Quick, Cute and Capable Kone! (Vax Kone K-001)

Member Name: Nar2

Product:	Vax Kone K-001
Date:	30/05/09 (174 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Relatively cheap, cool lights in base, good suction, different.

Disadvantages: Availability, noisy, small dirt cup, initial small details, no other attachments

When I moved out of the city recently I gave my cordless wet and dry Proaction hand dust buster to the lady next door to me who kept the communal garden tidy and pristine. Thinking that I would be able to find the same model again at Argos proved to be disappointing however. My old Proaction had been replaced with an "Argos Value," label and wasn't exactly the same model by design or power. Amidst the many vacuums I have however, my mum pines for something which is easy to use and easy to grab in an instant; thus necessitating the purchase of a hand vac and I've been keeping an eye on the market not just for my interest.


** This is a long review! **


Thanks to the recession it seems that most dust busters with better power than 4 volts are priced between £23 to £28 and it was only last year that buyers could purchase a powerful dust buster for half the price. It has to be said that in part perhaps due to recession and Dyson's arrival of his cordless hand held dust busters, other companies are starting to take note of quality and durability. This relatively late newcomer to the Dooyoo database, the Vax Kone costs £15-95 from Rymans (Vax have a cheek to charge £48 on their UK website) but it was on EBay that I bought mine, brand new plus postage and packaging for the same price. The new name of "Au Naturelle," for selling household appliances, "BN," sell the newer model to the Kone, known as the Vax "Kurv," and both ranges have been designed by a designer called Karim Rashid hence the "K" associations.


In my long experience of vacuum cleaners including cordless dust busters, I've never quite been able to extract much performance from dust busters that have a lower voltage than 9.6 volts; this Vax Kone has a 7.2 volts power so it's not surprising that the expectation of pick up here is lowly. For the purpose of adding to the home however the Kone looks like a large pyramid and reminiscent some what of the fan driven air purifiers UK buyers could purchase several years ago. Styled in clean white and with minimalist details such as the power on bottom at the tip (push in and it turns on, no need to keep your finger on it unlike some cheaper dust busters) the simplicity of the Kone is refreshingly different and quite unique compared to dust busters of old, with excess cables trailing about not to mention somewhere to put the dust buster when its charging.


Thus the base of this cylindrical pyramid, or literally, cone acts as the charging base for the Kone and the 0.5 metre power cord can be snapped and hidden underneath with a little nib for the cord to sprout out the back. A switch on the underside provides an on/off function for extra lights that can be permanently left on. This creates a pleasing white glow in our kitchen where the Kone now takes pride of place and justifies the next reason for purchasing this appliance; a further central white "Spot," lights up to show that the Kone is charging on the main body turning the whole shape and visual look into something robotic akin to some of the gadgets shown on Doctor Who or Stark Trek! Whilst I can find my way around my home in the dark, my mum can't and she always gets up in the wee hours of morning following her coffee addiction or simply just to get up to have a bite from the fridge. The problem is that up until now, whilst one half of the house is lit up thanks to a cheap and novel plug light I've had for years, a guidance light in the form of a energy bulb fitted table lamp isn't that cost effective if say, left on for five hours in the morning. Thus, my method at the time of purchase was in the back of my mind - the Vax Kone for all that it is a dust buster has an illuminating base light and whilst it doesn't light up the house, it gives my mother a guidance light to see where she's going when she's just out of sleep.


The performance however has surpassed my expectations; absolutely brilliant and a surprise that we needed one for all the cylinder and upright vacuums I own! For a dust buster that has 7.2 volts (or as the Vax manual also suggests, 13 to 15 watts) I'm pleasantly surprised by this cordless hand dust buster. For starters it weighs 865g on the hand held part alone, which could be a little heavy for some, whilst the charging base is a lot lighter. The downside to its clean design however means that whilst it has no ribbed or rubberised hand grip, it could in theory slip out of the hand because of its sloping nature. Here however is where the design comes into its own; the mouth of the dust buster has a natural curve set to it, almost like a food scoop so it sucks dirt in easily whilst its angled shape at the base means it's able to slide along flat surfaces unlike older dust busters that retain a rectangular space. There's a natural point and "squirt," movement here that I find very useful due to its design. For the three weeks we've both used this however, there has never been a time when the hand held part has slipped out of our hands and my mum finds the Kone to be a great dust buster even though it's somewhat large for its size made more so by its colour and shape - the natural tapering of the cone shape logically places your hand in the right way to hold the Kone when in use although you can slip your hand down further for more exact pin point suction accuracy. The corners of our kitchen floor for example seem to be an apt and able design test for the Kone and it passes with flying colours. This is a dry only pick up dust buster however but it does most jobs well and thanks to its stylish shape there are no other attachments with this dust buster due to its natural scooping design.


The 7.2 volt battery has to be charged for 24 hours at first use before the Kone can be used, and thereafter 7 to 8 hours but I'm very happy that the Kone had some initial power when I first tried it out of the box to suss out the noise. It has a general running time of 25 to 30 minutes but if anyone uses a cordless dust buster for that amount of time, I think they may as well take out their main vacuum cleaner to save time and strain on the cordless motor. Being a cheap Dirt Devil in disguise means that it is noisy however, but it isn't any less noisy than the expensive Black and Decker hand held we had many years ago. Certainly when someone talks, it's hard to hear when this hand held is activated.


When it's taken out of the box (mine was already assembled) the Kone may need some assembly on its filter ring and the filter ring holder that has to be attached to the main motor. It is here that whilst white is a lovely clean colour, it brings a few seconds to realign the lock ring to the main body before the filter cup can be attached. A small half circle on the back of the Kone shows how to line up the filter cup to the main body and its here that for the first time I thought I might break the cup when I didn't attach it with the circles meeting up to each other. Vax could paint these circles black so that owners can see more easily (I've used a black marker pen on mine!) because it is easy to open up the dust cup with a firm twist and its pick out mesh material filter before the cup can be emptied. The filter is washable by cold water only and it has to be fitted once it is dry completely. However it will be coming up to a month shortly and I don't see it necessary to clean the filter since it is still relatively white, unblemished and the Kone still sucks up dust relatively well; this may down to its small 0.2 litre dust cup capacity.


Following a video I had seen of this dust buster in action, I had serious doubts of whether the Vax Kone is a serious contender in the dust buster market. The video shows the Vax Kone blowing out talcum powder through its vents and whilst the filtration of the Kone may well be basic, it is a powerful enough cordless dust buster for me to use in the kitchen; picking up corn flakes, bits of food particles and general large pieces of dust. Knowing that talcum power is a very fine powder in its own right however means I won't be using it for that function. However for a kitchen dust buster or just something cheap and cheerful I reckon the Vax Kone has been hidden away for far too long. For all that its stylish, it certainly does the job I need it to do which in this day and age shows that sometimes function and form can work together! Thanks for reading. ©Nar2 2009

www.vax.co.uk

Video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IGnM5gFzdfc

Summary: A surprising dust buster that will do basic dry dirt pick up well.

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