Tineco A10 Hero Cordless Vacuum Cleaner, Review

By William | August 9, 2018

Tineco A10 Hero Cordless Vacuum Cleaner

8.5

Overall Cleaning Performance

8.5/10

Features

8.5/10

User Friendliness

8.5/10

Build Quality

8.0/10

Overall Value

9.0/10

Pros

• Strong suction and good cleaning performance on smooth floors and carpet
• Strong suction and good cleaning performance on smooth floors and carpet
• HEPA-Level Filtration
• Effective Mini Power Brush
• Bright LED Headlamps

Cons

• Not Free-standing

Check Todays Price at Amazon!

Hands-on Review of the Tineco A10 Hero Cordless Vacuum Cleaner!

In this review I will be discussing the features, cleaning performance, build quality, user-friendliness and my personal and professional opinion of the Tineco A10 Hero Cordless Vacuum Cleaner.

Update 8/4/19:  Since I reviewed the A10, Tineco has introduced (6) New models including the A10 Master, A11 Hero, and A11 Master.  Also, May 10, 2019 Tineco rolled out their new Tineco PURE ONE S12 Series. (SEE Full Review)

Product Description

The Tineco A10 Hero Cordless Vacuum was designed to offer a moderately priced alternative to the popular Dyson V series battery-powered vacuums and similar models.

Tineco – the Company

Tineco is a newly established division of Ecovacs. The Ecovacs Co. is a well-established designer, manufacturer, and marketer of robotic vacuums. Their products generally receive high customer satisfaction ratings. The contact information for Tineco is: Ecovacs Robotics, Inc., 487 Bryant Street, 1st Floor San Francisco, CA 94107, CustomerService@Ecovacs.com, 1 /844-326-8227

Features

• 110 Watts of Fade-Free Suction Power
• 21.6V Lithium-Ion Removable Battery Pack provides up to 25 minutes Runtime Normal suction (7 min. MAX)
• Upgradable Runtime with Optional 2nd Battery Pack
• Hygienic HEPA Filtration System
• Accessory Storage Caddy
• Bright LED Headlamps
• Highly Maneuverable at only 2.87lbs
• Includes: Full-Size Power Carpet Brush, Mini Power Brush, Crevice Tool, 2-in-1 Dusting Brush, Docking
• Station & Tool Caddy, Charger Adapter
• 2 Year Warranty against defects and workmanship. 5 Year Warranty main digital motor

Watch this Cool Demo VIDEO!

Review

I admit, that when the Tineco A10 Hero Cordless made its appearance on Amazon, I thought it was just another new, under-capitalized company trying to tap in to the cordless vacuum frenzy.

I’m always on the lookout for new good quality products to recommend to my customers. When I discovered that Tineco is a new subsidiary of Ecovacs, the well-established manufacturer of robotic vacuums, I decided it might be worth my time to take a serious look at it.

The Truth About Cordless Stick Vacuums!

Cordless stick vacuums have proven that they have a legitimate roll as a tool for cleaning.

The promise of being able to clean your house without having to wrestle with the heavy beast lurking in the closet while wrangling a 30 foot power cord is very appealing. Many people are being misled by some companies making Utopian claims, trying to get your business.

A good quality battery-powered vacuum can generate between 100 to 115 Air Watts max.. That simply cannot compete equally with a quality corded upright vacuum powered by 120 Volts of household current that can generate 200+ Air Watts of cleaning power.

Everyday Maintenance Cleaning

But, that doesn’t mean that a good quality, well-designed battery-powered vacuum isn’t a viable product capable of assisting you with your everyday maintenance cleaning and quick clean-ups.

In fact a top rate cordless vacuum with the ”right stuff” can clean hard floor surfaces just as well as a corded vacuum. And, except for really dirty matted down dirty carpet pile, they can do a very good job cleaning low to medium pile carpet. They are wonderful for cleaning up surface dirt from any length carpet pile, and they can save you precious hours off of your monthly cleaning chores.

