Smeg Mini Pro Espresso Coffee Machine: two-minute review
The Smeg Mini Pro Espresso Coffee Machine is a manual coffee maker that gives you a taste of the barista experience, giving you the option of pulling an espresso shot with a pleasingly smooth and tactile lever, or simply twisting the filter handle into place and pressing a button to let the machine do the work for you.
After trying the Smeg Mini Pro last year, one of my colleagues at TechRadar concluded that although lovely, it was "probably overkill for me and most coffee drinkers" – but having used it for several weeks in place of my usual espresso machine, I'm inclined to disagree. Although it has the looks of a professional coffee maker, it's not only one of the best espresso machines I've used when it comes to brewing consistently good coffee, it's also one of the easiest to use, and makes achieving a good shot refreshingly simple.
The Smeg Mini pro will help you achieve consistent results, and its steam wand was a particular highlight for me (Image credit: Future)
It's a relatively compact (small enough not to dominate a tiny kitchen) and thoughtfully designed, with features including a bright LED display, a pressure gauge that gives you an indication of how well extracted your espresso is likely to be, and customizable temperature and volume settings – the latter of which are very handy if you'll be using the single and double shot presets regularly.
However, although it's not overkill in terms of features, the Smeg Mini Pro Espresso Coffee Machine is certainly expensive. I'd expect to pay a premium for one of the best bean-to-cup coffee machines, but it's rare to see a manual consumer espresso machine at this price point. This is approaching the price of a commercial machine (with pressure profiling and flow control, which the Mini Pro lacks), so you'll have to really fall in love with it to justify the cost.
If you like the idea of a lever coffee machine and don't have that much cash to spend, it's worth taking a look at the range of fully manual machines from La Pavoni (a company now owned by Smeg), which includes several more affordable models.
The Mini Pro has a smart 60s-inspired look that's become one of Smeg's signatures (Image credit: Future)
Smeg Mini Pro Espresso Coffee Machine: Specs
Smeg Mini Pro Espresso Coffee Machine: price and availability
Launched in the UK in June 2024
List price £1,399.95 (about $1,700 / AU$2,800)
Not yet available to buy elsewhere
The Smeg Mini Pro Espresso Machine launched in the UK in June 2024, priced at £1,399.95 (about $1,700 / AU$2,800). At the time of writing (January 2025) it's not yet available in other territories.
That's a serious price tag for a home espresso machine, and much pricier than even premium bean-to-cup coffee makers like the Breville Barista Touch Impress.
Value score: 3/5
Smeg Mini Pro Espresso Coffee Machine: Design
Sleek 1960s-inspired aesthetic
Choice of lever or button controls
No flow control or pressure profiling
The Smeg Mini Pro is a lovely looking coffee maker, with the same brushed metal and smooth curves as the fully automatic BCC13 bean-to-cup espresso machine I reviewed last year. It comes in a choice of three colors: white (shown here), black, or emerald green.
It's also relatively compact, measuring 14.2 x 8.7 x 17in / 360 x 220 x 433mm. This meant it didn't look out of place in my small kitchen, and fitted easily underneath my wall cabinets.
As its name suggests the Smeg Mini pro is quite compact and won't look out of place in a small kitchen (Image credit: Future)
Although it might look a little intimidating if you're used to more basic machines, the Mini Pro is refreshingly simple to use. Reach behind the machine and you'll find a power button on the left-hand side, which turns it on with a reassuring click. Once that's done, the machine will begin to heat. It's set to 92C as standard, which in my experience gave good results, but you can delve into the settings to change it if you prefer something higher or lower.
A round LED display at the top right shows key information, such as whether the water is up to temperature, time elapsed if you're using the machine to pull a shot of espresso in manual mode, maintenance status, and the various customizable options. It's bright, and although simple, the icons in the interface are unambiguous.
There's also a pressure gauge at the bottom left of the machine's face, which gives you an idea of how well extracted your finished shot is going to be. It's a shame that there's no flow control or pressure profiling though, particularly for a machine at this price.
You can use either the manual lever or the preset buttons to pull a shot (Image credit: Future)
The Mini Pro is supplied with four filter baskets: two pressurized ones, which Smeg says are best for experimenting with grinding, dosing, and tamping, and two non-pressurized ones that are best when some of those factors are out of your control (if you're using ready-ground coffee, for example). Which one you should choose depends on whether you're brewing one or two cups.
You also get a blank filter to be used when cleaning the water tank – not something I've seen included with many espresso machines – plus a brush and two different sized needles. One of these is for cleaning the steam wand, and the other is for the holes of the filters.
The machine comes with a choice of pressurized and non-pressurized filter baskets (Image credit: Future)
The 1L water tank is located at the back, and has a sturdy handle that makes it easy to remove. There's no water filter supplied, but if you have hard water (identified using the testing strip included with the coffee machine) you can buy them separately and simply screw one into the bottom of the tank. When the tank needs refilling, you'll be notified by an icon on the display.
There's a cup-heater on top, which has a bumpy surface that keeps your stoneware from slipping off, and the drip tray is easy to slide out and empty without spillage. My only criticism of the design (and it's a very minor one) is that there's nothing really securing the cover that sits over the water tank, so you could knock it off when you're pulling the machine forward to access it.
The machine has a convenient cup-warmer on top (Image credit: Future)
Most of the components (including the filters and filter holder) can be cleaned by rinsing in water. You can use mild dish soap to clean the drip tray if necessary, but avoid anything abrasive on any part of the machine.
You'll receive an alert when it's time to descale the Mini Pro. The pros at Smeg use Oust brand descaler, but when I checked, they told me any food-safe liquid descaler would be fine. They also provided a video demonstrating how to descale the machine.
Design score: 5/5
Smeg Mini Pro Espresso Coffee Machine: performance
Produces consistently well extracted coffee
Fast heating and quiet pump
Lacks pressure profiling and flow control
The machine heats fast, with separate thermoblocks for coffee and steam, plus an independently heated group head to keep a consistent temperature while your coffee is extracted. During my tests it reached the target temperature of 92C within a minute, and was ready to brew shortly afterwards (the LED display will show when it's ready to go).
I really appreciated having a choice of ways to brew an espresso – either by tapping one of the buttons to pull a single or double shot, or by pulling the lever up manually so you can keep an eye on the volume of coffee and the timer yourself.
The accessories supplied with the Smeg Mini Pro are excellent quality (Image credit: Future)
The action of the lever is smooth and satisfying, but it's very nice having the choice of the two customizable buttons if you don't want to spend time measuring out a shot yourself. The single and double shot presets are easy to customize; just press and hold either button to configure it.
The pressure gauge gave a good idea of whether the my coffee was likely to be under- or over-extracted, helping me avoid wasting milk on a poor quality espresso. Although the Mini Pro can achieve 15 bars of pressure, it's optimized for 9-10 bars, which is generally considered ideal for brewing espresso.
During my tests, the machine brewed consistently excellent shots using both the manual lever and the presets. The only disappointing shot I had came when the water tank was starting to run low, but not low enough to generate a refill alert. The Mini Pro brewed a shot, but the gauge showed that it hadn't generated enough pressure, and the resulting coffee tasted dry and under-extracted. It was very useful to have an early warning that it was a bad shot before I added milk, so I could refill the tank and try again.
I was also surprised just how quiet the Smeg Mini Pro was in use, with the pump reaching only 33dB while pulling a shot – similar to the murmuring of a quiet library.
You'll receive an alert when the 1-liter water tank needs refilling (Image credit: Future)
The steam wand is excellent, and is the thing I'll miss most now that I've finished testing the Smeg Mini Pro. Its dial allows you to increase the pressure smoothly so you don't end up with milk sprayed onto your kitchen counters (something that sometimes happens with my Gaggia Classic). The large capacity of the water tank means you can also keep steaming for much longer than you can with the little Gaggia, giving you plenty of time to achieve your preferred milk texture and temperature. The dial is large and tactile, with a super smooth motion as you adjust the intensity of the steam.
Smeg hasn't skimped with the accessories either. The 2.3in / 58mm diameter tamper is nicely weighted, and even the dishwasher-safe milk pitcher is excellent. with a shape that makes it easy to achieve a good whirlpool.
Overall, making coffee with the Smeg Mini Pro Espresso Machine is a real pleasure. I'd just expect a little more customization from a product costing almost as much as a commercial model.
Performance score: 4.5/5
Should you buy the Smeg Mini Pro Espresso Coffee Machine?
Buy it if
You love Smeg's style
This is a gorgeous espresso machine, and the design accounts for a lot of its high asking price.
You value choice
It's up to you whether you use the two preset buttons or the Smeg Mini Pro's lever to pull a shot, and you can use whichever you're in the mood for.
Don't buy it if
Value is key
This is a very expensive espresso machine, even by Smeg's premium standards. If your budget is more modest, take a look at the excellent Breville Bambino Plus – a compact model that's a fraction if the price and earned four and a half stars in our review.
Smeg Mini Pro Espresso Coffee Machine: also consider
Not sure about the Smeg Mini Pro Espresso Machine? Here are two other options to consider
Smeg BCC13
This fully automatic bean-to-cup coffee machine is in the same family as the Mini Pro, and gives excellent results if you want a decent cup of coffee with minimal hassle. Unlike the BCC12, this model also has an auto milk frother - no manual steaming necessary.
This is a step closer to being a commercial-grade espresso machine, and offers some features you don't get with the Smeg Mini Pro, such as a heat exchange boiler so you can brew and steam simultaneously.
How I tested the Smeg Mini Pro Espresso Coffee Machine
I used the Smeg Mini Pro Espresso Machine instead of my usual Gaggia Classic for four weeks, typically using it two or three times a day. I usually brewed standard 60ml double-shot espressos at 92C.
I used fresh coffee beans from Clifton Coffee Roasters, ground using a Dualit burr grinder, and filtered tap water. I tested the steam wand using chilled whole dairy milk and oat milk.
The Technogym Connected Dumbbells are all about smart tech and compact design. Instead of cluttering your space with loads of weights, these adjustable dumbbells give you a range from 2kg to 24kg in a sleek, compact package—ideal if you’re short on space or just starting your fitness journey.
What makes them really stand out, however, is their AI smarts. Built-in sensors track things like your reps, sets, and weights, which sync up with the Technogym App. The app’s AI Coach then uses this data to suggest exercises and tweak your workouts to help you hit your goals—just like having a PT in your pocket.
I loved the twist-handle design for weight adjustments. It’s quick, smooth, and satisfying to use. The build quality is top-notch, too, giving you confidence they’ll handle even your sweatiest sessions. That said, a max weight of 24kg might not be enough for advanced lifters, and the price tag could scare off anyone keeping an eye on their wallet.
After testing these for weeks, including doing full-body workouts and app-guided routines, I’d say they’re a great choice for those who value convenience and tech-driven motivation. If you’re an experienced lifter or on a tight budget, though, you might want to look elsewhere.
Technogym Connected Dumbbells: Price and availability
Dumbbells+ bundle costs £2,530 / $3120 / AUS$5030, which includes a stand, an exercise mat, a foam roller, and resistance bands
Comes with a two-month free trial of the Technogym Plus membership, which is £8.99/month thereafter
Available now in UK, launching soon in US and Australia
The Technogym Connected Dumbbells can be purchased directly from the brand’s official website or flagship stores in the UK for £1,410. At that price, they’re definitely not cheap, especially when competitors like Kabata are offering a similar setup for just $999 / £810. Or there are less-smart-but-similar options available, like the Bowflex SelectTech 552, which can be found online for around £350. Then, on top of that, you’ll have to fork out an extra £8.99/month for the Technogym Plus app if you want to take advantage of its full feature set. Gulp.
If you’re opting for the more complete Connected Dumbbells+ bundle, which includes a sturdy stand, exercise mat, foam roller, and resistance bands, this pushes the price up to a whopping £2,530. Sure, it’s a more complete package if you’re building out your home gym, but it’s a massive cost for a stand and some fitness accessories which can be bought separately elsewhere for much less. The price does include installation and setup, though, which is a nice touch for those who’d rather not fuss with assembly.
If you’re outside Europe and in the market for a pair of these babies, you’ll need to wait a bit—a US and Australian launch is coming later in 2025.
Price score: 3/5
Technogym Connected Dumbbells: Specifications
Technogym Connected Dumbbells: Design and build
(Image credit: Future)
Stylish black and silver finish fits any modern gym space
Knurled metal handles offer solid grip, even when you’re sweating
Twist-handle weight adjustment is smooth and precise
When it comes to design, Technogym’s Connected Dumbbells are a masterclass in how to serve style and substance in one neatly finished package. The black and silver finish feels effortlessly modern, meaning these dumbbells won’t look out of place even if they’re just sitting in the corner of your living room. And let’s be honest—no one wants a home gym setup that makes a space look cluttered. Thankfully, the minimalist look is spot-on here.
But it’s not just about aesthetics. I found the knurled metal handles were a delight to hold throughout most workouts. They’re grippy enough to reassure you they won’t slip, even when your palms are on the sweaty side. You won’t be getting that insecure feeling you can find with some cheaper alternatives.
Adjusting the weight is where the magic really happens. The twist-handle mechanism is smooth and intuitive. It’s ridiculously easy to use, and that satisfying click lets you know the weight’s locked and ready to go. Whether you’re grabbing 4kg for bicep curls or cranking up to 20kg for squats, it’s all very seamless-feeling. The weight range itself, 2kg to 24kg, covers most bases for a variety of exercises, although seasoned lifters might find it limiting if they’re used to heavier loads.
One of the standout features has to be the optional Strength Corner stand. It’s not just there to look pretty—although it does. The stand keeps your workout space organized, stores accessories like a foam roller and resistance bands, and even has a tablet (or in my case, phone) holder so you can follow along with the app without constantly looking down. I found it’s compact enough for smaller spaces—like me in my garden room-cum-gym space—and it means you have everything in one place, saving you from rummaging around mid-session.
As you’d expect from the premium gym equipment brand that is Technogym, the build quality of the Connected Dumbbells is top-tier across the board. Everything feels solid and well-made. The weight plates lock in securely, so there’s no wobbling when you’re mid-rep. The only small snag is docking the dumbbells back into their base—it’s a bit fiddly at first, especially if you’re rushing. But once you’ve nailed the technique, it’s not an issue at all.
In short, the design of these dumbbells is as functional as it is good-looking. They’re durable, user-friendly, and stylish enough to show off.
Design score: 4.5/5
Technogym Connected Dumbbells: Features and performance
(Image credit: Future)
AI coaching adapts workouts to your progress
Built-in sensors track reps, sets, and weight use
App motivates with milestones and progress tracking
These dumbbells aren’t just your bog-standard piece of gym equipment—they’re essentially a workout buddy. Each dumbbell is fitted with smart sensors that track every rep, set, and weight you use. This data syncs to the Technogym App and this is where the clever stuff happens. The app’s AI Coach uses all that info to create personalized workout plans, tweaking them as you progress. It’s like having a PT in your pocket.
The app itself is super easy to navigate. Whether you’re looking to do strength training, active recovery, or something in between, there’s a workout for it. One of my favorite features is the little celebratory ping when you hit a new PB. It’s a small touch, but it genuinely makes you feel like a champ. That said, the app isn’t perfect. It doesn’t track bodyweight exercises like push-ups or planks, which feels like a bit of a letdown if you like mixing things up.
