LG CordZero A9 Kompressor Stick Vacuum

Avg. consumer rating = 90/100 

The LG CordZero A9 Kompressor is a premium contender in the on-going battle of cordless stick vacuums. We say “premium” because it is pricey - but you do get a lot. It includes 2 batteries that are designed to easily swap out and can be charged simultaneously. You also get a wall mount, a robust stand, a number of tools, and a telescopic wand. This is a 2-in-1 machine so when you remove the wand you go from stick vacuum to handheld vacuum. The unit is lightweight and quiet yet it still performs well on carpet and hard floors. However some owners lament the high price tag and also wish the run time was longer at maximum power.

 

	Comes with 2 batteries			Pricey
	Both batteries can be charged simultaneously			Not all tools store on stand or wall mount
	Includes a sturdy stand that holds 3 tools			Short battery life in “Turbo” power mode
	Includes a wall mount			Loud in “Turbo” power mode
	Wand length is adjustable			“Suction in Normal” power mode is not very strong
	Is both a stick vacuum and a handheld vacuum
	Handheld is fairly lightweight and compact
	Designed for both carpet and hard floors
	Power punch tool helps clean bedding
	Not too loud in “Normal” and “Power” modes

Quick Specs
Type	Stick Vac
Bagged/Bagless	Bagless
Best for...	Hard Floors & Carpet
Pet Hair Features	No
Approx. Weight	5.95 lbs
HEPA Level Filtration	Yes
Power Cord Length	Cordless
Motor Driven Brushbar	Yes
Warranty	1-year Vacuum, 10-years Motor

Disclosure: LG asked if we would be interested in reviewing this vacuum. We said yes and they sent one over. Please note that this in no way affects how we review the vacuum

VACUUM SCORE
Our vacuum scores are generated by averaging verified owner ratings, however this LG is fairly new so there are few ratings at the time of this writing. As a result we have created our own score. We have determined this carefully to ensure it fits in where we feel it should with respect to the other vacuums on our site.

Vacuum Cleaner Advisor scoring:

Value for money = 4/5
Cleaning - bare floors = 4/5
Cleaning - carpet = 4.5/5
Cleaning - pet hair = 4.5/5
Cleaning - edges = 4.5/5
Run Time = 5/5
Recharge Time = 4.5/5
Ease of use = 4.5/5
Level of Filtration = 5/5
Noise Level = 5/5
Movement carpet = 4/5
Movement hard floor = 5/5
Maintenance = 4.5/5
Warranty = 4/5
Tools = 4.5/5
Ergonomics = 4.5/5

Average score = 4.5 stars out of 5, or 90/100

WHAT’S IN THE BOX
- LG CordZero A9 Kompressor Stick Vacuum with filters
- Telescopic wand
- Power cleaner head
- Combination tool
- Crevice tool
- Power punch nozzle
- 2 quick release batteries
- 1 battery charger
- Portable charging stand
- Wall mounting kit
- Extra pre-motor filter
- Manual

TOOLS
The vacuum comes with 3 tools and a cleaning brush.

1) Crevice tool – a long narrow tool that is useful for getting into tight corners or cramped areas.

2) Combination tool – this is a 2-in-1 tool. With the brush drawn back it is useful for cleaning flat surfaces (couches or mattresses for example). With the brush pushed forward it acts as a dusting brush.

3) Cleaning brush – used for cleaning away dust/debris in the LG CordZero handheld component.

4) Power punch nozzle – we have not seen this kind of tool before. It has a vibrating head rather than the typical rotating brush (see image below). According to LG it is designed to remove dust from sheets and bedding.

We tried the power punch nozzle on some of our bedding (we attached it to the end of the handheld component). We ran the tool back and forth over a sheet and a mattress. The lack of a rotating brush ensures that it does not bunch up on loose sheets or fabric. We found that the unit picked up a very fine grey material – you could see it gathered in the dust canister. I won’t hazard a guess at exactly what the material was but the tool definitely pulled up something from the bedding. So for this kind of cleaning I’d have to say that it works. But the specialized nature of the tool doesn’t make it particularly good for any other kind of cleaning.

We like that all the tools “click” together securely. They are not pushed on or pulled off. When clicked together they are secure and only pressing the button will release them.

Note that there is no way to carry any tools on-board the vacuum. There is no tool clip, built-in or otherwise.

