What a Sucker! (Electrolux Z4701A)

Member Name: sgathach

Product:	Electrolux Z4701A
Date:	11/07/06 (515 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Cleans well.

Disadvantages: Noisy and you have to keep the filter clean.

The Electrolux Vitesse, Pet Lover, Model Number: Z4700A Series Z4701A.

Upright Model: Made by Electrolux; who are described on their website as the leading manufacturer of white goods and other domestic appliances in the world. Their website states that Electrolux conducts business in more than 150 countries and generated a turnover of approximately 140 billion in 2001.

Do I care, well I do care that they have a good reputation and I’ll be happy as long as this vacuum cleaner does what it says…….So….

It comes with an easy to read, well illustrated owners guide, complete with assembly instructions.

The need for a new vacuum cleaner was due to the sad demise of our seven year old Dyson DC02, (the motor conked out after my husband used it to clean the car) mmm still wondering about that one. Anyway this meant I had no vacuum cleaner and you know how it is, all of a sudden everything needs hoovered and the place looks awful. I set about finding a replacement.

I looked through the “Which” report, I checked the internet; I found vacuum cleaners that do the sides, specialist ones for pet hair, blah de blah de blah.

I went down Tesco to do the weekly shop and bang went my research out the window; I spotted this machine because it was white and lovely and clean looking. I reached out and picked it up expecting a heavy thing, (this would have made me put it back as all the other one’s I had picked up during the past two weeks needed weightlifters arms to move the things). But joy of joy it was light and easy to pick up with one hand.

I looked at the price, it was £69.99, everything else I had looked at was nearer the £200 – 300 pound mark. I thought it was a bit too good to be true so I had a look at the specs and it has a 1600 watt motor, plenty powerful enough; it is a bagless cyclonic vacuum cleaner with a 2.4 Litre capacity dust container. Wow even better. I had a wee chat with hubby and we decided that we would buy it “for now” till we could go out and buy a “better” (more expensive) model.

Well when I got home, we unpacked it and put it together, well hubby did, I would normally if he wasn’t here, but who am I to deprive a man of putting a vacuum cleaner together, although I did “hover” about to make sure he followed the instructions.

It was easy, nothing to it, my pet blackbird could have done it (using instructions and tools of course), well, you get my drift don’t you, anyone could have done it.

Okay now to try it, I turned it on and it pulled away by itself, really powerful; but then I smelt it and then saw it, a bit of smoke coming out the side and a nasty smell, I must admit I panicked a bit and turned it off immediately and my first thought was “oh no!” it really was too good to be true. So there was I all ready to take it back and get a refund and start searching again. Clever hubby said it didn’t smell electrical, and he should know he’s an Electronics and Electrical Engineer; so you kinda trust him on these matters. It turned out that the motor must have had the tiniest bit of oil on it and that was it burning off. Perfectly safe I assure you.

We tried again and success, no smoke and boy does that appliance work, I vacuumed with my jaw hanging open (no don’t try and imagine it). This appliance is much more powerful than I imagined, it really does pull itself along, making the weight of it almost totally insignificant when you are using it. Joy of Joys, the pile on my carpet came up like it does when it’s brand new. At this point the only thing negative that I have to say is that it is a bit noisy. Nothing that I haven’t got used to and now it seems quite normal.

I vacuumed the house in one fell swoop from one electrical point; this Vacuum cleaner has a 7.5 metre cord length, and as I live in a bungalow this is more than sufficient to clean the whole house without changing plug points.

It has an array of tools, which include your hose, your wand, crevice tool, Base (LOL); well it has to stand on something). Dust cup with lid and filter, I find this not very well described as it is of course larger than a cup and has a dust capacity of 2.4 litres, more than enough to vacuum the whole house three times before emptying. Mind you I suppose it depends how dusty your house is. Not that mines ultra clean, oh never mind, you know what I mean. A handle ( a G1) Turbo handle no less; which I find very handy; as to be quite honest I’m not sure how I’d push it along without one!, A tool caddy, which I don’t believe; it should say wee clips and other places to put tools. Rear housing???? Did I need to know that? A hose retainer (another clip/plastic bit to hold hose) and finally a stair brush, Mmmm no good to me, I live in a bungalow. LOL. I should have asked for a discount for that tool.

