Picture this: it’s Sunday lunch at a full house. The table’s groaning under the weight of bowls of pasta salad, enough wrapped wine leaves to cater for a party of 300 despite the fact that only 15 people were in attendance (Lebanese mother things) and a dessert that someone definitely overcommitted to.
There are kids everywhere — including a trio of nephews who treat the hallway like a racetrack — and one gloriously chaotic aunt (me) who’s fully leaning into the fun. Shoes off, juice spills, crumbs, sauce, the lot. By 3pm, the floor looks like it’s hosting a small festival. And as I surveyed the damage, the real panic set in: the very real possibility of missing the first episode of Married at First Sight because I’d still be cleaning at 7pm. No thank you. I’ve waited a whole year for those vows and red flags.
The risk of a robotic vacuum being taken hostage by a three- and seven-year-old — possibly renamed and pushed down the hallway like a contestant in a commitment ceremony — was very real. But by the saving grace of the Tineco Floor One S7 Stretch, I didn’t end the day on my knees with a mop, muttering under my breath like someone mid-argument on the MAFS couch.
At first glance, this is a seriously slick bit of kit. The S7 Stretch comes in black, looks modern and considered (not “utility cupboard eyesore”), and retails for $999. You can find it at the Tineco Online Store, JB Hi-Fi, The Good Guys, Bing Lee, Retravision, Mobileciti, Tech Sales Online and MyDeal — so it’s not some hard-to-hunt unicorn. But the real magic happens once you switch it on and actually live with it. Think less dramatic reveal, more slow-burn success story.
What makes the S7 Stretch shine is how perfectly it fits into real life. Not “showroom clean” life. Actual, noisy, messy, food-dropping, chair-scraping, dog-hair-floating life. This is a vacuum and mop in one, so it tackles dry crumbs, sticky spills and mystery smudges in a single pass. Watching it glide over the floor during the post-lunch chaos felt borderline therapeutic — like watching an expert calmly defuse drama while everyone else is losing it.
HyperStretch technology paired with a 180-degree lay-flat design is a stand features. This means, it lies completely flat and compresses down to just 13cm, so it gets under couches, dining tables and low cabinets without you having to move furniture or perform yoga. DualBlock technology handled the area under the table — ground zero after Sunday lunch — effortlessly, even with legs, chairs and people still hovering like they’re waiting for a dinner party blow-up.
Despite flattening out, the S7 Stretch doesn’t lose power. It delivers a very respectable 21kPa of suction, strong enough to handle both wet and dry messes, even when fully reclined. Tomato sauce splatter, juice spills, muddy footprints from the backyard — gone in a few smooth passes. It genuinely feels like the machine is pulling itself forward, doing the heavy lifting while you supervise like a very relaxed expert.
Then there’s the iLoop Smart Sensor, which quietly does its thing in the background. It detects how dirty the floor is in real time and automatically adjusts suction power and water flow. Translation: it knows when to step it up and when to calm it down — emotionally intelligent behaviour we could frankly use more of on reality TV.
Hair, a constant enemy in busy households, is handled surprisingly well thanks to DualBlock Anti-Tangle technology. A built-in comb scraper captures hair before it wraps around the brush, while a straight scraper wipes away dirty water and debris. Add in dual-sided edge cleaning, and you’re getting right up against skirting boards and into corners — no awkward bits left behind, no sweeping things under the rug.
Another clever detail is Tineco’s MHCBS technology, which continuously washes the brush roller with fresh water while you’re cleaning. Instead of smearing yesterday’s mess around, the roller stays clean, with dirty water squeezed out and sent straight into the dirty water tank. Floors are left genuinely clean — and importantly, dry — not slippery or streaky, and definitely not in need of a dramatic recap.
Once the house finally quietens and the kids head home, the S7 Stretch still has one last trick up its sleeve: FlashDry self-cleaning. With the press of a button, heated fresh water deep-cleans the system from pipe to brush, followed by sealed drying at 85°C. The whole process takes around five minutes. It’s loud, yes — but so is a commitment ceremony, and at least this ends with a good result.
Is it perfect? Well, the battery isn’t removable, and it’s not feather-light if you’re hauling it up multiple flights of stairs. Very old, baked-in stains might need a second pass or a little extra attention. But for everyday life — kids, pets, parties, and all the mess in between — it absolutely delivers.
By Sunday evening, the floors were spotless, my back was intact, and I was parked on the couch in time for the first episode of MAFS, popcorn in hand, zero resentment. For a busy household that wants clean floors without sacrificing half a day (or missing reality TV’s messiest marriages), the Tineco Floor One S7 Stretch feels less like a cleaning appliance and more like a relationship that actually works.
