Halo Capsule X Pet Max vacuum cleaner two-minute review

I’ve reviewed many of the best cordless vacuum cleaners over the years and the quirky home-grown Halo Capsule X is a sterling contender that thoroughly impresses on both carpet and hard floor. In fact I was amazed at how thoroughly it sailed through all my tests.

There are no fancy interfaces to get your head around, it’s comfortable in the hand despite the protruding motor and battery housing and, given the bulbous shape and size of its larger-than-average two-liter carbon-fiber bin assembly, it’s much lighter than you’d expect, too.

I personally love the fact that Halo has stuck to the good old-fashioned bagged system because it means far fewer trips to the kitchen bin and zero dust up the nose when emptying. It also means you can vacuum up the finest particles like fireplace ash and powdered sawdust without destroying the motor. The fact that the bags are comprised of compostable cardboard and brown paper means it’s good for the environment, too.

In some ways I think I prefer the earlier rear-handle design of its predecessor, the standard Halo Capsule, but given this vac’s remarkable pick-up performance on both hard and soft floors, its excellent maneuverability, decent battery life, huge two-liter bagged bin and current discounted price, I have no compunction in giving the Halo Capsule X Pet Max a full high five!

Halo Capsule X Pet Max vacuum cleaner review: price & availability

• How much does it cost? $499.99 / £299.99
• When is it available? Available now
• Where can you get it? In the US and UK

Halo appears to have taken the Shark approach to the pricing of its various Halo Capsule X bundles and the company couldn’t have made it more confusing if it tried. I received the Pet Max Bundle with two batteries which Halo is selling at a knockdown £299.99 and Amazon is selling for £319.99.

The pricing becomes very arbitrary when it comes to selecting other variants. For instance, the standard version with just one battery retails at an exceedingly reasonable £249.99 (instead of £515.95) while the same bundle with just twice the amount of dust bags costs a whopping £531.93. Clearly, discounts have been applied to some of its variants and not to others so I would recommend grabbing yourself an absolute bargain while you can because there’s no telling how long these low prices will last.

If you live Stateside, head to Amazon and Walmart where the standard single-battery variants retails at $499.99.

• Value for money score: 5 out of 5 (on current UK discount pricing)

Halo Capsule X Pet Max vacuum cleaner specs

Halo Capsule X Pet Max vacuum cleaner review: design

• Light in the hand
• Excellent maneuverability
• Comfortable to use

I love the funky design of the Halo Capsule X. Granted, it’s a wee bit toy-like but you don’t see many carbon-fiber composite cordless stick vacs on the market, and who doesn’t like a bit of carbon fiber? I think the bright blue details make this vac really stand out and, while looks aren’t everything, I do think it helps one enjoy the unenviable task of vacuuming a little more than cleaning up with something that’s bland in the hand. Actually, while I’m on the subject of looks, I think Halo may have missed a trick here because I can see this vac’s details being even more attractive to a wider audience were they available in a few different colors instead of just blue. How about dusty pink, bright yellow, orange, even white? Halo, you can pay me later.

Let’s start at the top of this vac because, well, why not? See that large rectangular box jutting out of the rear? That’s the battery, motor and HEPA filter housing. Yes, it looks ungainly and not as sleekly designed as this model’s predecessor (which is still on sale), but it never gets in the way of arm movement, unlike most Dyson models that have everything above the hand which inevitably gets in the way. With this model you can vacuum with a straight arm using a pendulum motion without anything digging into any parts of the hand or wrist, much like a Roidmi vac.

The Capsule X doesn’t have any fancy digital screens telling you how many microns of dust it has collected and it doesn’t even have any kind of automatic suction where the motor ramps up on the dirtiest sections. Instead all you get is an on/off button, a button to engage the motorized roller and another button to change through three levels of suction power. The Capsule X always defaults to the middle power setting when starting up but with the motorized roller off. I’d prefer to have it always start up with the roller engaged so I can turn it off rather than having to turn it on. After all, I’ll never use this vac without the motorized roller engaged because, well why would I when a motorized roller is so much more efficient than a non-motorized one. As for outright suction power… who really cares how many Pascals of power it has because this vac passed every test I threw at it. And that’s all you need to know.

