Even if there is an automatic vacuum cleaner to take care of the floor at home, a cordless vacuum cleaner will always be handy. Among the best we would certainly like to slip into the Eufy HomeVac S11 Infinity, a new product in the line to which it belongs and which we have had the opportunity to test in recent weeks. It deserves the mention for more than one reason, if only because although it looks like so many others in the category, it offers functions and features that few or perhaps very few have. Not only is it powerful but also handy, light and very comfortable to use: it's time to tell you why we fell in love with it a little.
Accessories, few but good
Small premise: the writer owns one, of another brand, with which he has always been comfortable. By entrusting most of the cleaning to an automatic vacuum cleaner we never felt an excessive need: it was pulled out only when there was a mop and therefore it was worth finishing all the corners in which the robot vacuum cleaner is not able. to slip. For a series of unfortunate coincidences we found ourselves without an automatic vacuum cleaner, for several weeks in assistance, and with the need therefore to return to manually take care of the house also as regards the floor.
It was terrible, we assure you: the habit of a robot doing the bulk of the work alone, exponentially increases the fatigue and annoyance of having to shorten your sleeves when you have to step back and go back to the old ways. . But it was also an opportunity to put the newcomer under pressure and fully evaluate the extra and more house cleaning skills.
The first point in favor, the accessories: few but good. The main brush is wide and is driven by two rather large wheels which bring great advantages to smoothness and agility. It is possible to bend the head to one side or the other with a light flick of the wrist and then slide it in an unconventional direction effortlessly. This means being able to reach even the most uncomfortable corners of the house where the central tube, due to the user's position, would make cleaning difficult. However, it also increases the overall dimensions, to the detriment of all those cracks in which a brush without external wheels would instead be able to slip in without problems.
Unlike the brushes that we find in other vacuum cleaners, it then uses two different central brushes that can be interchanged as needed. One, with very soft bristles, is suitable for parquet and surfaces that can get scratched while the other is characterized by a line of stiffer bristles that allow you to remove even the most encrusted dirt from tiles and flooring on which you can instead be more aggressive. resulting excellent also in hair collection.
Finally, the LEDs . At first glance they looked like a tacky, but they are very useful. The light at the floor level helps a lot in daily cleaning, even in broad daylight and with the house fully illuminated. Because the light is grazing and illuminates even the lightest dust that remains after a first pass. This means that dirty areas are not easily left and at a glance you realize during use if you need two or more passes for some areas or small points of the room where more dirt has deposited than elsewhere. For those who have a pet that sheds its fur at home? It's a real godsend.
We also find a smaller brush that can be used for sofas and mattresses, a rectangular nozzle with bristles removable to remove spider webs and dust even in the highest points and a second longer, narrower and thinner nozzle to reach the most remote corners. The latter goes hand in hand with the folding extension , an accessory that you hardly find in other competing solutions – the writer is self-built for the own vacuum cleaner with a plumber's folding hose and a custom-made gasket – but which is particularly useful in cleaning the car, drawers, shelves, trunks and all those surfaces where moving with a rigid and bulky vacuum cleaner would be impossible.
There is also the rigid extension with which the floor brush is mainly used and a second battery , essential for those who have a generously sized surface to clean or for those who abuse the maximum suction mode, which is the most demanding in terms of energy.
Finally, the support to hang it on the wall . This could have been done better, especially since the one of our vacuum cleaner has an extra gear and it is easier for us to compare it. For example the clips supplied that hook to the support and allow you to hang the other accessories, are a bit dancers: it would have been better to integrate them directly into the support itself, to the advantage of the overall rigidity of the entire structure. And then there is no through socket for the charger , so every time you put the vacuum cleaner away you will have to manually insert the plug to the battery. In our case, for example, the charger remains fixed to the through plug and thanks to a series of secondary connectors, recharging takes place as soon as the vacuum cleaner is hooked to the support. Also because there is automatic shutdown when fully charged , thus preserving the cells in the battery for a longer duration.
How is it going
As mentioned, we have used it on several occasions and, having no urgency in publishing the review, we were able to get an in-depth idea. What struck us most is the lightness . The main body, where the motor is located, is among the most compact and lightweight currently on the market and this means that even with the rigid extension and the largest brush attached, after half an hour of cleaning, the weight does not disturb at all ( with others, however, we happened to feel tired arm muscles).
The fact that it is so compact, however, is to the detriment of the maximum capacity of the tank . If there is an animal in the house, it also fills up rather quickly and, once the MAX line is exceeded, performance decreases significantly. There have been occasions when we had to interrupt cleaning to empty the tank before picking up where we left off, even though it had only been 24 hours since we had last vacuumed.
On the other hand, the management of the entire system is very good. Unhooking the entire tank is a matter of a moment, while for small cleanings you can also simply open the lower door and drop everything directly into the dustbin. The filter system is also well thought-out: it is quickly disassembled, it is easy to dismantle the various parts and above all they can be washed under running water. to then dry them well in the sun before reassembling everything without having to rely on the manual. Too bad for the absence of a brush which is often included in the package of robot vacuum cleaners, but can be easily remedied by purchasing any brush, even those paint for a few euro cents, perhaps with stiff bristles.
The autonomy is very good: at medium power we swept an area of about 100 square meters well and at the end about 30- 40% energy. At medium power it also cleans very well and rather quickly floors that are particularly dusty and loaded with animal hair: one or two passes are enough. We did not like the power regulation system , which is managed by a button: one click and you switch to maximum mode, a second click and it goes down to the minimum. When switched on, it starts with the average one. This, combined with the fact that you press a trigger to start the suction, makes the user experience, especially at the beginning, not very pleasant.
First, why a trigger instead of a switch? To save energy, of course, but having to hold down a button all the time isn't always very convenient. But this, unfortunately, is a prerogative of almost all cordless vacuum cleaners of this type. We have to get over it.
Instead, the absence of a selector for the suction mode is felt all over. Also because there is no LED indicator to know what power level we are at. So keep in mind that you always start at medium power and come back every time you release the trigger. It is really annoying, especially when you pass, for example, on a carpet that requires maximum power and you stop the suction several times, perhaps because you are moving from time to time chairs and other objects that could be on it. Other manufacturers choose the selector, even our old vacuum cleaner has it, and based on this experience we can say that the overall usability suffers a lot.
Conclusions
But if we had to change, we would undoubtedly choose the Eufy HomeVac S11 Infinity. Because this is only a small compromise to accept and that, in the long run, you get used to. On the other hand, you don't get used to going back to the vacuum cleaner without the lights, or to the lightness and manageability of the whole structure during long cleaning sessions. It is something that even today, after returning it, we strongly miss.
Retail price
Eufy HomeVac S11 Infinity can be bought on Amazon at a price of 300 euros. You can find it both with white accessories (as in the model we tested in the editorial office) or in the version with black accessories.
Pro Lightweight, with pleasant control of the main broom thanks to the large accessory wheels, good autonomy, there is the brush for hard floors and that for parquet, easy to disassemble, wash and clean, double battery supplied and automatic shutdown when recharging is complete
Versus Uncomfortable button for power adjustment, trigger for ignition, shallow tank, unintelligent charging base
