DON'T HOOVER HUNGOVER (VAX)

Member Name: sandrabarber

Product:	VAX
Date:	20/02/03 (736 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: powerful, effective, great value

Disadvantages: loud

I was pleased when my vacuum cleaner gave up the ghost, despite the fact that I'd now got to find the money for a new one. The old one was an upright, you see, and getting it up and down stairs used to DRIVE ME MAD. It was too heavy and there was nothing to hold on to, and I used to have to hold it high in the air to stop it catching on each stair as I climbed. By the time I'd got it upstairs, I'd be sweating, breathing heavily and not in the mood for hoovering at all.

So when it did break, I headed straight down to the shops with one word on my mind and that was CYLINDER. No more uprights for me - ever again. I also had two more criteria, and that was that 1. I could not afford to spend anything over £100, and 2. It absolutely had to have a retractable cord. (You know how it's always the small things that get you most annoyed in life? Having to rewind my own vacuum cleaner cord is one of those things for me).

After a good look around, I settled on the VAX VS-03 from powerhouse, for which I paid £79.95. With cleaners ranging from £30 to £250 in the store, I felt that I was paying enough for reasonable quality but was not paying through the nose for features that would be no use to me, too gimmicky or simply rip-offs.

LOOKS:

The VS-03 is a fairly recent model and the design reflects this. In a shiny silver finish, with a curvaceous, ovoid body, it's quite space-age in appearance. It has a flexible accessory tube which fixes on one side for easy carrying when not in use, and this makes it look somewhat like a petrol pump when standing on its end.

SIZE AND WEIGHT:

The VS-03 is on the large side as far as cylinder cleaners go, meaning that it can take a lot of dust before the bag needs emptying, but at 8 kg it isn't too heavy to handle.

MANOEUVERABILITY:

Despite its large size, the VS-03 is easily maneuverable. Strong, effective castors ensure that it slides around
like a dream, requiring next to no effort on your part.

It is also easy to carry, having the right handles in the right places, and having a handy hook for the flexible attachment tube and thus freeing up your other hand.

I'm 5 foot 7 and have no bother at all carrying my VS-03 up the stairs or from room to room.

CLEANING:

The most important category of all, of course, and this is where the VS-03 really comes into its own.

With 1800 watts at its disposal, this cleaner is powerful. Its suction is quite phenomenal.

For this reason, it has a variable sliding power control which you need to adjust according to the job in hand.

I find that on maximum the cleaner sucks up every last bit of cat hair in my thick pile carpets, while my rugs need only the minimum or else they begin to disappear up the tube.

There is also a foot button which raises and lowers the brushes, making it suitable for either carpets (with brushes lowered) or hard floors (with brushes raised). As well as dealing with my carpets, the cleaner works on my laminate and tiled floors a treat.

I really can't fault this vacuum at all on its cleaning performance.

ATTACHMENTS:

The cleaner comes with one large bristled attachment, and three small attachments. The large attachment - which is in sturdy plastic and chrome, so looks good and feels durable - is used for most jobs, but the small ones come in particularly useful for upholstery, corners, small areas and the car. Removing and swapping attachments is a doddle.

The three small attachments are stored in the body of the cleaner. This keeps them out of sight but at the same time they are very easy to get to when needed.

BAGS:

The VS-03 is a bagged cleaner, and each bag holds a whopping 2.5 litres of dust. Each time a bag is full, it needs to be thrown away and replaced with a new one. You could try emptying the bag if y
ou wish, but it would be a fiddly and probably dirty job.

Besides, you can get a good 2 months out of each bag in my experience, and replacements are only £4.99 for 5 from Powerhouse, so it's not an expensive business.

ANYTHING ELSE:

Yes, the machine has a 'hepa filtration system' whereby the replaceable filter not only traps dust but kills bacteria too.

It also has that all-important retractable cord, which works like a dream at the touch of a chunky button with your toe.

And one (slightly) negative point. Despite being called a 'low noise' vacuum cleaner, the VS-03 makes a right old racket, so it's not suitable for use with a hangover.

OVERALL:

I'm really pleased with my VAX VS-03, which I've now had for almost six months. I recently did a bit of hoovering at my brother's with his top of the range Dyson, and can honestly say I didn't find the cleaning power any better.

For great performance, power, good looks and superb value for money, you'd be hard pressed to beat this vacuum from VAX.

Summary: