Samsung Bespoke AI Jet Ultra

Introduction

The Samsung Bespoke AI Jet Ultra is an update to the previous AI-powered cordless vacuum, the Samsung Bespoke Jet AI. While both share a similar dock, range of tools and set of controls, the new model has more power and an improved AI system that recognises more floor types.

I was a fan of the original vacuum cleaner, and the improvements here make this one a great cleaner for full-home vacuuming, able to adapt to the floor and level of dirt.

Design and Features

• AI mode
• Self-emptying
• Works with SmartThings

Externally, there’s not much difference between the Samsung Bespoke AI Jet Ultra and the older Samsung Bespoke Jet AI, with both cleaners sharing the same rough design and the same self-emptying docking station.

The main external difference is that the Samsung Bespoke AI Jet Ultra is now available in a fetching mint-green colour, although there is a black one if you prefer. The green is used on both the vacuum cleaner and the docking station, and makes for a striking combination.

As with the original, the docking station takes 2-litre bags, which are big enough to take four full loads from the vacuum cleaner’s integrated 0.5-litre bin. In most cases, you’re probably looking at between four and six weeks of use before the bag needs to be replaced.

With the Shark PowerDetect Clean & Empty IP3251UKT you don’t have to worry about bags, as the docking station is bagless.

However, even with a bag, a self-empty station is very useful. With the Samsung Bespoke AI Jet Ultra you just drop the cleaner on top and the dust is all sucked out cleanly, while the vacuum cleaner starts to charge, showing a helpful charge percentage on its screen.

While you don’t have to touch the vacuum cleaner’s main bin often, you will need to occasionally remove it to clean the filter that pulls out from the back. I could also open the front flap to wash out the bin, which I recommend doing every month or so.

Samsung provides a lot of accessories in the box, and a handy caddy that takes all of them, bar the floor head that you’re currently using. There’s a carry handle on top of the caddy, which makes it easy to transport the accessories where you need them to go.

The accessories are: a dusting brush, extendable crevice tool (great for getting behind radiators), pet tool (with anti-tangle), floor brush, slim LED brush (for hard floors) and an angle adaptor, so that the vacuum can clean the tops of cupboards. That’s enough choice there to tackle any job.

As the main floor head has a soft roller on it for hard floors, the slim LED brush may never get used.

As with the previous vacuum cleaner, there’s an extendable wand. It’s great to have this, as it makes it easy to adjust the vacuum cleaner to suit your height, so there’s no need to stoop or hold your hand too high.

There are two batteries in the box: a large 100Wh model and a smaller 55.54Wh model. The battery plugged into the vacuum cleaner is charged in the docking station, but the other battery needs to be put in the provided external charger.

I’d have preferred the docking station to have a secondary charging slot, as that would keep things neater. As it stands, you need to use two plug sockets to charge both batteries, and a bit more space.

With the smaller battery installed, the handheld part of the vacuum cleaner drops down to 2.9kg, which makes it a bit lighter. That’s arguably useful for detail jobs, such as cleaning out drawers or around ceilings, but I’d take a little more weight to have two identical batteries, to double run time.

In handheld mode, there’s a power button to turn on the vacuum cleaner, which defaults to Mid power mode. Using the + and – buttons, I could cycle through the other power options: Min, Max and the high-end Jet mode.

As with the previous version, I think four modes is probably one too many, and I’d settle for Min, Mid and Max, with Max actually the most powerful mode.

Attach a floor head, and the same options are available, only this time you get an AI mode, which uses sensors in the floor heads to measure pressure and brush load to help the vacuum sense the type of floor it’s on: hard floor, short pile or deep pile carpet (Active Dual Brush only), rug, corners (Slim LED Brush+ only) or lift (when the vacuum is picked up).

The floor type detection lets the Samsung Bespoke AI Jet Ultra adjust its suction power and roller speed automatically. I could hear the difference when moving between the hard floor and carpet, and then again as I moved over my test deep-pile carpet, with the cleaner still easy to push over the long fibres.

That’s impressive going and means that this vacuum cleaner can quickly adapt to virtually any surface in your home.

