How will the Lupe measure up in the luxury cordless cleaner market?

Priced at £699, the Lupe Pure will be a competitor to cordless cleaners including the Miele TriFlex, the Samsung Powerstick Jet and – yes, you guessed it – the Dyson V11.

All of these cleaners cost somewhere between £500-£700, depending on the model, putting them firmly in the luxury market segment. Bosch will also be joining this busy space in the near future with the Bosch Unlimited Second Generation Serie 8 cordless.

The Lupe’s big claim is that it has (nearly) double the suction power of the market leading competitor, which is probably the Dyson V11.

Suction itself is difficult to benchmark as some vacuum cleaner manufacturers measure wattage, and some measure air watts, and some are a bit cagey about the whole business.

What we can safely say is that all of the above cleaners have excellent suction and that having tested the TriFlex, the Powerstick and the Dyson V11, we don’t really think that suction was the deciding factor on which one was the best to use.

The manufacturers of the Lupe assert that it is an appliance you’ll buy – if not for life – then to keep for a very long time. They call the cleaner “unfashionably long lasting”, with easily replaceable parts.

This is a big plus for users, as if you’re spending £500 plus on a vacuum cleaner, making sure you can get hold of and swap out replacement parts is very important and it’s not always easy to get them via the larger, international brands. We have had readers write in to say they had difficulty getting replacement parts for Samsung vacuum cleaners, for example.

Although it comes with crevice and upholstery tools, the Lupe’s main head is designed for multifunctional cleaning across all surfaces and materials, so there won’t be as much faffing around changing bits.

It has a battery with a 60-minute life, which is now standard among these top-flight cleaners. However, we’re guessing that this means 60 minutes on the lowest setting, which tends to be the case when battery lifespan is measured.

More importantly for a cordless cleaner, its battery is removable and can be charged either on or off the cleaner. This is a huge plus, and in fact we wouldn’t recommend a cordless cleaner without this functionality to anyone with a larger home. A removable battery means you can swap it out for a ready-charged one and carry on cleaning.

Otherwise, and unless they’re extremely organised in their vacuuming habits, users are likely to find they’re in need of their cleaner while it’s recharging.

The Lupe has a washable HEPA filter, which is ideal, and a one litre dustbin, which we think may be the largest size among the competitor set.

However, there’s a trade-off (there always is). At 4.6kg, it is the heaviest vacuum cleaner of its kind. The Miele TriFlex weighs 4kg (with its motorised head) and even though it has a comfort setting in which the cleaner itself takes more of the weight than your arm does, it is noticeable when you use it for a long period of time.

Meanwhile the Dyson V11 is 2.97kg and the Powerstick Jet is only 2.8kg. (The lightest high-quality cordless vacuum cleaners we’ve tested are the Halo Capsule at 2.6kg and the Roidmi X30 Pro at 2.7kg.)

Unlike an upright cleaner, a cordless doesn’t really bear much of its own weight, so if you’re swapping types, this is something you’ll notice. Personally, weight is extremely important to me, but others might find a heavier but highly efficient vac worth it.   

However, there are some features you won’t find on the Lupe. It has “no gimmicks or LCD screens”, which is an interesting way to put it. We’ve found that LCD screens on cordless cleaners are very handy for the same reason that a spare battery makes so much difference: it’s easy to get caught out mid-clean with a low battery.

An LCD screen displays battery life – quite often as a percentage – which gives you much more of a sense of how much battery life you have left. Cleaners that only have four light-up bars don’t give you much of a clue as to whether you have a quarter of the battery life left, or almost none.

That means you don’t know if your cleaner is going to give up half-way around a room, just when you have guests arriving, or whether you’re going to be finishing up a kitchen rice spill with a dustpan and brush.

All in all, however, the Lupe’s specs more than earn it a place – on paper at least – among the very best cordless cleaners available now. However, the proof of the vacuum cleaner is in the vacuuming, so check back for our review. 

If you’re ready to go for it, you can buy it now from the Lupe Technology website, for £699. Or for more inspiration, have a look at our best-rated vacuum cleaners.