LG CordZero A9 Kompressor review
The hand-held vacuum cleaner market has become very crowded,
and LG is eager to secure funds for Dyson through its CordZero A9 Kompressor
vacuum cleaner series. Except for the basic model of the A9 Kompressor series,
all other models are equipped with a mop attachment-a Dyson vacuum cleaner is
not available to you.
The convenience of having a handle that can both vacuum and
mop is huge, and the best thing about the LG Power Drive Mop accessory is that
it allows you to perform two operations at the same time-it sucks water from
the front and spits water from the back. Although some hard, clumpy dirt may
require some elbow grease to remove it from hard floors, we found that LG A9
Kompressor can handle most tasks except the hardest dirt.
Another thing that is impressive about the A9 Kompressor is
battery life: Although LG promises to provide up to 60 minutes of power per
battery per charge in normal mode (it comes with two in the box), in fact, One
battery takes 75 minutes, while the other battery takes a little over 70
minutes. Even in Turbo mode (higher suction), our battery life reached an
impressive 27 minutes after being fully charged.
Conveniently, LG’s handle has a separate charging base
(unlike Dyson’s wall-only option), which means you don’t need to drill holes in
the wall to store the vacuum. The stand also provides space for accessories (up
to three) that you use frequently, including any Power Drive heads and mop
pads.
Another great convenience of the handle is Kompressor
technology. Push down the lever on the outside of the trash can, it can
compress dust and debris, so that you can put 0.4 times the trash into the
0.44L trash can.
Like the old CordZero A9 series handles, LG also integrated
ThinQ technology into the A9 Kompressor series. In this way, you can track the
operating status of the device through the supporting application, including
the device's filter, the life of the accessory, and the cleaning history.
Although this information may be useful to some people, we found it completely
unnecessary, and we haven't used the app after initial setup.
The only thing that made us dock that half star in this
review is the overall weight distribution of the A9 Kompressor. The handheld
main unit feels heavier than a Dyson handstick and the LG can feel quite
unbalanced when you’re maneuvering it around the house, and it’s difficult to
hold the unit up for more than a few minutes at a time if you’re clearing
cobwebs from the ceiling. Moreover, the rotating mop pads also generate some
force, which can push the handstick at angles instead of a steady, straight
path. It requires a relatively tight grip that can be tiring on the arm
muscles, and a little time to get used to.
LG CordZero A9 Kompressor: price and availability
- Not available in all markets
- Expensive
There are four models in the LG CordZero A9 Kompressor
series. The main difference between them is the accessories they come with and
the color scheme used in the design. The price of the basic model (called A9K
Core in Australia) starts from US$699/AU$1,099 and the price of the Ultra model
starts from US$799/AU$1,299. The basic model is the only model without a mop
function.
This is by no means cheap, especially because there are
sharks and Bissell vacuum mops that are cheaper, but they are not widely available.
Similarly, LG has not expanded its tentacles to all markets-they are currently
available for purchase in the US and Australia, but are not listed on LG's UK
website.
Design
- Free-standing charging station
- Dustbin compacts dirt
- Very useful mop attachment
The cordless handle is not a novice, LG sticks to the
familiar design that most people will be immediately familiar with. The
stand-alone charging station is the distinctive main competitor of CordZero A9
Kompressor, Dyson. It is divided into several parts, you need to assemble (may
need to consult the manual to complete), but what we really like about the
charging station is the vertical part and the cable management options behind
each point. Can be used to store your frequently used tools. The charging
station can also be wall mounted, but I'm glad you can choose.
As we mentioned, the A9 Kompressor handle is equipped with
two batteries, and the base is designed to fill the spare battery when another
battery is used with the vacuum cleaner. Below the clip for storing the handle
is a wall with with a charging board for the second battery pack.
All four A9 Kompressor models come with a multi-surface
power driven nozzle, combination and crevice tool, and there is enough space to
store them on the charging station. In addition, each A9 Kompressor model has a
different combination of other tools and Power Drive cleaning heads-the easiest
way to distinguish them is the color of the handle.
We received a purple model of the A9 Kompressor series (LG
calls it Vintage Wine) with an additional hard floor electric nozzle, electric
mop and two tools for handling hard soil and upholstery. This is a versatile
kit that allows you to clean almost all surfaces and has the added benefit of
wiping the floor.
Therefore, let us dive into Power Drive Mop directly. This
is the largest cleaning head in the box-a transparent gray "water
tank" on the top and a pair of rotating discs with Velcro on the bottom.
With the push of a button, the top tank can be ejected and filled through the
opening on the side. During our testing, the tank fixture appeared to be
drip-proof. There are two pairs of round mops in the box-one pair is soft and
the other pair is used to "polish" the floor. All you have to do is
to choose a pair of matching objects, wet them, wring them out, and then glue
them to the Velcro. There is water in the water tank and you are ready to go.
