your car interior. It has strong suction (up to 30,000 Pa in handheld mode) and is more capable than some other robots at climbing over raised door thresholds and wading through thick rugs.

The setup process is quick and simple, and the Eufy app is easy to use, with plenty of options for adjusting settings, creating cleaning schedules and even driving the robot manually, if you prefer. The docking station is relatively compact and the crevice tool neatly stores inside the robot itself when not in use. And, while you'll need to find somewhere to store the stick attachment, it does at least stand up on its own.

I've tested some of the best robot vacuums on the market, and the E20's robo element holds up pretty well in comparison, although it's not quite perfect. Its cleaning powers was good and I was mostly impressed by its navigation skills, although during my review period it sometimes behaved erratically and was occasionally let down by imperfect obstacle avoidance. It frequently head-butted the (open) kitchen door and pushed shoes instead of driving cleanly around them. I also had to remove tangled hair from the roller brush more frequently than with some other robotic vacuums.

The manual vacuum works surprisingly well, and while it lacks the robust build quality and extra features found on today's best cordless vacuums, it was still capable enough to replace my regular Dyson for the duration of my review. If you don't already own a stick vacuum, or yours needs replacing, the E20 is an effective all-in-one solution that delivers strong value for money.

That's the short version; read on for my full Eufy E20 review.

Eufy E20 review: price & availability

• List price: $549.99 / £549
• Launched: February 2025
• Available: US / UK

The Eufy E20 was announced at CES 2025 – where it won the Best of Innovation in Home Appliances award – and went on sale earlier in February 2025. At list price, it costs $550 / £550 / AU$999, which makes it a mid-range robotic vacuum. At time of writing, Eufy's own website offered a $50 discount, so it looks like you'll be able to avoid paying full price if you're smart about when you buy.

However, the E20 isn't just a robot vacuum – it's also a cordless stick vacuum (which can be used as a handheld). This plausibly means customers could buy the E20 and do without any other form of vacuum for their entire home, since in stick and handheld mode it can handle the stairs, a sofa, your car interior and everywhere else unreachable by rival robots.

While this 3-in-1 design is unusual, it's not completely unique. Currently on the market is the Yeedi C12 Combo, which similarly bundles stick vac and robovac on the same docking station, although there the handheld doesn't sit inside the robot vacuum. That option is US-only, and costs $699.99 / (about £560 / AU$1,110).

There's also the Ecovacs Deebot T30S Combo, which has a handheld included (but no wand to turn it into a floor vac). Again, it's not available in the UK, but is significantly more expensive at $1,199.99 / AU$2,299 (about £950).

If we focus on Eufy's own range, and the robot vacuum-only options, the E20's price puts it roughly on par with the $650 Eufy Omni C20. However that self-emptying robot comes with a powered rotating mop, which the E20 lacks. Below both sits the $450 Eufy L60, which has the same self-emptying design but also lacks a mop.

Ultimately, the E20 is good value if you don't already own a handheld or stick vacuum, and if you're happy to mop the floors yourself. A good stick vacuum will typically cost £350 / $350 or more (although some are far pricier), so factoring that in, the Eufy E20 starts to make sense.

• Value for money score: 4 out of 5

Eufy E20 specs

Eufy E20 review: design

• Innovative 3-in-1 design can function as robovac, stick vac and handheld
• Robovac and handheld dock and empty into the same base
• No mopping capabilities

The Eufy E20's design is by far its most compelling attribute. This is a robotic vacuum that doubles as a handheld vacuum with both stick and brush attachments for cleaning floors, steps and sofas. Or, think of it as a handheld vacuum that can be docked into a robot, which then charges and empties its onboard dustbin via the included docking station.

It's a clever approach to the number one problem with robotic vacuums – that, no matter how intelligent and powerful they are, they cannot tackle the stairs, furniture or your car. With the E20, Eufy presents a machine that can handle just about everything, and means you don't need to purchase an additional handheld vacuum. All that's missing is a mop.

The motorized part of the robot looks much like other robotic vacuums, complete with wheels, roller brush and spinning side brush. But with the press of a big red button, the handheld element – which comprises the robot's suction system, dustbin and battery – detaches, ready to be used as a handheld. A stick attachment with powered roller brush for vacuuming the floor is included in the box, along with a crevice tool and a brush for vacuuming furniture. The stick doesn't come with a wall mount (as other handheld vacuums do), but can stand up on its own, making it easy to store without falling over, and the crevice tool handily tucks into a storage slot on the robot itself.