This model has an anti tip design; I’m not quite sure how to describe that or what it does as the paperwork doesn’t mention it.

There is a combination dusting brush and upholstery tool, which is a wee brush head that fits on to the hose and wand for doing your sofa and curtains. It works okay.

In addition there is a Turbo nozzle, this is a mini air driven rotating brush head which again is attached to the hose and wand, I find this useful for vacuuming beside the toilet and in other hard to reach places. It works well, but being air driven not belt driven it is not as effective as the vacuum itself.

There is a small belt window on this appliance so you can check that your belt is in good condition.

It has automatic floor height adjustment, and it works, no more clicking the hoover or changes pile heights adjustment levers.

The built in hose which is secured around the upright, is easily assembled and easy to use, I will say however, that it is not designed very well and it takes a few goes to use the hose with ease. This of course could be due to the fact that I have been used to a cylinder vacuum for years and the hose is of course always free.

It is 110cms high, which I find perfect for my 5’2” frame, although a friend of mine tried it, she’s around 5’7” and she had no problem with it.

It weighs in at a very light 6.8 kgs. This is only 3.3 kgs more than my laptop weighs.

I have found the quality of the vacuum to be excellent, it sucks up more dust than my old Dyson and as the pet lovers’ model, in this capacity, I have to say this functions brilliantly. During the first trial run, I found cat hairs in the dust bin, nothing strange there, apart from the fact that our cat died last November and even though I have been vacuuming regularly since then, this model still found pet hairs.

It brings the pile up on the carpet wonderfully; you get that just hoovered look which I love. It’s easy to clean, just empty the dust container in the bin, or in a bag like I do.

The filter is washable which is an added bonus and it claims to help improve air quality in the home. My opinion on this is that when I am using it, it does not kick out dust and the filter really does seem to trap a lot of small dust particles that would normally get kicked back out into the air. To wash the filter is easy; you just shake off the dust and rinse with warm water. Allow to dry for 24 hrs. And it does work!

This model drops to floor level to clean under furniture and beds but I find that the size of the cylinder prevents it from accessing underneath my bed, in fact the only thing it will really fit underneath is the coffee table, but the wee turbo nozzle can be attached to the wand and hose for these jobs so it’s really not a problem. There is a helpful hint in the booklet about this that says “Before cleaning under low furniture, check area first for objects that might harm or block the vacuum hose”. So be careful your children haven’t let the hamster loose.

As an added bonus this model also has a thermal cut off (a thermostat that protects the cleaner in case of motor overheating) (won’t happen in my house from overuse. LOL)
It then gives clear instructions as to what to do if this happens.

All in all this cleaner is effective, cheap, lightweight, easy to clean, the rotating brush head is excellent at picking up pet hairs and it’s WHITE (which I love).

If there are any downsides I would say that they are the Level of noise it emits, the awkwardness of the cable tidy and the wee bit of rigmarole to get the hose out to use it.


I want to make a few points that are perhaps irrelevant, but it’s my review and I wanna put it in because they amused me (doesn’t take much).

The Instructions for Assembly Include:

CAUTION : Assemble the cleaner completely before using. LOL I had visions of something looking like half a Robocop being dragged round the floor sucking up dust and spitting it out the back where the rear housing and “dust cup” are supposed to be.

CAUTION: Moving parts (Robocop again) make sure the on/off switch is in the off position and stay clear of the brush roll when plugging in. You’d have to be holding it above your head or upside down to be near the brush roll when you plug it in.

The Instruction manual includes:

CAUTION: Do not plug cleaner in until you understand all the controls and features, err that’ll be the on switch at the bottom.

NOTE: Never operate the cleaner without the dust cup and filter, well who would, unless they want to sook up dust and debris and redistribute it evenly round the house. I’ve got a teenager for that thank you very much.

Thanks for reading.

Sheena 2006.

Summary: This a cheap and cheery machine that cleans brilliantly.

Processing/Quality:
Reliability:
Ease of use:
Cleaning/Maintenance: