Expert rating
Benefits
- Self-emptying load support
- Good suction
- Exchangeable batteries
- Headlights
The inconvenients
- Heavy and not very comfortable to use
- Limited cleaning accessories
Our opinion
This powerful and inexpensive cordless vacuum does a lot for its price. Its HEPA filtration system and self-emptying docking station make it a great option for hay fever sufferers. It looks good and it has some handy features, but you should note that it’s cumbersome to use.
Best Prices Today: Ultenic FS1
$399.99
Bagless cordless vacuums are now ubiquitous. With very few exceptions, if you want a high-quality cordless vacuum, you’ll have to do without a bag.
But it’s not ideal for people with hay fever, allergies or dust sensitivity, as it means a lot more contact with all the gubbins you suck up. This is especially the case if you have to rummage through the small bin of your stick vacuum to remove any stuck pieces.
Enter the Ultenic FS1. When it comes to dust, this cordless vacuum is the best of both worlds – it’s a modern cordless vacuum that empties, by suction, into a bag in its charging stand. There are only a few options like this on the market. Another we’ve reviewed is the Samsung Bespoke Jet, a vacuum that the FS1 appears to be modeled after.
Design and build
- The dock is 94 cm / 37 inches with vacuum
- Maximum autonomy of 60 minutes per battery
- Replaceable battery – only one included
The Ultenic FS1 has a navy blue and gray construction, with orange accents. It looks smart and high-quality – and is a welcome antidote to the eye-catching color schemes of rivals from Dyson and Shark. I really think most of us want a vacuum that fits in, rather than one that draws attention to itself like a giant toddler toy or a brushcutter. More options like this would be welcome.
The understated color scheme is particularly important as the autoload/drain stand is quite large and sturdy, and is designed to stand out in the open, rather than tucked away in a cupboard. At the very least, it will need a nearby outlet and enough clearance above to attach the vacuum. When the vacuum is in the stand, it is approximately 94cm tall (37 inches) and the docking station has a base of 29 x 25cm (11.4 x 9.8 inches).
The vacuum itself is designed along familiar lines, with a transparent dustbin on a pistol-style handle. It’s one of the heaviest cordless vacuums, but not by much. On paper, it’s a very similar weight to the Dyson V15 Detect, with the FS1 coming in at 6.8lbs/3.1kg compared to 6.6lbs/3kg for the Dyson model.
Emma Rowley / Foundry
However, it feels heavier in use, perhaps because of its thick and not very ergonomic handle. It also makes it less comfortable when vacuuming for a while. Still, the pivoting main cleaner head means it’s very maneuverable.
It has great design features including a telescoping wand, which lets you adjust its height for comfortable use, and LED headlights to make cleaning in dark corners easier. The headlights are efficient enough to vacuum a dark room.
The battery can be removed and you can buy a second one to double the cleaning time – which is up to 60 minutes on its lowest setting. Replacement batteries are available from Ultenic for $55.99, which is considerably cheaper than a Dyson battery replacement.
It is difficult to confirm how long it takes to charge the battery: when you store it by placing it in the charging station, it is always charging, so it is difficult to drain the battery and it has no not tend to burn out in use. similar to a cordless vacuum when you have to strain to remember to plug it in.
You can even charge a second battery in the docking station at the same time.
In the box, with the vacuum cleaner, the charging stand, the battery, a spare filter, two spare vacuum cleaner bags for the docking station (there is also one already inside) and a cleaning brush are the main accessories of vacuum cleaner.
Emma Rowley / Foundry
You will get a brush tool and a crevice tool and these are quite fine. They can be used either on the end of the wand or directly on the body of the vacuum and easily snap into place once you line up the markers. But it would be nice to have an upholstery tool as well.
The brush is quite effective on the surface of upholstery – for example, removing pet hair from a couch – but that’s largely due to its stiff bristles, rather than its suction. It won’t do much to deep clean cushions or mattresses unless you drag the main cleaning head across your bed or couch.