The robot measures 13.5 inches (34 cm) in diameter and is 5.5 inches (14 cm) tall. The base station is 10 inches (25.5cm) wide, 15.5 inches (39cm) tall and 6in (15cm) deep. When docked and charging, the total footprint of the robot and base station is 13.5in (34 cm) wide and 18in (46cm) deep.

The stick attachment for using the vacuum as a handheld is 34 inches (86cm) long. As ever with robotic vacuums, it is recommended that you leave plenty of space in front of, and to the side of, the docking station. This isn't entirely necessary, but bear in mind that if the dock is close to a wall the robot won't be able to reach that area of the floor.

The handheld section uses a bagless design and can be emptied manually. Or, you can place it back onto the robot and it'll then empty automatically into the charging dock, which uses a 3.5-liter dust bag that Eufy says needs replacing every 75 days. The robot empties itself when it sees fit, although you can have it empty on command with a press of a button.

Installing and setting up the Eufy E20 is easy. It connects to the Eufy app just like the company's other robotic vacuums, then drives around to create an editable map of your home. After that, you can task the robot with cleaning your entire property, or targeting one room or just a specific area of your choosing. There's also plenty of customization, with several suction strengths to pick from, but I'll come back to this in the performance section of the review.

Lastly, a strange quirk of the E20's design is how the robot's charge point is at the opposite side to the dust bin. This means the robot first parks at the docking station to empty its dust bin, then drives back out, turns around, and parks again, this time facing the opposite way so its charge point can connect to the dock.

• Design score: 4.5 out of 5

Eufy E20 review: performance

• Robovac mostly performs well on suction and object avoidance
• ... although some navigation issues and erratic behavior
• Manual vacuum surprisingly capable too, if a bit loud

The setup process took just a few minutes, with the robot successfully navigating its way around my apartment on its first attempt. It created a fairly accurate map, which I was able to quickly edit – changing a couple of room boundaries and naming each room – from the app with just a few taps. I also created a no-go zone to prevent the robot from driving under the living room sofa, as the amount of stuff under there meant it was bound to get stuck. Finally, I used the app to mark the bedroom floor as a medium pile carpet, and to plot the location of a high pile rug in the living room.

Right away, I was impressed by how the E20 clambered its way over a set of relatively high doorway thresholds without getting stuck. It even reversed then drove forward more quickly after failing on its first attempt. Some other Eufy robots, including the vastly more expensive Omni S1 Pro, have failed to reliably clear these thresholds. I asked Eufy about this but a spokesperson said there have been no changes to the robot's intelligence in this regard.

It also drove over a thick rug without getting stuck – also something pricier robots often fail to do – but got tangled up in some tassels at the end of the rug. This is understandable, and if you have such a rug you'll want to either mark it as a no-go zone in the app, or move it before each clean.

The robot mostly navigated very well, but on one occasion, after being untangled from the rug, it first said it "wasn't on the ground", when it was, then seemingly got lost despite saying it had correctly positioned itself. Another press of the home button fixed this, and after several minutes of exploration, it found its way back to the dock.

During daily use, I found the E20's navigation to be a little clumsy and inconsistent. Sometimes it would drive precisely along a wall, leaving the tiniest of gaps, while other times it would push shoes around instead of driving around them, and head-butt open doors. On one occasion, when tasked with vacuuming the bedroom, the robot arrived at the entrance to the room and cleaned for just a few moments, before declaring the task complete and returning to base. I tried again, but this time it failed to enter the room and instead drove off into the living room, before returning and successfully entering the bedroom.

Although I've highlighted a few unfortunate failings here, the E20 mostly performed well. I especially like how it drove more quickly at any raised thresholds it failed to clear at the first attempt, and how it cleaned in neat lines – and at a decent speed – when in a large, open space. Only in the more cluttered corners of my home, such as where doors can't be fully opened and access is restricted by relatively complex objects like a portable heater and an office chair, did the E20 struggle. In a larger home with more open space I can see if performing better.

