Tefal X-Force Flex 12.60 Review
A surprsingly powerful vacuum cleaner
Verdict
The Tefal X-Force Flex 12.60 gets a lot of things right: it’s pretty powerful and works well on carpet and hard floors. But it is fiddly to empty and battery life is a little short. At this price, the competition is exceptionally tough. If you can find it on deal, the 12.60 could be a good bet, but spend a little more and you’ll get more advanced features.
Pros
- Powerful suction
- Good cleaning on carpet and hard floor
- Two filters in the box
Cons
- Fiddly to empty
- Short battery life on carpet
Key Features
- TypeThis is a cordless stick vacuum cleaner with a hinged wand for cleaning under furniture without having to bend down.
- Battery lifeI measured battery life at around 18m on auto mode when running on carpet.
Introduction
Rather than just releasing a single vacuum cleaner, Tefal has brought out an entire range, with the Tefal X-Force Flex 12.60 as its entry-level cleaner.
It’s still pretty powerful and collects dust well. It’s a little expensive for the performance it offers, and its battery life is short on carpet.
Design and features
- Bold ‘ray gun’ styling
- Flexible wand for getting under furniture
- Fiddly to empty
Externally, the Tefal X-Force Flex 12.60 looks like the more expensive Tefal X-Force Flex 14.60, with both sharing the same basic look.
While the more expensive uses cheap-looking chrome-effect plastic, the Tefal X-Force Flex 12.60 is bold red, making the vacuum cleaner look a bit like a ray gun. I also think that clear red plastic doesn’t look as cheap as chrome-effect plastic.
There are some noticeable differences between this model and the more expensive one, particularly at the back. While the 14.60 shows live battery life in minutes, the 12.60 just has three LEDs that extinguish one at a time, only giving a rough overview of how much juice is left.
Once the battery has run out, it has to be removed from the vacuum cleaner for charging. The battery has three LEDs that light up in turn to show the charge status.
I do like the controls on this vacuum cleaner. There’s a power button to turn the cleaner on and off, and then a choice of three modes: eco, auto and boost. With the auto mode, the vacuum cleaner uses sensors in the floor head to work out what surface it’s on, adjusting power automatically. That’s not as flexible as cleaners that adjust power based on the level of dust detected, such as the Shark Stratos IZ420UKT or the Dyson Gen5detect.
You shouldn’t have to use the boost mode, as this can be engaged at will using the trigger. I like this set-up, as it makes it easy to give a burst of power when needed.
At 3.2kg, the Tefal X-Force Flex 12.60 isn’t particularly heavy. It’s well balanced, so it’s easy to pick the cleaner up to clean around ceilings and on the top of cupboards.
There’s a good range of tools in the box, including a mini motorised brush, a crevice tool, a sofa tool and a floor brush.
As well as this, both the vacuum cleaner and the wand have built-in brushes available for cleaning. It’s a nice idea, but an integrated crevice tool would arguably be more useful.
The wand has a hinge in the middle, which makes cleaning under sofas and other bits of furniture easy, as you don’t have to bed over.
Dirt is sucked into a 0.9-litre bin, which is enough to take the dirt from a whole house clean. Emptying it is a pain. There’s a button to remove the bin, and then the filter holder has to be removed so that dirt can come out. This part isn’t too bad, and the bin is easy to clean out.
However, getting it to clip back into place is fiddly, and the filter holder doesn’t lock into place. That makes it easy to drop the bin and have the filter fall out.
You can wash the filter under a tap, and there’s a spare in the box, so you can keep vacuuming while the old one is drying.
Performance
- Powerful suction
- Decent cleaning on carpet and hard floor
- So-so battery life
I put all vacuum cleaners through the same tests, starting by measuring suction power in airwatts (AW) measured at the handle. I found that the Tefal X-Force Flex 12.60 managed a basic 55AW on its low power setting, 111 on its mid-power suction and a high 231AW on boost. That latter figure is impressive.
High suction power is particularly useful when using hand tools, as it makes it easier to get every last bit of dust. To test this out, I measured how far away from the crevice tool a vacuum cleaner can collect rice. With the Tefal X-Force Flex 12.60 I found that it could suck up rice from a reasonable 2cm away. That shows that this cleaner will be useful for cleaning out cars and under low furniture.
Next, I move on to the real-world tests, starting with my carpet test. I added 20g of flour to the carpet and then started by using the Tefal X-Force Flex 12.60 in auto mode, running it backwards and forwards through the mess. This left a nice strip through the middle, although there are some traces of dust towards the edges of the floor head.
After completing a clean until the carpet is visually clean, I measured that the vacuum cleaner had picked up 85.5% of dust. Not bad, but definitely more towards the mid-range.
Next, I added 10g of flour to the carpet tiles, spreading it right to the edge of the room. I then ran the vacuum cleaner along the skirting board, and had to resort to using the boost mode to collect all the dust that I could. A collection rate of 90.8% isn’t bad at all.
On hard floors I added 20g of rice to the floor. I found that 100% was collected here, and no rice grains dropped back onto the floor, which is as good as you can get.
I combed cat hair into the carpet and found that this could all be picked up easily by the vacuum cleaner.
I added human hair to the carpet, and this was all collected. Tefal says that the extra-large roller reduces tangling. On close inspection, there were quite a few hairs around the bar, although loosely wrapped, so easy to remove. Even so, if you have people in your home with long hair, I’d urge you to pick a vacuum cleaner that won’t get tangled.
Battery life is rated at up 45 minutes, although that’s on the lowest setting with no powered tools. I measured battery life at 44m 24s on this mode. However, as most cleaning jobs require more power, I used the standard power mode and this delivered a battery life of 23m 13s, dropping to 6m 52s on boost.
For auto mode, testing on carpet, I got just 18m 57s, which is a little low. Again, vacuum cleaners that adjust power based on the level of dirt detected will typically have better battery life than this. I measured the vacuum cleaner at between 64.4dB and 73.8dB, making it relatively quiet.
Latest deals
Should you buy it?
You can find it on deal and want a companion vacuum cleaner
It could be a good choice if you can pick this cleaner up for less than its regular price and want it as an additional cleaner to a plug-in model.
You want longer cleaning times and no hair caught
Other vacuum cleaners have more advanced auto modes that improve battery life, and you can also find models that won’t get tangled with hair at all.
Final Thoughts
On its own, the Tefal X-Force Flex 12.60 isn’t a bad vacuum cleaner. It gets a lot right, and its dust collection is pretty good. It’s quite expensive, and the 14.60 is only a little more and gets you more features.
Overall, the Shark Stratos IZ420UKT is a little more expensive and has a better auto mode. Looking for something else entirely? My guide to the best cordless vacuum cleaners can help.
How we test
We test every vacuum cleaner we review thoroughly over an extended period of time. We use industry standard tests to compare features properly. We’ll always tell you what we find. We never, ever, accept money to review a product.
Find out more about how we test in our ethics policy.
Used as our main vacuum cleaner for the review period
Tested for at least a week
Tested using tools to measure actual suction performance
Tested with real-world dirt in real-world situations for fair comparisons with other vacuum cleaners
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FAQs
With this, you can bend the wand in half, so that you can get under furniture without having to bend down.
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Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