CONTROLS & POWER MODES
Vacuum controls are conveniently located on the back of the handheld unit. The touch buttons are easily accessed with your thumb. There is a large vacuum on/off button, + and – power mode buttons, a turbo power button, and a wifi button. Because of their location you can use these buttons with the same hand you are holding the vacuum with – it’s a nice, easy-to-use setup.

The vacuum has three power modes – Normal, Power, Turbo. These are essentially Low, Medium, and Maximum power. Engaging “Turbo” mode is a little odd as you have to press and hold the Turbo button for 3 seconds then it will kick in. Perhaps this is because Turbo power draws the battery down very quickly so LG doesn’t want you to use it too much?

The Kompressor does not have a power trigger. As mentioned above, it has a power button that you simply push to start the vacuum running. There is no need to keep a trigger depressed. Quite a few folks who own Dyson cordless vacuums complain about the need to keep the trigger depressed, especially when undertaking a long cleaning session. The LG does not have this issue.

We find the grip reasonably comfortable but we think that it may have been more comfortable if they hadn’t put in a trigger rest for your index finger. Why is there a trigger rest when there is no trigger?

SUCTION POWER
Manufacturer’s figures for suction power are not easy to come by, however figures on the LG website suggest that the LG CordZero A9 Kompressor delivers 200 air watts of suction in Turbo mode. Figures for Normal and Power modes are not available. In the table below we compare suction power figures between the LG and a few other cordless machines.

Cordless Vacuum	Max Suction Power (Air Watts)
Tineco Pure One S12	150
Dyson V10	151
Dyson V11 (Abs / TD / Animal)	185
LG CordZero A9 Kompressor	200

We find the LG “Normal” power mode to be a little weak and we prefer to run it in “Power” mode. We rarely use “Turbo” which seems to be designed to tackle particularly tough jobs (“Turbo” mode also has a dramatically reduced run time).

BATTERIES & RECHARGING
The Kompressor comes with 2 click-in batteries (sometimes referred to as quick release batteries). We can’t overemphasize what a helpful feature this is. It effectively doubles run time without having to add some very large and heavy battery to the vacuum. Also, consider that all rechargeable batteries eventually wear out and need to be replaced at some point. It is much easier to replace a quick release battery than one that is built into the vacuum cleaner (which sometimes simply cannot be removed – some can some can’t).

The batteries are rechargeable lithium-ion units. It requires about 3.5 hours to charge a fully depleted battery. A 3-level charge indicator can be found on the top of the handheld unit just above the control panel. Something that tells you in minutes and seconds how much run time is left on the battery would have been nice but the 3-level light display is ok.

BATTERY LIFE - TESTED
The manufacturer states that with 2 batteries you should get the following run times:

Power Mode	Run Time
Normal	80 min
Power	40 min
Turbo	12 min

We ran the vacuum on medium pile carpet and using a stopwatch we recorded the time until the vacuum stopped. These tested run time figures (again for 2 batteries) are shown in the table below:

Power Mode	Run Time
Normal	79 min 20 sec
Power	46 min 36 sec
Turbo	14 min 42 sec

We were very pleased with the tested run times. Especially given that we typically run the vacuum in “Power” mode and in this mode with two batteries we got in excess of 45 minutes of run time.

CLEANER HEAD
Some LG CordZero vacuums come with two cleaner heads – one for carpet and one for hard floors. The Kompressor does not. This machine comes with a universal cleaner head that is designed to tackle both carpet and hard flooring. There is no need to change the cleaner head depending on the floor type.

The cleaner head has two small wheels on the underside near the front and one large rubber wheel near the back. These all help with mobility – especially on hard flooring.

We’ve seen units that have a brushroll with rows of carbon fibre bristles and rows of stiff bristles. This one has a single spiral row of bristles that is comprised of both carbon fibre and stiff bristles. Its slightly different from what we’ve seen before and we’ll see how it fares in our cleaning tests further on in the review.

WEIGHT
The LG CordZero A9 Kompressor weighs about the same as a Dyson V10. It is lighter than a Dyson V11. Overall we would consider this a lightweight cordless vacuum. It is difficult to get a lightweight cordless vacuum with respectable power and solid run times. The LG seems to have all these characteristics. Some popular cordless vacuum weights are shown in the table below.

