my review of the Vivenso smart cleaner
The Vivenso is my third water filtration vacuum, I also have a Rainbow E2 black and a Sirena. I think that if you want a bagless machine, a separator based water filtration machine is the way to go. This is because a water filtration machine addresses the big issues with most bagless vacuums, having dust go all over when emptying them, and clogged filters that block airflow. The Vivenso is made by Pro Aqua in Germany and is their newest model. It takes somewhat of a different approach compared to the Rainbow and Sirena.
When I first opened my new machine, I noticed that there is something about the design. You can tell that it was well thought out and well made, there was no cutting corners when designing and manufacturing it. That's the opposite of how a lot of manufacturing is done now, most products are made cheap and disposable. Like the Rainbow and Sirena, it consists of three parts, the dolly, the basin and the motor unit.
Let's start with the dolly and work our way up. Unlike the Rainbow and Sirena's dollies which are open in the middle, the Vivenso's dolly looks kind of like a large dish that the basin fits in. There is a latch in the front that holds it in place. You press on the latch to release the machine from the dolly. Here is one way the Vivenso is different from the Rainbow and Sirena. The Rainbow and Sirena's motor unit is what actually hooks in to the dolly, but with the Vivenso, the basin is what latches in place rather than the motor unit, this also means that you store the Vivenso a bit differently than the other machines, more on this below. The dolly has four wheels on the bottom, and they are a bit softer than the other water filtration machines that I have so it's highly unlikely the Vivenso will leave any marks on hard floors. Sometimes when using the Rainbow or Sirena, the dolly rolls around when trying to put the machine in to it, this does not happen with the Vivenso which makes this easier. The down side to this is that while using the machine, you must pull the hose a bit more to get the machine to follow you, this isn't necessarily a bad thing, just something to be aware of.
Moving on to the basin, while the Rainbow and Sirena's basins are mostly round, the Vivenso's basin has a slight square shape to it. Like the Sirena, it is a completely open basin which is a good thing. The Rainbow's basin has a roof over the open part and dirt tends to cling to that area making it more difficult to clean. The Vivenso's hose in-let is actually on the basin rather than the motor unit. There is a magnetic cover that covers the opening when the machine is not being used or when it's just being used for air cleaning. When using the machine as a vacuum, you remove this cover and it stores on the back of the motor unit, this is a minor but nice convenience, that's part of the well thought out design. The Vivenso's basin also has a handle, similar to the handle you see on a lot of scrub buckets. This makes carrying the basin easier, especially when there is water in it. The handle also plays a part in how the machine is stored after use, I will talk more about storage later.
Ok, moving on to the heart of the machine, the motor unit. On the front of the motor unit are two buttons which turn the machine on and off, there is also a knob for speed control. Unlike the Rainbow and Sirena which only have two speeds, the Vivenso has a continuous range. I always run mine on full speed, if I need to decrease suction I open the suction relief control on the hose. Personally I don't think motor speed control is really needed on any machine and its one more thing that could go out, especially if circuit boards are used, but the Vivenso has it if you wish to use it. The lowest speed is used for cleaning the air. Also on the front of the unit is the out-let that you plug the pig-tail of the electric hose in to when using the power nozzle. On each side of the motor unit is a latch for holding the motor unit on to the basin. On the back of the unit is the exhaust port. It has a cover which is normally closed, when you want to use the machine as a blower, you slide the cover over which reveals the blower port that the hose goes in to. The cover does not come completely off like it does on the Rainbow and Sirena. On the bottom of the motor unit is the separator, and it's very unique compared to the separators on other machines. The separator is one piece but it has two stages to it, there is a large part and a small part, apparently this allows it to move more water while cleaning, and it does, you can feel the machine shaking slightly when run at high speed. On the top of the separator is the nut that holds it in place, to clean the separator, use a screwdriver or the included tool to remove it. I only tighten the separators on all of my machines finger tight, there is no need to go any tighter and this avoids the need to use a tool to remove them. There is no other filter on this machine, only the water, so no need to worry about replacing a filter after a couple of years. The Vivenso uses a universal motor rather than a brushless motor, apparently Pro Aqua makes their own motor rather than using a motor from another company.
