My old house was less than 20 year old and with most newish built properties when compared to older types, you don't tend to get a lot of storage space... With this in mind when I needed to purchase a hoover to do my general household cleaning, I needed something quite compact and a good brand which gave me confidence it would last.
I found this on the Tesco website in September 2011 - they unfortunatly no longer sell this vacuum. I remember I did pay less than £50 for it - the RRP is £129.99 and is currently selling on the Argos website for £54.99.
Vax is one of the top names in vacuum cleaners and handheld cleaners - my mum has one in her house and I thought at the price I would give this a go.
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Putting it together
The hoover arrived from Tesco direct by delivery and came in quite a square box - I always thought hoovers arrived in one piece and ready made for you... how silly off me... It came in roughly 2-3 bits which you snap together following the instructions. I didn't put this together, it was done by my ex but to the best of my knowlege he had no problems putting the vacuum together.
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About the vacuum
Just what I was looking for, the vacuum is smaller than a lot of others I had looked at which suited my lack of storage space brilliantly. If you are in a similar situation the following are the size dimensions:
* H109 *W38.5 *D33.2cm
As well as being very compact the vacuum is also surprisingly light - 6.7kg - which is great for anyone having to lug it up and downstairs!
The vacuum is mostly black with certain bits such as the tools, tube and wheels being grey in colour. The dustbin is transparent.
You don't have to mess around with bags with this hoover - its bagless - there is a removable dustbin inside this with a handle attached meaning emptying straight into the bin is a godsend and a lot less messy. The total capacity of the dustbin is 3L which I think is great for such a small machine.
Having a few carpets, one rug and the rest being lino, tiles or laminate floor I am happy that this vacuum is suitable for all types of flooring. On the base is a turning button to adjust depending on the type of floor you are using the vacuum against. The settings which are there to be used areas follows (from clock-wise):
* Low carpet
* Hard floor
* High carpet
The worst setting you can use in my opinion is the high carpet - I don't have any high carpets as such in my house and using this setting I feel it doesn't pick anything up. I always tend to use the low carpet setting as the floorhead drops to its lowest - therefore picking up more things from the floor!
The power cord with this is a total of 7.5 meters and I have been known to plug this into my kitchen and hoover my full living room next door - its long enough for me!
The filter inside this hoover is washable according to the manual - however to date I have not washed it, if you give it a good beating it does remove most of the rubbish and dust.
The hose is also extra stretchy for cleaning that pesky staircase - total of 2.5M.
Another thing I want to add is that Vax also give you a 2 year guarentee which makes you feel extra confident about this hoover.
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My verdict
My pet peev to date with this vacuum is what you have to do when the belt goes. The belt in this vacuum has only gone once in the last 7 months - but what a nightmare I had at trying to change it... You have so many fiddly screws under the vacuum that you have to un-do before being able to replace the drive. Some screws are also hidden so it can get very frustrating. When you manage to take it apart to replace the belt, its even more frustrating to know that only certain belts fit this hoover - there is no universal Vax belt. So on the day the fan belt went I went to the only shop in my town which sells replacements to find they had just sold the last one of the drive I needed minutes before I arrived. I then had to wait a few days for an online company to send me a replacement. These days I always keep a couple of replacements as I do not want a repeat of the last time... At the time of writing you can buy the replacement belts for £4.99 on the Vax website - and if you buy from other websites you tend to get them cheaper when you buy in bulk.
Unlike a lot of other vacuums you do not get any brush heads with this - you literally get an extension tube - to be used to reach further with - and a cervice tool - which is the same apart from the head is thinner to pick up smaller bits... This is quite dissapointing to me and I was a bit shocked when I got the vacuum that it didnt come with anything else.
The vacuum is also VERY noisy. My 6 year old daughter is terrified of this hoover and will not go near it...
Another bad thing has to be how fiddly it is to put the dustpan back in once you have emptied it into the bin. Taking it off is a doddle - you literally flip up the cap at the top of hoover and pull out the dustbin by its handle. Putting it back in you then have to line up with all the arrows and make sure the filter is inline. I am used to it these days but the first time I had to put it back in, it took me at least half an hour to do it...
