Tineco Pure ONE S12 Review

Pros

• Long 100-minute run time
• Exceptional cleaning performance (scored 100% in 11 out of 12 tests)
• LED display and wifi-connectivity makes it easier to receive cleaning reports and updates

Cons

• Direct Drive cleaning head isn’t great at cleaning cereal on hardwood
• Expensive

Tineco Pure ONE S12 Design

The Tineco Pure ONE S12 vacuum is a cordless stick vacuum with a lightweight body style and in-hand motor and dustbin.

This Tineco cordless vacuum seems to take some design inspiration from the Dyson V-Series cordless stick vacuums.

Similar to the Dyson V-Series, the Tineco Pure ONE S12 cordless vacuum consists of three main parts:

1. The cleaning head
2. The wand
3. The in-hand dustbin and motor

These three parts easily connect and disconnect between each other to form different configurations, depending on your cleaning job.

2-in-1 Design

The Tineco Pure ONE S12 is designed to run as a cordless stick vacuum or as a portable handheld vacuum. It uses the same body base and simply changes the attachments to create a variety of different configurations.

Smart Design

The Tineco S12 has quite a few smart features that help to separate this vacuum from the pack. The most notable smart features on this vacuum include:

• Intelligent Suction: Smart sensors allow the Tineco to automatically adjust suction depending on the level of debris. The suction can also be adjusted manually by a simple sliding control on the body of the vacuum.
• Wifi Control: The Tineco S12 is wifi-enabled which shows cleaning performance, battery info, and filter maintenance directly from your smartphone (when connected to the Tineco app).
• LED Display: There is an LED display on the in-hand portion of this vacuum which shows all the details of a cleaning cycle as well as filter maintenance and other performance specs.

RELATED: Looking for other cordless vacuums with an LED display? Check out our review of the Dyson V11.

Tineco Pure ONE S12 vs. S12 Plus

The main differences between these two models really boils down to one small detail — the cleaning head.

The Pure ONE S12 comes with the direct-drive cleaning head only. The Pure ONE S12 Plus comes with the direct-drive cleaning head as well as a soft roller brush.

Tineco Pure ONE S12 vs. S12 Plus vs. S12 M vs. S12 M Lite

Below, we go in-depth with our full Tenco Pure One comparison chart, comparing all 4 versions of the Tineco S12. It’s the Tineco Pure One S12 vs. S12 Plus vs. S12 M vs. S12 M Lite.

The four S12 models fall into a good, better, best ranking. The S12 M and S12 M Lite are good, the S12 standard is better, and the S12 Plus is best. All S12 models use the same motor.

Here are the main differences between each of the 4 models summed up:

• Tineco Pure One S12: This is the standard model. It includes the direct drive brushroll, LED display, 100 minute run time, and almost all of the cleaning accessory tools.
• Tineco Pure One S12 Plus: This the best version of the S12. It includes the direct drive brushroll in addition to the soft roller head, LED display, and 100 minute run time. It includes all the accessories the standard S12 comes with, in addition to also including the multi-angle adapter and extension hose.
• Tineco Pure One S12 M: This is the more basic version of the S12. Its run time is 80 minutes (20 mins. less than the top models), it has no LED display, and includes the more basic brushroll (doesn’t include direct drive brushroll). However, it includes most of the same accessories, in addition to a wifi camera (so you can watch what you’re cleaning), phone stand and bluetooth speaker (for videos or music while you clean).
• Tineco Pure One S12 M Lite: This is similar to the S12. It includes most of the same features, except it does not include the bluetooth speaker or wifi camera.

Tineco S12 Size

The Tineco S12 is a reasonable size for a cordless stick vacuum. It is 10″ wide, 6″ deep, and 47″ tall (when in upright stick mode.)

• Width: 10″
• Depth: 6″
• Height: 47″
• Weight: 6.6 pounds

NOTE: Wondering how this compares to other vacuums? See our full list of vacuum cleaner reviews here.

Parts & Accessories

Accessories is one area where the Tineco Pure One S12 really shines.

This cordless stick vacuum has no shortage of additional accessories and it does tend to make the whole purchase feel like a better value, knowing that all of these accessories are included at no extra charge.

The accessories list is what comes with the Tineco Pure One S12 (standard version). See our comparison chart above to see how the different models compare.

What’s in the box?

• Extension wand – for when using the Tineco in stick vacuum mode
• Main Body (with motor and dustbin) – the in-hand portion for all cleaning modes
• Direct-drive cleaning head – includes a spiral brushroll that agitates and captures debris from all floor types
• Mini power brush – used when the Tineco is in handheld mode; good for cleaning upholstery or fabrics
• Flexible crevice tool – a long crevice tool with a flexible hose portion for better maneuverability
• Pre-filter cleaning tool (powered) – an automated cleaning tool for easier maintenance
• Small cleaning tool (manual) – a small brush for cleaning the brushroll or small crevices in the vacuum
• Crevice tool – a shorter crevice tool with a narrow nozzle tip
• Combination tool (dusting brush + crevice tool) – good for cleaning jobs that cause you to switch tools frequently, like automobile interiors.
• Soft dusting brush – a wider dusting surface for cleaning hard surface furniture or dusting automobile interiors
• Pre-filter (x2) – needed for proper filtration
• Battery (x2) – battery can run for up to 100 minutes, without powered attachments
• Wall mount – provides storage space for the handheld and 2 attachments

NOTE: As mentioned above, if you’re interested in the soft roller cleaning head, check out the Tineco Pure ONE S12 Plus. This model includes this additional cleaning head which can be useful when cleaning hardwoods or tile flooring.

