I’ve been on a roll the last few months, testing out probably about a dozen different vacuums, mops, and floor cleaners. I recently got the chance to test out a type of cleaner that was new to me. The Tineco Floor One S5 arrived to my test kitchen. I’ll tell you what this device is made to do, what it works well for and what it doesn’t, how well it cleans, and if I think it might be a valuable gadget for your home.
Tineco Floor One S5 Review: What’s so great?
The Tineco Floor One S5 is a fully cordless wet/dry stick vacuum and mop with some unique features that set it apart from other stick cleaning models. The Tineco S5 has a plush roller on the bottom that help it pull in and suck up dirt, debris and wet messes, while wiping up the floor surface too. The device comes with a docking station that will keep it charged and handy.
The S5 is adjustable; you can make the handle longer or shorter so you can use it easily no matter how tall or short you are – a nice touch. The mop and vacuum head has swivel steering, and a fairly comfortable round handgrip. The PRO mode also offers a dedicated suction mode for cleaning spilled liquids quickly.
If you’re comparing, the S5 improves on Tineco’s S3 version with updated soft brush rollers, larger water tanks, and the addition of an LCD display. Something called an iLoop sensor also means the S5 can adjust power cycles to provide a longer battery time. The updated brush head has also been redesigned to handle corners and baseboard areas better, getting in a bit closer than before.
Using Tineco Floor One S5
To use this device, you’ll fill a small water tank with fresh water. The tank looks kind of tiny, but the truth is this device isn’t using a lot of water and doesn’t need it. The added bonus of using only so much water is that the floor dries faster too.
The Tineco S5 will clean with just water or water and cleaning solution and you only need about half an ounce or a bottle cap of solution to boost your clean. Depending which mode you use, you need to choose the mode; the device starts in Solution mode by default; you can switch to water only mode by long pressing the auto/max button (which looks like a bunch of dots) for 3 seconds.
When you turn it on, you’ll notice it will pull; it’s powered and doesn’t take much work from you to clean deeply. Run it over your floors to get those rollers working.
With most messes, a single pass scrubbed up the dirt; including things like muddy dog paws.
Self cleaning vacuum
When you’ve finished cleaning, empty the dirty water tank—it’s a really good gauge of how dirty your floors were! A built-in pet hair strainer in the dirty water bin is designed to make hair removal quick and easy – so it doesn’t clog your plumbing, and I found it worked pretty well.
Worth pointing out: you really should empty the dirty water bin right away, to avoid a lingering funky stink. The roller cover also removes with a click and should be rinsed off too. With the cover off, you can also slide the roller brush off and give it a rinse and remove any tangled hair or fibres. (A spare roller brush is also handily included in the box.)
When emptied and rinsed, you can return the Floor One S5 to its docking station, which both charges the S5 as well as performs a self-cleaning cycle when you hit a button. It will automatically let you know when it needs a self cleaning cycle to keep dirt from building up inside, since it can auto-detect dirt and buildup; a voice prompt will tell you to begin a cleaning cycle by pressing the self-clean button, which has a water droplet on it. A full self-cleaning cycle takes about 2 minutes.
Smart Sensors – what do they do?
The vacuum uses something called an iLoop Smart Sensor that detects where dirt and debris are on the floor. As you move the vacuum across your floor, it shows you where you need to concentrate your effort; if the LED light on the screen is red, it’s seeing more dirt, so you should make a few more passes, if it’s blue, it’s not so bad. The Tineco S5 will also automatically adjust water and detergent flow, giving your more solution to clean bigger messes.
I didn’t really notice this feature. Particularly when I attacked a dried on red wine stain the lights didn’t seem to change. So I don’t know how much it’s seeing dirt, but even so it does a good job at powering it off the floor.
LED screen
The Tineco S5’s 2.1 inch LCD display will show you your cleaning status and dirt level, any alerts, and the remaining battery level, as well if you water tanks are empty or need refilling.
Noise level
Tineco claims the S5 is quiet, operating at a max 78-decibel level. The brushless motor and the soft brush roller, combined with the unit’s ability to alter the power level as needed, mean less time at higher noise levels. I’d say compared to a lot of other vacuum products, the Tineco S5 is pretty quiet, give all that’s going on.
Testing Tineco on various messes: how well does it clean?
I tried out the Tineco in various at-home situations. I used it simply as a vacuum, and on all my vacuums I try it out on fine flour, spills like rice or oats, and bigger debris like crackers.
While the vacuum does pick it all up, it does kind of form a wet mess inside the dirty water tank, and the internal filter gets full quickly. With that said, it does do a good job of keeping the debris from the water.
When it came to the floor mopping capabilities I was able to try it on muddy paw prints and damp fall dirt… Here the Tineco S5 shines; unlike some mopping robots that simply wipe, the spinning brushes underneath the Tineco S5 power dried messes off the floor. It was quite impressive! Similarly, it was able to clean up small spills, though I do advice you to empty the dirty water bin and run a cleaning cycle, particularly if you’re wiping up something like milk.
I used the S5 on tile, and hardwood and it did a great job on both. I didn’t find that it left the floors too damp or streaky either. I feel this device is best suited to use as a powerful mop, but it does also pick up dirt you’d otherwise need to vacuum first, so it is versatile.
Overall review: Tineco Floor One S5
Overall review: Tineco Floor One S5Overall, I’m really happy with how this floor cleaner performs. It powers dried on dirt from both my tile and hardwood floors, and I love the versatility of the wet-dry performance here, since it means I don’t need to worry about vacuuming first, then mopping.
Downsides? It is not quite as maneuverable as some other stick vacuums and mops I’ve tried, and the internal debris filter is small so it struggles to clean up bigger lumpier messes.
Even so it works very well and we like using it, since it gives the floors in our dual-pet home a good, thorough cleaning. I can definitely recommend the Tineco Floor One S5 for your hard floors.
It sells for about $499USD/$629CAD and you can get it from Amazon.