In terms of how they handle workouts, these dumbbells are a dream. Like I said earlier, adjusting the weight on them is quick and fuss-free thanks to the twist-handle mechanism. It’s smooth, precise, and feels really robust. Even at heavier weights, the dumbbells feel perfectly balanced, which makes a huge difference during more intense sessions when you’re rushing around.
Connectivity deserves a mention too. The sensors sip battery, so you’re not constantly worried about them dying on you. During my time with the dumbbells, I also experienced no glitches or lag between the app and the weights; it all worked pretty seamlessly, which is reassuring. Although for nearly £1,500, so they should. The only downside, I’d say, is the 24kg max weight. This could be a sticking point for anyone looking to go heavy. A 32kg max weight would have solved this issue, IMO.
Nevertheless, for anyone just starting out or at an intermediate level, these dumbbells are a great option. They’re smart, efficient, and genuinely make your workouts more engaging. Advanced lifters might find themselves craving more weight, but for most people, they’ll hit the sweet spot.
Performance score: 4 / 5
Technogym Connected Dumbbells: Verdict
(Image credit: Future)
The Technogym Connected Dumbbells hit the mark for anyone wanting stylish, space-saving, and tech-packed gym gear. They’re easy to use, look great and the AI-driven app makes training feel a lot less like guesswork. Beginners and casual users will love the convenience and motivation these dumbbells bring to the table.
That said, they’re not for everyone. The limited weight range means serious lifters will likely need something heftier, and the steep price might put off anyone on a budget. Plus, the app’s inability to track bodyweight exercises is a bit of a head-scratcher. Although, this could always be addressed with a simple update at a later time.
So, if you’ve got the cash and crave the tech-savvy features, these dumbbells could be a game-changer. For the right user—especially those tight on space—they’re a smart, functional, and a downright stylish addition to a home gym.
Technogym Connected Dumbbells: Scorecard
Technogym Connected Dumbbells: Should I buy?
Buy them if…
You want a tidy home gym. These dumbbells replace 12 sets of weights, making them perfect for small spaces.View Deal
You need tailored workouts. The AI-powered app adapts to your goals and tracks progress effortlessly.View Deal
You’re after sleek, premium gym gear, They look great and work even better—a real statement piece for any home.View Deal
Don’t buy them if…
You’re into heavy lifting. The 24kg max weight won’t cut it for advanced strength training.View Deal
You’re saving the pennies. They’re pricey, especially compared to other adjustable dumbbells.View Deal
You like tracking bodyweight exercises. The app doesn’t log non-dumbbell moves like push-ups or planks, for some reason.View Deal
Also consider
SelectTech 552 A more budget-friendly alternative with a similar 2kg-24kg range. The dial system is smooth and easy to use, but you miss out on the smart features.
Kabata Smart Dumbbells Like Technogym’s offering, these smart dumbbells use AI to automatically adjust to your fitness and strength levels, ensuring you’re lifting the right amount of resistance. And for a much lower cost. However, with a 27kg maximum weight per dumbbell, they are just as limited when compared to other options on the market. View Deal
JaxJox DumbbellConnect (£599) These smart dumbbells offer app-based tracking like Technogym but they max out at an even lower 22kg. Good for casual users, but limited for heavier training.
I tested the Technogym Connected Dumbbells over a few weeks, throwing them into my regular workout routines. This meant squats, lunges, and chest presses to push the weight range to its limits. I paired them with the Technogym app to see how well the tracking and AI coaching worked, manually comparing the app’s data with my own counts. I also used the optional Strength Corner stand to keep things organized and explored its extra features. Durability and ease of use were put to the test during high-intensity sessions.
Dreame Technologies hasn’t been around long but, since its inception in 2017, the brand has made some excellent robot vacuums, including the Dreame L20 Ultra. The X40 Ultra succeeds the older model (as well as the X30 Ultra), bringing much-improved intelligence and tracking compared to lesser bots, as well as a fairly unique collection of features. For those who want something slightly cheaper, it's well worth checking out our Dreame L40 Ultra review.
Like most robovacs, the X40 Ultra handles both vacuuming and mopping and comes with a base station that empties the robovac’s dustbin, dispenses water, and cleans the mopping system. Where it stands out is the ability to leave the mop pads behind when vacuuming, the automatic dispensing of floor-cleaning fluid, the wide array of sensors, and the ability to recognize a large number of objects using its cameras.
Getting the X40 Ultra up and running is relatively simple, and upon first activation, it will map your home with an array of sensors. The test space for this review was my own home with a built-in area of 80 sqm, and it took the bot about 10 minutes to poke its robotic nose into every room. The quality of the resulting map is excellent, and any adjustments are easy to make within the Dreamehome app. The X40 is great at identifying and avoiding obstacles like shoes or cables and can even recognize your pets and give them space when cleaning. While very functional overall, the app can be a little clunky at times, like lack of consistency in how navigation gestures work, and a convoluted layout to reach certain settings.
If activating a scheduled or single-time clean, selecting CleanGenius mode lets the robovac use its own smarts to decide exactly what is needed, and it will vacuum, mop, and go back over areas as it sees fit. While the results were good, I found the robovac went a bit overboard and wanted to mop my polished wooden floors every day. Instead, I set a schedule for a daily vacuum and reduced mopping to once a week. I also configured shortcuts in the app to trigger custom cleanups, like an extra vacuum or mop by the front or back door for when my dog walked in with muddy paws.
The X40 Ultra is equipped with an extendable and liftable side brush for getting into corners and under furniture, plus dual spinning mop pads – one of which can also protrude further out as needed. The mop pads are magnetically attached, so the bot can leave them behind at the base station when vacuuming carpets, avoiding any chance of spreading damp mop water or contamination.
(Image credit: Dreame)
After three months of daily use, it’s hard to find fault with the vacuuming prowess of the X40. It works equally well on hard floors, carpets, or rugs, and the extendable brush does a great job of getting into corners and cleaning debris from along walls. The spinning extendable mops are likewise very effective, and the X40 Ultra can keep your floors shiny or quickly get rid of sticky messes. It also very thoroughly cleans the mop pads with hot water – then dries them with hot air – to avoid odors. Overall, the wearing parts on the X40 Ultra (like the mop pads, filters, and corner brush) are fairly robust and don’t need to be replaced too often.
Importantly, it has pet feces detection – and it really does work – which allows the robovac to spot and avoid any accidents, ensuring you won’t come home to a horror show of smeared messes. It can also detect wet patches, so it won’t spread or vacuum over any puddles it encounters.
As great as the robot itself is, the suction on the auto-empty station is a bit weak. I found I had to change the bag more often than expected – and these can get quite expensive. The X40 Ultra itself is not cheap – it’s one of the more expensive models on the market – but when you compare the actual technology and features included, it provides decent value overall.
(Image credit: Future)
Dreame X40 Ultra review: Price and availability
How much does it cost? Starting from $1,899 / £1,299 / AU$2,799
When is it available? Available to buy now
Where can you get it? You can get it in the US, UK, and Australia
The Dreame X40 Ultra was announced in May 2024 and can be bought directly from the Dreame website if your country has a local online storefront or from authorized local retailers, which can include Amazon. It has a rather steep asking price of $1,899 / £1,299 / AU$2,799 and, so far, has only attracted modest discounts. That said, it shouldn’t be too long before we start seeing worthwhile discounts, which would make the X40 Ultra worth investing in if you want a complete and autonomous cleaning solution for your floors.
However, using the X40 Ultra will incur ongoing costs, specifically the replaceable dust bags. I’ve included the accessories pricing below for the US, UK, and Australia. Notably the Dreame website doesn’t sell the side brush in the US, or the brush cover in Australia. You can also get a kit that contains 2x dust bags, 2x dust filters, 1x main brush, 2x side brushes, 6x mop pads – rather useless ratios of these consumables as they don’t match the usage rates.
For households like mine that have people (or pets) with long hair, Dreame sells an optional TriCut brush that’s designed to shred hair and avoid tangles and clogs. This upgrade does a much better job at keeping hair from tangling compared to the standard brush, and I think it’s well worth the added $49.99 / £49.99 / AU$199.95 – though Aussie buyers pay a very steep premium compared to the US and UK.
If you don’t need all the features offered by the X40 Ultra, or have a simple home layout with few obstacles, then a cheaper robovac like the Dreame L10s Ultra or D10 Plus may be a better buy. You can also opt for options from Ecovacs, with some models like the Ecovacs Deebot N10 Plus ($649.99 / £499 / AU$999) and Ecovacs DEEBOT T20 Omni ($1,099.99 / £951.65 / AU$1,799) offering good value for money.
The X40 Ultra has a fairly standard design and complements the typical round robovac form factor with a base station for charging, dustbin emptying, floor-cleaner dispensing, mop washing and drying – plus containers for clean and dirty mop water. In the box, you get the robovac itself (including mop pads), the base station, two dust bags, a cleaning tool, and 200ml (6.7 ounces) of floor-cleaning solution. Setting it up is very easy – the base station needs the ramp attached, but otherwise, it’s ready to go once plugged in and charged. After installing the app, you scan a QR code on the robovac, and it walks you through the rest of the process in just a few minutes.
The base station is tall (60cm / 24-inches) but relatively skinny (35cm / 14-inches) and only needs 5cm (2 inches) of clearance on each side. The dust bag and floor cleaner dispenser are hidden under a front-opening cover on the dock, while the mop water is accessed from under a hatch on the top – meaning it’s not suited for placement under a bench. Dreame will also soon release an optional kit to allow the base station to be plumbed into a fresh-water supply and a waste-water outlet, enabling the mop water changes to be fully automatic. The availability of this kit is to be confirmed.
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The robovac sports a multitude of sensors to help navigate your home, ensure the best clean, and avoid any pets or places where it could get stuck. The front of the bot has two cameras (one infrared), as well as 3D Dual-Line Laser sensors and LED headlights. The underside has a carpet sensor, along with downward-facing cliff sensors to detect steps or other drops. The sides of the robovac have edge sensors, and on top, it features a microphone and a laser distance sensor (LDS). All these work together to allow the bot to recognize over 120 different types of objects – including obstacles like cables that could cause a tangle when vacuuming.
The X40 Ultra offers four suction levels – Quiet, Standard, Turbo, Max, and Max+ – with up to a very high 12,000Pa of pull. Notably, the highest suction level (Max+) is only available for a one-off clean and can’t be used with a schedule or a customized shortcut clean. This means the full advertised suction (up from the X30 Ultra’s 8,300Pa) feels like marketing spin, rather than an actually useful upgrade.
The robovac can extend its side brush to get deep into corners, clean along edges or under the lip of low furniture – and even lift it to avoid spreading liquids. The bot can also magnetically drop and pick up the mop pads from the base station, giving it extra cleaning flexibility. While the bot can lift the pads when vacuuming carpet, the clearance is 10.5mm (0.4 inches), so for deeper carpet piles or rugs, leaving the mop pads behind ensures there’s no chance of dampness or cross-contamination. The right-hand side mop pad is also extendable – meaning the X40 Ultra can reach into corners, mop along the edges of kitchen cabinets, or even clean a little way under the edge of low appliances like a fridge.
Design score: 4 / 5
Dreame X40 Ultra review: Performance
Somewhat noisy at full power
Amazing obstacle recognition
Weak base station automatic emptying
Overall, the X40 Ultra does a very thorough job of vacuuming and mopping – and aside from picking up larger debris by hand and the occasional spot clean, I didn’t have to do any extra floor cleaning myself. The robovac has a CleanGenius mode that lets it choose the cleaning parameters for you – though I found it mopped much too frequently, and I preferred using the scheduled cleaning function (as well as shortcuts) to create my own customized cleaning regime.
The X40 Ultra isn’t especially fast, and during my testing, it took around 1 minute per square meter when vacuuming, and takes about the same amount of time to mop. That said, it can vacuum and mop at the same time if needed, which allows for a quicker cleaning run. The 6,400mAh battery is rated to provide up to 198 minutes of vacuuming and mopping at Standard suction strength, covering up to an area of 308m² (3,315ft²) in Quiet mode. It’s a little frustrating that Dreame rates the runtime and area coverage at different vacuum power levels – the exact amount of coverage per charge depends on your specific home and cleaning settings. During my testing, the X40 Ultra was able to vacuum my small 80m² two-bedroom home at Max suction level, then do a full mop, and still have 80% charge remaining. Extrapolating from that, I think it will have no trouble cleaning up to 200m² per charge.
Overall performance score: 4 / 5
Mapping and obstacle avoidance
After setup, the X40 created a very accurate map of my home – with no adjustments needed in the app aside from giving rooms specific names. When vacuuming, the array of sensors and cameras does a great job of spotting anything on the floor, and it’s especially careful to stay clear of anything that might cause a tangle – like shoelaces or cords. Handily, the bot records a picture (viewable in the app) of any obstacle it encounters, making it easy to move it before the next clean.
The X40 Ultra has the smarts to recognize your pets (in my case, just the paws of a Great Dane) and will keep clear if it spots them snoozing. It records a few pictures of any interactions – viewable in the cleaning log via the app – so you can see how your pet reacts to the vacuum. It’s also possible to set up zones for the robovac to stay out of, like around a pet's bed or feeding area. Even more importantly, the robovac can recognize any pet droppings and will steer well clear when cleaning. My dog doesn’t make any messes at home, so I faked a test using food, and the X40 Ultra had no trouble identifying the fake feces and dutifully stayed well clear.
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Using the app, you can also stream live video from the robovac’s main camera while it’s working, or take over and remotely steer it – though this can be a bit laggy. You can also command the bot to navigate to a specific spot in your home, use it to have a two-way conversation, or even have it automatically search for your pets and snap a picture.
Impressively, the robovac only got stuck twice in three months of testing – and both times were my fault. The first time was because it half-ingested a USB-C cable I had knocked down next to the base station, and the second was from vacuuming up a loose tile in my (very old) bathroom. In both cases, no damage was caused, as the bot knew it was stuck and waited patiently until freed.
Overall, the X40 Ultra did an amazing job of navigating my home and had no problem cleaning around always-changing obstacles – big and small – left in its way. It’s a great choice for anyone with a busy, complex home, or if you don’t want to have to worry about picking every last thing up from the floor before cleaning.
Mapping and obstacle avoidance score: 4.5 / 5
Vacuuming
I tested the X40 on polished wooden floors, as well as tiles and rugs. Aside from vacuuming every day for three months, I also performed a number of specific tests to gauge how effective the robovac is at cleaning up a variety of spills and debris types. I used flour, sand, rice, oats, dry dog food, and some dry leaves – scattered in a corner on hard floors and then on a short-pile rug.
Whether on carpet or hard floors, the flour, rice, oats, and leaves were 90% (or more) cleaned up after one pass – and fully gone after two. The dry dog food was all sucked up in one go, while the sand took three passes to capture it all (although a few grains remained on the rug). Importantly, the X40 Ultra’s side brush is relatively slow-spinning, so it doesn’t tend to flick any material away from the vacuum. Anything larger than about 10mm x 8mm (0.4 inches x 0.3 inches) will generally be recognized and avoided by the robovac, as it could get stuck behind the main brush.
I found that the standard vacuum level is fine for picking up pet fur, dust, and light debris on hard floors – but needs to be bumped up to Turbo or Max for carpets. The higher suction modes were also best for sand, heavier dirt, or chunkier debris like oats and dry dog food. This means a daily vacuum in the standard mode with a single pass will capture almost all the lighter debris in your home, but may leave a small amount of heavier debris behind. This isn’t much of a problem, as you can customize scheduled cleans on a room-by-room basis to accommodate different needs.
