At a glance
Expert’s Rating
Pros
- Good cleaning power
- Useful in small spaces
- Easy to empty
- LED headlights
Cons
- Feels plasticky and cheap
- Uncomfortable handle for large hands
- Noisy
Our Verdict
The Gtech Airfox Platinum is easy to use, gets almost everywhere and cleans really well. But its build quality isn’t the best for its price point. Overall, we think it’s a decent little vacuum, but you can do better without spending more.
Price When Reviewed
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Best Prices Today: Gtech Airfox Platinum
Gtech is a British brand specialising in affordable vacuum cleaners, DIY and garden tech, including lawn mowers, trimmers and tools. We recently reviewed and liked its wet and dry vacuum, the cordless Gtech Orca .
In this review, we’re resting the cordless stick vacuum, the Gtech Airfox Platinum. For all our top vacuum cleaner recommendations, have a look at our round-up of the best vacuum cleaners we’ve tested.
Design and Build
Fortunately, it comes with a lot of different attachments and even a hose that can replace the extension tube. But the question is whether a shorter extension tube wouldn’t have been more useful, as the hose requires both hands to make use of it.
In any case, assembling the different parts is quick and easy, but the feeling of questionable quality remains, along with a concern about accidentally breaking something during assembly.
When starting up the vacuum cleaner, the negative experience continues. The power button that must be pressed to operate the Airfox Platinum is wedged behind a piece of plastic, making it difficult for my large fingers to reach. Fortunately, it can be locked in the on position, so it doesn’t have to be manually pressed all the time.
The handle is also generally not adapted to large hands. After only a short time of use, my hand starts to cramp a bit from holding it. I guess Gtech’s founder Nick Gray has smaller hands than I do.
It comes with many different nozzles and accessories.
Jan Sandbladh
Performance and Features
Once up and running, however, the Airfox Platinum proves that it’s not nearly as bad as first feared. On the contrary, it can get into cramped spots and cleans well. At least, it does if you run it in auto mode or max mode. Eco mode is less successful in getting all the dirt, but on the other hand extends the battery life considerably (up to 80 minutes).
If you use the maximum mode, you won’t get more than a quarter of that time, at best. Auto mode is a little better, with up to 45 minutes of use if you’re cleaning lightly soiled surfaces, but in practice it’s more like 30 minutes.
These relatively short usage times wouldn’t be as big a problem if it didn’t take a full five hours to fully recharge the battery. In other words, the Airfox Platinum is not a vacuum cleaner for overly large or heavily soiled homes.
A plus also for the built-in LED lighting that makes it easier to see and access dirt under the furniture (or if you have a poorly lit home in general). And another plus for the fact that the dust container is easy to empty without detaching from the vacuum cleaner and is also easy to clean when you remove it.
Should you buy the Airfox Platinum?
So the Airfox Platinum is easy to use and cleans really well, but unfortunately it also has a few more flaws.
For starters, it’s very loud when running in max mode (or when it goes to max mode when running in auto). And it’s not just that it hums loudly, as many vacuum cleaners do, it also has an annoying high-pitched squeal.
It also can’t stand up on its own. Or rather, you can stand it up, but it’s extremely prone to tipping over, so it’s not something you dare do.
Airfox Platinum stands very unstable without support.
Jan Sandbladh
The wall mount is also very plastic and feels cheap.
For more options, browse our round-up of the best vacuum cleaners we’ve tested.
Specifications: Gtech Airfox Platinum
Product: Gtech Airfox Platinum Manufacturer/Contact: Gtech Battery life: Up to 80 minutes Charging time: 5 hours Filter: Hepa Dust container: 0.4 litres Suction power: Not specified Noise level: Not specified Dedicated app: No Cleaning modes: 3 Vacuum cleaner weight: 2.9 kg
Best Prices Today: Gtech Airfox Platinum
This article originally appeared on our sister publication M3 and was translated and adapted from Swedish.
Author: Jan Sandbladh, Contributor, Tech Advisor
Jan tests hardware and software in audio & video as well as smart home, such as headphones, IP cameras and car accessories. Jan has worked for our sister sites PC för Alla and M3 for many years.
Recent stories by Jan Sandbladh:
- Xiaomi Robot Vacuum 5 Pro review: A robot vacuum you can trust to do its job
- Eufy 3-in-1 robot vacuum E20 review
- Narwal Freo Z Ultra mopping robot vacuum cleaner review
