One-minute review
Beko is a brand that’s well known for its washing machines, fridges and other large appliances. It’s the second-largest white goods brand in Western Europe, and has made a name for itself by offering affordable products that give those from pricier and more established brands a run for their money.
Now Beko also has the small appliance market in its sights, with a range of cordless vacuum cleaners designed to make cleaning your floors as painless as possible.
The Beko PowerClean Cordless Vacuum Cleaner VRT94929VI is a cordless stick vacuum with a difference: it has a bendable wand that can rotate by up to 90 degrees, enabling it to reach under furniture with low clearance. It ships with one floor cleaning head, but there’s a choice of two rollers that can be manually switched; an electrical turbo brush for sucking up ground-in dirt from carpets, and a soft roller designed to clean hard floors without damaging them. The cleaner head also features LED lights, so you can see where you’re cleaning in dark corners or beneath furniture.
It offers 165W of suction with three power levels, and a 0.9-litre dust canister. Like many of the best cordless vacuum cleaners, it can also be converted into a handheld device, and comes with an arsenal of tools, including an elbow section with two articulating joints that makes it easier to use the handheld cleaner in hard-to-reach spots.
The Beko PowerClean Cordless Vacuum Cleaner VRT94929VI is powered by a rechargeable battery that can be swapped out to reduce interruptions to your cleaning sessions. Beko doesn’t currently sell spare batteries, but it’s possible that it might make these available in the future. Beko says the battery will last up to 45 minutes between charges, although this is on the lowest power setting.
While Beko pitches itself as an affordable brand, this cordless vacuum cleaner is more expensive than many of its similarly specced rivals, such as the AEG QX6 Animal, but if you want a powerful cleaner, or have lots of nooks and crannies around your home, the flexibility the Beko PowerClean Cordless Vacuum Cleaner VRT94929VI offers may be worth investing in.
Beko PowerClean Cordless Vacuum Cleaner VRT94929VI price and availability
The Beko PowerClean Cordless Vacuum Cleaner VRT94929VI costs £329, and is available from Beko’s website as well as online retailers including Currys.
Design
- 0.9-litre dust canister
- Comes with one floor head and four tools
- Converts into a handheld cleaner
The Beko PowerClean Cordless Vacuum Cleaner VRT94929VI is one of the heaviest and bulkiest cordless vacuum cleaners we’ve tested, weighing in at 2.8kg. The power button, and the suction level control, are located on the handle, alongside three LEDs that indicate the battery level.
The design is fairly standard for a cordless vacuum cleaner, with the motor, filter and dust canister at the top, attached to the wand, and the floor cleaning head at the bottom. However, rather than the wand being a single straight section, it has a flexible extension tube in the centre. When you slide a yellow catch at the top of the want, the wand can bend by up to 90 degrees, as mentioned, enabling the vacuum to be easily manoeuvered under furniture.
Detaching the wand and floor cleaning head turns the PowerClean to a handheld cleaner, to which you can connect any of the four included tools.
Performance
- Powerful suction
- Freestanding
- Loud in use
In our testing, the Beko PowerClean Cordless Vacuum Cleaner VRT94929VI impressed us with its suction power, collecting every scrap of fine dust and cereal in one slow sweep even on its least powerful setting. In fact, the suction was so strong that we struggled to manoeuvre the vacuum on carpet when we used the most powerful setting.
The vacuum cleaner glided easily on both hard floors and on carpet (provided the least power setting was used); however, we found it cumbersome to use in handheld mode, in part because of the finger rest on the handle that allows you to rest your digit, but in an unnatural position, but also because it was too heavy to clean up high for long, which is disappointing considering one that of the supplied tools is the aforementioned ‘elbow’ section that’s designed for cleaning hard to reach spaces up high.
The PowerClean Cordless Vacuum Cleaner is relatively easy to empty. After detaching the wand, you need to press a button on the front of the canister to open the trap at the bottom, allowing the debris to fall into the bin.
The flexible wand proved useful when it came to reaching under furniture, as did the five LED headlights on the floor cleaning head, as they made it easier to see where we were vacuuming. It’s a freestanding vacuum cleaner too, so you won’t have to find somewhere to rest it when you take a break from cleaning.
The vacuum was pleasingly quiet when used on lower power settings, but registered 79db on our decibel meter on its most powerful setting – that’s almost as noisy as a truck traveling down a road at 40mph, and it’s one of the louder vacuums we’ve tested.
Battery life
- Ranges from seven to 45 minutes depending on the power setting
- Battery takes up to five hours to fully recharge
- Can only be charged using the stand
The battery lasts up to 45 minutes between charges on the lowest power setting; however, if the cleaner is used on the most powerful setting the battery life drops to an extremely underwhelming seven minutes – the shortest runtime of any vacuum we’ve tested to date. just 13 minutes. Oddly, the battery is removable but Beko doesn’t offer additional batteries for purchase like other brands, so the battery can’t be swapped out to reduce interruptions to your cleaning sessions. Also disappointing is the fact the vacuum cleaner can only be charged using the bundled floor stand, which is very bulky.
Should I buy the Beko PowerClean Cordless Vacuum Cleaner VRT94929VI?
Buy it if…
You want powerful suction
We were impressed by how effectively the Beko PowerClean Cordless Vacuum Cleaner VRT94929VI collected dust and debris – if you want powerful suction, this vacuum cleaner delivers.
You want to clean hard-to-reach spaces
With the flexible wand for floor cleaning and the ‘elbow’ connector ensure that you can access difficult-to-reach places when the vacuum is in handheld mode, making this model a good choice if you have lots of nooks and crannies in your home.
You want accessory storage
The charging stand that comes with the Beko PowerClean Cordless Vacuum Cleaner VRT94929VI may be bulky, but it provides handy storage for some of the tools that ship with the cordless vacuum cleaner. If you regularly spend ages trying to locate the tools for your vacuum, this could be the machine for you.
Don’t buy it if…
You want a lightweight handheld vacuum
While the Beko PowerClean Cordless Vacuum Cleaner VRT94929VI can be converted into a handheld vacuum, it is heavy to use in this configuration – we certainly felt it when cleaning up high.
You can’t stand noisy appliances
It may not be the nosiest cordless vacuum cleaner we’ve tested, but it’s definitely among the top four or five when used on its maximum power setting.
You’re limited on space
As the Beko PowerClean Cordless Vacuum Cleaner VRT94929VI can only be charged using the bulky stand it comes with, it won’t suit you if you don’t have a handy space where you can leave the cleaner on charge.
First reviewed: June 2021
