Tineco cordless vacuum cleaner Pure One S12 review

This cord-free Tineco Pure One S12 can convert to a hand vac and comes with two 21.6 V user-replaceable Lithium ion batteries, an automatic pre-filter cleaning tool, crevice tool, mini power brush, 2-in-1 dusting brush, soft dusting brush, flexible long crevice/brush combination tool, a dual charge wall mounted dock and extra filter. Overall, it performed well in our cleaning tests, scoring 100% in 11 out of 12 tests. It’s jam packed with smart features, has an incredibly long 100 minute run time, a ton of accessories, and is definitely one of the best cordless vacuums we’ve tested to date. Discover more benefits in Tineco cordless vacuum cleaner Pure One S12 review.

Tineco Pure One S12 specifications

Package contents – Tineco cordless vacuum cleaner Pure One S12

• Extension wand – for when using the Tineco in stick vacuum mode
• Main Body (with motor and dustbin) – the in-hand portion for all cleaning modes
• Direct-drive cleaning head – includes a spiral brushroll that agitates and captures debris from all floor types
• Mini power brush – used when the Tineco is in handheld mode; good for cleaning upholstery or fabrics
• Flexible crevice tool – a long crevice tool with a flexible hose portion for better maneuverability
• Pre-filter cleaning tool (powered) – an automated cleaning tool for easier maintenance
• Small cleaning tool (Tineco Pure One S12 manual) – a small brush for cleaning the brushroll or small crevices in the vacuum
• Crevice tool – a shorter crevice tool with a narrow nozzle tip
• Combination tool (dusting brush + crevice tool) – good for cleaning jobs that cause you to switch tools frequently, like automobile interiors.
• Soft dusting brush – a wider dusting surface for cleaning hard surface furniture or dusting automobile interiors
• Pre-filter (x2) – needed for proper filtration
• Battery (x2) – battery can run for up to 100 minutes, without powered attachments
• Wall mount – provides storage space for the handheld and 2 attachments

Tineco cordless vacuum cleaner Pure One S12 review

Design

The Tineco Pure ONE S12 vacuum is a cordless stick vacuum with a lightweight body style and in-hand motor and dustbin. This Tineco cordless vacuum seems to take some design inspiration from the Dyson V-Series cordless stick vacuums. Similar to the Dyson V-Series, the Tineco Pure ONE S12 cordless vacuum consists of three main parts:

1. The cleaning head
2. The wand
3. The in-hand dustbin and motor

These three parts easily connect and disconnect between each other to form different configurations, depending on your cleaning job.

Size & weight

The Tineco S12 is a reasonable size for a cordless stick vacuum. It is 10″ wide, 6″ deep, and 47″ tall (when in upright stick mode.)

• Width: 10″
• Depth: 6″
• Height: 47″
• Weight: 6.6 pounds

2-in-1 Design

The Tineco Pure ONE S12 is designed to run as a cordless stick vacuum or as a portable handheld vacuum. It uses the same body base and simply changes the attachments to create a variety of different configurations.

Dual Filtration

This vacuum comes with two filters — a pre-motor and a post-motor HEPA filter that provides a good seal. The primary filter is similar to the Dyson filter in that it is made from cloth and is easy to clean.

However, the cyclonic filtration isn’t as good as in a Dyson as it soils at a faster rate. Tineco has a tool that makes it easy to clean the filter. They call this the automatic pre-filter cleaning tool. It’s a device that you attach to the vacuum unit that will suck out debris that accumulates on the pre-motor filter.

Intelligent Suction

Smart sensors allow the Tineco to automatically adjust suction depending on the level of debris. The suction can also be adjusted manually by a simple sliding control on the body of the vacuum.

Wifi Control

The Tineco S12 is wifi-enabled which shows cleaning performance, battery info, and filter maintenance directly from your smartphone (when connected to the Tineco app).

LED screen

The first thing that grabbed my attention when I first got this product is the big LED screen on the box. At first, I thought that it was a touch screen, but it was not. The screen scores high in legibility as Tineco used bright colors and a dark background thus scoring high in contrast. Not many other brands have an LED screen in their products. One other stick vacuum that comes to mind is the Dyson V11 Torque Drive.

Slider for Adjusting Power

Another unique feature of the Pure One S12 is the power adjusting slider behind the LED screen.

While other brands use a button or a slide switch with a fixed number of settings, the one found in this vacuum provides a range. It gives the user more precise control of how much power to use depending on the need.

There will be a slight delay for just a few milliseconds, but it isn’t that bad. The slider an industry first, and only time will tell if other brands will follow suit. It’s like slapping an iPhone on a cordless vacuum. My preference would be leaving it in the Auto position in most cleaning tasks. But it gives you an option to increase or decrease suction just in case the need arises.

