Redkey F10 Stick Vacuum Cleaner Review

The Performance

Noise:

The interesting aspect of the Redkey F10 stick vacuum cleaner is that the motor itself is quite silent and even at maximum power, it will still be very much bearable to the ear (reaches up to somewhere in the 65dB). But the brush itself seems a bit noisier when it rotates – it actually took me by surprise since I did not expect it to rotate and didn’t understand where the additional sound was coming from. In any case, I took a sound meter at about 2 feet from the vacuum cleaner and went through its available modes. There are five levels in total (each will light up two additional LEDs) and surprisingly, the noise doesn’t get that much louder between the modes.

Well, it’s not that surprising when you realize that the brush is the one that keeps noise constant across the power levels. At level one, I measured approximately 62dB at 2 feet, at level two, it didn’t change that much, while at level 3, the noise was a bit louder, at about 64dB. At level four, I measured around 65dB and at level five, the noise went up to 67dB. So, overall, it’s not the quietest at the lowest suction power, but surprisingly bearable at the max level.

Maneuverability:

Since you don’t have to scrub on the floor for stuck particles, it doesn’t put as much pressure on the wrist as a regular vacuum cleaner (stick-shaped or not) and the foldable suction tube is going to help with any back problems. This makes it ideal for elderly people and anyone that may have particular locomotory problems. Moving the Redkey F10 around is fairly easy, I could go next to the furniture and properly vacuum the dust stuck in corners (the most annoying type). Also, I found the front lights to be quite useful in darker hallway or during a rainy day, allowing me to clearly see the dust particles.

Hard floor (and tile floor) performance:

To run this test, I decided to skip cleaning the kitchen floor for a couple of days, while still making food and eating in the kitchen, so there are stuck dirt particles, stains and small food particles on the floor. To add to the dirty kitchen, I threw some additional dirt (as you can see in the video) and put the vacuum cleaner to the work.

As you can see, both the larger and the smaller particles were easily eaten up by the Redkey F10, even some stubborn ones, the only dirt remaining being the stains and a few particles that were properly attached to the tiles and required brute force to be removed. That’s why you shouldn’t wait too long to clean up after preparing food. This test was made at the lowest suction level and it didn’t need more to clean it up. I saw the same performance on the hard floors – it was actually easier, mostly because they were far cleaner, with only a bit of dust here and there. If you want to clean a far dustier room with various types of particles, I suggest setting the Redkey F10 to Auto and let it do its thing (all you have to do is just slide over).

Carpet performance:

The suction power is quite powerful even at the lowest level, so make sure that the carpet is large enough to not be halfway sucked inside the tube (it kind of happened to me and yes, the blocked brush LED did turn on). So, the lowest level was just fine to remove the usual dust particles. If you throw sand or any other finer particles that can easily be embedded into the fabric, then a higher suction level can be better and, in my experience, it was still fairly easy to clean the carpet.

How it handles the pet hair:

Since the bristles aren’t that big, a lot of pet hair will simply move into the dust bin, but, of course, a few will remain around the brush – just take it out (the process is very easy) and clean it before starting the vacuum cleaner again.

How easy it is to clean up:

If you read the Design and Build Quality section, then you know that it’s very simple to detach and reattach pretty much every element, so each part can be washed and clean, with the exception of the motor section (part of the main body) and the electric brush. The HEPA filters can be replaced and, as I said before, you do get one spare into the package. This is available for the in-depth cleaning, which needs to be done regularly to keep the device in mint conditions, but you can also simply slide the vacuum cleaner with the dust bin above your trash can and operate the button to let all the dust fall down (again, great for people with back problems).

The battery life:

The Redkey F10 comes with a 2,700mAh removable battery which can be replaced at some point, but it will have to be from the manufacturer because the enclosure is proprietary. Redkey says that the battery should last about 60 minutes, but, in my tests, it was a bit under 45 minutes. Recharging it from 0 to 100% will take up to 5 hours, so it’s better to do it over night.

The availability of spare parts:

This is a tricky one because Redkey is a very new company and the F10 is essentially the first vacuum cleaner that they developed. It’s true that the HEPA filters can be purchased from third-parties, but, if anything else breaks, you will have to rely on Redkey to make them available for you.

Conclusion

It’s not very often that we get to see a new product being better designed and offering more features than some established players in the market (in the same price range, obviously). So yes, Redkey went all out to make sure it quickly gets the attention of its potential customers. And I think it has gathered some deserved attention, considering that the F10 offers some interesting features, such as the foldable suction tube and the electric brush that lights up the path in front of it. But I also saw a feature that’s usually found on far more expensive vacuum cleaners and I am talking about the automatic dust detection. Overall, the Redkey F10 offers a lot of value for the money, with the only major drawback being the age of the company (and the risks associated with it).

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