But on my high carpet, the head of Unlimited 8 was pulled down onto the carpet, and the roller slowed gradually and finally stopped completely. That is common with air-powered “turbo” rollers, making for a bad vacuuming experience. I switched to normal power settings, and this problem stopped happening, but the clean performance was fairly poor afterward. At its best, the BCS122GB offers staggering good cordless cleaning. But at this price, we would expect a more polished all-around performance. Verdict

We measured between 66 and 72 dB while testing the BOSCH Unlimited Series 8 cordless vacuum. This volume is tolerable, and you can still have a conversation while vacuuming. We all know that taste is a matter of dispute. In our opinion, the new Bosch Unlimited Pro Power cordless vacuum has a futuristic design, but its focus is on pragmatism. This combination allows Bosch to claim ‘unlimited’ runtime for this cleaner. On standard power setting, it will go for an hour, and the charger can power up a battery in 55minutes. With the two batteries, theoretically, you simply won’t run out of power. The Bosch Unlimited 8 has two vacuuming settings: normal and turbo. Likewise, the Bosch Unlimited 8 features three cleaning modes: eco, auto, and boost. In Turbo and Boost modes, these vacuums will, of course, have the most suction, making them the best cleaners they can be. Those are also the settings I used for my tests. Hard floorsWhen emptying the dirt container, it’s crucial that you can carry the dirt from the device to the dustbin as easily and as cleanly as possible. Every manufacturer has its own system. Some work well, and others don’t. As popularised by the eponymous Dyson, this Bosch is also bagless but it only has a capacity of 0.4l so you’ll have to empty it out pretty frequently. It’s smaller than the Dyson V8’s 0.54l bin, although on balance there’s not enough in it to make a significant difference to the way you’ll use the vacuum. The Unlimited BCS122GB is the top-spec model of the series and comes with a solid, if not fully comprehensive, list of toys. That is a trait we are much more used to seeing with air-powered ‘turbo’ brushes and it can make cleaning rather frustrating. The floorhead’s cleaning power is great, but the brush bar slowed or stopped far too often on carpet for our liking. Switching to normal power mode stops that happening – but the clean is then fairly poor.

The cleaning performance on hard floors was outstanding. It just took a little longer with the lentils and the oat flakes because it pushed a few lentils in front of the brush at first. We assess the cleaning performance of each vacuum cleaner, compare it to the competition, and then rate it.Clip-on tools include a 2-in-1 furniture nozzle with pull-down dusting brush and a bonkers long and very flexible crevice tool. That is ideal for getting down behind radiators, but takes some wielding to accurately pinpoint spots of dust. A good-length metal tube optionally extends reach for all tools. Clips and fittings between tools and tubes are top-notch. On the downside, it has few of the features that are slowly becoming absolute essentials on a cordless vacuum. While I could live with the clunky emptying (and actually, I’m slightly taken by it), I would find it hard to introduce a vacuum into my household that doesn’t comb hair tangles out of its floor head. Nearly an hour and a half is the longest battery life I’ve seen so far. The Bosch Unlimited 8 comes with two interchangeable batteries, meaning you have almost three hours in total to vacuum! The Dyson V15’s battery is also removable and replaceable, so you can double its run time by purchasing extra batteries. The Bosch Unlimited has a size of 130 cm (51.2 inches) from top to bottom. That’s about the same as most other cordless vacuum cleaners on the market. Most people can vacuum comfortably with this size.