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Calum - the Vortex was always dreadful! I don't have one of the Vax Magnum models, but they look good on paper. Glad to hear it's met expectations. Vax have some new multi-cyclonic uprights coming shortly... will post more about those when I can!
 
Bristles like feathers - two rows are very soft, and two are very slightly stiffer. The brush bar is much more like the kind found on cleaners for the Asian market. It actually does a pretty good job on hard floors and lower-pile carpets.

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The bristles aren't very aggressive, but they don't need to be! This cleaner rips the carpet off the floor...

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With regard to Brian's comment about the lack of storage for the crevice tool on the Ultra Silencer - the TwinClean had a similar problem: storage for the crevice tool and dusting brush, but nowhere for the upholstery nozzle! Very annoying!

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That's interesting, thanks.

When I was checking out the various vacs (online and in a few local shops), I was quite befuddled by the range of machines that Vax has on the market. The Vax website has only a select few in the main page; the Magnum was classed as "other upright".

It seems that the generic machine, say a Mach 1, is restyled/coloured differently and sold at certain outlets. Differently coloured/named versions are sold at other places.

I would say that the Vax Magnum is more usable than some of the Dysons that I have used. The Vax hose is easier to get at if you just want to remove crumbs off the sofa. The Vax also has a handle lock at 45°, to skip the cleaner nozzle over threshold strips and rug fringes. The Vax can get up to the kitchen units' kick strip, side on. Several Dysons cannot.
 
Speaking of Vax and multi-cyclonic technology, this is another of my recent acquisitions - a TurboForce Zero, based on the US Hoover Whisper.

For a cleaner with an RRP of £150, it includes a lot of high-end features: multi-cyclonic technology, a separate brushroll motor with on/off switch, reset button and indicator light, instant hose with telescopic wand, a soft-start motor, performance indicator light, lifetime washable filters...

However, it does feel lacking in power compared to other multi-cyclonic uprights of similar input wattage. I was surprised to find that the instant hose/wand doesn't have a changeover valve, so all the debris from the floor has to travese a long passage of U-bends and right-angles through the hose and internal ducting. It's also rather heavy, and feels a little bulky in use, like the Mach 7.

The head is much wider than most UK machines, which is great if you have lots of carpeting, but not so good if you have lots of furniture to navigate round - it would do well in a big house. The brushroll is extremely soft, as with many Vax cleaners - I'd be interested to see what, if any, difference using a Hoover Whisper brushroll in it would make, since more aggressive agitation might help compensate for the lower suction power.

Overall, it's not too bad, and well-equipped for the price. If given a choice, though, I'd probably rather have a Mach Air Reach. I notice the Amazon reviews are extremely mixed, and I can see what UK users would dislike about it.

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A strange feature of this cleaner - although the exterior cyclone empties through a trap-door base, the fine dust collector does not - it's a sealed cup, which you have to untwist and tip out by hand. Although this is mentioned in the manual, and there's a sticker with text on affixed to the rear of the bin, I can easily see the average user overlooking this step, under the impression the entire contents have been dumped via the trap-door.

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It fills up fairly rapidly, so it wouldn't take long for fine dust to start backing up in the system.

I assume Dyson's patents necessitated this design, because I can't see any engineer creating this compromise unless they had to. I remember Vax multi-cyclonic uprights a couple of years ago in which the fine dust collector was sealed by a rubber plug on a piece of cord - like a giant bath-plug!

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Vax Magnum

I bought the Magnum at the discounted price of £79.

I don't think that it is 160 air watts: it has a 1400Watt motor and 9 high efficiency cyclones. Compared to my mum's Mach Air, which has a 1200W motor and seven high efficiency cyclones, the Magnum seems to have similar or slightly more "oomph" than the Mach Air. And it is nice to have a proper beating action upon the carpets once again.

Also, I found a listing on the web for the Vax Astrada (another Magnum/Mach variant), and it purported to generate 180 Air Watts.

