Sweeping and mopping an Indian home takes up easily about 1-2 hours of your day. And doing it diligently every day is a tough task. No wonder vacuum cleaners are catching on as more independent Indians take charge of their own home maintenance instead of hiring a cleaner.
While Dyson immediately comes to mind, its premium vacuum cleaners are expensive in our price-sensitive market. To disrupt the luxury home appliance segment, a number of smaller companies are selling either dry or combined dry+wet vacuum cleaners meant to be used on Indian-style hard floors.
We tried out the Dreame H12 Core vacuum cleaner priced at ₹19,999 for around a month in order to test if budget-friendly home tech can truly free one from the drudgery of never-ending housework.
The indicator light on the Dreame H12 Core vacuum cleaner turns orange and the device increases its intensity as it detects a heavily dirtied area
| Photo Credit:
Sahana Venugopal
At a Glance
The Dreame H12 Core vacuum cleaner will let you reclaim the hours spent sweeping and mopping your home, with far more efficiency and far less effort than the broom and mop
However, the vacuum cleaner’s short 25-minute-long battery life means it is suited to small homes with light messes
Technical Specifications
- Weight: 4.65 kg
- Power: 200W
- Motor: Brushless; 1.3 Horsepower
- Battery: 6x 2500mAh
- Charging time: 5 hours
- Screen: LED with sensor light
- Modes: 2 (Auto and Suction)
In the box
The buyer will receive the main body of the vacuum cleaner (with the clean and dirty water tanks), the handle (that needs to be attached), a power adapter with a cable for the charging base, one bottle of cleaning solution, a cleaning brush, and a charging base.
Setting up
Even if you are new to using a vacuum cleaner, the Dreame H12 Core is easy to piece together. The clean and dirty water tanks are simple to load and unload once you get the hang of tilting them forward slightly before insertion.
The charging base lets you plug in the vacuum cleaner for a power-up, or to run the self-cleaning cycles. No wall mount installation is needed.
The Dreame H12 Core has a convenient brush-cleaning cycle that saves you from having to scrub it daily
| Photo Credit:
Sahana Venugopal
Design
Though on the heavier side, the Dreame H12 Core is decently designed with a sturdy build. The vacuum cleaner allows for a reasonable level of flexibility while on the move, but it cannot lie down flat when cleaning beneath beds and sofas, due to the water tanks getting in the way and the risk of liquid entering the motor. The vacuum cleaner’s brush shield takes accidental bangs without damage. The device may be too heavy for children, elders, or those with grip issues. We accidentally cracked open a vase because of the device’s momentum at one point and frequently bumped it against door corners and furniture legs, but soon learned to guide the device with better accuracy.
A self-cleaning cycle that scrubs the device’s roller brush makes the vacuum cleaner much more pleasant to use, as you will not have to touch a filthy brush right after you have finished cleaning your room or bathroom. The dirty water tank is easy to open and rinse out. There are no visibly intricate parts or tubing to complicate the cleaning process.
Dreame provides a vacuum cleaning soap solution that you are instructed to use exclusively.
Vacuuming experience
Once you have charged the Dreame H12 Core to 100% and filled the clean water tank with a mixture of water and the floor cleaning liquid, you are ready to get started. There are three buttons on the device handle: one to power it on/off in the auto-mode, one to switch to the more powerful suction mode, and one to start the self-cleaning brush cycle. There is also a rubber button lower down on the device to control the volume of the vacuum cleaner’s voice prompts.
Using the Dreame H12 Core was a highly satisfying experience, as we were able to both dry vacuum and mop an area in one stroke while receiving voice guidance, apart from seeing icons on the vacuum cleaner’s screen to change the water/charge the device/clean the brush when needed/etc. The sound of the vacuum cleaner is loud but not abrasive; pets and small children should soon get accustomed to it. The sound will not be a nuisance to your apartment neighbours either.
The Dreame H12 captured everyday debris such as clumps of hair, dust, crumbs, insects, cobwebs, dropped lentils, grains, flour, powders, small glass shards, and spilled food/coffee with just 1-3 runs over the same place, sending the dirt straight to the lower water tank while leaving the floor polished and mildly perfumed. A smart detector makes the vacuum cleaner’s glowing green rim light on the LED screen turn orange or red in particularly dirty areas, as it ups its efforts and tells you to focus your attention there a little longer.
