The New Year Sucks - In A Good Way!

[andrewfi]

New Year's Resolutions - how long do they last?
Going to the gym might make it through to the end of February.
Eating less? Done and done the first weekend when you feel a bit blue.
A new relationship? Let's see how that turns out after a long hard gaze in the mirror!

But this New Year I looked around my apartment and noticed that the floor was a tad dusty around the edges. That meant the carpets would also be less than pristine, even if less visible.
My 'old' Electrolux cordless was clearly reaching pensionable age after around three years.

New Year resolution: keep my flooring in better condition!

So, I decided to check out the latest in cordless vacuuming.

Of course, there's the ubiquitous Dyson range, but they are not inexpensive. I was OK with the idea if the value proposition worked out.

I checked out a load of reviews. The Dyson V10 seemed like a good machine but another brand kept popping up alongside. Tineco and the A11 model. As it happens, the A11 seems to be discontinued or about to be as there is a newer model called the S11 around right now with stuff like WiFi connection and app support for smart functions.

The Dyson V10 runs at about €600 with the tools package I'd need for hard and carpeted floors. The Tineco was a LOT less, in part because the main floor head works on both carpet and hard floors whereas the Dyson needs an additional hard floor head to supplement the carpet head.

The Tineco price was discounted on Amazon with a coupon but there were some for sale through Amazon that we listed as 'used -like new' I bought one of these for just €209. The brand new price was about €300. I decided to take a chance on the expectation that I would probably end up with a brand new machine being discounted to shift the last few. I have had a great record of success with this strategy, every time I have saved a load of money and purchased new goods.

Price aside, why the choice of Tineco rather than another brand?
1) Two batteries supplied
2) The package I bought had the accessories I wanted
3) The LED headlamps - they really show up the dust on the floor to my shame and embarrassment
4) Consistently high reviews including reviews from people who actually check and provide relevant measured data.
5) There's a switch lock on the on/off trigger. The Dyson requires the user to keep the trigger pressed all the time in order for it to work.

When the box was delivered it was immediately apparent that this was a new box. Of course, it might have been re-boxed so I reserved judgement. When I opened the box in my living room it was immediately clear that the vacuum unit was brand new, never used.
In fact, the only item that may have been used was the floor head which had some marks on the wheels that suggest it had been rolled across the floor, but it was spotless and the brushes were fully aligned, obviously unused. The instruction manual had been removed from its bag and the bag was somewhat crumpled.

I have no idea what has happened it seems that I have a re-boxed machine, but how come the only item to have been used at all was the floor head how come?
No questions from me though, I am happy to have gotten a machine that reviews and measures similarly to the equivalent Dyson products at 1/3 the price. All it has to do is last its two year warranty period and I reckon I will be quids-in!

Would I have chosen the Tineco if I didn't get a great price? Possibly not. But having used the thing now, I can say that it is way ahead of the corded and cordless vacs I have at the moment. I liked the idea of spending more and getting the smart features, but in the end, I vacuum the floors. That's not stuff I need or need to pay for.

So, 2022 has gotten off to a really sucky start!

[Faux Pas]

I have never hear of a Tineco brand vacuum. I for many years had an Electrolux Jubilee model. It was a heavy, bulky, cumbersome unit that was somewhat annoying to use. The suction was always great although the bags were getting harder to locate and expensive. My wife never liked it so we went through numerous other cheap models lasting maybe a year but none never seemed to please the wife even though she picked them out.

For whatever reason I don't seem to agonize and research over such a purchase as you Fi. I somehow got into a vacuum discussion with a friend and he suggested a Dyson. IIRC this was about 9 years ago. Not long after that discussion I saw one at Sam's and without much thought bought it and took it home. It is a corded model and my wife loved it. I used it from time to time and it was reliable and easy to use as well as lightweight.

About 5-6 years into owning the Dyson the suction seemed to suddenly slow to a snails pace. I'm fairly mechanically inclined so I opened it up to see if I could fix it or if we needed to throw it out and get another. I was looking for ideas of what might fix it and went to the Dyson site online and got into a chat with a customer service rep.  He instructed me to box it up and send it in and he provided the shipping label. In exactly 9 days I received the vacuum back in perfect working order and have not an issue with it since. Sending it to be repaired did not cost me a penny and after 5 years they did not hesitate to back the service warranty, no questions asked.


