After deciding that a Dyson was a bit too much outside of our budget, and after reading several reviews I decided that a Vax was a great alternative bag less vacuum cleaner and decided to purchase the Vax Mach Air. After shopping around I found Amazon offered the best price at £130, with free delivery. At the time of writing this review the Vax Mach Air can be purchased on Amazon for £98.99.

The Vax Mach Air is an upright bagless vacuum cleaner, it boasts multi-cyclonic action, meaning it should never loose suction. The model we purchased is exactly the same as the one pictured above, silver and orange. The vacuum is 112cm tall and weighs just under 5kg. It also has HEPA filtration, which is great as both my husband and I suffer from minor allergies (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HEPA for more info on HEPA Filtration). The Vax Mach Air can hold 1.5 litres of dust, has a 6 meter power supply cable and a vacuum hose of 1.5 meters. It has a roll bar than can be turned on/off. The Vax comes complete with a 3 in 1 attachment and is packaged nicely in a cardboard box. If you register your purchase with Vax you gain a free 6 year warranty.

So, what does all this mean for me...

The bag less aspect obviously means no buying or changing vacuum bags. The dust container is easy to detach from the vacuum with a click of a button. Another button then opens the bottom of the container to release all of the collected dust. You can twist the top of the container open to gain access to the filters, which are easy to clean. Very straightforward to fit back together and click back in place. All very simple.

The 1.5 litre capacity of the dust container is adequate, I don't seem to have to empty the container too often and there isn't a great deal of mess to deal with, I just empty the container into an old Sainsbury's carrier bag and tie it up and dispose. If you can, I recommend doing this outside to stop getting any of the dust particles floating back around your house.

Multi-cyclonic action, as stated previously means the vacuum doesn't loose suction, so no going back over areas of carpet when you've realised the vacuum hasn't really been sucking anything up for the last 5 minutes!

The size and weight of the vacuum is perfect, very easy to store, which was important to us as most of our storage space is taken up with toys (and a few old paint pots!). The weight of the vacuum is one of my favourite aspects, it feels extremely light to use, it was very easy for me to use while 9 months pregnant and holding a toddler on my hip at the same time!

As mentioned previously the HEPA filtration is great for people with allergies and just adds peace of mind.

The 6 meter power supply cable could probably benefit from being a bit longer, I have to use two separate plug sockets to cover the whole of my living room, but that's not a major hassle. Once unplugged the cable wraps neatly around hooks on the back of the vacuum cleaner.

The handle of the vacuum cleaner is extendable and removable and easily attaches to the 1.5 meter hose. The 3 in 1 attachment tool then fits on with a simple push. The three attachments are for upholstery, dusting and crevices, they all do their allotted jobs well and are very useful. I use all of the attachments pretty much every time I vacuum. When not in use the 3 in 1 attachments slots easily onto the back of the vacuum.

The on/off button for the roll brush in the main head of the vacuum is a great feature as I have to switch from wood floors to carpeted areas. The roll brush certainly does the job on carpeted areas but I would advise to switch it off when moving onto hard floors as it could possibly cause scratching (although no damage has been done to any of our floors on the numerous times I have forgotten to push that button) but mainly because the brush tends to flick particles back out again on our wooden floors. I did have a slight scare where I vacuumed up some string from one of my son's toys, the string wrapped itself around the roll brush, which then stopped working, however there is a handy little reset button that sorted the problem right out!

Overall, I would definitely recommend this vacuum. I have been using it for over a year now and haven't experienced any problems. I'll definitely be looking at Vax again next time I need to purchase a vacuum. Great value for money!