REVIEW – The ORFELD EV696 Pro Vacuum Cleaner lies down on the job! Apart from this vacuum being cordless and rechargeable, that may be its best feature. We have some powerful corded vacuums in our home, that cannot go under beds. We’ve always had to move large beds to vacuum underneath them. No more. The ORFELD EV696 rotates left or right, level with the floor, and can reach under beds as far as I need it to.
What is it?
The ORFELD EV696 is a cordless, rechargeable, vacuum for hard surface floors or low pile carpets and rugs.
What’s in the box?
- EV696 Pro Vacuum Cleaner
- Charger
- Charger base
- Lithium-ion battery pack
- 2 HEPA filters
- 2 in 1 brush nozzle (crevice nozzle with retractable brush)
- Manual
- Roller debris cutting tool
Hardware specs
- 33KPa suction in Turbo mode
- Power: 22.2V, 380W
- Weight: 5.83 lb
- Noise level: 68dB
- Run time 15-60 min. depending on mode used
- Dimensions: 11.81″L x 10″W x 42.7″H
- Suction modes: Automatic, normal, turbo
- Automatic option senses dirt type and adjusts vacuum suction.
- Digital display reports battery level, Turbo on/off, dust cup full, ‘brush stuck’ alert
- LED lights at floor head
- Motorized brush can rotate 180° sideways and 90° up and down
- 6-layer sealed filter system captures 99.99% of dust as small as 0.1 microns.
- HEPA filter and high-density mesh filter
- .9 liter dust cup
- Battery charging on vacuum or separated
- Charge time: 4-5 hours
- Washable components
Design and features
The battery of the ORFELD vacuum can be charged while in the vacuum or separately if removed from the vacuum. I think the very best feature of the ORFELD EV696 is its ability to rotate and ‘lie sideways’ when vacuuming under beds or dressers.
Setup
All of the parts and pieces were well packed and in perfect condition on arrival. Assembly was intuitive as all of the pieces fit logically to form the vacuum.
It isn’t necessary to mount the charging cradle on a wall, although I eventually did. I initially charged the ORFELD standing next to a wall outlet.
Performance
The ORFELD has an easy to use push / pull control to extend or shorten the vacuum shaft. The round buttons on the side of the shaft at the top and bottom facilitate easy removal of the main vacuum shaft and attachment of the crevice tool.
The ORFELD reaches all the way under beds with a simple lean to the left or right. The vacuum’s spinning brush head also has great rotation so it can get into tight spaces as necessary.
These photos show post-vacuuming floors (I’m not allowed to show our dusty under-bed floors) and the ORFELD removed dust well enough to yield the coveted spousal approval. That’s huge!
I used the ORFELD EV696 to vacuum two family cars with the crevice nozzle attachment. That task made me wish a flexible hose attachment came with the ORFELD. I got the job done but with more hand fatigue than if a hose attachment had been possible.
To test whether the ORFELD EV696 did an effective sweep, and how well it captured debris to the sides of the brush head, I vacuumed coffee on our hard kitchen floor.
You can see in the video that no coffee is left behind from a single pass of the vacuum over the coffee.
Not much coffee is picked up at the sides of the head, so along baseboards it may be necessary at times to face the vacuum head directly against the baseboards. I.e. with the LED lights facing the baseboard.
And those LED lights… The Amazon description calls them bright. Uh, no. I wish they were actually bright.
The hard plastic tab under the trigger isn’t very comfortable during long vacuuming sessions. It could have been made to be more ergonomic.
As with many vacuums of this style, the ORFELD EV696 does not reliably stand, unsupported. You can get it to stand on its own but if someone barely touches it, to the floor it will fall with a bang. I know most people would just leave it in its charger. I put it in a corner of our laundry room and charge it as needed.
What I like
- The ORFELD EV696 reaches all the way under beds, chairs and dressers
- Extra good suction at turbo mode
- Easy to use extension and retraction
What I’d change
- I wish a flexible hose attachment came with the EV696
- Fix the handle fatigue from the trigger protector tab
- I wish it could stand up when not in use
- I wish the LED lights were actually bright
Final thoughts
There were no ‘deal breaker’ negatives with the ORFELD EV696. We now reach for it most of the time for quick clean-ups of our kitchen and hardwood floor areas.
Price: $159.99
Where to buy: Amazon
Source: The sample of this product was provided by ORFELD.
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I love this vacuum. Had it about a year and use every day in kitchen and porch area. Does good on tight nap rugs. And, now I need a new battery! Help please. Where?