Tineco, whose expertise in floor care goes beyond vacuum cleaners, has steadily released a series of different vacuums. Their latest, the Pure One range, brings Tineco's most advanced cordless vacuum tech into the home.
To find out whether it's worthy of being among the best cordless vacuums, I tested the Tineco Pure One Station – a vacuum cleaner that comes with a self-emptying and self-cleaning station. The station is said to hold debris for up to 60 days while cleaning the vacuum every time it's recharged.
I put it through its paces, testing dust, small debris, large debris, and hair among different floor types to see what it's capable of. Read on to find out how it performed in our tests, and whether this sleek vacuum cleaner is worth your money.
Tineco Pure One Station: Models & availability
There are a few variations in Tineco's series of Pure One Station cordless vacuums. All models use the same vacuum cleaner tech, the differences between them are:
The standard model is the Tineco Pure One Station, available in both the US and UK. It retails for $449.99 at Tineco or $599 at Amazon and Best Buy. In the UK, it's available for £379 at Tineco or £415.83 at Amazon.
The Tineco Pure One Station PET (the UK-available model that I tested) has all the same features, except the cleaning station has a voice assistant to tell you when cleaning is complete, and when you need to clean the dustbin, air channel, and filter. It's available for £557.50 at Amazon.
The Tineco Pure One Station FurFree (available in the US) is similar to the PET edition, with an added 'Furfree Kit' for pet grooming. It's said to be able to safely remove hair without harming your pet's skin. It's available for $559 at Tineco or $778 at Amazon.
Tineco Pure One Station: Specifications
Tineco Pure One Station: Unboxing & setup
The cleaning station naturally has a fair weight to it, so the Tineco Pure One Station package is heavier and bulkier than other cordless vacuums. Included in the box are: a vacuum cleaner, wand, ZeroTangle Power Brush floor head, Mini Power Brush, 2-in-1 crevice brush tool, two cleaning brushes, and the OmniHub cleaning station.
The only setup that's required is assembling the cleaning station, arriving in four parts that you attach together. Then all that's left is to plug in the cleaning station and dock the vacuum cleaner to charge it.
Tineco Pure One Station: Design & features
The vacuum cleaner has what Tineco calls an 'iLoop sensor' that's able to detect dust levels on your floors and adjust suction power accordingly. It puts it into the same category as recent Dyson and Shark vacuums with similar features, along with the lights on the floor head to illuminate what's on the floor.
You can see this info on a digital display at the top of the vacuum cleaner. A colorful loop on the outside indicates dust volume (from red to blue), and you can see whether you're on auto mode or max mode. You can also see battery life and Wi-Fi connection, as well as notices if the airway is blocked, the dust sensor is malfunctioning, or the brush roller is tangled.
The main floor head, the ZeroTangle Power Brush, is designed similarly to many of Tineco's cordless vacs, with a V-shaped brush roll design to avoid hair wrap. It also comes with a Mini Power Brush which is ideal for furniture, mattresses, and upholstery, as well as a combination crevice and brush tool.
The vacuum cleaner has a sleek and polished design, and the cleaning station carries the same purple and black aesthetic. The station is the real draw here: it empties and cleans your vacuum every time you dock it. So, instead of having to regularly empty the vacuum cleaner after each clean, you only have to do this once every 60 days or so thanks to a 3-liter capacity. Plus, it keeps your vacuum in better condition over time as it routinely and regularly cleans the HEPA filter, airways, and brush roll.
What is the Tineco Pure One Station like to use?
I first noticed that, compared to your normal cordless vacuum, there's a lot to get used to here. But this is because the cleaning station and the vacuum's digital display have info that other vacuums don't, so it's just a case of understanding what it all means.
The cleaning station will let out voice prompts when it's going through the processes of emptying, cleaning, and charging the vacuum. But anybody who's used a self-cleaning vacuum before will appreciate just how loud it is when it's happening, and the voice prompts explain things to you before getting cut off by this noise, so you don't hear what's being said. For this reason, I don't think the voice prompts are massively necessary, except perhaps for if something is malfunctioning (although, this could easily be displayed on the LED screen). You can adjust the volume or mute them, though.
Something I enjoyed about the vacuum cleaner is how easily it glides along the floor. It makes it smooth and easy to maneuver, and it helps that the vacuum's also lightweight. It's notably quiet, too, and it doesn't seem as if there's a sacrifice in power because of it. The floor head's LED lights don't reveal much-hidden dirt, however, and I feel they'd only be useful if vacuuming in dark spaces.