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On lower suction levels, the sound isn’t too intrusive – and could be set to vacuum overnight – but with the suction turned up, the noise level is not far off a stick vacuum. Measuring at 1 meter (3.3 feet) with a decibel meter, the bot produced 43 dB on Quiet, 46 dB on Standard, 51 dB on Turbo, 55 dB on Max, and 60 dB on Max+. When the robovac is driving without vacuuming, it produces 41 dB, while mopping sits at 35 dB most of the time – with occasional peaks up to 45 dB when moving fast. The base station emptying the robovac dustbin hits 57 dB, while mop washing is 33 dB with peaks up to 50 dB when the water pump runs. These results are normal, but not particularly quiet – so you'll want to position the base station away from living areas where you relax or watch TV.
My home has two people who shed a lot of long hair, and in my testing, the side brush stayed relatively tangle-free – as did the main wheels and mop pads. The front roller does slowly collect hair – as does the main brush – though the TriCut brush (which is available to buy separately) is much better in this regard. Thankfully, both these areas are very easy to maintain, and the X40 Ultra’s design keeps the hair from getting sucked deeper into the inaccessible innards of the robovac.
Vacuuming score: 4.5 / 5
Mopping
I’m not a frequent mopper at the best of times, so I started my X40 Ultra’s testing with a deep clean – then reduced the mopping frequency to once a week – and my floors have never looked better! I found it handy to turn on an extra mopping schedule during wet weather, so areas near the front and back door were kept clean of muddy shoe and paw prints.
Like its side brush, the X40 Ultra can also extend the mop pad on the right side, and I found the robovac easily cleaned areas where a handheld mop struggled to reach. The automatically dispensed cleaning solution (a bottle is supplied in the box) also helped cut through grime in a way that robovacs using plain water can’t manage.
To further test the mopping ability, I spilled two puddles of soy sauce – one of which I allowed to dry – and also smeared wasabi paste and sticky honey on a section of tiled and wooden floor. I found that the liquid soy sauce was cleaned away in a single pass, while the thick, dried soy took two passes to remove. A third pass was needed to get the floor squeaky clean. The wasabi paste and honey both took two mopping passes to fully clean up, leaving no trace behind.
The bot washed the mop pads between each test – removing any contamination from previous cleanups. That said, the X40 Ultra is not designed to mop more than a small amount of liquid, as the pads are meant for scrubbing, not sponging.
The only issue I noticed is that the strong magnet in the mop pads (used to attach them to the vacuum) tends to pick up tiny particles of magnetic dirt. It’s normal for some dirt to be slightly magnetic (due to iron content), and this accumulates on the plastic spindle of the mop pads. The mop washing process doesn’t remove this dirt – in fact, it increases wear on the base station – and the slightly rusty residue can stain the mop pads or potentially other flooring during mopping. To avoid this, regularly wipe away any residue remaining on middle of the mop pads.
Mopping score: 4.5 / 5
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Dual scrubbing mop pads.
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The mop pads can be left behind in the base station.
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One mop pad can extend out to reach into corners and under the edge of furniture.
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The magnetic mop pad attachment can accumulate iron rich dirt.
Base station performance
Dreame rates the 3.2-liter (108 oz) dust bag in the base station for up to 75 days of use – but how long it lasts for you will depend on how large or dirty your home gets. The robovac itself has a 0.3-liter (10 oz) dust bin that is emptied by the base station as needed when full, or it can be set to empty after every room.
While I was impressed with the suction on the bot itself, the base station suction is weaker than expected. I found it didn’t always manage to fully empty the bin in the robovac, leaving debris to build up if not manually cleaned. Worse, despite all its smarts, the robovac couldn’t sense when the base station had not successfully emptied its bin – or tell that it was clogged and not vacuuming effectively. That meant it would often do an entire home vacuum while clogged and not pick up anything.
Even when the base station successfully empties the robovac’s dust bin, the low suction means the debris tends to form a clog right at the mouth of the dust bag. This clog would further reduce the suction, worsening the emptying problem. I found the situation could be somewhat alleviated by setting the base station’s auto-emptying frequency to the highest setting and occasionally manually triggering an extra empty cycle. It also helped to ensure the dust bags were very carefully installed with no folds of fabric near the inlet – or to occasionally manually shift the collected debris further into the bag. Even so, I needed to change the bags well before they were full, and I found they only lasted half as long as the 75-day rating from Dreame.
This is the main reason I would find it hard to recommend the X40 Ultra for a household with pets that shed hair (like golden retrievers or huskies) or one with a lot of debris to vacuum up – as the base station suction just isn’t powerful enough to ensure problem-free operation and economical use of the dust bags.
On the plus side, the mop washing system works very well, and I only encountered one minor downside during my testing. The base station heats water and dispenses it into the washing system, then circulates it against the mop pads while the robovac spins the mop pads against plastic scrubbers to remove any contamination. The used water is then sucked out and stored in the dirty water container, and the mop pads and cleaning system are dried using hot air to avoid any odors. The washing process is a little noisy at time, like when the pumps runs, and the drying fan does make a quiet whir for a few hours.
Base station performance score: 3 / 5
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Dreame X40 Ultra review: App control
Deep customization of scheduled cleans
Homescreen widgets and shortcuts
The app is sometimes laggy and feels unpolished
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While the X40 Ultra can be controlled in a limited way using the buttons on top of the circular bot, the app is the best option for everyday use. It makes it easy to interact with the map of your home – created immediately after setup and updated during each clean – and allows you to customize cleaning sessions. The depth of control is noticeably better than competitors such as Ecovacs, and you can fine-tune much of the robot’s day-to-day operations, as well as check the comprehensive cleaning history.
I found the layout and navigation of the app frustrating at times. For example, many frequently used options – like adjusting scheduled cleans – are buried a few layers deep in the menu system, and such settings are locked out when the robovac is in operation.
In my three months of testing, the X40 Ultra only failed to start a scheduled clean once (with no discernible reason) and completed the next day's clean without a problem. The robovac will only connect to a 2.4GHz Wi-Fi network, and I found it sometimes had issues with a typical dual-band (2.4GHz and 5GHz) mesh network – like you’d find in our guide to the best mesh Wi-Fi systems. At one point, the X40 didn’t want to connect to my network, and a few times it reported low signal strength despite being right near the router. I found it much more stable to configure a dedicated 2.4GHz Wi-Fi SSID for the robovac to connect to.
While the Dreamehome app is less polished than expected for such a premium robovac, it’s not better or worse overall compared to the competition. Sure, brands like Ecovacs and Eufy offer apps that are nicer to use in many ways – but neither provides the same depth of control options, and they still suffer from lag and the occasional missed clean.
App score: 4 / 5
Dreame X40 Ultra review: Consumables and maintenance
The X40 Ultra comes with everything you need to get started right away, but there are only two dust bags included, along with one small refill of floor cleaning fluid. This means you need to either buy spare bags when purchasing the vacuum, or order them within a month or two. The X40 Ultra consumables (main vacuum brush, mop pads, floor cleaning solution, vacuum bags, side brush and robovac dust bin filters) are mostly only available via the Dreame website in the UK and Australia, whereas in the US they are easier to buy from Amazon than they are from Dreame.
The Dreame app keeps track of each cleaning session and provides an estimated remaining life (in hours) for the consumables and wearing parts. The estimates generally seem quite conservative, and I expect many parts – like the main brush – will last longer than rated and need less frequent changing than expected. Maintenance for the Dreame X40 Ultra is fairly simple and takes about 10 minutes a month. It’s not messy or difficult to do and mostly involves giving the robovac a check-over, dusting off the sensors, and removing any trapped hair if needed. The latter involves removing the main or side brush and simply sliding the wrapped hair off – and I didn’t have to cut any free during my testing.
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Extrapolating my three months of testing to a full year, and using the remaining life estimates in the Dreame app, the X40 Ultra consumables include 10 to 12 dust bags, one filter, one side brush, a container of floor cleaner, one set of replacement mop pads, and one replacement TriCut brush – adding up to around $200 / £163 / AU$500. For a larger home, this cost could easily double or triple. Notably, in Australia (where the X40 Ultra was tested for this review), the TriCut brush is 170% more expensive compared to the US and UK – so using the normal brush saves AU$150 a year.
While using the official Dreame accessories is recommended, there are third-party consumables available from online retailers like eBay and Amazon. The best are nearly indistinguishable from the official Dreame parts, while the worst are of very poor quality and won’t work correctly. Until Dreame offers affordable bulk packs of dust bags, it’s hard to pass on third-party alternatives – provided you can find good-quality ones.
Consumables and maintenance score: 3.5 / 5
Should I Buy the Dreame X40 Ultra?
Buy it if…
You want a premium robovac with the latest features There are very few competitors that can come close to matching the extensive functionality offered by the X40 Ultra.
You need excellent obstacle avoidance The X40 Ultra is very skilled at avoiding anything that might cause it to get stuck, as well as cleaning around obstacles or even accidents from your pets.
You have deep pile carpets The X40 Ultra’s party trick is being able to leave the mop pads at the base station, allowing it to vacuum through the plushest of carpets with zero chance of dampness or cross contamination.
Don’t buy it if…
You have pets that shed more than average The robovac itself is great at picking up fur and other debris, but the base station auto-empty system lacks suction and the bag needs to be changed before it’s full to avoid clogging.
You only have carpet The X40 Ultra does a fantastic job of mopping and keeping its mop pads clean, but if you don’t have much in the way of hard floors, you’ll save a lot of cash opting for a cheaper vacuum-only robovac.
You want a cheaper option The X40 Ultra is great, but it’s also one of the most expensive robovacs available. For those on a budget, there are plenty of other great options at more affordable prices.
Also consider
Not sold on the Dreame X40 Ultra? Below are a few alternatives that are worth considering.
Dreame L10s Ultra This slightly older model doesn’t have quite as many features as the X40 Ultra and isn’t as powerful, but it’s still a great option and can often be found for less than half the price. Read our full Dreame L10s Ultra reviewView Deal
Eufy Omni S1 Pro One of the few robovacs that can compete directly with the X40 Ultra, the Eufy Omni S1 Pro is a feature packed robovac with an innovative rolling cylinder mopping system. Read our full Eufy Omni S1 Pro reviewView Deal
Ecovacs Deebot T30S Combo While not as good at dodging cables as the Dreame X40 Ultra, the Deebot T30S Comboi stands out with a stick vacuum that slots into the base station, keeping it ready to go for any extra cleanup. Read our full Ecovacs Deebot T30S Combo reviewView Deal
How I tested the Dreame X40 Ultra
I used the X40 Ultra as my main vacuum cleaner for three months
My testing space included hard floors and carpet
I performed specific grain-size and wet-spill tests
I used the Dreame X40 Ultra daily for three months in a home with a dog and two adults. I tested the X40 Ultra on polished wooden floors, tiles, carpet, and medium-pile rugs. The weather during the test period included both wet and dry conditions. I started with an initial deep clean, followed by ongoing daily vacuuming, with mopping once or twice a week – plus extra spot cleans as needed. I tested both the automatic CleanGenius mode and customized cleans using schedules and shortcuts.
I documented cleaning performance over the testing period and conducted a range of specific tests with different debris sizes to further gauge vacuuming ability. I also tested dry and wet spills to evaluate the mopping prowess. Additionally, I strategically placed debris – including fur, leaves, and hair – in problem areas such as corners to assess the robovac’s effectiveness in daily use.
During my testing period, I changed the base station vacuum bag three times, manually cleaned the mop cleaning system in the base station, and performed the full range of maintenance checks.
Blueair Blue Pure 411i Max / Blue Max 3250i : two-minute review
Blueair offers similar air purifiers under different model names in the US and UK. In the US, this air purifier is known as the Blueair Blue Pure 411i Max, but as I’m located in the south of England, I tested the UK model, Blueair Blue Max 3250i.
The Blueair Blue Pure 411i Max is available to purchase at the Blueair website and Amazon for a list price of $169.99, but can occasionally be on offer for a discounted price. In the UK, the Blueair Blue Max 3250i is priced at £169 at multiple retailers including Very and Amazon, and also sees a price drop now and then.
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Despite being compact and impressively light for its capabilities, there’s a lot to love about the Blueair Blue Max 3250i. The two touch buttons make it simple to power on the air purifier and to cycle through auto mode, night mode, and fan speeds one to three. The simple design is composed of the white plastic top section that houses the working parts, and a simple yet efficient base that consists of a lightweight frame within the changeable particle and carbon filter, plus a machine-washable fabric pre-filter outer layer. The neatness of the seam isn’t perfect, but other than this it is a great way to capture dust before it reaches the single-use filter, and is available in a range of colors making it effortless to switch things up if desired.
The Blueair Blue Max 3250i does a great job for the price, rivaling some of the best air purifiers. For the most part, the fan speed remained on the lowest setting when the Blueair Blue Max 3250i was left in auto mode. This came as no surprise to me, but I’ve seen some customer reviews complaining that this air purifier doesn’t do anything. In fact, the Blueair Blue Max 3250i is purifying, and it’s capable of clearing more than just the PM2.5 it detects, such as VOCs when manually operated – it just doesn’t possess the capability to detect these things automatically. That's fine, in my professional opinion, considering the low price.
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During testing, it took just ten minutes for the contamination from spraying dry shampoo to be detected and cleared by the Blueair Blue Max 3250i. It continued to impress me over the days I tested it, being sensitive enough to detect the drop in air quality when I used hair products in the next room.
In terms of noise levels, I didn’t experience any issues with the Blueair Blue Max 3250i. I found that I could sleep or watch TV with it in the room without it being disruptive.
I’m a big fan of the Blueair Blue Max 3250i, both for its innovative design, and its good performance for a low price, so I can envision it finding its way into our choice of the best air purifiers in the near future. So if you're in the market for a low-cost air purifier that won't shock you with extortionate costs for replacement parts, this is the one for you. If you'd like to learn more, read on for our full review to get all the facts.
Blueair Blue Pure 411i Max / Blue Max 3250i review: price & availability
List price: $169.99 / £169
Available: in the US and UK under different product names
The Blueair Blue Pure 411i Max is available to purchase from the Blueair US website for $169.99, and at the time of writing has a Black Friday deal slashing the price down to $119.99 at Amazon US. The comparable UK model, the Blueair Blue Max 3250i, can’t be purchased from the Blueair website but is available at many major UK retailers, including Argos, Very, and Amazon. The list price is £169 for the Blue Max 3250i at Amazon, and a Black Friday deal has knocked the price down to an even more impressive £113.
I was pleasantly surprised that the Blueair Blue Max 3250i performed so well and had such a considered design considering its price tag, making it fantastic value for money. Replacement components won’t break the bank either, with replacement Particle and Carbon filters costing just $29.99 / £35 – this is particularly impressive as Blueair states that these filters can last between six to nine months.
Value for money score: 5/5
Blueair Blue Pure 411i Max / Blue Max 3250i review: specs
Blueair Blue Pure 411i Max / Blue Max 3250i review: design and features
No display
Simple to use
Machine-washable pre-filter
I became a fan of the design aspects of the Blue range when I reviewed the impressive Blueair Blue Pure Mini Max. The standout design feature is the attractive machine-washable fabric pre-filter covering most of the purifier’s outer. This design proves innovative, as directly behind the pre-filter cover sits the particle and carbon filter (this can be upgraded to Smokeblock or Allergenblock filters if desired), which surrounds a simple plastic frame. This makes the base of the purifier super lightweight for its size, weighing in at 7.5 lbs / 3.4 kg. The Blueair Blue Max 3250i can purify an area of 219 sq ft / 48 sq meters yet still remains fairly compact, measuring 18.9 X 10.6 X 10.6 in / 481 x 269 x 269 mm. I’m very pleased with the reduced amount of materials used on the body of the Blueair Blue Max 3250i, but my concern with this construction is that the exposed filter could be prone to damage.
