I'm a sucker for this shiny red Porsche,,I mean Vacuum. (Pro line ASP28)

Member Name: missy0303

Product:	Pro line ASP28
Date:	22/09/08 (190 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Sleek, shiny and red, inexpensive, good suction

Disadvantages: Noisy little machine!

It was just over a week ago and I was doing my usual cleaning of the upstairs rooms, and dared to venture into my daughter's room, to see what horrors awaited me there. After taking the time to pick up all of the toys...and then put her clean washing away and pick up the dirty washing (Yes I know, no pocket money for that little madam) I finally got my trusty old upright Hoover out to give the place the final going over. 5 seconds later I heard a popping noise and then smelt a burning smell. I quickly unplugged the Hoover, suspecting that I had vacuumed something up that shouldn't go into the machine...not so, the wire was still attached to the correct place, nothing appeared to be stuck...after a good search I decided to give it another go and then realised nothing was happening...my trusty old vacuum had decided enough was enough and had signed out of this life and onto the next big thing in Hoover heaven!

So I borrowed my mum's little cylinder vacuum cleaner for a few days until I could get into town to buy a new one.

So, last Sunday I trotted off to Comet with the intent of looking to see what offers they had on, and to pick up something cheap and cheerful.

I knew I didn't want another upright cleaner as I only really used it for 2 bedrooms upstairs and for vacuuming the stairs...the rest of the house is laminated or tiled. I wanted something that I could leave in the top corner of the hallway without looking obtrusive. Something that could be brought out quickly and easily and my new vacuum had to have an automatic rewind plug....as I hate having to wind them up after every use...so time consuming.

I explained all of this to the staff member in Comet who told me that Dyson were on special offer this week.....No I said, something cheap but efficient please...
She then took me to 2 small cylinder vacuum's one in pale blue (the discontinued 1400w model) and this lovely shiny bright red 1800w one. Not knowing a whole lot about vacuums but knowing that the higher the wattage the more powerful the cleaner. There was £10 of a difference between the 2 cleaners, but the cheaper one I was unable to buy as it was the last one in the store, and the storeman couldn't find the box containing the tools etc so that ruled it out for me.

I was sold immediately when the helpful staff member told me that she had this model for her upstairs rooms too, saved having to cart her heavier dyson up and down the stairs all the time she said, and then said it was a pretty good little machine as it was quite powerful.

So off I trotted home with my new purchase tucked under my arm...well not quite under my arm but you get the drift.
Like any girl with a new appliance I couldn't wait to get stuck into the housework (only time I don't mind it is when I've got something new to do it with lol) First of all I tackled the stairs, plugging the cleaner into the socket in my living room, the cord reached to the top of the stairs no problem, with a cord length of 5 metres and the hose length of 1.5 metres this was not going to be a problem, you can actually clean for up to 7.2 metres from the plug, and as it isn't a heavy machine then you can quite easily balance it upon the stairs as you go up. It weighs around 5.6kg and has a dust capacity of around 3.5kg....not much really but enough for what I need it for.
The cleaner is bagged but that is what I wanted as I had a bagless cleaner before and didn't really like it. It came with 3 bags in total, one was already inside and another 2 came free in the box. But you can buy a pack of 6 bags for only £6.99 from Comet too.

It comes with the hose, floor cleaning brush, small corner crevice tool (attached to back of machine) and another tool for getting into hard to reach places too. The cleaner is very simple to put together, the hose simply clicks into the hole on top, and it is ready to go. Replacing the bags couldn't be simpler, there are arrows pointing to exactly where the bag goes and which way...meaning you can't go far wrong.

Suction power is pretty good considering it's size, we have a hamster who likes throwing his sawdust and food on the floor from his cage and it picks all of this up with no problems, it's also very effective at picking up glitter from my daughter's carpet (she is into all things crafty) As my son is asthmatic I usually vacuum his room daily along with soft furnishings and this has managed that with no problems too.

Using the machine is simplicity in itself, simply plug in, push down the large grey button on the centre of the top of the machine and away we go. The button on top also turns round depending on what you're cleaning, if you're cleaning a carpet with a deep pile (daughter's room) you'll need it on the highest setting. For hard wearing carpets (stairs, top hall and son's room) the middle setting is sufficient, and for those hard wood/tiled floors the lowest setting is absolutely fine. I never used to vacuum my laminate but it's just so much easier with this machine. Saves having to brush up all the time, and generally when using a dustpan and brush we miss bits. Not so with this little gem! Stopping the machine is as simple as starting it, simply press on the grey button again and it's off.
It's simple enough to change the tools too, my only niggle is that one of the tools can't be stored on board or on the hose when not in use. So I am probably more likely to lose this part at some time or another.

It is quite a noisy little machine, but not any noisier really than the one I had previously (which incidentally was about 9yrs old) I didn't hear my phone ringing when I was cleaning my daughter's room. No great disaster, as it turned out to be one of those annoying salespeople!

Cleaning the machine is pretty simple too, as it is a nice shiny red I like to keep it that way so just wipe it over with a soft dry cloth after every use, and wipe the hose too. As I mentioned before it does have an auto rewind action plug, this is activated by pushing down on the handle (just under the handle is a button which rewinds it) I advise you hold onto the plug and press down slowly or you could end up with sore ankles as it does rewind rather quickly.

I paid £24.99 for this vacuum cleaner and it was money well spent in my opinion, yes there are cheaper machines out there, and loads more expensive but I think I got value for money, on checking the Comet website I discovered that the machine is actually half price, as it was £49.99. You can also save 10% if you buy online so not a bad deal at all!
If you're looking for an inexpensive Hoover which does a good job all round then you couldn't go far wrong with this one. I managed to get a stonking 9yrs service from my old Hoover which cost me about £150 when new, so if I get even a quarter of that time from this one then I'll still be doing well.

Recommended.

Thanks for reading
Michelle (sept08)

Summary: A pretty good little sucker upper

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