THE DREAME X40 ULTRA ROBOT VACUUM
An automated vacuum cleaner that doesn’t just push the dirt around
I am quite surprised these past few weeks to have fallen rather in love with a bulky and expensive robot cleaner, which isn’t even from a well-known manufacturer but a Chinese company I’d never heard of, Dreame.
In a few days, Sunny—our name for the robot, taken from the dark new Apple TV+ comedy about a Japanese domestic robot—has become a family member. Even the Landing Gear cat, Bob Barton, seems to regard her as a companion more than an enemy and sits benignly watching her work.
We’ve had other cleaning robots since they first came on the market, nearly 30 years ago, and they’ve never quite justified their existence. They’ve either been too fat to get under furniture, too weak and weedy, too high-maintenance, or just too whiny. When you’re in New York and your robot in London tells you at three A.M. that it’s stuck, lost, full, or feeling lonely, it’s not endearing.
The advent a few years ago of robots that self-empty while they’re charging made them a more interesting proposition, but still not irresistible. The development of machines that mop as well as vacuum was very interesting, too, but it seemed unlikely that they would be very effective because the amount of water on board would surely be minimal compared to a bucket and a hand mop.
Then your columnist heard about the new Dreame X40 Ultra, which at nearly $2,000 costs 15 times as much as a basic, Chinese-designed robot vacuum-mop combo.
The Dreame’s specifications are extraordinary. It supposedly does everything from maintaining its own fluid levels to mopping with water at 160 degrees, to cleaning and blow-drying the mopheads during charging, to sending users live video of their pets, allowing the owner to speak to them if reassurance is in order. The mopheads and brushes come out on stalks to get into awkward places, and a combination of radar and A.I. is said to make it one the most intelligent robots available.
The sample Dreame lives up to every one of these claims, including that it’s the quieter than other brands. It is simply glorious. To see the machine negotiate the unexpected is fascinating. The power of both the vacuum and the mopping is extraordinary.
Some negatives are that Dreame’s customer service, set up for China, where there is no customer service, is reputedly awful. Dreame assures AIR MAIL it is being upgraded to meet Western standards. The app is also currently poor, though also supposedly being improved, as is its Alexa voice-command feature. For most gadgetry, using voice prompts is a gimmick, but it would be great if we could tell Sunny what to do.
Do we have privacy concerns? We’re not of the view that operatives in Beijing are watching Sunny’s moves and listening to our conversations with rapt interest. But if we wanted to vent about the Chinese government, would we do it in the same room as Sunny? Well, no more than we would plan a bank heist with Alexa’s bat ears close by.
The ATC SCM20ASL LE Speakers
Are the world’s finest speakers built on an old R.A.F. base?
Anyone who knows sound can attest that loudspeakers are the most important part of any hi-fi setup. They can also confirm that the most superb models are often produced by achingly niche, largely unknown makers.
None is more niche than England’s ATC, a small group of craftspeople and engineers (and several dogs and chickens) who hand-build their products in wartime huts on an old Royal Air Force base in the Gloucestershire countryside. Even basic components such as coils and tweeters are made from scratch on-site.
ATC punches way above its weight, with professional clients around the world: Mark Knopfler’s British Grove Studios, the L.A. Philharmonic’s Walt Disney Concert Hall, the Royal Opera House in London, the Sydney Opera House, the Rolling Stones, and Coldplay. This writer witnessed a musician (his sister-in-law, who sang in the Brit-pop band Sleeper) get quite emotional listening to herself on an ATC system. “It’s the first time I’ve heard it properly since 1995,” she said. “It’s like being back in the studio.” Which is exactly what ATC has in mind.
ATC dealer John Rutan, of Audio Connection in Verona, New Jersey, confirms that professional musicians and sound engineers regularly buy ATC from him and swear by it. “The surprise is that, yeah, you can spend $40,000 on their equipment, but their bookshelf speakers start at $1,400, and for that you get the real deal, the authentic ATC sound, no compromise, and perfect for a smaller room.”
The ATC speaker I’ve been listening to lately is their new 50th-anniversary model, the $14,000-plus SCM20ASL LE. This limited-edition model is technically a bookshelf speaker, although at 18 inches tall, it would look outsize next to anything smaller than the Domesday Book. You’ll probably want to buy floor stands for them.
The SCM20ASL LE is almost an audio in-joke—an extra-esoteric model from an already esoteric brand. They’re finished in gloss lacquer and upholstered in quality German leather for no reason other than to show off a speaker that will doubtless rise in value.
The audio in the setup I heard—with $100,000 worth of accessories in a sound-deadened listening room—was immaculate and had an almost disturbingly realistic live quality. As with all great stereo, the sound seems to come from several different points, not just the two speakers.
You don’t need to spend $14,000 for exceptional audio. But if you have a chance to listen to these, you will be sorely tempted to buy them. And you will be in good company.
THE PLANE FINDER–FLIGHT TRACKER APP
Conquer your fear of flying by becoming an eye in the sky
Your columnist has a new habit of playing aircraft-band radio quietly in the background while he works. More on the terrific radio he uses for this another time, but this über-nerdy practice demands an explanation. Suffice it to say that there’s something wonderful about hearing the pilots’ competent, clipped tones wishing air-traffic control “good morning” or “good night” in 50 different accents before a stream of technicalities and the occasional joke.
It’s no surprise that this new habit is accompanied by an addiction to the best flight-tracking app there is. Plane Finder shows you every airplane in the sky, everywhere in the world, in real time—except for Air Force One and other planes for whom security is of great concern. You see not only the details of the plane but everywhere it’s flown to and from in the past few months. The design, graphics, and functionality of the app are all quite superb.
Someone once said the best cure for anyone afraid of flying is to stand and watch the comings and goings at a busy U.S. airport and realize just how many flights, commercial and private, there are. Well, look at Plane Finder, see the 8,000 to 20,000 flights in the air worldwide at any one moment, all day and night, and you’ll see they resemble nothing less than a swarm of insects—almost all, even the ones flown by less-than-great airlines, taking off and landing safely. A few decades ago, there were far fewer flights but crashes seemingly every week.
THE MARSET LED-GINGER PORTABLE LAMP
At last, battery-powered home lighting that won’t hurt your eyes
There’s a new trend toward portable home lighting to illuminate parts of the house where there aren’t convenient power outlets, or for when you’ve set up a dining table outside. This is thanks to batteries that last almost indefinitely and are rechargeable, not to mention L.E.D. bulbs that use a tiny fraction of the power of tungsten bulbs without producing any appreciable heat.
If you go into any Lowe’s or Home Depot, you’ll find a range of cheap—almost entirely Chinese-made—battery-powered lights for every application. But most of them are quite ugly. As the technology has improved, many design-focused lighting companies have come up with attractive options for the home. One such maker is a young company in Barcelona, Marset, which has a showroom in Williamsburg.
We particularly like Marset’s LED-Ginger models, which come in a range of styles—table, suspension, floor, and wall-mounted—and finishes. The lithium-ion-battery life runs from five hours at peak brightness to 20 hours at a lower level, and the lights charge via a USB-C port.
Based in London and New York, AIR MAIL’s tech columnist, Jonathan Margolis, spent more than two decades as a technology writer at the Financial Times. He is also the author of A Brief History of Tomorrow, a book on the history of futurology
