Advantages It works - if you continue to maintain it - lightweight, easy to use if you remove squeegee strip.
Disadvantages Plastic quality leaves a lot to be desired, high price, escaping dust.
The moment I opened the box I knew that what I had actually bought was a Dirt Devil Vibe upright which is not available to buy here but exclusive to the U.S. For comparisons though, Vax’s V045 (itself a Dirt Devil model) Quicklite upright without the hose and small tools attached is its distant cousin. I’ve often admired the little Vax even though it is noisy and lacks a hose; it reminds me of my old Oreck XL which was just as capable if not noisier and has the same lightweight appeal. This is probably why Hoover have decided to do their own version and sell it in the UK; amongst so many models from their heavy 10 year old Dust Manager/Pure Power based uprights and the bulky One models, Hoover must be scratching their heads to see who could have been their next victim cashing in on the success of another manufacturer’s model rather than design one entirely on their own for the compact lightweight budget market. At launch Hoover suggested that this was an all new in house design; well maybe for the UK & European market but for Americans they’ll know it as a blue Dirt Devil. On the face of it the Alyx upright does everything the little Vax Quicklite does even though it has acres more power and shock of horrors quotable air watts in suction. So let’s separate the crap from the credible then: ** Nar2's Quick Skip Product Spec **
• Model: Hoover Alyx upright JC2145. Not the Junior stick vac as shown here on Ciao! • 1400 watt fixed power. Shame the motor is so noisy in use. • Red metallic colouring – actually no Hoover, it’s red and there’s only one part on the machine which has a red metallic insert, the rest is cheap red plastic. • 130 air watts; Ah but only when the bin is empty and not full! • HEPA washable filter; yes it is washable but you have to wait 24 hours to dry according to the manual. • Bagless cyclonic; yes the dirt spins but then the mesh filter can get blocked! • Easy to empty down trapdoor mechanism; still a dirty procedure. • Pre motor filter – NO there isn’t one near the motor and that means more dust. • Edge to edge cleaning – according to Hoover it doesn’t, but it does for me! • Precise Brush Height Control – No, there are no dials, it adjusts automatically. • Stair cleaning hose – not quite, the hose isn’t long enough to cover an average length of stairs; one or two if you’re lucky before the model tips over. • Tools on board – a cheap plastic holder sits below the handle and holds a short crevice tool and a 360° upholstery brush – these are not Hoover tools and are larger than the usual 32mm fitment. No extension pipe has been offered either. • Weight: 5 kg according to Hoover. Yes it is lightweight! • Cord length 6 metres; and there’s also a handy clip at the top of the cleaner to ensure the cord doesn’t get trapped up the floor head. • Original price £50 to £60, second hand pricing £30 to £50. This is now a model that is available to buy (2011 onwards) on Gumtree as a second hand model or refurbished off EBAY. • Tesco (2011) now have the replacement model for £45.
00 JC3164 and at TJ Hughes for the JC3157 including a pet hair turbo brush - £59-99.
Pricing & Design
On spec alone the Hoover Alyx upright has a fair list of official data which makes the model appealing, but against Hoover’s own Junior stick vac the Alyx is overpriced in my mind; at £60 brand new I don’t think it is worth that much for spending on a small compact upright model which at best can do minimum jobs with its short hose and small foot floorhead. Tesco have it right although availability at Tesco is always notoriously difficult for this model whilst TJ Hughes is good for a better bargain. For those who are interested in how much this model is priced at in the U.S look at the bottom of this review. For 2011 the JC2145 has been long replaced by newer models with a new floor head design - but the basic design of the bin, tools and hose have been retained. Thankfully you get a better made handle too.
But back to the design of the Alyx JC2145; you can thank Dirt Devil for designing a generally easy machine here in terms of accessing features. As for assembly-just-out-of-the-box directions, you simply need to screw a bolt to secure the handle to the top of the vacuum yet it is a pity it does not emulate the same style of the Dynamite model/Vax V045 where the handle just slides in and out via a push lock. After that is done, the stair cleaning hose pulls up and wraps around the top of the cleaner as shown here on PROPER PHOTOS of what the Alyx looks like and into a bottom hose which sprouts up from the base of the machine at the back. Then you simply plug in and switch on!
