Beko Smart PowerClean Pro Cordless Vacuum Cleaner VRT95929VI Review
Power, performance and a great price
Verdict
The Beko Smart PowerClean Pro Cordless Vacuum Cleaner VRT95929VI has a huge amount of performance and some neat features, including battery life displayed in minutes. Its floor head can be a little slow to respond to floor changes, but will adjust power automatically taking the guesswork out of power modes. It’s slightly fiddly switching the floor head’s rollers, but that aside this is a very flexible cordless cleaner.
Pros
- Very powerful
- Adjusts power automatically
- Excellent range of tools
Cons
- Takes a little while for floor head to adjust to its surface
- No onboard storage
Availability
- UKRRP: £436
Key Features
- TypeThis is a cordless stick vacuum cleaner, which can be used in upright mode with the surface-detecting floor head, or as a handheld cleaner.
- Battery lifeBattery life is rated at 60 minutes on the lowest power setting.
Introduction
There are two main issues with cordless vacuum cleaners: trying to gauge the right power level to use at any one time and trying to work out how much power you have left. The Beko Smart PowerClean Pro Cordless Vacuum Cleaner VRT95929VI solves that problem, adjusting its suction power automatically and showing you how much battery life you have left in minutes.
Well priced and powerful, the Beko Smart PowerClean Pro Cordless Vacuum Cleaner VRT95929VI is great value if you want a powerful and flexible vacuum cleaner.
Design and features
- Clever LCD screen
- Lots of accessories
- ActiFlex makes cleaning under furniture simple
The Beko VRT95929VI is similar, externally, to the older Beko VRT94929VI cordless vacuum cleaner. Here, the newer cleaner has a few upgrades that make it worth that bit extra. First, there’s a fancy new LCD screen that shows you how long the battery will last in minutes, so you know exactly how long you’ve got left to go.
Next, the floor head can detect what type of flooring it’s on, adjusting the vacuum’s power automatically: more on carpet, less on hard floors. It’s not quite as sensitive as the dust sensors that the Dyson V15 Detect, which adjusts power based on the level of dirt, but Beko’s solution at least takes a lot of guesswork out of which setting to use.
Otherwise, the VRT95929VI is very similar to its predecessor, which is no bad thing. At the back of the comfortable handle are the controls: a power button and +/- buttons to adjust between the three power levels.
The main floor head comes with swappable rollers: one soft roller for hard floors and a spiral brush for carpet. These aren’t anti-tangle heads, so you’ll need to cut away any hair that gets wrapped around them. While swapping between rollers isn’t that difficult, it’s not as convenient as having two separate heads for faster changes.
To make vacuuming easy, the Beko VRT95929VI has ActiFlex. Similar to Shark’s Flexology tech, available in the Shark IZ320UKT cordless vacuum cleaner, ActiFlex adds a flexible joint to the wand. Unlock this joint and the wand bends so that you can vacuum underneath furniture without having to bend down.
There’s also a light bar on the front of the floor head, so you can see where and what you’re cleaning, even if the lighting isn’t very good.
In the box, Beko also provides a large dusting brush, a motorised pet tool (great for upholstery and stairs), a crevice tool and a flexible adaptor, which lets you angle tools for cleaning on top of cupboards.
With the vacuum cleaner weighing just 2.8kg, it’s very light to move around and is even comfortable to hold up high for cleaning around the ceiling.
All of the tools fit into the provided stand, which sits on the floor and doesn’t need to be attached to a wall. It’s a shame that there’s no onboard storage for carrying around your most-used accessories.
Dirt is sucked into the 0.9-litre bin. This has a flap at the bottom, but you can pull out the central cone and filter and then clean out the entire bin. Neatly, Beko provides a second filter in the box, so you can wash one and still have a spare for continued vacuum cleaning.
There’s a secondary post-motor filter at the front of the machine. This needs to be cleaned less frequently, so there’s just the one in the box.
Performance
- Lots of suction power
- Good performance on all surfaces
- Quite loud
I tested the Beko VRT95929VI’s raw suction power in airwatts (AW), which uses a combination of both the lift and airflow. Here, I measured the vacuum at 22AW on Low, 73AW on Medium and a huge 328AW on Turbo – that’s a ridiculous amount of suction power at the top end.
The Turbo figure is much higher than on the Beko VRT94929VI, but the other figures are slightly lower. That might seem strange, but remember this vacuum cleaner has a floor head that can adjust suction, so the true figures differ slightly when in use, and the Beko VRT95929VI can up its power.
