A robot vacuum cleaner is a great option to keep your floors clean without needing too much attention. There are plenty of models to choose from, including the top-notch Roborock S8 Pro Ultra, which can scrub your floors in full autonomy, while costing a whopping $1,600.

Thankfully, there are more modest options available on the market, which can still efficiently clean your floors, while foregoing a few bells and whistles. One of them is the Dreametech D9 Max, which is a reliable robot vacuum and mop combo that’s very affordable.

dreametech d9 max robot vacuum with app and cleaning pad
Dreametech D9 Max
8 / 10

The Dreametech D9 Max offers great value in a contained price. It can both mop and vacuum simultaneously, and comes with reliable navigation thanks to its built-in LIDAR. Its mopping features are comparatively basic, though.

Dimensions
13.78 x 13.78 x 3.77 inches
Dustbin Capacity
570mL
Battery Life
150 minutes
Brand
Dreametech
Price
$350
Weight
12 lbs
Surface Recommendation
Hard floors (Can also work on carpets)
Connectivity
Wi-Fi (App, Alexa, Google Assistant)
Integrations
Alexa, Google Assistant
Suction
4,000Pa
Mopping Area Based on Water Tank Capacity(m²)
2,700 sqft
Cleaning Modes
Wet/Dry
Pros
  • Affordable price point
  • Competent navigation
  • Great vacuuming and large dustbin
  • Excellent battery life
Cons
  • Mopping isn't great
  • Requires more manual maintenance than we'd like
  • Main brush gets tangled in hair

Price and availability

The Dreametech D9 Max is officially listed at $350 MSRP. However, it’s often discounted and sold at much lower prices, sometimes up to $100 less, so keep an eye out for discounts and promotions, making it an even more interesting purchase.

It’s easy to buy through Amazon and Walmart, but the first seems to have more frequent discounts.

Design, hardware, what's in the box

A view of the Dreame D9 Max with its charging dock

The D9 Max boasts a shiny black design, giving it the look of a high-end product. It also shares the rest of its appearance with respectable robot vacs, including its rounded shape and size, measuring 13.7-by-13.7-by-4 inches. It’s big for a smart vacuum, but it’s not too bulky;, the robot can still easily sneak under most furniture. The build quality is also good, with robust plastics that appear to be durable.

The top part of the robot is well-finished, with the LiDAR sensor neatly housed under a dome and two quick-access buttons, used to start or stop the robot and send it to its dock. When taking a closer look, you can tell a flap is neatly integrated into the overall design, which discreetly houses the 570mL dustbin, together with a small brush to clean the robot.

On the bottom, Dreametech has gone with a single side-brush design, which is made out of silicone bristles, making it more durable and easier to clean. The main brush is made of rubber and bristles, which Dreametech says features a tangle-free design. We’ll see how true this statement is later in this review, though. Finally, the robot comes with a mop attachment, which doubles as a 270mL water tank. The latter clips onto the robot by sliding it underneath the robot, preventing you from having to flip it upside down every time you want to access the mop or the tank.

The D9 Max comes with a small and flat charging base. Its compact design allows it to be placed anywhere, even under furniture, helping it fit discreetly into your living space. Since all of the action happens in the robot itself, the dock’s sole function is to charge the robot.

When it comes to accessories, Dreametech isn’t the most generous manufacturer around, as the robot doesn’t ship with spare accessories, besides the side brush, HEPA filter, and mop that come in the box.

Software, cleaning efficiency, and battery life

A view of the Dreame D9 Max main brush

Although the D9 Max is a mid-range product, it comes with a remarkable 4,000Pa suction power. When it comes to cleaning, it does an excellent job at removing dust and debris from the floor. Its bristled brush works great on hard surfaces, as it can effectively reach into tile grouts. The side brush is good at cleaning along the walls, but sometimes has a harder time reaching into corners.

When it comes to carpets, the D9 Max’s strong suction power is efficient, and the robot’s automatic boost feature ensures they are cleaned properly. However, bristleless brushes are usually more effective on carpets, so the D9 Max may not be the best option if you have thick rugs at home.

In terms of overall cleaning efficiency, though, the Dreametech D9 Max performs brilliantly, especially on hard floors. Not only is it great for a daily sweep, it has done an amazing job at sucking up dust, hair, and large debris from the floors, after several people and the dog kept coming back and forth from the garden, bringing leaves, dry mud, and dust from outside.

A view of the Dreame D9 Max top flap

The robot features four cleaning modes, ranging from a quiet one that produces about 55db and lets you watch TV or have a conversation while it’s cleaning, to the turbo one that’s very powerful, but also quite loud with a high-pitched noise.

In addition to vacuuming, the D9 Max can also mop. As mentioned above, it ships with an attachment that slides under the robot to which the mop pad is Velcroed. The 270mL water tank can seem small, but the water flow can be controlled using the app, meaning you can use the lowest setting to avoid having to refill water when you’re not home.

The mopping efficiency isn’t top-notch, though. The pad is relatively large, helping it clean more effectively, but we’ve noticed the robot uses very little water on the medium setting, which doesn’t seem to be enough to remove dirt from hard floors. To clean about 410 square feet, it only used about 5% of the water tank, which seems a bit odd. This could be due to the fact that it uses an antibacterial mopping cloth, but that doesn’t seem to make a difference on the floors.