Cleaning Tests

The following vacuum cleaner tests are designed to show how the Tineco S12 performs on different surfaces, picking up a variety of debris types.

We test on three different floor types, including hardwood floors, low pile carpet, and high pile carpet.

Hardwood Floor Cleaning

The results on hardwoods were overall pretty good if you overlook one thing — cereal. When cleaning kitty litter, rice, and sugar, it was able to capture 100% of debris, but when cleaning cereal, the debris was just too tall to be swept under the cleaning head.

Instead, the cleaning head simply pushed this debris forward. Of course, this could be overcome by switching to the handheld mode and using the soft dusting brush or one of the crevice tools.

Bear in mind, we tested the Tineco Pure One S12 standard version. The S12 Plus version includes a soft roller head, which is more able to remove large debris from hard surfaces. We would expect the S12 Plus to score 100% on all hardwood debris.

Low Carpet Cleaning

When cleaning low pile carpet, the results were better. Unlike on hardwoods, the Tineco was able to capture 100% of cereal, kitty litter, and rice.

Sugar showed a little bit of struggle, where it only captured 81% of debris while on auto mode. That said, when I manually moved it to max suction to removed 100% of the sugar from the carpet fibers.

High Carpet Cleaning

The cleaning results on high pile carpet were the best results on any floor type. This is actually pretty unusual for most cordless stick vacuums since high pile carpet has more dense fibers. Small debris commonly sinks down into the carpet and is difficult to remove completely.

With the Tineco S12, auto mode enabled a higher suction mode on high carpet than what it produced on low carpet. As a result, it was able to clean 100% of all debris types.

Setup & Usability

Setting up the Tineco S12 cordless vacuum was simple.

While there is a wide variety of parts and accessories included with the Tineco, it still makes it easy to assemble the parts you need.

All accessories and cleaning attachments simply “click” together using a quick release button.

That same connection that is used to connect the cleaning head to the wand for stick vacuum use also connects all of the handheld attachments directly to the motor body when used as a handheld vacuum.

The Tineco S12 is easy to maneuver and can make tight 45° turns, while the handle itself can turn up to 90°. It can lay somewhat flat (see below), but not 100%.

Update Note: Following our initial publishing of the review Tineco pointed out to us that the S12 can lay flat if you rotate the handle 90 degrees. See image below.

Maintenance

Maintaining the Tineco S12 is pretty typical compared to other cordless stick vacuums. Basic maintenance tasks include:

• Empty the dust bin regularly.
• Replace the battery as needed.
• Clean the filter.

Cleaning the filter is extremely simple considering the Tineco S12 comes with a powered self-cleaning filter tool. Simply put the filter inside the tool, attach it to the suction slot, and turn it on for a few seconds.

Battery

The battery on the Tineco S12 has a 2500 mAh capacity and a long 100-minute run time. In addition, the LED display or smartphone connectivity allows you to quickly see remaining run time and performance data.

Is the Tineco Pure ONE S12 a good value?

So all things considered, is the Tineco Pure ONE S12 a good value if you’re hunting for a cordless stick vacuum? I would say absolutely yes.

Although the name may be less popular, this vacuum is comparable with any of the other high-end 2-in-1 stick vacuums.

It has a great run time, smart features like wifi-control, smartphone connectivity, and an LED display that quickly communicates different notifications and status updates about cleaning performance.

The parts are high-quality and the unboxing process was notably one of the best packaging and attention to detail that we’ve experienced to date. Small note, but the efforts by Tineco did not go unnoticed in this category.

Tineco Pure One S12 Specifications

Who Should Buy the Tineco Pure One S12?

Considering specs, features, and overall cleaning performance — still wondering if the Tineco S12 is a good choice for you?

I would recommend the Tineco Pure ONE S12 if you’re looking for the following features in a cordless stick vacuum:

• Exceptional Performance: Despite the issues on cereal on hardwood floor, the Tineco S12 is still one of the best cordless vacuums we’ve tested to date. It removed 100% of 11 out of 12 debris cleaning tests on 3 different floor types. The motor creates more than enough suction to clean everything in the home.
• LED Display: The Tineco S12 includes an integrated LED display on the body of the vacuum that shows remaining run time, cleaning performance, and maintenance notifications.
• Smart Suction: This vacuum also has adjustable suction. When in auto mode, the suction will adjust automatically based on debris level or you can adjust it manually at any time using the simple sliding control on the body of the vacuum.
• Lots of Attachments: The S12 includes an impressive number of attachments and the presentation of these attachments in the box is organized, detailed, and easy to understand. Unboxing was simple and I was immediately impressed with the number of configurations available.

Want more information? Click here to learn more or to buy the Tineco Pure ONE S12.

Scoring Notes

In most cases, our performance score for vacuums is pulled straight from its cleaning performance. In the case of the S12, it scored a 92% cleaning score. However, we feel this is unnecessarily harsh in this case as all missing points are the result of cereal on hardwoods. The S12 scored 100% in 11 out of 12 cleaning tests. As a result, we feel the S12 is warranted in receiving a total performance score of 95%, instead of 92%.