Trigger-Lock

While the Pure One S12 has the same trigger mechanism as a Dyson cord-free vacuum, it comes with a trigger lock that holds it in the “on” position. So there’s no need to constantly squeeze the trigger for long jobs. I like this feature as it’s less tiring on the arm and finger when vacuuming floors. It’s a nice convenience addition that is a plus point to usability.

Unique charging dock

The charging dock is another innovation that deserves mention. This feature is a space and time saver since there’s no need to wait for the battery to fully charge since the dock will charge the extra battery it even if the vacuum is in use.

Auto mode

Another option for people who don’t want to fiddle with the power setting is using the auto mode. This mode turns on the iLoop sensor (right in front of the dust cup) that detects the amount of dirt that passes through and adjusts suction when it identifies an increase. It is different than the Dyson V11’s sensor that detects the surface type.

I believe that this system is far more efficient and utilizes power better since there’s no need to use high airflow if there’s not much to clean regardless of the surface.

Attachments and Tools

Tineco offers one of the more diverse sets of accessories available in the market. You’ll get a total of thirteen tools if you buy the flagship Pure One S12 Plus version. The version that I bought is a notch below. It won’t have tools such as the multi-angle adaptor and the flexible extension hose (I had to buy those separately along with the soft roller power brush).

Even without these tools, it is still a lot and more than the Dyson V10 or V11.

These tools include the following:

1. LED soft roller power brush: A specialized tool for cleaning hard floors. Like the direct-drive attachment, it also has a row of LED lights. Take note that I bought this attachment separately.

2. Direct-drive LED power brush: This is Tineco’s standard floor cleaning attachment that has soft and stiff bristles that will work best on carpets. It’s got four bright LED headlights that will help with visibility.

3. 2-in-1 dusting brush: This attachment combines an upholstery and brush tool. It is an excellent tool for cleaning upholstery inside the home or vehicle.

4. Soft dusting brush: It has soft bristles that work well at cleaning delicate surfaces like lampshades or dusting furniture.

5. Flexible long crevice tool: If you need a little bit more reach, this tool can be handy. It has a rubber insert that you can use to extend reach and offers some flexibility for cleaning tight crevices.

6. Crevice tool: Great for cleaning tight spots between cushion seats.

7. Mini turbo brush: A smaller version of the main cleaning head that will provide enough agitation to clean embedded dirt on fabric upholstery (e.g., sofas, chairs, and even mattresses), and stairs.

8. Pre-filter: A filter located in the middle of the dust cup that traps fine allergens and keeps it from going back out the motor’s exhaust.

9. Automatic pre-filter cleaning tool: Another innovation from Tineco. This tool automatically cleans the pre-motor filter for you without having to remove it from the vacuum.

10. Two lithium-ion batteries: This variant also comes with two lithium-ion batteries that effectively doubles the run time to 100 minutes.

11. Dual charging wall-mounted dock: Perhaps my favorite tool of the bunch. It’s a wall-mountable charging dock that charges two batteries simultaneously! Not only that, it provides storage for three non-motorized attachments.

12. Multi-angle folding adapter: A foldable tool that provides consumers the ability to clean areas high above without having to use a chair or ladder.

13. Flexible extension hose: Adds reach and flexibility to any non-motorized tool. A great tool to have for cleaning vehicle interiors.

How much power does the Tineco Pure One S12 have?

To measure power, I used an anemometer to measure the amount of airflow from the wand and main cleaning head. Realize that there will be some margin for error in this test and the reason why I’m doing is to make it a point of reference to compare with other brands that we may see a correlation between it and cleaning performance, particularly carpet.

Here are the results

It has more airflow than the Dyson V10 both in the wand and main cleaning head, and almost at the level of the Dyson V11 Torque Drive which is a good reason why it did so well in the cleaning tests (more on that below).

How long will the Tineco Pure One S12 run time?

Out of the box, you’ll get two 2,500 mAh Li-ion batteries that Tineco claims will run for up to 100 minutes combined. I tested if this claim is valid by running the vacuum to empty and using a digital timer to measure how long it runs. Here are the results of the test with the primary floor tool and with suction only tools.

Even with the main cleaning head attached, this vacuum was able to run for up to 37 minutes and 35 seconds at the lowest power setting and up to 10 minutes at the highest setting. Using suction only tools, it will run for up to 51 minutes and 21 seconds on eco and 10 minutes and 47 seconds at max.

Multiplying these figures by two — the Pure One S12 will run for up to 74 minutes at the lowest setting and 20 minutes at the max setting with the main cleaning head attached. And up to 102 minutes in the low setting and 21 minutes at the max setting using a non-powered tool.