The advantage of Power Drive Mop is that there is also a
suction hole on the front. If you only need a mop, then you need an ordinary
power supply, but if you want to vacuum and mop anywhere – just like we do,
every time we use the handle, it saves us a lot of time – and then bumps into a
cleaning process , The power and dirt of the turbocharger, dirt and stains have
disappeared.
You can even choose the frequency of spraying water during
the mop. There are two settings to choose from-spray every eight seconds or
spray every six seconds.
Another interesting thing about the A9 Kompressor series is
the amount of dirt it can hold in the relatively small 0.44L trash can. There
is a compressor in the trash can, which can be pushed down by an external
lever. If the trash can is full, just press the lever down several times and
the dust and hair inside will be compressed, thus freeing up more space. This
means that you reduce the time to empty the trash can, which is ideal for large
spaces.
There are three types of removable and cleanable filters. In
the long run, the maintenance cost of the A9 Kompressor is lower. In fact, an
additional pre-filter is provided in the box (accessible by removing the front
panel of the handheld host).
All other parts on the LG handle are self-explanatory, and
all controls can be easily reached with the thumb. LG is doing better than
Dyson again here-during the cleaning process, you don't need to press and hold
the power button (for Dyson, it's a trigger), you just need to turn on the
power button. This is our main complaint about the Dyson handle because it can
cause wrist pain.
If you need to increase the suction power, please press the
Turbo button once to raise it from the "normal" mode to the
"power" mode, and press it again to change it from the
"power" to the "Turbo" mode and get the maximum suction
power.
You only need to press the button on the front of the handle
to connect the handle to the home Wi-Fi network, but we found it unnecessary.
You only need it when you want to use the app, which is very convenient for you
to know when you should clean the filter and how much cleaning has been done.
We did set up the application, but never felt the need to use it.
Handling
- Heavy
- Feels unbalanced
- Power Drive Mop pulls handstick in angles
This is our only complaint about the LG A9 Kompressor
handle-it feels heavy. Equipped with a telescopic tube and a multi-surface
power-driven nozzle, the weight is only 2.7kg, which is 100g heavier than Dyson
V10 and 3.5kg lighter than Dyson V11 Outsize, but the weight distribution feels
wrong.
Where Dyson feels well-balanced, the A9 Kompressor does not.
All the weight is concentrated on the palm console, and a little pressure is
put on the arm muscles. If you want to install a spider web on the ceiling, it
is also difficult to lift it up.
In addition, additional operations are required when using
Power Drive Mop. The two mop discs rotate in opposite directions, but the force
they generate does not push the vacuum "forward", but guides it at a
small angle. When mopping the floor, you will occasionally feel the handle
loosen, which will instinctively make you tighten the handle and may cause
muscle fatigue. It does not debilitate in any way, but it takes some time to
adapt.
Cleaning performance
- Powerful suction
- Excellent mopping capabilities
- Very versatile
Although the handle is bulky, the LG A9 Kompressor is a good
investment, especially the model that comes with the mop. The multi-surface
cleaning head hardly entangles hair and bristles, and the Hard Floor Nozzle
does a good job on hard floors. Compared with the multi-surface nozzle, it is
much better at handling larger debris, but some corn flakes on the floor are
really troublesome.
It took several attempts for a half-inch plastic bag to be
sucked by the two nozzles, but some perseverance paid off. Therefore, although
the A9 Kompressor may struggle with larger debris, its daily cleaning ability
is excellent.
In the "normal" vacuuming mode, the carpet will be
hairless after several sweeps, while the "accelerated" mode will
definitely make the hair top-like. What’s impressive is that it is one of the
few cordless vacuum cleaners that we have tested. In normal mode, the vacuum
cleaner can provide up to 70 minutes of non-fading suction power, while in
Turbo mode it can provide 27 minutes. Amazing vacuuming time. This is far more
than LG advertising. With two batteries at your disposal, you can easily clean
up a large family house and put some more!
Occasionally wiping hard floors requires some elbow grease,
especially if you have children or pets. Since we are not sure whether the A9
Kompressor's mop can handle the arduous work, we made our test space as messy
as possible within two weeks after the initial vacuum test. There are clumpy
stains on the kitchen floor, footprints in the bathroom, and a lot of hair and
dust in the rest of the house. And, boy, we are impressed.
We did not perform a quick vacuum-only operation before the
mop, but directly performed a vacuum + mop operation (by setting the power mode
to Turbo) on this dirty floor, and the A9 handled it well. Admittedly, we
needed to look through it a few times, but in the end, our floor was almost
spotless. There is only one dirty place that refuses to manipulate the floor of
our kitchen because the mop is softer.
Rough stains are better for clumpy stains, but there are
some things that always require you to put your hands and knees down. Please
note that the thickness of the mop is small, and a dry strip appears in the
center of each sweep. Therefore, you will need to traverse each room several
(or more) times, but the result is still good.
The A9 Kompressor can do all this without making too much
noise. We found that in the "normal" mode, the A9 Kompressor is
quieter than the Dyson V7 and V8 handles, and when mopping, the hum is very
small.
Thank you
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