Tineco’s mess-busting vacuum mops went viral last year — I tested one out to see if they’re worth the hype

Vacuum cleaner mops are taking the world by storm, and the Tineco FLOOR ONE S5 Smart Cordless Wet-Dry Vacuum Cleaner and Mop is another model to add to that ever-growing list. But is this viral household appliance worth the hype - and can it stand up to the competition? Well, that’s what I wanted to find out.

After testing, I can confidently say that this particular model can undoubtedly compete with the best mops and best vacuum cleaners on the market today. In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever enjoyed cleaning my floors so much.

In a nutshell

In 2024, Tineco was all over TikTok. So, I managed to get my hands on the Tineco FLOOR ONE S5 Smart Cordless Wet-Dry Vacuum Cleaner and Mop to experience the hype for myself - and I wasn’t disappointed. Combining the suction power of a vacuum cleaner with the cleaning capabilities of a mop, it’s a tech-focused hard floor cleaner that’s surprisingly easy to use.

Featuring Tineco’s proprietary iLoop Smart Sensor Technology, this model automatically adjusts suction, water flow, and brush roller speed depending on the state of your floors to clean all manner of messes - from dirty footprints to food spills and even bigger debris. And while it offers a hands-off approach to cleaning, you can keep an eye on the colour-coded LCD screen to gauge the cleanliness of your floors.

It may not be the smallest appliance you can buy, and it may be bigger (and pricier) than your traditional mop and bucket, but the cleaning power of the Tineco FLOOR ONE S5 Cordless can’t be scoffed at. The dual-tank system keeps the clean and dirty water separate, so you’re only ever cleaning with a mixture of fresh water and Tineco’s designated cleaning solution.

The pièce de résistance of this hands-off cleaning experience is the model’s self-cleaning function, which means you don’t have to touch any dirty rollers or get your hands messy to ensure a clean appliance. It’ll even tell you when it needs a good cleaning so you don’t forget. If I’m being honest, there's nothing not to like.

Tineco FLOOR ONE S5 product specs

• Weight: 8.6kg
• Max. run time: 35 minutes
• Bin volume: 0.7 litre clean water tank, 0.8 litre dirty water tank
• Charge time: 4 hours
• Modes: Auto, Max, Suction
• In the box: Deodorising and cleaning solution, two spare brush rollers, dry filter, cleaning tool, adapter, and 3-in-1 docking station/charging base
• RRP: £399

How I tested

Lauren Bradbury

I’m Lauren, Ideal Home’s House Manual Editor and Certified Expert in Training for Vacuums. It's my job to test all of the products related to floor care, including vacuums, mops, and vacuum mops.

I tested the Tineco FLOOR ONE S5 Smart Cordless Wet-Dry Vacuum Cleaner and Mop for three weeks in my three-bedroom home in Kent, which consists of hard flooring throughout the downstairs. I also live with a very mucky dog, so my floors constantly battle dirt and muddy paws.

Unboxing, setting up and first impressions

The Tineco S5 arrived on my doorstep in quite a large, heavy box. And while this didn’t surprise me, considering the 8.6kg weight of the vacuum mop itself, I did have to put a fair amount of welly into carrying it over the threshold. However, it does have a handy carry handle on the top - so it seems as though Tineco has thought about this particular issue.

I was immediately disappointed, though. As someone who tests home appliances for a living, I receive a lot of parcels and have become very conscious of the waste filling up my dustbins as a result. In most cases, these home appliances come in recyclable boxes, but in Tineco’s case, it came in a recyclable box encased in plastic. This extra plastic seemed a little unnecessary as the box itself was incredibly sturdy.

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As I opened the box, I was impressed to see a ‘Quick Start Guide’ printed on the top of the box, and that the main box was jam-packed full of the components - including the main machine, deodorising and cleaning solution, two spare brush rollers, a spare dry filter, cleaning tool, adapter, and charging base. Many of the smaller components were once again encased in plastic, but I could see from the symbol that this type was, thankfully, recyclable.

With all of the components out of the box, I could finally assemble the vacuum mop. All I had to do was click on the handle and pop it onto the docking station to charge for the recommended 4-5 hours. I was a little taken aback when a robotic voice loudly announced that ‘charging had commenced’ - but the whole process couldn’t have been easier.

That’s because the main machine comes equipped with a roller head and dry filter already installed, so the ones you get in the box are spares for when you need to replace or clean them. So, everything is ready to go.