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I’ve never seen a design quite like this, as most air purifiers have plastic casing to protect the inner filters whereas the body of the Blueair Blue Pure Mini Max is simply some structural plastic sitting within the particle and carbon filter, covered in the washable pre-filter. This goes to explain its very light weight of 2.5 lb / 3.4kg but could make it vulnerable to damage.
Despite its minor flaws, it’s a nice touch that Blueair made the pre-filter part of the overall aesthetic, which has meant less material and wasted plastic, which we’re always happy to see at TechRadar. It’s also an advantage that they are machine washable and extras can be purchased in a range of colors, just in case you don’t want to wait for one to dry, or want to switch things up occasionally.
Not only is it delightfully light, it’s dinky in size, too. Measuring just 11.4 x 6.8 x 5.9 inches / 172 x 172 x 289mm. This cylindrical 360-degree design enables the Blueair Blue Pure Mini Max to be placed in a variety of spaces, as there’s plenty of opportunity for it to pull air in.
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As was the case with the Mini Max, the seam of the fabric pre-filter could be neater as it is a little puckered and bulges in places, but this is less noticeable on the Blueair Blue Max 3250i as the overlapping seam doesn’t stand out as much over the larger area.
The controls on the top of the Blueair Blue Max 3250i are simple, there are just two touch-operated buttons, a power button, and a fan button that cycles between auto mode, sleep mode, and fan speeds of one to three when pressed. There’s no LED display to view the air quality data; however, there’s a light on the front of the unit that changes color to indicate the air quality score, ranging from Excellent to Very Polluted, and a light below each fan mode to indicate which is currently being used.
Real-time quality levels are easy to view on the Blueair app, but there’s no detailed data to review, simply a colored graph showing the air quality rating over time. I found I was able to use a pinching motion to zoom in and out of the graph, which allowed me to view more detail of the air quality changes over smaller increments of time.
Design score: 4.5 out of 5
Blueair Blue Pure 411i Max / Blue Max 3250i review: performance
Quiet operation
Clears PM2.5 contaminations quickly
Detects and reacts to PM2.5 that originates in other rooms
Getting the Blueair Blue Max 3250i set up was quick and simple. The user manual was easy to follow, containing first-time setup instructions including how to connect it to my home Wi-Fi, which proved to be a breeze. It also included instructions on how to remove and wash the fabric pre-filter, which I appreciated. Upon installing the Blueair app, I was given the option to use it without creating an account, but I chose to so I could enter my location and view the outdoor air quality data too.
Connecting the Blueair Blue Max 3250i to the app was blissfully straightforward, taking less than three minutes after switching the air purifier on to view my indoor air quality. As I was using the Blueair Blue Max 3250i in my living room, I selected “Living room” as the product name, but there was an option to add a custom name should I have been using it in an office or nursery, for example.
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It’s worth noting that although it’s claimed the Blueair Blue Max 3250i’s electrostatic and mechanical filtration captures airborne particles as small as 0.1 microns, it will not detect anything smaller than PM2.5. PM2.5 is particulate matter over 2.5 microns in size, including dust, pollen, mold, and bacteria. Other far more expensive air purifiers, such as the Molekule Air Pro, can monitor and react to VOCs along with PM2.5. These volatile organic compounds can come from paint, furniture, carpets, and cleaning products, and are often the main offenders behind lower air quality, so having an air purifier capable of detecting these contaminants would be advantageous.
However, just because an air purifier doesn’t detect these contaminants doesn’t mean it isn’t tackling them, but it won't be aware of them so won’t initiate higher fan speeds in their presence. Considering the low price of the Blueair Blue Max 3250i though, it’s not surprising that it doesn’t have this capability, but this is something to bear in mind if you want a purifier that you can leave to its own devices to tackle all the common contaminants.
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According to the Blueair Blue Max 3250i, the air quality in my living room was considered excellent, so it remained at a low fan speed when I put it into auto mode. To test how sensitive the sensors were to contaminants, and how quickly they reacted to them, I sprayed some dry shampoo roughly three meters away. Within two minutes the Blueair Blue Max 3250i detected the dry shampoo, raising the contamination reading to 56 on the graph within the app over about thirty seconds, which it classed as very polluted. Within three minutes of spraying the dry shampoo, the reading had lowered to 25, classed as good; within six minutes, it returned to excellent.
It was at this moment that my fluffy cats chose to pay a visit, and interestingly, the air quality reduced slightly again, raising the score, so it appeared to detect their fur or dander in the air. Within a minute of them leaving, the score gradually dropped further than before, so it appear that the Blueair Blue Max 3250i’s particle sensors were doing a good job.
I continued to be impressed by how sensitive this air purifier was to changes in air quality over a week of testing. I would be surprised to hear the fan speed ramping up, before realizing I’d used my dry shampoo in the next room. I’ve not encountered a cheap air purifier that possessed this level of sensitivity before.
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When it came to viewing the testing data on the air quality graph on the Blueair app, I found that it wasn’t very easy to view data over multiple days. Whenever I viewed the graph, the data was in real time and I would need to scroll along for some while. I could change from hourly readings to readings across a day or month, but when I scrolled back to a previous day and switched to hourly view to see more detail, it returned to the current day and time. This meant that I could only see this level of detail by scrolling all the way back to my chosen day when in hourly view, which wasn't ideal. The air quality graph didn’t give the full picture of how contaminated the air had become after I sprayed the dry shampoo. It communicated the highest score as being 22, despite reaching 56 in reality. This lack of detail isn’t unheard of, though, as I found that the Molekule Air Mini+ also failed to relay all readings if they were cleared quickly.
I found the Blueair Blue Max 3250i to be easy to sleep next to when in sleep mode, and I found that I couldn’t hear it over the TV when operating on fan level 2. Some other air purifiers can prove deafening at higher fan speeds, but this was not the case with the Blueair Blue Max 3250i.
Overall, though, I was very impressed with how sensitive the Blueair Blue Max 3250i was, how quickly it responded to contaminants, and how swiftly it dealt with them. The level and quality of features are great for the price, and this is only the second non-VOC detecting air purifier that I’ve found myself growing a fondness for, with the other being the Blueair Blue Mini Max.
Performance score: 4.5 out of 5
Should I buy the Blueair Blue Pure 411i Max / Blue Max 3250i?
Buy it if...
You want good results on a budget I’ve made no secret of the fact that I’m highly impressed with this air purifier. It’s repeatedly proven itself sensitive, responsive, and fast-acting, making it a great performer for the cost.
You need something lightweight The Blueair Blue Max 3250i isn’t just light for its size; it’s lightweight in general. With barely any body material in its base, it is very easy to pick up and move, making it a good choice for anyone wanting to use it in multiple rooms.
You want something simple With only two onboard buttons to operate the air purifier and a simple-to-use app, the settings of the Blueair Blue Max 3250i are easy to get a handle on.
Don't buy it if...
You want detailed air quality readings With a low-cost piece of tech, there’s always going to be an element of compromise. In this case, the contamination detected is limited to PM2.5, and the app doesn’t give any detail on indoor air quality aside from an overall score.
You want something to fight off the nasties on its own accord As this air purifier can’t detect VOCs, it won’t automatically react to strong odors or finer particles, so settings will need to be altered manually if a higher level of purifying is required.
You want something robust Despite the advantages of such a lightweight air purifier, there’s no denying that the base design could be at risk of damage should anything make contact with it.
Blueair Blue Pure 411i Max / Blue Max 3250i review: Also consider
Levoit Core 300S Smart True HEPA We rated this little air purifier a commendable four-and-a-half stars thanks to its performance and smart features. It is cheaper than the Blueair Blue Max 3250i, but there were delays in response time, and it doesn’t offer washable pre-filters. For more information, why not check out our full Levoit Core 300S True HEPA air purifier review.
Molekule Air Pro I know, I know, the cost difference here is vast, however, if you happen to be looking for an option with medical-grade materials, FDA medical device clearance, and fantastic VOC detection, then this is hands down the product to go for. If you'd like to find out more about this air purifier's skill set, take a look at our full Molekule Air Pro review.
How I tested the Blueair Blue Pure 411i Max / Blue Max 3250i
I used the Blueair Blue Max 3250i for a week and a half
I tested how much of an impact it had on the surrounding air quality
I tested how easy it was to operate and live with
I checked how easy was to get the Blueair Blue Max 3250i set up, how easy it was to operate, and how portable it was.
I tested it in different rooms in my home, and observed how quiet it was at night time and whether it disturbed my sleep.
I assessed its design and structure, paying close attention to quality and any sustainable elements.
I reviewed the impact it had on the air quality in my environment, and how well it handled cooking smells.
Blueair Blue Pure 411i Max / Blue Max 3250i : two-minute review
Blueair offers similar air purifiers under different model names in the US and UK. In the US, this air purifier is known as the Blueair Blue Pure 411i Max, but as I’m located in the south of England, I tested the UK model, Blueair Blue Max 3250i.
The Blueair Blue Pure 411i Max is available to purchase at the Blueair website and Amazon for a list price of $169.99, but can occasionally be on offer for a discounted price. In the UK, the Blueair Blue Max 3250i is priced at £169 at multiple retailers including Very and Amazon, and also sees a price drop now and then.
(Image credit: Future)
Despite being compact and impressively light for its capabilities, there’s a lot to love about the Blueair Blue Max 3250i. The two touch buttons make it simple to power on the air purifier and to cycle through auto mode, night mode, and fan speeds one to three.
The straightforward design is composed of the white plastic top section that houses the working parts, and a simple yet efficient base that consists of a lightweight frame within the changeable particle and carbon filter, plus a machine-washable fabric pre-filter outer layer. The neatness of the seam isn’t perfect, but other than this it is a great way to capture dust before it reaches the single-use filter, and is available in a range of colors making it effortless to switch things up if desired.
The Blueair Blue Max 3250i does a great job for the price, rivaling some of the best air purifiers. For the most part, the fan speed remained on the lowest setting when the Blueair Blue Max 3250i was left in auto mode.
This came as no surprise to me, but I’ve seen some customer reviews complaining that this air purifier doesn’t do anything. In fact, the Blueair Blue Max 3250i is purifying, and it’s capable of clearing more than just the PM2.5 it detects, such as VOCs when manually operated – it just doesn’t possess the capability to detect these things automatically. That's fine, in my professional opinion, considering the low price.
(Image credit: Future)
During testing, it took just 10 minutes for the contamination from spraying dry shampoo to be detected and cleared by the Blueair Blue Max 3250i. It continued to impress me over the days I tested it, being sensitive enough to detect the drop in air quality when I used hair products in the next room.
In terms of noise levels, I didn’t experience any issues with the Blueair Blue Max 3250i. I found that I could sleep or watch TV with it in the room without it being disruptive.
I’m a big fan of the Blueair Blue Max 3250i, both for its innovative design, and its good performance for a low price, so I can envision it finding its way into our choice of the best air purifiers in the near future. So if you're in the market for a low-cost air purifier that won't shock you with extortionate costs for replacement parts, this is the one for you. If you'd like to learn more, read on for our full review to get all the facts.
Blueair Blue Pure 411i Max / Blue Max 3250i review: price & availability
List price: $169.99 / £169
Available: in the US and UK under different product names
The Blueair Blue Pure 411i Max is available to purchase from the Blueair US website for $169.99, and at the time of writing has a Black Friday deal slashing the price down to $119.99 at Amazon US. The comparable UK model, the Blueair Blue Max 3250i, can’t be purchased from the Blueair website but is available at many major UK retailers, including Argos, Very, and Amazon. The list price is £169 for the Blue Max 3250i at Amazon, and a Black Friday deal has knocked the price down to an even more impressive £113.
I was pleasantly surprised that the Blueair Blue Max 3250i performed so well and had such a considered design considering its price tag, making it fantastic value for money. Replacement components won’t break the bank either, with replacement Particle and Carbon filters costing just $29.99 / £35 – this is particularly impressive as Blueair states that these filters can last between six to nine months.
Value for money score: 5/5
Blueair Blue Pure 411i Max / Blue Max 3250i review: specs
Blueair Blue Pure 411i Max / Blue Max 3250i review: design and features
No display
Simple to use
Machine-washable pre-filter
I became a fan of the design aspects of the Blue range when I reviewed the impressive Blueair Blue Pure Mini Max. The standout design feature is the attractive machine-washable fabric pre-filter covering most of the purifier’s outer. This design proves innovative, as directly behind the pre-filter cover sits the particle and carbon filter (this can be upgraded to Smokeblock or Allergenblock filters if desired), which surrounds a simple plastic frame. This makes the base of the purifier super lightweight for its size, weighing in at 7.5 lbs / 3.4 kg. The Blueair Blue Max 3250i can purify an area of 219 sq ft / 48 sq meters yet still remains fairly compact, measuring 18.9 X 10.6 X 10.6 in / 481 x 269 x 269 mm. I’m very pleased with the reduced amount of materials used on the body of the Blueair Blue Max 3250i, but my concern with this construction is that the exposed filter could be prone to damage.
(Image credit: Future)
I’ve never seen a design quite like this, as most air purifiers have plastic casing to protect the inner filters whereas the body of the Blueair Blue Pure Mini Max is simply some structural plastic sitting within the particle and carbon filter, covered in the washable pre-filter. This goes to explain its very light weight of 2.5 lb / 3.4kg but could make it vulnerable to damage.
Despite its minor flaws, it’s a nice touch that Blueair made the pre-filter part of the overall aesthetic, which has meant less material and wasted plastic, which we’re always happy to see at TechRadar. It’s also an advantage that they are machine washable and extras can be purchased in a range of colors, just in case you don’t want to wait for one to dry, or want to switch things up occasionally.
Not only is it delightfully light, it’s dinky in size, too. Measuring just 11.4 x 6.8 x 5.9 inches / 172 x 172 x 289mm. This cylindrical 360-degree design enables the Blueair Blue Pure Mini Max to be placed in a variety of spaces, as there’s plenty of opportunity for it to pull air in.
(Image credit: Future)
As was the case with the Mini Max, the seam of the fabric pre-filter could be neater as it is a little puckered and bulges in places, but this is less noticeable on the Blueair Blue Max 3250i as the overlapping seam doesn’t stand out as much over the larger area.
The controls on the top of the Blueair Blue Max 3250i are simple, there are just two touch-operated buttons, a power button, and a fan button that cycles between auto mode, sleep mode, and fan speeds of one to three when pressed. There’s no LED display to view the air quality data; however, there’s a light on the front of the unit that changes color to indicate the air quality score, ranging from Excellent to Very Polluted, and a light below each fan mode to indicate which is currently being used.
Real-time quality levels are easy to view on the Blueair app, but there’s no detailed data to review, simply a colored graph showing the air quality rating over time. I found I was able to use a pinching motion to zoom in and out of the graph, which allowed me to view more detail of the air quality changes over smaller increments of time.
