Verdict

Pros

• Powerful upright cleaning
• Excellent main brush head
• Long run-time
• Turbo mode for stubborn dirt
• Cordless convenience

Cons

• No hose and tool
• Poor edge cleaning
• Basic wall-wart charger

What is the Bosch Athlet BCH62550GB?

Bosch’s Athlet cordless vacuum cleaner range has expanded to several models since we tested the first BCH625KTGB last year. The Athlet BCH62550GB is an entry-level cleaner, yet it comes with the same 25V battery and powerful motor with bagless suction that wowed us in the original.

The BCH62550GB forgoes the innovative lift-off portable section of the original, alongside any hose and tool abilities to become a dedicated, cordless upright cleaner.

Fully charged it will run for more than 50 minutes on its lowest setting. Medium and high settings trade run-time for more powerful dirt-lifting suction. It’s light, easy to manoeuvre and can be left plugged into its charger and ready to go. It doesn’t clean quite as well as a corded vacuum, but it’s a capable cordless that’s convenient and easy to use.

SEE ALSO: Best Cordless Vacuum Cleaners

Bosch Athlet BCH62550GB – Accessories

This model of the Athlet doesn’t come with any accessories – except for the familiar “wall wart” charger with its trailing charge lead, of course. Like the original, that cable ends in a jack-plug, which is quite tricky to insert into the charging port on the rear of the cleaner. A wall or floor dock would have been a neater solution.

However, the wall wart will charge the Athlet from flat to 80% battery capacity in around three hours, and to a full charge in six. Power remaining is indicated by a bright-blue illuminated segment display on the front of the BCH62550GB. The charger automatically shuts down when the cleaner is fully charged, meaning it can be left plugged in and switched on without wasting electricity between charges.

A full charge is slated to give you around 50 minutes of cleaning on the lowest power setting. At this setting the rotating brush in the floorhead is disabled, making it ideal for hard floors such as parquet, where you don’t want to risk the brush scratching the surface. Suction at the lowest setting is very light, so while it will pick up dust and hairs, don’t expect a deep clean from in-between loose parquet blocks or polished floorboards.

On the medium setting the Athlet really ups the suction, and combined with the rotating brush it certainly sounds purposeful. This is the ideal setting for general cleaning around the house, and we achieved just over 30 minutes on a full charge – more than enough to get around a few rooms.

The highest level, labelled “turbo”, increases suction power and the speed of the brush for really tough cleaning – although Bosch points out this is for spot-cleaning rather than for use all the time. Nevertheless, we tried it and achieved 12 minutes at this level. Oddly, the handle switch was rather stiff on our sample cleaner, but it  loosened with use.

The AllFloor head is designed to work across a variety of surfaces and the rotating brush bar is easily removed from the side for cleaning. The Sensor bagless technology keeps an eye on the level of dust in the bin as well as the state of the washable filter. It remains blue for “OK” and turns red when the bin needs emptying or the filter needs cleaning. The 0.9-litre bin clips off easily and the top removes for emptying.

Bosch Athlet BCH62550GB – Cleaning

This Athlet is arguably even better balanced in the hand for upright use than the original, and is both light and easy to manoeuvre around obstacles. On the medium power setting, the cleaner remains free moving and is easy to push back and forth. The BCH62550GB would certainly suit someone looking for a less physically demanding cleaner.

Moreover, the combination of great suction power and the rotating brush head gave an exceptionally good clean on carpets and rugs. While it doesn’t beat and vacuum to the same level as a mains-powered cleaner, cordless models are designed for quicker, more frequently cleaning – and at this the Athlet excels.

Sadly, for edges and skirting boards results were poor. Upping the power level to turbo produced a marginally better result than pictured. However, the BCH62550GB isn’t helped by a rotating brush that ends around 2cm in from the outside edge of the floorhead, plus there are no air channels extending to the edge either.

Irrespective of the power, the Athlet BCH62550GB is never going to be great at cleaning carpet edges with its current floorhead design. The fact that it’s lacking any accessories for cleaning crevices also means you’ll need to use another cleaner to get into tight corners, which is a tad annoying.

Our test carpet before (above) and after

 
On hard floors the Athlet is easy to move around, particularly since the floorhead can pivot both forward and backwards and from side-to-side relative to the main body. Four roller wheels allow it to glide across parquet and laminate flooring.

To disable the rotating brush bar for more delicate soft-wood floors, you’re limited to the low power setting and therefore light suction, so cleaning isn’t particularly impressive.

For more robust surfaces such as laminate and ceramic, we’d be happy to use the brush bar and the higher power setting, which does a better job of lifting heavier debris such as sand and dried mud. We’d still have preferred the option to retain a higher power setting while switching the brush bar off manually.

The Athlet remained nicely quiet in use. On carpet at the medium power level, it registered around 70dB, which isn’t much above the sound level of an energetic conversation. It rose to 76dB in turbo mode.

Bosch Athlet BCH62550GB – Stair Cleaning

Without a hose and tool option, the Athlet needs to be lifted up onto stairs for cleaning. Its bijou 3.6kg weight helps here, although it does require some strength and dexterity to clean and remain safe on stairs. The floorhead cleaned our carpeted stairs efficiently and its compact size meant that it got at least some way into the corners of turning steps.

However, the BCH62550GB poor handling of edges was again evident on each step. And since it lacks the hose and tool option of the original, you won’t be able to nip round and clean the edges after the main sweep through.

Overall, this Athlet is very good for a quick clean on stairs, but poor edge cleaning and the slightly tricky acrobatics involved in manoeuvring the whole machine on stairs means it’s unlikely to work as a home’s only vacuum cleaner in this respect.