The Magnum also had instructions in the booklet about the inner cyclone "twist to remove" bung. However, the supplied model had none, and simply emptied in one movement, ala the Mach Air. Maybe the Dyson patents expired?

I considered Hoover UK models, but web reviews by purchasers were not complementary in the slightest. The Hoover Slalom got slated by one customer, where the drive belt was knackered from new and had to be sent back for servicing.

Purepower / DustManager models were considered and discarded because of the weak chassis in the cleaner head, where the handle-release pedal knackers up and causes problems.
 
Jack - glad I was not the only one annoyed by Electrolux's tendency to offer on-board storage for only 2/3 of a 3-piece tool set! Just amazing! And the Oxygens here are using that same tool-holder under the hose handle - I can't believe they could not come up with a way to store that nifty yet slim uphostery nozzle! I remember asking a Sears salesperson about the inclusion of an upholstery nozzle for an Electrolux Oxygen Three, and she had to go way back into the warehouse to find the little thing for me!!!! :-)
 
Tool storage

Electrolux designers are clearly losing the plot. Had they continued to produce the 2-in-1 "dusting brush with foldable wings", that would allow storage for a crevice tool and the 2-in-1 tool.

Another thing: doesn't tool storage on the handgrip add to weight and bulkiness, making the job of cleaning more awkward? Tool storage on the cleaner seems to be best: close at hand, but not in the way.
 
'...doesn't tool storage on the handgrip add to weig

I actually didn't find it affected ease of use in a negative way... the main irritation was having to carry the upholstery nozzle around separately!

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'Had they continued to produce the 2-in-1 "dusting brush with foldable wings", that would allow storage for a crevice tool and the 2-in-1 tool.'

They did... except now it's 3-in-1! Dusting brush:

dysonanimal++1-9-2011-17-17-14.jpg
 
I am not a big fan of these 3-in-1 tools - the crevice tool is just too short! How can I use that to reach far and deep between my kitchen stove (cooker) and the wall? Or far down between a car seat and gear shift console, or far down between deep sofa cushions? And what's more ridiculous is the new UltraOne actually has plenty of space for three separate tools right under the hood of the main unit. The 3in1 tool sits to one side of the storage compartment!

I agree with those that prefer tools on board on the main unit. The tool holder under the hose handle again makes it difficult to position the hose handle in varying angles to clean in nooks and crannies. I sometimes like to drop the hose down the gap behind a refrigerator just to suck up the dust bunnies and with the tools hanging on for dear life, I would never be sure if they would not catch on some part of the refrigerator!!!!

This is where I think Miele has an advantage (forgetting the poor excuse for a dusting brush provided these days). They still give you 3 separate tools and a decent fabric nozzle with velcro thread grabbers. And even with the new S2 series, you can store all three close down to the main unit without having them get in the way up on the hose somewhere.

No matter how weird these Electrolux tool storage challenges - I love that UltraOne, Jack!!!! Lucky you....could not be in the hands of a more deserving vac afficianado! Not sure why you guys did not get the full power nozzle we can get with the model here on this side of the pond. I am awaiting with bated breath our Consumer Reports review of this vac!!! :-)
 
'Not sure why you guys did not get the full power nozzle we can get with the model here on this side of the pond.'

It's just not necessary for cleaning our lower-pile carpets - the smaller powerhead, like the smaller Miele head, is perfectly sufficient. Another important difference is that the European 240v version of the UltraOne is rated at 2200w (as with many of the current Miele models), whereas the US/Canadian 120v version is only 1200w. The entry-level, straight suction model got 5/5 stars on all floor surfaces in Which? Magazine's testing without any form of revolving brush!

I've had to use mine on 'Auto' mode so far, because with a lightly-used bag, you literally cannot push the powernozzle across the carpet on anything above the middle power setting!

It is a great cleaner, and I'd certainly recommend it to anyone in the UK - can't speculate as to how the US version would perform, because of the differences mentioned above. No complaints about build-quality or ease of use, though, and I think it's a beautifully-styled cleaner.[this post was last edited: 1/10/2011-05:42]

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