Ultenic U18 PowerPro cordless vacuum cleaner review: “Lightweight but surprisingly powerful”

Price on writing: £135 | Check price at Amazon

Our Verdict

The Ultenic U18 PowerPro is a powerful, lightweight cordless vacuum that handled the daily mess in my family home remarkably well. After two weeks of vacuuming cereal, crumbs, dust, hair, hay and dried mud, I think it offers excellent value for £159.99.

My usual vacuum cleaner is a Shark Stratos, which I bought after somehow killing two Dysons. One fell victim to Christmas-tree needles that escaped from the dust tank and irritated the filter and the other lost a battle with a Lego brick, so I’m slightly wary of lightweight cordless vacuums.

At 3.34kg, I didn’t have much faith in the power or the resilience of the Ultenic U18 from first impressions, but sometimes good things do come in small packages. I was genuinely impressed by how well the Ultenic coped with daily use. It cleaned the carpet upstairs, the laminate in the kitchen and the wooden living-room floor, picking up most mess in one pass. Dirtier patches occasionally needed a second go, but the strong suction meant I didn’t spend ages moving backwards and forwards over the same area.

The Ultenic U18 cordless vac picked up hay in one pass

Weighing around 750g less than my 4.1kg Shark, I also found it better to use on the stairs. It was easier to carry upstairs and more comfortable to use on individual steps. As it converts into a handheld vacuum, I was able to test it in the car, and it quietly gobbled up the crumbs around the children’s car seats. I don’t clean this area as often as I should, so it wasn’t a pleasant job, but this vacuum cleaner handled everything it found.

Battery-life is another tick. Ultenic claim up to 80 minutes of run-time, but this lowers if you use the maximum setting. In my house, where I like to speed vacuum to get the job done quicker, I used a mix of turbo and carpet mode and it lasted around 35 mins, which was slightly longer than the 30 minutes my Shark offers.

The anti-tangle brush was excellent. I checked the roller every day throughout testing and haven’t found much hair wrapped around it, which is impressive given there are three girls in my house. 

My Shark remains the more sophisticated vacuum cleaner. Its lights are better, it automatically adjusts the suction and its anti-odour cartridge helps prevent that warm, dusty vacuum smell. The Ultenic doesn’t feel quite as polished, but it does a great job on carpets, stairs and the car for for much less money.

How I've tested the Ultenic U18 PowerPro vacuum cleaner

I tested the Ultenic U18 PowerPro every day for two weeks in my family home. With four children producing a fairly relentless supply of toast and cake crumbs, dropped cereal, after-school debris and bits of playground and astroturf, it had plenty of real-life mess to tackle.

I used the vacuum across every main floor type in our home: laminate in the kitchen, wooden flooring in the living room, a Totter and Tumble floor mat, carpeted stairs and the carpets upstairs.

Alongside general daily cleaning, I carried out repeated pickup tests with cereal, crumbs, and guinea pig hay. I recorded whether each mess disappeared in one pass, required a second pass or was pushed forwards by the floor head. I repeated the tests on both hard flooring and carpet where appropriate, using the same forward-and-back motion each time and used the flexible wand beneath beds and sofas

A flexible wand allows the Ultenic U18 to reach under furniture

I checked edge performance by running the main floor head alongside skirting boards before repeating the clean with the crevice tool. To assess manoeuvrability, I noted how easily the vacuum changed direction around furniture.

I converted the U18 into a handheld vacuum for the stairs, upholstery and car. In the car, I tested the crevice and upholstery attachments around the children’s seats, across the fabric and inside the narrow gaps where crumbs tend to collect.

To assess the anti-tangle brush, I inspected the roller regularly throughout the fortnight for wrapped hair, threads and blockages. I also checked whether its performance changed as more debris entered the bin.

I used all three suction levels and monitored the remaining runtime on the LED display. Finally, I timed the longest cleaning session I achieved and then measured how long the battery took to recharge from empty to 100 per cent.

Ultenic U18 PowerPro vacuum cleaner: What’s in the box?

The Ultenic U18 comes with plenty of attachment options, all with a push button, slide in and click method to connect it to the main vacuum unit.

