New 2014 Vax Air total home - I am speechless

[oliveoiltinfoil]

Couple of days ago, I was browsing the argos site as you do when you are waiting in the doctors, when I noticed the new eco Vax air was in stock (albeit at £299.99). I posted a thread about this when I saw it and the new brush design really intrigued me. So when I got home, I ordered it, as I had just sent back a Bissell Powerglide lift-off, which was okay, but the awkward swivel neck and leaking dust bin put me off, despite the fact it had good agitation and nice suction.

So I wanted a bagless upright, so I have a bagged and bagless machines. My biggest problem with bagless machines isn't as much the emptying, but the silent around the dust cup, as when the dirt spins around on multicycolonic systems especially, the dust finds its way between the rubbers if they are poor quality, and gathers on the outside of the bin. Nasty.

I had a Vax powerhead cylinder not so long ago. Although that was very poor on carpet performance, it had excellent sealing and a brilliant multicyclonic system. The filter didn't discolour when I used it for the first time, which was good.


So I ordered one yesterday, and it arrived about 2 hours ago. Now because this is such a new product, it isn't even on the Vax website, I had very little information to go on. No wattage rating, and no air watts. All argos says about it at the moment is it received an A rating across the board on the new EU regulations which measure noise levels, pick up performance on hard flooring and carpets, energy usage and exhaust emissions (not it's not a car) for the filtration. I have to say, that is a very good idea as it will increase competition by displaying performance stats against other cleaners, helping people who are buying a cleaner to be able to make a more accurate choice. More on this later.

So I unboxed it, only had to pop in the now aluminium, non-painted handled (big improvement over the original air) un-wound the longest lead I have ever seen on an upright (longer than the felix), plugged it in and that's where I started to seriously be impressed.

I do not know what wattage this cleaner is but it sounds like no other cleaner I have used. It is so quite! It sounds like a high pitched motor being used next door, the noise is very suppressed. The motor in the head is noisier and actually louder than the suction motor, but it is a very pleasant sound, and sounds powerful, which it is, and probably only more noticeable because the suction motor is so quite. It sounds really, really nice.

This head is fantastic. No grills on the sole plate! VERY stiff bristle, as stiff as the sebo felix. It vibrates the carpet, grooms it as well as the felix, if not better. The suction though, it is incredible!

It is so powerful, when pulling it back across any carpet, it lifts the two rear wheels off the ground! I cant use it on my lightweight mats in the bathroom as it glues itself so well to the floor, its stop spinning the brush and it thinks its jammed! I don't mind that as I can use the turbo brush, which is the most powerful I have ever used, and the most innovative. Look at the picture and you will see it has small rubber fingers which attract the hair. It sound like a jet taking off. It is brilliant!

It picks up everything, like EVERYTHING in one pass. It gives you a workout, it is so powerful! The suction at the end of the hose is comparable to a felix with a new bag but they have mastered sealing the suction at the head.

It is very light to carry. It is apparently 5.3KG, that is lighter than my cat who is nearly 7 (bless him, he isn't fat, he is just very big, like a lynx)

The 3 in one tool is a usual affair from Vax these days, and is very good. Nicely shaped crevice tool, a flat design upholstery tool and a soft dusting brush. It also comes with a low profile flexible crevice tool which I found a use for straight away, getting the cats toy fish from underneath the TV stand which it sucked onto nearly immediately.

The seal around the dust cup it brilliant, not a spec of dust on the outside, and the filtration is brilliant. It's only 1 litre, but im sure it compresses the dirt as you fill up, as when I started, it spun it up like candy floss (cotton candy for our transatlantic cousins) but as I kept cleaning, it got smaller and more compressed. Look at the fine dust it collected! And I cleaned with the felix yesterday morning !

The cable is longer than the felix as well. I plugged it on downstairs, did the stairs and all upstairs and still had slack in the cable, couldn't do that with the felix.

It is quitter than the felix, and lighter. Build quality is very nearly as good, not quite as good in places, but the difference is negligible and feels like a quality product. 6 year guarantee as well.

This looks like an evolution from the original air. Apparently there is an eco air 3 max with, I would hate to imagine ever more power, and a swivel neck, but this is plenty powerful enough for this household.

I really can not find much to fault this cleaner on. I would imagine that price is going to come down, or if this proves popular, it may not. It is certainly worth £300. It comes with nearly every tool you can think of, amazing on hardfloors with he soft brush strip at the head, it is light weight, immensely powerful, great filtration, quite, well made, and its a vax. Vax went stagnant a few years ago but recently, with the launch of the air cordless and these models, there is no reason why you would by a dyson or any other branded bagless. Honestly. I am amazed.

