Stick vacuums keep getting better and more convenient, with modern models equipped with an increasing array of bells and whistles. The Tineco Pure One Station A70S Pet is no exception, proving itself an accurately (if long) named appliance that keeps floors clean.
Another recent development in the world of vacuuming is the rise of auto-empty stations. Commonplace among robot vacuums, it’s not as ubiquitous with stick vacuums. Docking stations that automatically empty and recharge vacuums aren’t new to Tineco, but they are to some brands: Dyson only debuted its first stick vac and dock combo this year.
What Tineco presents with this model is twofold: a stick vacuum with the convenience of automatic emptying, plus powerful performance that can tackle the joys of pet ownership.
As someone with a beloved furry four-legged friend, and a partner with long hair, I’m squarely in the target market for this vacuum. Fortunately for me, the Station A70S Pet stood up when faced with lots of hair and fur on the floor.
Table of contents
- Comparing Tineco’s stick vacuums
- Specifications and price
- Design
- Vacuuming at great heights
- Vacuuming on carpets and tiles
- Hair today, gone tomorrow
- Check before starting
- Who is the Tineco Pure One Station A70S Pet for?
Comparing Tineco’s stick vacuums
Until now, I’ve only had experience using Tineco’s wet-dry vacuum cleaners. Unlike those, the $1,299 Station A70S Pet is decidedly a dry cleaner. Not because it’s boring, but because it’s not designed to mop your floors. Although this means it’s not a do-it-all appliance, the good news is that you can use it on tiles and carpets alike.
What makes the Station A70S Pet a bit different from most Tineco appliances is its base station. In Australia, this model is one of two to come with a docking station that empties, charges, and cleans the vacuum. The other model, as listed on Tineco’s Australian website, is the $799 Pure One Station 5.
$500 is a fair difference between vacuum cleaners, with the gap in pricing reflective of the power difference between the two. Tineco advertises up to 200 airwatts (AW) of suction power for the Station A70S Pet, compared to 175AW for the Station 5.
Battery life is another differentiator; the Station A70S Pet lasts up to 100 minutes while using the smaller crevice brush on the lowest power setting, and up to 80 minutes using what Tineco calls the ‘ZeroTangle Power Brush’. Meanwhile, the Station 5 lasts up to 70 minutes. It may not look like a huge difference on paper, but when charging takes upwards of four hours, the extra runtime is handy.
At $1,299 in Australia, the Station A70S Pet is one of the pricier stick vacuums on the market. On the flipside, it’s also one of the more powerful and, from my experience, reliable options for everyday vacuuming.
Tineco Pure One Station A70S Pet specs and price
| Suction power | Up to 200AW |
| Runtime | Up to 100 minutes on Eco mode |
| Size | 23 x 27 x 111cm 4kg |
| Dustbin capacity | 0.45L in vacuum 2.5L in docking station |
| Price (RRP) | $1,299 |
| Warranty | Two years |
| Official website | Tineco Australia |
Design
I always like it when appliance brands pivot away from bland, utilitarian design. Sure, the mark of any vacuum is how well it cleans, but a bit of colour never hurt anyone.
My point being that the Station A70S Pet is quite stylish, as far as vacuums go. Dark blue and silver on the vacuum complement the gold accents on the docking station quite nicely.
Said docking station has a clear front window, letting you see inside and how full it is. This window into the world of dust bunnies has a helpful line to indicate when it’s time to empty the main canister. On top is a space to place the vacuum when not in use, automatically emptying its dustbin and recharging its battery. All of this sits on a small black tray, which stops any nasties picked up by the vacuum from making contact with the floor.
Thankfully, for someone as averse to cleaning chores as me, setting up the vacuum isn’t all that complicated. The Station A70S Pet comes in a few distinct parts that easily click together. Once it’s all attached, all that’s needed is to dock the vacuum and wait for the battery to top up.
Some appliances I’ve used before have a helpful LED screen with clear depictions of real-time information. However, the Station A70S Pet uses a thin bar of light instead that isn’t as clear as some of the LED displays I’ve seen before. When lit up blue, it indicates a relatively clean floor. Conversely, red means dirty, and the vacuum automatically boosts the suction power accordingly.
Vacuuming at great heights
Surprisingly, the Station A70S Pet is quite tall. When fully upright, the top of the vacuum’s handle sits above my waist. As someone roughly 5-foot-10, I didn’t have much trouble lifting the appliance onto or out of the dock. My much shorter partner struggled, however.
Of course, you don’t vacuum with the appliance standing fully upright, but the height makes it a bit awkward to get started. Conversely, the benefit is that the vacuum reaches far ahead of you, especially when laid completely flat to suck up stuff under couches, tables, and the like.
With how this vacuum is built, there’s no way to retract or extend the main tube. So, if you’re short, you can’t lower it to a more comfortable height.
To look on the bright side, it’s great for tall folks, who constantly put up with using appliances made for people much shorter than them. Still, the vacuum’s lack of adjustable height presents some difficulties.