To illustrate this, you can see that the mop is relatively dirty after just one cleaning cycle, and it could have probably used a bit more water while sweeping the floor for a better cleaning effect. That being said, it’s enough to give your floors a quick wipe, as long as you don’t expect the robot to scrub your floors or fully replace manual mopping.

Now that we’ve covered the D9 Max’s cleaning efficiency, let’s see how it performs when it comes to getting around. The robot doesn’t feature a camera for obstacle avoidance, but comes with eight built-in infrared sensors, which help it detect and avoid obstacles. Although it does this relatively well when it comes to furniture, shoes, and other objects, it’s not able to detect cables, so you’ll need to make sure you don’t have any laying on the floor.

Besides this relatively minor drawback, it’s performed remarkably well in our tests, and never got stuck during its cleaning tasks. Similarly, it’s never tried to attack furniture or footwear, and has always managed to find its way around the house and get back safely to its base without requiring human intervention.

The D9 Max is able to cross obstacles up to 0.8 inches high, allowing it to move from one room to the other even if there’s a small step in between the two. Its advanced mapping technology also allows it to create a map of your house, so you can select which rooms to clean and in what order. Similarly, you can define virtual walls and no-go zones, allowing you to fully customize the robot’s cleaning routines.

When it comes to controlling the D9 Max, you can use either the Xiaomi Mi Home app or the Dreamehome one, depending on your preferences and whether you have other smart devices you use with either. Regardless of the one you prefer, both allow you to check the robot’s current status, as well as review its cleaning history. You can also customize the map, check the accessory usage, and define the suction power and water flow preferences.

In addition, you can schedule cleaning routines, and even create automations based on other smart devices, such as automatically starting to clean when you’re not home. Finally, the D9 Max can also be controlled using both Google Assistant and Alexa, although the integration with the latter isn’t very polished, as it can only start and stop it. Google Assistant, on the other hand, can send the robot to clean specific rooms.

Finally, its 5200mAh battery allows it to run for about two and a half hours, which is more than enough to clean your entire house. I never had battery issues, even when using it in turbo mode. If that were to happen, the robot can still automatically return to its dock to recharge its battery before resuming its cleaning task.

Maintenance and care

A view of the Dreame D9 Max main brush after a cleaning session

When it comes to maintenance, most standalone robot vacuums and mop combos are usually a pain. Indeed, their dustbin needs to be emptied frequently, their water tank refilled often, and their mop washed manually.

While the D9 Max is no exception to most of these tasks, it makes them a bit easier. First, the top flap makes it much more convenient to access the dust bin, and its large size also means you don’t have to empty it too often. In my case, I barely emptied it once a week, while using it to frequently vacuum a 410-square-foot surface.

Also, although it still requires you to wash the mop every time you use it and dampen it before each cycle, it makes it a bit easier to achieve, since the mopping module slides and clips to the robot’s body without having to lift it. It also doubles as a water tank, making it easier to refill water.

A view of the Dreame D9 Max mop pad after a cleaning session

Unfortunately, though, the D9 Max doesn’t hold up to its “tangle-free” brush promise. Although it’s less prone to tangles compared to most bristled ones, the brush still got wrapped in a lot of dog hair, which requires a lot more manual handling to clean up, compared to a rubber one. Keep this in mind if you have long hair and/or a pet, as you’ll need to frequently clean up the main brush.

Now, it’s important to bear in mind that the D9 Max doesn’t pretend to be a fully autonomous robot vacuum, and still requires some manual intervention. It does also make these tedious tasks a bit easier, both when it comes to looking after the mop or emptying the dustbin. Unfortunately, though, the main brush isn’t tangle-free as Dreametech says, and may be a dealbreaker if there’s a lot of hair on your floors.

Competition

The Dreametech D9 Max is in competition with the Roborock Q5 and Ecovacs Deebot T8, which share similar specs. However, the Dreametech model is superior to these thanks to its suction power, as well as its more advanced mopping features. It’s also much more affordable than both of them, costing about $100 less than the first and a whopping $300 less compared to the Ecovacs.

Should you buy it?

The Dreametech D9 Max is a great robot vacuum that's affordably priced, making in an excellent option if you're looking for a 2-in-1 robot vacuum and mop combo that won't break the bank. It's a perfect choice for an apartment or even a house, as long as you don't have pets or thick rugs, which don't play very nicely with the D9 Max.

If basic mopping is enough for you, and you don’t need deep scrubbing, look no further as the D9 Max combines great vacuuming performance with reliable navigation.

That being said, if you're looking for a fully automated robot that can wash its mop automatically and empty itself autonomously, consider a pricier model that requires less manual maintenance. Similarly, if you're forgetful and are likely to leave your cables on the floor, a model with a camera and AI-based navigation is probably a more suitable option.

dreametech d9 max robot vacuum with app and cleaning pad
Dreametech D9 Max

The Dreametech D9 Max offers great value in a contained price. It can both mop and vacuum simultaneously, and comes with reliable navigation thanks to its built-in LIDAR. Its mopping features are comparatively basic, though.