Interesting looking new Vax

[oliveoiltinfoil]

http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/2620110.htm#pdpFullProductInformation

This caught my attention while I was just browsing on the argos website. For some reason, very new products, well vacuums at least, have a tendency to appear at argos.co.uk, sometimes before they are even on the manufacturers website.

Anyways, check out this vax. It looks like a normal air upright but notice the floor head. Is looks like seamless strips of thick, possibly stiff bristles, which look very similar to dysons dc50 floor head. Would these also mean the soleplate has none of those horrible thin plastic slits ?

Another thing that caught my attention was the energy rating, but they do not only give energy rating and kw/h consumption, but also pick up performance ? This could make buying vacuums a lot easier and give people more confidence. They have given this vax an A ! Some of the vax cylidners on here are D, so im guessing argos, or some institution are doing these now.

Very interesting stuff.

 

[turbo500]

Well spotted!

The improved brushroll could explain how the Vax has been awared an A rating for carpet pickup with a lower wattage motor. Alternatively, like Numatic, TTI could have developed a new motor which still has plenty of suck and less watts.

Only time will tell.

 

[kirbylux77]

Turbo500

I have to wonder with the new energy regulations in Europe, whether this means we will see a return to double-stage motors being used in vacuums. Yes, I know that the fans in motors were changed to have more blades on them & increase suction/airflow with using only 1 fan instead of two. However, what I am thinking is, with the requirement for lower energy consumption, would the motor manufacturers perhaps try to take these new-style fans used in single-stage motors & design them to work in a double-stage motor to produce more suction/airflow at less amps & wattage used. Would be nice to see double-stage motors more commonly used in vacuums again since they use lower RPM's & have longer armature & carbon brush life.

Rob

 

[oliveoiltinfoil]

I don't dislikes Vax, although some of their models leave a lot to be desired, the air powered I had was very disappointing, but I did have an air 3 max which was the best vax I have used. Brushroll was very stiff, fantastic suction, decently built, good machine.

I guess vacuum manufacturers will now focus on better floor heads and brush bars to combat the lower wattage restrictions, which is no bad thing. We could well end up with better performing vacuums. A well designed floor head with good agitation is worth slightly more than a vacuum with good suction, at least that's what I think.

I don't even massively dislike TTI. They aren't Chinese, but Hong Kong, which does make a difference I assure you.

 

[turbo500]

good agitation is worth slightly more

Completely agree. That's precisely why a Hoover Senior, Turbomaster or Lux Twin Turbo will always out-clean a modern Dyson on carpet.

Dyson can claim all he likes about "no loss of suction", but what's the point of constant suction if your brushroll is a heap o'crap?

 

[oliveoiltinfoil]

Very true. In the perfect world, it would be a combination of strong suction with good agitation. Whether modern vacuums have got more powerful as regards actual suction power is subjective, but we are now used to vacuums with, let face it, suction which wasn't around 30 years ago for example, but we didn't notice because vacuums, especially uprights, had very good brushrolls.

So the task is for manufacturers to focus on efficiency, low powered but high performing motors. Now I don't know what watt ratting the motor in this vax is, but it would be a good thing for manufactures to go back on focusing more on the agitation. Maybe we will see the re-introduction of powerhead nozzles in Europe for cylinders ?

 

[sebo_fan]

In a perfect world and if they had sense, Hoover wouldn't really have to re-engineer much - after all they still have the blueprints to their original vacuums, one would assume.

Very few have said it - but there's a good idea now to bring back the classic uprights of old which had low watts for carpet cleaning and fit another motor on top for the suction through the hose.

Really can't be that difficult can it?

 

[hi-loswitch98]

The Vax Air 3 I have has stiff bristles that made sugar bounce on my carpet.

Also, that Vax on Argos, notice the hose comes out the side like U.S. versions

 

[sebo_fan]

Chris, as noted before, I think the performance ratings are a bit flawed - they are purposefully dropping down levels of carpet pick up on "suction only vacuums" quite naturally. I wouldn't expect anything less than an A on any upright with a brush bar for carpet performance.

