Vax Rapid Spring Carpet Cleaner

This review is for the Vax V021a rapide Spring Carpet Washer. I am just going to say that a carpet washer cleans the carpet and is not the same as a vacuum cleaner, the reason for writing this is because some people find it hard to understand what the carpet washer actually does. A carpet washer uses water and a cleaning solution to clean the carpet whilst a vacuum cleaner does not.

Design
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The cleaner is mainly made up of this orange colour which is featured throughout. The handle is this very bright orange colour and just below the handle is the steel bar which connects to the main frame of the cleaner itself.

You have clear tanks for when the water goes in and out and that is very good to let you determine how much liquid you have left.
Surrounding these clear tanks is this orange plastic which gives the product the finished look. The majority of the product is made up of plastic.

My Experience
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This is a product which is manufactured by a leading vacuum and carpet washing company named Vax. I have always wanted a carpet washer because I am someone who likes to go out and play sport but I have this nasty habit of never taking shoes off in the house and end up with dirty carpets rather quickly.

I found this carpet washer on a shopping television channel and it was only going for £19.99 and I just thought why not, it was cheap and looked very easy to use. I got the device home and at first I struggled to actually put it together. You get instructions which are not that helpful and they seem to be more based towards other languages rather than English.

When you have finally got the device ready which is the same size as a normal vacuum cleaner you have to try and get the container open to pour water inside. You have this nasty screw cap which can be so solid and even when you are tightening it back up after use you find it is solid yet again.

You have this line which is there for you to fill up the water to and you have to pour inside some carpet solution which is very strong in smell and I would warn people to be careful as this got onto my skin and burnt me like crazy. You usually just need a cap full of carpet solution and that is the recommended amount they warn you about. You do get a free bottle of carpet solution with the product.

Once you have the solution and water ready you then turn on the device which is located at the bottom similar to how a normal vacuum cleaner would be turned on.
You have this incredible noise which is just deafening. You feel you are inside an engine room at a huge factory the sound is horrible and blocks out everything else; you cannot even hear the telephone ring the noise is so loud.

The way you use the device is just by clicking on the handle which has this lever and when you press this you have the solution goes onto the carpet and when you let it go it sucks it back up.

So your best route is to find an area of carpet you want to clean the most, and you press the lever and let the solution eat into the carpet and then you go back over it again with the carpet washer and it then sucks up the resulting liquid and cleans the carpet. I was told that the device could lift up hairs of the carpet as well because of the powerful brush it had near the opening at the bottom and sadly it didn't do this.
The disappointing factor was the smell I experienced it was just disgusting, it was like a rotten egg smell and I know it was cleaning the carpet but in my view the carpet should have a smell from the carpet washer solution to help combat the smell.

It was difficult to manoeuvre over some areas, it didn't like to be turned you had to physically pick up the cleaner and twist it and then clean it again, you can go in straight lines all day long and clean but the overall performance for turning is poor.

The next problem was the water was gone within a few minutes, I was using it on a small carpet area and the liquid had gone and I went to empty out the stuff that was brought up and it was very dark and extremely smelly and it was put down the toilet as the best place to put this. I went back and went to assess the floor and I noticed there was still soap in the carpet and it was soaking wet. So I went back over the carpet yet again and I found it still did not suck up the water. The manual insisted it would a few hours to clean and then it would be usable. After 12 hours I went back to assess the floor and it was still damp and now my room smelt of dampness and it was so horrible considering before I began to use the item the aroma of the room was just clear and smelt like incense sticks which I use. I now had a carpet which was wet, smelt and just seemed to be really lacking any colour, it was as if the carpet washer had sucked the colour out of this multi coloured carpet.

It did eventually dry after 20 hours so it does take forever and the smell never went for days, and that was me leaving doors open and putting many incense sticks on over and over again to try and combat the overall smell.

Specifications
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This item is 40cm in depth, 115cm in height and 25cm in width which overall means in height it is about the same as a vacuum cleaner would be.
This device has a 2.6 litre tank for the clean water and solution to go into, which is not too bad but definitely could be better.

There is a 2.4 litre tank for the dirty water and that again is not the best and could be definitely better overall.

This device has 550w in power which might explain the extraordinary loud sound this item produces.

The cable length is 6.10m which is very good in my view and that can be essential for overall use and can cover a large area resulting in better results.

The cleaning width of this device is 22cm which is about average for a carpet washer I guess but again could perhaps be slightly better overall.

Good Points
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Well the obvious good point was the price; it was a very good price for a carpet cleaner regardless. It was not too bad to fill up and empty which was also very beneficial as well.

It did clean up something from the carpet because of the mess inside the tank for when it was cleaned so I can honestly say it does do something and it does seem to make the carpet appear cleaner afterwards.

I think the way you only need a small amount of solution is helpful because it saves you going out of your way to try and buy new bottles and if you put too much solution into the tank you notice how the carpet constantly has this substance on the surface which bubbles up when you walk onto it.

The height of the device is good because it is the same size roughly as a normal vacuum cleaner so it benefits people more compared to if the device was a lot higher.

Bad Points
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The smell of the product is just horrible. My home has always smelt nice the only reason I got this device was for my muddy boot marks I leave sometimes and yet when I had finished the smell was horrendous and it was as if I had got rotten eggs and stamped them into the carpet. It was without doubt a vile smell and lingered for days afterwards as well.

The noise this machine makes is louder than a normal household vacuum cleaner, it just seems to really motor along and just is too loud to think at times. I kept turning mine off to give my ears a break from the overall sound it was producing.

You cannot turn this device well, if you do you have to pick it up and move it around because the device struggles to turn so you have to try and make your moves in straight lines because that is the best option to have.
The water seems to disappear rather quickly and that to me is not good enough. I would hope for a product like this to use a small amount of water and be able to in return with the carpet solution produce a fantastic result and sadly this is not the case at all. The water in this tank I would estimate cleans about a quarter of a carpet.

The carpet solution as well is extremely expensive and it is around £7 for a bottle which is 750ml and sometimes you get them smaller and they cost slightly less. You can use other options but that is not recommended because it tells you this in the manual as it might destroy the device. This is very expensive and even though you might not use much but if you clean your carpets regularly and have many carpets to do then this solution is going to disappear rather quickly.
The carpet takes forever to dry after using this product which for me is just the worse problem to have. You want a carpet cleaner to clean the carpet and be usable shortly afterwards not nearly 24 hours later.

Summary
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I would say with the name of Vax being the brand for this item you would expect better quality but I guess for the price I paid for the item I could not expect much in return.

I would recommend to people if you are going to buy a carpet cleaner this is not the one and you need to try and look elsewhere and go for something more expensive to help you get better results overall.
I paid £19.99 for this on a special offer but the average price is £60 and I would say this is too much for this item and for me definitely not worth the price at all.

© Tink-er-bell