Is this the best USB vacuum cleaner for Vanlife?

Whether you’re away for the weekend, on a two week trip or full time vanlife, you’re going to need a way of dealing with dust, sand and dropped crumbs in your van.

Up until now I’ve relied on a small dustpan and brush but I’ve got some nooks and crannies that just doesn’t work with a brush (see the video at the end) so I needed a solution that was small, USB rechargeable and actually worked.

So I bought one of these;

I’ve got to be honest, I had low expectations regarding suction but the reality was surprising. It really doesn’t suck. I mean it does suck. It sucks quite a lot. In a good way…

As you can see this tiny hoover sucked up an extraordinary amount of dust, debris and dropped coffee grounds in just a few seconds including a small piece of gravel proving that this tin motor really does have some grunt to it.

Power

It’s described as having “Powerful Cyclonic Suction for Efficient Cleaning With its 12000Pa powerful cyclonic suction” but what does that really mean?

In the context of Hoover suction, 12000Pa refers to the suction power or suction pressure generated by the vacuum cleaner. “Pa” stands for Pascal, which is the unit of pressure in the International System of Units (SI).

Pascal is a measure of pressure, and 1 Pascal is equivalent to the force of one newton per square meter. Therefore, 12000Pa means that the vacuum cleaner can generate a suction force of 12000 newtons per square meter.

In practical terms, a higher suction power indicates a stronger vacuum cleaner capable of picking up dirt, dust, and debris more effectively. So, a Hoover vacuum cleaner with a suction power of 12000Pa would generally be considered quite powerful and capable of providing efficient cleaning.

And as you saw in the video, it really did do a good job of clearing the carpet by my sliding side door.

Charging

I’ll update with some real world figures once I’ve been using the vacuum for a while but the manufacturer states that;

“the Mini USB Rechargeable Vacuum Cleaner incorporates quick charge technology, ensuring a rapid charging process. In just 3-4 hours, this device can be fully charged, providing an impressive 25-35 minutes of continuous usage.”

3-4 hours for charging sounds reasonable for a unit that’s relatively power hungry compared to other USB devices.

And as for a 25 minute run time, I doubt any of us would be using such a small device for a large clean up taking that long so it’s going to be good for a few days between charges. The battery size if probably comparable with the water pump I have and that needs charging once every couple of weeks.

Emptying

It’s easy to twist the dust container off and then just pull out the filter whilst holding it over a waste bin. The larger debris drops right out and the smaller dust particles in the filter can be knocked into the bin with a gentle tap or shake.

Build quality

It looks like a raygun from a cheap 70’s sci fi movie.

Ok so it’s not amazing but then it is a cheap little vacuum. It feels very plasticky and is incredibly lightweight, which can be a benefit (It’s 360 grammes), but the attachments (a nozzle and a brush attachment) and the dust collector part both fit well and don’t feel like they’re going to crack or snap when you twist them on or off.

I wouldn’t expect this to last more than a couple of years for a full time vanlifer, but if you’re a weekender then you’ll probably get a lot longer out of it. Although you’ll probably be tempted to use it in those tight corners in your car, hoovering up crumbs on the kitchen worktops at home and sucking up dropped biscuit crumbs from the keyboard in your home office set up!

Storage

We vanners all know that space is a premium in a van and every item needs to have earned it’s right to take up space.

It doesn’t come with any hooks or hanging devices but then it is quite small so easy to tuck in a drawer or storage box. Because of its plastic design, I’d just be wary of storing it underneath anything heavy and breaking the casing or the nozzles.

Would I buy it again?

Yes, absolutely. I was pleasantly surprised by its ability and power so I would definitely buy it again.

The manufacturer says it’s an ideal gift for loved ones. Now I wouldn’t go quite that far but if you’re looking for a gift for someone who just bought (or built) a campervan then yes, I think most people would appreciate it.