Cheap Thrills! (Proaction SL208 Bagless Vacuum Cleaner)

Member Name: Nar2

Product:	Proaction SL208 Bagless Vacuum Cleaner
Date:	02/06/07 (1504 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Very cheap, compact, good small tools, washable filtration, light, Argos' cheapest cylinder vac.

Disadvantages: Suction weakens early on despite suction control; not HEPA filter fitted, noisy, poor floor head.

Whilst Tesco may command the cheapest brand new cylinder vacuum cleaners on the market, Argos have been selling the Proaction SL208 cylinder for some time now, offering a competitive if not similar spec to mass brand name rivals. It is however priced fairly well just before £25 and for that, it may just be the key for consumers who are looking for a cheap vacuum to pick up dirt, or as a second machine in the home. ** This is a long review **


** Nar's Quick Skip Product Review Spec: **


• 1200 watt maximum - NOT 1400 as Argos states.
• Auto cord rewind button.
• 2 Plastic extension tubes - shiny black plastic.
• 1 universal floor head - all plastic with 2 way pedal.
• 1 crevice tool with snap on swing down brush
• 1 carrying strap - black webbed with three lock points.
• Washable filters, exhaust and motor filter (but must be dried before installing)
• 4.8kg – very light and compact design.
• 2.5 litre capacity bin with bagless collecting.
• Argos price; £24-99
• It does NOT come with a rotating brush as stated online/catalogue.


** Setting Up/First Impressions **


Out of the box the SL208 is really easy to assemble with the hose mount locking into the bin at the bottom and twisting and fitting the black shiny plastic pipes together before squeezing on the floor head to the vacuum. The first aspect of actually using isn't the most technological discovery around, but the marvel of the SL208 is the fact that it is so lightweight to pull along, lightweight to lift and extremely easy and fast to use it is a vacuum which can be used straightaway without much fuss. One of the reasons to why it works so well is that is very small and easy to see all controls despite the model being a mix of black with grey buttons. A few silver decals here indicating the power and cord rewind are also labelled on the machine well.

A handle strap is an optional extra which comes with this Proaction and it is easy to fix the points before the main hose and dust channel. Two other points are located just after the main handle and this enables the user to carry the Proaction rather than pull it along by the hose. The points for the strap are very small however and it can be pernickety if the clasps don't fit into the holes the first time around. This however means that it serves the purpose of the hand vac I originally wanted, but albeit in a bigger body with a long hose to get into difficult areas.

But there is a downside to this; the fact that the Proaction mirrors Morphy Richards' POD cylinder means that if the cleaner is worn on the left hand side of the user, the weak power control dial can increase and decrease by turning itself if you brush closely to the machine. Swap the sides over and on the right hand side of your body, you'll quickly feel a very hot sensation caused by the upright exhaust filter which sits close to that side of the machine. In terms of using the strap then, it has its obvious weaknesses but I rather like the idea of this which mimics other small hand held vacuum dust buster type machines on the market. It is certainly easier to use if this type of vacuum cleaner was used in a garage or in areas of a home where above cleaning is required, particularly in kitchen cupboards and food storage areas. The only downside is that whilst the strap can be minimised it provides a messy additional accessory if it is left connected to the vacuum, getting in the way of the machine in general use. For some consumers this may not matter at all and Proaction could include a fitting to store the webbed strap incase it gets lost.

One handle is located permanently on the machine and sits towards the rear top of the vacuum. However whilst the bin has its own handle for transferring to the bin, I'd have liked another handle inset at the top so that it is easier to pull out of storage to use. Most consumers I know will just lift the cleaner from the hose, but over time this will weaken any vacuum cleaner, let alone the Proaction.


** In use as carpet/floor vac **


The SL208 works okay as a normal vacuum cleaner although I prefer to use it for above the floor cleaning. It seems to have a lack of suction when the floor head is fixed on whereas the handle hose on its own gives stronger performance. The extension tubes are shiny black plastic and due to the price they are the thinnest qualitable items around. The floor head isn't any better with the lint pickers being replaced by two plastic ribbed strips which are designed to agitate carpet textures and surfaces and unfortunately in my experience, you can’t agitate a carpeted floor with plastic rather than cloth lint pickers found on other rivals.

In use however the realism of the SL208 is that it will pick up where you steer it but it may not pick up straight away thanks to the cheap plastic floor head. Whilst it has the same pedal for pushing brushes down onto hard flooring (and does it well compared to standard flooring with no brushes put down) the plastic quality of the floor head sometimes pushes the pedal back up. However despite the price (and there have been endless machines I've used which has metal soleplates) the sole plate on the bottom of the floor head is thankfully all plastic which won't damage floors if the pedal is accidentally sprung back in use. But in general use it just passes the test for the fact that the brush has a combination option rather than nothing at all. At least Proaction sensibly fit two parking positions on the machine so that it easy to store away - the SL208 in general size is about the same size as one of the compact steam cleaner models you can usually find in shops and apes the size of more conventional large bagged capacity cylinder vacs.

The extension tubes themselves however are nothing new, easy to twist off and on as required. Due to their plastic shiny appearance though, they attract a lot of dust which is a downside to plastic pipes in general. More importantly with all three points in use, the pipes don't exert much which is good news because plastic extension pipes are notorious for bending and cracking in use. The good news is that the pipes and floor head use a 32mm diameter so if you have an old machine with similar pipes kicking around, it can use metal pipes if you have any – or buy them from EBay for stronger and longer ownership, or a better quality floor head.