If your home has mostly hardwood, laminate, engineered, Vinyl, tile, or stone with area rugs a quality cord-free stick vacuum could possibly serve as your primary or only vacuum in certain circumstances.

My goal here is to give you a realistic picture of what to expect so you don’t end up being disappointed.

Build Quality of the Tineco A10 Hero

The old saying “a first impression is a lasting impression” has always rung true in my experience.

I was impressed with the level of effort and expense Tineco invested in packaging the A10 Hero. The box has graphics and print clearly identifying the product. It is partitioned for each section of the machine and attachment for maximum protection.

The main body of the vacuum comes housed in a separate box. When you open it you find the A10 shrouded in a white, velvet-like cloth sack with a drawstring; sort of like you might find a diamond studded fine piece of jewelry or watch. The shiny white with blue trim at first glance appeared to be of high quality. That cloth sack is ideal to store your attachments.

The injection molded parts fit seamlessly which is a good indication Tineco invested in quality tooling.

Customer Support

Something that jumped out at me is there is a sticker affixed to the rear of the housing near the exhaust port that says “Questions or Problems? Contact Us at: support@tineco.com.” One of the main complaints I have seen with other non-name brand products is there is quite often little to no customer support available.

Electrical Contacts

One of the first things I inspect when reviewing a cordless stick vacuum is the electrical contacts where the extension wand connects to the body and attachments connect to the wand. Cheaply made vacuums have small, flimsy contacts that soon result in problems. The contacts in the Tineco A10 Hero are substantially long so as to make good connections.

Accessory Connect/Disconnect

Another issue I like to examine is how easily the wand and accessories connect and disconnect. Tineco designed the A10 so you can easily connect/disconnect the wand or any attachment with one hand. You will notice an audible click when connecting an accessory that lets you know it’s securely attached.

The wand is made of anodized aluminum instead of cheap painted steel.

Solid Feel..

Even though this vacuum weighs a very light 5.3 lbs. it has a solid feel in the hand.  This gives the impression it can withstand the rigors of day to day use.

The A10 has high quality wheels attached to the floor brush with a hex shoulder screw for easy replacement. They have rubber-like tires so they won’t damage hardwood or engineered floors.

Ecovacs has a good track record of using quality long-lasting components in their robotic vacs. Tineco warranties the 110 watt digital motor on this product for 5 years which is the longest in the industry I am aware of.

Overall I consider the build quality of the Tineco A10 Hero to be very good!

Function and Performance

Runtime

After the initial charging of 5 hours I timed the A10 for Runtime. It ran a total of 23.5 minutes in Normal Mode with the Mini Power Brush attachment before stopping. That operating time should increase by several minutes as the battery is cycled several times.

Using the MAX Mode you can expect approx. 7 minutes before it stops.

Removable Battery Pack

The Tineco A10 is designed with a Removable Battery Pack instead of a built-in battery. This is a feature I really like to see in a battery-powered stick vac. It gives you the option to UPGRADE the Runtime by Double simply by purchasing a 2nd Optional Battery Pack (Available at Amazon.com)

A second benefit is that the Tineco A10 won’t become obsolete after a few years when the original battery will no longer hold a charge.

And a third benefit is it gives you two charging options: charge the battery pack while installed or uninstalled.

A Detachable Battery Pack gives the Tineco A10 Hero a huge advantage over the Dyson V8 which has a built-in battery.

Charge Level Indicator

The battery pack has a series of 3 LED lights that let you know the charge level. It will flash red when it’s time to recharge and all the blue lights will go out when its fully charged.

After two or 3 full cycles of charge and discharge you can expect approx. 3.5 hours to fully recharge.

Cleaning Performance of the Tineco A10 Hero

Hardwood and Smooth Floors

The motor-powered carpet floor brush that comes with the A10 Hero has alternating rows of both soft and stiff bristles. The soft bristles are about ¼” long and are great for hardwood and other smooth floor surfaces.

