When the opportunity to review a stick vacuum came up, I must admit I wasn’t particularly enthusiastic at the outset, but now that the Eufy Clean Mach V1 Ultra has to go back after a few weeks of view, I must also admit that I’m going to miss it.
The Mach V1 Ultra looks kind of like any other stick vacuum I guess, but it’s more — its a combination of a vacuum, a power mop and a steam floor cleaner, and it does all of these functions really rather well. According to the materials, it’s designed for sealed hardwood, stone, tile and marble floors, but it works just as well on vinyl / laminate floors (with a warning), and being a vacuum before else, it does quite well on carpets too.
It’s not without a few qualms, but overall it’s a capable vacuum combo and one that very nearly makes my aging Dyson stick vacuum look a bit underwhelming.
How’s it look?
On arrival, the Mach V1 Ultra comes in a giant box (well, two actually) and so while this may make getting it home from the shop a bit interesting (I doubt it would’ve fit in my car), it does make for handy play-box for the kids. The other more important benefit is that the Mach V1 Ultra requires no assembly, it comes out of the box ready to go.
Simply remove it from the box, charge it for a couple of hours, fill the clean water tank (even if you don’t plan on using it, as it’ll pop up a warning message if you don’t), and check that the dirty water tank is empty and filter fitted (it is, out of the box at least).
In terms of operation, it’s all rather simple really – you power it on, select functions and whatnot via the control pad on the handle. You can let the vacuum run at normal power, or if you squeeze the trigger, it’ll go to a max function … it doesn’t sound particularly powerful but it seems to do a reasonable job on all surfaces.
How’s it go?
The key selling point is the steam cleaning function. Emitting steam at 110 degrees, the Mach V1 Ultra steam function not only kills germs, viruses and moulds, but it’s also rather good at removing stubborn marks that an ordinary vacuum or mop just wouldn’t touch.
It comes with a warning though – the steam temperature is quite hot, and some floor types won’t take well to that kind of heat. While our vinyl floors didn’t mind it at all – especially because we didn’t dwell on any one area – if you allowed the heat to build up, it may melt some glues and waxes which could damage your floor, so be careful.
Probably the other warnings, though, aren’t so much related to damaging your floors, but managing your expectations.
Are there any issues?
The Mach V1 Ultra does a fairly good job at not leaving water all over the floor, but I can’t say it’s perfect – after a steam mop function, our floors were left damp to the touch, and after a bit of extended use, the mop / roller was quite wet, and even after the steam function was no longer being used, the roller continued to spread damp around as I continued cleaning.
The worst bit, though, was that the function to clean and dry the roller out is kind of unintuitive, and requires a bit of effort. The downside, if you don’t do it, is that your roller is going to stay damp, and stink.
Even with cleaning it, the wet roller took on a certain aroma after a couple of uses and while it wasn’t overpowering, it certainly wasn’t very nice. However, it was nothing compared with emptying the dirty water tank. That was an experience I won’t describe except to note it was deeply unpleasant.
What’s the maintenance like?
While the Mach V1 Ultra is without question more intuitive and easier to use than a separate vacuum, wet mop and steam cleaner, you must expect there’s a bit of maintenance to be done afterward to keep the unit clean and tidy, and this is a bit involved.
Without going into excessive detail:
- Empty the dirty water bucket (yuck) and clean out the waste basket;
- Remove whatever has built up around the roller head or suction tube;
- Fill the clean water tank again;
- Pop the Mach V1 Ultra on the charger and let it run a 45 minute cleaning cycle to stop the roller head becoming gross;
- Empty the dirty water tank a second time after a couple of minutes, and then the vacuum will dry out the roller head as best it can.
- Last but not least, wipe everything out to stop unpleasant smells forming.
My only other qualm was that the tube between the roller head and the waste basket is kind of narrow, and has a fairly sharp bend in it. If you live in a house with people with long hair, pets or dust, you can expect that this is going to get blocked fairly easily, and you’re going to be pulling apart the roller head somewhat often to clean it out.
I thought our house was fairly clean – and it usually is – but the vacuum blocked fairly often and this became rather annoying. Especially so because you didn’t just experience a lack of suction, but the vacuum would throw up warning messages constantly saying the tube was blocked.
Would I buy one?
Ultimately, this is where I decided to conclude my review – while the Mach V1 Ultra performed really rather well as a steam / mop device, as a vacuum it was a little uninspiring. It certainly worked well enough, but the frequent blocking and loss of suction left me reaching for the Dyson for use on soft surfaces where it did a better job (and blocked less).
On hard floors, I couldn’t fault the Mach V1 Ultra – it steamed, mopped and cleaned them well and left surfaces cleaner than they’ve probably been in quite a while. On carpet, though, it didn’t feel particularly notable.
The other note is that while it’s good at removing dust and other smaller particles, it doesn’t seem to do too well with other things that kids especially tend to leave on floors, like food, cereal pieces and the like. In fact, as often as not, these were either not picked up at all, or were, and then blocked the unit.
I’m left with mixed feelings. As a vacuum, I’ve used better ones that were somewhat easier to manoeuvre and did a better job of picking up all manner of things. As a mop / steamer combo, I’ve not used anything better and it definitely made a huge impact on my floors.
Ultimately, I’m left with the same conclusion as many other reviews of the same product – the Mach V1 Ultra is an incredibly well made device and the steam function is very effective at cleaning stubborn stains and leaving things (mostly) very clean. It easily handled cleaning my entire house without running flat, and while cleaning was a bit of a challenge, it wasn’t unreasonable given what the Mach V1 Ultra actually does.
If our house had less carpets and more hard surfaces, I’d be far more minded to buy one of these and keep it, but with our particular needs, a more powerful vacuum is probably more useful here. So, that would be my recommendation – if you have a house with tiles, wooden floors, or similar, and you find mopping and cleaning to be a pain, then this is one very easy way to keep your house cleaner and save you a bit of time and effort.
The Eufy Clean Mach V1 Ultra with steam function is available for $1,499.95 online and from major retailers, and you can get it for $1,199.95 without the steam function if you don’t really need it.
