This $549 cordless vacuum is powerful enough to handle shedding from two long-haired cats and the mess tracked in from my backyard horse stable - it's not cheap, but it's extremely powerful
- I put the Tineco PURE ONE S12 cordless vacuum to the test in my home where I live with two long-haired cats and track in dirt from my horse stable all day long.
- The $549 vacuum makes cleaning your home less of a chore since you can just grab it off the docking station without worrying about a cord. To be honest, my home has never been cleaner.
- It works on a variety of surfaces, and I was highly impressed by its performance, including its ability to navigate different surfaces without any manual adjustment on my part.
I live in a house that's home to two long-haired, endlessly shedding cats. Couple that with the fact that I have a horse barn in the backyard and you can imagine the dirt, cat hair, horse hair, hay, and everything else that ends up on my floors. Needless to say, cleaning is a time-consuming chore that I usually dread.
I've notoriously avoided cordless vacuums because they just didn't have the cleaning power needed to deal with my house. Using a corded model was far from ideal, though, especially when it came to the challenge of vacuuming my carpeted stairs.
In May, Tineco unveiled its newest line of cordless vacuums, the PURE ONE series. The line includes three models available at different price points. I tested the Tineco PURE ONE S12 model for nearly two months, using it to clean everything from wood flooring to shag carpet to cat beds. It tackled most jobs with the same power that you'd expect in a corded model, but with far more versatility and ease of use.
This vacuum combines all of the standard elements you'd expect of a cordless vacuum plus some unique technology elements. It syncs with an app that you can download to your smartphone (but you can also use the vacuum without the app). A digital display screen right on the body allows you to monitor the cleanliness of the floor and offers a digital countdown on battery power. These are just a few of the many features that make this vacuum easy to use while enabling an impressive overall performance, even in my hard-to-clean house.
Specs
The Tineco PURE ONE S12 cordless vacuum is conveniently sized, measuring 33 inches x 15 inches x 6.6 inches. I found it was just the right size for me, at 5-foot-6-inches, to use comfortably. The body weighs 3.53 pounds without the battery; with the battery on board, the entire unit weighs 4.6 pounds.
This model includes an LED display as well as a comprehensive selection of cleaning accessories including:
- Direct-drive LED multi-tasker power brush
- Mini power brush
- 2-in-1 dusting brush
- Crevice tool
- Soft dusting brush
- Flexible long crevice tool
- LED soft-roller power brush
- Multi-angle folding tube
- Flexible extension hose
- Automatic pre-filter cleaning tool and extra pre-filter
- 2 lithium batteries
This vacuum also comes with a wall-mounted dock for charging, a dual adaptor, and a hair cleaning tool, which proved incredibly useful and effective in cleaning out the hair that wrapped itself around the power brushes.
Each of the accessories is conveniently labeled with its name, which is helpful as you're familiarizing yourself with the tools.
If you would like, you could also download the Tineco App, which is available for both Android version 5.0 or later and iOS version 8.0 or later. This app isn't necessary to use the vacuum, but you can access the vacuum's functions through the app, too. I found that while the app was nice to have, I didn't use it much.
Initial impressions
This vacuum is a higher-priced model, and its packaging and construction reflected that. The components were well-packed, and the box arrived at my doorstep in excellent shape. I appreciated that Tineco included a cloth drawstring bag large enough to hold all of the accessories not in use.
Assembling the vacuum was simple and intuitive. The Quick Start Guide provides excellent visual references, and assembly consisted of connecting four parts together. Installing the wall mount was more difficult, and it took some time to locate an outlet in my house that was positioned high enough to accommodate the full length of the vacuum. Once I found an outlet, though, the rest of the installation took about five minutes, and the vacuum was ready to charge.
With this model, you can charge both batteries simultaneously, which is a great convenience. The initial charge took just under four hours, and a digital display on the vacuum shows just how far along the charging process is.
Overall performance
The Tineco PURE ONE S12 cordless vacuum put in an impressive performance. I found that the Direct-drive LED multi-tasker power brush paired with the vacuum's Auto setting put in the best all-around performance, transitioning seamlessly from hardwood to linoleum to carpeting. The Auto setting adjusts the power as needed, and I could feel its increased power kick in when I moved the vacuum onto carpeting.
When using the other accessories, the ability to increase or decrease the power level was as simple as a swipe of a finger. The included accessories accomplish just about every cleaning task possible, from getting rid of cobwebs in the corners of rooms to tackling upholstered furniture.
