Tineco Pure One S12 Pro EX review

One-minute review

Although this floorcare brand has been around since 1998, Tineco is still a relative newcomer that’s fighting hard to be taken as seriously as some of the bigger players in the vacuum cleaner market, including the likes of Dyson and Shark.

In 2019, the brand launched its smartest vacuum cleaner designed to detect dust and adjust the suction level accordingly. The Pure One S12 Pro EX, which is known as the Tineco Pure One S12 Platinum in Australia and features an additional dusting brush, is a cordless vacuum, which also comes with an app that’ll give you vacuuming stats like how much dirt was collected and how long you vacuumed for.

A screen above the handle shows the suction level as well as the battery percentage, but with two swappable batteries, you’ll have plenty of run time. It’s got floor cleaning covered with a power brush, as well as a soft roller brush for more delicate hard floors. 

Additionally, it can be used as a handheld vacuum with one of the many attachments included in the box, from a mini power brush to crevice tools, dusting brushes, and more. There’s barely a surface in your home that can’t be vacuumed with this gadget.

There are plenty of suction levels to choose from, or you can select the auto mode and allow the vacuum to vary the suction depending on the amount of dust detected. Performance was great in our tests and we think this versatile cleaning appliance will be a useful addition to most homes, so long as you’ve got the budget for it, as it’s the brand’s most expensive cordless vacuum to date.

Tineco Pure One S12 Pro EX price and availability

• List price:  $699.99/ £549/ AU$1099 

The Tineco Pure One S12 Pro EX is known as the Tineco Pure One S12 Platinum in Australia, which is exactly the same model, but includes an additional soft dusting brush. It will set you back $699.99/ £549/ AU$1099 and is available direct through Tineco in the UK and US or Godfreys in Australia.

It’s an expensive vacuum, but comes with a lot of accessories as detailed below, making it a versatile cleaning appliance. It’s the top-of-the-range smart vacuum from Tineco and features all the latest smart vacuum technology

Design

• 0.13 gallon /  0.6-liter dust bin
• Auto clean mode
• Wall mounted charging dock

The Tineco Pure One S12 Pro EX has a modern sleek matt white finish which gives it a premium appearance. It’s a pretty standard size for a cordless vacuum, measuring 44.3 x 10.2 x 9 inches/ 112.5 x 26 x 23cm (h x w x d). The weight of the handheld unit alone is around 3.7 lb/ 1.7kg, but this increases up to 6.4lb/ 2.9kg once the floorhead and tube are attached.

As we’ve already mentioned, it comes with a lot of accessories as standard, these include the main multi-tasker power brush floorhead as well as a soft-roller power brush floorhead specifically designed for more delicate floors. Smaller tools include a 2-in-1 dusting brush, mini power brush, crevice tool, and a flexible long crevice tool. For reaching into awkward and tight spaces there’s a flexible extension hose and an elbow style connector called a multi-angle folding tube.

On top of this, there’s a second battery, filter cleaning tool and wall-mounted charging dock. Changing the swappable battery is quick and easy and the charging dock has a slot to store and charge the second battery. The dock can only store three of the small tools though, so for the rest, you’ll need to make space in a cupboard. All of the attachments feel sturdy and well made, they click reassuringly into position and are easy to remove by pressing the button.

The vacuum is operated using a trigger switch on the handle, but there’s also a trigger lock so you don’t need to keep hold of it if you don’t want to. But it can’t stand unsupported so when you stop vacuuming to answer the phone, you’ll need to lean it on something or rest it on the floor. 

On top of the vacuum, a round LED display screen shows the battery level as well as the current suction level. A loop around the edge of the display changes from blue to red as the vacuum detects more dirt. Any faults are also displayed via symbols on the display.

The power level is controlled via a discrete touch-sensitive slider above the handle and next to this is the auto button which engages auto cleaning. In this mode, the vacuum takes care of the suction level, increasing and reducing it according to the amount of dirt it detects. At 0.13 gallon / 0.6-liter, the dust bin is small, but it’s easily emptied via the press of a button. It has a pre-filter as well as a mesh filter and a HEPA filter, all are simple to access for cleaning.