Once you open the main flaps, there's a helpful diagram of what's inside and quick-start instructions. Under that, you'll find:

• Ultenic U18 PowerPro main unit

• Removable battery

• Flexible wand

• Motorised floor brush

• Wall-mounted charging bracket

• Charging adapter

• Two HEPA filters

• Mini brush

• Wide upholstery tool

• Crevice nozzle

• Cleaning brush

• Instructions

The Ultenic PowerPro box has a handy quick-start diagram to help with set-up

First impressions and set up of the Ultenic U18 PowerPro

I have very little patience for assembling appliances. If a new vacuum needs tools, a confusing diagram or anything that resembles DIY, my enthusiasm disappears after reading the second page in the instruction manual. However, the Ultenic U18 was very simple to get up and running. It was a click, click, click job: floor head into wand, wand into the main unit, battery in place and I had it assembled in under five minutes.

It took less than 5 minutes to unbox the tools and set up the Ultenic U18

The box itself helped. The key features and basic set-up information are printed clearly on the packaging, so I could see what went where without spending ages studying the manual.

Better still, the battery arrived with around 60% charge. Naturally, I ignored every sensible intention to read the instructions from cover to cover and started vacuuming immediately.

A wall-mounted charging bracket is included, but fitting it is optional. As somebody who has already established that DIY is not a personal strength, I was pleased that I could plug the adapter directly into the vacuum instead.

The U18 can also stand upright by itself. This sounds minor until you need to move a chair, pick something off the floor or respond to a child halfway through cleaning. I could leave it standing where I was rather than balancing it against the wall and hoping it stayed there.

Performance: how powerful is the Ultenic U18 PowerPro?

The Ultenic starts in Floor mode, designed for hard floors and lighter everyday mess. Press the plus button once for Carpet mode and again for Turbo; the minus button takes you back down through the settings. The LED screen clearly shows which mode you’ve selected, so there’s no guesswork.

Floor mode was what I used on our kitchen laminate and wooden living-room floor. It had enough power for cereal, toast crumbs, dust and the usual debris that appears beneath the table, but these areas don’t collect as much hair as our carpets.

Upstairs, I switched to Carpet mode for the extra suction needed to lift hair and dried mud from the pile. Turbo was useful for the messier patches and heavily trodden areas. I’m impatient when cleaning, so I often chose the highest setting and got the job done quickly, although it used the battery considerably faster.

I switched between carpet mode and turbo mode in the bedrooms to clean up faster

Ultenic claims 55kPa of suction from its 600W brushless motor. The 55kPa figure describes the pressure it can create when pulling dirt into the vacuum, while 600W refers to the motor’s power.

Neither number guarantees excellent cleaning by itself, as the floorhead, brush and airflow all affect what actually comes off your floor. For example, My Shark Stratos advertises 304W of power but it has a double action floor brush that picks up more hair with less power. It can also detect dirt and change the power automatically.

In practise, I felt that the Ultenic U18 needed a little bit more human effort to pick up dust than my Shark Stratos, as it needed double passes on some messes, such as mud. Grass, guinea pig hay and Coco Pops all disppeared straight away. If I hadn't experienced the superior suction of my current vacuum cleaner, I'd be impressed as the Ultenic U18 PowerPro is a very capable little thing.

How well does the Ultenic U18 work on carpets?

Carpet mode gave the powered floor head enough extra pull to lift crumbs, hair, dust and dried mud from the carpets upstairs. Most visible mess came up on the first pass, with only the dirtier patches needing a second run.

The controls were particularly useful on our stairs, where we have a carpet runner over painted wood. I could vacuum the runner in Carpet mode, press the minus button and switch to Floor mode for the exposed sections at either side. It sounds like a small detail, but being able to match the power to each surface as I moved up the stairs was genuinely satisfying.

I used carpet mode and floor mode for my stair runner

It also handled our Totter + Tumble mat without catching the edges or dragging it along behind the floor head. The vacuum stayed easy to push in every mode, and no hair became wrapped around the roller during testing.

My Shark Stratos still feels stronger when I’m deep-cleaning carpet, but the Ultenic performed far better than I expected for £135.

How well does the Ultenic U18 work on hard floors?

The Ultenic performed particularly well on my kitchen laminate and wooden living-room floor. It collected crumbs and fine dust without pushing everything forwards or scattering it sideways.

