Bosch Athlet BCH6-AU Series

Great suction power, but often have a short battery life – My first Bosch Athlet cordless vacuum cleaner was amazing. Very strong suction, picking up everything and leaving my carpet looking great. Unfortunately it stopped working after 10 months. The battery had died. Luckily it was still under warranty so I got a replacement from Bosch- free of charge. When the battery goes - it’s useless as the battery… Read more

is built-in. My friend found herself in the same situation. I have had my current one for 3 years and it hasn’t missed a beat. It’s such a great vacuum cleaner, so I hope it’s battery holds out a few more years.

I love this stick vacuum – It is so light and has fantastic suction on both tiles and carpet wouldn’t buy anything else Show details

Great cordless vacuum cleaner – This was a test purchase to see if this vacuum cleaner would suit our household compared to the good old pull along model we have had for years. It does what the marketing spiel says it will and better. So much so, we bought a second one (the Bosch Athlet 25.2V White BCH6AT25AU) for our parents home. The old pull along vacuum hasn't been used… Read more ·  1

since. This cordless vacuum cleaner has a lithium ion battery that lasts well and three settings to allow extra suction when necessary or on light suction for a quick sweep over the tiled floor. You can park it anywhere and it stays upright and out of the way. The head swings sideways so you swivel the handle to can get underneath chairs, beds etc and not miss anything. Cleaning the filters is quick and easy, as is cleaning the sweeper head brush and it lets you know when it's time to empty. We have a small dog and chose the Zoo'o ProAnimal model to manage the hair situation - again, the product performs superbly as promised. Charging doesn't take too long and the best thing about the lithium ion battery is you can charge enough to finish a task and plug it back in to finish charging, without impacting the life of the battery. As I said, we love it so much we bought a second one. I have read elsewhere that some people have found it hard to push on high suction but I found it great exercise and reassuring that the carpet/rugs were getting a good "do over". Very impressed. Highly recommended.

Great Vacuum. Will replace with my current vacuum in a heartbeat – First impressions definitely did last. The vacuum was easy to assemble, I was able to do so prior to reading the instruction manual. The first charge was completed overnight. I first used the vacuum up stairs using Turbo (level 3) on the carpet and Level 1 on the tiles in the bathroom, it was used for a total of 15 minutes before needing to be… Read more

charged again. I was very impressed with the suction of the vacuum, I was amazed at how much this vacuum did pick up (human hair, dust and sewing threads) and was very easy to maneuver around furniture. The vacuum was very quiet on level 1 and louder on Turbo, not any louder than a regular vacuum. The second time the vacuum was used was downstairs, it was much lighter than our regular vacuum and easily carried downstairs, the vacuum was used on tiled floors and a shaggy rug, the vacuum was used on Turbo (level 3) on the rug and 1 on the tiles, the rug came up excellent, once again impressed with the suction picking up (pet hair, play doh, dust), the vacuum very easily cleaned the tiles on level 1. The dust bin did need to be emptied twice upstairs and once down stairs during use, where our regular vacuum may have only needed to be emptied once, in saying this it was very easy to remove and empty, I do suggest having the canister in the bin when removing the filter prior to emptying as this part can be quite a messy job. All in all a great vacuum and highly recommended.

The best cordless vacuum around! – This is amazing! It’s completely replaced my regular vacuum! It’s compact, suction is out of this world! Easy to empty with washable filters etc. Carpet, hard floors no problem! LOVE! Show details ·  2

Replacement battery costs more than the vac – I'm sooo angry, my dad passed away and I have inherited his bosch athlete vac so it has sentimental value, it only vacs for around 3 minutes so I rang Bosch to enquire about a replacement, well, it's built in so that will cost you between $400 and $500 dollars the eude lady said..how can they justify this..bet they don't tell customers when they are buying this vac that the battery will cost more than the vac...disgusting. Show details

Fantastic vacuum cleaner – Purchased the Bosch cordless vacuum from The Good Guys for $199. It has 3 speeds & transitions well from tiles onto carpet without a change in the dials. The battery life is quite long compared to other makes & brands. The machine is relatively lite in weight & moving it around into tight spaces is easy. It's bagless which is cost effective & has… Read more ·  1

washable filters that can also be replaced after heavy use. Charging from zero to full does take a few hours, this is the only down fall I've found since purchasing it.

