I tested the sleek Dreame R20 cordless vacuum – it's affordable, ideal for hard floors, and has Dyson-style features

I was excited to review the Dreame R20 as it had all the hallmarks of a powerful cordless stick without the high price point of its Dyson and Shark competitors.

It's also a great smart home cleaning brand, and as someone who tests vacuums professionally, I'm always keen to see how the best cordless vacuums can benefit those who rely on them for powerful home cleaning.

I tested the Dreame R20 in our dedicated test center and a local pet shelter to find out whether it's worth your dollars.

The one-minute review

The Dreame R20 is perfect for cleaning hard floors, with smart features that make it an excellent alternative to Dyson's expensive vacuums. It can detect dust volume and floor type (and adjust the suction accordingly), and it has a handy graphic that shows when an area is completely clean.

Its suction is surprisingly strong, but it struggles when vacuuming pet hair from carpet, and it easily becomes blocked when cleaning high volumes of debris.

These design oversights overshadow the cordless vacuum's strong suction, so I wouldn't recommend the Dreame R20 to those with busy, messy homes with kids or pets.

Dreame R20: Specifications

Dreame R20: Design and features

As I've come to expect from Dreame, the R20 has a premium feel with its sleek aesthetic and animated screen display. It has the core features you'll find in any cordless stick, with additional features that make it work effectively as one of the best Dyson alternatives.

Floor sensors and automatic power adjustment were pioneered by the best Dyson vacuums, but other brands have since taken note and implemented them into their own. It's a small but useful touch: Sensors detect carpet and high amounts of dust, and the vacuum will up the suction power to clean more effectively.

Balancing suction power and battery life can be a challenge for cordless vacuum manufacturers, so this feature ensures you have the right power levels when needed, and are preserving runtime when not. It certainly isn't a vacuum feature gimmick.

Another Dyson-influenced design note is the two separate floorheads, one with a soft roller and one with a bristled brushroll:

Image 1 of 2

Having two separate floorheads gives you specialized cleaning across carpets and floors as bristles are needed for carpet, but can be too harsh on certain hard floors such as hardwood and tile (my vacuum jargon buster explains these terms).

The soft roller is also ideal for capturing fine dust and common household allergens, but weirdly, Dreame has only installed a light on the bristled floorhead.

Floor lights can be a tremendous help to illuminate hidden dust particles that you normally wouldn't see, but they never tend to work that well on carpet, so I'm surprised by this design choice.

I tested the R20's airflow using an anemometer, and it reaches 8.7mph in normal mode and 20.8mph on the highest setting. That's higher than the Dyson V11, which has some of the highest suction we've ever seen in a cordless stick.

The R20's touted 90-minute runtime stat is impressive (compared to the average 60 minutes), but on test, the battery went down much faster than expected.

It can likely achieve 90 minutes if you're on the lowest suction mode with no motorized attachments, but otherwise, you're looking at about 40-50 minutes of cleaning before you will need to stop and recharge, which will take four hours.

What is the Dreame R20 like to use?

Overall, the Dreame R20 is responsive, lightweight, and mostly effective at tackling different cleaning tasks – but it has a few drawbacks worth noting.

I found it great at vacuuming modest messes, but it struggled a bit when it came to large amounts of debris and pet hair on carpet.

It's powered using a trigger, but for those who don't enjoy having to hold it down for the entire time you're cleaning, you can lock it using a button on the screen. I like this, as you have the option for both quick cleaning tasks and longer sessions. The trigger is also instant and powers up the vacuum faster than I've seen in other models.

The blue light emitted from the bristled floorhead is somewhat effective at revealing hidden dust, but nowhere near the level of helpful illumination that you'd see in the Dyson V12 Detect Slim, for example. It's a major downside in my opinion that there isn't a light on the soft floorhead.

I'm a fan of the display, with its graphic that changes from red to orange to green to represent dirt levels quickly and visibly.

I found that it glides across floors smoothly, and the wheels are safe to use on delicate hard floors, but the floorhead can wiggle a bit when moving. It can also be hard to turn when reaching far, such as when cleaning under furniture, which is already one of the hardest cleaning tasks.

At 63.2 to 72 decibels, the R20 is as loud as most cordless vacuums. I did find the sound itself a little irritating, however, as it makes a mechanical whir that's different from the usual spinning motor sound that is perhaps easier to hear (or maybe that's just me).

It also overheats. After 10 minutes of intermittent vacuuming in both auto and turbo mode, the battery became too hot and needed a break.

Another time, the vacuum was warm to the touch three minutes after I'd finished vacuuming on turbo mode. I worry that this poor heat management could impact durability down the line.

Dreame R20: Flour and sugar test

I tested the Dreame R20 using a half cup of flour and sugar on carpet, linoleum and hardwood. This tests how well the vacuum can handle fine particles like dust and dead skin, while also working as a visual test to see whether any mess gets left behind or stuck in internal parts.

On hardwood and linoleum, the R20 had no issues vacuuming everything in one. It automatically detected the high dust levels and increased the suction, and picked up everything between the cracks. Impressive!

On carpet, it was able to clear everything after four passes. At this price point, I've tested vacuums that can do this in one or two passes, and some that do it in more than 10 – so its performance was good, but nothing special.

I also noticed that the vacuum lifts itself when pulling backwards, almost as if the brushroll can’t handle moving in that direction and creates distance between itself and the floor. It might not be the best vacuum for carpets.

