Review: Samsung Jet 90 Pet stick vac and Clean Station

I changed from my standard, corded Nilfisk vacuum cleaner – which has served me well over the past few years and still does an excellent job – to the Samsung Jet 90 Pet stick vac. As my cat gets older and leaves more fur and detritus through the house, I hoped a stick vac would be easier and faster to clean with. And it is, but it’s not perfect.

Everything good and bad about the stick vac

Compared to my corded vacuum cleaner, the Jet Pet:

• took up less space
• was easier to manoeuvre
• took less time to vacuum
• was easier to empty and clean.

The downsides are pretty much what you’d expect:

• its battery doesn’t last long (less than 10mins at max power)
• the suction power isn’t as high as that of a standard vac.

Compared to my old vacuum, it didn’t take as long to do a quick clean, especially without needing to wrangle tubes and other bits and pieces. But, as the suction power isn’t as strong, if I needed to do a deep clean then I’d be there for longer. It helps that I don’t have a huge house (six rooms and all on one level).

This isn’t like the Dyson V11 Outsize we trialled earlier this year. The Jet Pet is much smaller and easier to work with. For example, I was able to remove the head with my foot, instead of bending down.

I found the Jet Pet very good for cleaning the couch and other furniture. Its lightweight design meant I could move it about easily and get into the nooks and crannies where cat hair collects. The mini power-head attachment was especially useful for this.

Cleaning the cleaner

The dustbin works like every other dustbin on a vacuum and is easily emptied, though I did have a bit of difficulty clipping the bin properly back into place afterwards. It can even be washed if it gets a little too grimy.

The powerhead can also be opened up and the brush roller removed to make cleaning that part simple. This is incredibly useful for when threads or long hair get caught around the brush.

The Clean Station is an extra that I also trialled. After vacuuming, you unclip the dustbin and place it into the top of the station. The station automatically turns on and uses its own built-in vacuum to suck everything out of the dustbin.

The Station collects it all into a 2L vacuum bag, which needs to be replaced when it’s full. This saves the hassle of multiple trips to empty the dustbin into your rubbish, and the annoyance of dust flying everywhere and making a mess.

The Clean Station definitely appeals to the laziness in me, but it has a few drawbacks.

• You can’t use the 0.8L dustbin that comes with the Jet Pet. The station comes with a slightly smaller 0.6L dustbin with a flap at the bottom that opens up.
• It’s loud. Like, really loud! I have the Clean Station set up in a closet and I need to shut the door while it’s going to reduce the noise.
• It often needs a couple of goes to properly empty everything out of the bin.
• It uses a non-reusable bag to collect everything, which somewhat negates having a bagless vacuum cleaner.

Extras

The Jet Pet comes with a few different attachments and a charging stand. Depending on the size of your home, you might want to invest in an extra battery. I got one and it saved me the first time I used it, as the battery died part-way through. The stand has a place to charge the spare at the same time as the main vacuum.

Durability

The elephant in the room is the durability of stick vacs. Our research has found a quarter of stick vacs develop faults between 2 and 5 years after purchase, with power issues, such as charging and battery life, being the main problem.

Verdict

I fell in love with using the Jet Pet. I vacuum more often now, because it’s easier to just grab the vacuum from its stand and clean a single room in a few minutes, without needing to muck about with a bulky vacuum cleaner.

I’m on the fence about the Clean Station, though. It makes things even easier, but it’s so noisy.

This is our first experience with Samsung’s stick vac, so we don’t have test results for the Jet Pet, but we will soon.

Specs and prices

Samsung Jet 90 Pet VS20R9042T2/SA

Price: $949
Specs:
Battery life: 6-60 minutes depending on suction power.
Charging time: 210 minutes
Weight: 2.8kg
Dustbin capacity: 0.8L

Samsung Clean Station VCA-SAE90A/SA

Price: $299
Specs:
Supplied dustbin capacity: 0.6L
Dust bag capacity: 2.0L

This vacuum cleaner was loaned to the writer by Samsung. The First Looks are trials of new and interesting products from the perspective of our product experts. Our lab-based tests offer truly objective product comparisons.