The Halo’s battery is of the 32v Lithium-Ion variety and you get two of them with this bundle for greatly extended coverage. The battery simply unclips and charging can be performed by plugging in the charging transformer or charging it on the unit itself when attached to the supplied wall mount.

Just in front of the battery is the first of two filter systems: a corrugated HEPA paper filter that, after 10 days of vacuuming, still shows no signs of being used, and another thin spongy one positioned towards the back of the dustbin bag. One of the best things about bagged vacuum cleaners is that their filters remain far cleaner than any bagless model because there’s no pre-filter to get clogged up or require regular cleaning. Instead, all the muck goes directly up the suction tube and straight into the bin bag which acts like a filter in itself. It also means you could use this vac to occasionally suck up ash around the fireplace or plaster dust without destroying the motor. Why is the Henry vac system so popular with the construction industry? Because it’s bagged!

Moreover, where most bagless stick vacs have small bin capacities – 0.77 liters in the case of the class-leading Dyson Gen5detect – that are further reduced by the need for some kind of cyclonic thingamajig in the center of the bin, this model ships with a huge two-liter monster that won’t require emptying for at least a couple of weeks. And what’s more, the bin bag itself is made from recyclable brown cardboard and paper for conscience-free convenience.

I received 10 dust bags with the Capsule X and that should provide many months of vacuuming. Of course, when they run out I’ll need to purchase some more – and remember to do so. But since they only cost £7.99 for five, I don’t consider that a deal breaker.

Right, let’s look at the business end of this model. The Capsule X comes with two main motorized roller heads: a 22cm hard floor head with towel-like roller and a smaller 20cm carpet brush with two sets of wavy bristles and an LED headlight on the front to illuminate dark areas. As you’ll see in our performance chapter below, both of these floor heads performed exceedingly well in all tests. To be honest, if your hard floors aren’t too delicate, you could just as well keep the brushed carpet head attached at all times because it cleans both hard and soft floors equally well.

Being of the ‘pet’ variety, this model also came with a small 12cm motorized bristle head that can be used in handheld or stick mode. It’s a very handy tool for cleaning pet hair and other detritus off sofas, dog beds and that most annoying of all materials, Velcro-like car carpet.

To supplement this, the box also contains a flat-headed detail tool and a nozzle for handheld use, plus a handy suction tube clip to accommodate one of them. All in all, it’s one very tidy package that will cover all cleaning requirements.

• Design score: 4.5 out of 5

Halo Capsule X Pet Max vacuum cleaner review: performance

• Supreme hard and soft floor performance
• Amazing dust capacity
• Easy to use

This cordless vac has been a pleasure to use. Like most stick vacs, it won’t stand up on its own which can be a bit of a pain when you want to move furniture around in the middle of vacuuming. I’m used to that malarky and just prop it up somewhere convenient.

Four things have really impressed me when using the Halo Capsule X – its ability to swallow huge qualities of debris, how light it feels, its excellent maneuverability and how easy it is to empty the bin. In my opinion, these are the four many qualities required of any decent vac.

My first two tests involved a sprinkling of crushed biscuits with flour and, for the second test, a good dose of oats on both my wooden kitchen floor and a medium-pile rug in the lounge. For the hard floor I used the default medium power setting with the hard floor roller in motorized mode. It laughed at me as it gulped up every last crumb and oat flake in a single sweep with no scattering and absolutely no snow plowing. It did exactly the same thing on the rug, with no evidence of any flour remaining.

Impressed by this performance, I then scattered a small cup of uncrushed Crunchy Nut corn flakes on the wooden floor and expected the Capsule X to at least snow plow some of them across the hard floor or perhaps scatter a few. But lo and behold, it just swallowed the lot up in a single pass – easily a match for the Dyson Gen5detect. Since I have several pets, I was equally impressed by the amount of hair it collected – far more than I thought possible – and also how well it performed on deep pile carpet, despite the wheel tracks it left in its wake.

