Tineco Floor One S7 Stretch review: No kitsch, all clean

Impressive cleaning performance: The S7 Stretch nailed almost all of our cleaning testing, plowing through dry, wet, and sticky debris with ease. After just one pass on auto mode, over 99% of our testing material was removed from the wooden floor. The only place the S7 faltered was along edges.

The edge-to-edge cleaning is rated to under 5mm, which is close but not close enough to pick everything up. In our testing there was a small line of smudged chocolate and tomato sauce right against the edge of the wall that the S7 couldn’t quite get to. This lines up with expectations considering the device’s claims, but it was the one spot Tineco couldn’t reach.

Easy set up and maintenance: It took less than 10 minutes to go from unboxing to my first run with the S7 Stretch. Even connecting the device to the companion app worked on the first try, which literally never happens. The self-cleaning base station makes the process of maintaining the device almost effortless, and even though it is loud enough to hear a few rooms away, it is well worth it.

Folds flat: As you might expect by the name, this is the first of Tineco’s floor cleaners that can lay entirely flat without losing efficiency. Measuring in at just 13cm high, it should fit underneath most lowline furniture, and let you get at the hidden grime. As it goes flat you can hear a change in the operation, and while it sounds a little quieter on the floor, the cleaning abilities remain the same even then.

iLoop sensors: Tineco’s whole range is equipped with it’s iLoop sensors, and of course the S7 Stretch is no exception. These sensors visualise how dirty the floor is with an LED ring which changes colour between deep pink and blue to indicate the grime levels. In a way it gamifies the task, but it also ensures you don’t pass over an area too quickly. It’s one of the features that makes Tineco products so effective, because it equips the user to actually carry out the full clean.

Doesn’t lift all dry debris: Despite having some anti-tangle technology, the roller doesn’t always pick up long pieces of fur or hair. Instead they can get wrapped around the roller and deposited back onto the ground in long lines. Because of the uniformity, I initially thought they were scratch marks, but turns out they’re just very nicely splayed bits of hair. This issue only persists on wet mopping mode, suction mode managed to pick them up just fine.

Debris separation is still hard to clean out: The problem with wet/dry vacuums like this is the particle separation. When you’re sucking up liquid, and solids you’re going to end up with a disgusting cereal bowl of sadness in the dirty water tank. While Tineco is trying to solve this with its three chamber separation system, it doesn’t quite hit the mark. For the most part the hard debris does catch in the filter, but it also clings to all sides of both the filter and the tank. To clean it, you’re going to have to touch and scrape all the hard bits off the filter. Anyone who hates the food at the bottom of the sink knows that this is a sensory nightmare.

It is an improvement on the devices that just let all the bits and pieces marinate together, but there is still some way to go before the cleaning of the device is as easy as the floor.

App connectivity is superfluous: The S7 Stretch connects to the Tineco companion app, and while it is easy to connect you don’t get much by doing so. In the app you can see your cleaning logs, the status of the cleaner, and make some minor adjustments to the voice settings. None of these are a good enough reason to bother connecting your mop to your home network.

The only somewhat useful addition the connectivity allows for, is troubleshooting animations. In the app you can download an animation pack that will visualise errors with the device. We’ve seen similar functionality on devices from Samsung, and admittedly they are more helpful than a message like ERROR CODE 142. Still though, I’d be hesitant to hand over my personal data in exchange for them. It feels like something that should be baked into the product at the point of purchase, rather than something you need to sacrifice another point of privacy for.