Cordless Vacuum	Weight (lbs)
Dyson V10 (Abs / Animal)	5.90
LG CordZero A9 Kompressor	5.95
Tineco Pure One S12	6.64
Dyson V11 (Abs / TD / Animal)	6.68
Shark Rocket Pro	7.30

MOVEMENT & GRIP
This cordless vacuum has a telescopic wand.  We generally extend it all the way out to use it as a stick vac.  With the wand fully extended the unit is about the same length as most other cordless machines, so the "telescopic" feature really serves to shorten the vacuum.  This may prove a helpful feature for people of smaller stature.  

Movement on hard flooring is very good. The unit’s light weight helps to some extent with this. The head turns very easily with a twist of the wrist and the wheels grip the floor well (but they don’t scratch).

We found movement on carpet to be only average. There is a feeling that the cleaner head is on a slippery surface and there is still some forward trajectory even when you are trying to turn sharply. By comparison most Dyson stick vacs turn tightly and easily on carpet. But this isn’t really an LG thing - when we stack most manufacturer's cordless machines against a Dyson in this category they fall short. We should point out that the LG's movement of carpet is not something that detracts too much from the vacuuming experience but it just isn’t as clean and tight as working with a Dyson.

HANDHELD
The handheld component of the vacuum is compact and fairly lightweight. These are both attributes you want in a handheld. Using this around the house is easy and it does not result in any arm or wrist strain. It is also small enough to get into cramped spaces – like the inside of a vehicle. Some of the larger cordless vacuums have more unwieldy handheld components – the Dyson V11 Outsize is a case in point. See the image below with the Dyson V11 Outsize handheld and the LG CordZero Kompressor handheld.

We weighed the handheld units of several popular cordless vacuums.

Cordless Vacuum	Handheld Component Weight (lbs)
Shark Rocket Pro	3.44
LG CordZero A9 Kompressor	3.49
Dyson V10 (Abs / Animal)	3.66
Tinecoe Pure One S12	3.69
Dyson V11 (Abs / TD / Animal)	4.45
Dyson V11 Outsize	5.36

FILTERS
The machine has a pre-motor filter, an exhaust filter (post-motor filter), and a cyclonic mesh filter, all of which are very easy to access.

All of the filters are rinsable in water. After rinsing they need to be left to dry (about 24 hrs) then they are simply put back in the vacuum. It’s really a snap.

LG claims that the vacuum provides HEPA level filtration and indeed it has been awarded the Seal of Approval from the British Allergy Foundation.

An extra pre-motor filter can be found in the box when you buy the vacuum. This is a nice touch as filters, even rinsable ones, sometimes need to be replaced.

Also, there is a “filter cleaning” indicator (light) just above the battery level indicator lights on the handheld unit. This will illuminate when it is time for you to clean the filters. When this lights up you should clean the pre-motor filter, the post-motor filter, and the mesh filter.

DUST BIN & KOMPRESSOR
The dust canister on the LG is small and typically this would result in frequent emptying which can interrupt your cleaning sessions, however LG have created something they call a Kompressor lever. When this lever (on the handheld unit) is pushed down it compacts all the debris in the canister – see sample video below.

How well does this work? It works - but it isn’t infallible. It won’t compact hard debris and we sometimes find hair and debris sticking to the bin walls and bypassing the Kompressor. But, in general, it does compress most soft debris and allow for additional vacuuming time before the bin needs emptying.

LG states that the Kompressor technology provides 2.5 times more bin capacity. That is hard to measure. They also state that it reduces dust upon emptying, and we can believe this is the case – to some extent.

NOISE LEVELS
We performed a test with a digital noise level meter. The meter was placed 3 feet in front of the cleaner head with the vacuum in the upright position. Noise levels were determined for all three power levels. For comparison purposes we’ve added a few other popular cordless vacuum noise levels in the table below.

Cordless Vacuum	Noise Level (decibels)
	LOW	MED	MAX
Tineco Pure One S12	61.1	N/A	66.7
LG CordZero A9 Kompressor	63.0	67.6	74.4
Dyson V11 (Abs / TD / Animal)	63.7	68.4	71.0
Shark Rocket Pro	74.2	N/A	75.1

We find the LG Kompressor reasonably quiet in both “Normal” (which is LOW power) and “Power” (which is MED power).  Fortunately we use these two power modes the most. “Turbo” (which is MAX power) on the other hand is a bit loud - as loud as some of our full size uprights.

CLEANING TESTS
For all the cleaning tests below we only used the “Power” mode option. This is the power setting we find most useful – a good combination of power and battery life.

