The Dreame R20 Vacuums Impressively Well for $700 Less Than a Dyson with Similar Features
It adapts to your floors and reveals hidden dust
I say this as a professional vacuum tester: Dysons are absolutely worth it, even if they are wildly more expensive than the competition. But although their high prices put them out of reach, you can still enjoy similar features without taking out a loan.
The Dreame R20, discounted to a stunningly low price of $147.99, is one of the best Dyson alternatives I've tested. It shares many of the features I love in my Dyson – a dust-revealing laser, adaptive suction, an intuitive design – and it comes packed with attachments for easy handheld cleaning.
The Dreame R20 Shares Many of Dyson's Main Features
As soon as I took it out of the box, it was clear that Dreame had made the R20 with Dyson's signature design in mind. The attachments, the dust-revealing light, even the vacuum's shape – all directly paralleling Dyson's best cordless vacuums.
In our Dyson alternatives guide, the Dreame R20 is awarded the best for features, as it's almost like-for-like with Dyson in terms of what it can do, and the attachments included.
The Dyson V15 Detect costs $849.99 at full price, so to see the Dreame R20 sold for $700 less is an incredible deal when you consider how many features are shared between the two models. Adaptive suction, floor sensors, a dust-revealing light, anti-tangle rollers, and boosted suction modes can be found across both models.
One thing we love about Dyson's newer cordless vacuums, particularly the Dyson V15 Detect, is the two separate floorheads: The Motorbar and Fluffy Optic. Specialized for carpets and hard floors respectively, they're two of the most effective attachments on the market, and Dreame has mimicked the design with the R20, with each brushroll looking and performing similarly to Dyson's.
This is great to see in a vacuum this cheap, particularly as they have maintained the anti-tangle design that makes Dyson's vacuums some of the best vacuums for pet hair. If your dogs love to shed, or you simply have long hair, you won't have to cut wrapped hair out of the R20.
Ultimately, this vacuum outperforms all others at this budget price point. It absolutely excels on hard floors, banishing dust and household allergens with its soft roller. And while it doesn't vacuum carpets quite as well as Dysons or the best carpet vacuums, it's surprisingly strong on thin rugs and low-pile carpets.
Its blue light is one of the closest I've seen to the green laser that makes Dyson's flagship cordless vacuums so useful. This is a unique feature that Dyson has pioneered that, while perhaps sounding like a gimmick, genuinely makes cleaning easier.
It reveals dust that the naked eye can't see, as the light is positioned so low that super-fine particles are highlighted. It shows when an area of the floor is truly clean, and over time, you start to learn more about where dust accumulates in your home.
No vacuum has done this as well as the Dyson V15 Detect or Dyson V12 Detect Slim, but the Dreame R20 certainly comes close. I used it at home for a few weeks after testing and loved how much it revealed that I couldn't see otherwise.
And like the Dysons, it also senses what surface you're vacuuming and how dirty it is, so that it can automatically and continuously optimize its suction, removing guesswork from your cleaning sessions.
The Dreame R20 is discounted to $147.99 at Dreame.
More to Shop
Here are a few more tried-and-tested vacuums that offer strong performance and useful features without the high price of a flashy Dyson.
All prices correct at time of publication.
Costing around twice as much as the R20 right now, the Shark Cordless PowerDetect has stronger suction and a flexible wand that can reach under furniture. It's one of our favorite non-Dyson vacuums we've tested.
Read more in our full Shark Cordless PowerDetect review.
The Dreame R20 has great anti-hair wrap, but so does the Levoit LVAC-300, while also having stronger suction that's more effective at pulling fur from carpets. I donated this model to my friend with a heavily shedding cat, and she confirms that it works great.
Read more in my full Levoit LVAC-300 review.
It's still a bit pricey, but the V12 Detect Slim cleans better than all the vacuums I've listed so far, and is on offer with $250 off. Its dust-revealing laser, floor sensors, and suction power are all major upgrades from the Dreame.
Read more in my full Dyson V12 Detect Slim review.
The Dyson V11 has stronger suction than the V12 Detect Slim (and all of the other vacuums I've listed), but doesn't come with the fancy dust sensors or green laser that the Dreame has.
Read more in my full Dyson V11 review.
It isn't cordless, but this upright Bissell has stronger suction and still has the floor sensors and smart features that we love in Dyson's cordless models.
Read more in our full Bissell SurfaceSense Allergen Pet Lift-Off review.
If you've been eyeing up the Dyson WashG1 but the price has put you off, the Tineco Floor One Stretch S6 can do it all and more, cleaning more effectively and drying faster.
Read more in my full Tineco Floor One Stretch S6 review.
Next, see what we rank as the best Miele vacuums and the best robot vacuums after our rigorous testing sessions.
