Honestly, I’ve always been somewhat skeptical about robot vacuums priced around 25,000 rubles. And the fact that I had one at that price point for a long time didn’t change my mind — it actually reinforced that opinion. For that money, the market often offers devices that just pretend to clean: they drive around the apartment, make noise, and return to the base looking proud, while everything that was in the corners stays right where it was. The Dreame F21 Plus claims to work nothing like that — much better, in fact. And that’s exactly what’s worth discussing in detail.
This one is perfect for anyone who doesn’t want to pay a lot for unique features.
How the Dreame F21 Plus Differs from the F20 and the Regular F21
In the current Dreame lineup, there are three models: F20, F21, and F21 Plus. All three are built on the same hardware platform, have the same suction power, and support combined dry and wet cleaning. The difference between them isn’t in cleaning quality but in the level of autonomy and management flexibility.
The F20 is the base version. It supports mapping and combined cleaning but lacks fine-tuned zone control and automatic container emptying. The F21 adds more detailed room and virtual zone management. And the F21 Plus is essentially a regular F21 with an added station for automatic dust bin emptying. So the key difference of the top model is precisely this station. Everything else is similar.
This is the advanced version, but there’s also a base model that differs by not having a self-emptying station.
The price of the F21 Plus is 24,990 rubles. This price might seem quite high in absolute terms, but when you look at the vacuum market as a whole, it stops seeming that expensive — especially considering everything that’s packed inside.
A Powerful Robot Vacuum for Home
The main card the F21 Plus plays is suction power up to 20,000 Pa. This is a flagship-level figure typically found in robots costing 40,000 rubles and above. Robots in the 25,000-ruble range usually operate at 4,000–7,000 Pa. That difference is quite noticeable — with insufficient suction, large debris, cat food, or sand simply gets scattered in different directions by the brush rather than being vacuumed up.
At this price, it’s one of the most powerful vacuums.
This power is achieved through the proprietary Vormax Suction system. Beyond the suction itself, it can adapt power automatically: when a carpet is detected, it increases suction; on hard floors, it operates in economy mode. This is smart both in terms of cleaning results and battery consumption.
In practice, the high power is especially noticeable when cleaning pet hair and large debris. Where a weaker robot would make multiple passes and still leave something behind, the F21 Plus handles it in a single pass. In this regard, the difference from devices in the 10,000–15,000 Pa class is truly noticeable.
Is a Vacuum with a Self-Emptying Station Convenient?
The station is what you pay extra for if you choose the F21 Plus over the base F21. A 4-liter bag collects debris from the robot’s container automatically after each cleaning session. The manufacturer claims that with this capacity, you can go without user intervention for up to 120 cleaning cycles.
The dust bag is already installed. There’s one more in the box. After that, you’ll need to buy them separately.
That’s a nice number, but I wouldn’t be so optimistic. In reality, everything depends on several factors: apartment size, cleaning frequency, and whether you have pets. In a large apartment with two cats, the figure will be somewhat lower. Similarly, in spring when you bring a lot of sand and dirt home on your shoes, the number of cleanings will also decrease. But the fact remains that you’ll definitely get several weeks of autonomous operation.
Here’s how it works: after each cleaning cycle, the robot returns to the base, and the station automatically extracts the contents of the container into the bag. The user doesn’t come into contact with dust at all. This is especially relevant for people with allergies or for those who simply don’t want to dig into the container every time.
The cord is detachable and standard, but out of the box it’s already installed in place. Usually it comes packaged separately. A small thing, but nice.
Naturally, after some time you’ll still need to service the system. And this is important to understand when purchasing such a vacuum. Bags need to be purchased and replaced as they fill up. This is an additional expense that few people mention. You can’t say the bags are very expensive or need frequent replacement, but just be aware of it.
Budget Robot Vacuum with LiDAR
Navigation in the F21 Plus is based on LiDAR — a laser rangefinder that builds detailed room maps and plots cleaning routes. This is fundamentally better than solutions that simply move along random trajectories, nominally covering the entire room area. In this case, the technology used is called Smart Pathfinder Technology, and at its core it’s a standard LiDAR with SLAM algorithms.
LiDAR is present, but there’s no camera.
Through the app, 3D maps are available, multi-floor mapping is supported, along with virtual no-go zones and room-by-room cleaning management — for apartments with multiple zones, each with its own requirements. The kitchen can be a maximum-power zone, the nursery can have a restricted route, and under the bed can be a no-go zone.
It must be noted that LiDAR navigation without an additional camera has limitations. The robot maps walls and large furniture well, but small objects — cables, children’s toys on the floor, socks — are a potential problem. It will either avoid them by chance or run into them. This isn’t a unique drawback of the F21 Plus; it’s a common characteristic of robots without visual obstacle recognition systems. However, systems with such a camera cost significantly more.
There are several additional sensors on the bottom to prevent the vacuum from falling off stairs or ledges.
Is Wet Cleaning Useful in a Vacuum?
Combined cleaning is the standard for modern robot vacuums. The F21 Plus supports 32 water flow levels, which provides good flexibility in settings: from light moistening for daily laminate care to more active water delivery for washing kitchen tiles. When a carpet is detected, water delivery is automatically adjusted to avoid wetting the pile: wet cleaning won’t do anything for it, and afterward it will take a long time to dry, with bacteria developing inside.