Design score: 4.5 out of 5
Blueair Blue Pure 411i Max / Blue Max 3250i review: performance
Quiet operation
Clears PM2.5 contaminations quickly
Detects and reacts to PM2.5 that originates in other rooms
Getting the Blueair Blue Max 3250i set up was quick and simple. The user manual was easy to follow, containing first-time setup instructions including how to connect it to my home Wi-Fi, which proved to be a breeze. It also included instructions on how to remove and wash the fabric pre-filter, which I appreciated. Upon installing the Blueair app, I was given the option to use it without creating an account, but I chose to so I could enter my location and view the outdoor air quality data too.
Connecting the Blueair Blue Max 3250i to the app was blissfully straightforward, taking less than three minutes after switching the air purifier on to view my indoor air quality. As I was using the Blueair Blue Max 3250i in my living room, I selected “Living room” as the product name, but there was an option to add a custom name should I have been using it in an office or nursery, for example.
(Image credit: Future)
It’s worth noting that although it’s claimed the Blueair Blue Max 3250i’s electrostatic and mechanical filtration captures airborne particles as small as 0.1 microns, it will not detect anything smaller than PM2.5. PM2.5 is particulate matter over 2.5 microns in size, including dust, pollen, mold, and bacteria. Other far more expensive air purifiers, such as the Molekule Air Pro, can monitor and react to VOCs along with PM2.5. These volatile organic compounds can come from paint, furniture, carpets, and cleaning products, and are often the main offenders behind lower air quality, so having an air purifier capable of detecting these contaminants would be advantageous.
However, just because an air purifier doesn’t detect these contaminants doesn’t mean it isn’t tackling them, but it won't be aware of them so won’t initiate higher fan speeds in their presence. Considering the low price of the Blueair Blue Max 3250i though, it’s not surprising that it doesn’t have this capability, but this is something to bear in mind if you want a purifier that you can leave to its own devices to tackle all the common contaminants.
(Image credit: Future)
According to the Blueair Blue Max 3250i, the air quality in my living room was considered excellent, so it remained at a low fan speed when I put it into auto mode. To test how sensitive the sensors were to contaminants, and how quickly they reacted to them, I sprayed some dry shampoo roughly three meters away. Within two minutes the Blueair Blue Max 3250i detected the dry shampoo, raising the contamination reading to 56 on the graph within the app over about thirty seconds, which it classed as very polluted. Within three minutes of spraying the dry shampoo, the reading had lowered to 25, classed as good; within six minutes, it returned to excellent.
It was at this moment that my fluffy cats chose to pay a visit, and interestingly, the air quality reduced slightly again, raising the score, so it appeared to detect their fur or dander in the air. Within a minute of them leaving, the score gradually dropped further than before, so it appear that the Blueair Blue Max 3250i’s particle sensors were doing a good job.
I continued to be impressed by how sensitive this air purifier was to changes in air quality over a week of testing. I would be surprised to hear the fan speed ramping up, before realizing I’d used my dry shampoo in the next room. I’ve not encountered a cheap air purifier that possessed this level of sensitivity before.
(Image credit: Future)
When it came to viewing the testing data on the air quality graph on the Blueair app, I found that it wasn’t very easy to view data over multiple days. Whenever I viewed the graph, the data was in real time and I would need to scroll along for some while. I could change from hourly readings to readings across a day or month, but when I scrolled back to a previous day and switched to hourly view to see more detail, it returned to the current day and time. This meant that I could only see this level of detail by scrolling all the way back to my chosen day when in hourly view, which wasn't ideal. The air quality graph didn’t give the full picture of how contaminated the air had become after I sprayed the dry shampoo. It communicated the highest score as being 22, despite reaching 56 in reality. This lack of detail isn’t unheard of, though, as I found that the Molekule Air Mini+ also failed to relay all readings if they were cleared quickly.
I found the Blueair Blue Max 3250i to be easy to sleep next to when in sleep mode, and I found that I couldn’t hear it over the TV when operating on fan level 2. Some other air purifiers can prove deafening at higher fan speeds, but this was not the case with the Blueair Blue Max 3250i.
Overall, though, I was very impressed with how sensitive the Blueair Blue Max 3250i was, how quickly it responded to contaminants, and how swiftly it dealt with them. The level and quality of features are great for the price, and this is only the second non-VOC detecting air purifier that I’ve found myself growing a fondness for, with the other being the Blueair Blue Mini Max.
Performance score: 4.5 out of 5
Should I buy the Blueair Blue Pure 411i Max / Blue Max 3250i?
Buy it if...
You want good results on a budget I’ve made no secret of the fact that I’m highly impressed with this air purifier. It’s repeatedly proven itself sensitive, responsive, and fast-acting, making it a great performer for the cost.
You need something lightweight The Blueair Blue Max 3250i isn’t just light for its size; it’s lightweight in general. With barely any body material in its base, it is very easy to pick up and move, making it a good choice for anyone wanting to use it in multiple rooms.
You want something simple With only two onboard buttons to operate the air purifier and a simple-to-use app, the settings of the Blueair Blue Max 3250i are easy to get a handle on.
Don't buy it if...
You want detailed air quality readings With a low-cost piece of tech, there’s always going to be an element of compromise. In this case, the contamination detected is limited to PM2.5, and the app doesn’t give any detail on indoor air quality aside from an overall score.
You want something to fight off the nasties on its own accord As this air purifier can’t detect VOCs, it won’t automatically react to strong odors or finer particles, so settings will need to be altered manually if a higher level of purifying is required.
You want something robust Despite the advantages of such a lightweight air purifier, there’s no denying that the base design could be at risk of damage should anything make contact with it.
Blueair Blue Pure 411i Max / Blue Max 3250i review: Also consider
Levoit Core 300S Smart True HEPA We rated this little air purifier a commendable four-and-a-half stars thanks to its performance and smart features. It is cheaper than the Blueair Blue Max 3250i, but there were delays in response time, and it doesn’t offer washable pre-filters. For more information, why not check out our full Levoit Core 300S True HEPA air purifier review.
Molekule Air Pro I know, I know, the cost difference here is vast, however, if you happen to be looking for an option with medical-grade materials, FDA medical device clearance, and fantastic VOC detection, then this is hands down the product to go for. If you'd like to find out more about this air purifier's skill set, take a look at our full Molekule Air Pro review.
How I tested the Blueair Blue Pure 411i Max / Blue Max 3250i
I used the Blueair Blue Max 3250i for a week and a half
I tested how much of an impact it had on the surrounding air quality
I tested how easy it was to operate and live with
I checked how easy was to get the Blueair Blue Max 3250i set up, how easy it was to operate, and how portable it was.
I tested it in different rooms in my home, and observed how quiet it was at night time and whether it disturbed my sleep.
I assessed its design and structure, paying close attention to quality and any sustainable elements.
I reviewed the impact it had on the air quality in my environment, and how well it handled cooking smells.
AndaSeat's playing an intriguing game with this one. The X-Air Series Mesh line actually features two base models to choose from straight out of the gate, the X-Air and the X-Air Pro. The X-Air starts at $369 / around £290, and the X-Air Pro comes in at the $419 / around £329 mark. Both are only available from its store right now. The big difference between the two? Well, it's mostly down to colorways, the base, and the armrests.
With the Pro, you get 5D rests (more on that later), an aluminum base, and access to two additional colorways. The Celeste model, which I got to test, is a black mesh solution with a purple ombre back finish, and the Twilight, with a pinkish ombre back but with a white mesh rather than the black we see here.
The stock X-Air gets more traditional 4D armrests, along with a stock adjustable tilt system, plus an iron base, and is only available in black throughout. Yet, to be frank, that's still the one I'd recommend you pick up if you're torn between the two. Not only because of the savings but because those more traditional armrests are far superior to the 5D devils that you get on the X-Air Pro.
Why are they such an issue? Simply put, they're just too confusing. They slip, slide, and shunt in so many directions and rotate in so many different ways that it makes it incredibly hard for them to support you if you push against them. Rest your arms on top; sure, you'll be fine, but otherwise they've really lost some of that critical function that makes a good armrest; it's elements like this that really detract from the overall score, and keep it a step away from becoming one of the more comfortable gaming chairs available today.
(Image credit: Future)
As for its build process, well, you're going to absolutely want a second pair of hands to help out here, that's for sure. AndaSeat's manual is detailed enough, and the included bits and bolts are plenty abound, but the way it wants you to angle and align some of the (seriously heavy) parts just to secure them together is honestly mildly insane.
The ergonomics too are curious; it's got solid lumbar built-in and a decent headrest, and the mesh itself is supportive enough (even despite lacking any padding underneath), yet it's incredibly difficult to adjust or even know what you're doing when you start using it. That can make the initial experience with it quite a bit of a turn-off. There's an argument to be had that it is adjustable and with enough time, effort, energy, and reading the manual you'll get there, but this is something that should just be intuitive straight out of the box, which sadly it's not.
It might sound like I'm just wailing on this thing, but it's still an ok proposition if you're looking for a sleek, comfortable gaming chair that'll fit right into an office environment too. Alright, it might not make it as one of the best gaming chairs around, but credit where credit's due; comfort is impressive, and it does what it meant to: keep you cool over long gaming sessions while being ergonomically supportive. But, and it's a big but, there are still a number of better options out there at this price point.
AndaSeat X-Air Pro Mesh: Price and availability
List price: $419
No Amazon or UK availability
Limited Colorways
Right now, if you're looking to pick up your own Mesh X-Air, you're likely going to find it a challenge if you're anywhere but the US. Stateside is the only place you can easily pick one of these up, and only directly from AndaSeat's website.
You can grab either the X-Air or the X-Air Pro in one of three colorways. The X-Air is limited to an all-black run, whereas the Pro also has access to a white mesh with an ombre back and a black mesh variation of that as well. The Pro also comes with AndaSeat's 5D Armrests, along with an aluminum base, and a self-adjusting tilt system, although I'll cover all that in a little more detail soon enough.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, given how little physical material is involved in the Mesh line, the pricing of this compared to something like AndaSeat's Kaiser 4 is markedly less. The Kaiser 4 line starts at around $569, whereas the X-Air Mesh you can get as low as $369, making it seemingly good value by comparison.
AndaSeat X-Air Pro Mesh: Specs
AndaSeat X-Air Pro Mesh: Design and aesthetics
Office-esque feel
Challenging to configure
Light gaming "pop" to it
Ok, let me call it like it is here. From the front, this thing screams corporate office, and little else. It just does. It's got that new mid-level manager making an executive decision to buy in 20 new highly ergonomic office chairs while they're in their task force/project codename phase, feel to it.
There's nothing glamorous here, nothing obviously comforting, just semi-transparent woven mesh fabric strapped ergonomically to a metallic-plastic superstructure, combined with an all-black finish, and some rather funky-looking armrests.
Turn it around on the spot, however, and if you've grabbed yourself one of the more outlandish X-Air Pro variants, your eyes will immediately be drawn to the dramatic and ostentatious ombre gradient running from top to bottom on the rear support structure. It's bold, it's potent, and honestly, a little bit confusing.
Almost like the X-Air doesn't quite know what it wants to be. Is it the best gaming chair? The best office chair? It doesn't know, but to be honest, that's fine.
(Image credit: Future)
AndaSeat X-Air Pro Mesh: Comfort and adjustability
5D Armrests are a nightmare
No lumbar adjustment
Not intuitive to use
From a comfort perspective, the mesh material on the AndaSeat X-Air Pro Mesh is far more impressive than you'd first think.
If you've not tried a mesh chair, and have sat your posterior down mostly on their slightly more expensive PU leather counterparts throughout your gaming career, complete with thick padded cushions and enough adjustable dials to make even the most avid of guitarists happy, then you might be surprised by just how spongy and supportive these things can be.
AndaSeat has nailed the mesh fabric on this. It's not anywhere near as abrasive, or unsupportive as you first might think; there's almost a bounce to it. That's not to say it's as soft as a labrador's ears, but nevertheless, if you're sitting on this for prolonged periods of time, you'll find it more than comfortable enough. Whether you're doing a nine-hour Elden Ring challenge run or writing out a 20-page feature, the X-Air Pro does have your back (quite literally).
Now onto the bad bits. Adjustability is there, but it's not intuitive. The lumbar support is fixed straight out of the gate and quite aggressive. If you're not a fan of that, there's little you can do to alleviate the pressure it puts on your lower spine. The headrest is adjustable, but again it does protrude quite aggressively, even with the best of adjustments, and the seat base does move back and forward too, giving you some level of control, but again, even with all the toggles you have at your disposal, knowing when you've actually moved it takes a great degree of awareness for your fine motor skills.
Then there's the 5D armrests. These things are a mess, sadly. They're effectively built on three moving parts. The main arm moves up and down on a ratchet system, a middle extended plinth attached to that that can rotate up to around 220 degrees, and then the final armrest on top of that, which can also rotate a full 360 degrees and also slide backwards and forwards as well.
There's a lot going on here, and although it's comfortable enough up top with plenty of sponge because it has all that movement, it means if you try and lean on it at any point or attempt to use it to reposition your sitting position on the chair, it's likely to slide out from under you in all manner of weird and wonderful ways. This is a marked design devolution, even compared to something like the Kaiser 4's 5D armrests, to the point that I'd actually recommend sticking with the X-Air if you're considering this chair, purely to avoid the 5D rests.
Final positive: the tilt mechanism is fantastic. The back of the chair itself tilts, rather than the base it's attached to as well. That gives you a much more sturdy seating position that lets you relax if you're a little on the anxious side. This was the first chair where I personally enjoyed having it set to that, and its self-adaptive tilt is top tier.
(Image credit: Future)
AndaSeat X-Air Pro Mesh: Assembly
Oh, why AndaSeat, why is the assembly on this thing so nightmarish? What is it that stops you from assembling some of this on-site and shipping it complete?
This is not an easy chair to put together. The instruction manual is good enough, and it tells you what to do, but you need to route and attach the wire cables for all of the adjustment elements, secure the toggles into position on the side of the seat base, and then cover the exposed cables with what has to be the most awkward plastic cover I've ever seen.
From there, it's a case of (if you're building it solo) precariously attaching the seat back to the chair base (which weighs a ton) with the arms already attached. That would be fine if it weren't balancing on those plastic 5D armrests. Finally, you can install the headrest, which again you're securing into position with two screws that you can't see. It's just a nightmare. I've built well over 50 gaming chairs over a decade during my time in this industry, and this was the most challenging one by far.
(Image credit: Future)
Should I buy the AndaSeat X-Air Pro Mesh?
Buy it if...
You want to be cool The mesh fabric does an outstanding job of keeping you cool under pressure. It's easy to clean, doesn't feel that abrasive, and supports you well.
You love lumbar support You just need solid lumbar support straight out of the gate. It might not be adjustable, but this thing is pronounced for the lumbar lovers.
Don't buy it if...
You haven't got a buddy Building this thing is a real challenge. If you've got a spare pair of hands available, pull them into the fray to get you to the end, otherwise other chairs are way easier to assemble and will be more attractive as a result.
You shuffle about a lot Those 5D armrests might sound cool on paper, but they do little to support you if you move around on the chair or sit cross-legged.
Also consider...
It's relatively cheap, relatively comfortable, but a bit of a nightmare. If, like me, you're not sold on the AndaSeat X-Air Pro, then try out one of these for size.
Steelcase Series 2 Task One of the best office chairs around, it may be pricey, but it's simple, elegant, unsophisticated, surprisingly minimal, and endlessly customizable for your needs. That might feel a little niche compared to our pseudo-mesh gaming solution here, but it's well worth your time if you're already looking down this alley.