Vacuuming on carpets and tiles
If you’ve seen some of my robot vacuum reviews, you’ll know that my silver tabby cat, Billie, loves leaving her fur on the carpet. While testing the Station A70S Pet, I probably vacuumed up enough cat hair to create a plush replica of my beloved pet.
Across tiled and carpeted floors, Tineco’s pet-centric stick vacuum sucked superbly. My home’s carpets are notoriously tough to clean, too. Consisting of dense loop fibres, the floor is like the Venus flytrap of carpets, gobbling up any strands of hair or dust that deigns to drop within its grasp.
Up to the challenge, the Station A70S Pet caught plenty of debris, filling up its 0.45L dustbin rapidly. Unsurprisingly, given the strong carpet performance, it glided across tiled areas, sucking up crumbs, dust, and loose bits of kitty litter kicked out by Billie during her daily zoomies.
Making the job of cleaning easier was the Gatsby-like beam of green light that shoots out at a wide arc. It illuminated the floor, clearly showing what sections needed extra attention. My partner described it as the “green light of shame” because it left no ambiguity as to what parts of the floor hadn’t been properly vacuumed for a while.
In some instances, the green light of shame worked to Tineco’s disadvantage. For context, one of the Station A70S Pet’s features is an automatic edge cleaning mode that kicks in when vacuuming near walls, skirting boards, and the like. A light on the brush head turns on, and the suction power ramps up, aiming to suck up dust to the sides as you push and pull back and forward.
This edge cleaning mode was most effective on tiles, where the vacuum had little resistance. However, it wasn’t quite enough on carpets. Made visible by the green light, I could see a thin strip along carpet edges where a collection of dust and fluff remained. On the other hand, it’s a good visual reminder of where you might need to go over some areas again with the crevice brush head.
Hair today, gone tomorrow
With the word ‘pet’ in its name, Tineco’s vacuum would want to be good at dealing with tangles. True to its title, it was very good. None of Billie’s fur got caught in either the brush head or the dustbin. As another test, I left some beard trimmings on the bathroom floor. Although I didn’t expect any tangle-related issues, I wondered if the vacuum would struggle to pick up small, thin hairs. Nope, no problems whatsoever.
This left one major test remaining: my partner’s thick, long hair. I’ve cut strands of her hair out of several robot vacuums before, but no such intervention was needed here. If anything, the only minor problem was that some particularly long and pesky strands would wrap themselves around the inside barrel of the vacuum’s dustbin.
I only dealt with this when docking the vacuum, which automatically triggers an auto-empty cycle. Each time, the emptying process transferred the overwhelming majority of the dustbin’s contents into the docking station’s much larger 2.5L bin. But on occasion, a bit of my partner’s hair would stick out of the bottom flap of the vacuum’s dustbin, not fully dislodged during the auto-empty cycle.
There was nothing else for it but to grab it out with my fingers. So, it’s not quite a 100 per cent ‘hands-free’ process. More like 90 per cent hands-free, which still reduces my dust exposure substantially compared to my old stick vacuum.
More important to me was that nothing was stuck in the vacuum’s brush or its inner piping — the parts that impact suction efficiency. If I have to occasionally touch a few strands of hair to completely empty the bin, so be it. I’ve been doing it already, so it’s not like it’s introduced a new problem.
When it came time to empty the station’s bin compartment, removing it was easy. A quick pull of a latch took it out of the dock, with the contents still sealed. Then, pulling a lever-like mechanism on the back flipped the base open, emptying everything into the bin.
Check before starting
I encountered an odd quirk on my second vacuuming run, though. Starting the vacuum up, it looked like it was working, but it wasn’t picking much up off the carpet. Considering it did such a great job the first time, I was confused. It also sounded slightly different, but it took me a while to figure out what happened.
As it turned out, the brush roller had come slightly loose, so it wasn’t spinning. Popping it back in saw normal performance resume, and the Station A70S Pet was back to inhaling all manner of cat fluff and dust. On a couple of separate occasions, I noticed the brush come loose, but it never happened during cleaning — only when picking the vacuum up off the dock.
One thing I never had to worry about was battery life. Tineco boasts up to 100 minutes of runtime, not that I ever depleted it during testing. I live in a two-storey home with a modest surface area to clean. I never troubled the Station A70S Pet’s battery — living with a cat means you need to dock vacuums to empty them well before the battery gives out.
Not that I would’ve easily known how much battery was left. Tineco’s minimalist light-based display didn’t give me an insight as to how much power was left after a vacuuming run. In hindsight, maybe it was a flex on Tineco’s part that it’s so confident in the battery life that you don’t need to monitor it in real-time.
Who is the Tineco Pure One Station A70S Pet for?
Those blessed with luscious long locks of hair or living with fluffy animals will be well-served by the Tineco Pure One Station A70S Pet. As much of a mouthful as its name is, this vacuum makes life simple by taking tangles off your list of daily stressors.
I don’t think there’s such a thing as a perfect vacuum: each one has its strengths and weaknesses. Tineco’s given it a strong go, though, with a vacuum that reaches far, comprehensively cleans different floor types, and does most of the emptying for you.
The post Tineco Pure One Station A70S Pet review: Good for hairy homes appeared first on GadgetGuy.
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