Product test
Dreame proves: Roll has a future and replaces mops
by Lorenz Keller
Roller or roller - which mops the floor better?
27.11.2025
Translation: machine translated
Video: Davide Arizzoli, Valentina Sproge-Werndli
In the endurance test, the robot hoovers prove whether the floor is cleanest with rollers or rollers. And whether they can keep the white carpet free of tomato splashes and oil.
It's the epic battle of the hoover game, like feather vs Nadal or Ali vs Frazier. Here it's roller vs. roller! Both methods clean the floor better wet than the round mops in older models, as they have already proven in our tests. But whether roller or roller works better is currently dividing the Community.
In a comparison test, I found out how good they really are and which mopping technique works better.
Roller or roller is not Hans what Heiri
These are the differences between the two techniques:
Roller: The textile is fixed to a hard plastic cover that rotates quickly during cleaning. The robot continuously supplies the roll with fresh water at the front and removes the dirty water at the back. The roller therefore cleans itself directly in the robot itself.
Roller: A fluffy textile cover is pulled onto a slightly wider roller - almost like a caterpillar vehicle. The mop is more flexible than the roller and has a much larger surface area that touches the floor. Self-cleaning works in exactly the same way as with the roller.
These are the findings from the test
For my comparison, I used two Dreame models that are technically almost identical - except for the mop. The Dreame Aqua 10 Ultra Roller Complete has a roller, while the Dreame Aqua 10 Ultra Track Complete has a roller.
The two robots have to remove an identical amount of tomato sauce, soya sauce, olive oil, cornflakes with milk and dust in automatic mode. As an additional challenge, there is a white carpet on the small area. See all the details in the video. The most important findings:
- Superficially solid to good: Both robots manage to remove the large amount of dirt. At first glance, no residue is visible.
- Differences in the details: When I take a closer look at the floors after cleaning, there are clear differences. After cleaning with a roller, traces of soya sauce are still visible to the naked eye. And when I run a white cloth over the «cleaned» floor, I can see clear residues on it. After cleaning the rollers, it's all gone. The cloth test is also better - but it's still not perfectly clean.
- Wheel and brush problem: The biggest problem with the robots with this amount of dirt is their design. The roller is installed at the very back, which means that the wheels and brushes come into contact with tomato sauce, soya etc. first. Visible residue then sticks to the components, which then comes off again in the course of further cleaning.
- Problem carpets: The Dreame Aqua 10 Ultra Track Complete made the white carpet dirty and wet when tested. The dirt probably comes from the wheels and brushes. In this case too, the design of the robots is to blame for the food residue left behind. The wheels and brushes for the dust are placed in front of the roller, so that they first come into contact with tomato sauce, soya sauce and the like. The roller performs better here because the mop is automatically protected with a cover and does not come into contact with the long carpet fibres.
Conclusion: The roller cleans better
The conclusion of the comparison is clear: The Dreame Aqua 10 Ultra Track Complete with the roller cleans hard floors better. The higher pressure of the mop and, above all, the larger cleaning surface pay off. If you have tiled floors or parquet at home, the roller is the best option.
As soon as carpets come into play, however, the situation changes. In everyday life, you are unlikely to use the robot on a surface as heavily soiled as the one tested, but there is still a risk that the wet roller will be dragged across the carpet.
As only roller models currently have a cover for the mop, this technology is suitable for anyone who has hard flooring and carpets at home. However, it is probably only a matter of time before robots come onto the market that automatically cover the roller.
But there is still room for improvement: if the robot hoover could automatically recognise heavy soiling, it could clean the floor several times straight away. At the moment, I have to restart it manually.
Lorenz Keller
Senior Editor
Lorenz.Keller@digitecgalaxus.chGadgets are my passion - whether you need them for the home office, for the household, for sport and pleasure or for the smart home. Or, of course, for the big hobby next to the family, namely fishing.
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