I Thought No Robot Vacuum Could Navigate My Tricky Furniture, Then One Surprised Me With Its Ingenious Arms

CNET’s key takeaways 

• No robot vacuum has truly solved the challenge of multi-level cleaning without requiring you to physically move it between floors.
• This robo-vac can do it, for the high-end price of $1,699 (on sale right now for $1,360).
• You won’t find another robot vacuum with its features for less than $1,000 right now.

The whole point of owning a robot vacuum is so you don’t have to do the cleaning yourself. But that was never the case at my house — partly because of what I call my “Ikea chair challenge.” I’ve seen many robo-vacs get stuck at the bottom of one of my chairs, which has an unusually-shaped base. It’s just one obstacle among many in my home, which is also filled with pet hair, paw prints and three teenage sons who leave things lying around everywhere. 

Luckily I’m the product development design engineer who oversees operations at CNET’s testing lab, and after the Dreame X50 robot vacuum was named CNET’s best for obstacles and pets, I got to see how it performed in real-world conditions at my place. 

Well, it conquered the Ikea chair. It was actually pretty entertaining to watch as the Dreame X50 struggled, regrouped and then used its auxiliary climbing arms to get over the chair’s base — just one of the tools it has in its arsenal. 

My experience with the Dreame X50 Ultra robot vacuum

Performance-wise, the Dreame X50 Ultra was generally solid. It started with a full deep clean, then vacuumed and mopped on its second run. During the app setup, I told it I had pets, so it emptied its dustbin a bunch during the first run. I found it to be pretty smart about lifting its mops while vacuuming the carpet. 

It took it 123 minutes to complete its work around my home. The mopping function was surprisingly effective, tackling muddy paw prints on my vinyl plank flooring as well as I could myself with a stick mop. And I was particularly impressed with its object avoidance; it navigated around shoes, cords and even my two dogs without issue. 

Setting it up was a breeze: The app was intuitive and the quality of the machine’s build felt robust, although with so many moving parts — like its auxiliary climbing arms and lowering turret — I question its long-term durability.

One key feature that really stood out was the tangle-free roller. In my home test, comparing the Dreame X50 to my older Roborock Q5 after cleaning a large area rug, the difference was striking. The Roborock was clogged with hair, while the Dreame’s roller was completely clean. This is a massive advantage over competitors, which often struggle with pet hair. This is another one of my big tests — I call it my “Great Pyrenees challenge” — and the Dreame X50 passed with flying colors. 

My family quickly grew accustomed to it zipping around, and it became almost like another member of the household — quirky and sometimes a little confused, but overall very helpful. In the end, watching it conquer obstacles like the base of my Ikea chair, where other robots get stuck, was not just effective — it was actually fun to watch. 

The specs

• Price: Approximately $1,699 (at full price)
• Features: Tangle-free roller, climbing arms, navigation turret, mopping with base cleaning, object avoidance.
• Connectivity: Wi-Fi
• Mapping: Quick mapping, room and flooring detection.
• Navigation: Camera and lidar.
• App: Live view, customizable settings, pet photos.
• Cleaning: Vacuum and mop combo.
• Base Station: Mop cleaning and drying, tanks, cleaning solution spot.
• Cleaning Time: Slower than some.

CNET’s buying advice

The Dreame X50 Ultra is feature-rich, ideal for pets, obstacles and object avoidance. It’s best if you want advanced navigation and mopping, and are willing to pay extra for features like the climbing arms and lowering turret. However, it’s not the absolute best at pure vacuuming, especially on carpets, and the software can be a bit quirky.

At its full price of around $1,699, the Dreame X50 Ultra is a very expensive robot vacuum. If you highly value its unique features like the climbing ability and advanced furniture navigation, then it could be worth the investment. However, if you’re primarily concerned with raw vacuuming power or are on a tighter budget, there are more cost-effective options. It’s a luxury product, and the value aligns with its premium features.

For better carpet vacuuming performance and a lower price point, the Ecovacs Deebot T30Sor the iRobot Roomba Combo J7 Plus both performed better on carpet and pet hair tests during CNET’s lab testing. While all three have vacuum and mopping functionality, the Ecovacs Deebot T30S ($1,400 with a stick vac included) or the iRobot Roomba Combo J7 ($600) are both cheaper than the Dreame X50 Ultra ($1,699). It’s worth pointing out though, that the Dreame X50 Ultra is one of the few robot vacuums we’ve tested at CNET with the ability to climb over objects, surmount spaces and lower itself under furniture.