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Review: will the wet suction of the Phillips AquaTrio 9000 make conventional mopping and vacuuming obsolete?

28.9.2022

Translation: Katherine Martin

The AquaTrio 9000 from Philips makes a lofty promise: to take care of the mopping and the vacuuming, all in one go. Although it does work, the conditions have to be just right.

Our apartment has got well and truly filthy. When two people with Covid spend a fortnight hanging around a three-room flat, the floor gathers a build-up of dust, crumbs and other dirt. Just as well I got my hands on a Philips AquaTrio 9000 to review shortly before the virus hit. The manufacturer promises that the device renders vacuum-cleaning obsolete. Thanks to two fast-moving rollers on the floor, its electric wet suction is able to instantly tackle all the dirt.

But my squalid sick bay proved to be too much. Soon, the rollers were just spreading the dirt around instead of sucking it into the dirty water tank. Luckily, Philips includes a useful vacuum cleaner attachment with the device. My first failed attempted showed that I need to rethink floor cleaning – and mop on a weekly basis.

Vacuum cleaners

CHF687.39

Philips XW9383/01 AquaTrio Cordless

What’s in the box? As little as possible, as much as necessary

I’ve got to hand it to Philips for the parts they include with the device. There’s a roller for mopping and a vacuum attachment, each with matching tubes. In addition, there’s a narrow, attachable nozzle and a roller for upholstery. That’s it. If you ask me, less is more when it comes to hoovers. While other models come with pet hair corner brushes and car interior nozzles, which are subsequently sentenced to a sad, purposeless existence in the cleaning cupboard, Philips really does just give you the most important attachments. Everything can be neatly stored on the stand included with the set, which also does a bit of cleaning. More on that later.

What’s especially great about the AquaTrio is the LED light on the vacuum attachment. This makes it particularly easy to spot dust and crumbs on the floor. However, this light doesn’t quite come close to the laser vacuum from Dyson.

Vacuuming is really easy. Just take the hand-held part, which houses the battery, display and suction mechanism, click it onto the top of the vacuum cleaner and off you go. The device has two levels you can switch between using two self-explanatory buttons. The suction works fine on house dust and crumbs, but when it comes to serious amounts of dirt, the battery-powered vacuum has its work cut out for it. In this arena, bagged vacuum cleaners have unbeatable suction. The dust container is slightly awkward to empty. In this regard, the competition provides some slightly more hygienic options.

Clean the floor often, but sparingly

The pièce de résistance is the wet-dry vacuum. Two rollers moving against each other allow you to wipe away dirt on the floor without having to vacuum first. In theory, anyway. In practice, when cleaning particularly dirty floors, you’ll inevitably be faced with rivulets of filth.

You’ll see ugly marks like these when the floor is especially grimy.

If you only clean your floors every couple of weeks, you really need to vacuum them first. At my place, this has prompted a rethink. I’ll definitely be cleaning my floors with the wet-dry vacuum once a week. It’s nice and easy to use, because the rollers move smoothly back and forth over the floor. At the same time, the device wets the rollers automatically, using water fortified with a few millilitres of detergent. That comes from a tank that holds just four decilitres – just about enough for the 90 square metres I have to clean. This means you save water compared to the traditional mop and bucket. When you’re done, the dirty water tank is easy to remove, empty and clean.

Both the cleaning water and the dirty water tank are easy to remove.

Self-cleaning stand

The thing that impresses me most about the AquaTrio is the self-cleaning feature. You can clamp the device into its practical stand, top up the fresh water tank and clean the rollers with a push of a button. The feature works so well that I never had to take the rollers off.

The self-cleaning function is a killer feature

Verdict: an expensive magic wand that prompts a rethink of your cleaning routine

The AquaTrio 9000 is perfect for those disciplined people who scrub their flats from floor to ceiling once a week, and people who have a carpet or two. Using the wet-dry mop on the floors and the vacuum attachment on the carpets once a week is enough to keep the apartment spic and span. The device is especially worthwhile for use in small flats, as you don’t need to keep refilling the tank. The battery life is also more than enough to cover my 90 square metres of flooring – after the first clean, it’s only half empty. However, the AquaTrio struggles when it comes to especially dirty floors or thick dust. If this is the case, you’ll need to keep using your mop and conventional vacuum cleaner. The device doesn’t manage to get under furniture or into awkward corners, which is why I’ll have to keep using a regular mop once a month.

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Simon Balissat

Teamleader Editorial

Simon.Balissat@digitecgalaxus.ch

When I flew the family nest over 15 years ago, I suddenly had to cook for myself. But it wasn’t long until this necessity became a virtue. Today, rattling those pots and pans is a fundamental part of my life. I’m a true foodie and devour everything from junk food to star-awarded cuisine. Literally. I eat way too fast.

Home + Kitchen

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Review: will the wet suction of the Phillips AquaTrio 9000 make conventional mopping and vacuuming obsolete?

What’s in the box? As little as possible, as much as necessary

Clean the floor often, but sparingly

Self-cleaning stand

Verdict: an expensive magic wand that prompts a rethink of your cleaning routine

These articles might also interest you

Vacuuming and mopping at the same time, does that work?

Wet pick-up as an affordable extra: Electrolux with a clever idea

The imperfect replacement mop : the Dyson Submarine

12 comments

12 comments

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