I have a kitchen table and a guinea pig cage living in the kitchen and the Ultenic U18 is able to fold down to clean these high-traffic areas thoroughly. I loved that it bends so that I don't have to.

A GreenEye illuminating light shows up small dust particles to help with deep cleaning

The GreenEye light shines across the floor in front of the head, revealing dust that isn’t always visible in normal lighting. It was effective, although seeing exactly what had collected on a supposedly clean kitchen floor was slightly alarming.

My Shark Stratos has white lights that cover a wider area, and I still prefer these. However, the Ultenic’s green light helped me spot dirt along darker sections of flooring and beneath furniture.

Does hair become tangled around the Ultenic U18 brush?

Hair usually causes problems for vacuum cleaners in our house. I have long hair and two daughters, including one with thick, below-the-shoulder curls, so our carpets provide a decent challenge for any anti-tangle brush.

I checked the Ultenic’s roller regularly during the test, expecting to find strands wrapped around it. I found none. Its V-shaped TangleTame brush uses a built-in comb to pull hair away before it can wind itself tightly around the roller, and it handled everything our household shed.

That meant I didn’t once have to sit on the floor with a pair of scissors and cut through a matted clump of hair. The brush kept spinning freely and I could empty the bin without also cleaning the roller.

I can’t promise it will remain completely tangle-free after months of use, but it performed brilliantly during my two-week test.

Can the Ultenic U18 clean underneath furniture?

The flexible wand was one of my favourite features. Press a button on the tube and it folds forwards at the joint, allowing the vacuum to reach underneath beds and sofas while you remain standing.

With a bendy hose that folds to 90 degrees, cleaning under furniture was a dream

I’m not naturally flexible and seem to be getting stiffer with age, so anything that saves me from kneeling on the floor or trying to fold myself underneath a bed is welcome. With the Ultenic U18, I could push the floor head into those awkward spaces without moving the furniture or hurting my back.

The GreenEye light revealed exactly what had been gathering underneath. It also helped me see how far the floor head had reached instead of blindly waving the vacuum around and hoping for the best.

If you’re stiff, have back problems or simply dislike crawling around on the floor, the bendy wand is a feature you’ll genuinely use.

As it's so lightweight, it's easy to run over sofas as well. My kids love to eat popcorn for a Saturday night TV-watching treat, and I liked that I could clear it without breaking a sweat.

The Ultenic U18 is my new weapon against popcorn down the back of the sofa

Is the Ultenic U18 good for cleaning the car?

I don’t clean the car as often as I should, but having a new vacuum to test gave me the motivation to tackle it. Once I started, the amount hiding around the children’s car seats made me wonder why I’d left it so long.

Converting the Ultenic into a handheld took seconds, and its light weight made it easy to carry outside and manoeuvre inside the car. As it’s cordless, I didn’t need to find a nearby socket or trail an extension lead through the front door.

I used the narrow nozzle between and around the car seats, where it picked up crumbs, dust and the usual unidentified bits produced by children. The wider upholstery tool worked well across the seats, while the smaller attachment reached into the awkward gaps.

I’m not claiming the novelty will convince me to clean the car every weekend, but it made the job much quicker and less annoying than usual.

How long does the Ultenic U18 battery last?

Ultenic advertises a maximum runtime of up to 80 minutes. The longest I achieved was around 60 minutes during mixed cleaning.

I used Turbo mode more often than the lower settings, which shortened the runtime considerably. Anybody hoping for 80 minutes at full suction is likely to be disappointed, but an hour was enough for me to finish cleaning.

The Ultenic U18 batttery can be plugged directly into a mains power socket

The LED screen shows how much battery remains, allowing me to see whether I had enough power to start another room. This was especially useful when cleaning upstairs, where I could do the bedrooms, pop it on charge while cleaning the bathroom and have enough charge for a downstairs runaround.

A full charge from empty took approximately four and a half hours.

Is the Ultenic U18 easy to empty and maintain?

Emptying the Ultenic didn’t involve sticking my fingers into a compacted clump of household dirt, which is always the main thing I want from a vacuum bin. I removed it, held it over the kitchen bin and released the contents from the bottom. Most fell straight out, although a coating of fine dust sometimes clung to the clear plastic.

