I tested a budget vacuum that’s almost identical to my Dyson — it’s over £500 cheaper and perfect for quick cleans

As Ideal Home’s Vacuum Expert, it’s my job to test all kinds of vacuums, from pricier, big-branded models to lesser-known, more affordable options. And for the past three weeks, I’ve been testing the Ultenic U20 Cordless Vacuum to see whether this budget alternative has what it takes to compete with the best cordless vacuums out there.

Of course, most people assume that the best vacuums are made by the likes of Dyson, Shark, Vax, Miele and more, and I happen to agree as the owner of a £750 Dyson model myself. But I can’t deny that the deadringer for my bestselling model, the Ultenic U20, has impressed me way more than I thought. Especially for something so cheap.

In a nutshell

As the owner of a rather pricey Dyson Gen5detect cordless vacuum - which I will quite confidently call the best vacuum I’ve ever tested (so far) - I was certainly intrigued to test the Ultenic U20 out for myself. After all, looking at them, it would be easy to confuse the two.

Even on paper, with the Ultenic’s 60-minute run time (only ten minutes less than my Dyson), the 1.5L dust bin capacity (only 0.02L smaller) and the green laser technology (which is a dead-ringer for Dyson’s laser technology), they’re incredibly similar. And I found the budget Dyson alternative to be impressive in real-life testing, too.

While I will say that my Dyson is ultimately far superior to the Ultenic U20 in terms of power, technology, design and overall engineering, the more affordable dead-ringer is perfect for those who can’t quite justify the high price tag of the bigger brand, or for those who have smaller homes and don’t necessarily need an expensive vacuum.

The Ultenic U20 even offers a single floorhead suitable for all floor types, three suction settings, a freestanding design, and is ideal for pet owners, providing a couple of tools for effective cleaning. And while the dust bin emptying process is a little messy and there aren’t as many tools as I’d personally like, they’re small prices to pay for, well, a small price!

Specifications

• Weight: 1.7kg
• Max. run time: 60 minutes
• Bin volume: 1.5L
• Charge time: 4 hours
• Modes: Floor Mode, Carpet Mode, Turbo Mode
• Noise level: 78-87dB (tested by us)
• In the box: Main unit, flexible hose, adjustable floor nozzle, crevice tool, flat brush, 2x H12-grade HEPA filters, battery, adapter, wall mount

How I tested

Lauren Bradbury

Lauren is Ideal Home's Content Editor and Certified Expert in Training for Vacuums. So far, Lauren has spent over 150 hours testing a wide range of vacuum cleaners - as well as learning everything she can about vacuums from industry experts.

She tested the Ultenic U20 Cordless Vacuum for three weeks in her home in Kent, which she shares with her husband and dog. During this time, she replaced her regular Dyson vacuum with the Ultenic and put it through its paces during everyday cleaning and targeted testing.

Unboxing, setting up and first impressions

When the Ultenic U20 Cordless Vacuum Cleaner arrived at my doorstep, I actually wondered whether the delivery driver had made a mistake. After all, I’m used to testing up to two vacuums a month (and therefore receive a lot of vacuum cleaner deliveries), but this box was smaller than anything I’d ever received before.

It was also incredibly lightweight and super easy to manoeuvre into my home. So, this was an immediate tick… even if I did question how a full-size cordless vacuum had managed to fit into one small box.

Upon opening the box, I was amazed to see that everything was present and correct. However, I was a little disappointed to see that everything was encased in both plastic and polystyrene.

Although a quick Google search indicates that LDPE 04 plastic can sometimes be recycled, my local authority doesn’t accept it in my recycling bin. So, unfortunately, it had to go in my normal waste bin.

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Removing all of the components from the box took no time at all, and I was impressed to feel that everything felt fairly high-quality for such an affordable vacuum. Assembling it took a few seconds, as you simply need to click everything into place, just as you would with any other model.

One of the things that struck me, though, was just how similar it was to the Dyson Gen5detect that I use for everyday cleaning in my home. In fact, everything from the colourway to the overall design and feel of the Ultenic was reminiscent of this £749.99 vacuum.

But at a tiny fraction of that price, I couldn’t help but wonder how the Ultenic compared in terms of power. So, I popped it on charge for the recommended four hours before taking it for a spin.

Using the Ultenic U20 Cordless Vacuum Cleaner

At Ideal Home, we have very specific vacuum testing criteria that we must follow when testing a new model. But before I whipped out the giant cous cous, flour, and coffee grounds (yes, really) to conduct these tests, I wanted to use the vacuum as any other user would.

I started downstairs, pressing the trigger button to turn the vacuum on and using the ‘Floor’ mode to vacuum my mixture of laminate, kitchen tiles, and bathroom tiles.