Before I get to the specific cleaning challenges, I should talk about the E20's handheld function. This performs very well indeed, with the stick attachment easy to fit and remove, and the crevice tool handy for vacuuming furniture, a car interior, and other hard-to-reach areas. In handheld mode the E20 deploys its maximum 30,000 Pa of suction (compared to 8,000 Pa when used as a robot, as power is also needed for the motors and navigation system). It did a great job of cleaning hard floors, carpets, rugs and sofas, and entirely replaced my Dyson Cyclone V10 for the duration of the test.

There are four levels of suction power, selected by repeatedly pressing the power button and indicated by a light bar on the side of the vacuum. A long press of the same button turns the vacuum on and off.

Although the manual vacuum works well and has plenty of power, it is rather loud. I recorded a peak loudness of 92 dB at maximum suction (the same as the Dyson V10 at full power), but a more comfortable 82-85 dB at the Eufy's lower power settings.

Being able to use a robotic vacuum as a handheld is a bit of a game-changer, even if the robot isn't quite the smartest around. I can imagine scheduling the robot to clean every few days, then using the stick attachment for occasional top-ups – like tidying up crumbs after food prep – and picking the crevice tool for furniture.

All that's missing is a mop, but at this price point that omission is understandable. A static mopping pad could have been added, as with the SwitchBot K10+ Pro, but since that doesn't work too well, I prefer Eufy's approach of reducing complexity and going without.

Suction tests

Now for the specific tests, starting with how the E20 performs with fine dust, made from a mixture of flour and crushed digestives, on a hard floor. Since it's a small room, I set the robot to vacuum the entire floor once at its lowest power setting, called Quiet and with a loudness measured at 63 dB.

The results were impressive, with almost all evidence of the flour/crumb fix picked up on a single pass at the lowest suction level. I noticed how the E20 didn't flick debris all over the room with its spinning side brush, as other robotic vacuums are often guilty of. In this case, a second pass wasn't required.

I then repeated the test on carpet, and the results were less impressive. The E20 spilled some of its bin contents when clearing the doorway threshold (which sees it climb from exposed floorboards up to a carpet), then failed to lift all of the crumb mix on its first pass. I repeated the test using the next suction level, called Standard (measured at 65 dB), but the robot failed, stating: “Route unavailable. Unable to reach the target point.”

This error occurs when a custom cleaning zone includes an area beyond the confines of the map. Even if it just touches an object like your bed, for example, the task will fail, so you need to be extra careful when creating the custom zone.

Most of the crumb mix was picked up using Standard mode, but some still remained. A single pass on the next mode, called Turbo (66 dB), picked up all debris. After this, the robot emptied its dust bin (79 dB) and put itself on charge.

I then repeated the tests, but this time replaced the crumb mix with oats to see how the E20 performed with larger debris. On hard floor the lowest suction level is powerful enough to pick up the oats, but the robot flicked debris around the room with its spinning side brush and left quite a bit of mess behind, as most robotic vacuums do in this test.

Next, I upped the suction strength to Standard and switched to two passes instead of one, and the E20 did a fantastic job. The room was left almost spotless, with practically no debris missed at all. Impressive.

I repeated the oats test on carpet and found that two passes with Standard mode was the best option. The robot did a great job, picking up all debris save for just two stray oats.

Finally, obstacle avoidance. I used a sock, a shoe and a USB cable to test the E20's ability to spot objects and navigate around. It did a great job of avoiding both the shoe and sock, getting close (but not too close) to each, then continuing its cleaning routine.

Unfortunately, it didn't care for the USB cable, and ate it almost immediately. This wrapped around the roller brush, stopping the robot and causing it to ask for help. No damage was caused, but it was clearly a failure.

Eufy says the E20 uses LiDAR and 'dual laser sensors” to scan its environment and avoid obstacles over 15mm in size. The USB cable is less than 15mm wide, but is of course much longer than that. Eufy also says the roller brush rotates in reverse after cleaning and uses a built-in comb to dislodge hair, but when retrieving the cable I also had to remove a clump of hair that had tangled itself around the roller after just a handful of cleans.