Perfect except for the battery failure – Have a Bosch ZOO'O 25.2V Lithium Power Pro-Animal Brush vacuum cleaner. It has been brilliant but then suddenly the battery is only lasting about 5 minutes on high speed which is the speed needed for the picking up of dog hair. Can the battery be replaced or is this for the dump now? Such a shame to throw it away and all the extras we have to go with it. Show details

Battery lIfe POOR – I have owned this vacuum for three years now. In almost every respect this is a well designed product. Nevertheless, the lithium batteries have started to die. I was quite happy to replace them but found out that this is next to impossible which means an otherwise perfect appliance needs to go to landfill!! I amoungst many others detest this… Read more

needless waste. BOSCH makes quality products, so I am disappointed that they don't stand behind the products they sell. I tried to ring them but found their Australian number had benn disconnected?? I think this shows contempt for their customers, so I will never purchase a Bosch product again.

Don't buy one – We have owned this for less than two years. The suction is MAGIC and I was so impressed with it I raved when I first bought it. Now... Battery dies even on the lower settings within minutes. I'm extremely upset with this product and I've read the battery is irreplaceable unless you spend hundreds of $$ on it. NOT WORTH THE SPEND don't go there I wish I hadn't Show details

Non-Replaceable Battery - Bosch Quote Over $500! – I purchased this vacuum in early 2019 from Harvey Norman. Over the years the battery has degraded to the point of only lasting a few mins (or a number of seconds on the highest suction). I contacted Bosch who informed me that the battery is not user replaceable and the cost for them to service it would be over $500! That's more than I paid for the… Read more

vacuum in the first place, totally unreasonable. The customer service representative in spare parts said "it's cheaper for you to buy a new one"

Bosch are selling products with batteries that they know degrade (as all batteries do over time) and telling customers it is "infeasible" to repair at their exorbitant costs, directing consumers to instead purchase a new unit (after only 4 years or less of use). This is simply unacceptable, repairs should be available for key components at a reasonable cost and for a reasonable period of time.

The vacuum also does not work when plugged in whatsoever, so you can't even use it corded as a backup for when the battery dies. For a product to be a throw away item due to only 1 key component required for it to work failing is not okay. Other vacuum manufacturers (i.e. Dyson) allow battery replacements at significantly lower (and reasonable) costs

Do not buy a Bosch cordless vacuum EVER

trash, battery dies within a few mins - worthless – had for nearly 2 years, started off with a battery life of about 15 to 20 mins on high used on floorboards and occasionally carpet. now barely lasts 2 minutes after a full overnight charge. have cleaned and maintained it, the battery is just trash. for the price i paid 2 years ago, its pretty disappointing! dont waste your money! Show details

If I could give it less I would – Two years out of a Bosh stick vacuum purchased from Havey Norman only to find it is impossible to buy a replacement battery. Sorry, I found one supplier on the internet an Australian company and this is from their website. 12027242 BOSCH STICK VAC BATTERY ASSY 25.2V *PLEASE CONTACT STATEWIDE PRIOR TO ORDER Part Number: 12027242 $574.95 No more Bosh products for me. Show details

Regret this purchase – Our Bosch BCH6ZOOAU is a great disappointment. My wife finds it heavy and hard to push across carpets and rugs. She has given up using it. I can push it across rugs and carpets but the pressure seems to push the power head down rather than forward. For hard floors the price is overkill. Show details

Waste of money – I've had the same issue with battery life. If on the highest setting it only holds charge for about 1min then dies. Even though the battery indicator would have 3/4 full it dies after 1min. Started out being great... best suction in a stick vac I've had but the battery issue has turned me right off Bosch now unfortunately. Mostly used on tiles and very low profile indoor/outdoor carpet Show details

Great vac, sucks up the dog hair very well – If you have any cordless Lithium-Ion battery vac including this Bosch, I STRONGLY recommend you do NOT leave it plugged in on charge all the time. If you do leave it plugged in on charge all the time you will damage the batteries and they'll lose capacity very quickly. Use it till it's nearly flat *then* charge it, and most importantly unplug it… Read more ·  2

after it's charged. If you do this, the batteries should last many hundreds of cycles (i.e. years).