The digital display screen offered helpful alerts and also continuously monitored the remaining battery power. It displays symbols indicating when the brush roller is clogged or when the filter and dustbin are full of dust. The red and blue circle around the display changes to indicate the dust amount on the floor being cleaned, and I could hear the vacuum responding with appropriate changes in power when it recognized that the floor was heavily soiled. This function has the added benefit of helping to conserve power when it's not needed, allowing you to do more cleaning before swapping out the batteries.
The battery life definitely drained faster when using motorized attachments, but I found I could do a decent cleaning of my three-bedroom home with just one battery. When tackling things like the carpeted stairs to the basement or cleaning cat beds, the vacuum went through more power. Still, I only needed to swap out a battery once in order to do all of my cleaning. Using the Auto setting or keeping the power at low will help conserve battery life if that's a concern.
I loved the versatility that the PURE ONE S12 offers. The cordless design is freeing and time-saving, and the vacuum is powerful enough to tackle the same jobs I'd previously relied on a corded vacuum for. It fits easily underneath furniture, including my couch, and its lightweight design is ideal for cleaning stairs. The handle sits easily in my hand, and even though I have some injuries in my hands and wrists, I found I could hold the vacuum without getting tired. I also appreciated the filter self-cleaning tool, which means you don't have to manually remove or rinse the filter. It's incredibly easy to use - just attach it and power on the vacuum.
Perhaps best of all, though, is the fact that this vacuum runs quiet. Using the motorized heads or manually increasing the power makes the vacuum louder, but when set on Auto, this vacuum is wonderfully quiet. My cats repeatedly remained in the same room while I was vacuuming, which they have never before done with any other vacuum.
Cons
I did find a few flaws with this vacuum. The largest issue I had was that cat hair and dirt quickly filled the relatively small dustbin. I had to empty the bin after cleaning only one to two rooms. While the bin is very easy to empty (just push a button and the bottom of the bin pops open), it is inconvenient to keep stopping while cleaning. However, adding a larger bin onto this vacuum would eliminate its lightweight and streamlined design.
While the two batteries were more than enough to clean my three-bedroom home, they probably wouldn't be enough to clean a significantly larger home. You might need to divide up some of your cleaning so that the batteries have time to recharge, particularly if you're doing a deep cleaning.
While this vacuum does a good job of picking up most dirt, it did struggle a bit with some larger clumps of cat hair. These tended to ball up when using the Direct-drive LED multi-tasker power brush, but they were easy enough to pick up by hand after. This only occurred when vacuuming areas that had lots of cat hair, such as the cat beds. Generally speaking, though, this vacuum handled areas with less cat hair well.
The bottom line
The Tineco PURE ONE S12 cordless vacuum is a model designed to make vacuuming easy and efficient. It's full of innovative additions, from the ability to detect dust and automatically adjust its suction power appropriately to the rinse-free, self-cleaning filter tool. You can tell that careful thought has gone into this vacuum's design, as evidenced by the inclusion of two batteries, the multiple motorized heads, and the easy design that allows you to quickly clean out the dustbin.
This vacuum is certainly a step above others with its versatility and overall performance. It's surprisingly powerful while draining little battery life, and it maneuvers well on carpeting, wood floors, and tile. In terms of convenience, it's ideal for those hard-to-clean spots, like stairs and under furniture.
Based on my experience with this vacuum, it's absolutely worth purchasing. It's incredibly easy to use (don't let the app or the digital display scare you off if you're not super into technology). I'm someone who dreads vacuuming, but it's so easy to grab this vacuum off the docking station and do a quick run through the house. (To be honest, my house has never been cleaner.)
The Tineco PURE ONE series is available in three different models: The PURE ONE S12 M ($449 on Amazon), the PURE ONE S12 ($549 on Amazon), and the PURE ONE S12 PLUS ($699 on Amazon). The PURE ONE S12 is a good balance of price, convenient features, and cleaning power. While this vacuum certainly hits a higher price point than other vacuums on the market, I feel that it's justified in its quality and performance.
Pros: Digital display monitors power and alerts you to issues, includes plenty of accessories, motorized heads offer powerful cleaning, Auto mode changes seamlessly between different surfaces, includes two batteries
Cons: Dustbin is somewhat small and needs frequent emptying, battery power can limit your ability to continuously clean a larger home, high price point