Performance

• Powerful suction
• Easy to control
• Good maneuverability

Apart from screwing the dock to the wall, there’s no assembly required before use, except maybe a quick battery charge. And getting to grips with the controls was also simple, we enjoyed the power control slider above the handle.

When on carpet, it’s most effective at collecting all the dirt and debris from along baseboards on max power. For the rest of the carpet, it sucks up everything in its path and leaves the floor spotless. Similarly, on hard floors, we had to slide the suction up to max for the best results along baseboards, but otherwise pick up didn’t disappoint. We tried out both brushes and the soft brush was slightly less effective at collecting larger debris but copes well with fine dust.

For stairs, we attached the mini power brush directly to the handheld vacuum and it transformed this normally tricky task into a quick and easy clean. The mini power brush also made short work of cleaning upholstery and was a useful tool for the carpets in our car too.

In auto mode, the vacuum does adjust the suction level whilst vacuuming and we observed it increase the power when we vacuumed over visibly dirty areas, but it’s also reassuring to be able to adjust the power manually via the slider too.

It maneuvers well around corners and transitions easily from hard floor to carpet, as well as onto a long pile area rug. The handle is comfortable and we particularly like being able to lock the trigger into the on position, which is more comfortable when vacuuming for longer periods. However, it’s worth pointing out that the air vent above the handle blows air onto your hand when vacuuming and in colder climates, this can leave your hand feeling a little chilly.

When vacuuming floors it doesn’t feel heavy but as a handheld, it can start to feel heavy quite quickly, particularly if vacuuming higher areas or hard-to-reach spots. So this type of cleaning is best tackled in short bursts.

It picks up hair with ease, we did notice some get tangled around the roller brush, but all of the brushes are easily removed from the floor heads for cleaning, plus there’s a cutting tool provided should you need to cut it away. The filters are also easy to access, the filter cleaning tool is something we haven’t seen before on other vacuums and takes the hard work out of this task. It takes about a minute to complete the filter clean, but for the HEPA filter, you’ll have to wash it by hand.

The dust bin empties with just the press of a button, most of the debris falls out, although if there’s a lot of hair tangled inside, you may have to give it a tug to remove it all.

The soft roller brush hit 77dB on our noise meter when vacuuming hard floors on max power, which is equivalent to the noise level experienced when standing near a busy freeway. However, it was pleasingly quiet on the lowest power setting. And readings were almost exactly the same when we measured the noise on carpet using the multi-tasker power brush. 

App

• Shows filter usage
• Lists amount of dust collected
• Shows battery level

The app was easy to set up and configure with the vacuum. Its usefulness is debatable though. It gives information on filter usage, which is helpful for determining when the filter needs a clean. It also tells you the battery level, but so does the LED display on the vacuum.

Other information such as the usage time and amount of dust collected are interesting at first but most people don’t need to know this information. Additionally, you can adjust the suction power via the app, which seems like an odd thing to do while you’re vacuuming and already have the controls at your fingertips. In summary, you won’t be missing out if you opt not to download the app.

Battery life

• Short run time on max suction
• Swappable batteries
• Battery level shown on LED display

We timed the battery when vacuuming on max suction and it lasted nine minutes. However, with a second swappable battery this isn’t too much of an issue. And you’ll get a much longer run time when using it on lower suction levels. 

Tineco claims you’ll get up to 100 minutes, which is more than enough for most people’s needs. The battery level can be checked in the app as well as on the LED display on the vacuum.

Recharging the empty battery took approximately three hours and 15 minutes. The wall-mounted dock houses the battery charger and will charge both the one in the vacuum and the spare. Though it prioritizes the battery in the vacuum, then charges the spare. 

Our only frustration with charging the battery was that it has to be done on the wall-mounted dock, which if you choose not to mount it to the wall, is bulky and awkwardly shaped.

Should I buy the Tineco Pure One S12 Pro EX?

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First reviewed: January 2022

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