AndaSeat Kaiser 3 XL AndaSeat's bread and butter gaming chair, the Kaiser 3 XL, comes with a lot of the same features that you'll find in seats nearly twice the cost. It's widely available, and you can pick one up in an absolute armada of colorways to suit your style too. Only downside? The stitching's a little out.
I tested the AndaSeat X-Air Pro Mesh gaming chair rigorously over the course of several weeks, using it as my daily chair throughout all of my writing work, alongside gaming and other PC-oriented activities.
Additionally, I also took it to live in a hospitality environment for 1 week with multiple staff members of a variety of different shapes and sizes sitting in it, providing me with their own direct feedback as well, ensuring all manner of folk are catered for. I documented the entire build process and my time with the X-Air Pro, and also sat in for the duration of the review writing process.
Hori Wireless Racing Wheel Apex: One-minute review
Look, it’s hard to make one of the best racing wheels at an affordable cost. Compromises have to be made in order to hit a lower price point, and there are no good options when it comes to what to jettison.
In the Hori Wireless Racing Wheel Apex, Hori has managed to retain decent build quality and even an impressive wireless function that far pricier wheels don’t feature, but after a few hours of use it’s clear that this is a Pyrrhic victory - the driving experience makes you miss the features it’s gone without.
Specifically: a longer brake pedal actuation, a sturdier pedal base that stays in place, and - although it’s a stretch at the price - force feedback. With these elements missing, the fundamental fun and increased precision you gain from inputting via a wheel is unfortunately offset by too much fiddling and repositioning with the pedals, and an unsatisfying on/off feel to braking.
Of course, that’s the sim racer in me talking, with an awareness of how far more expensive direct drive setups feel in the best racing games. If you put this wheel in the hands of a younger gamer whose curiosity for racing might not warrant sinking two grand on a Fanatec direct-drive rig quite yet, they’ll likely just appreciate the pros and won’t miss the cons too much.
The same goes for casual players whose appetite for racing is infrequent and who just want to try a different style of controlling their vehicles in game. Ultimately, then? The Hori Wireless Racing Wheel Apex's quality hinges entirely on the use case, and the audience. Just know that there are dramatically better options out there for only a small amount of extra cash.
(Image credit: Future)
HORI Wireless Racing Wheel Apex: Price and availability
List price: $119.99 / £159.99 / around AU$319
As budget-friendly as you’ll find for a racing wheel
Logitech’s G29 is only £40 more now in UK, and offers force feedback
You can’t fault Hori’s ability to achieve a really attractive entry-level price point – in fact, you’ll struggle to find a cheaper model from a reputable brand. This pricing alone makes the Hori Wireless Racing Wheel Apex worth considering.
It’s up against dominating competition from an old stalwart, the Logitech G29, in the UK which is now going for £199 and offers force feedback, superior build qualit,y and functionality. In the US, where the G29 still costs $299, the Hori Wireless Racing Wheel Apex seems a lot more reasonable.
Hori Wireless Racing Wheel Apex: Specs
Hori Wireless Racing Wheel Apex: Design and features
Smart appearance
Ergonomic layout
Flawed pedal design
You’ll find even less metal here than at the Teen Choice Awards, but this wheel’s finish and aesthetic do a lot to flatter the plastic construction materials. This being a PlayStation wheel officially licensed by Sony, you’ll find all the buttons from a DualSense Wireless Controller mapped around the centre of the wheel in a sensible ergonomic layout. Behind them are two plastic paddle shifters, and above the central PlayStation logo are a couple of toggle switches for PS4 / PS5 / PC compatibility.
It’s an attractive peripheral for the price, and the chromed plastic on the lower half does a lot to elevate the look. The gold centre band is a useful touch that adds some motorsport cred to the design, and all the face buttons feel really nice to press – perhaps owing to Hori’s chops in the fight stick market.
I also appreciated the rubberized grips, which added a lot to the feel during a race and kept my hands exactly where I needed them, even in sweatier sessions.
(Image credit: Future)
Down at your feet though, the design fares less well. There’s no hiding how plasticky that throttle and brake are, nor how insubstantial they feel to operate.
A lot of this comes down to the design. The base just isn’t big enough to distribute your stamping force across a wide enough surface area to prevent the pedals from shifting or twisting under your feet. Even if you push the unit right up against a wall so it can’t move backwards, you still feel a twist if you brake hard. There’s not much that can be done about this - there are no mounting holes for a racing seat, and the rubber stays aren’t sticky enough to keep it in place on carpets or hard floors.
Time for the ace up the Hori Wireless Racing Wheel Apex’s sleeve, though: wireless operation. Alright, not totally wireless - you still need to connect the wheel to the pedals, via an old-school modem-like input (like the ones Thrustmaster and Fanatec use in bases). But from wheel to console or PC, it’s cable-free.
Up to 10 hours of battery life is promised on the spec sheet, and pairing it to the USB-A dongle is a simple procedure. It’s a genuinely impressive addition, although you can’t help but wonder if the overall experience might have benefitted from that expense being spent on the driving feel instead.
Hori Wireless Racing Wheel Apex: Performance
Functional but basic
Limited steering angle and brake actuation
Centering spring hampers car feel
There are two ways to appraise this wheel. Given that it’s aimed squarely at the beginner end of the market, the first is to simply weigh up the merits of using a wheel input versus a controller – the increased precision offered, the way you can catch those spins quicker and correct them more easily. The advantage of holding a consistent steering angle through a corner is something that’s much trickier when you’re trying to be precise with a tiny analog stick. It won’t make you faster straight away, but in the long run, you’re always going to feel the benefits of a wheel peripheral over a pad.
The second approach – and this is where Hori is sweating – is to evaluate this wheel against similarly priced competitors. And that’s where it struggles to make a compelling argument.
Here are the elements that hamper your performance: firstly, the brake pedal. In addition to the issues with keeping the pedal base in place, the brake pedal itself has a tiny amount of actuation, and that creates the sensation that you’re pressing the brake button, rather than applying progressive pressure to the brakes. In other words, it negates the benefits of braking using a pedal instead of a trigger on a pad.
It’s not all bad, though. To the Hori Wireless Racing Wheel Apex’s credit, there’s a decent amount of resistance to the spring on the brake, slightly more than on the throttle, which feels just about resistant enough. And which, crucially, has just about enough travel.
(Image credit: Future)
Next performance-limiting issue: the centering spring strength of the wheel. This is not a force feedback peripheral, so there’s no tarmac rumble, no dynamic resistance to turn-in, and no steering wheel snaps when your back end hits traction loss and steps out. That’s fair enough. This is a budget wheel, and implementing both the hardware and the software compatibility for force feedback aren’t cheap.
So in its place is a simple spring which brings the wheel back to its centre point when you’re not exerting steering inputs to the left or right. The amount of tension when you’re moving the wheel from centre to a degree of rotation feels fine, and likewise when you’re moving it back from that rotated position. But as it hits the centre point, the wheel snaps into position so aggressively that it affects a car’s stability in-game.
There’s also the 270-degree rotation range to consider. It’s enough angle to enjoy the feeling of sending a car through a corner in most scenarios, but it’s quite limited by the standards set by its peers and situations will crop up where you’ll wish for more angle. Taking the hairpin at Monaco in F1 24, for example, or trying to park in Euro Truck Simulator 2. Many wheels offer up to 900 degrees, and truthfully I’ve sometimes felt like I could get away with much less until I used this Hori Wireless Racing Wheel Apex.
And that leads to the final point about this wheel. It’s not to be knocked or ruled out of contention, because the build quality and features are decent for the price. But that caveat is crucially important. It’s the only context in which such a wheel makes sense.
And that means you should consider if this wheel is going to satisfy your needs in the long run, or whether you’ll probably end up buying a more expensive upgrade later down the line that adds in the features you’ll miss here.
Should I buy the Hori Wireless Racing Wheel Apex?
(Image credit: Future)
Buy it if...
You’re new to racing peripherals The pricing and feature set are aimed squarely at the entry level of the market, making the Hori Wireless Racing Wheel Apex a low-cost way to see if wheel peripherals are for you.
You’re buying for a younger gamer The smaller size of the pedals and wheel would suit a junior racer who’s newer to the genre.
You’re not going to upgrade later Spending slightly more could unlock access to wheels with force feedback, more rotation, better pedals and sturdier construction, so be sure that this is all you’re going to need.
Don't buy it if...
You're an Xbox racer The Hori Wireless Racing Wheel Apex is PS5, PS4, and PC-compatible, so if you want a Forza rig you’ll need to look elsewhere.
You want force feedback You get a lot more information from a force feedback wheel which helps you to improve as a racer in the long run.
You’ve got a heavy foot The small pedal base, plastic construction and limited brake actuation aren’t ideal for heavy brake or throttle inputs.
Also consider...
If the Hori Wireless Racing Wheel Apex doesn’t meet your need (for speed), these similarly priced rivals are worth a look.
Thrustmaster T248 A decent all-rounder with sturdy build quality, gratifying magnetic shifter paddles and a lot of torque generated by a dual-motor force feedback servo.
Logitech G920 The elder statesman of racing wheels remains as dependable and feature-complete as ever, even if its position in the Logi G hierarchy is confusing following the G923’s arrival.
Since the Hori Wireless Racing Wheel Apex'spedal base can’t be mounted to a sim racing rig, my Playseat gathered dust for a week while I clamped this wireless rig to my desk and put in the hours with Gran Turismo 7, F1 24, and The Crew Motorfest.
I’ve been testing wheels since the early 2010s when the Logitech G27 sat resplendent on the sim racing throne, and in the intervening year,s I’ve taken hairpins and sent many a purple sector with high-end direct drive models and budget offerings alike.
As a point of comparison, I dug out Thrustmaster’s similarly priced T128 wheel for a feature, build quality and driving feel reference, setting aside my usual Thrustmaster T-GT II belt-driven wheel (and the sim rig it’s attached to) for a while
There aren’t too many vacuum mops like the Tineco Floor One Switch S6 – it goes from being a wet-dry vacuum mop to just a vacuum to a handheld unit. Tineco claims the Switch S6 is a 5-in-1, but I found it to be more of a 3-in-1. Still, it's one of the most versatile vacuum cleaners I’ve tested. It takes into account that no two homes are alike and that several have mixed floor types – and I don’t mean just rugs; I mean homes with either wood or tile floors as well as wall-to-wall carpeting.
Product info
The Tineco Floor One Switch S6 is available in the US and Australia. In the UK, only the Tineco Floor One S6 is being sold, which is the vacuum mop without the hot-swappable vacuum attachment that allows it to also become a handheld unit. The wet-dry vacuum mop, though, is nearly identical in functionality, with just a minor difference in the display.
Its primary function is to be a wet-dry vacuum mop, so it does both at the same time. That means its main body consists of a front-mounted dirty-water tank, which has a filter to capture solids (like debris and hair) and a clean-water tank on the rear which can also take Tineco’s proprietary cleaning solution. In tests, I found that the vacuum mop was incredibly easy to use and its cleaning prowess was quite good on both wet and dry spills, thanks to really good water dispersal and the 450rpm roller cleaning head.
This wet cleaning head gets constantly washed with each rotation, plus there’s a scraper built into the casing that, as the name suggests, keeps scraping away the dirt from the roller so as not to transfer any muck back onto your just-cleaned floor.
I found the auto dirt-detection sensors to be quite good too, with the vacuum mop dynamically altering power and water dispersion to match the spill you’re trying to clean up. Equally good is its self-cleaning process, which uses clean water heated to 70ºC / 158ºF to clean the entire machine, although you will need to first manually clean out the dirty-water tank. The roller brush is then flash-dried with air, which I’m glad for, as it reduces the chances of it growing its own little ecosystem and eliminates odors. The self-cleaning process, though, I found to be rather noisy.
Where the Tineco Floor One Switch S6 falls short is when using it as purely a vacuum. Again, it’s not bad, but there’s just not enough suction power on the hot-swappable attachment to match some of the best vacuum cleaners on the market. However, I have to commend Tineco for making such a versatile cleaning machine, as it can still handle the small, quick jobs. And, thanks to being lightweight in vacuum mode, it makes sucking up cobwebs hanging off the ceiling corners easy.
Given the battery is shared between both the wet-dry functionality and the hot-swappable vacuum, the runtime of the Switch S6 isn’t too bad. Mopping, being the more power-heavy functionality, gets you a top of 35 minutes per charge, while you'll get nearly double that amount when using it as a vacuum. There are other vacuum mops with longer runtimes, but given its versatility and excellent performance on hard floors, there’s good value for money here.
Tineco Floor One Switch S6 review: price & availability
Launched in May 2024; available in the UK and Australia now via Amazon
List price: $649 / AU$999
UK model lacks the hot-swappable vacuum attachments
Having entered the market in May 2024, the Tineco Floor One Switch S6 has already seen some discounts during major sales but, even at full price, it offers plenty of bang for your hard-earned buck.
Unlike other vacuum cleaner models, the Tineco Floor One Switch S6 is identical in the US and Australia, where it will set you back $649 / AU$999 without a discount. Based on TechRadar’s price brackets, this price point puts the Switch S6 in the lower-premium / upper mid-range band (we consider anything over $500 / £400 / AU$1,000 as premium), but given it can be had for a discounted price at certain times of the year (usually down to around $440 / AU$640 mark), it really does represent good value as it’s so versatile.
This specific model isn’t available in the UK, although the standalone Tineco Floor One S6 is sold for £449 at full price. This is just the wet-dry vacuum mop main unit, without the swappable attachments for floor and handheld vacuuming.
While the standard S6 has plenty of comparable models from various manufacturers, including Shark and Roborock, there’s nothing quite like the Switch S6 to do a fair price comparison. Still, to put its value into perspective, the Dyson WashG1 costs $699.99/ £599.99 / AU$999, and it’s just a standard wet-dry vacuum mop. On the other end of the spectrum, the Shark HydroVac costs just $359.99 / £329.99 / AU$399.99. It’s not a versatile machine like the Tineco Floor One Switch S6, though.
You can purchase Tineco products directly from the manufacturer in the US and UK, but in Australia, the vacuums are sold via Amazon AU.
Value score: 4.5/5
Tineco Floor One Switch S6 review: specs
Tineco Floor One Switch S6 review: design
Removable motor for switching units
Lighter than other wet-dry vacuum mops
Easy storage to keep all attachments together
(Image credit: Future / Max Langridge)
The first thing that hit me when I opened up the Tineco Floor One Switch S6 box was the staggering number of pieces that came out of it. And putting it all together while following the diagrams in the user manual was a losing battle. Thankfully, there are easier instructions on the box.
Given this is the first Tineco machine I’ve tested, I was a little surprised (pleasantly, I might add) to see that the motor is a separate piece on its own, which made sense to me once I realized it could be swapped between the vacuum mop and the standalone cordless vacuum. To handle those different tasks, there are two floor cleaning attachments in the box – the wet roller and a ZeroTangle brush. There’s also a Mini Power Brush for upholstery and a 2-in-1 crevice/dusting tool. Tineco even supplies a cleaning brush for the dirty water tank.
(Image credit: Future / Max Langridge)
While the main charging dock houses the mopping unit of the S6, a small side cradle fixes onto the side of the dock to hold the vacuum in place and stow the other attachments as well. So essentially, every part of this versatile machine is in one place, and the total footprint isn’t too large – so you can consider this model if you live in a smaller apartment.