To see how these figures translate into performance, I also run real-world tests. I started by spreading a teaspoon of flour onto my test carpet, then I ran the Beko VRT95929VI through the middle of the mess on Medium power. As you can see from the result, with the vacuum cleaner upping its power automatically for carpet, there’s a clean swipe through the middle, although minor traces of dust left behind right at the edges of the head.
I followed up with a sweep across the bottom on Turbo, which removed everything, and a sweep across the top on Low power, which left quite a bit of dust behind. This is largely because the floor head uses a physical switch to detect the floor type, and this takes a little while to kick into action and boost the vacuum’s motor, which is why there’s little dust on the right as that’s the end of my forwards/backwards sweep.
Running the cleaner over an area once to get the right speed, then continuing to vacuum helps; I was able to clean up the rest of the mess with the vacuum set to Low power, with the vacuum cleaner adjusting automatically for the floor type.
Next, I went for the difficult edge test, spreading flour right up to the skirting board on carpet tiles. Using a sweep forwards and backwards along the skirting board, the Beko VRT95929VI managed to remove most of the mess on Medium power, although the edges of the mess were left behind.
Attacking the mess but pushing the floor head up and into the skirting board picked up the rest of the mess. This shows that this is a powerful vacuum cleaner, but performance at the edge of its floor head could be better.
Combing cat hair into my test carpet, I let the Beko VRT95929VI run over the mess on Low power, and it picked up all of the mess easily.
Finally, I inserted the soft roller and ran the Beko VRT95929VI over hard floor through rice grains that I had spilt on the floor. On Medium power, the vacuum cleaner picked up everything and didn’t drop any grains at the end.
Battery life is up to an hour on Low power on my tests, but the floor surface makes a difference. On carpet, the vacuum increases power to Medium level, which reduces battery life to a, still decent, 30 minutes. On Medium power, the base battery level is just shy of 30 minutes but on carpet, the vacuum engages Turbo mode and battery life dropped to 13 minutes in my tests. On Turbo, the battery life was 13 minutes on any floor setting, as the vacuum cleaner can’t go any higher.
My advice is to run the vacuum cleaner in Low mode on carpet, letting it boost as necessary, jumping to Medium on tough spills; on hard floors, Medium power is the sweet spot between battery life and power.
The battery can be removed and replaced, but as there’s no charging for a second battery, keeping two charged would prove to be fiddly.
Once flat, the Beko VRT95929VI takes around six hours to recharge, which is comparatively slow. Effectively, once the cleaner is flat, you’ll have to wait for most of the day to use it again.
I measured the vacuum cleaner at 69.9dB on Low and 69.1dB on Medium, and just 70.1dB on Turbo. That’s quiet for a powerful vacuum cleaner.
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Should you buy it?
If you want a powerful cordless vacuum cleaner for tackling your entire home, this one is well priced and exceptionally powerful.
If you want less hassle when moving from carpet to hard floor, look for a model with a floor head that can cope with both or one with two individual floor heads.
Final Thoughts
Retaining the quality elements that made the previous vacuum cleaner such a success, the Beko Smart PowerClean Pro Cordless Vacuum Cleaner VRT95929VI builds on this with its automatic power modes and smart LCD screen. It does take the floor head a while to respond to the type of floor it’s on, and you need to use the right power mode so as not to exhaust the battery quickly, particularly on carpet. Get this right and this is a powerful vacuum cleaner that does well on all surfaces.
Lots of accessories, the ActiFlex technology for easy cleaning under furniture, and a comfortable grip make the Beko VRT95929VI a great high-end vacuum available at mid-range prices. If you want something different, then check out my guide to the best cordless vacuum cleaners.
How we test
We test every vacuum cleaner we review thoroughly over an extended period of time. We use standard tests to compare features properly. We’ll always tell you what we find. We never, ever, accept money to review a product.
Find out more about how we test in our ethics policy.
Used as our main vacuum cleaner for the review period
Tested for at least a week
Tested using tools to measure actual suction performance
Tested with real-world dirt in real-world situations for fair comparisons with other vacuum cleaners
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FAQs
It has three power modes, low, medium and turbo.
There’s a switch under the floor head that picks up the resistance on carpet and increases suction power.
Yes, the battery can be removed and replaced.
Full specs
Jargon buster
AirWatt
A rating of how powerful a vacuum cleaner is. AirWatts combines suction power with airflow to give one score, where the higher the number is better.
Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