One final advantage however is due to the machine's narrow shape and design; the SL208 will seldom topple over and works very well when sat in the upright position. This means cleaning stairs is extremely easy and there is no need for the machine to have interlocking wheels when there is only one rotating wheel and two large side wheels which trundle the machine along. Storing the SL208 is therefore really easy, which is great news as space is at a premium where I live!

The user manual for the SL208 has actual pictures of the vacuum cleaner and important points have been given with bullet points and good size of text. Why don't all manufacturers put actual photos?


** Emptying It **


For all intentions and purposes, the SL208 is really a bigger version of a hand vac despite the two large wheels at the back and a central castor. The excellent lightweight nature is great for anyone who struggles with a large cylinder cleaner and the dirt capacity of the bin can take up to 2.5 litres of dirt. It is a pity however that the SL208 has a fabric filter just like a hand vac/dust buster idea rather than true cyclonic where a cone or similar design has been built in. What does this mean? The bagless tag means that eventually suction will start to waver as the bin becomes progressively full but already this model has the added benefit of variable suction control which gives more power and suction when it is needed most or so you would think in theory.

Emptying is relatively easy; unlock the main hose and press the lock to release the bin. Take to your normal kitchen bin (or bag), pull out the white cartridge which holds the flat material filter and tap the filter into the bin. If dust clings to the filter then it has to be picked out - I however use an old wide toothed comb or the back of a blunt knife to scrape the dirt out thus minimising dust from going up my nose. Then refit the filter, push into the main dirt bin and lock up to the machine.

This grey filter can be washed even though it is permanently bonded to a plastic grid. Although the manual doesn’t suggest this, the SL208’s filter can be dried in a low temperature tumble dry, provided that you put it into a pillowcase with a tea-towel. I do this with many of my filters and they don’t tear or warp and it cuts less time than allowing the filter to dry to room temperature.


** Filtration **


As I've already stated the Proaction comes with washable filters but they are not HEPA identified which means at best the filters will retain most odours whereas strong odours do eventually come through such as pet hair odour. The fact that both filters are washable though means less cost and worrying about where to find replacements. Both filters are white in colour and the main exhaust filter (at the top by the motor) has a handy flip out grille door where the main filter can be picked out. In all instances however, both the filters are easy to spot, take out and install again. In terms of stages this vacuum has 4 stages of filtration including the main filter which fits into the bin; in this respect it is no better than other rivals on the market.


** Downsides **


What a shame that the bin is dark black/grey acrylic as opposed to light bin pictured in the Argos catalogue (and indeed website); it makes looking at the level of the dirt all that harder to see. There is also NO rotating brush bar as stated in the features either and no space for the crevice tool to be fitted on the machine which means it will be likely to get lost in the hands of other consumers, unless they buy the vacuum like I did, for the purpose of above floor cleaning and swap the pipes around and fix the crevice tool on the end permanently.

Another downside is the noise of the motor. At 1200 watts maximum the suction is okay but it's not very impressive and can't lift stubborn dirt. The low 800 watt power however is ideal for shifting dust on PC screens and for vacuuming the keyboard. Increase by twisting the weak sliding rotary dial and the noise of the motor really lets you know by its high whine. Suction therefore may be better but at the cost of your hearing! This is more apparent if the Proaction is used with the hand strap rather than on the floor.


** Cord Length & Radius **


In fairness, most compact cylinder cleaners suffer from one or the same traits and in this respect just like Goblin's Topo model; there is a very short power cord here, just below 5 metres which is something I'm not really used to. I found I had to constantly swap the cord over to other plugs in the home; for small flats however 4.5 to 5 metres of cord could well be sufficient.

The hose itself gives a good length but it doesn't actually stretch itself; what you have here is more or less a ribbed hose which has a set length rather than the stretch a stretch hose implies or as Argos would have you believe.


** General Quality **


The plastic which is fitted to the machine is much thicker than the pipes would suggest although it is easy to see that already the shine on my SL208 machine has lost its appeal. Scratches are evident, particularly around the bin area although removing the bin lid is easy to do with the lock set just after the main handle.

The bin itself doesn't have many sharp edges but there is worry that if the bin is not pushed back in properly (down to up) to meet the bottom lock first, you could well snap off the lock rendering the bin useless. It is good to see though that Proaction have fitted a rather small air outlet slider on the main hose, which has a ribbed section before the handle which gives additional stretch on the handle of the hose if you are less or more than average height.


** Conclusion **


This is not the cheapest cylinder vacuum cleaner I have used, but it sits in a market where very few rivals brand new dare to tread. Over Tesco's budget value model (which is the cheapest bagless vacuum cleaner on the market), the SL208 has 1 litre more capacity for the dust (less emptying) and a lot more power cord.

At the cost of metal pipes which are a feature of Tesco's vacuum cleaner the Proaction SL208 impresses me despite the plastic pipes. Yet there are endless rivals where reconditioned brands are concerned and that is a strong downside to a compact cleaner which is great for above the floor cleaning but as a normal vacuum cleaner for floor pick up it provides very little useable suction and unless you’re happy to constantly push the floor head back and forth in a demented nature for pick up, the SL208 needs more power and a better quality floorhead. Thanks for reading. ©Nar2 2007.

www.argos.co.uk

Proaction helpline: 08705 143009

Summary: Great price but the main principle of flooring pick up lets it down. Argos spec is wrong!

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