Bosch Athlet Serie 4 BCH625KTGB prohome cordless vacuum cleaner review

The Bosch Athlet Serie 4 BCH625KTGB prohome cordless vacuum cleaner uses a powerful 25.2 V lightweight Lithium-Ion technology for a long-life performance offering up to 60 minute run time. Combined with the enhanced SensorBagless Technology, the Athlet gives comparable performance to a 2400 W vacuum cleaner. As the airflow is constantly monitored the sensor gives an LED red-signal when filter cleaning is required for consistent cleaning performance meaning maximum performance with minimum maintenance – throughout its lifetime. Bosch Athlet Serie 4 BCH625KTGB review.

Get right up close with the all-floor power brush that has a flexible nozzle joint for cleaning around and even under the furniture. Plus, the accessory kit includes a hose, shoulder strap, XXL crevice and an upholstery nozzle. It will even stand completely stable on its own for convenient storage.

Specifications – Bosch Athlet Serie 4 BCH625KTGB prohome cordless vacuum cleaner

• Brand Bosch
• Model Number BCH625KTGB
• Colour White
• Item Weight 3.3 Kg
• Product Dimensions 18.5 x 28.5 x 116 cm
• Capacity 0.9 litres
• Power / Wattage 1800 watts
• Voltage 25.2 volts
• Material Plastic
• Runtime 60 minutes
• Special Features Cordless, Bagless

Bosch Athlet Serie 4 comparison

BOSCH upright vacuum cleaner comparison

Bosch Athlet Serie 4 BCH625KTGB prohome cordless vacuum cleaner review

Design & weight

The cordless design and compact sizes make the Athlet extremely versatile and easy to move around, particularly as it weighs in at a featherweight 3.3kg with the floor head attached. Remove the floor head and you can attach a clip-on hose and a selection of tools for reaching more inaccessible places while you carry the main unit on a shoulder strap. The bagless design has a dust bin with a compact 0.9-litre capacity and a warning light to indicate when the washable filter needs a clean.

Battery

The Athlet is Bosch’s first serious cordless upright vacuum cleaner, and it promises to replace corded models in all but the largest of homes. Powered by a durable 25v lithium-ion battery, the Athlet delivers high suction power and plenty of run time to whiz around several rooms on a single charge.

Wall socket

Charging is by a wall-socket adapter with a flying lead that plugs into the cleaner just below the handle. Bright blue LED segments illuminate to indicate the state of the charge. It has three power levels, so you can balance suction power against run time. On the lowest power setting Bosch claims up to one hour’s cleaning.

Being a rechargeable cordless model, the most important accessory is the charger itself. We weren’t overly impressed with this, as it’s a simple ‘wall-wart’ plug-in adapter with a slightly fiddly jack plug. It’s not particularly tidy when charging and, unless you unplug the charger from the wall while cleaning, you have trailing cable just waiting to be sucked up. The option of a charging dock would have made the concept a whole lot neater.

Hose

Attaching the flexible hose requires removing the main floor head by firmly pressing a robust plastic clip and lifting the main unit away from the head. It’s a three-handed job, so we had to place a foot on the head.

As mentioned, you get a shoulder strap for carrying the cleaner around, with the end of the hose and the upholstery and crevice nozzles within easy reach. This portable nature means the hose is very short, but with the superlight weight and no mains cable to trip over, the Athlet is excellent at reaching places other cleaners struggle to reach.

Bosch Athlet Serie 4 BCH625KTGB cleaning performance review

1. Pet hair

The Athlet had rather mixed performance with pet hair from our willing assistants, Poppy (Labrador) and Willow (Collie). In upright mode with the main floor head it coped admirably well. On full power it cleaned the test carpet area, with its well-rubbed-in pet hair, to pristine clean in around 18 seconds.

The Athlet’s limiting factor with pets is not so much the collecting performance, but the small 0.9-litre bin. This will fill quickly if your pets are having a spring moult. Handily, the Athlet’s brush bars can be removed from the side of the head, allowing easy detangling and removal of hairs caught around the bar. In portable/handheld mode the Athlet struggled with pet hairs. The lower suction power than a full-size electric corded vacuum, plus the lack of a turbo brush head on the hose tool, conspire to make it very difficult to pick up dogs hair that are embedded into carpet.

2. Carpets and hard floors

If you’ve ever tried an old-style cordless vacuum cleaner, prepare for a surprise with the Athlet. Even from the sound of the motor on full power, you can tell this is a cleaner that means business, and the suction power through the floor head is enough to generate quite a bit of ground suction. This means a firm hand is required to push and pull the cleaner around on full power.

Of course, you can nudge down the power to level 2 to make moving the Athlet around even easier, albeit at the expense of cleaning power. On level 1, the electric brush bar in the main head is switched off, making it ideal for hard floors.

On full power the Athlet performed admirably in open areas of carpet, comparing very well with lower-powered corded models. Its light weight and manoeuvrability encourage you to repeat any areas that weren’t cleaned on the first sweep, while its cordless power is a blessing for anyone who’s ever become entangled in a vacuum cleaner cable.