 

[sebo_fan]

Actually I dont think Argos have put the right stats up - there's a new Hoover bagless upright that apparently gets a "C" rating for carpet pick up. How the heck does that happen??

 

[sebo_fan]

Other newbies from Vax (but not the upright):

Steam Combi mop with lift out hand held steam cleaner and upright bagless model.

 

[DesertTortoise]

Oliveoiltinfoil, I would challenge the claim that modern vacuums have suction that was not available thirty years ago. A top of the line Kenmore canister vacuum, say a 4.1, 4.3 or 4.8, from the mid to late 1980s has as much sealed water lift and airflow as premium vacuums do today and arguably better materials. My thirty year old Kenmore 4.1 puts my brand new Windsor Sensor on the trailer for cleaning carpets, something I now rue considering what I spent on that Windsor. The Kenmore Powermate sucks down into the carpet and cleans. It laughs at the hair my two sweet huskies shed like like dust in the desert wind. On that same carpet, the tender Teutonic sensibilities of the Windsor's belt sensor misinterpret deep carpet as a belt jam and shuts the vacuum off! Kludge.

In terms of agitation, that thirty year old Kenmore Powermate is part for part identical to a modern Hayden Superpack. The new chevron pattern brush is a drop in replacement for the original "Beater Bar" brush that came with the vacuum, though there is a school of though that deleting the beater bar hurt agitation. In forty years of use I have yet to see a beater bar come off and tear up a Powermate.

Newer vacuums have more features, but many of those features especially the electronic ones are the source of early failures that lead to otherwise serviceable vacuums ending up on the curb or in the trash somewhere. Putting all the switches on the hose handle combines with 360 degree rotating hoses were one of the worst choices vacuum manufactures made. Nice when it works but the source of many failures. The old Kenmores can be remotored with the big airflow Ametek Lamb motor and made to last indefinitely. Can you new plastic fantastic last three decades and still work like it did when new? I doubt it.

 

[sebo_fan]

One has to bear in mind that in the UK, until Electrolux came along there weren't that many clean fan uprights though.

Its all very well comparing your Kenmore to whatever - we don't have the luxury of Kenmore or Riccar, or even Aerus.

Comparing uprights now to uprights of vintage years, the only advantages that the modern ones now has are tools on board AND just as much suction to offer through the hose as well as the floor head. Most are lighter to lift, not as light IMHO as some canister/cylinder vacs, but lighter as the years go by and as plastics become lighter in their consistency and texture production.

I can't say for certain whether electronic control handles are a good idea or not. Of the ones I've owned, they're still going and have varying years in between them such as 3 to 10 years.

 

[oliveoiltinfoil]

This looks as if it is from the same family as the air 3 models by vax, hence why it uses the "air" name. I had an air 3 max and I found it to be the best vax I have used, thanks in part to much stiffer bristle used on the brushbar. The biggest problem I found with it, which I cured wonderfully (blowing my own horn) is to put some form of grease like Vaseline in the swivel joints and wheels as they were incredibly stiff and since then I have seen reviews stating this and people giving the vacuums poor marks because of this. That was the problem. I phoned vax and they said it should get better with use, to put some washing up liquid there while it brakes in, so more or less the same thing.

One thing I didn't like about the vax though were the horrible "train track" lines I have talked about before. You know the base plate having these ugly slot section every 2 or 3 inches, which leave strands of carpet un-vacuumed, meaning you have to very carefully overlap your strokes. This is something I do not find with my felix as the bristles as continuous. But if this vax has these continuous strips of hopefully stiff bristles, I could imagine the pick up performance on this machine would be excellent, as they never lacked suction power.

 

[sebo_fan]

I didn't mind the track marks from the Vax - it was the markings of the rear wheels I didn't like - and also on my hard floors whenever the brush roll was turned off, the Vax would stick to the floor, making it really difficult to push. Even SEBO's Felix isn't that hard to push across a hard floor IMHO when the brush roll is turned off.