The filter has a five-layer system that ends with a HEPA filter. It retains 99.99% of fine dust down to 0.3 microns to purify the air before rejecting it.
Its HEPA filtration, combined with the automatic emptying system, makes it a good option for people suffering from hay fever or sensitive to dust. The FS1 will keep your air cleaner and minimize the amount of contact you have with the contents of the vacuum’s bin.
There is also a layer of microbial and odor protection in the dock in the form of UV lamps.
On top of the vacuum’s body is a simple LED display. It has a battery life indicator, but since it’s only split into thirds, it’s nowhere as detailed as its rivals that give you an exact percentage of battery life. .
Emma Rowley / Foundry
The power setting you are using is also displayed there. There is a lower and higher power option and an automatic mode, in which the vacuum will respond to the surface you are cleaning.
Emma Rowley / Foundry
The button to cycle through the power settings is on the end of the vacuum, above the handle, which is a good place to put it. But the on/off switch is on the top, located next to the screen, so it’s not quite within reach when using it, which is a bit annoying.
Performance
- Powerful suction
- Efficient LED headlights
- Cleans to the edges
The FS1 is an excellent vacuum cleaner. It has powerful suction – Ultenic says its 450W motor can power 30,000Pa of suction. This makes it difficult to compare with competitors such as Dyson and Samsung, which use air watts to measure suction.
What I can say is that the FS1 is very efficient to use and its well-designed floor head easily picks up everything from hair and dust to large pieces of debris that other vacuums can scatter.
It cleans right into corners and right up to walls, with enough power to remove any bits that sit around the edges of its cleaning head. It can also be quite flat on the ground, so it’s ideal for getting under beds and sofas.
Emma Rowley / Foundry
The vacuum cleaner is not particularly noisy in use. It’s only very loud in turbo mode and other than testing that mode – which would be good for cleaning up big spills or removing ground-in dirt from carpets – I didn’t have much reason to use it.
The lowest cleaning mode was more than adequate for handheld dusting, and using the automatic mode in conjunction with the downstairs head meant I didn’t have to think about settings most of the time. .
Most of the time when I used it, I turned off the lights and used the LED headlights, which light up hair and dust better than a ceiling light.
And when you’re done, just put the vacuum back in the docking station. Charging is automatic but emptying is not. You will need to press the button at the top of the vacuum’s handle. The dock’s suction isn’t as loud as the Samsung Bespoke Jet, nor is it as powerful. This means that you may sometimes need to remove trapped hair by hand.
There is a problem with the auto-empty function. When you lift the vacuum cleaner out of the docking station to start cleaning again, the vacuum cleaner’s dust bin cover opens. It opens when anchored to allow emptying, but you will need to remember to close it again before use.
When I first started testing it, there were a few confusing moments where, cloudy and pre-caffeinated, I started vacuuming while scattering everything all over the floor again.
Still, the only real issue I had while testing the FS1 was its weight. The overall design and uncomfortable grip means it starts to feel heavy after using it for a while, so I wouldn’t recommend buying it for your grandma.
Price and availability
Ultenic primarily sells through its own website and on Amazon.
If you’re in the US, the best price at the time of writing is Ultenic, where there’s $120 off the MSRP of $399.99. At this price, this vacuum cleaner is a bargain. There is currently also a $70 coupon option from Amazon.
In the UK, Amazon is currently offering £50 off the RRP of £398. While it’s not as much of a steal as the US price, it’s still very good value for its feature set and quality.
Verdict
The FS1 is a great vacuum cleaner, combining strong suction with a brilliant feature set that includes its self-emptying docking station. Being able to put the vacuum back on its stand to charge and empty it is a huge plus.
My only real complaint with the product is that it is uncomfortable and feels heavy after some use.
To see how the FS1 stacks up against the competition, and to browse more of our recommended options, take a look at our roundup of the best vacuum cleaners we’ve tested.
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