Thread Number: 26163
Another new toy, Bosch Athlet
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Post# 293330   8/13/2014 at 15:08 (3,514 days old) by oliveoiltinfoil (England, UK)        

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My vacuum collection has been getting a little thin on the ground during the last few years after getting my first property, sorting out where to put things, chucking things or giving them away and so on that I thought I would invest in a couple of new vacuums, not just to have for the sake of it, but to get some new cleaners to see how they perform, more specifically the most recent vacuums, hence the eco Vax air which I am very impressed with, and this. The new Bosch athlete.

Picked it up today at "John Lewis at home", yeah that is actually what it is called, for £289.95. I opted for the more powerful, 25.2 volt white model because, well its white and it will match my sebo felix navy, and it is the more powerful version, thought it would be best on my thick heavy carpeting.

So I got it home and unboxed a very small box for a vacuum, put it together and read the instruction manual to see what it says about charging the vacuum. It states to charge the vac for 6 hours before first use, so I did.

The charger has a relatively short lead but I don't see why one would need anything longer. It is sufficient enough. Don't know what it measures at, but I will check and psot it on here soon. There is no docking station and nothing to screw and fix up on the wall, just plug it in and charge as you would your mobile phone.

Very fancy blue lights illuminate while its charging, although it is just to tell you the progress of the charge. Three blue blocks indicate the charge in the battery. When it is fully charged, all three blocks are static.

Getting down to what it is like - it is brilliant. Exceptional. Fantastic. You have to adjust the way you vacuum when using this as you need to make the most out of each charge, so picking things up off the floors in every rooms and move furniture accordingly (I do this with any vacuum). It states a 50-60 minute run time depending on the model, with a mixture of power setting. 1 which is the lowest power mode with no brush bar spinning which is for hard flooring and it is very quiet at this level. Like really quiet, you can hear the clocks ticking. Power level 2 which turn the brush bar on and increases the motor rpm and thus the suction power which I used for the lowest to medium piled carpeting, and then there is turbo setting for thicker heavier carpeting and more stubborn areas which I found incredible on my dense piled carpets in the hall, both landings and the living room. At this setting it lifts the carpet up at the edges the same as a felix and my eco vax air.

On power setting 2, it still lifts up the carpet but not as much, doesn't groom as properly but is perfectly adequate for low to medium carpeting, where all the dirt is picked up in one swipe.

The lowest power setting which makes the battery last the longest is perfect for hard flooring. I thought it would struggle to pick up the heavier larger debris such as scattered cat litter, cat and dog food etc, but it didn't. Picked it up just fine and the hairs it sucked up about an inch away from the head.

The swivel head is very good and it is the most manoeuvrable vacuum I have ever used, not surprising considering it weighs 3.5kg and it is very well balanced in the hand.

The brush bar is very well designed. The red bristle are ever so slightly softer, the black ones are stiff and it agitates the carpet better of course than any dyson I have used, equally as well as the felix, but what impresses most is that you can see it picking up the carpet as you go along, yet it is so damn light and easy to push. It is very impressive, and the carpets feel well vacuumed and you don't feel like you need to go over and over them again.

Because it is so light, you can use it with the head to do the stairs as well. They supply you a hose with a long crevice tool and upholstery tool, but not brush. Connected to the hose is a shoulder strap which I have yet to master, will refer to the manual and study it properly later tonight.

It is very quiet even on turbo setting and an unusual sounding vacuum, again not surprising considering how it is powered. It pick up a considerable amount of dirt. I don't know how these cordless vacs do it. It doesn't even spin it that fast, despite a good suction at the hose. It isn't as strong as the vax, slightly less than the felix but really not by much at all. It will still stick to the carpet and lift it up at the hose. You don't really need much more power than this, and the results in the canister prove that point.

The filter is direct, but it isn't a paper cone type. As you can see In the pictures, it is a sort of thin sheet paper with a foam sleeve around it, behind a mesh shield. It is very effective at dust separation, and I have used this all over my house in every room, and although it looks like there is a bit of surface dust, it is black so it will show it more, and it is a very light covering. The white filter underneath that it unmarked. It also has a post motor foam filter at the back of the machine which I don't think is removable.

Emptying it is simple enough. Just pull on the filter housing and tip it out. It doesn't spin it up like candy floss like a lot of bag less vacs.

Build quality is typically Bosch. They have obviously tried to make it as light as possible, but the fit and finish is brilliant, as it should be at this price. The buttons and everything you move is chucky and it has a soft grip handle.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, I personally think it is one of the best looking vacuums I have ever seen. Looks like a work of art with the chrome detailing, blue lights and minimalism. The white shows it off.