The Halo Capsule X weighs just 2.6 kilos with everything in place and this is definitely on the lighter end of the scale when compared to other models on the market. However, it’s not just weight that makes a difference when vacuuming for longer periods of time. Just as important is comfort in the hand – at which this model excels – and the ability to steer round corners and chair legs with ease. This model’s brush heads aren’t quite as flexible as Dyson’s Gen5Detect and V15 detect – they swivel on a plane of about 30˚ – but they’re a lot more maneuverable than the Samsung Jet 85 I recently reviewed.

I’ve also been impressed by how low this vac can be lowered to the floor when vacuuming under beds and sofas. Yes, the carbon bin section measures a portly 14cm in diameter so there is a limit to how far it can reach under most furnishings, but I managed to push the entire unit under a bed by resting the battery housing on the carpet and simply shoving the vac forwards and backwards. I also found this vac easier than most to carry from room to room, partly because the smooth, rounded bin section feels so tactile.

However, the sheer size of the bin section makes it feel a bit clunky when used in handheld mode and there will be times – like vacuuming the car – where its sheer size prevents it from cleaning hard-to-reach areas. On the plus side, this vac is unlikely to annoy your neighbors because it measures just 72dB, which is pretty quiet for a stick vac. Mind, the sound level did increase to 80dB when the dust bag was near full.

Although the huge two-liter paper dust bag is a bit tricky to fit, the sheer easiness of simply chucking it away when full is a welcome change from the dusty norm. If you suffer from dust allergies, this is the stick vac for you.

You get two batteries with this ‘Pet’ bundle and they can be charged on or off the main unit. In my battery test – using medium mode on carpet with the head’s motorized brush engaged – the Capsule X’s battery maxed out at 20 minutes and 25 seconds.

I calculate that, if used on a combination of hard floor and carpet, this vac will go on running for about 25 minutes of non-stop cleaning on a single battery when used in medium mode with the mortised brush head engaged. As this Pet Max model came with two batteries, that amounts to a commendable 50 minutes of real-world vacuuming.

However as to be expected, I only got 12 minutes out of the turbo setting using the motorized brush. That said, you’d only ever need to use this setting in handheld mode when collecting detritus from car carpet or down the side of the sofa. The battery took just shy of two hours to charge from stone dead – a lot quicker than the stated three-hour time.

• Performance score: 5 out of 5

Should you buy the Halo Capsule X Pet Max vacuum cleaner?

Buy it if… 

Don't buy it if… 

How I tested the Halo Capsule X Pet Max vacuum cleaner

After taking the myriad parts out of its brown cardboard box I gave both batteries a full charge and got down to testing the unit on hard wooden flooring, linoleum and both medium and deep-pile carpet. I have been using this model for the past 10 days and it has quite literally sailed through every test – from powder-fine flour to cornflakes to pet hair – with consummate aplomb. I also checked the weight of the machine with brush head attached and measured its sound levels using a decibel app.

Read more about how we test

First reviewed June 2024

Tineco Floor One S5 vacuum and mop: two-minute review

The Tineco Floor One S5 is a cordless vacuum and mop with a floor-standing charging unit. During testing, I found it powerful and effective across all hard floor types including sealed wood in my living area and vinyl kitchen tiles. It can’t, however, be used to refresh area rugs and mats like some designs can.

I was impressed at how efficiently it worked when vacuuming and mopping up dirt and debris and cleaning fresh wet spills in my home. I found it a little harder to mop away older and more stubborn caked-on floor debris, however, but perhaps that’s just my fault for leaving them so long to clean up.

The design has a digital control panel on its front with indicators to help you with the smooth running of the appliance. The device provides voice prompts too, which is useful when you’re in a hurry to navigate the controls.