I'm telling you that to tell you this, I don't know Tineco but I do know Dyson, it's an excellent vacuum and worth the price. You would have done well to invest in a Dyson as well. If or when your Tineco wears out or breaks down likely will tell the difference. Vacuums like most everything else, "you get what you pay for".

[Contrarian]

I have never hear of a Tineco brand vacuum. I for many years had an Electrolux Jubilee model. It was a heavy, bulky, cumbersome unit that was somewhat annoying to use. The suction was always great although the bags were getting harder to locate and expensive. My wife never liked it so we went through numerous other cheap models lasting maybe a year but none never seemed to please the wife even though she picked them out.

For whatever reason I don't seem to agonize and research over such a purchase as you Fi. I somehow got into a vacuum discussion with a friend and he suggested a Dyson. IIRC this was about 9 years ago. Not long after that discussion I saw one at Sam's and without much thought bought it and took it home. It is a corded model and my wife loved it. I used it from time to time and it was reliable and easy to use as well as lightweight.

About 5-6 years into owning the Dyson the suction seemed to suddenly slow to a snails pace. I'm fairly mechanically inclined so I opened it up to see if I could fix it or if we needed to throw it out and get another. I was looking for ideas of what might fix it and went to the Dyson site online and got into a chat with a customer service rep.  He instructed me to box it up and send it in and he provided the shipping label. In exactly 9 days I received the vacuum back in perfect working order and have not an issue with it since. Sending it to be repaired did not cost me a penny and after 5 years they did not hesitate to back the service warranty, no questions asked.


I'm telling you that to tell you this, I don't know Tineco but I do know Dyson, it's an excellent vacuum and worth the price. You would have done well to invest in a Dyson as well. If or when your Tineco wears out or breaks down likely will tell the difference. Vacuums like most everything else, "you get what you pay for".

Thanks for the great reviews, Andrew and Faux Pas.

Generally speaking I'm inclined to agree with that "you get what you pay for". In this case Dyson really stepped up.

I also have never heard of the Tineco, however I'm open to looking at one the next time I have a need for a new vacuum cleaner.

Both reviews were interesting to read; thanks Andy for starting the thread. 

[andrewfi]

Contrarian, thanks. When one checks reviews Tineco does seem to stand out. And yes, you get what you pay for is still a reasonable assumption.

Had I been able to pick up a Dyson with a similar run-out discount (concealed as it was) then I might've chosen Dyson. On the other hand, by learning a bit about cordless vacuums, I was able to make a choice that probably better meets my requirements. Long-life is not an overriding consideration and it took only a few minutes to appreciate some of the user benefits of the Tineco machine.

If I did not bother to learn a little bit before buying then a Dyson would've been the easy and safe choice. As you probably know from other posts, I have no qualms about spending a bit of money to get what I want, but at the same time, I do not want to spend more than I need. I now have an extra €400 to put toward some other toy that I'd not have if I had purchased the Dyson - so that's a win.

In the recent past, by taking advantage of concealed run-out discounts on Amazon I have purchased a pair of B&O in-ear hear headphones, a pair of on-ear B&O headphones, a halogen oven, an Oppo mobile phone and a Fujifilm digital camera. I recently purchased a second-hand B&O speaker for my study saving me hundreds of pounds in a similar manner. I guess that I should've made more clear about the benefit of checking Amazon's offers for items that are likely to be bargains from their 'used' or 'refurb' offers. And, of course, if I had received a unit that was clearly secondhand, I would have sent it straight back! Who wants to buy a vacuum cleaner that has somebody else's gross muck inside it?

Faux Pas, yeah, I tend to like to know a little about what I buy. I do not see that as a shortcoming. In the end, it was down to Dyson or Tineco and the choice came down to the points I listed above and the overall value proposition.

Given the price I paid, as you will have seen from the post above, if the unit lasts for a couple of years - the length of the warranty, then I reckon I will be ahead of where I'd have been buying the Dyson. I REALLY doubt that I'd get more than six years out of a Dyson vacuum cleaner without spending a chunk of money on it.

These things are not made for long life. And yes, I did read your happy service story but one cannot count on any coverage after the warranty expires. Given that Dyson's warranty on their corded models is five years, it is clear that they do not consider their cordless models to have similar longevity to their corded machines.

BTW, Tineco is a sub-brand of Ecovacs who make some of the best-regarded robot vacuum cleaners on the market. They're big in home robotics. That was a factor I considered; they are not an onky-ponky brand sticking badges on somebody else's low-cost equipment.