When it was fully charged, I filled up the clean water tank with water, added the Tineco cleaning solution (which smells delicious) and popped the tank back in its holder. Then, it was time to get cracking!

Using the Tineco FLOOR ONE S5

While I don’t exactly hate cleaning, I rarely look forward to it either. And although I typically have to egg myself on to get up and clean my floors, I actually found myself eager to use this Tineco smart vacuum cleaner and mop throughout my three-week testing process. Dare I say it, but it actually made cleaning fun, and this was largely due to the fact that it’s incredibly easy to use.

General cleaning

My first port of call was to test out the general cleaning capabilities of this particular model, so I used it to mop the different hard flooring surfaces of my home. Luckily, my entire ground floor consists of hard flooring (laminate in the lounge and dining room and tiles in the kitchen and bathroom), so it could become my dedicated downstairs floor cleaner during this process.

To start, you just have to press the power button and get going. And while you can adjust the mode by pressing the button on the handle, I never had to do that as the suction was always exactly as powerful as I needed it to be - even in a house full of pet hair.

Despite my initial reservations over the appliance's weight, I quickly learned this wouldn't be a problem. In fact, this wet-dry vacuum cleaner and mop wants to move of its own accord thanks to the self-propelling motion, so you don’t have to push it heavily around the home.

And as it’s cleaning, you can also see Tineco’s proprietary iLoop™ Smart Sensor Technology taking the guesswork out of the job, as the LCD screen and colour-coding allow you to visually see where the dirtier areas of your home are and when it adjusts the suction power, roller speed, and water flow accordingly. This was a nice touch, and I found myself getting a lot of satisfaction from seeing the dirtier corners and crevices getting the extra love they deserved.

The floors left in its wake were noticeably wet but not so wet that they looked soaking or would take hours to dry. They also smelled clean, thanks to the dedicated cleaning solution, and I have to say that they looked sparkling. After one cleaning session, I even felt my floors squeaking underneath me as I walked barefoot.

It’s also worth mentioning that this particular model has been designed to get as close as possible to baseboards and hard-to-reach corners, and I found this to be true. I managed to get ridiculously close to my kitchen baseboards each cleaning session, and I didn’t feel as though any edge was being left alone.

One thing I would say is that the head is still quite big to get into smaller nooks and crannies. For example, I couldn’t fit the mop head in the gap between my toilet and bath, so I still had to use a traditional mop with a smaller head for that job.

All in all, I actually found myself using the smart mop way more than I’d regularly mop my floors over the three weeks, purely to see how dirty they were. And it came in particularly handy when the rain started to pour, and my floors were scattered with muddy paw prints from my dog. For general cleaning, I couldn’t fault it.

Cleaning wet and dry spills

One of the main reasons why wet-dry vacuum cleaners and mops are becoming so popular is that they have the ability to clean up wet and dry spills. Naturally, I had to test out these abilities - and I have some very specific tests I like to use to determine whether I think they’re good enough for the job.

The first test is to squirt tomato ketchup on the floor and clean it up. This not only tests how well the appliance cleans up thicker messes but also how it deals with the odours that are often left behind.

As expected, this Tineco model thrived in the face of the red sauce. It cleaned it up in one pass; there was no residual smell on the floor, and I couldn’t detect even the slightest hint of Heinz on the roller afterwards. So, it passed that test.

The next test is a little more advanced, as I throw a (rather disgusting) mixture of milk, porridge oats, and rice onto the floor. This tests whether the appliance is capable of cleaning a lumpy wet spill - and once again, it had no problems at all.

Of course, the smart technology instantly picked up the fact that it was sucking up large debris and the colour sensor turned a bright red and offered a warning sound, but it still managed to clean it up without any issue at all.

Cleaning and maintenance

In terms of maintenance, it’s hard to go wrong when cleaning the Tineco FLOOR ONE S5 Smart Cordless Wet-Dry Vacuum Cleaner and Mop. After all, the smart machine literally tells you what it needs - and when it needs it.

Yes, when you place the vacuum mop back on the charging dock after using it (it has a very accurate 35-minute run time, but I rarely ever needed to use it for that long), the smart technology analyses whether it needs to be cleaned or not.

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If it does, the voice will tell you that the dirty water tank must be rinsed before the self-cleaning function can commence. During this stage, you're greeted with a disgusting brown liquid and hairball concoction.

And while it does make you feel a bit sick, it's very satisfying to see the appliance has done its job. There's even a brush to get into the nooks and crannies of this dirty water tank if you need it.

