What a fantastic little upright vacuum with a moving high powered brush roll! And what a bargain price with multicyclonic, easy to care for washable filters, too! I just wasn't sure whether this would be a good vacuum cleaner based on specs online, alone. After my question was expertly answered by sellers and some existing owners of this vacuum cleaner here on Amazon UK with regard to cord length, I think this is a good alternative to cheaper priced bagless uprights from certain "value" franchises, and where assembly on this model needs the least time spent putting it together. Out of the box all I needed to do was slot and lock the motorised power nozzle floor head to the main body and then slide in the combined height adjustable telescopic suction tube combined looped handle at the top - and after unwinding the black power cable and plugging in, I was set to go.
This isn't a poorly thought out paper pleated filter vacuum - but rather a well designed mini upright in my experience - that belies its cost price by some considerable margin!
The Hometek cyclonic upright vac HT681 is unique for the moment, at least in the UK although it comes from the U.S known as the "Dirt Devil Swerve" and owned by Chinese company TTI. Better built than "Value vacuums" by brand name alone in my ownership experience, the Hometek HT681 is only let down by ONE single piece of plastic that broke off the day I received mine - the external hose rest at the back of this machine behind the handle.
No biggie, really - because the clear, 1.5 metre stretch hose on the back of this vacuum is longer than the 1.1 metre hose you get on a Vax Mach Air (standard machine) and the hose can be pulled so far up over the handle of the Hometek to rest on the bin's top just by the main carry handle from the front! It measures 1.5 metres when not in use, but I managed to get this hose to stretch out to 2.5 metres when IN USE! The handle already has a separate dust and crevice combined tool located on a removable storer at the top of the handle, but both it and the main handle with telescopic height adjustment are unique to the machine's design. You won't find generic and universal 32mm fittings here, sadly. So if you lose the crevice tool with slide on brush option, you're sunk on finding an alternative and will be restricted just by the use of the handle with the hose attached at the back for extra reach and the shorter height adjustable suction tube bonded to the handle.
The super long hose is very easy to use without necessarily finding that the Hometek will fall over. It is permanently locked in at the back of this upright so that it prevents it from falling over. However, clean above the height of the Hometek and yes, this upright will roll back. Put it up against a wall though and the hose just stretches out if you pull on it gently.
However, I don't consider the Hometek a proper larger main sized upright vacuum cleaner for the home because it suffers from having a very narrow dust channel from the floor head to the hose as well as the suction tube and handle also having a smaller than average diameter. This will mean clogged dirt will likely to occur more than usual. It happened to me on occasion when I hadn't vacuumed for a week and the floor head couldn't cope with the amount of dirt taken up. Yes it is powerful but it has a smaller suction channel for a reason - it isn't a full sized upright vacuum by design and the small dust bin capacity means I find it needs to be emptied regularly.
Don't get me wrong - I think this is a terrific design and I like the Hometek a lot because the design is very space efficient and the adjustable height on the neck means my 6ft frame never requires to stoop when pushing the vacuum along a carpet. The force of suction can be felt when pushing this upright though and I was amazed as to how much this little vacuum can pick up before the small bin capacity has to be emptied. The Hometek can happily vacuum a carpet and it can happily pick up fragments, but give it a huge chunk of dirt or rooms full of dust on a floor and you may find that the floor head will clog up quicker than expected.
However it is great in a home that doesn't have heating because of the thrust of hot air from the 1200 watt motor that emerges from the front of the vacuum. The Hometek is also medium noisy, but around the same noise that a Vax Mach Air makes, to my ears.
To push along carpets, I didn't expect to find the Hometek to be that little bit heavier than expected. The one I bought seems to have had its straight edge rubber squeegee permanently removed - a suitable cost cutting idea that many upright vacs have to cater for hard floor cleaning. The beater bar does not switch off at all when it comes to cleaning hard floors, but it will stop rolling when the handle is swung back up to the upright position when using the hose. However, it also means that marking on hard floors can occur given the nature of the soleplate on the underside by the brush roll. I like the edge cleaning facility though and the way in which this little vacuum moves along floors in general; certainly it makes sense if you are fed up using a larger mains sized upright vacuum.
Though the Hometek doesn't have a removable top hood for cleaning the brush bar, there's a handy single coin dial lock on the underside of the Hometek that allows the brush roll to be cleaned, even if it means turning the vacuum over. A bonus to this upright though is that it swivels, which is a nice touch until I find that it only swivels to an angle up to a bit and not as much as the 45 degree angle that the Vax Cordless Air can manage. But that cordless vacuum is £200 more expensive than this little beauty! Due to the permanent hose located around the rear, it is also impossible to rely on the Hometek to clean flat to the floor. Take it slowly if you have all the time in the world and the Hometek picks up a lot of dirt in one go, seen easily by the dust bin, which by the way is quite small and as expected.
The looped handle at the top is a nice touch though as it makes it easy for me to grip the handle as I clean, softly or hold onto. However in my experience, the Hometek isn't as light to push across carpeting as the larger Zanussi Airspeed uprights (replacing better made plastics on the Hometek in general for a lighter injection moulded plastic feel & adjustable height of the brush bar with Zanussi).
Filtration on this NLOS upright ("No-loss-of-suction") with multicyclonic design is offered with two filters that both washable on this vacuum and a HEPA filter that covers over the roasting hot motor at the bottom. Failure to clean the HEPA filter every couple of months may result in a loss of suction from the vacuum. The top filter is very similar to the Vax Mach Air and it is a washable material filter which is easy to do. Hometek also include a spare one, which is another helpful touch. THE ONLY DOWNSIDE to the filters is the question of replacements - where would I be able to get them once the main paper motor filter ring starts to wear down? For the moment it isn't an issue...
Generally despite the 7 metre power cord length that Hometek supply on this mini upright plus the powerful suction and general ease of movement, I don't think this is a proper upright vacuum cleaner BUT it is a fantastic little one that offers the use of being a second "back up" vacuum, or perfect for someone in a small flat who makes do with a budget suction only vacuum but will appreciate the brush roll at least for short pile rugs. It will happily do a carpeted caravan too! It will require gentle patience with it if the home in question has a lot of dirt. When it costs little more than an air driven turbo brush floor head for cylinder vacuums alone, and despite having no auto cord rewind, this little vacuum cleaner is a godsend in terms of its compact design and strong ability.
To me it like a modern day but bagless Hoover Junior. And when you consider how much the Hometek costs, I think it is remarkably excellent value for money. When it only costs £20 more than an aftermarket turbo brush that some brands sell for cylinder vacuums, there's a lot on offer here in terms of an actual upright vacuum that is compact enough to be stored away and yet offers a bit more stretch and travel than other stick vacs on the market. After all, there aren't many at this price that offers a moving brush roll & such ease of cleaning with a long stretch hose. Thanks for reading. (NR2 2015.)
Three photos supplied here - one shows the breakage of the hose holder at the rear.
Second photo shows compact design is similar to premium priced Vax Cordless Air.
Third photo shows Hometek has a bit of restriction to turn on its swivel compared to the Vax Cordless Air.
| Brand | Home-Tek |
|---|---|
| Model Number | HT681 |
| Package Dimensions | 61.6 x 26.4 x 25.4 cm; 5.7 Kilograms |
| Power / Wattage | 1200 watts |
| Voltage | 230 Volts |
| Special Features | compact, cyclonic, hepa_filter, bagless, lightweight |
| Item Weight | 5.7 kg |