Tineco Pure One Station: Flour & sugar test
We use flour and sugar as proxies for dust and dead skin, as well as being a mess we'd typically find at home. Flour is also a great visual test, as we can see when it's left on the floor or stuck in any of the vacuum's parts.
Hard floors (wood & linoleum)
It's easy to tell how effective a vacuum is: whether it can pick up everything on the first run. The Tineco Pure One Station vacuum picked up almost everything on the first run minus some residue within the cracks between the wooden panels. It was able to get the rest of it after a few more runs.
When tackling the floor's edges next to the walls, it picked up barely anything on the first run. But fortunately, it was able to get the rest after a couple more.
Carpets
On the carpet, the Tineco wasn't as effective. It took a while to get everything off, but it did get there eventually. Even with the boost mode (the automatic detection is great), it wasn't as effective as you'd hope.
Tineco Pure One Station: Pantry test
We use cereal and red lentils as examples of the type of debris we find on our floors. Cereal (we use off-brand Cheerios) emulates many types of large debris, while lentils are smaller and have a texture that makes them stick to hard floors more easily.
Hard floors (wood & linoleum)
I noticed that the vacuum pushed large debris around, rather than sucking them up, whenever there were large amounts on the floor. If I moved it slowly (or if they were more sparsely spread out), the vacuum had no problem at all and easily picked it up. It also easily collected debris in the wooden panel cracks, but it didn't always recognize when it needed to boost.
I felt this again when vacuuming at the edges, as a lot of the cereal was just pushed around. I had to go back and forth, crush them, and move them around to be able to get it all.
However, it is worth noting here that we'd rarely be vacuuming this level of large debris at once - this is just to find out what the vacuum's capable of. When it came to smaller debris, crumbs, and smaller amounts of cereal, the vacuum performed well.
Carpets
There was no problem at all vacuuming the solids on the carpet. It picked up almost everything on the first run then got the remaining crumbs on the second.
Tineco Pure One Station: Hair test
To simulate pet hair, we chop up hair extensions and spread them across wood, linoleum and carpet floors. With carpet, we push the strands deep into the fibers to recreate the conditions of homes with pets.
Hard floors (wood & linoleum)
Vacuuming hair is where the Tineco really shone. On hard floors, it picked everything up in one run and did so in a satisfying way. The hair was sucked into the middle of the floor head as if the center of the brush roll was able to suck in hairs that it wasn’t even touching.
Carpets
On carpets, again, it picked it all up on the first run with no problems.
Tineco Pure One Station: Cleaning & maintenance
The cleaning station is huge, 3 liters in full, so you can get lots of use out of it before needing to do anything yourself. There's also a dark tint so that you can't quite see what's inside, which is a nice touch as it'll be kept indoors at all times, as well as a soft padded close which helps to keep the odors within.
It self-empties impressively quickly, as all the vacuum's dustbin contents are almost instantly gone. But of course, as this is a vacuum vacuuming a vacuum, it does so at an incredibly loud volume that will undoubtedly scare pets or even neighbors – but this is no different from any other self-emptying vacuum.
How does the Tineco Pure One Station compare?
The best vacuum with a cleaning station that we've reviewed so far is the Samsung Bespoke Jet Pro. It was almost perfect, with excellent suction power and easy maneuverability, but it was originally listed at over $700. It's now available for $500, putting it in the same price range as the Tineco Pure One Station.
Both have similar features, except the Tineco has a larger station dustbin and the vacuum digital display, while the Samsung has stronger and more reliable suction.
The Dyson V12 Detect Slim sits at a similar price point, too, but it comes without a cleaning station. It does, however, more accurately detect what's on your floor, has a light that actually reveals hidden dust, and offers unrivaled suction power. It mostly depends on what's more important when cleaning.
Should you buy the Tineco Pure One Station?
It might seem expensive, but this Tineco vacuum comes with a thoughtful set of features, like adaptive suction, smooth vacuuming, and a digital display with important and specific info. The cleaning station is great, too, and protectively seals and hides the contents for up to 2 months.
For the price, there may be better-performing vacuums out there. But although the Tineco Pure One Station struggled in a few of the tests, it was still able to get the job done.
How we test vacuums
At Homes & Gardens, we have a dedicated and thorough procedure for how we test vacuums. At our test center, we test various substances on three-floor types (carpet, wood, linoleum) to recreate real-life circumstances.
Outside of this rigorous testing, I've been using the Tineco Pure One Station cordless vacuum in my home.
If you're still looking for a reliable vacuum cleaner, consider our guides to the best vacuums for pet hair or the best robot vacuums.