The vacuum alone is really quite light and, when used as a handheld, is easy to hold up to get to cobwebs on your ceiling. And, in comparison to some other vacuum mops we’ve tested here at TechRadar, the main unit of the Switch S6 isn’t too heavy either. At 4.3kg (9.5lbs), it’s about half the weight of the Roborock Dyad Pro and the Tineco Floor One S7 Pro. Well, it is a little smaller than both of them, with the front-mounted dirty-water tank holding only 450ml of liquid compared to 720ml in the Floor One S7 Pro. So while it’s not entirely ideal for larger homes, it is more than enough for smaller ones.
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(Image credit: Future / Max Langridge)
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(Image credit: Future / Max Langridge)
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(Image credit: Future / Max Langridge)
The dirty-water tank is also what prohibits the Switch S6 from sliding under furniture – it’s not bendy and tilting it beyond a 145º angle will see water slosh all over your feet. The swappable vacuum unit, though, is better able to clean under furniture, but you will need to be mindful that the angle of the cleaning head doesn’t change – if it lifts off the floor, its limited suction will be diminished further.
Like many other vacuum mops, the Switch S6 also boasts an LED display that shows you the battery life in the centre and the current cleaning mode. These include ‘auto’, ‘max’ or ‘eco’ depending on the attachment you have connected. A ring of light can be seen around the outer edge of the display that, for the most part in my case, remains blue, telling you that your floor is clean. If the iLoop sensor detects an especially dirty area of floor or a lot of debris, this turns red and the motor will increase its suction power to get your floor clean. Tineco says this function works for both the wet roller head and the vacuum head, but I only noticed it working for the former. There’s no touch functionality, but all the physical controls are within reaching distance of your fingers, so using the Switch S6 is easy. Importantly, it moves over floors smoothly, so you don’t need to exert too much energy when getting your cleaning done.
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(Image credit: Future / Max Langridge)
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(Image credit: Future / Max Langridge)
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(Image credit: Future / Max Langridge)
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(Image credit: Future / Max Langridge)
Aside from the main wet/dry foam roller head, the Tineco Floor One Switch S6 also comes with a swappable vacuum head for carpets and soft flooring. It’s fitted with what Tineco calls – and claims to be – a ZeroTangle brush to prevent fluff, hair and other debris getting caught up and affecting its cleaning performance. In my time using the vacuum head on carpets and rugs, I can certainly support the claims as I’ve not once had to pick or clean anything out of the brush.
Smaller attachments include an upholstery brush for use on a sofa or in the car, for example, and a crevice tool with a brush that can be attached or removed to the end to assist with agitating debris in hard to reach areas. An extender pole can be attached to the main motor unit too, and the crevice tool can also be used on the end of it.
The removable motor, which can be swapped between the mop unit and the vacuum, is easy to remove from the former but, during my testing, I found that it’s a little harder to take off from the vacuum. It needs a little extra elbow grease, so it’s a good thing it has its own handle.
Design score: 4.5/5
Tineco Floor One Switch S6 review: performance
Excellent mopping, but not a lot of suction when vacuuming
Auto dirt detection works effectively to boost performance
Self-cleaning functionality is good, but noisy
While I personally hadn’t tested any Tineco vacuum prior to the Switch S6, we have tested a few of the brand’s machines previously and have been impressed with what the company has been able to achieve at the mid-range price tag in terms of performance. The S7 Pro – while now discontinued in Australia – continues to be our pick of one of the best wet-dry vacuum cleaners for other markets.
So the expectations were high for the Switch S6 going into testing and, while it didn't outperform its older sibling, it still holds its own – particularly as a vacuum mop. I was very surprised at how much dirt it gathered in its tank, even when I thought the floors in my test space (which, for this review, was my own apartment) were looking quite clean. Importantly, none of the mopped-up dirt made its way back onto the floor.
I found that leaving the machine on Auto mode was ideal for my purposes, but there is also a Boost option for some extremely stubborn spills. The wet roller rotates at 450rpm and the cleaning head does a good job of dispersing water onto the floor for easy mopping. I found that even with caked-in stains, the Switch S6 needed no more than 3-4 passes before it mopped it all up. I was pleasantly surprised with how quickly the water dried, meaning I could walk on my floor within a matter of minutes.
What impressed me the most was how well the wet roller cleaned along the edges of a room (along skirting boards). While it won’t necessarily be able to get into very tight spaces, I found that it was able to automatically boost cleaning if it detected more dirt along room edges. I was relieved to find this didn’t need to happen very often in my apartment, but it was also reassuring to learn the iLoop sensor was doing its job.
Dynamic suction is also available for the hot-swappable vacuum as well, but don’t expect it to perform like a Dyson or Shark. While Tineco hasn’t revealed how many air watts of power is available for suction, I suspect it’s around 120 air watts. That's not as good as the approximately 250aw you get from the Dyson Gen5detect or Samsung Bespoke Jet AI, but it’s enough to handle the little clean-up jobs you might need in a pinch. I also appreciated the LED light in the vacuum head to help shine a light on otherwise invisible debris, ensuring I didn’t miss any spots. The vacuum could handle the regular weekly vacuuming, but I think the mop does such a fantastic job that vacuuming becomes unnecessary as a regular chore, saving me time.
The mopping head also made light work of liquid spillages, with just one pass being enough to clean up some milk from the floor. The iLoop sensor also kicked into gear to recognise there was a major spill and so adjusted its suction power accordingly. It also did an admirable job with grains such as rice, easily vacuuming up a small portion of rice from the floor and taking it through to the dirty water tank.
While the regular vacuum attachment does a good job with everyday dust and debris, it doesn't perform as well when attempting to vacuum up the same portion of rice. As you can see in the video, I vacuumed up a small portion of risotto rice, and while it seemed as though it had all been collected from the floor, when I picked the vacuum up, it all fell back out.
The lack of suction power also means that if you do have mixed flooring, the vacuum would definitely struggle on wall-to-wall carpeting with hair and dirt embedded deep into the fibres. I used it on the bedroom carpet and on a living room rug and wasn’t quite enthused by its suction, despite being in Boost mode. It’s still effective on hard floors, but only with everyday debris and crumbs.
However, I appreciate the fact that the Switch S6 also converts into a handheld unit. As I’ve mentioned earlier in this review, it’s light enough to keep raised for long periods of time, so cleaning upholstery or ceiling fans isn’t too hard at all.
Performance score: 3.5 / 5
Tineco Floor One Switch S6 review: maintenance
Has a self-cleaning process that is good, but noisy
Flash-drying of the mop takes place automatically
Manual cleaning of the dirty-tank is necessary
When you’ve finished a clean using the mopping roller head and returned the machine to its docking station, the voice prompt (if you leave it activated) will instruct you to perform a self-cleaning cycle. A button on the handle with a water droplet icon is all you need to press and the machine takes care of the rest. The self-cleaning cycle sees the machine using leftover clean water heated to 70ºC to blast the roller head while it spins to remove any dirt and debris. Dirty water collected in the tray is then vacuumed up into the dirty water tank. This process takes a couple of minutes, after which the Switch S6 blasts the roller head with hot air for around a further five minutes to dry it completely. Suction continues to be used to remove any last dirty water droplets.
It’s an effective process but one that is pretty noisy and much louder than when the machine is used for cleaning. I used a decibel meter app on my phone and recorded a reading of around 78dB. Even with the machine in my laundry room towards the back of my apartment and the door shut, I could still hear it from my living room roughly 26ft / 8m away.
Once the self-cleaning cycle is complete, the voice prompt will inform you it’s finished and tell you to empty the dirty water tank to prevent odors. I absolutely agree you should do this, as (to my surprise) odor can build up quickly. Removing the tank is simple, and you’ll want to separate the lid and the filter and run everything under a tap to remove any debris collected. I left the pieces to air dry before attaching them back to the main unit.
Tineco supplies a small brush to help agitate and remove debris from the filter. You’re also able to remove the roller head entirely to give it an even deeper clean, and Tineco supplies a spare to swap over.
Maintenance score: 5/5
Tineco Floor One Switch S6 review: software
Voice prompts are a lovely touch
Tineco Life app is superfluous but handy
Tineco wants to make your time using the Floor One Switch S6 as easy as possible and so has integrated a voice prompt feature to give you useful instructions and to let you know what the machine is doing. These include telling you to perform a self-cleaning cycle, that it’s charging and which cleaning mode has been selected. If you don’t want to hear them, you can silence them within the Tineco Life app, or simply reduce the volume a few notches.
I found that the app itself wasn’t all that useful, and in some instances, totally unusable. I found that the machine has to be on, or at least ‘woken up’ for the app to connect. I wasn’t going to hold my phone whilst using the vacuum, so the only realistic time you can view information is soon after you’ve put it on the charging dock. It will eventually power itself down entirely, at which time I found the app didn’t connect.
(Image credit: Future / Max Langridge)
When you do manage to get the app to connect to view information, there isn’t really much to see. You can view a bar graph infographic showing the amount of time you spent cleaning on a particular day, and the current state of the water tanks and the roller head. On all occasions they all returned a ‘Normal’ result during my time testing, but the intention is that it will tell you if something needs cleaning.
There is a user manual in the app too, but I was never able to get this to open. It instructs you to “tap to enter the corresponding tutorial manual”, but in my experience, there was never anything to tap on. The app also regularly displayed the battery level as 0%, despite it being fully charged on the charging dock.
Software score: 3.5 / 5
Tineco Floor One Switch S6 review: battery life
Decent battery life but not adequate for large homes
Up to 35 minutes mopping; up to 65 minutes vacuuming
Takes a while to top up
The Tineco Floor One Switch S6 has average battery life for a vacuum mop. The company hasn’t revealed what battery capacity it’s using, but you won’t get more than 35 minutes when using the main vacuum mop unit. That’s because it needs more power to suck up dirt and debris while washing floors and keeping the brush rolling. This may not seem like much, but I found it more than enough for my apartment (which has an approximate total cleaning area of 120 sqm / 1,300 sqft), but potential users living in larger homes will need to consider another option with better battery life.
If you’re just vacuuming, however, there’ll be up to 65 minutes available on tap.
Battery score: 4 / 5
Should I buy the Tineco Floor One Switch S6?
Buy it if...
You want one machine for all floor types
With a mopping head and a regular vacuum attachment, the Switch S6 can tackle all floor types with just one swappable motor. View Deal
You want an assured clean
With the iLoop sensor in mopping mode, suction power automatically increases when it detects major dirt and debris, meaning you can be sure everything will get sucked up. View Deal
You have a smaller home
I had no issues concerning battery life in a 2 bedroom apartment, with plenty of juice left in the tank after a clean.View Deal
Don't buy it if...
You have deep pile carpet
The vacuum attachment for carpet doesn’t have the suction power to get deep within the fibres.View Deal
You have a tight budget
You are essentially getting four vacuum cleaners in one, but there are cheaper alternatives that do a similar – and sometimes better – job.View Deal
Also consider
Shark HydroVac Cordless This 3-in-1 machine cleans and vacuums hard floors and carpets with a single roller head. No other attachments means it struggles with tight corners and ceilings, but for main tasks, it offers great value.
Dyson V15s Detect Submarine Excellent performance in both mopping and vacuuming functions, but some design flaws keep it from getting full marks. Plus, you'll need to spend Dyson money.
I tested this vacuum over a period of about a month in my apartment, which has a mixture of sealed wood flooring, tiles and carpets. I ran tests to see how well both main attachments picked up liquid spills and common solid spills such as rice and other grains.
Arzopa Digital Picture Frame WiFi 15.6-inch review
The Arzopa Digital Picture Frame WiFi 15.6-inch is an affordable digital photo frame that uses the third-party Frameo app to enable you to easily share your snaps via the frame. Right out of the gate, the first thing you’re likely to notice is that price; while its $149.99 / £169.99 retail price isn’t anything to write home about, during sales season we've been seeing prices around $89.99 / £89.99 – that’s a seriously low price for such a sizeable digital photo frame.
Connecting with the Arzopa Digital Picture Frame is nice and easy. Once you’ve powered it up and connected it to your Wi-Fi, you can scan an on-screen QR code to download the Frameo app. Now, simply press the "Add a Friend" button on the Arzopa’s screen, punch in the code that appears into the Frameo app, and you’re ready to start sharing pics. Even better, you can repeat this step to set up friends and family so they too can share their snaps with your frame.
Not everyone wants to share their photos with the cloud, particularly if they’re security conscious or have young children. If this is you, then the Arzopa’s offline storage will be music to your ears. The frame includes 32GB of internal storage and, should you fill this up, you can easily expand its storage capacity up to 128GB via its SD card port. This does fall short of what some of the best digital photo frames offer, but it still isn't bad, all things considered.
All digital photo frames built on the Frameo app work in the same way and, generally speaking, I’d say this is a positive. The app is easy to use: you can browse your device’s whole image library or just specific albums, adding individual photos or uploading up to 10 at a time. Unfortunately, if you want to upload more than this in one go, you’ll need to upgrade to Frameo+. The cost of this isn't exorbitant at $1.99 / £0.99 a month or $16.99 / £7.99 a year, but you'll need to bear this in mind when calculating if this frame is the right price for you.
As I mentioned in my Pexar 11-inch Digital Picture Frame review, I’m not entirely keen on the way the Frameo app handles cropping images for digital photo frame’s auto-rotate feature. When uploading each image, you’ll set a circular focal area that the frame will ensure remains in frame in either orientation. However, this can still leave some images oddly centered or cropping out details you hadn’t anticipated. I’d rather just have the option to manually set the crop for each image.
(Image credit: Future / Josh Russell)
Once your shots are on the Arzopa, its 15.6-inch display definitely delivers your snaps with impact; the frame feels generously sized compared to many of the other affordable frames out there. Since its 1920 x 1080 resolution is shared over that larger screen estate, pixel density does fall somewhat next to rivals such as the Pexar 11-inch Digital Picture Frame at 212ppi. However, images still look pretty crisp; rendering my macro shot of a bumblebee, the Arzopa frame shows off every grain of pollen and every hair of her fuzzy coat in decent detail.
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(Image credit: Future / Josh Russell)
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(Image credit: Josh Russell)
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(Image credit: Josh Russell)
Unfortunately, where things start to come undone is with color. On my iPhone 16 Pro’s screen, a photo I took of a fireworks display reveals a shower of magenta and violet stars in a glowing pink nebula. But when I uploaded it to the Arzopa, the red and pink hues looked washed out, completely robbing the image of any punch. Similarly, floral shots completely underwhelmed, the lack of vibrancy going far beyond slight variations in color profile to looking actively anemic and poorly shot.
The Arzopa Digital Picture Frame WiFi 15.6-inch does fare better when it comes to black-and-white photography at least. Thanks to its deep blacks and bright highlights, its display is sufficiently contrasty to deliver monochrome landscape and architectural shots with impressive details. The Arzopa frame definitely shows off HDR photography to a high standard.
However, even this bold contrast was slightly undermined by its screen. Perhaps even more than its muted hues, the lack of a matte finish really damages the Arzopa’s performance in bright light. Without any treatment to diffuse incoming light, my photos were always obscured by hard-edged, geometric reflections of the panel lighting in the TechRadar offices; it was almost impossible to ignore since it made it difficult to make out details in the images. Worse, this reflectiveness means the frame is almost certainly unusable in direct sunlight, further restriction its position in your home.
This tendency toward glossiness extends to other elements of the frame’s design. The Arzopa’s frame feels a little cheap and plasticky, but thanks to its black color, this doesn’t feel so in your face. However, the frame’s bezels are much harder to ignore – despite the fact their beveled edges are designed to make them look more like mounting, the white plastic is so cheap-looking and reflective that it does detract from the overall quality of the frame.