I found the suction power to be pretty generous for such an affordable model, and the GreenEye Technology - which uses smart sensors to reveal hidden dirt - is a nice touch. I will say that it’s definitely not as effective as the laser on my Gen5detect, but it still helped me clean invisible dirt that I wouldn’t be able to see with the naked eye.

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I then pressed the button on the LCD screen to change to ‘Carpet’ mode for the rugs downstairs and my carpets upstairs - even testing out the flex wand to vacuum under tables and furniture without needing to bend down.

I found the suction power to be more than enough for a quick and easy clean, and I enjoyed using it. I do question how well it removed pet hair, dirt and dander embedded deep into my wool carpet, though, as it does tend to harbour a lot of nasties within the pile.

It’s worth noting that there is a ‘Turbo’ mode, too. I typically don’t use this mode as it drains the battery a lot quicker, but one thing I did like was the extra power it provided and the fact that the LCD offers you an insight into how much battery life you have left in each mode - so, you should never be caught short battery-wise.

After using it as naturally as possible to clean my whole house, I then set out my first ‘official’ test - sprinkling giant cous cous, a mixture of flour and sugar, and coffee grounds on my hard flooring to see how it fared against different types of debris.

It did struggle a little bit with the larger cous cous, and it did take a couple of passes forwards and backwards to pick up each grain. However, it didn’t have any trouble with the smaller debris, and it took just one pass to pick all of the flour and coffee up.

I then repeated the process on a carpet sample, and the results were actually the opposite. Although the vacuum had no trouble picking up the larger cous cous debris, it took a little longer to pick up the flour and coffee grounds. This is pretty standard for vacuums, as the smaller debris can fall between the carpet fibres and get a little stuck. So, this didn’t surprise me too much.

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As the Ultenic U20 claims to be ideal for homes with pets, I also grabbed some of my dog’s hair and sprinkled smaller strands and larger clumps on both the hard floor and a carpet sample as part of how we test vacuums for pet hair.

The lack of edge technology did mean that some of the hair was pushed around slightly, but I was actually very impressed with how well it picked up the hair without any tangles or issues on both types of flooring.

In fact, I would even go as far as to say that it’s one of the best vacuums for pet hair - especially for such a budget vacuum.

After these initial tests, I then continued using the Ultenic U20 for three weeks as my everyday vacuum instead of my Dyson Gen5detect. I didn’t really have any trouble during this testing process, and the suction and cleaning power remained fairly consistent, aside from one day when a hairball got caught in the tube.

However, the vacuum instantly told me that there was a problem with the ‘Duct’ and stopped working - and I used my 120cm Long Radiator Cleaner Brush from Amazon that I use to remove dust from my radiators to remove the hairball. It worked surprisingly well, but please use something like this at your own risk if it happens to you!

If noise levels are something you always consider when choosing a new vacuum cleaner, I also used a decibel meter to see how the Ultenic U20 compared to my Dyson. Although Ultenic claims that it’s as quiet as 60dB, I actually didn’t find this to be the case.

On both Floor and Carpet mode, the Ultenic U20 came in at around 78dB - which is slightly louder than my Dyson in its quietest mode. On Turbo mode, the Ultenic clocked in at 87dB.

I’m not someone who spends hours vacuuming my small home, though, so in smaller doses, I didn’t find the loudness to be an issue. If you have a larger home or are particularly sensitive to noise, however, this is definitely something you should consider before buying.

Using the attachments

In my opinion, a vacuum cleaner is only as good as its tools, as most people use this appliance for cleaning everything from the sofa to the cobwebs in the corner of the room. And the Ultenic U20 comes with a crevice tool and an upholstery tool as standard.

Alongside this, you can also remove the stick portion of the appliance to turn the full-size model into something akin to the best handheld vacuum cleaners. I tested the latter first, as I live in a home with very steep and narrow stairs that are almost impossible to vacuum normally.

Being able to do away with the long stick made this a breeze, and I even used the smaller, handheld mode on a particularly thick-pile rug in my living room, too. I did have to get on my hands and knees to do this, which wouldn’t suit everyone, but I did find that being closer to the floorhead meant that I could put a little more force into my vacuuming, which allowed for a deeper, more impressive clean on this thicker rug.

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I found the crevice tool to be handy for vacuuming down the side of my sofa and above my doorframes, and the crevice tool was great for dusting my windowsills and blinds. All in all, they do what they need to, and while they’re not remarkable, I’ve yet to come across vacuum tools that are.

You can also buy a bed brush for deep cleaning bedding, sofas, and fabrics, but this doesn’t come included with this particular model. This is a shame, as that is something that, as a dog owner, I’d love to have.

