Pros & Cons
-
- Excellent cleaning performance
- Powerful suction
- Cordless
- Remote controller included
- Easy to retrieve and clean
-
- No water temperature readings or filter cleaning alerts
Best known for its robotic vacuums, Dreame Technology has entered the robot pool cleaner arena with its Z1 line. The flagship model, the $1,499 Z1 Pro, is a cordless cleaner that uses multiple sensors to precisely map and navigate your pool. It offers outstanding cleaning performance and is easy to retrieve from the water and maintain. Additionally, it comes with a light-activated underwater remote control, a rare feature among cordless robot pool cleaners. In all, the Z1 Pro’s superb cleaning abilities, precise mapping, and underwater remote control support earn it an Editors’ Choice award for cordless robotic pool cleaners.
Design and Features: Powerful Suction, Autonomous or Remote Control
Designed for pools of all shapes up to 2,160 square feet in size, the black-and-silver Z1 Pro measures 16.6 by 11.0 by 18.5 inches (HWD) and weighs 26 pounds. It uses the same dual bulldozer-type treads for propulsion as the Polaris Freedom Plus ($1,699) and the Beatbot AquaSense 2 Ultra ($3,550), both of which also offer excellent cleaning performance.
The Dreame model has front and back scrubbers for loosening and sweeping away debris. Two pump motors provide 8,000 gallons per hour (GPH) of suction, making it one of the most powerful cleaners we’ve come across. For comparison, the Beatbot AquaSense 2 Ultra cleaner has a 5,500GPH rating, and the Wybot S2 Pro ($1,599) has a 3,700GPH suction rate.
(Credit: John R. Delaney)The Z1 Pro is cordless and uses a rechargeable battery that provides up to 3 hours of continuous cleaning time. It requires 4 hours for a full recharge. That’s a little better than the Polaris Freedom Plus, which offers 2.5 hours of battery life and requires 5 hours to charge. It doesn’t come with a caddy or a charging station but instead uses a magnetic charging adapter and power brick.
The front edge of the robot holds a Sensor Fusion Module that offers ultrasound, Time of Flight (TOF), and infrared sensing capabilities. It works with Dreame’s PoolSense Technology to provide precise mapping and obstacle avoidance. There’s another fusion module embedded on the left side, along with a separate IR sensor. The top of the robot has a handle for easy transportation, a magnetic charging port, a lid that pops open to access the filter basket compartment, two water outlets, an LED indicator strip, and an onboard control panel.
(Credit: John R. Delaney)The LED strip breathes blue when the robot is powered on, shines solid blue when a cleaning mode has been selected, blinks green when charging, glows green when fully charged, and turns red when there is an error.
The control panel has a light receiver for use with the included remote wand. The wand uses light communication technology to let you remotely control the robot while it is underwater. The Polaris Freedom Plus comes with a similar remote, but it's less convenient because it only works when partially submerged, whereas the Dreame Z1 Pro's wand is meant to be used out of the water. It has a USB-C charging port on the bottom, a four-way dial for navigation and spot cleaning, and buttons for Pause/Resume, Power, and Retrieval. A small LED on the remote glows green when the battery is charged, orange when the battery is low, and blinks red if the device overheats. The cleaner also comes with a retrieval hook, a USB-C cable for charging the remote, and a user manual.
(Credit: John R. Delaney)The Z1 Pro offers five cleaning modes. Standard mode cleans the pool floor first, then moves on to the walls, and finally the waterline. Individual modes tackle the walls only, the floor only, and the waterline only. Complete mode is the same as Standard mode, but it will continue to run until the battery is depleted.
Regardless of the mode, the Z1 Pro will park at the side of the pool on the surface and expel water for easy retrieval. It will sit there for five minutes before sinking to the bottom, at which point you can use the remote wand or the hook to bring it back to the surface. The filter basket is easy to remove and can be cleaned with a garden hose without having to touch any debris.
Similar Products
Our Current Picks for The Best Robot Pool Cleaners for 2026
The control panel has a power switch and a Mode button for choosing a cleaning mode. Each mode has a backlit icon that lights up when it is selected.
The Dreame Mobile App: More Cleaning, Monitoring Options
The Z1 Pro has built-in Wi-Fi (2.4GHz) and Bluetooth radios, and works with the user-friendly Dreame mobile app for Android and iOS devices. As is the case with any cleaner, it loses communication with your phone and the mobile app when it is underwater. Once it surfaces, it will automatically reconnect and send the latest cleaning data to the app.
(Credit: Dreame/PCMag)It appears on the app's Device screen with a picture of the robot and the current battery level. Tap the Go to the Device button to open a screen that displays the current battery level and a map of the latest cleaning cycle. A small map icon lets you see maps that were generated during the last three cycles.
Below the map, a tab displays the current mode. Tap this panel to select a new mode. Tap the Custom Cleaning button to run whichever mode you have selected, or use the Routine Cleaning button to create a cleaning schedule with specific days, times, and modes.
Tap the three dots in the upper right corner to access the robot’s settings screen, where you can view work logs, manage Wi-Fi settings, update firmware, and enable notifications. There’s also a group of experimental Lab Mode settings that let you enter specific wall height measurements; enable extreme condition cleaning, which allows the robot to adapt to complex floor patterns; enable enhanced shallow end cleaning and obstacle avoidance; and create alternate cleaning paths. Missing are the water temperature readings and dirty filter alerts that you get with the Polaris Alpha IQ+ corded pool cleaner.
Setup and Performance: Works Like a Dream
Preparing the Z1 Pro for first use was easy. I charged the device for a couple of hours until the LED bar was solid green, charged the remote wand, and downloaded the mobile app. After creating an account, I tapped Scan QR on the welcome screen, selected my Wi-Fi SSID, entered my password, and pressed the mode button for 5 seconds to initiate pairing. Once the LED began blinking blue, the robot was identified and immediately connected to my phone and to my Wi-Fi network. I was prompted to initiate a firmware update, which took 5 minutes to complete, and the robot was ready to hit the water.
(Credit: John R. Delaney)I placed the robot on a flat surface, selected Standard mode in the app, and placed it in my 16-by-32-foot inground pool. Once it hit the pool floor, it calibrated itself and began scanning the edges of the pool to create a cleaning map, and then went to work. It started by cleaning the floor, then moved on to the walls, and then scrubbed the waterline. When it was finished, the pool was spotless. It needed 2 hours to clean the entire pool (floor, walls, waterline), 1 hour and 15 minutes to do the walls, and 1 hour and 10 minutes to scrub the waterline. The Beatbot AquaSense 2 Ultra needed 2 hours and 47 minutes to complete a Standard cycle, while the Polaris Freedom Plus took 2 hours and 30 minutes for a full cleaning.
The remote worked perfectly. Unlike the remote that comes with the Polaris Freedom Plus, which must be placed underwater to control the cleaner, the Z1 Pro wand works by simply pointing it at the receiver from outside the pool and pressing the Pause/Resume button. You can then use the other buttons to navigate, spot clean, and send the robot to the side for retrieval.
(Credit: John R. Delaney)Cleanup was easy. I removed the basket, rinsed it out with a garden hose, and returned the basket to its compartment. It’s important to make sure the charging terminals are completely dry before recharging the battery.