In Use
The first time I switched the Alyx on I recognised the familiar noise of the motor and it’s a fair old noisy motor supplying 1400 watts of motor power against Vax’s 850 watts but the advantage here is that the revolving brush doesn’t vroom so loudly when its hitting carpet surfaces. The power button is at the top of the machine, just located at the same position as the Vax and even with the same design of button. Just like the Vax/Dirt Devil model too, a rubber squeegee line is also built in before the brush which makes it ideal to be used on hard flooring without marking or damage; this is helped along by the two rear wheels and a central wheel which also adjusts the height automatically. And true to Hoover’s statement, this model is very lightweight. It glides very well across all carpet surfaces, pick up is excellent and against Hoover’s so called official spec list, it does have edge channels built in and can do right up to the corners and skirting boards. The suction is excellent both from the floorhead and from the hose – although you do have to bend down to release the hose. Since it is permanently fixed on the Alyx at the top though, at least you are saved from further bending down unless specific tasks are needed, or when the hose has to be pushed back on for normal upright floor cleaning.
Thanks to its budget design it’s a bit like a Dyson upright here in terms of swinging the handle down to adjust to your need for cleaning and there are no pedals to have to push down twice to angle the cleaner under low furniture.
Another shock however is the fact that despite the bin’s large surface diameter, the Alyx can be shoved under low furniture – but this very much depends on the type and height of the low furniture you may own yourself; crucially for me it can go under tables and chairs where the Vax cannot. Unlike some upright cleaners, particularly modern types the Alyx will not pivot its head up or down if you are not of average height and I don’t have to stoop to ensure the floorhead sticks to the floor. What a shame then that there is no carry handle. Where it can be found on Vax’s V046 on the main bin lid, if you try to do the same on the Alyx, the bin comes off the machine. The only way of lifting this vacuum is by the main looped handle which can be annoying if carrying up stairs and this is all because of that permanently fixed handle. Thank god the handle is looped though as it makes pushing and pulling the vacuum easier as well as reducing hand fatigue.
Another good factor is that the Alyx can also clean when the model is laid flat to the floor.
Emptying the Dirt & Filtration
If you buy the Alyx upright you don’t need to buy any filters since the filter is located at the top of the bin canister and is washable; the second filter on the single cyclone cone is a mesh filter and can be additionally washed or brushed too. However Dirt Devil have copied Dyson again in this respect by offering a drop down trap door at the bottom of the bin and the plastic lock for this feels weak and short. That aside, releasing the bin from the Alyx is simple by releasing the bin handle at the top of the cleaner. There is however no handle on the bin itself, which makes emptying frankly awkward, having to put your finger into the dirt channel hole before carrying to a refuse bin and I hate to say this but the Vax has a handle on the bin which makes carrying to a refuse bin all that much easier.
This brings me onto the next point; the filter standard on the Alyx is a HEPA identifiable (High efficiency particulate air/arresting) ring which can be washed under a tap- the very wordy and pictured manual suggest the ring should be washed after five empties. It can also be brushed clean although the fine pleats on this filter suggests that washing is better rather than brushing for optimum clean results - and if you have cleaned paper pleated filter cones before, you'll have to face the job of doing it agan if you can't be bothered to wash the filter. Hoover do not offer another HEPA filter in the meantime which means you are stuck for 24 hours unless you take on MY suggestion by putting the wet filter into a tumble dryer for at least 30 mins on a low setting (I use a pillow case and a towel so not to have this plastic black ring bouncing off the ridges in the walls of the tumble dryer drum.)
Getting to the filter however is a messy business. For starters the bin top screws off just like the Vax which reveals the HEPA ring, but keep it horizontal and the ring won’t fall out. Dirt Devil have reverted to a design which is also used in their RoomMate compact stick vac and whilst it works well there because it has its own filter lid, there is none here which makes the viewable dust all the more annoying.
