Dreame H12 Core: The vacuum cleaner with an Indian heart

Indian Express

20-06-2025

My first exposure to a vacuum cleaner was in the early 1990s when an Eureka Forbes salesman did a demo at our home. Over the years, vacuum cleaners have become popular in India. They have, however, never managed to become the trusted cleaning device in our households, given how seriously we take our dusting and cleaning routines. Indian requirements are also complicated, especially with the excess dust in most parts of the county as well as our fixation with mopping. The Dreame H12 Core tries to sell exactly this versatility that Indian homes need.
The design of the Dreame H12 Core is unique. It is a cordless vacuum cleaner with wet and dry modes, but one that can transform into a handheld device that you clean tricky locations with. In its regular position, it stands tall like a traditional dusting vacuum cleaner, with controls at the handle. Interestingly, once you tilt the upper part a bit toward you, the vacuum cleaner has a self-propulsion mode that moves it ahead. It is a bit like those pet parents who you see being tugged along by their pets in the park. When the Dreame H12 Core is on the run in your living room, it pulls in most of the dust as well as other small refuse on the floor efficiently.
The self-propulsion feature means you don't tire while plying the relatively heavy vacuum cleaner around the house. In this mode, you can use the Dreame H12 Core to clean hard floors that are dirty with dust or even liquid spills. Yes, with its suction mode, this vacuum cleaner can even suck up coffee or water spills in the house easily. There is a storage tank at the back which stores the liquid that is sucked in, while also holding clear water for when you are mopping the floor. This works well and you can suck up most spills with just a couple of swipes using the cleaner.
There are multiple attachments you can use for hard floor cleaning. Interestingly, the sensors on the vacuum understand what is ahead and adjust power accordingly, for instance when there is excess dirt or a water spill. On the control unit on top of the motor, you can see red, orange, and green LEDs indicating the nature of the task at hand. This panel also shows you indicators like battery level and a full dust compartment. There is voice assist too though it gets drowned in the noise of the motor when you are using the vacuum cleaner.
The Dreame H12 Core can transform too. You can take off the motor part of this vacuum cleaner and attach it to a compact storage bin and attachments for when you want to lift it easily to clean the window blinds or the dust repository at the back of your large flat-screen TV. I found this versatility to be perfect for Indian homes where cleaning needs can keep changing by the season. I used the brush tool to get a lot of stubborn dust out of my mesh-like blinds and to pull out embedded dust from inside the sofa crevices.
Once you have done your cleaning, the Dreame H12 Core has to be put back on its charging dock. Now, since this is also a wet vacuum cleaner, Dreame has thought of a good solution to ensure the mops are dried and do not start smelling. Once on the dock, you can press a drying mode button that uses hot air to dry the mop attachment. I found this to be a very thought-through solution, especially for Indian conditions. Also, as soon as the vacuum is back on the dock, you get a voice alert that charging has started. There is another dock on which you can keep all the attachments of this vacuum cleaner.
Once the charge was enough for me to do a cleaning run of my small apartment, about 45 minutes at full power. But I rarely did a long run like this in the two weeks I had the device as you usually end up putting the device back on its charger after cleaning just one area. Blame this on low attention span even for daily chores.
My only grouse with the device is that the wet cleaning part is a bit subtle. You don't always get the wet feel on the floor which we Indians are used to after a mop. Also, the device can be charged only when fully fitted and not using it as a handheld. This means one has to remove those attachments and put them back into their full body. Also, I could not find if there was a blower option which often comes in handy in our dusty environment.
At its price of Rs 24,999, the Dreame H12 Core is clearly one of the best options out there for cleaning Indian homes. This is because the vacuum cleaner is anything but a one-trick pony and can adjust whatever the cleaning needs of the home.
Nandagopal Rajan writes on technology, gadgets and everything related. He has worked with the India Today Group and Hindustan Times. He is an alumnus of Calicut University and Indian Institute of Mass Communication, Dhenkanal. ... Read More