Plus, there are other unusual design choices: the frame’s stand is literally just a plastic stick that screws into one corner of the frame. While it seems to do an okay job of supporting the frame in either horizontal or vertical orientation, I’m not convinced it’s sturdy enough to withstand becoming damaged over time.
Buy it on sale, however, and the Arzopa Digital Picture Frame WiFi 15.6-inch is available for an astoundingly good price – and it’s almost certainly better quality than some of the bargain-basement frames you’ll find on Amazon. In terms of crispness of picture, contrast and ease of use, it’s great value for money. However, its muted hues, overly reflective screen and the cheapness of its finish do make my recommendation here equivocal – if you can only find it at a higher price, some of the similarly priced best digital photo frames might make a better choice.
(Image credit: Future)
Arzopa Digital Picture Frame WiFi 15.6-inch review: price & release date
MSRP of $149.99 / £169.99 but currently reduced to $89.99 / £89.99
Available now in both the US and UK
Frameo app free or $1.99 / £0.99 a month for Frameo+
The Arzopa Digital Picture Frame WiFi 15.6-inch is available now in both the US and UK.
Its price varies to quite a degree, which has a huge impact on the value you’re getting. At its full price of $149.99 at Amazon US or £169.99, at Amazon UK, it effectively costs as much as the $159.99 / £149.99 Pexar 11-inch Digital Picture Frame, which I'd argue is a much higher-quality frame, thanks to its anti-glare screen and delivery of bold colors. However, some of the sale prices we’ve seen bring the Arzopa frame down to around $89.99 / £89.99, which makes it a far more appealing option, especially if you can’t stretch to the more expensive Pexar.
One other important consideration here in terms of price is the Frameo app. While the base tier is free, to upload more than 10 photographs at a time or videos longer than 15 seconds, you’ll need to upgrade to Frameo+, which costs $1.99 / £0.99 a month or $16.99 / £7.99 a year. That will allow you to upload 100 images at a time, send two-minute video clips, and manage the content on your Arzopa remotely via the app.
(Image credit: Future)
Arzopa Digital Picture Frame WiFi 15.6-inch review: specs
(Image credit: Future / Josh Russell)
Should I buy the Arzopa Digital Picture Frame WiFi 15.6-inch?
Buy it if…
You want a big, crisp screen At 15.6-inches, the Arzopa Digital Picture Frame WiFi delivers a lot of screen estate on which to display your snaps. And while pixel density is lower than the 212ppi of the Pexar 11-inch Digital Picture Frame, photos still look crisp and clear.
You can get it on sale Whether the Arzopa frame delivers good value very much depends on the price you pay for it. Pick it up for the sale price of around $89.99 / £89.99 and you’re getting a very good deal, but you don’t have to spend much more than its MSRP of $149.99 / £169.99 to get a superior product.
Don’t buy it if…
You want your colorful snaps to pop Vibrant hues aren't the Arzopa frame’s forte – colorful subjects such as flowers and fauna can look muted at best, and downright drab at their worst. Fans of black-and-white photography needn’t worry – but if you want your walls to be a riot of color, other frames might prove a wiser investment.
You want to use it in bright rooms The Arzopa’s glossy screen means it's entirely unforgiving when it comes to reflections – whether using it during the day or at night, I found natural and artificial sources of light completely overwhelmed the brightness of the screen. Fundamentally, if it's to sit opposite windows or under harsh lighting, you’d be better off looking for a frame with a matte screen.
Arzopa Digital Picture Frame WiFi 15.6-inch review: also consider
Pexar 11-inch Digital Picture Frame The Pexar 11-inch Digital Picture Frame scarcely costs any more than the Arzopa at full price, at $159.99 / £149.99; however, performance is superior. It offers a 2000 x 1200 resolution across its smaller 11-inch screen, delivering higher pixel density, while colors are far more vibrant. Plus, its matte, anti-glare screen keeps reflected light to a minimum. Read our full Pexar 11-inch Digital Picture Frame review.
Aeezo Portrait 01 If you’re unable to stretch to the Arzopa – or can’t find it at a reduced price – the Aeezo Portrait 01 is a bargain alternative that also includes internal storage and costs just $69.99 / £55.99. You’ll get bolder albeit sometimes slightly unnatural, colors; but the sacrifice is resolution at only 1280 x 800, rather than the Arzopa’s 1080p. Read our full Aeezo Portrait 01 review.
How I tested the Arzopa Digital Picture Frame WiFi 15.6-inch
I tested the Arzopa Digital Picture Frame WiFi 15.6-inch over several weeks. I uploaded a range of photos to it using the Frameo app and connected multiple other people to enable them to share images with the frame, too.
To test the performance of the frame, I uploaded a wide array of portrait and landscape images and included everything from brightly colored shots of flowers and animals to monochrome architectural shots. Additionally, I positioned the frame in multiple places around my home and the TechRadar office and changed its orientation between portrait and landscape.
I have many years of experience taking photos, both on my Canon DSLR and my iPhone 16 Pro and, over the past 15 years, I’ve taken over 40,000 photos. I’ve also spent many years working in print publishing, doing post-production on photos and preparing images for print. This means I have a lot of experience in making images look as close to their source as possible.
The Blink Outdoor 4 is an outdoor-intended camera that offers weather resistance and a simple, easily fixed square design that's perfect for placing up in the corner of a roof or sitting on a windowsill. Its best feature is a phenomenal two-year battery life, powered by two easily replaceable AA batteries – though if you really want, the camera can be powered via a USB-C connection.
Available for $99 / £92.24 / AU$149, this outdoor, battery-powered camera may be attractive just for its low cost. Blink is Amazon’s budget home security brand, and unlike its premium brand Ring, Blink is focused on affordability. Still, the camera works quite well and has a worthwhile range of features. With the included Sync Module 2, offline video capture and storage can be facilitated, provided you have a USB-A device connected (below 256GB).
Aside from this offline solution, you may instead wish to subscribe to one of Blink’s paid memberships, which offer additional features like unlimited 60-day cloud storage and photo capture. However, for most of my time with the Blink Outdoor 4, I used the free subscription with the Sync Module 2, and found it to be a perfectly fine experience.
Setting up the Blink Outdoor 4 was extremely easy. Everything happens through the Blink app for Android and Apple handsets, where you’re prompted to set up an account (you can link to your Amazon account in the app). Pairing your Outdoor 4 with your Sync Module comes next – and as long as they’re both on the same Wi-Fi network, everything works seamlessly. You can place the Sync Module 2 anywhere in your home provided it has power.
After setup, I could check-in on the camera at any time through an always-online live feed. This offers decent (if a bit grainy and motion blurry) 1080p stream, along with two-way audio with sound quality that isn’t terrible, but isn’t the clearest either. Motion-triggered notifications are available with all three subscriptions, but motion event recording, live view recording and person detection are restricted to paid subscriptions.
Motion detection is reliable and you are given the option to turn up the sensitivity in the settings (you can even adjust retrigger time between events). Person detection is serviceable and I generally didn’t have any problems with it, testing it both inside and out.
On the hardware side, the Blink Outdoor 4 is easily mounted on the outside of a home with the included bracket, and its IP65 rating gives it a fair amount of resistance to the elements. A basic mounting kit and power adapter is included in the box, but I’ve happily had the Outdoor 4 sitting on my windowsill over the past couple of months with no mount attached.
Adjusting privacy zones in the app is easy, but selection is limited to an array of rectangular zones on the display (privacy zones will be completely greyed out). The same goes for setting activity zones, though you are given slightly more depth of customization with this setting.
In terms of quality, you may be left unimpressed with the Blink Outdoor 4 if you’re after a replacement for a premium outdoor camera from Ring or Eufy. The 1080p resolution is perfectly fine for a first time home camera, but it’s no premium device. Selecting the ‘best picture quality’ setting will resolve some issues with moving object blur, but you may still find it a bit too grainy. Improving the video quality does reduce battery life. It may be unattractive to you if you already have a robust security system, and it's more intended as a first-time device.
Overall, you’ll be impressed with the Blink Outdoor 4 if you’re after a cheap and reliable battery-powered camera for outdoor or indoor use. It’s not the best security camera on the market but it’s a good entry-level pick for a security-minded homebody. Check out our article on the best home security cameras if you’re shopping for an alternative.
Blink Outdoor 4: price and availability
(Image credit: Zachariah Kelly / TechRadar)
List price: $99 / £92.24 / AU$149
Availability: US, UK, and Australia
Release date: November 2023 (October 2024 in Australia)
The Blink Outdoor 4 is available at quite a low price when compared to other home security cameras, but it’s designed to be an affordable solution. It's been available in the US and UK since November 2023, but only made its way to Australia (along with the Blink brand) in October 2024.
Directly compared to its predecessor, the Outdoor 3, the Outdoor 4 sports a slightly wider field of view (143 degrees versus 110), upgraded night infrared vision, better motion detection, dual-zone motion alerts and person detection. Additional purchases for things such as mounts may be required depending on where you want to place the Outdoor 4 in your home.
Being able to store all footage locally is a huge plus, but note that you’ll need to use the included Sync Module 2 and your own USB-A storage device (up to 256GB). Stored footage can be viewed through the Blink app.
Value score: 4 / 5
Blink Outdoor 4 subscription offers
(Image credit: Zachariah Kelly / TechRadar)
Blink has two subscription tiers to choose from, both offering unlimited recording cloud storage for up to 60 days. Monthly or yearly billing is available.
Blink Basic: $3p/m | £2.50p/m | AU$4.95p/m
Blink Plus: $10p/m | £8p/m | AU$15p/m
Blink Basic includes support for one device, motion event recording, live view recording, automatic local storage backups, instant video access, video sharing, person detection and photo capture. Blink Plus includes all Basic features, along with unlimited device inclusion, moments capture, notification snoozing and 10% off Blink devices.
Blink Outdoor 4: specifications
Blink Outdoor 4: design and features
(Image credit: Zachariah Kelly / TechRadar)
Easy setup
No privacy cover
No remote control capabilities
Setup for the Blink Outdoor 4 couldn’t be more simple. After slotting in the batteries, all I had to do was download the app, scan the barcode on the back of the device, and follow the prompted steps. Setup for the Sync Module 2 is similarly simple.
The Blink Outdoor 4 is only available in Black, and though a basic mounting kit is included in the box, you can get by with just sitting the Outdoor 4 on a flat surface. There’s no motorized movement, meaning you’ll need to make any position adjustments by hand.
The basic mounting kit can be screwed into the wall or ceiling, but note that you’ll likely want it to be within easy reach to replace the batteries. There’s no privacy cover and no ability to simply cut recording unless you physically remove the batteries.
Setting privacy zones is easy enough, but you may be left underwhelmed by the lack of customization. Zones can only be created as collections of rectangles, as can activity zones (though activity zones are given slightly smaller rectangles to modify, allowing for greater coverage control). If you so wish, you can disable video recording or disable the audio connection.
Design and features score: 4/5
Blink Outdoor 4: performance
(Image credit: Zachariah Kelly / TechRadar)
Two years of battery life
Some lag and pixelization
Can be positioned almost anywhere
I reviewed the Blink Outdoor 4 in two different positions – sitting atop my lounge room shelves (keeping an eye on the room) and sitting on the windowsill (keeping an eye on my front door/lawn). In these spots, I tried out all the different recording qualities and, predictably, was most satisfied with the highest quality selection. Two years of battery life is quite a long time to begin with, so I’m not too worried about running the device flat too quickly.
Accessing these settings is easy. Go to the app, then tap the three dots displayed in the corner of the camera’s view, then click device settings. If you have multiple devices set up, you may want to tap the settings icon in the bottom right corner, then access Device and System Settings, then tap the ‘System’ you want to edit, followed by ‘All Devices’, then the camera you want to modify.
All of the video quality options are quite acceptable for the price. Graininess and blurred movements are fine at this end of the market, and ultimately the quality was never so insufficient that the camera was unusable. The camera is set to ‘Standard’ mode out of the box, with lower quality ‘Saver’ mode and ‘Best’ also available. Night vision was also sufficiently capable, but it’s not presented in colour, owing to the lack of an LED light on the device.
(Image credit: Zachariah Kelly / Future)
Audio quality was fine and is most comparable to a standard intercom buzzer for an apartment. Back and forth communication is easy with microphones and speakers on both ends (on the camera and on your smartphone), but Ring fans may find it lower quality than what they’re used to. Motion sensitivity was fine, and for the duration of my review, I had it set to the default setting of five. I could turn the sensitivity up if I wished, but I found no need.
It’d be nice if the Blink Outdoor 4 had the option to view footage on a browser or computer, or any device without the smartphone app. Being limited to your small phone screen for your home security is disappointing, so hopefully this is changed at some point.
Finally, obviously the two year battery life is an estimation provided by Amazon. Unfortunately I’m not a time traveller, so I can’t provide a good estimation of my own on this – though over my two months of use, it hasn’t had any battery issues (the battery is still reportedly ‘OK’ in the app with no percentage offered). Most of my use was inside however, so I could have easily gotten by with USB-C delivered power.
Performance score: 3.5/5
Should I buy the Blink Outdoor 4?
Buy it if…
You want a security camera that saves locally
Though you have to bring your own storage device, the included Sync Module 2 allows you to store footage for ready access.View Deal
You want to save money
The Blink Outdoor 4 is built to save you money and you get decent value with what’s on offer.View Deal
You want a long battery life, wireless camera
Two years of battery life with two AA batteries is nothing to balk at!View Deal
Don't buy it if...
You already have a robust home security system
The Blink Outdoor 4 isn’t compatible with anything outside of the Blink ecosystem (apart from access through Alexa). It doesn’t mix with Ring, despite being owned by the same company.View Deal
You want the highest quality footage
Recording at a maximum of 1080p, the Blink Outdoor 4 doesn’t shoot the highest quality footage, and you may find videos grainy and blurry at times.View Deal
You dislike using apps only
Though the Blink camera app is quite well designed, you can’t currently access your camera system through a computer app or browser, meaning you’re limited to a smartphone or tablet display when previewing footage.View Deal
Blink Outdoor 4: also consider
Blink Mini 2
A sibling to the Outdoor 4, the Mini 2 is a wired-only alternative, capable of shooting in the same resolution and sold at a cheaper price point. It might be more attractive if you intend to place the device indoors, but setting it up outside will require extra handiwork. Read our Blink Mini 2 review.View Deal
Arlo Ultra 2
Shooting at up to 4K and offering HDR night vision, the Arlo Ultra 2 is a more premium wireless outdoor camera than the Outdoor 4. That being said, its six month battery life is nothing compared to the Outdoor 4’s two years of charge, and it’s considerably more expensive. Read our Arlo Ultra 2 review.View Deal
How I tested the Blink Outdoor 4
Tested it over two months in my home
Assessed the device on sound and video quality
Set it up in several different spots in several different configurations
From the moment I received the Blink Outdoor 4, I got to work testing it. I put it through its paces as a casual device, not putting it into a hardcore testing environment and instead treating it as something I would use in my own home.
For most of my review period, the Outdoor 4 was positioned at the top of my shelves, looking over my lounge room. It was given a decently lit and sized room to allow for motion and person capture, and I was given the ability to test privacy and activity zoning with a lot of freedom.
I tested audio quality by giving the camera to a friend and going to the next room, allowing us to have a conversation over the two devices. I frequently checked the camera through the app and would use it to make sure I closed my front door.
I assessed the Blink Outdoor 4 as a first time device, as somebody who has never had a home security camera.