And what a lot of dust there is once the bin lid and filter is taken out. In use I found it is always literally caked with dust, so for consumers with allergies, I’m afraid this is a cleaner which isn’t for you regardless of the so-called HEPA filter that won't save you from the dust flying up at you! Once the filter is removed you then have the option to take out the entire cyclone section which then reveals more dust caked around the edges and the mesh itself. It’s not a particularly good design worthy element of the Alyx even if it has a low down trapdoor for emptying in the initial stages.
Putting the lid onto the bin however also takes time and patience although the HEPA filter ring clearly states which way it should be popped back down into its seat. Like the Vax then in terms of same design, same locks it has a different principle where the location of filters are concerned and put simply, the Vax model is better designed in this respect even if its filter has to be shaken, washed or tapped free of dust.
Even as late on in 2011 Hoover haven't improved the design of these filters. They may dress up future models with funky colours and silly designs but at the end of the day even the more powerful models have the same filter removal design.
Dust Capacity
The dust capacity on the Alyx is also small at 2.2 litres against Vax’s larger 2.7 capacity and I found I had to empty the Alyx every week and a half rather than two weeks and a bit with the Vax. Whilst there may be 130 air watts suction, Hoover have a tendency to use this as a quote to emphasize the machine’s capability but as soon as the bin starts to get full, suction is cut down by a very large margin and the Alyx isn’t as eager anymore to gobble up dirt.
Any More Downsides?
Unfortunately the worst aspect which the Alyx suffers from isn’t its build quality although the first time I used the Alyx it wouldn’t stand up on its own and until I pushed down on the handle, a crack could be felt through the handle which meant that the upright can now stand up on its own! The floorhead has to be stamped on to release the handle and a similar crack can also be heard. The general plastic on the body is actually quite thick which surrounds the machine and Hoover have put in a dark grey panel at the front to keep off the scratches and scrapes. The Alyx isn’t particularly glittery or decked out in matt paint like some rivals, but it has a thin and cheapened appearance because of the appearance of rubberised look-a-like plastic which lets the quality down here; in bright light you can see the creases on the edges of the plastic at times whilst the tool holder itself doesn’t feel or look like it will last.
The attachment tools consist of a short crevice pipe and upholstery brush but there is no secondary extension pipe which can be used to lengthen the stretch from the short hose which is frankly cost cutting on Hoover’s part here and they are larger than Hoover’s original tools so if you have a turbo tool kicking around, the Alyx will not be able to use it unless its larger than the market standard of 32mm.
When I cleaned stairs with the hose out the back, there were a couple of times I got hit in the head because the upright fell over and the handle came crashing down on me - it isn't a safe vacuum to use.
But I shall keep the worst aspect of the Alyx to the last. Whilst vacuuming I noticed that there was a fine line of dust which had collected at the sides of the cleaner as well on the underside after the revolving brush. For a model which has a HEPA filter and from what looks like a sealed design, this is unfortunately not the case. Whilst the Vax model suffers a little from escaping dust, it has a better seal around the bin generally plus a proper pre-motor filter at the bottom which the Alyx doesn’t have; the motor is at the bottom and Hoover call the HEPA ring at the top, a pre-motor filter after the cyclone mesh; total nuts and probably why there is so much apparent dust to my eye.
Last but not by any margin is the drive belt. Sadly the Alyx has a drive belt and getting to it will take 6 screws to be undone on the soleplate. Whilst it has an easy procedure to change the belt, getting to the belt via all those screws would severely annoy the hell out of me and they eventually did when one year the drive belt broke and getting the belts from Hoover was trial and patience time; cost price £6-99 for a pack of 2.
For those interested, I thought I would do a comparison between U.S dollars and the British pound where the original Dirt Devil Vibe upright sits at. Currently it is available between $45 and $49, which for UK conversions is a shocking low £23 to £25!! Compare this to Dyson prices in the U.S and they are actually similar to the prices we pay for Dyson models in the UK...food for thought!
I'm beginning to wonder if you live in a shrine to cleaning, and i definitely will check out your reviews if i need to purchase a new vacuum cleaner. Thorough as usual.
A U.S Dirt Devil by Hoover U.K 
Nothing less than an E in my eyes!