Review: Electrolux 800 Ultimate (EP83UB25SH)

Twenty years ago, Electrolux redefined the world of cleaning with the launch of the first cordless 2-in-1 vacuum cleaner, designed to be the perfect complement to a conventional vacuum cleaner. Over the years, the long-handled vacuum cleaners have been equipped with new innovations such as LED lights on the nozzle and self-cleaning brushes, while improving suction power.

The company’s latest model, the Electrolux 800 Ultimate, comes with an All-in-One emptying station that charges the vacuum cleaner and automatically empties the 0.4 litre dust container in the stick vacuum into a 3.5 litre Anti-Allergy s-bag (which is claimed to have up to eight weeks of dust capacity). Convenient and dust-free.

What’s in the box

The vacuum cleaner comes with a metal telescopic tube (which can be adjusted to a length of 95-112 cm), the PowerPro Multi-surface motor nozzle (with built-in LED lighting and BrushrollClean function), two additional nozzles for sensitive surfaces (one small and one even smaller) and a small nozzle with hose that can be attached to the emptying station – which is also a vacuum cleaner – for cleaning the other nozzles and parts of the stick vacuum cleaner. Also included is an extra filter for the pole vacuum and an extra s-bag for the included emptying station, which has a connector for charging an extra battery (not included but available as an accessory).

Practical use

On the stick vacuum cleaner there are two buttons, power and +/-. One button is used to start and stop, while the other adjusts the suction power by switching between the four different suction settings Auto, Low, High and Boost. There is also a battery indicator that shows the capacity of the battery (4,000 mAh), where three squares = 75-100 percent, two = 50-75 percent, one = 25-50 percent and one flashing = 0-25 percent.

The motor nozzle works well on both hard floors and carpets, but a lot of hair gets stuck on the rotating roller brush. There is a pedal on the motor nozzle that can be pressed to cut off hair that has become tangled around the brush (something that sounds very loud while the vacuum cleaner itself is relatively quiet) and this function is called BrushrollClean. However, we found that the function didn’t work that well and only removed some of the hair around the brush. However, it was quite easy to remove the remaining hair manually.

Electrolux states the operating time as max. 90 minutes (only with the handset in Low mode) and min. 6 minutes (with the motor nozzle and in Boost mode). In our test, the battery lasted approximately 45 minutes in normal use (with motor nozzle and in Auto mode) and just over 12 minutes with motor nozzle and in Boost mode – which is more than twice as long as Electrolux itself states. One explanation for this could be that we almost exclusively used the vacuum cleaner on a hard parquet floor, which probably increases the running time compared to use on carpets.

Stick vacuum cleaner or not

Yours truly got an Electrolux stick vacuum cleaner 20 years ago and after using it a few times, I gave it to my brother who still has it in his conservatory. It really was, as Electrolux itself says, a complement to a conventional vacuum cleaner. It worked well for removing breadcrumbs and the like, but wasn’t nearly as good as a regular vacuum cleaner.

Today’s stick vacuums are much better and some people have replaced their conventional vacuum cleaner. We noticed this last year when we borrowed an acquaintance’s apartment in Berlin for a few days. When we needed to clean the apartment before travelling home, we only found a stick vacuum cleaner and it was a challenge to clean the entire apartment with it on one charge…

Of course it’s convenient to get rid of wires, but even for simpler cleaning, a conventional vacuum cleaner is sometimes an advantage. For example, if I need to clean the kitchen after a dinner with three adults and four children (we had family over for Easter), the Electrolux 800 Ultimate works perfectly. It comes out clean and tidy.

But it takes at least twice as long as with my conventional vacuum cleaner. This is partly because the motorised nozzle of the stick vacuum cleaner is 25 cm wide (the rotating brush is 20 cm wide), while the nozzle on my conventional vacuum cleaner is 40 cm wide. But the fact that it takes much longer is mainly because the stick vacuum cleaner has to be driven (like a vehicle) back and forth and turn all the time, whereas with a regular vacuum cleaner you can sweep and turn as you like, with the nozzle facing the floor.

And when you’re done, it feels like the stick vacuum weighs 3.2 kilos, while the nozzle, telescopic tube and handle of a conventional vacuum cleaner weigh less than 1 kilo – and since my kitchen is less than 10 square metres, I basically don’t need to move the vacuum cleaner itself.

Conclusion

The Electrolux 800 Ultimate stick vacuum works well on both hard floors and carpets with automatic suction power adjustment. It has good battery life and is relatively quiet, but in Boost mode it makes some noise. What sets it apart from most competitors is the included emptying station, which eliminates the unpleasant task of emptying the dust container. The only drawbacks are that it can’t stand on its own, but has to be placed on the floor (which may not mean much as it’s naturally stored hanging in the emptying station where it’s also charged), the BrushrollClean function works so-so, and it feels a bit heavy.