• Performance score: 3.5 out of 5

Eufy E20 review: app

• Simple setup and use
• Highly configurable
• Easy to schedule and adjust settings

Eufy's app is a good one. Setting up the E20 is quick and easy – just as it is with Eufy's other robotic vacuums – and the app is responsive, stable and intuitive. Part of the setup process includes telling the robot to create a map by exploring your home. You can then use the app to name rooms and make edits, such as creating no-go zones, labelling where carpets are, and moving any boundaries the E20 might have got wrong. I wish there was an option to label raised thresholds, so that the robot would know to drive more quickly, or at an angle, to clear them reliably.

You can tell the robot to cover an area once or twice during each clean, and there are four suction strengths. You can also tell the E20 to vacuum the entire map, clean a single room, or draw a specific zone for it to target.

Head into the comprehensive settings page and there are options for creating a daily or weekly schedule, adjusting how often it self-empties into the docking station, setting a child lock, and even taking manual control to drive the robot yourself. There's also a handy page showing the remaining life of replaceable components like the filter, brushes and dust bag.

• App score: 4.5 out of 5

Should you buy the Eufy E20?

Buy it if...

Don't buy it if...

How I tested the Eufy E20

I set up the Eufy 20 in my home and used it as my only vacuum cleaner for a month. It entirely replaced my own handheld vacuum and was used to clean every room. This included hard floors and carpets, and I also used the E20 in handheld mode to clean a sofa and my car interior. After living with the E20 for a month, I completed a series of specific tests to discover exactly how well it performs.

Read more about how we test robot vacuum cleaners.

• First reviewed January 2025

ThisWorx Corded Car Vacuum Cleaner review

The ThisWorx Corded Car Vacuum Cleaner is a cable-powered and easy-to-wield handheld vacuum cleaner that comes with some helpful accessories and a storage bag. It has a list price of $36.99 at Amazon, and was available in the UK until recently, with no hint of when it may be back in stock. There’s a variety of budget handheld vacs available on Amazon, and results can be somewhat hit-and-miss, but in the case of the ThisWorx Corded Car Vacuum Cleaner, it’s a low-cost vacuum that’s worth the money.

I must admit, the ThisWorx Corded Car Vacuum Cleaner appealed to me straight out of the box simply because it has rose gold buttons on – clearly I’m easily pleased. Aside from this detail, I was happy with the overall aesthetic and the materials used. It mostly comprises not-too-cheap-looking matt black plastic, with a smoky black translucent dust cup that makes up the front end of the vacuum. ThisWorx hasn’t provided a capacity for the dust cup, but it doesn’t look much smaller than the dust cup of the Temola TS20BS Cordless Handheld Vacuum.

I liked how the air outlet vents have been somewhat made into a feature, as they’re fin-like and curved. The integrated handle is easy to hold and while at 2.4lbs / 1.1kg it’s not as light as other car vacuums I’ve tested, it’s still light enough and easy to wield. The rose-colored buttons are clearly differentiable and easy to use. There’s a simple slide switch engraved with a power button symbol and a rounded button that releases the catch holding the dust cup when pushed.

While many users prefer a wireless vacuum, I found the 16ft / 4.8m power cord offered plenty of length to vacuum my whole car. It plugged into my car's 12V outlet easily, and this constant power meant that I wasn’t limited to a 10-15 minute run time as many cordless of the best handheld vacuums are. The dimensions of the ThisWorx Corded Car Vacuum Cleaner are fairly average, measuring ‎13.4 x 3.9 x 4.3 inches / 340 x 102 x 109mm, so it was small enough to use in my footwells. For harder-to-reach areas, the extension tube and flathead nozzle came in handy, as this allowed me to get down the sides of the seats. This car vac also comes with a brush head, spare HEPA filter, filter cleaning brush, a storage bag, and a hanging car freshener, too.

I consider it a bonus when a handheld vacuum comes with a storage bag. The one that comes with the ThisWorx Corded Car Vacuum Cleaner could not only hold the vacuum and the accessories but it was easy to carry as well. The quality isn’t fantastic, I must say. The material is thin and looks like it could get easily torn, so I can’t speak of its longevity, but it was convenient over the week I tested this car vac.