However, I did notice that there was a slight drop in airflow as the battery was close to empty. But it didn’t affect how this vacuum performs as I did some of the cleaning tests with the battery at 15%. The batteries are removable, which makes it easy to replace just in case it breaks down.

How noisy is the Tineco Pure One S12?

I used a good old fashioned sound meter to measure the noise level of the Pure One S12 from about two feet away, and here are the results.

• Eco: 65.5 to 67.2 dB
• Max: 67.5 to 70.4 dB

Take note that I measured it with the brush roll attached, so you’ll know what to expect since you’ll be using this vacuum a lot with this tool attached.

Dust cup capacity and design

According to the manual, the Pure One S12 can hold up to 0.6 liters of dry dirt, which is up to the Max fill line. It has a higher capacity than the Dyson V8 at 0.54 liters, but lower than the Dyson V10 that has a 0.77-liter capacity.

One downside with the Tineco dust cup is the lack of a hygienic system. This vacuum only has a trap door that relies on gravity. If you’re cleaning a lot of dust and pet hair, these will stick on the plastic parts of this vacuum and will require assistance from your fingers to remove.

The good news is that the dust cup disassembles easily. Just push a lever in front of the trigger (just below it) to remove the dust cup.

Press the release latch to open the trap door then twist the black plastic part to remove the filter assembly. I believe that the dust cup assembly isn’t washable since it has the iLoop sensor and electronic pins that connect to the battery charger. The only part that is washable is the filter assembly. Make sure that it is fully dry before putting it back in the vacuum.

Smartphone app

One of the unique features of the Pure One S12 would be the app. It’s probably the only cordless stick vacuum with this feature.

The app has several essential functions:

1. Filter status: It informs users of the status of the filter. To be more specific, if it needs cleaning or has to be replaced.
2. Battery status: Tells you the state of the battery with realtime updates as you use the vacuum.
3. The number of cleaning cycles: The app also records the number of times you’ve used the vacuum, which you can sort by day, week, or month.
4. Adjusts power: This app has a slider that will increase or decrease the amount of power. It’s similar to the slider on the higher-end Pure One S12 models, but a bit clunkier to use in my opinion.

It’s a pretty cool feature, but if you’ve purchased any of the two Pure One S12 series vacuums with the LED screen, the information on there is redundant since the LED screen will provide the same data. But it’s a must-have for those who plan on purchasing any of the two lower-end options – the Pure One S12 M or S12 M Lite as both of these variants have the phone holder.

Installing the app is straightforward, and I’ve summarized everything in this video just in case you need a reference.

It’s a simple and easy to use app that’s responsive with basic features. Please let me know in the comments section if you have any issues installing the app.

Tineco cordless vacuum cleaner Pure One S12 cleaning performance review

The following vacuum cleaner tests are designed to show how the Tineco S12 performs on different surfaces, picking up a variety of debris types.

We test on three different floor types, including hardwood floors, low pile carpet, and high pile carpet.

• Overall 92%
• Hardwood 75%
• High Carpet 100%
• Low Carpet 100%

Hardwood Floor Cleaning

The results on hardwoods were overall pretty good if you overlook one thing — cereal. When cleaning kitty litter, rice, and sugar, it was able to capture 100% of debris, but when cleaning cereal, the debris was just too tall to be swept under the cleaning head.

• Cereal 0%
• Kitty Litter 100%
• Rice 100%
• Sugar 100%

Instead, the cleaning head simply pushed this debris forward. Of course, this could be overcome by switching to the handheld mode and using the soft dusting brush or one of the crevice tools.

Bear in mind, we tested the Tineco Pure One S12 standard version. The S12 Plus version includes a soft roller head, which is more able to remove large debris from hard surfaces. We would expect the S12 Plus to score 100% on all hardwood debris.

High Carpet Cleaning

The cleaning results on high pile carpet were the best results on any floor type. This is actually pretty unusual for most cordless stick vacuums since high pile carpet has more dense fibers. Small debris commonly sinks down into the carpet and is difficult to remove completely.

With the Tineco S12, auto mode enabled a higher suction mode on high carpet than what it produced on low carpet. As a result, it was able to clean 100% of all debris types.

• Cereal 100%
• Kitty Litter 100%
• Rice 100%
• Sugar 100%

Low Carpet Cleaning

When cleaning low pile carpet, the results were better. Unlike on hardwoods, the Tineco was able to capture 100% of cereal, kitty litter, and rice.

• Cereal 100%
• Kitty Litter 100%
• Rice 100%
• Sugar 100%

Sugar showed a little bit of struggle, where it only captured 81% of debris while on auto mode. That said, when I manually moved it to max suction to removed 100% of the sugar from the carpet fibers.

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