I reviewed the Tineco Floor One S5 Extreme and found the design comfortable in hand and the controls useful and comprehensive. While it’s quite heavy, the self-propelling control makes this less of an issue. Overall, I think that if you have young kids who are prone to spilling food under the table, or you simply need to refresh a muddy hallway, this vacuum and mop in one is a handy tool to have on standby. It also works well for a quick fix on dusty floors that look desperately messy when the sun shines through. Read on to discover whether this one ranks with the best vacuum cleaners.

Tineco Floor One S5 vacuum and mop review: price & availability

• List price: $499 / £399 GBP
• Launch date: April 2022
• Availability: US / UK

Based in China, Tineco sells a range of carpet cleaners, wet dry vacuums and smart vacuum cleaners. The Floor One S5 Extreme was added to its floorcare range in 2022 and at the time of writing, you can buy it on Amazon for $499 / £399. While this comes at a premium price, it’s an intuitive design with a powerful and effective brush that I think helps justify the price.

• Value for money score: 4.5 out of 5

Tineco Floor One S5 vacuum and mop specs

Tineco Floor One S5 vacuum and mop review: design

• 800ml water tank is 30% larger than its previous model
• Self-propelled design for easy steering
• Brush head designed to go right up against skirtings and baseboards

The Tineco Floor One S5 sits on a floor-standing charging dock for convenient grab-and-go cleaning. This makes it ideal for utility rooms or under the stairs where you have a plug socket nearby.

You’ll need some room to store it on display in a living room, however. When sat on its floor-standing charger, the handle is at a slight angle so it’s not completely flush up against the wall, which is something to bear in mind.

Like the Shark HydroVac Cordless Hand Floor Cleaner, the Tineco Floor One S5 is easy on the eye. It has a graphite, white and navy finish with parts that look and feel stylish and premium. While it’s an expensive piece of kit, I can tell that it’s made with durable parts that are built to last. It also has a generous offering in the way of extras in the box. It has two extra brush rolls in the box and a filter that both needs replacing every 6 months, and a handy cleaning tool for giving the device a thorough clean. The kit also comes with its own Tineco branded deodorizing and cleaning solution, and you’ll need to make sure you only use this in the device. 

The Tineco is similar in design and performance to the Shark HydroVac and both are designed to work across dry and wet spills on hard flooring. Both also have self-cleaning features, to help with upkeep and ensure the vacuum remains smelling fresh. While they are both similar in design, the Tineco is much heavier – Shark is 3.95kg, while the Tineco is 7.8kg.    

While the Shark has a 500ml water tank, the Tineco has a more generous 800ml design, however, which is 30% larger than its last generation Floor One cleaner. Run times differ too – with the Shark at around 25 minutes and the Tineco offering up to 35 minutes on a full charge. The Tineco also has iLoop Smart Sensor Technology that takes the guesswork out of cleaning by detecting dirt and adjusting the suction accordingly – more on that in the Performance section.

There’s also a Tineco app that you can connect to on your smartphone to monitor usage and access user guides – although this doesn’t enhance the experience with any remote control feature at present. It only supports 2.4G WiFI, and while I have dual broadband, after several failed attempts at connecting to it, I had to give up and admit defeat.  

• Design score: 4.5 out of 5

Tineco Floor One S5 vacuum and mop review: performance

• iLoop Smart Sensor detects debris and adjusts suction power and water
• Up to 35 minutes run time on a full charge 
• Comes with a self-cleaning mode

Setup

I found setup of the Tineco Floor One S5 straightforward as there aren’t too many parts to contend with. It was a matter of slotting the handle into the main brush head and motor and placing it on the floor-standing charging dock. When the device is positioned on the docking station it delivers a voice prompt to let you know that ‘charging has commenced’. It’s then easy to see the battery level rise.

This device is designed to remove dirt, grime, grease and tough stains from most types of hard surfaces and can be used on wet spills too. To give the design a fair trial, I used it across the sealed hard wood flooring in my living and dining area, and on the vinyl floor tiles in my kitchen. I used it a few times to get a good feel of how well it maneuvered when on a general vacuum and mop.

