Cheap as Chips but Hard as Nails (Tesco VC106 Bagless Compact Cylinder Vacuum Cleane)

Member Name: Templar19

Product:	Tesco VC106 Bagless Compact Cylinder Vacuum Cleane
Date:	26/04/08 (365 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Price, simplicity, very solid construction

Disadvantages: Not much use on carpets, noisy

On the look-out for a small vacuum cleaner to keep in my workroom I spotted these little machines when food shopping in Tesco and on impulse I bought one. It only cost £24.96 so I reasoned that if it proved to be useless I wouldn't have to go to my bank manager and plead for mercy. The VC106 has actually turned out to be a very useful piece of kit.

So what do we get for our money? Well, we get a small bagless vacuum cleaner that is light, robust and stores away neatly. It also comes in a gloomy industrial grey colour but we won't hold that against Tesco; we're not buying art, after all. As well as the central unit we get a longish hose and a two-piece extension tube. There is an adjustable floor brush for floors (obviously) and a crevice/brush attachment for reaching those more inaccessible corners.

Trying it out on our living-room carpet I soon discovered the first weakness: the floor brush is lousy. It's very light and 'plasticky' and it has an irritating habit of catching on the carpet and tipping over when pulled backwards. It has two height settings but neither really works well and despite the strong suction at the unit-head (adjusted by a slider control) I found that the brush picked up very little. I tried halving the length of the two-piece extension tube and although suction improved slightly it meant that I was bending over as I vacuumed and that was hardly ideal.

However, the VC106 comes into its own when the extension tubes are removed and the crevice/brush attachment is put on. This is for all those awkward corners, and with the extension tubes gone the suction becomes excellent. The narrow, six-inch attachment easily picks up everything on work surfaces and under tables and chairs and it's for this kind of job that I use it. There is also a small brush-attachment that slides onto the end of the nozzle but I've never really found a use for it.

The VC106 is also easy to empty and maintain. The transparent dust-container is removed by simply pressing a button, and after a plastic end-cover is opened it is simply a matter of emptying the contents into the bin. The end-cover also contains an inlet filter that can easily be removed for cleaning once in a while. There is also a motor filter on the side of the main unit that is easily unclipped for cleaning. When you're finished with the cleaner the extension tubes slot into the front of the machine in an upright position that is quite a neat arrangement.

This is a cheap and cheerful vacuum cleaner that is surprisingly well-put-together (floor-brush aside) and easy to maintain. It doesn't distinguish itself on floors and carpets but as a machine to pick up dust, crumbs and other small irritants in cluttered or awkward spaces it is very useful. The simplicity of its design means that I can't see any faults arising with it and even if they did the appliance comes with a 12 month warranty from the date of purchase.

After glancing at the Tesco website I see that it is currently priced at £24.94, not a lot for a useful little machine. If you're looking, as I was, for a small vacuum cleaner to keep on top of dust in a cluttered workroom or if you simply want a second household vacuum to clean up kitchen surfaces or the kids' mess then I recommend this appliance. It's good value for money.

Summary: A cheap and cheerful vacuum cleaner that is very useful but also limited.

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