Dreame Vacuum D9

Dreame extends its range of robot vacuum cleaners with the Vacuum D9. This latest addition is able to vacuum and mop the floor simultaneously, and locates itself in the space using a laser rangefinder.

 

Presentation

We no longer need to introduce the Chinese manufacturer Dreame, a specialist in vacuum cleaners, whose several models have already been tested in our columns. In the family of robot vacuum cleaners, it is now the Vacuum D9 that makes its entrance in our laboratory. If this vacuum cleaner seems to take many elements of the Bot L10 Pro, such as the Boost Carpet and the mop, it does not include as many sensors. Dreame also mentions a lower suction power, but its price is a bit more attractive.

 

Convenience of use

There's no need to dwell on the Dreame D9's classic design. Like many other robot vacuum cleaners, it has a round shape and a shiny white plastic cover. This is a wise choice since fingerprints or dust marks on the hood will stand out less than on a black model.

On the hood, there are three buttons: one to manually return the robot to its base, another to pause and restart it, and the last one to launch the Spot Clean mode (the robot will vacuum a specific area).

The Dreame D9 is equipped with a laser rangefinder that allows it to find its way in space and thus to avoid obstacles encountered on its way.

In addition, the manufacturer has equipped its robot with a washing function. It comes with a microfiber mop and a 0.4 l water tank, both of which are attached to the belly of the device. Please note that this is not a floor scrubber as such, like the Yeedi Mop Station.

Indeed, the D9's mop is not able to remove stubborn stains. It is rather a function to give a little freshness to the floor between two "real" washes. However, we appreciate that the D9 is able to mop while vacuuming, and does not require the user to remove the dust pan and replace it with the water pan.

 

Application and connectivity

There are no changes in the app between our test of the Dreame Bot L10 Pro and the D9. As we said, you don't have to use the Dreame app, but the Xiaomi app, called Xiaomi Home. Pairing takes only a few seconds, you just have to follow the instructions and it's done.

Once on the main interface, the available features are numerous. It is possible to choose the cleaning mode (silent, standard, strong and turbo), the water flow setting (low, medium and high) or a no cleaning zone. This last function allows you to define areas so that the vacuum cleaner avoids them during its cleaning, but also to create virtual walls - useful when you schedule a cleaning without being at home.

There is also a card management panel which, as its name indicates, gives access to the different cards saved, as the D9 can save several. It can thus be used on several floors, if necessary. The real time mapping is well represented and it is easy to see in which room the robot is located.

By going to the parameters, the user can access the cleaning history, the programming of the cleaning sessions or the remaining life of the consumables (filter, brushes).

 

 

Maintenance

The waste collector is in the form of a cassette and fits under the hood. The capacity of this container (0.5 l) is large enough to avoid having to empty it too regularly. Nevertheless, emptying it is not very hygienic and it is not unusual for dust to escape when the cassette is opened. We advise you to plunge the cassette into the bottom of the garbage can when emptying to avoid dust flying out.

This collector comes with a HEPA filter. You will simply have to unclip it from the bin to access it and remove the dust. We recommend removing it after each cleaning session so that it does not accumulate too much dust. Out of the 20g of cocoa that we vacuumed out of the Vacuum D9 to test the efficiency of its filtration, 1.4g got stuck in the filter. This may seem very small, but it could eventually reduce the suction performance.

Flipping the robot onto its back, we notice a side brush (just pull it out and clean it) in addition to a main brush made of rubber and nylon bristles. Instead, we would have preferred a simple soft plastic paddle so that hair would not get tangled in it as much, imitating iRobot robots, for example.

This being said, this brush is very easy to remove from the device: you just have to lift the grid that covers it. A small brush supplied with the vacuum cleaner allows you to remove the detritus entangled in the main brush.

 

Navigation system

Like a fish in water, the Dreame Vacuum D9 navigates smoothly in our laboratory, despite the pitfalls we deliberately put in its way.

At startup, the device takes a few seconds to analyze its environment before really starting. It then starts to walk along the walls, then attacks the center of the laboratory.

The Vacuum D9 zigzags around the table legs in the middle of the room, and then runs over the chair legs with ease. At the end of the cleaning cycle, we found some of the sawdust that we had deliberately scattered in our lab along a baseboard, but also under the curtains. Nothing too bad though. Most of the robots do not manage to recover the material under the curtains, which they usually mistake for a wall.

The Dreame D9 completed the tour of our lab in only 10 minutes. We found 86% of the sawdust scattered on the floor in its collector, which shows that it is both efficient and fast to navigate.

 

 

Vacuuming

The Dreame D9 is particularly efficient on all types of floors. On hard floors, first of all, it collected all the waste in 4 min 27 sec on the Standard mode and 98% in 2 min 35 sec on the Turbo mode.

The results are just as good on fine carpet. The Dreame D9 was able to remove 99% of the debris in 4 minutes 44 seconds in Standard mode and 98% in Turbo mode in just 1 minute 35 seconds.

On thick carpeting, it did a little less well. It still managed to remove 86% of the material in 5 min 18 sec in Standard mode and 83% in 2 min 41 sec in Turbo mode.

 

Autonomy

In Standard mode, the Dreame D9 proved to be particularly enduring as it sucked for 2 h 39 min before going to recharge at its base. The duration is obviously less with the Turbo mode (1 h 30 min).

To date, the Neato D10 is the most enduring robot vacuum cleaner in our comparison. It lasted more than 5 hours on a single charge. Once emptied, the Vacuum D9 takes a little over 4 hours to recharge its batteries.

 

Noise

Armed with our sound level meter, we measured levels of 57 dB (A) when launching the Dreame D9 in Turbo mode and 54 dB (A) in Standard mode. It is therefore far from being one of the noisiest vacuum cleaners in our comparison.

Remember that the Dreame D9 can be controlled remotely and that it is therefore possible to launch it when there is no one at home to avoid this annoyance.

 

Conclusion

With its D9, Dreame honors its reputation and signs once again an excellent robot vacuum cleaner. The suction performance is good and, above all, it locates itself perfectly, avoids obstacles and operates a military navigation. With this, the D9 proved to be quiet and enduring, leaving little to be desired.