When you’ve done that, you need to press the cleaning button on the top of the handle to start the self-cleaning process.

This process takes a few minutes, allowing you to sit back and relax as the machine cleans everything from the roller to the tanks and the filter. Of course, you don’t have to watch it, but I found the whole thing quite mesmerising.

The machine's voice then tells you when the self-cleaning function has finished and when it’ll commence charging. You'll then need to empty the dirty water tank again, which will again be filled with (a slightly lighter shade of) a brown liquid.

After this, I removed the roller brush from the cleaning head and popped it in the little accessory holder on the docking station to dry.

This is something that I really appreciated, as this was something that the Dyson WashG1 I tested a few months ago didn’t have, and I often found that both the roller and the docking station stayed wet for days after using it - and this ultimately meant that it started to smell and go a little mouldy in places.

But by taking off the Tineco roller and allowing it to dry, it gives the docking station a chance to dry out, too.

Alongside this, I also cleaned the dry filter after every use as I found that both pet and human hair would get caught in it during the mopping/vacuuming process. But as I found it pretty impressive that it was able to suck it up in the first place, I didn’t mind this extra bit of maintenance.

How does it compare to similar models?

In terms of models I’ve tested, this Tineco model is most similar to the Dyson WashG1 - which I did give a respectable 4 stars out of 5. And while you may assume that a big household name like Dyson would trump a somewhat smaller (but still impressive) name like Tineco, I can quite confidently say that the Tineco FLOOR ONE S5 Smart Cordless Wet-Dry Vacuum Cleaner and Mop blows the Dyson out of the water.

That’s probably because the Dyson was marketed as a wet floor cleaner rather than a vacuum mop, and the Tineco indeed offers more suction power, which makes it way more desirable.

We’ve also reviewed the Dyson V15 Detect Submarine, but this is more like a vacuum cleaner with a mop head attachment that has small water tanks attached, so there’s a lot more faff that goes into the cleaning process.

Another model to compare is the Bosch Unlimited 7 Aqua Cordless Vacuum and Mop, but once again our reviewer gave it just 4 stars. Although she appreciated the intuitive gliding of the mop head, she found herself turning to a traditional mop more than she’d like during the testing process.

It’s worth noting that none of the alternative options above offer the smart technology that the Tineco does. So, that’s another win for the Tineco in my eyes.

In terms of the price, the £399 price tag may seem excessive - but in the grand scheme of wet-dry vacuum cleaners and mops, the Tineco FLOOR ONE S5 Smart Cordless Wet-Dry Vacuum Cleaner and Mop is actually incredibly affordable. To compare, the Dyson WashG1 is £599.99, the Bosch Unlimited 7 Aqua Cordless Vacuum and Mop is £499, and the Dyson V15 Detect Submarine is £799.

How does it rate online?

At the time of writing, there are 131 reviews of the Tineco FLOOR ONE S5 on the Tineco website, with an average star rating of 4.76 out of 5 - which is pretty impressive. 106 of those reviews are 5-star, and customers have praised the fact that it’s quiet, easy to use, and an effective smart mop that will leave floors sparkling.

Most customers also love the fact that the smart mop is incredibly intelligent and adjusts the cleaning speed to the cleanliness of your floors, as well as telling you when something is amiss, like if you need to add more water to the clean water tank or need to run the self-cleaning cycle.

However, some customers have stated that they find the smart mop doesn’t work as well on deeper surfaces of tiled floors, and can’t quite stand up to the task of dealing with dog hair and more extreme toddler messes.

Should you buy the Tineco FLOOR ONE S5 Wet-Dry Vacuum?

As someone who has tested a lot of traditional mops and a fair few vacuum mops, I really do think the Tineco FLOOR ONE S5 is worth the money - especially if you’re looking for a hard floor cleaner that will get the job done without much hands-on interaction from you.

Of course, I do appreciate that the smart functionalities won’t suit everyone and some people won’t want a vacuum mop that will speak to them on a regular basis, but if you don’t mind this (or can simply get over it), this model offers an impressive and effective clean every time.

The dedicated Tineco floor cleaning solution smells delightful and visibly cleans even the dirtiest of floors, and the self-cleaning function ensures that you’re always cleaning your floors with a clean appliance.

And while I do believe that this smart mop offers a deeper clean than a traditional mop, I do understand that spending £399 on another large appliance for your home may seem steep if you were torn between a smart mop and a traditional one. If you can afford it, however, I genuinely don’t think you’ll be disappointed.