To get it ready for its first clean I made sure it was suitably charged and added a capful of cleaning solution that comes in the box to the water tank. I then topped it up with water to its max line.

I could clearly see how much battery life is left and what percentage the battery life was on, for example. I could also see when the dirty water tank needed changing and when the clean water tank had run out. By switching to the voice prompt button, it then told me when it was time to charge the cleaner or when the water tank needed filling.

Usability and control

I really enjoyed using the Tineco Floor One S5 Extreme smart cordless vacuum cleaner and mop and while it can’t be used on area rugs and carpets, it is great on non-carpeted floor surfaces such as vinyl, tile and sealed wood. To get a good idea of how well it works, I used it to clean up both wet and dry spills. I managed to use it for a full 30 minutes on hard floor before having to put it back on its charger.

It has its own iLoop Smart Sensor that detects the level of debris and adjusts the suction power and water flow accordingly. There’s a ring that runs around the main control until that goes red when it detects dirt and clears to blue when the dirt has been tackled effectively. When needed I could also up the power by pressing the button on the handle to take the vacuum from auto mode to max mode.

The device is quite heavy, but as it’s self-propelled it whizzed around the floor without too much effort on my part. I simply pushed to vacuum and pulled back to mop. It doesn’t leave the floor too wet or sodden either like some mops can, but mops evenly and leaves a mild, pleasant scent of the Tineco deodorizing and cleaning solution behind as the floor dries. While the head is large, it seemed to do a great job at getting close up to skirtings and up against furniture. I really think a crevice tool would enhance the design here, however, and because the handle doesn’t go flat you’re limited when it comes to cleaning under furniture.

I used it across my kitchen floor to clear up a milky cereal spillage and was amazed at how quickly and effortlessly it tackled the area. There’s also a suction mode I could use to absorb water and not spray solution, which worked well here. I could then switch to auto mode to completely clean the surface.

On dried-on cereal and general food stains under the table that had stuck to the surface, the mop needed a little more help and I found myself ramping up to max mode and going over the area a few times to dislodge and clean effectively. To get a good idea of how well the device can vacuum dirt and debris, I sprinkled oats on the floor to mimic larger debris and also sprinkled crushed biscuit and flour on the floor to mimic finer dust. The vacuum worked a charm on both messes without leaving any residue behind.

Maintenance and noise levels

To keep the device smelling fresh, you’ll need to clean it after every use. There is a self-cleaning mode that helps speed things along and cleans the interior but you will have to take out the dirty water tank to empty and clean the filter too. The brush roll will need to be taken out to dry to avoid it smelling. This can be fiddly – and rather grim if there’s a lot of mess – but a simple wash under warm water straight after use keeps things fresh. I like the fact it has a cleaning brush to help with this as it came in useful.

In terms of noise levels, the Tineco is quite inoffensive. I used the Decibel Meter App to measure the Tineco at 68.1 decibels while it was in self-cleaning mode, which lasts over a minute. By comparison, the Shark HydroVac goes up to 83.1 decibels while in self-cleaning mode. 

• Performance score: 4.5 out of 5

Should you buy the Tineco Floor One S5 vacuum and mop?

Buy it if...

Don't buy it if...

How I tested the Tineco Floor One S5 vacuum and mop

I’ve been reviewing home appliances for over 20 years so know what makes for an ergonomic and useful design. Unlike a vacuum cleaner, the all-in-one vacuum and mop isn’t a staple in many homes, but I’ve recently noticed an increase in the number of companies promoting these multi-functional devices.

I used the Tineco Floor One S5 in my home over the course of a month to see how well it could handle my flooring. I have sealed hard wooden floors that span the entirety of my living room, dining area and hall and have vinyl tiles in the kitchen, which provided ample floorspace to give the Tineco a fair try.

I recently reviewed the Shark HydroVac Cordless Hard Floor Cleaner WD210UK, for example, so it was good to be able to compare the Tineco Floor One S5 to that.

Read more about how we test

First reviewed May 2024