Tefal X-Clean 4 Hard Floor Washer review: a wet and dry cordless wonder

T3’s Tefal X-Clean 4 Hard Floor Washer review in a sentence: Lots of power makes this cordless classic perfect for cleaning up liquids and solids.

If you’ve got hard floors in your home, the purchase of a hard floor washer can be a real handy addition. I’ve had a Bissell model for a while now and it is super handy for giving the downstairs a quick once over, especially where the kitchen is concerned. Depending on the surface type and colour, hard floors can often be much dirtier than they appear until you run over them with a hard floor washer. The resulting dirty water usually speaks for itself.

Tefal has now joined the hard floor washing ranks, with this, the Tefal X-Clean 4 Hard Floor Washer. It joins an already comprehensive X-Clean range of products that include the likes of upright stick vacuums and small, more portable handheld cleaners. This is Tefal’s first foray into the floor washer area though, but based on my experiences with this brand, I was expecting a lot. At £399.99, the Tefal X-Clean 4 Hard Floor Washer isn’t a budget appliance, although I had high hopes for it being as good as the other Tefal appliances I use.

A big benefit of this appliance is its ability to suck up both solids and liquids, as well as getting to grips with stains and other marks on hard floors. There’s the ability to control water flow, so the Tefal X-Clean 4 Hard Floor Washer should be suitable for all kinds of floor covering. As always though, it’s best to go easy on any kind of floor that might be susceptible to moisture, with fine wood floor coverings being the most obvious example in my own experience.

Tefal X-Clean 4 Hard Floor Washer review: Price and availability

The Tefal X-Clean 4 Hard Floor Washer is released in June and will come with a RRP of £399.99 and can be purchased directly via the shop.tefal.co.uk website or other online electrical retailers. It’s the latest addition to Tefal’s X-Clean range, which also includes several other regular cordless vacuum cleaners.

Tefal X-Clean 4 Hard Floor Washer review: What is it?

The Tefal X-Clean 4 Hard Floor Washer is a cordless handheld upright appliance designed to tackle dirty floors. This can range from wood and laminate flooring through to lino, vinyl and hard tiled coverings, with care obviously needed on more sensitive surfaces due to the Tefal’s ability to clean floors using water. The appliance is just one of several X-Clean machines in the current Tefal range.

This model is super convenient as it comes with a cordless design, with the cleaner unit sitting on a plastic base that acts as the charging dock. This in turn needs to be connected to a charger cable and adapter that can then be plugged into a wall socket. The Tefal X-Clean 4 Hard Floor Washer sits in the docking station for recharging, which can be done in much the same time as any other cordless vacuum cleaner.

Incidentally, the handle of the appliance needs to be slotted into the neck of the main body and, if you need to pack it up again, there’s a hidden rubber button that can be depressed with the flat end of a pen that allows the handle to be removed again. Handy to know if it needs to be packed or stored away.

The Tefal X-Clean 4 Hard Floor Washer arrives in a large rectangular box, which contains the cleaner and the various accessories needed to complete the setup. This includes the docking base, the adapter, a cleaning tool and a spare roller brush with one already fixed into the cleaning head. A brief and basic visual quick start sits alongside a thick safety information pamphlet, which is accompanied with an international guarantee leaflet.

Tefal X-Clean 4 Hard Floor Washer review: Is it any good?

The Tefal X-Clean 4 Hard Floor Washer is effectively a two-in-one bundle in that it can be used as a vacuum cleaner, which is best suited to whipping over hard floor coverings prior to using it as a wet floor mop and vac. Prior to getting underway, I found the Tefal X-Clean 4 Hard Floor Washer easy enough to prepare for action. In fact, the main cleaner roller/brush is already installed. It needed an initial charge, which meant the Tefal had to sit in its charging base for a couple of hours to top it right up.

Image 1 of 4

Another appealing factor is the decent storage tanks on this model, with one being for clean water and the other for the waste dirty water. The former is the larger of the two at 750ml while the smaller one is 450ml. I also like the look of this appliance, with a compact but ergonomic design that feels good when it’s in action.

The slimline design, which tapers up near the top of the handle is very nicely executed, with control buttons at fingertip reach. Everything is easy to wipe over and maintain too, which is a crucial aspect of owning a wet and dry floor cleaner. The roller/mop is easily removed as are those tanks for cleaning as time goes by.

Tefal X-Clean 4 Hard Floor Washer review: Performance

This is first and foremost a hard floor cleaner and I’ve been trying it on wood and tiles, which is a typical scenario for most who’ll end up using the appliance. The runtime is impressive too, at up to 50 minutes to cover in the region of 350 m² of hard surfaces. I found the smart screen, which is located on the top of the main body, was really handy for monitoring how the appliance was performing. There’s a blue LED surround to the display when things are fine, which changes to red if something is up with the machine or dirt is detected.

For the ultimate ease of use, there’s the Auto Mode button, which automatically detects dirt and can adjust the power dynamically. I found this really quite good and so was the mini side brush at the right-hand end of the roller that gets right into edges. A nice touch.

Another bonus is the auto-clean function, which makes light work of cleaning the roller. This, in my experience, can be one of the most time-consuming aspects of owning a hard floor cleaner, so this definitely adds extra value and contributes to justifying the premium price tag.

Better still, I’ve been impressed with the powerful suction of the Tefal and it seems super-efficient too, with the high-speed microfiber rollers spinning at 425 rotations per minute. Weirdly one thing that I couldn’t seem to get the hang of was switching off the Tefal X-Clean 4 Hard Floor Washer.

The three control buttons on the top of the handle are clear enough with the power switch being very obvious, but so far, I haven’t been able to master pressing it to turn off. Sounds daft I know, so perhaps continued use will solve it. The appliance does go off eventually, so maybe it’s just the way I’m doing it. Aside from that, the control panel is very easy to use. This is a versatile machine too and weighs in at just 2kg.

Tefal X-Clean 4 Hard Floor Washer review: Verdict

I’m really pleased with the performance of the Tefal X-Clean 4 Hard Floor Washer. It’s a great all-rounder thanks to being able to handle both liquids and solids, plus there’s a decent level of power for the suction side of things. The design is generally very impressive too, with only the power on/off button being slightly confusing. Aside from that, the Auto mode along with the self-cleaning features are highpoints. Overall, the Tefal X-Clean 4 Hard Floor Washer seems well worth the asking price if you’ve got a reasonably large area of hard flooring to cover.

Tefal X-Clean 4 Hard Floor Washer review: Alternatives to consider

There are some great alternatives to this appliance, with perhaps the Eufy Mach V1 Ultra being the T3 pick of the crop. It’s expensive, but for good reason with brilliant mopping performance being the main factor.

Elsewhere, the tried and trusted Bissell brand is worthy of inspection with its Crosswave Cordless Max model, which is another excellent performer. Similarly, the Vax ONEPWR Glide is a popular option too, which might not look like it’s going to be that great but is super-efficient. Better still, it’s very keenly priced too.