Vax your carpets clean on the cheap (VAX Appliances U91-P3 POWER3)

Member Name: blissman70

Product:	VAX Appliances U91-P3 POWER3
Date:	25/07/09 (279 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: easy to use, cleans well,

Disadvantages: Can be noisy, looks a little fragile and some odd colours

I recently wrote a review regarding a rather tragic vacuum cleaner by those wanna-be boffins at Hoover which I had the misfortune of actually owning, and, after to many months of pure hell which is hovering the carpets, I decided enough was enough and 'accidentally' broke the small red spawn of the devil, dropping it down the stairs, (with the help of my right foot).
Anyway, I had borrowed a friends vacuum cleaner previously and was quite impressed with it, even though I had vowed never to use uprights again, but when I found the same cleaner at such a bargain price I decided to go against my vows and purchase the rather colourful looking Vax U91-P3 power 3.

When I got it home the box looked a little small, being 560 by 290 by 440 mm and weighing in at 9.1kg (gross), but as I had already bought a similar styled boxed cleaner before I realised that the contents would be slightly bigger once assembled, so I wouldn't have to be a dwarf to use it, (no offence to dwarves here either).

Once opened I pulled out the few bits, them being the main body, the handle, the dust container, the crevice tool, which is slotted inside the extension pole, the dusting brush and a small bag containing three screws and a small 'wedge' of plastic. I did look for the turbo brush but soon realised that the version I had bought did not have it supplied, (no big loss, I though, as I had used the turbo brush before on other cleaners and thought them to be as useful as a chocolate fireguard).
Also in the box was the instructions booklet and after a quick read I easily began fitting the pieces together, (a cross headed screwdriver is required for the 3 screws). The finished vacuum then stood proudly in front of me, being 1130mm high, with a base of nearly 300mm squared and weighing in at a mere 7.3 kg.

** THE TECHNICAL BITS FIRST...

* 1900 watts with 280 'air watt'
* HEPA filtration for allergy sufferers
* Lightweight
* carpet height adjuster
* 4.5 litre Dirt container
* Adjustable cleaning height.
* Overheat safety cut out

** TOOLS SUPPLIED...

* Crevice tool
* Extension pole
* Dusting brush

** Note:
Only the P4 version comes with a 'turbo brush'

** OTHER TECHNICAL BITS...

* The hose reaches a good 1.3 metres when detached from it's housing.
* The electrical chord reaches 6 metres, neatly winding up on the side of the dust container
* Giving an approximate cleaning scope of nearly 7.5 metres.

NOTE:
I do believe it does come in various colours but I opted for the Purple on, although the majority of the cleaner is actually a dull silver plastic or even transparent, as in the case of the dust container.


** IN CONCLUSION...

Once I had fitted the pieces together, (which took a matter of minutes after a quick read of the instruction manual), I decided to give it a test ride, (mainly as the misses was out and wouldn't be back for ages...only kidding, I'm not a cave man).
Anyway, when I first started it up by pressing the small purple panel on the lower left side of the unit it burst into life, sounding something akin to a Sherman tank passing through my living room, giving me a bit of a fright, whilst also making me a little annoyed for buying a cheap dud. But when I realised that all I had to do was adjust the height control on the front of the unit and hey presto, the Sherman tank turned into a Morris Minor, albeit in need of an oil change.

As I happily cleaned the carpets, (well as happy as a man with a vacuum cleaner can be), I was pleasantly surprised by the ease of use and the power of this strange looking upright as it sucked up everything in its sight, sending the trodden in dog hairs shooting into the transparent dust container, which really does show how much dirt is twisted into your clean looking carpets.
It covers the 'flat' carpets with ease, by this I mean the living room, bedrooms, landing and hallway, cleaning deep into the fibres with the very useful height adjustment gadget, giving me a little satisfaction as the dirt appeared in the dust container. So I decided to tackle the stair carpet, (a job which I find to be a pain in the you know what), and after detaching the main hose from the units body, (sounds a little technical but it's not, trust me), then attaching the dusting brush to the end of the hose, as I find this to be the easiest way to 'drag out' the dirt and dog hairs from the carpets, I quickly managed to tackle the stairs with ease, which made me smile without the terrible sweating palaver.

So I had know cleaned the carpet through out my entire house without even breaking into my standard heavy breathing and sauna style sweating that my previous vacuum cleaner had made me do, and I was very impressed with the result that this upright had achieved.
Even though this may look on the 'plastic fragile' side, the hollow handle feeling a little flimsy, with no added grip to it, this vacuum cleaner does actually take some stick, although I wouldn't enter it into a demolition derby with your mates 'Dyson' for a small wager.


It does what it says on the tin and is well worth the £35 I paid for it, although as I said, I got this on offer at a great price, and after a quick search I do believe the full price for this unit varies being £58 from Dixons and a massive £119 from a well known catalogue company.
So for around £58 I would recommend getting this great colourful upright although for the higher price of £119 I would recommend shopping at Dixons as the well known catalogue company is simply ripping you off.

In all, it is a fine little vacuum cleaner which will get your carpets looking clean and dog hair free, although I would strongly recommend shopping around for a lower price as for some strange reason the cost varies so much for the same unit.
If you can get one for less than £60 then your laughing as it will do the job you want it to do and stores away very easily in a cupboard, with the electric cable winding up on the side of the unit, but even if you haven't got a cupboard the colour of the unit is certainly a talking point for visiting friends.
But don't pay over the odds for this as there are many vacuum cleaners with the same 'stats' for a low price. (In other words, stay away from certain catalogues).

Summary: This Vax is a lot better than hoover IMO of course

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