Doesn't quite sweep me off my feet (Electrolux Z4706AZ Vitesse Pet Lover)

Member Name: Gary25

Product:	Electrolux Z4706AZ Vitesse Pet Lover
Date:	30/09/08 (269 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Well priced

Disadvantages: Heavy and quite cumbersome.

The picture shows red but the model I have is blue.

We have two cats, the little darlings, and around 12 months ago, when our previous cleaner finally gave up the ghost, this machine with the words 'pet lover' caught my eye in Tesco for £59.99.
They had a model on display and it looked aesthetically pleasing in white and blue so I picked up a box. Said box was surprisingly small so I had a suspicion that the vacuum was self assembly. When I got home and unpacked it, my fears were well founded. Neatly packed in blocks of cardboard, and in no particular order were,

2 long screws and 5 short screws,
A base (the piece in contact with the floor),
A dust cup with lid and filter,
A long handle,
A tool caddy,
A rear housing,
A hose retainer,
A bendy hose,
A wand (not magic),
A crevice tool,
A stair brush,
A dusting brush.
For older members, it is more fun to read the above as if they were passing by on the conveyor belt on The Generation Game. Sorry, I digress.

Let me say at this point, if you do not own a Phillips screwdriver then you can't really progress any further. Some products supply a screwdriver in the package but not in this case.
As a guide for any potential purchaser, there are nine steps to follow to assemble this cleaner with illustrations to assist. I won't bore you with the ins and outs here but the instructions were adequate although I still found it a quite time-consuming and onerous task and possibly beyond the scope of some.

With beads of sweat running down my forehead, I eventually finished the assembly. The bendy hose fits via a U shaped slot, then over a hook in the handle and through another U shaped slot into the base. Try as I might it kept popping out of the one side and still does to this day!
So what does this do?

It is an upright bagless cyclonic vacuum (a cheaper Dyson effectively) and to operate you press a blue foot pedal at the base to release and pull the handle back to a comfortable position. The on/off button is again located at the base.
On the front at the bottom is a blue dial to adjust the height setting. It varies from short pile, hard floor, two intermediate settings, then long pile. If the cleaner is hard to push, move it to the next highest setting.

The wand and crevice tool is attached to the end of the bendy hose for cleaning nooks and crannies. The stair brush is like a mini vacuum with its own brush and belt and fits on the end of the hose for cleaning stairs.
A quick release lever frees the dust cup and the lid twists off for emptying. Full instructions on cleaning the dust filter is in the manual.

Personal observations.
The cable length is around 7 metres but it has an annoying tendency to twist and wrap around itself which makes it difficult to wrap around the machine when cleaning is finished. Now effectively about 3m!!
It has a 1700W motor which is adequate though noisy.

I find it quite cumbersome and heavy especially when negotiating stairs.
Suction is no better than comparable models and I haven't found that it picks up pet hairs any more effectively than non pet lover machines.

The capacity of the cup is 2.4L and is best emptied regularly to avoid blockage in the tube.
The stair brush I actually found to be poor.

The tools fit neatly on the machine even though that hose keeps popping off.
There's a huge trouble-shooting guide at the end of the manual and though I haven't had to use it, there's plenty that could go wrong. The item also comes with a spare belt to fit around the motor should the original wear / stretch.

Overall it's an OK vacuum but I can't really enthuse about it. Sorry.

Summary: An upright cyclonic bagless vacuum cleaner

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