Pat PilcherSummary
Samsung Bespoke AI Jet Ultra Cordless Vacuum
Samsung’s update of a cordless classic with an AI twist gets a solid workout by our vaccy man PAT PILCHER, who finds its reputation untarnished and its performance superb.
$2299
Having given top marks to Samsung’s original Bespoke Jet cordless vacuum, I was keen to see what they’d devised for the new iteration. The Samsung Bespoke AI Jet Ultra – what a name! – at a glance isn’t really very different from the earlier version, with a similar overall design.
Like the original, the docking station takes 2-litre bags, which can take four full loads from the AI Jet Ultra’s half-litre bin. In practical terms, this translates to anything from one to six weeks of vacuuming before the bag needs to be replaced.
A particularly nice touch is its colour LCD screen, which handily displays the remaining charge and cleaning modes. Dropping the AI Jet Ultra into the docking station, I saw it empty its dustbin into the station, the screen displaying its charge level as it recharged. When cleaning, the integrated displays estimated real-time battery life in minutes, which is particularly useful, making range anxiety no longer a thing.
In the box, there’s a tonne of accessories. This includes a super handy caddy that keeps all the brushes, mops, and vacuum heads in one tidy place. It also has a handle so you can carry the accessories to whichever room you’re hoovering. Nice!
Speaking of accessories, you get a dusting brush, a pet tool, a floor brush, a slim brush, an angle adaptor, and an extendable crevice tool (which proved perfect for getting into hard-to-reach spots), as well as a rotating mop head to which bundled fabric wettable mop pads can be attached.
One feature that has followed over from the previous model is the extendable vacuum pole. Thankfully, Samsung, knowing they were onto a good thing, chose to include it with the AI Jet Ultra so users can customise it to suit their particular height. This means there is no uncomfortable bending downwards or stretching upwards when cleaning.
Driving the AI Jet Ultra was dead easy. Hitting the power button turns it on or off, and by default, it reverts to mid-power mode. Different suction power settings can then be adjusted using the + and – buttons located on either side of the power button. Available modes include Min, Mid, Max, AI, and Jet.
With the floor cleaning head attached, you also get an AI mode, which cleverly makes use of sensors built into the cleaning head to detect what type of floor it’s cleaning. The vaccy detected our Rimu/Matai floors, the short pile and deep pile of the many rugs we have scattered around our house, and even more impressively, it detected corners as well as when I lifted the cleaning head off the floor. Detecting cleaning surfaces allowed the suction power and cleaning brush/roller speeds to be automatically adjusted to best suit the task at hand and make the most efficient use of its battery. Because the sensors also measure the amount being sucked up, suction levels can increase when the sensor detects more dirt, resulting in a super-effective clean.
Being an AI Samsung widget, SmartThings app compatibility is also available. Using the app on my trusty old Galaxy Z Fold 5, I was able to empty the vacuum cleaner and change which mode it defaults to when powered up. Given the great job AI mode did of balancing power and battery life, I tended to stick with it.
It turned out that the AI Ultra’s arrival couldn’t have been better timed. I’d just finished making a batch of gnocchi, and as per usual, there was almost as much flour on the kitchen floor as there was in the gnocchi itself.
Firing up the AI Ultra, I selected AI mode and gave the kitchen a thorough cleaning. Visually, the flour was handled effortlessly. Flour was gone-burgers, and the floor was spotless. Nifty LED lights on the cleaning head also made it easy to see how clean the floor was, as well as making it easy to find hard-to-see crumbs and dust.
After gnocchi for lunch, I then dealt with the sofas in our dining room, which also happened to be our greyhound’s primary daytime throne. Letting the AI Jet Ultra-loose on the black dog fur covering the sofa cushions, I was pleased to note that not only was most of the fur picked up, but little to no fur was tangled in the cleaning head brush. I suspect that with longer human hair, the floor head will need to be disassembled to remove hair, but disassembly is thankfully dead easy.
Samsung’s Bespoke Jet AI acquitted itself well. It was quiet in use, with noise levels typically between 64 and 76.2 dB. Coupled with its lightweight design, weighing a hair under 3 kg, and adjustable height, it boasts excellent ergonomics.
Setting the Jet Ultra to AI mode, I managed to squeeze just under 30 minutes of use out of it. In Min mode, this extended to just shy of an hour, while Jet mode provided only 12 minutes of use. This isn’t surprising, as Jet mode is intended for spot cleaning rather than whole-house cleaning.
The Jet Ultra is hard to fault. The excellent design combines well-thought-out and executed ergonomics to make cleaning less of a chore, and the many attachments mean there are not many things that can’t be cleaned with it. The cleaning results are solid, while its battery life was sufficient for cleaning our large villa with plenty of charges still in the tank. If you’re looking to up your vacuuming game, the Jet Ultra AI is a worthy contender.