Getting the ThisWorx Corded Car Vacuum Cleaner ready to rumble was pretty easy. There was no charging time to factor in thanks to its corded design, and I just needed to follow the instructions that stated I’d need to remove and reinsert the HEPA filter. The user manual stated this may be difficult to do at first, and they weren’t wrong, but after that point, it was easy to put back in place and remove. I liked that there was a plastic bar across the center of the filter, as this made life easier when it came to removing it, which is especially useful as the filter needed to be removed each time I needed to empty the dust cup.

Despite only having one power setting, the ThisWorx Corded Car Vacuum Cleaner had no issue vacuuming up the oats I’d spread over my car’s floor mat. It picked up basically everything in its path on the first pass, spare a couple of smaller particles, but it picked these up quickly when I went back over those spots. It performed well when vacuuming up the mixture of fine biscuit crumbs and flour, too, but there were some very fine particles within the pile that it wasn’t quite powerful enough to suck up.

This was the perfect opportunity to try out the extension tube and brush. Both ends of the hose look similar, but there’s a helpful arrow on the end that should be inserted into the vac. Both accessories were easy to fit in place, and the brush enabled me to clean up the finer particles, although it took a few passes, making it more effort to use than the Shark Ultracyclone Pet Pro Plus, the overall champion of our best car vacuum, but this is understandable considering the substantial price difference.

The position of the air outlets was good, as the fin-like vents were positioned on the sides of the vacuum and blew backward, so I didn’t have any issues with the stream of air shooting oats and biscuit crumbs around my car, as happened when I tested the Homekane Handheld Vacuum Cleaner Cordless.

I tested ThisWorx Corded Car Vacuum Cleaner in a full car clean, and my driver's footwell was no easy task. I was pleased to find the suction was strong enough to get small bits of leaf debris and gravel out of my car's carpeting, something weaker vacuums I’ve tested struggled with. This car vacuum tackled the leaves and bits of gravel well, although I needed to empty the dust cup halfway through as the one-inch leaves unavoidably covered the filter. It took a few minutes, and I needed to finish off with the brush to get the finer debris out of the carpet pile, but overall I was pleased with the results from the ThisWorx Corded Car Vacuum Cleaner.

In a nutshell, I’d happily spend $36.99 on this handheld vacuum cleaner. It looks nice, is easy to hold and, in my opinion, the corded power is a bonus as I don’t need to wait for it to recharge if I want to do a thorough clean. While the storage bag is a little on the cheap side, it still proved useful, and the accessories were a suitable quality for the price. If you’d prefer a named-brand vacuum, take a look at our selection of the best car vacuums, handheld vacuums, and cordless vacuums to learn about our favorites.

ThisWorx Corded Car Vacuum Cleaner specs

Should I buy the ThisWorx Corded Car Vacuum Cleaner?

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ThisWorx Corded Car Vacuum Cleaner review: also consider

How I tested the ThisWorx Corded Car Vacuum Cleaner

• I used the ThisWorx Corded Car Vacuum Cleaner to clean my car
• I assessed its ability to vacuum both large and fine debris
• I tested the included accessories

I took a close look at the design and materials used for the ThisWorx Corded Car Vacuum Cleaner. I put it through its paces against the TechRadar vacuum testing process in my car. This involves testing a vacuum's ability to pick up fine and coarse particles, namely oats, and a mixture of flour and fine biscuit crumbs.

I assessed the fit of the accessories and used each of them to see how effective they were. I also looked at how easy and efficient the dust cup emptying process was.

• First reviewed January 2025
• Read more about how we test vacuum cleaners

Ultenic U16 Flex Cordless: two-minute review

Ultenic has certainly upped the ante with the U16 Flex Cordless vacuum, launched in August 2024. As you may have already guessed from the name, the most notable feature is the U16 Flex’s flexibility. Thanks to a clever bendable elbow feature in its wand, this cool cordless does all the bending for you – making light work of pushing the floorhead deep under the furniture.

That's not the only feature borrowed from today's best cordless vacuums. The floorhead has 'GreenEye technology'; essentially bright green LED lights that help you track down less obvious dirt, dust and dander... as well as adding a bit of space-ship coolness. There’s a tangle-free roller brush that actually works, three power modes, six-layer HEPA filtration and a funky illuminated display panel that adds more spaceship vibes.

Operation is one-touch, by which I mean you don’t have to hold the power button in to keep it going, which is always a relief to my poor RSI-ridden hand. Ultenic promises the battery will last up to a full 60 minutes. I managed 54 in my tests, but that's still very respectable.