In fact, if I’m completely honest, I do like a few more tools with my vacuum cleaners, and this is something I found myself missing during testing. But I did have to keep telling myself that this was a sub-£250 vacuum, so I was still getting pretty impressive value for money.

Cleaning and maintenance

The 0.5L bin volume of the Ultenic U20 is perhaps a little below industry average for a cordless vacuum cleaner, but one thing I did find is that the shape of the bin meant that a lot of the dust and hair compacted itself within the bin - so it seemed to fit a lot more in.

Of course, this was great in terms of how often I needed to empty it (significantly less than I would for another vacuum with a similar bin volume), but it did also mean that ejecting the contents of the bin - which you do by pressing the grey ‘bin’ button on the side of the canister - wasn’t simple.

Every time I emptied the bin, I had to also get my hands in there to remove the compacted hair and dust stuck at the bottom, which wasn’t too pleasant. However, I do live in a home with a lot of hair on the floor - both human and animal - so I’m probably not the best example to go by if you live in a pet-less home.

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And, to be honest, this isn’t something unique to the Ultenic U20. I’d say that nine times out of ten, I have to get hands-on with the bin when testing a vacuum cleaner. The only time I don’t have to do this is when I test bagged vacuum cleaners, so I don’t want to mark it too harshly on that front.

Aside from this, the cleaning and maintenance of this vacuum is pretty straightforward. To clean the HEPA filter, you simply remove it from its housing (located at the top of the dust bin canister) and tap the dirt and dust off. For a deeper clean, you can run it under the tap and allow it to dry for a full 24 hours before re-inserting. Or you can simply use the spare filter provided instead.

The Ultenic U20 also comes with a cleaning tool to help you clean hair from the brush roller, and this is a nice touch. And while I did do this once to try it out, I haven’t actually needed to use it throughout the testing process, as I haven’t found tangling to be an issue.

It’s also worth mentioning that this affordable vacuum offers a freestanding design to help with storage (something my Dyson doesn’t have), as well as a charging dock that can be attached to a wall. These are all things that I think add a premium touch to a very budget-friendly vacuum.

How does it rate online?

At the time of writing, the Ultenic U20 Cordless Vacuum Cleaner has almost 790 reviews with an average 4.8-star rating, which is extremely impressive for such an affordable vacuum. Mostly, customers love the impressive run time and the ease of use, and the fact that it’s so cheap compared to other vacuums.

The only 1, 2 or 3-star reviews are from customers in different countries, and there are none from the UK, which is nice to see. And the only 4-star review from the UK so far is from a customer who wrote that they expected a little more power, but that ‘all that you can expect for the fair price.’

How does it compare to similar models?

I originally wanted to review the Ultenic U20 because it looked so similar to the Dyson I use in my own home, which is currently the top-rated vacuum cleaner in our guide as the ‘best overall’ vacuum cleaner you can buy. And when it comes to looks, there’s no denying that they’re extremely similar when compared against each other.

In terms of power, I will say that the Ultenic U20 is nowhere close to my Dyson Gen5detect - but if I were to compare it to another Dyson power-wise, I’d say that it’s just as powerful as the Dyson V8, which I also own and use as my secondary vacuum when I just want to have a quick whip-around or my Gen5 is out of battery.

I also feel like the quality of the U20 does reflect the price, as it doesn’t feel as high-quality as my Gen5detect, but one thing the Ultenic has that my Dyson doesn’t is the ability to stand up on its own, which is something I appreciate more than I thought I would.

Outside of the Dyson comparisons, the Ultenic U20 is perhaps most similar to the Vax HomePro Pet-Design Cordless Vacuum Cleaner, which retails at £299. The two cordless vacuums are comparable in terms of price, dust bin capacity (although the Vax slightly outperforms the Ultenic with a 0.7L bin), and the features included.

However, the Ultenic U20 does have a longer run time and is much lighter, so I think this model would suit those who prefer a lighter cordless vacuum or one that can be used for longer cleaning sessions. If you have pets, though, the Vax might suit you better as it does have a specific pet-cleaning tool.

Should you buy the Ultenic U20 Cordless Vacuum Cleaner?

If you don’t quite have the budget for a big-branded vacuum, I really don’t think you can go wrong with the Ultenic U20 Cordless Vacuum Cleaner. Sure, it may not feel as sturdy or as hard-wearing as a more established or well-known brand, but it gets the job done - and sometimes that’s all you need.

The run time is incredibly impressive, it stands up on its own (so is easy enough to store for those with limited space), and the suction power is enough to keep your floors spick and span. In fact, during testing, I felt like this affordable vacuum did a thorough job - not as impressive as my £750 Dyson, but not as far off as I’d thought it would be.