Dreame R20: Pantry test

I tested the Dreame R20 using a cup of cereal and lentils on carpet, linoleum and hardwood. This tests its ability to handle small and large debris, and to see whether it can vacuum high volumes of mess or fling it across the floor.

On linoleum and hardwood, the Dreame R20 struggled. I used the soft floorhead and pieces kept getting stuck between the roller and scraper, limiting its performance.

It was better with the bristled floorhead, but a significant amount of debris was left behind. I then took the floorhead off to see if that would help:

This helped, but instead of pieces getting stuck in the floorhead, they clogged the inlet valve before the dustbin.

It was fixable, but involved removing the dustbin and clearing the blockage multiple times. It's worth noting that this is an extreme test to see what the vacuum is capable of, so unless you're often vacuuming large piles of debris (pet kibble or litter, for example), this shouldn't be too much of an issue in daily use.

I also ran another test where I vacuumed only lentils using the soft floorhead, and it was flawless. I can still happily recommend it as one of the best vacuums for hardwood floors, as long as you know how to avoid overloading it.

On carpet, it struggled again, but I have now learned the best way to use the Dreame R20. After I finished filming the above video, cereal and lentils started pouring out of the vacuum. I then tried a different approach, and one of the things I've learned from vacuuming at a pet shelter is to use slower vacuuming.

If you wait for the light to turn from red to green before moving onto the next patch, the R20 can handle high volumes of mess. It needs to vacuum bit by bit to be able to work effectively.

After doing this, I found it to be much less of a disaster with debris.

Dreame R20: Pet hair test

I tested the Dreame R20 at Bristol ARC, a cat and dog shelter local to me. It's a key test to see how the vacuum can handle pet hair, as well as high volumes of mess from a busy environment.

Overall, the Dreame R20 is good at vacuuming pet hair. On hard floors in particular, it picked up pet hair in one pass without fail – and without it wrapping around the roller.

On an entrance mat (one of the trickiest tests our vacuums go through), the R20 was able to clear most of the visible hairs using turbo mode, but it couldn't clear everything after I did five more passes. This is better than most cordless sticks I've tested, as I'm yet to see any vacuum clear every strand of hair.

On medium-pile carpet and thick rugs, it can pick up some hair, but quite a lot is left behind. Of course, carpet fibers are one of the reasons why pet hair is so hard to vacuum, but so much hair was left behind that I can't recommend the Dreame R20 to pet owners with carpeted homes.

But if your home has only hard floors, this could be your next best vacuum for pet hair, which doesn't cost too much and has helpful smart features.

Dreame R20: Attachments test

The Dreame R20 comes with a mini motorized brush, one of the best vacuum attachments for pet hair when cleaning upholstery and pet beds.

It's amazing. It had no trouble whatsoever removing pet hair from sofas and padded chairs (which have proved difficult to clean in the past), and it's flexible to adapt to the angle you're cleaning.

The combination tool is designed similarly to Dyson's, as a dual dusting brush and surface cleaner. But the dusting brush doesn't pull back enough to avoid getting caught, making the surface cleaner attachment almost redundant.

Dreame R20: Setup and maintenance

Before using the vacuum, I charged it up to 100% which took two and a half hours (it started at 40%). Then, I attached the vacuum to the wand and floorhead, and it was ready to go.

You have the option of a wall mount for easier vacuum storage, and it even comes with a template sticker to make sure you're certain that the lines are straight.

Emptying the dustbin to avoid overfilling the vacuum is effortless. Dust drops out by itself with minimal blow back, and a small lip within the dustbin helps to avoid dust and hair wrapping around the pre-motor filter.

As I mentioned above, I'm not massively confident about the R20's durability as it overheats so easily, but otherwise, it's easy to take apart and clean each component.

How does the Dreame R20 compare?

The Dreame R20 is priced at $449.99 at Dreame, but is often on offer for around $200-300. At full price, I would recommend other vacuums instead, but if you find it discounted, there aren't many that are better.

I tested the Dreame R20 alongside the Dyson V11, which is occasionally discounted to around $449.99 at Dyson (or $629.99 at full price). This cordless vacuum is better in almost every way – with stronger suction, easier use, and a more durable design. My full Dyson V11 review explains why I recommend it so strongly.

Another similarly-priced vacuum is the Shark Cordless PowerDetect, available for $449.99 at Shark (but often discounted to around $330). This is our favorite non-Dyson cordless, and its suction is strong enough to pull cat fur from carpet. Read our full Shark Cordless PowerDetect review to learn more.

A budget vacuum I love to recommend is the Ultenic U16 Flex. It's available for around $130-$179 at Amazon, depending on promotions, and can clean surprisingly well considering. It's certainly weaker than the Dreame R20, but if you only have hard floors, the Ultenic is a great way to save money. My full Ultenic U16 Flex review shows what it can and can't do.

Should you buy the Dreame R20?

The main takeaway from testing the Dreame R20 is: It's perfect for light cleaning, but struggles with busier messes. I wouldn't recommend it to homes with kids, pets or lots of carpets.

But smaller homes with predominantly smooth floors will benefit from having a lightweight vacuum with smart features and a sleek design.

How I tested the Dreame R20

I tested the Dreame R20 for a full day at our dedicated test center, using standardized substances across carpet, linoleum and hardwood.

I then tested the Dreame R20 for a full day at a local pet shelter to assess its performance on pet hair and busy messes.

Next, learn how to choose a vacuum cleaner that's suited to your home, and consider pairing it with one of the best robot vacuums for truly transformative cleaning.