Gtech Airfox Platinum Review: Budget Build, Not Quite Budget Price

Price upon review

Currently not available in the US

Gtech is a British brand specializing in affordable vacuum cleaners, DIY and garden technology, including lawn mowers, trimmers and tools. We recently reviewed and rated the wet and dry vacuum cleaner, the cordless Gtech Orca.

In this review we leave the cordless stick vacuum cleaner, the Gtech Airfox Platinum, to rest. For all our best vacuum cleaner recommendations, check out our roundup of the best vacuum cleaners we’ve tested.

Design and construction

The Airfox Platinum does not impress when unpacked. The quality feels questionable and the components feel very plasticky and fragile. If it had been a budget vacuum cleaner this would have been understandable, but the Airfox Platinum has a price tag of £299.99 (see it on Amazon), which puts it in the mid-range for stick vacuums.

Fortunately, it comes with many different attachments and even a hose that can replace the extension tube. But the question is whether a shorter extension tube would not have been more useful, since the hose requires both hands to use it.

Regardless, assembling the various parts is quick and easy, but the feeling of questionable quality remains, along with the worry that something might accidentally break during assembly.

When starting the vacuum cleaner, the negative experience persists. The power button that must be pressed to operate the Airfox Platinum is wedged behind a piece of plastic, making it difficult to reach with my large fingers. Luckily, it can be locked in the on position so it doesn’t have to be pressed manually every time.

The handle is also generally not adapted to large hands. After just a short period of use, my hand starts to cramp a little when I hold it. I think Gtech founder Nick Gray has smaller hands than me.

Jan Zandblad

Jan Zandblad

Jan Zandblad

Performance and features

Once in use, however, the Airfox Platinum proves that it is not nearly as bad as initially feared. On the contrary, it can get into tight places and cleans well. At least, if you use it in automatic mode or maximum mode. The Eco mode is less successful in removing all the dirt, but on the other hand it significantly extends the battery life (up to 80 minutes).

If you use maximum mode, you won’t get more than a quarter of that time at best. The automatic mode is slightly better, with up to 45 minutes of use if you’re cleaning lightly soiled surfaces, but in practice it’s closer to 30 minutes.

This relatively short runtime wouldn’t be such a big deal if it didn’t take five hours to fully charge the battery. In other words: the Airfox Platinum is not a vacuum cleaner for homes that are too large or heavily polluted.

A plus also for the built-in LED lighting that makes it easier to see and reach dirt under the furniture (or if you have a poorly lit house in general). And another plus: the dust container is easy to empty without having to detach it from the vacuum cleaner and is also easy to clean once you remove it.

Should you buy the Airfox Platinum?

The Airfox Platinum is easy to use and cleans very well, but unfortunately it also has a few drawbacks.

For starters, it’s very loud when running in maximum mode (or when going to maximum mode when running in auto mode). And it’s not just that it buzzes loudly, like many vacuum cleaners do, it also has an annoying high-pitched squeak.

He also cannot stand on his own. Or rather, you can leave it upright, but it is extremely sensitive to falling over, so you don’t dare do that.

Jan Zandblad

Jan Zandblad

Jan Zandblad

The wall bracket is also very plastic and feels cheap.

The Airfox Platinum is a decent cleaner when it comes to performance, but the flimsy build quality doesn’t justify the cost. If it were more competitively priced and safely in the budget range, we would recommend it. But it’s just too expensive when there are similarly priced models available, like the Halo Capsule

For more options, browse our roundup of the best vacuum cleaners we’ve tested.