As I expected the Tineco A10 Hero did an excellent job of cleaning dust and dirt from my hardwood floors. It easily removed the all-purpose flour, coffee, and rolled oats I used in my test.

Large Debris

However, as I also expected, it had a difficult time removing the dried pelletized pet food I put down. It has more than enough suction power in Normal Mode, but because of the design of the carpet floor brush it just pushes it along on the floor. There is not enough clearance under the front portion of the roller brush housing to allow anything larger than very small debris to pass.  This is typical with almost any vacuum cleaner

An easy solution to this problem is to snap off the power floor brush and snap on the Combo Dusting Brush and suck up the larger debris. Or just use the end of the wand.

Better Option

A better, but more expensive option would be to invest in the Upgraded version called the Tineco A10 Master Cordless Vacuum.  This model has the same spces as the Hero and includes everything that comes with the A10 Hero model, PLUS an additional Hard Floor Power Brush and (2) Batteries which will double your run time.  So, for an additional $70 approx. you get a cordless stick vacuum that will perform exceptionally well on both carpet and hard floors with up to 47 minutes total run time.

With this attachment you can bring on the Cheerios and Fido’s Kibble & Bits, plus any fine dust and dirt you might find on your hard wood or smooth floors!  This well-mad floor specialized floor brush works great!

Carpet

For cleaning carpet the motorized carpet brush has rows of stiff bristles approx. 5/16” long for agitating the dirt embedded in the pile.

I scattered a 1.0 oz. mixture of hair, coffee grounds, oatmeal, and dry pet food on my Berber looped pile area rug. With the Tineco A10 set on the Normal Suction mode it easily vacuumed up 100% of the mixture.

It did an acceptable job of cleaning the dry pet food, unlike on hardwood floors.

Surprisingly, it performed equally well on medium length soft pile carpet.

Pet Hair

The A10 Hero easily cleans medium length pet hair from both smooth hard floors and carpet. Longer hair might present more of a challenge.

Keep in mind this is a light-weight battery-powered vacuum with much smaller capacity than a full-size corded upright.  It doesn’t have the amount of volume so you will find that the dust cup will fill up rather quickly if your floor has lots of pet hair.

User Friendliness

I found the Tineco A10 Hero to be very easy and pleasant to operate. It has a good feel in your hand and it’s light and easy to maneuver with the swivel steering.

The LED headlamps located on the front of the floor brush really make a difference helping you to see what you’re cleaning.

This stick vac has a finger-operated trigger for On/Off. You can choose to either hold the trigger in for continued operation or engage the Trigger Lock located to right side which maintains the trigger in the ON position.

There is a Button located at the top of the motor housing to activate or deactivate the MAX Mode. Although a handy feature to have I didn’t have any occasion to use the MAX Mode. This feature would only be necessary for extreme cleaning situations.

Another feature I like is the brush roller can be easily removed from the floor brush for cleaning in case of hair wrap.

Versatility

Besides the trendy look, one of the main attractions to this type of motorhead stick vacuum design (I call it the Weed Wacker Look) is its inherent versatility.

Fully assembled it serves as a machine to clean your floors. Detach the floor brush and you can clean overhead.

Remove the wand and connect the mini-motorized tool and you have an excellent hand vacuum for cleaning carpeted stairs. Or use the dusting brush for upholstery, furniture, or drapes and the crevice tool for tight narrow places

The A10 comes with a Docking Caddy for storing the tools, wand, main body, and an extra battery. There is NO charging apparatus in the Caddy. That is accomplished with the simple wall charger.

Filtration

Tineco’s A10 Hero is one of the few battery-powered stick vacuums that are equipped with a HEPA filter. The A10 Hero arrests 99.9% of all harmful particulates.