Have had this vacuum for about 4 months now; very happy with it so far. We're using it mainly as a second vac, on tiled and laminated flooring, with a little carpet and rugs. Works great on all these surfaces - picks up the dog hair without fuss on the first pass, on the "regular" power setting which is quieter than our main Dyson. As we're only using it for 5-10 minutes at a time the battery lasts ages between charges. It's also easy to empty the dirt chamber.

Battery is a deal breaker - non repairable – Great vacuum cleaner when it worked. Fantastic on carpet and wood flooring. My favorite vacuum in the whole world but only lasted 2 years then battery went. I tried to get it repaired out of warranty and you can not get the battery repkaced eadily o. These midrls. It cannot be simply taken out and swapped it's a major job and costs as much… Read more

as a new vacuum cleaner, as well as downtime to have it replaced.

This is so upsetting. Bosch would rather you sent a perfectly good vacuum cleaner to landfill and bought a new one!

Bosch sell the apare part battery in a pack with a computer board and motoe. You can not just buy the battery that needs replacing on its own.

This makes the cost of the repair just for the battery ridiculous.

A deal breaker for me

Huge fault – Aside from the well documented flimsy neck, the biggest deal breaker with this vacuum is that it dumps a pile of sandy debris when I turn it off. I've cleaned and emptied everything in it, but the problem remains. So now after vacuuming I have to keep it turned to max power, walk outside, and turn it off while still directing it over the garden.… Read more

This is so it doesn't spit out mess into the just vacuumed house. A vacuum that creates mess. I'll give it to Bosch, they're innovators.

An engineers review - DONT buy this – Ive both owned and repaired one of these, and others like it. The Athlet has two fundamental flaws, unacceptable on an expensive machine: 1) The batteries cannot (practically) be replaced. Cordless vacs work the batteries hard, especially on the higher settings. So it's perfectly normal for batteries to loose capacity or fail after a few years.… Read more

That's not specific to Bosch. But by making the batteries non-replaceable Bosch have guaranteed this will only last a few years. 2) The handle snaps. This is a heavy machine with a thin plastic handle. It will snap at the top, rending the vacuum useless. You may be able to glue it together for a short time, but the internal wiring in the handle will soon break. Very poor design.

It is an impressive machine initially.... but it wont last. Dont waste your money and pollute our environment. Get a machine with a user-replaceable battery - added bonus, you can have a spare battery charged ready if the vac goes flat half way through your house.

Non-serviceable battery in a $600 vacuum? – Writing this on behalf of my mother in law who was widowed a year ago and does not do technology well. The vacuum has worked well for 5 years but now it doesn't hold charge. Even after several hours charging it stops running after just a few minutes. Have read other reviews and it is very disappointing the battery is non-serviceable. More… Read more

disappointing is just 2 year warranty - this seems cynical knowing a battery has a finite life and it's terrible design to then make it non-replaceable.

Battery dying... AGAIN! – EDIT: After writing this review Product review gave me the option to give Bosch an opportunity to reply prior to posting.. very disappointed to say I have heard nothing from them despite giving them plenty of time to respond... This is my third Bosch athlet vacuum! 1st - cutting out and was replaced under warranty 2nd - dropped down to 3 mins… Read more

in less than 1 1/2 yrs.. again replaced under warranty 3rd - down to three minutes in only just over 1 1/2 years even though the majority of the time was only used on timber floors and I'm careful about always cleaning filters...

So now I've resorted to sweeping floors and only use the vacuum for a short burst to suck up the dust pile ... When its new its a great vacuum but at this price point I think I'm justified in having a reasonable expectation that it would last longer. As other reviews have indicated this is obviously a common issue..... and worst still the batteries aren't replaceable ...here we are banning plastic bags but think nothing of being a throw away society when it comes to appliances ...surely Bosch can do better than this