CARPET
We placed a carefully weighed amount of small-to-medium sized debris on a black carpet runner. The debris was laid down in a 5 ft long line and the vacuum was passed over it - one forward pass and one backward pass. We ran both the LG CordZero and the Dyson V11 Torque Drive (in AUTO power mode). The % of debris picked up (by weight) was then measured.

Cordless Vacuum	% Pickup
LG CordZero A9 Kompressor	99.1%
Dyson V11 Torque Drive	99.2%

These results are so close as to be the same. We consider the results from both vacuums to be quite good.

HARD FLOOR
We performed the same test on a hard floor – in this case tile. However, due to the scatter of debris we only performed one forward pass. 

Cordless Vacuum	% Pickup
LG CordZero A9 Kompressor	96.5%
Dyson V11 Torque Drive	92.9%

As we performed the test we could see that the Dyson was creating more scatter than the LG. Was the Dyson brushroll spinning faster? Was it the configuration of the bristles on the brushroll? We don’t know. Whatever the reason, the clear winner here was the LG with respectable pickup – but not stellar.  Some cordless vacuums that come with a specialized bare floor cleaner head provide better numbers in this kind of test. 

EDGE CLEANING
Lightweight chili flakes were placed against a baseboard in this edge cleaning test. This is a visual test and again we ran both the Dyson V11 and the LG – see video below. 

From our experience with cordless vacuums both machines managed pretty good results. Many cordless machines are not great at edge cleaning.

HAIR
To get an idea of hair pickup and the extent to which it tangles in the brushroll we placed short white pet hair and long black human hair on our carpet. See video below.

Pickup was good – but many machines do a respectable job at hair pickup. A major issue with this kind of cleaning is the hair tangle you get in the brushroll. It can be a real hassle to remove the hair. Surprisingly the LG had very little hair wrap compared to many other machines we have tested – with the exception of those that have specialized “no wrap” cleaner heads. Following is a short clip of a hair test we did with the Dyson V7. You can see the issue it has with hair wrap.

CHARGING STAND & WALL MOUNT
We really like the stand that comes with the vacuum. This LG is actually the first cordless we have that comes with a stand. Many cordless units come with a wall mount which may be ok for some folks, but we don’t live in a place where we can put holes in the walls. The stand is a great solution for those who don’t want to or can’t use a wall mount. It also has a small footprint and fits neatly into a corner or against a wall.

The stand has a heavy base so it doesn’t tip easily and it will also hold 2 tools and the cleaning brush. We also like that the stand is able to charge both batteries at the same time – one while it is in the vacuum and the other in a separate charging compartment. If you have a long cleaning session you want both batteries fully charged and ready to go.

A wall mount and a mounting kit are also provided should you want to go that route.

WARRANTY
The LG CordZero A9 Kompressor carries a 1-year parts and labor warranty on the vacuum and a 10-year parts warranty on the motor.

VERDICT
Whether this is the right vacuum for you will depend on a number of things such as your cleaning needs, your budget, your feature preferences, etc. However this machine is easy to use, easy to maintain, and it does a lot of things well. It is a bit pricey but you do get a fair bit for your money. It also performed well in most of our cleaning tests – hair, edge, carpet, and hard floor.

We do prefer to have two cleaner heads - one for carpet and one for bare surfaces, but as far as universal cleaner heads go (cleaner heads that are designed for both carpet and bare floors) this one works reasonably well. At least you do not have to manually change cleaner heads when you are transitioning between different floor surfaces.

Swappable batteries provide enough run time to finish larger jobs and the ability to charge both batteries at the same time is also very helpful.  In addition, the light weight of the handheld component ensures no arm or wrist strain for extended handheld work.

We wish it moved a little better on our carpet. It’s not difficult to move but it feels a little “slippery” and skates on the surface a bit. But we have experienced this with a number of other cordless stick vacs so this isn’t exclusive to the LG. Movement of our tile floor was excellent.

The stand is a great feature and this alone will ensure that the vacuum sits prominently in our main living area and gets a lot of use.

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Nigel Russco has been reviewing and testing vacuums for over 14 years. He is a professional engineer and uses his review platforms to help consumers determine which vacuum cleaners are the best for their cleaning needs. Follow Nigel on facebook or view his vacuum review videos on the Vacuum Cleaner Advisor YouTube Channel.