Professional’s Score
Professionals
- Auto-empty charging stand
- Good suction
- Swappable batteries
- Headlights
Cons
- Heavy and never very comfy to make use of
- Restricted cleansing equipment
Our Verdict
This properly priced and highly effective cordless vacuum does lots for its value level. Its HEPA filtration system and auto-empty dock imply it’s a fantastic possibility for folks with hay fever. It appears good and it has some useful options however it is best to be aware that it feels heavy in use.
Bagless cordless vacuums are actually ubiquitous. With only a few exceptions, if you’d like a high-spec cordless vacuum, you’ll have to go bagless.
However that’s not ideally suited for folks with hay fever, allergic reactions or a sensitivity to mud, as a result of it means much more contact with all of the gubbins you vacuum up. That’s notably the case if you might want to poke round in your stick vacuum’s tiny bin to get all the jammed bits out.
Enter the Ultenic FS1. Mud-wise, this cordless vacuum is the perfect of each worlds – it’s a contemporary cordless vacuum that empties, by way of suction, right into a bag in its charging stand. There are just a few choices like this available on the market. One other that we’ve reviewed is the Samsung Bespoke Jet, a vacuum that the FS1 seems to be modelled on.
Design and construct
- Dock is 94cm/ 37in with vacuum
- Max 60 minutes runtime per battery
- Swappable battery – just one included
The Ultenic FS1 has a navy and gray construct, with orange accents. It has good, top quality look – and is a welcome antidote to the attention-grabbing color schemes of rivals from Dyson and Shark. I actually assume that almost all of us desire a vacuum cleaner that blends in, fairly than one that attracts consideration to itself, like both a large toddler toy or a strimmer. Extra choices like this could be welcomed.
The discreet color scheme is especially necessary because the charging/ auto-empty stand is pretty massive and stable, and is designed to face within the open, fairly than being hidden in a cabinet. On the very least, it’ll want a close-by plug level and sufficient clearance above it to connect the vacuum. When the vacuum is within the stand, it’s round 94cm tall (37in), and the dock has a 29 x 25cm (11.4 x 9.8in) base.
The vacuum itself is designed alongside acquainted traces, with a transparent dustbin over a gun-style grip. It’s one of many heavier cordless vacuums – however not by a lot. On paper it’s a really related weight to the Dyson V15 Detect, with the FS1 at 6.8lbs/ 3.1kg in opposition to the Dyson mannequin’s 6.6lbs/ 3kg.
Nevertheless, it feels heavier in use, maybe due to its thick, unergonomic grip. This additionally makes it much less comfy once you’ve been vacuuming for some time. Nonetheless, the swivel-set major cleansing head signifies that it is vitally manoeuvrable.
It has some nice design options, together with a telescoping wand, so you may alter its peak for comfy use, and LED headlights to make cleansing in darkish corners simpler. The headlights are efficient sufficient that it’s truly extra environment friendly to hoover in a darkish room.
The battery may be eliminated and you should buy a second one to swap in to double the cleansing time – which is a most of 60 minutes on its lowest setting. Spare batteries can be found from Ultenic for $55.99, which is significantly cheaper than a Dyson battery alternative.
The FS1 will preserve your air cleaner and minimise the quantity of contact you have got with the contents of the vacuum’s bin
It’s arduous to substantiate how lengthy it takes to cost the battery: as you retailer it by standing it within the charging dock, it’s all the time topping up, so it’s arduous to empty the battery and it doesn’t are inclined to run out in use in the identical method {that a} cordless vacuum does when you might want to make an effort to recollect plug it in.
You possibly can even cost a second battery within the dock on the similar time.
Within the field, together with the vacuum, charging stand, battery, a spare filter, two spare alternative vacuum luggage for the dock (there’s additionally one already inside) and a cleansing brush are the principle vacuum cleansing equipment.
Emma Rowley / Foundry
You’ll get a brush instrument and a crevice instrument and these are advantageous sufficient. They can be utilized, both on the top of the wand or straight on the vacuum physique and click on in simply when you line up the markers. However it might be good to have an upholstery instrument as properly.
The comb is pretty efficient on the floor of upholstery – for instance, at eradicating pet hair from a settee – however that’s largely due to its stiff bristles, fairly than its suction. It gained’t do a lot to deep clear cushions or mattresses except you drag the principle cleansing head onto your mattress or couch.