The vacuum cleaner’s short battery life means you will need to move briskly
| Photo Credit:
Sahana Venugopal
However, the Dreame H12 Core struggled with larger pieces of debris such as torn orange peels, with the machine’s opening behind the roller brush becoming blocked until we manually cleaned out the pieces. Foaming liquids are also a strict no. The vacuum cleaner is best suited to homes that only require a daily dry+wet cleanse, rather than heavy duty stain-removal and sanitation processes. You will have to buy a more advanced product with a detachable cleaner in order to vacuum your ceilings and car interiors.
One major area of concern for us was the Dreame H12 Core’s short battery life of 25 minutes. This means that you will have to travel rapidly through the rooms as you clean, and make sure all furniture is moved out of the way so that you don’t waste time doing this while the vacuum cleaner is running. The battery level is prominently displayed on the circular LED screen and it drops by a point every few seconds or so, raising the stakes for the user. Cleaning up a large home with three bedrooms, two halls, a dining space, a kitchen, and a storeroom took the battery life from 100% to about 20%. If you are vacuuming your bathrooms as well, you will need to charge the device and then come back to this chore. Charging the vacuum cleaner takes between three and five hours, based on how much of the battery has been drained. Even the brush’s self-cleaning cycle knocks between 10% and 20% off the battery life while it is charging.
The dirty water tank’s maximum capacity was on the lower side, so you may need to dump out the refuse and refill the clean water tank while you are vacuuming. Mopping up very large spills is also time-consuming because of this.
While we enjoyed a smooth cleaning experience on most floor surfaces such as marble and ceramic tiles, we faced challenges with spillback when running the vacuum over highly glossy, smooth, and glazed tiles. We were still able to clean a house with glazed tiles, but it took more runs with the vacuum cleaner to clean up particles and consumed more battery power even in a smaller space. Those with marble floors or rougher tiles should not face this issue.
Despite these flaws, however, the payoff is huge and we were highly impressed by just how much filth and dirt the Dreame H12 Core vacuum cleaner picked up, even when used in a home that was regularly swept and mopped. The house is significantly less dusty since the arrival of the vacuum cleaner, and all the rooms feel refreshed. There are no unsightly water stains on the tiles even after the floor is dry. The device does not overheat and we have not noticed any mechanical problems so far. Every vacuuming session ends with a good quantity of black water, sludge, and debris being collected in the refuse tank.
Thanks to the Dreame H12 Core, sweeping and vacuuming the house has become a breezy chore that no longer requires the designated victim to compose a list of excuses about their tired body and busy schedule, concluding with half-hearted promises to take up the broom “tomorrow.” Huge volumes of water are saved as well, because of the vacuum cleaner’s two tank structure.
In essence, a spruced-up home is just 20 minutes away.
Aftersales service
Customers are naturally worried about what support they can expect to receive for an expensive home appliance whose company has a largely digital presence in India. Dreame offers product services via pick-up/drop-off and on-site repair options. There is also an aftersales helpline for customers.
Paid extended warranty plans are available, and the product comes with a year of warranty, per Amazon. The replacement brush, filter, and cleaning liquid are all listed on Amazon.in, but the ₹1,299 cleaning liquid is overpriced. The next time we checked, it was out of stock.
Charging the vacuum cleaner after use takes up to five hours
| Photo Credit:
Sahana Venugopal
Verdict
The Dreame H12 Core vacuum cleaner aptly caters to Indian users who may desire but cannot afford a premium Dyson wet+dry vacuum cleaner.
Instead, the Dreame H12 Core is a nifty little home helper that will empower its owner to stay on top of their daily sweeping and mopping, by delivering shiny floors in a matter of minutes. On the flip side, users with larger homes, tougher messes, multiple children/pets, and senior residents are better off with a more powerful vacuum cleaner, even if this means a much higher price-tag.
The short battery life of the device is a letdown, but the vacuum cleaner’s many benefits outweigh its flaws. The Dreame H12 Core promises to not just elevate your home, but also the life of the person who cleans said home regularly.
Published – March 18, 2025 12:03 pm IST