Tineco Floor One S9 Artist review: A great wet and dry floor cleaning balancing act

I haven’t reviewed dedicated wet floor cleaners much since they’re more of a recent development compared to the standard stick vacuums with mopping attachments. The last one I tried was the Xiaomi Truclean W10 Ultra, and that was one bulky, unwieldly machine. However, this specific category has gotten more popular since Dyson came out with the WashG1 and Submarine head attachment. So here we are with the Tineco Floor One S9 Artist, a flagship wet floor washer that, on paper, solves every single pain point I had with the Xiaomi.

For starters, the S9 Artist is no less bulky or heavy; the vacuum itself comes in at 5.3 kg without water. However, it practically glides across the floor effortlessly. It has traction wheels at the back just like the Xiaomi, but the S9 Artist’s motor doesn’t just help it go forward, it also supports backward movement, so I could actually do the usual back and forth vacuuming motion without feeling the strain of its weight. Not only that, the motors are also independently controlled, so the inner and outer wheels are omni-directional and can rotate at different speeds. Tineco calls this SmoothDrive technology. Movement articulation is excellent because of this, plus you can tilt and swivel the stick 90-degrees to the sides to help turn corners as well. The S9 Artist even works completely flat on the floor, boasting an “ultra-slim” 12.85cm.

Now, understand that a wet floor washer will never be as slim as a standard vacuum on account of the need to accommodate water tanks, but the S9 Artist has a rectangular design unlike previous models with rounded reservoirs. This means it does have a nice flat profile from the mop head through the whole body. As long as the mop head can fit under an opening, the entire cleaner should be able to fit in too and I do appreciate this design consideration. If you remember my LG CordZero A9T-Steam review, I was quite disappointed that LG boasted a new super-slim brush head for the vacuum but retained a tall vertical handle design that prevented me from vacuuming under my couch properly.

The other bugbear I had with the Xiaomi W10 Ultra was that the wheels sometimes accumulated dirt as it went along, especially from rolling backwards, which cause it to leave streaks of dirt on previously cleaned areas. I also had to manually wipe down the wheels from time to time. The S9 Artist did not have this issue over the entire time I reviewed it, even when I simulated messy spills with thick liquids like chilli sauce. Just one glide over the area was enough to effectively mop and suck up all the dirt.

Maybe it’s the powerful 22,000 Pa suction, anti-tangle hair cutters that double up as dirt scrappers, or the trademarked continuous brush cleaning technology (Tineco calls it MHCBS, and I haven’t figured out what it stands for yet), but nothing has gotten past the rollers to stain the wheels in the past month of use. It even has this cool quality-of-life feature that backtracks a little to ensure there’s no leftover water droplets when you stop cleaning. Let’s say I’m very impressed with the cleaning performance of the S9 Artist.

Of course, there are caveats, thought most of it are inherent to wet floor washers and not specifically the S9 Artist. Cleaning-wise, Tineco provides a bottle of cleaning solution, which is par the course for most wet mops and robot vacuums. Every brand suggests using only their approved cleaning liquids because the usual detergents can clog up the pipes and damage the vacuum. My biggest problem is that even with the Tineco solution, it cannot effectively clean food or oily stains from the floor and mop roller. My personal workaround is to pour detergent directly on such stains and then use the S9 Artist to mop it all up. This works well enough, though it is an extra step to remember.

Secondly, even though the S9 Artist has a suction-only mode, you cannot remove the mop roller or completely disable water injection, so the cleaner can still only usable on hard floors and not on carpets.  

Unlike the Xiaomi W10 Ultra, the S9 Artist also doesn’t have a full-sized docking station, only a charging dock that doubles up as a heated dryer during brush cleaning. Because of this, the self-cleaning mode shares the use of the main unit’s clean and dirty water reservoirs. This may mean multiple trips to fill clean water and dispose of dirty water every time you clean your floor depending how large your home is. There are times you may be lazy and tempted to leave the emptying of dirty water for another day, but here’s some free advice, do it after every, single, clean or risk having a stale, mouldy smell emanating from your vacuum.

Prices seem to fluctuate, and when we last checked Tineco’s flagship stores on Shopee and Lazada, it ranged between S$1,079 (Shopee) and S$1,243 (Lazada) depending on platform promotions and shop vouchers applied. Still, this means the S9 Artist is going to cost you more than a Dyson WashG1, which has seen price cuts down to S$999, and is actually on sale now for S$799 on the Dyson Online Store.

There are definitely housekeeping checkboxes you need to do to get the most out of the S9 Artist, but if your home only has hard floors and you’re looking for a powerful and effortless floor cleaner, I still think the Tineco Floor One S9 Artist should still glide effortlessly into the top of your shortlist.

Note: The Tineco Floor One S9 Artist can be purchased from Tineco’s official stores on Lazada and Shopee.