Hotpoint are entering what is now a mature cordless cleaner marketplace with their new slimline upright Ultimate Collection PowerMove Cordless Cleaner (model no. HS MR 2A ZU B). Packed with multi-cyclonic suction, a genuine hose, 60 minutes of claimed runtime and a UV light to eradicate germs on floors, all for only £229, it is the most affordable cordless cleaner we’ve ever reviewed, but is it value? Buy on Amazon

Design

When you receive the Hotpoint Ultimate Collection PowerMove Cleaner there’s a brief set-up procedure, connecting the floor head, bin, handle and hose. The most interesting part of the assembly was to pay witness to Hotpoint’s lithium-ion battery design - it’s round and sits out of view under the bin. This cleaner places the motor at the top of the body, unlike most upright designs. It’s a clean, aesthetically pleasing design in every sense, as the body is slender and will tuck into corners of rooms or even hide out of sight in cupboards. The 0.9 litre bin, with removable HEPA 10 filter, pops out of the cleaner with the press of a circular button on the handle and has an antibacterial coating. The plastics are strong and all the brackets that hold things like the hose and bin in place are sturdily made and do not break if stressed. Additionally there are rubber bumpers on the floor head to avoid furniture damage and prevent marks on walls. A final point about the design are the two separate carry handles making this lightweight 5kg package easy to take upstairs.

Ease of Use

Floor Cleaning: General floor cleaning has impressed in terms of manoeuvrability. The wheels don’t leave lines in carpets and its pivoting head and light 5kg body make reasonably easy work of cruising around legs of furniture and channeling along side skirting. The power of the motor in the upper of the three speed settings will make it feel harder to push on carpets as the head produces a deep level of suction into the fibres. It’s somewhat similar to the Miele C3 Cat & Dog Powerline cleaner in this arena, which is no bad thing if the cleaning results are strong - and this is revealed later on. The lower speed settings dilute this clinging effect, which is fine for routine cleaning. Really though, the Hotpoint is more of a direct competitor to the Vax Air Cordless & Lift models and manoeuvres in much the same way. Getting underneath some of the furniture at the studio proved more restrictive, due to the taller cleaner head in comparison to the Vax Air Cordless & Dyson V6 Animal, which is a shame; but we found going underneath beds and such was very simple as the cleaner's body will pivot very low to the ground.

Hose Cleaning: When using the hose there’s no handle to remove to gain access, it’s immediately available and the handle can subsequently be equipped to make it longer and more stable. Suction is adjustable via a slider and the motor speed is independent to this. Things are kept simple with only one tool, which is the 2-in-1 brush/crevice tool. There's no complaints from us and both work well. No extra tools appear to be offered at this time for more specific tasks like a wand to go behind radiators, etc. The hose and cleaner are manageable on stairs, as the upright design refuses to come unhinged regardless of the angle it’s pulled from. The hose is long enough to reach the distance necessary to clean curtains - and even our exposed beams, with the handle equipped to it. However, the tops of high bookshelves and ceilings, where access is restricted by furniture, will be harder to reach. Uniquely the Hotpoint (HSMR2AZUBUK) Ultimate Collection PowerMove Cordless Cleaner has a master set of controls on top of the main body: these comprise of a three speed toggle button and a power button that awakens the battery. The motor is turned on with separate controls on the handle, where there are additional plus and minus suction buttons. A first for us is that this handle has two AA batteries (another pair included in the box) so that the pole wirelessly communicates with the cleaner when in use: meaning you don’t need to keep on bending down to adjust the suction or turn off the power - clever!

Battery & Charging

Hotpoint are keen to advertise the fact this PowerMove cleaner charges a totally dismissed battery in 2 hours. Such a battery, from our usage experience, will then go on to achieve the advertised hour runtime (more in some circumstances when suction mode 1 is mainly used). Our Dyson (DC59) V6 Animal achieves 25 minutes and the Vax Air Cordless & Lift Duo models obtain a combined 50 minutes from the use of two batteries, so the Hotpoint has the longest runtime of any cordless cleaner we’ve tested and is definitely enough for thorough cleaning of both upstairs and down. Like the cordless Vax models, the Hotpoint doesn't come with a dock, but you don't remove the battery to charge, the entire cleaner plugs into the wall via a port on the back of the cleaner. Although a dock is tidy and becomes the storage place for a cleaner, being able to charge this Hotpoint easily anywhere in a household might well suit some better.

Cleaning Performance

Hard Floors: There's no distinction between hard floors and carpets when using the Hotpoint as it is designed with a brushbar suitable for both floor types. In our weeks of using the cleaner it has visibly shown that it captures pet hair and static dust on our hard wooden and tiled floors, and here we must say it triumphed at the studio in testing, outperforming the latest Vax Air Cordless Lift by sucking up the flour in our test in just one pass, whereas the Vax did it in two. Impressively these results are parallel to our best in class cordless cleaner, the Dyson V6 Animal. Well worth noting is that in the grain and grooves of each wooden floorboard the flour was also completely captured, showing it has an effective deep cleaning effect on such surfaces. Additionally the cleaner isn't just sucking but has a unique feature called ProHygiene which is a first at the studio, and possibly to any cordless cleaner before it; whilst in use a UV light on the head shines against the floor, designed to rid 99.99% of bacteria.

Carpets: Repeating our flour test with suction on mode three, in just one pass all the flour was gone in our carpet test! These results aren't just very good, but come in line with our best in class Dyson (DC59) V6 Animal - of course, the emphasised design for each cordless cleaner is not the same but the price difference runs into hundreds of pounds! It also triumphs over our test results achieved from the Vax Air Cordless models. Against skirting and edges of rugs the PowerMove floor head design managed well too, not leaving any debris. Here too, pet hair, static dust and large debris like fine tree bark (from logs for our wood-burner - we're not growing trees indoors!) and crisps were all found in the bin from routine carpet cleaning - proving it’s a credible dedicated cleaner for all our wool and man-made carpeted rooms.

Verdict

This is a serious cordless cleaner with traditional upright design that brings with it useful features like wireless controls on the wand and UV lighting to eradicate germs. It offers tremendous value that can’t be argued with when compared to previously reviewed models from Dyson, Vax, AEG and Bissell. The Ultimate Collection PowerMove Cordless Cleaner model makes it clear that Hotpoint is a company prepared to put the time in to create something that’s practical and boasts a firm hour of battery life, with proficient performance for cleaning hard floors, carpets and furniture. It’s simply one of the best cordless cleaners we’ve yet to use at the studio! Buy on Amazon