The Ultenic U18 PowerPro has a decent 1.8l bin that empties with the push of a button

The dust bin was easy to remove and empty over my kitchen bin. Fine dust occasionally clung to the inside, but most of the contents dropped out without me having to pull anything free by hand.

The brush required even less attention. Despite all the long hair and curls it picked up from our carpets, I didn’t have to cut a single strand from the roller. I still checked for thread and other small objects, but there was no horrible tangle waiting underneath.

Ultenic has also included a feature that feels personally aimed at me: the LED display tells you when the filter needs cleaning or the floor head is blocked. I’m very good at noticing when a floor needs vacuuming and much less reliable at remembering that the vacuum needs looking after too. Given that I’ve already killed two Dysons, I appreciated the reminder.

The filters are washable and there is a spare HEPA filter in the box, so you can continue cleaning while the other dries.

How noisy is the Ultenic U18 PowerPro?

The Ultenic U18 produced an average level of cordless-vacuum noise. It wasn’t quiet enough to use beside a sleeping child, but it never sounded unusually loud or strained.

With an advertised noise level of 65 dB, compared with around 75dB for my Shark Stratos, it does have the upper hand on the Shark when it comes to noise (or lack of).

Its sound was closer to the level of a conversation than the louder roar I’m used to from my Shark. I could hear it running, but I could also hear somebody speaking to me without asking them to shout over it.

Turbo mode was louder, although I didn’t find it unpleasant during the short bursts when I used it.

One thing I did notice was a slightly strange winding-down noise whenever I switched it off, that was louder than the vacuum's operating noise. It only lasted briefly and didn’t affect the vacuum’s performance, but it caught my attention each time.

Is the Ultenic U18 PowerPro good value for money?

At £135, the Ultenic U18 PowerPro offers excellent value for anybody who wants strong cordless cleaning without paying Shark or Dyson prices.

It provides three power levels, an anti-tangle brush, a flexible wand, floor illumination, a removable battery and a useful LED display. It can also stand upright by itself and converts into a capable handheld vacuum for stairs and the car.

My Shark Stratos is more sophisticated. It detects extra dirt and adjusts the suction automatically, its floor lights are better and its anti-odour cartridge keeps it smelling fresher.

The U18 gets the basics right. It picked up the mess in front of it, didn’t become tangled with hair and remained comfortable to carry around the house. It also weighs around 750g less than the Shark and costs over £100 less, which are big wins in my book.

How does the Ultenic U18 compare with Shark and Dyson cordless vacuums?

The Ultenic is the cheapest of the three by far as Shark and Dyson cordless models start at £240.

At each price point, you get different features, but the Ultenic U18 PowerPro has more than enough capabilities to clean the average home.

Final verdict: is the Ultenic U18 PowerPro the right cordless vacuum cleaner for you?

The Ultenic U18 PowerPro performed far better than its £135 price might suggest. It dealt with cereal, crumbs, dried mud and plenty of long hair, usually within one or two passes. It was light enough to carry upstairs without a struggle, the flexible wand saved me bending down to clean beneath furniture and not a single strand of hair became tangled around the brush.

Admittedly, my Shark Stratos feels more polished. Its lights cover a wider area, it adjusts the suction automatically and the anti-odour cartridge helps with that familiar warm vacuum smell.

However, those differences are mostly about convenience rather than cleaning ability. The Ultenic costs around £100 less than my Shark, yet still has the power and versatility to cope with a busy family home. If you want an effective cordless vacuum and can live without a few premium extras, it’s money well spent.

About the author

Zoe Griffin is a mum of four and Mumsnet content writer specialising in home essentials and appliances. She has 15 years’ journalism experience and has written for The Daily Telegraph, Mail Online, the Sunday Mirror and The Independent. When she's not on a laptop, she enjoys long-distance running, karate and cheering on Brentford FC.

About Mumsnet reviews

All Mumsnet product reviews are written by real parents after weeks of hands-on testing. We never accept payment for coverage, and our verdicts are independent and honest. We may earn a small commission through affiliate links, which helps fund our work, but it never influences our opinions.

All prices are correct at the time of writing.

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