Product test: vacuum cleaner with cable and battery in a comparison test

Household appliances in the test
Vacuum cleaners with cables and batteries are disappointing in the product test – too much dirt simply remains

Carpet floors challenge the suckers.

© Urbazon / Getty Images

The experts from Warentest tighten the test conditions. Only two cable devices and a cordless vacuum cleaner can still convince. Most devices fail in the task of getting the nasty test dirt out of the carpet.

With the current test, the cordless vacuum cleaners are now finally overtaking the cable devices. The reason lies in the change in test conditions. Corded devices can unleash more suction power, so much so that you can barely move your head across the carpet at maximum power because it’s literally sucked in. That’s over now. The testers now throttle the performance so that you can still move the device comfortably. This means that the peak performance of the cable vacuum cleaners is capped. Cordless vacuum cleaners do not have this problem. You clean with a combination of rotating brush and vacuum, even at full power, the brush always ensures a pleasant propulsion.

performance capped

Overall, the test conditions have become stricter. Only two cable vacuum cleaners and one model with a battery achieved the grade good. Twice even just barely with a 2.4. As you would expect, the vacuums handle a smooth hard floor better than a dirty carpet. There, most cable vacuums had problems getting hair and coarse dirt out of the fibers. But the testers also complained about bad results with the cordless vacuum cleaners. This is compounded by the fact that some devices eject too much of the dust that has just been sucked in at the back.

Overall, the testers are not satisfied with the battery performance. If the devices have to work really hard in the test, the batteries hardly last longer than ten minutes – sometimes only six. In view of prices around 500 euros, the testers find that disappointing. It gets even more annoying when the batteries quickly lose capacity. Ironically, the battery from the very expensive premium brand Dyson lost a quarter of its runtime in the endurance test. One can only speculate about the reasons, it can be assumed that the battery does not have a buffer in capacity that increases its stability, but uses the maximum capacity.

Just three good devices

In the end, only two cable vacuum cleaners received a good grade. The Bosch BGC41XSIL – Grade 2.1 – is available for 275 euros and the Miele Boost CX1 Allergy SNCF0 achieves 2.4 and costs 279 euros. For cable devices, these are both prices on the upper end of the spectrum. With the cordless vacuum cleaners, only the one cuts Bosch BSS825CARP with good starting (2.4). But it also costs a whopping 600 euros. The device from Xiaomi is defective. Here one wonders, however, why one chooses the small Mini – a better upholstery vacuum cleaner – for 100 euros from the program of the Chinese electrical giant and then lets it compete against devices in the 500 to 800 euro class.

You can do it differently

Of course, the test is not entirely fair. For one thing, one test cannot cover the entire market. Devices from Vorwerk are missing. In principle, cable vacuum cleaners could also be equipped with rotary brushes. They are available in “cheap and easy”, then the air flow drives the brushes. They are part of the basic equipment for all vacuum cleaners that are designed for animal households. They also comb hair out of the carpet better and, above all, they allow maximum performance to be demanded in this test without the brush getting stuck. The cable devices would have consistently achieved better grades in the test. And there is also the ultimate suction solution for some corded devices: an optional brush with its own motor can be connected to it. Then the cable vacuum works as effectively as the cordless vacuum cleaner – only with turbo power.

Are suckers really that bad?

The suction time of the cordless devices also has to be put into perspective. That’s right: If the whole apartment is covered with long-pile carpets and then they are massively soiled by dogs and children, a cordless device will run out of breath. However, if hard floors with some carpeting are being cleaned, the vacuum cleaners last far longer than ten minutes in automatic mode. When starting with a charged battery, it has never happened to us that we had to interrupt the suction session due to a power shortage. The testers are in a dilemma. They have been testing vacuum cleaners since the 1960s. To ensure that not all devices are only rated very well, the conditions are becoming increasingly strict. At some point, however, the question arises for the reader as to whether the criteria are not becoming too strict. From the current test he can get the impression that hardly any vacuum cleaner is any good. At least that doesn’t match our impressions in everyday life.

You can take the complete test for a fee here read.

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