Get closer to the skirting board and main head’s edge performance isn’t as impressive as with the open-space cleaning. There was visible freshener powder remaining close to the skirting board and, in practical use, larger dirt particles often had to be manually flicked out from the edge for the Athlet to pick them up.

On hard floors this Bosch is very easy to move around, particularly as the floor head can pivot forwards and backwards as well as side to side. While most hard-floor cleaning is a simple task for vacuum cleaners, we’d have preferred the option to use a higher power setting and switch the brush bar off manually.

Used on level 3 (labelled ‘Turbo’) on mixed-pile carpets, the Athlet ran consistently at full power without fading or reducing power for just over 12 minutes. At this time it stopped completely, indicating it needed a recharge. We had to empty the container mid-way and several rooms got vacuumed twice before the machine stopped working. This is a great result, as you can get a lot of cleaning done in 12 minutes. If you’re prepared to do a lighter clean on Level two power, you can nip round all but the largest of houses on a single charge.

Charging itself takes around three hours from flat, and the charger draws less than 16W during this time – we measured 0.056kWh/charge. The charger automatically shuts down when the cleaner is fully juiced up, meaning it can be left plugged in and switched on without wasting electricity between uses.

The Athlet was fairly quiet in use, too. When vacuuming carpet in a fully carpeted bedroom, it measured just 75dB at ear height above the cleaner, or about the same as most people have their kitchen radios or TVs. That’s quieter than the majority of traditional mains-powered vacuums we’ve tested, apart from the models that are designed to be ultra-quiet.

3. stairs

For the stronger user, the Athlet’s easy-to-handle 3.3kg weight with the main floor head attached actually means you can carry it up the stairs, cleaning each step as you go. Practically, though, the idea with this is that you swap the floor head for the hose, attach the strap, sling the cleaner over your shoulder and use the hose tools provided. That’s not as simple as it sounds, however, as the push-clip to detach the head (and latterly the hose) requires a very firm push whilst trying to pull two sections apart at the same time.

Once the hose is attached, we also had difficulty with the strap. There are pieces of Velcro at the end and a diagram to say this wraps around the handle, but the Velcro is simply in the wrong place and doesn’t secure to itself if it’s wrapped around the handle. There may be a way of achieving this that we’re yet to fathom, but neither the manual, the diagram nor Bosch’s website shed much light on the subject.

Simply tying the strap on was fine for our test, and the Bosch worked as described – assuming you’re comfortable with having a machine over your shoulder. The main hose tool was OK for stair cleaning, although, as ever, tools without a rotating brush are always going to have limited efficiency on carpeted stairs. Care must also be taken when putting the vacuum cleaner down in this mode, as there’s no obvious way to place it on the floor. It would be easy to put it down ‘end-first’, crushing the hose.

Bosch Athlet Serie 4 BCH625KTGB Customer review

The ultimate hoover, best purchase ever.

What an amazing hoover! About twice a day every day for the past 5 years, I think of how grateful I am to have a Bosch Athlet. I had been using a Bosch Athlet (basic model) for 2 years, a courteous purchase of my landlady, and I was 100% satisfied with it. So much so that I bought the next model (this one, BCH625KTGB) for my mom. And then, when we moved accommodation, I bought the same one for my family. I have been using the current model daily (usually at least twice a day) for the last 2 1/2 years. It is outstanding.

I cannot sing its praises enough. It has amazing suction, great battery life in comparison to other models and brands, it is very ergonomic and actually comfortable to use. This is a proper domestic-use hoover with the added – massive – benefit of no cables and a comfortable handle. Despite its design, it reaches under beds and tight spots easily, it swivels like a ballerina, it picks up the tiniest crumbs and hair and it does all that without needing practically any maintenance other than emptying the container and once in a while washing the filter. It is so easy to maintain!

I have tried upright cordless hoovers from more expensive and higher profile competitors (best and most expensive among them the Dyson V models) and they are nowhere near as good as this one. My mother in law and a number of other friends have the Dyson V and when I think of what they got for the money the paid, I’m just shocked. There is no comparison between the Athlet and the Dyson V. In my experience the competitors feel like bigger versions of handheld black ‘n deckers.

The Dyson very soon starts feeling very heavy on the hand, which you may not notice if you haven’t had the fortune of trying an Athlet and experience how no strain whatsoever goes on the hand. The Dyson also becomes rather cumbersome having to keep the button pressed in order for it to work, which again, with the Athlet you never have to think of. This Bosch Athlet feels like the most powerful conventional domestic hoover only sleeker, faster, prettier, more comfortable, more durable, more economic.

For me, it has been one of the best purchases I have ever made and I would buy it again and again if I needed to. I am not an employee of Bosch (or of any other relevant company) and have paid for these hoovers full price. I am simply a very, very satisfied customer.

There are no negatives to report from the 5 years using Bosch Athlet hoovers, however it is worth mentioning that the battery on the basic model is not as good as this one (it is still way better than the battery of the Dysons I’ve tried); that the foam filter if taken out in a rush it can tear in places (it hasn’t happened to any of my Athlets but it did happen to my mom’s); and that the attachments do take some extra effort to put on and off. None of the above have made my use of this hoover difficult or negative, but they are worth keeping in mind.

By Amazon Reviewer on Bosch Athlet BCH625KTGB Review

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