It’s very efficient in use and its well-designed flooring head simply picks up every little thing from hair and mud to bigger items of particles that different vacuums can scatter
The filter has a five-layer system which finishes with a HEPA filter. It retains 99.99% of advantageous mud right down to 0.3 microns to scrub the air earlier than it discharges it.
Its HEPA filtration, mixed with the auto-empty system, signifies that it’s possibility for folks with hay fever or a sensitivity to mud. The FS1 will preserve your air cleaner and minimise the quantity of contact you have got with the contents of the vacuum’s bin.
There’s a layer of microbial and odour safety within the dock within the type of UV lights as properly.
On the highest of the vacuum physique is a straightforward LED show. It contains a battery life indicator, however as that is solely divided into thirds, it’s nowhere practically as detailed as rivals that provide you with an actual battery life proportion.
Emma Rowley / Foundry
The ability setting you’re utilizing can also be displayed there. There’s a decrease and better energy possibility, and an Auto mode, during which the vacuum will reply to the floor you’re cleansing.
Emma Rowley / Foundry
The button to cycle between energy settings is on the top of the vacuum, above the grip, which is an effective place to place it. However the On/Off change is on high, positioned subsequent to the show, so it’s not fairly inside touching distance once you’re utilizing it, which is slightly annoying.
Efficiency
- Highly effective suction
- Efficient LED headlights
- Cleans proper as much as edges
The FS1 is a superb vacuum. It has highly effective suction – Ultenic says that its 450W motor can energy 30,000Pa of suction. This makes it tough to check with rivals reminiscent of Dyson and Samsung, which use air watts to measure suction.
What I can say it that the FS1 could be very efficient in use and its well-designed flooring head simply picks up every little thing from hair and mud to bigger items of particles that different vacuums can scatter.
It cleans proper into corners and as much as partitions, with sufficient energy to drag up any bits which are on the edges of its cleansing head. It could actually additionally get pretty flat to the bottom, so it’s good for getting underneath beds and sofas.
Emma Rowley / Foundry
The vacuum isn’t notably loud in use. It’s solely very noisy in turbo mode and aside from testing this mode – which might be good for cleansing up massive spills or getting ingrained filth out of carpets – I didn’t have a lot trigger to make use of it.
The bottom cleansing mode was greater than sufficient for handheld dusting, and utilizing the auto mode along side the principle flooring head meant that I didn’t have to consider settings more often than not.
More often than not, when utilizing it, I’d change the lights off and use the LED headlights, which do a greater job of illuminating hair and mud than an overhead gentle.
And once you’ve completed, you simply stick the vacuum again within the dock. Charging is computerized however emptying shouldn’t be. You’ll have to press the button on high of the vacuum deal with. The dock suction isn’t as noisy as that of the Samsung Bespoke Jet – neither is it as highly effective. Meaning that you could be sometimes should take away trapped hair by hand.
There’s one challenge with the auto-empty characteristic. Once you elevate the vacuum out of the dock to start cleansing once more, the dustbin lid on the vacuum shall be open. It pops open when it docks to make emptying potential however you’ll want to recollect to shut it once more earlier than use.
Once I first began testing it, there have been a number of complicated moments the place, bleary and pre-caffeine, I’d start vacuuming whereas concurrently scattering every little thing everywhere in the flooring once more.
Nonetheless, the one actual downside I had whereas testing the FS1 was its weight. Its total design and uncomfortable grip signifies that it does begin to really feel heavy after you’ve been utilizing it for some time, so I wouldn’t suggest shopping for it to your granny.
Worth and availability
Ultenic sells primarily by way of its personal web site and on Amazon.
In case you’re within the US, the perfect value on the time of writing is from Ultenic, the place there’s $120 off the $399.99 MSRP. At this value, this vacuum is a cut price. There’s at the moment additionally a $70 low cost voucher possibility from Amazon.
Within the UK, Amazon is at the moment providing £50 off the £398 RRP. Though this isn’t fairly as a lot of a steal because the US value, it’s nonetheless superb worth for its characteristic set and high quality.
Verdict
The FS1 is a superb vacuum cleaner, combining sturdy suction with an excellent characteristic set that features its self-emptying dock. Having the ability to return the vacuum to its stand for charging and emptying, is a big plus.
My one actual reservation with the product is that it’s uncomfortable and feels heavy after some use.
To see how the FS1 stacks up in opposition to the competitors and to browse extra of our advisable choices, take a look at our round-up of the perfect vacuum cleaners we’ve examined.