The filters are easily removable and cleanable. It seems to be well encased in the housing so there should be minimal to no leakage of fine dust around the filter. The filters are Cleanable and Replaceable.

This feature should be an important consideration if you or someone in your household suffers with Allergies or COPD.

Specifications

• Power Rating: 350 Watt
• Max. Suction: 110 Watts
• Power Source: 21.6V Lithium-Ion removable Battery Pack
• Charging Time: Approx. 5 hrs. initial charge and approx. 3.5 hrs. recharging after about 15 minutes of cleaning.
• Dustbin Capacity: 0.4 Liter
• Continuous Working Time: 25 min. (MAX mode 7 min.)
• Filtration: HEPA + Sponge
• Cleaning Path: 10.4 inches
• Weight: 2.87 lb. Main Body, 5.3 lb. w/ wand & floor brush

Pros

1. Strong suction and good cleaning performance on smooth floors and carpet
2. Quiet operation
3. Removable Battery Pack
4. Up-gradable Runtime
5. HEPA Level Filtration
6. User Friendly

Cons

1. Does not stand on its own

SUMMARY

Thoughts and Recommendation

The Tineco A10 Hero Cordless Vacuum has all the right stuff to come to your rescue. My first impression was correct! This is a nice looking, good quality vacuum that can be a welcome addition to any household.

I was impressed with its cleaning performance on short and medium pile carpet. It does an excellent job cleaning hardwood floors, although it didn’t do well picking up the large debris with the included power carpet brush.

Upgrading to the Tineco A10 Master will resolve that issue plus double your run time.  Also READ: Best Cordless Vacuum for Hardwood Floors

I found the 23 to 25 minute runtime to be adequate for day to day clean ups and messes. If you intend to clean more than one large room at a time I suggest you invest in the Optional Battery Pack so you can simply swap out the discharged battery for the fully charged one.

Overall Value of the Tineco A10 Hero

The Tineco A10 Hero offers excellent value.  The new and improved Tineco models offer even more value. It looks like Tineco’s latest addition, the A11 Master is going to make Dyson nervous.

The Mini Motorized Brush attachment is perfect for cleaning carpeted stairs. It’s designed to easily clean the horizontal and the vertical plane without having to contort your wrist.

I didn’t experience any difficulty emptying the dust cup except when I over filled it. I had vacuumed up some clumps of loose fibers that had shed from my area rug and I had to use a Popsicle stick to help remove it.

This vacuum feels light in the hand and is very maneuverable. The LED Headlamps are very bright and quite helpful for seeing the dirt.

The HEPA Filtration System makes the A10 Hero very attractive to anyone with respiratory issues.

Although it will not stand on its own (which is an inherent drawback to this type of stick vacuum design) you can use the included Caddy to park it, or do like I did, and just prop it against a piece of furniture, or just lay it on the floor.

I like the idea of the Caddy to store the attachments, battery charger, and Optional Battery.

My Recommendation

The Tineco A10 Hero Cordless Vacuum offers a very nice option for anyone who is in the cordless stick vacuum market.

It performs well on all surfaces it was designed for, including above-floor tasks.

It is not an equal alternative to the more expensive Dyson V8 Absolute but considering the price difference it does offer good value, especially in the A10 Master configuration.

Another option to consider is the Shark IONFlex DuoClean Cordless Ultra-Light Vacuum (IF201) which is also an excellent vacuum for approximately the same price as the A10 Master.

To help you sort out the options that will best suit your budget and needs I have included a Comparison Chart of the different vacuum models BELOW.

Also Read: Tineco Pure One S12 Cordless Vacuum REVIEW 

I enjoyed using and reviewing this vacuum and I Highly Recommend it!

Side-by-Side Comparison

Compare Tineco A10 Hero with A10 Master, A11 Hero, A11 Master, Tineco PURE ONE S12 M, Tineco PURE ONE S12, and Tineco PURE ONE S12 PLUS Cordless Stick Vacuum