It would be unfair to judge the run time of the cleaner at the moment, as lithium batteries get stronger after you charge them for the first 7 or 8 times, but I got 20 minutes mainly using turbo power, a little bit of setting 1 for the hard floors and setting 2 for the downstairs. It is a 4 bedroom house with large surface areas, I think it did well. I wouldn't be surprised if this increases by about a third. If you have predominantly hard floors, this is even better as you get an hour run time and it is so quiet, and picks up beautifully.

Sorry for the long winded review but hopefully this will attract some attention as this is the only detailed review with user pictures on the internet at the moment, and this user thinks it is incredible. Like I said, it is a new way of vacuuming, not having a cord is so much easier than you first imagine. There is really nothing to it now. The performance rivals that of the sebo felix, I cant tell much difference and the bosch grooms the carpets on the turbo setting at least as well as the felix and vax eco air. A review on john lewis website of this said that they have a Miele upright (most likely S7) and this bosch cleaner and grooms as well as it, so it isn't just me who is singing its praises.

I will have to see how it goes, but this is defiantly a keeper and I can see myself using this as my daily go to vacuum, as getting it out and using it is childs play and so quick, and very fun!





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Post# 293331 , Reply# 1   8/13/2014 at 15:10 (3,514 days old) by oliveoiltinfoil (England, UK)        

oliveoiltinfoil's profile picture
P.S - Sorry about the poor quality photos. I don't know if its this site. May be my internet as it is very poor, it's not the camera, but you can still hopefully make out what it is !

Post# 293333 , Reply# 2   8/13/2014 at 15:16 (3,514 days old) by marks_here (_._)        

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They look good on my iPad, real clear too

Post# 293334 , Reply# 3   8/13/2014 at 15:23 (3,514 days old) by oliveoiltinfoil (England, UK)        

oliveoiltinfoil's profile picture
Ahh, thanks man. Took them on my phone, glad that they are clear. Low quality photos annoy me more than they should ahaha !

Post# 293335 , Reply# 4   8/13/2014 at 15:29 (3,514 days old) by blakaeg (NW London, UK)        

Looks like a good machine.

Post# 293480 , Reply# 5   8/14/2014 at 01:05 (3,514 days old) by oliveoiltinfoil (England, UK)        

oliveoiltinfoil's profile picture
It is certainly impressive and a replacement to a conventional vacuums that's for sure.

Post# 293502 , Reply# 6   8/14/2014 at 07:51 (3,514 days old) by sebo_fan (Scotland, UK, member AKA ukvacfan, & Nar2)        

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I have already tried it. Bosch sent one to me free to trial and review. I love the design of it but I think for the moment the Vax Mach Air cordless gets my vote.

Post# 293524 , Reply# 7   8/14/2014 at 11:54 (3,514 days old) by adamthemieleman (North Yorkshire )        

We have just got this in at our place, I have to agree, its great. On low pile carpet tiles which we have in store, I tried it. It looked clean, so I was dubious. Well, amazed that it managed to pick up some fine dust, this was on a small patch. It coped with flour and sand well. Very impressed.

Nar are you keeping it? If you're not it is welcome with me!


Post# 293529 , Reply# 8   8/14/2014 at 12:21 (3,514 days old) by oliveoiltinfoil (England, UK)        

oliveoiltinfoil's profile picture
I'll give it 2 or 3 weeks but so far I am very impressed. Like you, I was sceptical about how deep a clean it is doing on my carpets, so I went over it with my vax eco air and nothing came up. I think literally 3 or 4 hairs, no dust. So, it cant be that bad.

Post# 293629 , Reply# 9   8/15/2014 at 06:44 (3,513 days old) by sebo_fan (Scotland, UK, member AKA ukvacfan, & Nar2)        

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I love the fact that it is so quiet plus the brush roll removal - I love the design of it being an upright. I've owned Bosch before but its shame their shoulder strap and additional cleaning tools aren't that well made. The shoulder strap idea with the vacuum left horizontal isn't a great idea IMHO either - Hoover did the same with the Junior stick vac years ago and it offered a rather bulky solution.

The other thing is that the filter could be better designed. Its a bit complicated. I'm keeping it for the time being. It won't appeal to all buyers though - this is a very niche product and isn't as versatile as the Vax Air cordless upright.

Tried the Morphy Richards supervac the other day. Uses lower power output battery but it is a simpler effort design wise and has the slip out hand held dust buster. This is what Bosch could have offered.



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