Now on to the hoses and tools that are included. The Vivenso includes both an electric and nonelectric hose, like the Sirena. Personally I prefer this approach rather than the Rainbow which only has one hose which is electric and can also be used for wet cleaning. While the Rainbow's hose can handle wet cleaning, you still must be careful not to get water near the receptacle, so the Rainbow could not be used for things such as unclogging a drain. With the Vivenso and Sirena, you have a totally separate nonelectric hose so you don't have these restrictions. The Vivenso's hoses are longer than the other water filtration machines, I think they are 9 or 10 feet long. Also, they are wider at the end that attaches to the machine which helps to increase airflow. The nonelectric hose has a full swivel and the electric hose has a little less than a 180 degrees swivel. This is a very nice feature. The Sirena's nonelectric hose swivels but the electric hose doesn't, the Rainbow's hose does not swivel at all either. Both hoses have a suction relief control. The electric hose also has two other controls, there is a button to toggle the power nozzle on and off and a switch that locks the power button to prevent it from being used. Even though the power button is in the form of a trigger, you do not have to hold it for the power nozzle to work, pressing it once turns the power nozzle on and pressing it again switches it off. The hose uses 35 MM sized attachments. This is the same size that is also used on canisters made by Miele, Lindhaus, and the Riccar Prima also uses this attachment size. I love to pair up my vacuums with other attachments than what it came with, for example, for cleaning my hard floors I love to use the sidewinder hard floor tool or the Centec CT10 power nozzle which cleans and polishes at the same time. For cleaning my bed and couch, I prefer the Wessel-werk mini electric brush. The receptacle on the hose works fine with these other power nozzles, in order to use the 32 MM size attachments that are common in North America, you will need an adapter. There are several that are available but here is a link to my favorite one. It's made of metal rather than plastic and works very well.
http://www.ristenbatt.com/xcart/Miele-1-1-4-Tool-Adapter-095-M.html
The Vivenso includes two telescopic wands, one is used with the power nozzle and has the electric cord in it and the other is a regular wand. Both wands can be hooked together in order to clean high places without climbing on a ladder. The Sirena's wands also use this design. The Rainbow has the least amount of flexibility here because it only includes two standard wands. In order to hook up the power nozzle, attach the electric hose to the hose in-let and connect the pig-tail cord to the outlet on the front of the machine. The power nozzle uses a direct connect system so you just attach the electric telescopic wand to the hose and power nozzle and the connections are done for you. The machine includes the other typical attachments, a hard floor brush, dusting brush, crevice tool, upholstery tool, and an adapter for unclogging drains. There are other accessories available for it such as a shampoo kit.
I suggest filling the basin to the max line or just below, having more water in the basin helps to keep dirt off of the separator. Once the basin is filled, attach the motor unit and the dolly and you are ready to go. I find the Vivenso is easier to assemble than my other two water filtration machines. I'm a blind person so I cannot see to line everything up and I usually have to fuss with the Sirena and the Rainbow to put everything together, the Vivenso goes together very easily. I used the power nozzle to clean my area rugs and it works very well. The height adjustment is automatic and the power nozzle uses a long lasting geared belt like the Rainbow, the Sirena uses a flat belt that you need to replace.
One test I like to do with all of my vacuums is to see how fast it can spin a turbine brush. While this doesn't necessarily mean that a machine that spins the brush faster will clean better, it does test the power of the machine itself. I use a rugrat turbo brush for this test. This test surprised me, out of the three water filtration machines that I have, the Sirena comes in first, followed by the Rainbow. The Vivenso comes in last place here, it actually spins the turbo brush quite a bit slower than the other two machines. On the other hand, it had no problems cleaning my couch, my bed and my hard floors, and as long as a machine is able to do that, it is doing its job. When it comes to raw cleaning power, all water filtration machines are about 30 or 40 years behind a current model canister vacuum that uses bags, the motors simply do not spin as fast in a water filtration machine.
When you are done using the machine, you follow the same procedures as you do for the Rainbow and Sirena. Remove the motor unit and take the basin out of the dolly. Dump the dirty water and wash out the basin. Remove the separator and wash it along with the basin. The way you store the Vivenso is different from the other machines. With the Rainbow and Sirena, you put the motor unit back in to the dolly and store the basin elsewhere. In order to explain how to store the Vivenso, we have to revisit the handle on the basin. The handle can be lifted straight up for carrying the basin and when you push it down it will stop when it reaches the rim of the basin. If you push it a bit harder it will go over the rim and all the way down which is the position it should be in when you are using it. When storing the machine, push the handle down to the rim but do not push it over the rim. You can now put the motor unit on to the basin, when the handle is in this position, it prevents the motor unit from making a complete seal which allows everything to dry.
So, is the Vivenso a good machine? Yes, absolutely, I really like mine, it's very well made and does a great job cleaning. It does offer some advantages over the Rainbow and Sirena, the hoses are longer and it's a bit easier to put together. It offers variable speed if that's something you want. The main disadvantage is the price. It normally sells for around $3000, that's a lot of money to pay for a vacuum, used cars in perfect condition actually sell for less. Having said that, since I'm a vacuum collector, the U.S. distributor for the machine gave me a good deal on it. If you are interested in getting one, give Sam a call at 417-202-4201 and mention that you are also a vacuum collector. I think it's a great machine and I have absolutely no regrets about getting it.
Mike
