[This review was collected as part of a promotion.] I was given this product for free to test, and to say I put it through the wringer is an understatement. However, I believe I was missing parts. My box contained the vacuum, the power head with pole, and the duster attachment. Despite my impression that it came with other attachments, it did not contain a mini power head, nor a crevice tool. As such, I wouldn’t expect to get those products in your box, as a warning. My review will reflect this.
The vacuum has very limited settings. When you power it on it starts in Eco mode. This is pretty much battery saver mode. It has decent suction. There is an Auto mode, which is similar to Eco mode, but has more suction power. The battery won’t last as long how ever. Max, is well, max power. This gives the shortest battery life. I never had a real need to use it though even with disgusting carpets, so that was nice. The heal also swivels VERY easily, which I like. It is a bit louder if a vacuum than I would have expected, so those with sensitive hearing like me will need or want ear plugs. As for the dust bin, I wouldn’t have minded it to be a bit larger, but I was also working with an unholy amount of filth. It wasn’t a big deal to just empty it frequently.
For both Eco and Auto modes, the vacuum auto adjusts how much suction it needs based off how dirty the floor is. A red light means it is on the max setting for really gross carpet. The next step down is purplish red. This means your carpet is still dirty but it doesn’t need to be at maximum suction. Purplish blue means your carpet has some dirt, but isn’t too bad, so it needs less power still. Blue means your carpet is pretty clean, and thus uses the lowest power setting. Max will stay red since the suction does not adjust. It makes cleaning sort of like a game, to try and get every spot to be a blue light. Helps you focus on the dirtiest areas too.
I let my floors get beyond unreasonably filthy to give it the best testing, of the worst case. The house has two dogs, and the floors I vacuumed weren’t in months, which shows. I put it up against my Father’s cordless shark Vertex to see how it stacks up against a more expensive vacuum. For testing, I just did one pass in a straight line down the hall just to see what was picked up by both vacuums. In the pictures with the green carpet, the Shark was tested along the top, and Tineco in Eco mode was tested along the bottom.
On the green carpet, the Tineco vacuum itself did a surprisingly good job. It seemed to stack up equally if not a tiny bit better to the Shark. Considering the amount of hair both picked up, it really shows how nasty the hall really was to have picked up THAT MUCH from 2 straight passes down the hall from each. So there, I’d call them equivalent.
On the blue carpet, I used the Tineco on Eco as I would a normal vacuum for a quick job and went over it a couple times, as you do. It isn’t a perfect, but on the Eco power setting, it did a darn fine job. I was once again impressed. This really is a powerful vacuum for its size and weight! On the Auto setting, which has more suction behind it, it probably would have performed even better.
Now we get to the downsides. Having no mini vacuum head for furniture stinks. I really would have liked to have had that, as the Shark did come with it. The lack of a crevice tool stinks even more. The weird duster tool just cannot get into the cracks like a crevice tool can. Hopefully I just was missing these attachments from my box, and it normally should come with them. If they are not included, as they are very comparable, I would spend the bit more to get them buying a Shark.
The absolutely painful downside is the battery life. Realistically, you are looking at 10 to 20 minutes of vacuum time even in Eco mode. The box claims up to 60 minutes. The only way I got to essentially that was to just turn the vacuum on without the powered vacuum head, and let it run. So to say 15 minutes of vacuuming, and 60 minutes of dusting is fair. The battery itself takes just over 3 hours to charge, which is pain if you plan on doing a large job. Honestly if that is how you vacuum, I’d say just get a corded one. This Tineco is really built for quick, light jobs time wise for battery life.
Overall, it is an ok vacuum. It certainly packs a punch and gets the worst messes done, and well at that, but it just doesn’t have a long runtime. If you just want a basic cordless floor vacuum this is fine. I would pay the little bit extra to spring for something with attachments. If I went with the Tineco, a spare battery wouldn’t hurt either. For what it is, I give it a 4/5 rating.
I was incentivized by receiving this product for free in exchange for my honest review.