Dyson tends to be the brand that you associate with cutting-edge vacuum designs and concepts, but with the arrival of the new Mach line of “premium cleaning products,” Eufy — the household brand of the Anker accessory empire — is doing its best to inject a little innovation into this competitive market. The Eufy Mach V1 Ultra is both a high-powered cordless stick vacuum and a steam mop, all built into one unit. Available now in the US as part of Anker’s Try Now, Buy Later program on eufy.com, Anker says it’ll be available for general retail purchase on March 15 at its website, Amazon and Best Buy for $700.
I’ve had a chance to give the V1 Ultra a test drive, and it’s certainly an interesting experience using it. While it looks like a sleek, heavy-duty cordless stick vac, there’s a roller built into the base of the vacuum and a detachable tank you fill with water in the vacuum’s midsection. A second, smaller compartment stores cleaning fluid.
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You can use the V1 Ultra as a vacuum or put it into steam mop mode. Anker says its SteamWave technology works by “first dissolving the stain and then vacuuming and mopping the surface,” with the steam continually released at a higher temperature of 230 degrees Fahrenheit (110C) “in order to remove dirt and bacteria.”
The V1 Ultra uses something called Eco-Clean Ozone Disinfection to sanitize not just your floor but the vacuum itself, which has a self-cleaning mode. I could tell that the mop was working because a separate tank near the base fills with the moisture that has been vacuumed up as you mop the floor. After you’re done mopping, you dump out the water from that tank and — in my case — it came out looking pretty dirty after absorbing some grime from my floors.
The Eufy Mach V1 Ultra has a crisp LCD that displays the cleaning mode you’re in and remaining battery life.
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With its three compartments and a filter, the V1 Ultra requires more attention than your typical vacuum after using it. But it’s little less time-consuming than having to rinse out a mop after using it and you don’t have to worry about just how damp you should get your mop and how much cleaning fluid you need to mix in (that’s all done automatically).
Battery life is good for a cordless stick vac — it’s rated at up to 82 minutes on a single charge, after which you drop it in its base charging station. The V1 Ultra weighs in at about 12.5 pounds (5.7 kg) and a relatively high suction power rating of 16,800 Pa (Pascal Pressure Units). I found that it was pretty quiet; Anker says it comes with “three-layered noise-canceling technology that ensures noise levels stay below 65dB, about the same level as a dishwasher.” My dog barely took any interest as I vacuumed near him.
The base has a replaceable roller in it that steam mops your floors.
David Carnoy/CNET
One of the questions I had was whether you could use this for cleaning carpets. The short answer I got from Anker is that it’s not really made for that but you can use it on a thin carpet, albeit nothing too plush. I tried it on a short-pile rug and it seemed to clean it well enough, but when I dumped out the moisture that got sucked up, assorted detritus was added to the mix and things looked a bit nasty. Ah, the joys of high-tech cleaning.
Note that Anker will also be releasing a step-down model, the V1, that doesn’t include the steam mop functionality. That model will also be available on March 15 for $600.