For all these features, you may well be expecting a price tag along Dyson lines, but perhaps the most astonishing aspect of the U16 Flex cordless is its price – if you shop smart, you can pick one of these little beauties up for under $200 / £200. It's absolutely one of the best budget vacuums I've tested.

I test it in out my four-bed home over the very busy Christmas and New Year holidays, and it did a sterling job on hard flooring (of which we have plenty). I loved how lightweight it was, and the power lasted plenty long enough to whip round downstairs before the next gaggle of guests descended.

However, there's one concession you'll need to make for that mind-blowingly bargain price. To get carpets clean, Normal mode won't cut it; you'll need to call on the maximum 'Turbo' mode. Unfortunately, the U16 can only manage 12 minutes of cleaning in this mode; not long enough to make it around my mostly-carpeted upstairs. So this one is only really suitable for people with mostly hard floors in their home.

Now you’ve read the short-and-sweet version, keep going to discover the full highs and lows of using this budget-friendly cordless in my full Ultenic U16 Flex Cordless review.

Ultenic U16 Flex Cordless review: price & availability

• List price: $219.99 / £219.99 (but discounted everywhere)
• Launched: August 2024
• Availability: US / UK

The Ultenic U16 Flex cordless vacuum is a straight-up bargain. If you’re on the hunt for a lightweight player without dropping a small fortune, this sleek little number is worth a look.

Officially, purchasing direct from Ultenic the list price is $219.99 / £219.99, which is in TechRadar's lower-mid price bracket for vacuums. However, at time of writing, it's discounted there and on Amazon, so you can expect to pay more like $150-$180 in the US, or £160-£170 in the UK. That's firmly in the budget bracket.

Sadly, Australians are out of luck because it’s not available there yet. But for everyone else, this vacuum delivers mid-range performance for a low-end price-tag. It’s got power, it’s lightweight, and it’s brilliant for getting into all those low-level nooks and crannies.

If you’re after a cordless vac that’s stylish, effective, and doesn’t leave you eating instant noodles for a month, the Ultenic U16 Flex has got your back.

• Value for money score: 5 out of 5

Ultenic U16 Flex Cordless specs

Ultenic U16 Flex Cordless review: design

• Lightweight, with flexible wand for getting under furniture
• Intuitive LED display and good bin capacity
• Slightly plasticky build quality

Landing on my doorstep in a compact box, with a fair number of plastic bags and foam padding, it wasn’t especially eco-friendly looking on the packaging front, but the Ultenic U16 Flex was very well protected. After pulling out and unwrapping all the elements, I found it was super easy to put together without any need to look at the quick setup instructions.

In red, black and a hint of purple, the Ultenic U16 Flex cordless vacuum gives me '80s throwback fear. The design has hints of early Dyson, too – that purple cyclone-like filter chamber looks very familiar. Overall, it's lightweight and easy to use; you won’t be breaking a sweat lugging it around.

The build quality feels a bit on the budget side – kind of plasticky and a bit clunky to connect the wand to the floorhead, but given the price that's not a dealbreaker. It's sturdy enough to get the job done without worrying it’ll collapse mid-clean.

The main design highlight for me was the flexible wand, which can be released to bend forwards. It's an idea borrowed from today's best Shark vacuums (like the PowerDetect Cordless), and a game-changer for reaching awkward spots – like under the couch where crumbs and dust bunnies love to party. It bends and twists like a pro, making those hard-to-reach areas not so hard-to-reach. Combined with the lightweight build and searing green LED lighting in the floorhead (this one inspired by the far-pricier Dyson V15 Detect and Gen5detect), it was perfect for quick zips around the house.

Oddly, the control panel isn’t nearly as sexy as the previous model, the slightly cheaper U12 Vesla (which I have also put through its paces) but it’s still nicely styled and techy-looking. There's one button for switching between power modes, so you don’t have to overthink anything while you're cleaning. Plus, the battery indicator is super clear – no guessing games about how much power you have left in the tank.