The sensors aren’t just about floor type, as the floor heads can also detect when there’s more dirt being sucked up, increasing suction power to deal with bigger spills. It’s noticeable when running the vacuum cleaner over a bigger spills, as the power level suddenly kicks up a step. That’s all very clever, and the reactive AI mode ensures that only the right level of battery power is used at any one time.

AI mode doesn’t have any ability to tell you when the floor is clean, unlike vacuum cleaners with dust sensors, such as the Dyson Gen5detect or Shark PowerDetect Clean & Empty IP3251UKT. Dyson’s screen shows you when dust collection has dropped via the graph on its screen, while Shark’s vacuum has an LED indicator to tell you when the floor is clean.

In all modes, the rear display shows the estimated battery life remaining in minutes, updating in real time. I like vacuum cleaners that do this, as it’s clear how much further you can clean.

Samsung SmartThings is supported. Once connected, you can remotely empty the vacuum cleaner, which isn’t that useful. You can also change the default power mode to use, although the pre-selected AI mode is likely to be the best.

Performance

• Very high suction power
• Excellent floor and edge cleaning
• Gets tangled with long hair

I began my performance tests by measuring the power of the Samsung Bespoke AI Jet Ultra in AW at the handle. On low power, the vacuum registered 36AW, which is similar to the previous mode. On the Mid power setting, the vacuum cleaner jumped to 80AW, which is enough power for everyday cleaning, although remember that the AI mode will adjust power based on floor type.

I was impressed with the maximum Jet setting, which increased power to 339AW.

That’s a huge amount of power. I found that the Shark PowerDetect Clean & Empty IP3251UKT Review could collect rice granules 2.3cm away from the crevice tool.

With this kind of power, handheld jobs, such as cleaning out the crevices in a car or sucking up dust from the bottom of a drawer, will be quick.

Next, I moved on to my real-world tests, starting with the carpet test. Here, I added 20g of flour to the carpet. Running the cleaner through the middle of the mess on its AI mode, I could see a clean sweep through.

Finishing the cleaning job, and weighing the vacuum’s bin before and after the clean, I found that the Samsung Bespoke AI Jet Ultra had collected 96.5% of the dust. That’s an exceptional result and only marginally behind the Shark IP3251UKT (99.5%) and the Dyson Gen5detect’s (98.25%) scores by under 1%.

Next, I added 10g of flour to the carpet tiles, right up to the skirting board. Here, the Samsung Bespoke AI Jet Ultra managed to collect an impressive 98.6% of the dust, which puts it top out of all the vacuum cleaners that I’ve reviewed by almost 3%.

With the hard floor test, 100% of the rice was collected, and none of the grains fell or were flicked over the floor.

I then tried picking up pet hair. I combed cat hair into the carpet and then let the Samsung Bespoke AI Jet Ultra loose on the mess, and it removed every trace of cat hair.

With human hair, the results weren’t quite as good. The Samsung Bespoke AI Jet Ultra doesn’t have anti-tangle hair technology built-in. While my hair was removed, it was loosely wrapped around the floor brush, and had to be pulled away. It’s not too dirty a job, and the floor head comes apart for full cleaning, but I would have preferred an anti-tangle head. Samsung is launching a product with an anti-tangle head later this year.

Sound wise, the Samsung Bespoke AI Jet Ultra is in-line with the main competition, ranging between 64.4dB and 76.2dB.

Battery life is also quite similar to the competition. On the lowest setting, the vacuum cleaner managed 58m 13s on its lowest power setting, 29m 43s on the medium setting, and an impressive 12m 39s on Jet; most vacuum cleaners deliver under 10 minutes of life on the highest setting.

As the Samsung Bespoke AI Jet Ultra will most likely be used in its AI mode, I used this with the vacuum on carpet, pushing the cleaner around the test lab until it ran out of battery, so that it had real dirt to deal with. Here, I found battery life was 27m 02s, which again is good. With the quality of the clean, the battery life should see the vacuum cleaner last for a whole-home clean.

These tests are just with the larger battery. The smaller battery should add around another 15 minutes of battery life to this, giving more than enough power to clean even a large home.

Should you buy it?