Bosch Athlet Cordless Vacuum Cleaner Review

Bosch have just made cleaning so much easier and convenient by vacuuming on the go without having to find a power point. The Athlet is Bosch’s first range of cordless upright vacuum cleaners. Currently, they have two model which are the 18V BCH61840GB in black colour and 25.5V BCH625KTGB in white colour.

I have received the 18V BCH61840GB to try it out. My first impression of the vacuum cleaner is that it looks very stylish and of course cordless! How many times have you found that your vacuum cleaner cord gets caught under a door, tangled up or is simply not long enough?

Inside the box, it comes with four items which is the handle, the body, the suction head and a charger with instructions. It took me under a minute to fix the whole vacuum cleaner together. Easy peasy.

Battery Life

For the first use of the vacuum cleaner, I charged it for at least 6 hours and then it takes around 4 hours to fully charge the next time from flat. The charging point can be found at the back of the vacuum cleaner.

It comes with blue LED indicators to show you the status of the vacuum cleaner. It will tell you if it fully charged, semi-charged, battery low and if it flashes then it needs to be re-charged.

Bosch has used lithium-ion technology for this vacuum cleaner which are durable and powerful rechargeable batteries with a short charging time. It will last up to 40 minutes of running time on level one. Of course, when you use level two or turbo, the battery won’t last that long but it is good enough for me to vacuum twice around our four bedroom house with half carpet floor and half laminate floor. It has definitely got a good operational battery life and I hope it stays this way!

Bagless Dust Container

I always love the idea of bagless as it will save you money on buying replacement bags. The dust container is located at the front of the vacuum cleaner. It is easy to remove from the unit, then to get the filter off before emptying the dust into the bin.

It comes with a washable filter with black foam wrapped around it. Simply remove the filter and the foam and wash both in cold water. Then allow it to dry for at least 24 hours before you place the filter back into the dust container.

The usable capacity of the dust container is 0.9 litres. I do find the capacity quite small in practical use but it is good enough to clean our house without having to empty it partway through. I dust my house very regularly, so I only empty it when it reach the maximum line on the container. Bosch do suggest to empty it after every use.

Manoeuvrability around the house

It comes with a soft touch handle which gives a nice feel and reduces the risk of it slipping from your hand. The on/off switch button feels quite plasticky to touch. There are three power levels:

• Level 1: for easy cleaning jobs and maximum runtime
• Level 2: for normal cleaning jobs and medium runtime
• Level Turbo: for difficult cleaning job and shorter runtime

I have tested the suction using sugar on tiles in my video review shown. The suction for level 1 is excellent! It managed to vacuum it all up. Undoubtedly, level 2 and turbo would have no problems at all and would probably be even quicker. I am impressed with its suction ability. Also the vacuum noise for level 1 is relatively quiet and it is much more bearable than other traditional vacuum cleaners.

I find it easy to vacuum and manoeuvre around smooth floors like laminate floors or tiles. For carpet surfaces, I find I have to increase the power to level 2 for me to clean the house to my satisfaction. The combination of hairs and suction resistance makes it quite hard for me to manoeuvre on carpet. I have to keep swapping my arms as it gets very tiring.

The vacuum cleaner weighs around 3 kg which is quite lightweight. But to use that to vacuum on the staircase is no fun at all. I do find it quite big and clumsy to vacuum the stairs. It does its job well but I would prefer to use a handheld vacuum cleaner on steps.

Overall I am impressed with it powerful suction and its ability to manoeuvre around the house.

Vacuum Cleaner Head

The brush roller in the vacuum cleaner head is easy to clean. Simply release the brush roller off the head and cut through any threads/hairs using the groove provided.

Rating

I give this BCH61840GB 4.5 stars out of 5. Overall I am very impressed with the suction, good battery life, manoeuvrability, light weight, cordless design and compactness.

Watch the video to take a closer look: https://youtu.be/8WYhHi32FG8

Disclosure: We received the sample for the purposes of writing this review, however, all thoughts and opinions remain our own.