The main floorhead is solid enough, with decent swivel action that lets you glide around furniture. It's also shallow enough that it doesn’t get stuck under my sideboards, like competitors' models have. It only comes with one detachable crevice tool, but let’s face it, that’s the one we all use – I’ve got a cleaning cupboard full of weird and wonderful (and never used) nozzles from various ghosts of vacuums past. If you do need the gentler approach of a bristled nozzle, for furniture or upholstery etc, one slides out in handheld mode, which is handy because it’s always there, close to hand.

The Ultenic U16 Flex features a generous dustbin for the cordless sector, with a 95ml capacity. I could vacuum round our 4-bed home at least twice before needing to empty it, and given that we have two very hairy spaniels and two messy kids so that’s pretty impressive. When it’s time to dump the contents, the process is simple – just press the release button, and the lid flaps open. You can then empty it directly into the trash with minimal mess – and I never had to get my hands dirty digging out any stuck muck.

The Ultenic U16 Flex’s charging wall mount is space-saving and convenient. I didn’t fix it to my wall because it wasn’t staying, but I could check how well the vacuum slots in and out and always appreciate a mount where the charging is automatic once docked – no need to fiddle about manually inserting the charger port. If you prefer, you can also slide the battery out and charge it away from the vacuum, which would be handy if you don’t have a socket where you want to store your cleaner.

Overall, the U16 Flex is designed to offer everything you need, with a few cool extras on top. It might not feel as premium as some high-end brands, but nor do you have to sell a kidney to buy it.

• Design score: 3.5 out of 5

Ultenic U16 Flex Cordless review: performance

• Excellent maneuvering, and great on hard floors
• Easy to empty and clean
• Battery-sapping Turbo mode needed for carpets

Let me start by saying that the Ultenic U16 Flex cordless vacuum isn’t great on carpets. It’s not the worst I’ve tested, but if you have wall-to-wall carpets throughout and like to feel the power of dirt lifting through from the floorboards underneath, this is not the vacuum for you.

Those with mostly solid floors, like me, should keep reading, especially anyone who is really feeling the cost-of-living crisis right now (also me!). The Ultenic U16 Flex has three power levels: Eco, Normal (which is the default startup setting) and Turbo.

In Eco mode, which gives you the maximum battery life, it did a perfectly good job of sucking up dog hair, crumbs and small particles of dust/dirt from my solid floors (in the busiest rooms of our home: the open-plan kitchen, hallway and utility). However, it wasn’t great at dealing with bigger debris like hay and shavings (we have horses, and half the yard seems to come home via the kids’ socks). Normal was much better and so it was the mode I used most of the time on my hard floors.

On carpet I felt like I was wasting my time in Eco mode. Normal was okay, but I also had to call upon the battery-depleting Turbo mode for carpets. The vacuum only lasted around 12 minutes in Turbo mode. This was okay if I was only cleaning the downstairs, where there's just one room that's carpeted, and it's small. However, it wasn't long enough to clean the four carpeted bedrooms upstairs.

The Ultenic U16 Flex took a little longer than I’d expect to complete a full battery recharge – around four hours. I could have done with a spare battery to tackle upstairs though.

The real star of this vacuum, though, has to be the flexibility. The floorhead swivels and moves really smoothly and I can glide around my furniture without getting the floorhead stuck. I never felt like I was doing battle with the vacuum, and my hand/arm never ached, even when testing the battery to its maximum use in Eco mode (I clocked 52 minutes).

The flex wand is also a total game-changer. It bends low so I don’t have to, stretching under areas that I can normally only reach by getting down on my hands and knees. That almost never happens so it was quite satisfying/disturbing to see how full the bin got when I tackled under the island and kitchen sofa.

Plus, the attachments are really easy, if slightly clunky, to pop on and off. I’ve been using the crevice tool on the end of the long wand for the edges of my baseboards and getting cobwebs up high, and it worked perfectly – again without making my arm ache.

In handheld mode, the Ultenic U16 Flex really shines for quick and targeted cleaning jobs. It’s lightweight and easy to handle, making it perfect for tackling stairs, upholstery, or even light spills in your car (just don’t expect thorough detailing – for that you might need to invest in one of the best car vacuums).

With the crevice attachment, you can reach tight spots effortlessly, like between couch cushions or the corners of stair treads, without contorting into awkward angles or straining your wrists. In handheld mode, the suction is the best you’ll get from this cordless, easily picking up crumbs, and dust. I’d have like a mini upholstery head attachment, ideally with power brush, for really getting those deep-grained pet hairs out of my couch cushions though. TechRadar's best vacuum for pet hair list has some alternative suggestions here.

When it comes to noise, the Ultenic U16 is pretty average for cordless vacuums – not too loud but not super quiet either. In the lowest power it recorded 71 dB on my decibel meter app, in Normal it was 74 dB and in Turbo it went to 82 dB, which is comparable to a food processor or blender. It’s not silent, but it’s definitely quieter than I expected for the price. The good news was I could vacuum in Eco without making my spaniel bark his head off, which is a huge win and a rare feat. He still lost his cool when I dialed up to Turbo, though.

Suction tests

When I ran our standard vacuuming tests – one with flour to mimic fine debris, and another with oats for larger particles – the results were exactly as I’d anticipated. The Ultenic U16 did well on the hard floors and failed on carpets.

The flour test was completed on our engineered wood flooring, and I found I had to switch to Turbo mode to get the best results, but it only took two passes to achieve a clean strip of flooring.

Next came the oats test, again on engineered wood, and I was surprised to discover that I could get all the oats up as easily in Eco mode as I did in Turbo. In fact, the Ultenic U16 Flex made really light work of clearing away the entire spill, with a little help from the spaniels!

Moving into the snug to check out performance on carpet (a short-pile wool number), and the flour test was an absolute fail. Eco mode barely touched the flour and even in Turbo I had to do a bazillion passes and then call in the big guns (my Miele Duoflex cordless) to get the job done.

The oats test was a bit better on carpet, but I still had to spend a lot of time going back and forth over the same spots. Then I had to get the crevice nozzle out to suction up the strays that had snuck into the threshold joint. I nearly ran out of power before my carpet was clean again.

Maintenance

I found the Ultenic U16 easy to clean and maintain. The bin pops open really easily and empties straight out – no fishing about with sticks to unblock clogs. The HEPA filter is also simple to access, which is a bonus for those who hate vacuum maintenance.

You just detach the dustbin by pressing the release button and the filter is easy to spot and pull out. Wash it under a running tap and leave to dry – there’s a spare so you’ll always have a dry one to hand. Another bonus of this cordless is the hair-evading brush in the floorhead, which didn’t get wrapped in any hair, string or random threads during the entire test period.

• Performance score: 3.5 out of 5

Ultenic U16 Flex Cordless review: battery

• Battery lasts 12 mins in Turbo, 52 mins in Eco
• 4 hours to fully recharge the battery
• Removable and swappable battery

The Ultenic U16 Flex provides a practical balance between performance and battery life, especially in a home with mostly solid floors like ours. In Eco mode, the vacuum lasted a generous 52 minutes. That's not quite as long as the hour promised by Ultenic, but it's still plenty of time to tackle everyday messes in busy areas like my open-plan kitchen and hallway.

Most of today's best cordless stick vacuums will offer a maximum of 50 or 60 minutes' of cleaning (and a couple offer up to 70 minutes), although of course the suction in that mode will vary from model to model.

In Turbo mode the battery lasted just 12 minutes. It's not unusual for a stick vacuum's maximum suction mode to drain power that quickly, but the fact I had to use Turbo mode quite a lot when tackling carpets wasn't ideal.

Recharging takes around four hours. The U16's battery is removable and spares can be purchased if you want to extend the cleaning times further.

• Battery life score: 3.5 out of 5

Should you buy the Ultenic U16 Flex Cordless?

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How I tested the Ultenic U16 Flex Cordless

I tested the Ultenic U16 Flex cordless vacuum for four weeks during the festive season, during which we hosted far too many family gatherings than was good for our livers, and a child’s birthday, too. Our home is a Victorian, four-bed detached property that is mostly open-plan downstairs. We don’t have any thick-pile carpet, but we do have virtually every other type of flooring – porcelain, terracotta, luxury vinyl, engineered oaks, wool carpets and lots of flatweave rugs. I used this cordless as the only vacuum during the testing period, in every room and up the stairs, checking out the various attachments as I went. I also conducted controlled tests using flour and oats on hard floors and carpet, monitored the sound levels using an App on my iPhone and timed battery use and charging.

Read more about how we test vacuum cleaners.

First reviewed January 2025