 

[oliveoiltinfoil]

I've just checked the ID sticker, it is 820 watts! Absolutely incredible. 820 people. Not 2000. Probably why it's so quiet (although that doesn't really have much to do with the noise)

 

[sensotronic]

If you had waited two or three weeks, I would expect you would have saved at least £100 off the current Argos price. Argos are notorious for advertising a cleaner at an inflated price and then slashing it to make it seem like a great bargain. Many of the new Eco models from Hoover are priced very highly, in fact Grattan (who are normally around 20% more expensive than the high street) have the same models for around £80 less than Argos, so I am expecting quite a few half price opening offers when the new catalogue launches.

I like the look of some of the new Vax cleaners and will certainly try out a new Air upright at some point, but I will wait until the price comes down to a more reasonable level. Glad you are pleased with yours, though I am surprised you find it quiet as the label says 86 db which is very noisy in my opinion, but I suppose it's not just the loudness of a cleaner but more of the pitch that can make them sound unbearable.

At least Vax are making improvements to their cleaners with new brushrolls etc, instead of just fitting lower wattage motors. Yours will probably have a 700 watt motor inside if it has an A energy rating.
Please have a look at the serial number sometime and let us know the wattage.

 

[sensotronic]

Just read your post about the wattage. I wonder if it has a 700 watt suction motor and a 120 watt brush motor.

 

[sensotronic]

Bissell Lift Off

I got a Bissell Lift Off without the pet tool for £63 and also noticed the dust leakage around the bin, but I am keeping it because of the incredible agitation that cleaner provides. I thought my Maytag Windtunnel had the best agitation until I tried the Bissell. I have made a video for my Youtube channel showing the Bissell in use and I have never seen the particles of dirt bounce so high.

 

[oliveoiltinfoil]

I thought that as well about the decibel rating. I think they combine the suction and head motor, and like I said, the brush motor is noisy and probably brings it up to 86, but the pitch is quite high but it is very suppressed. Either way, it really it not noisy. Also the brush when it spinning on carpets makes a noise, like the felix, beating the carpet.

I hear you when you say argos may reduce the price but I bought something from them earlier in the year about just over two weeks later they had knocked £120 of it, I phoned them up just out of curiosity and they refunded me the difference. Apparently there is something written in the sales of goods act, don't know why rule or law it is, but if a product gets reduced by a certain percentage within 28 of purchase, the retailer has to reimburse you. It is something which isn't advertised or promoted for obvious reasons.

 

[oliveoiltinfoil]

Yes. That is one thing I did love about the lift off. Some scattered cat litter usually goes on our kitchen mat when the cat cleans his paws and I used the Bissell and couldn't believe how much it was shaking it, so much it bounced the dirt onto the cleaner head, a couple of inches away. The vax isn't quite as aggressive but it does shake the dirt as much as the felix.

 

[dys0nb0y]

I really want the http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/2759311.htm. it looks fantastic I'm happy that you like you vax it definitely looks very good

 

[turbo500]

Thanks for sharing. This certainly looks like an impressive machine. Nice to hear the performance is still there with a lower wattage motor. We've all been saying for YEEEAAARRSS that you don't need a gazillion watts and these new cleaners are really proving that, with Vax at 700w and Numatic at 580w.

Really looking forward to trying one of these out at some point.

 

[sebo_fan]

Dont want to burst your bubble but...

As an owner of the original orange one (Mach Air) and then the Reach model, which is still IMHO the best one going and still eco efficient for the moment at 1200 watts (better now that it has been reduced to £99 at Argos), I quite liked your intro about this new Vax upright.

However, I never liked the Dyson copied slide down and lock 3 in 1 cleaning tool and its a pity to see this new Vax is still saddled with a similar one. The problem I found largely was the other side of the "cup like" upholstery tool that really isn't as useful as a flat Miele tool, or Hoover's flat tool with the new TeliosPlus or indeed SEBO's T shaped tool.

Judging by your photos, Oli - can I assume that the acrylic cover no longer comes off the top like the Vax Mach Air & Reach models? Or do they have clips like the old models? They have a pull up push down clip either side that allows instant access that unlocks the clear cover to clean off the brush roll.

Clearly, what Vax have offered up here is a good model for eco-efficiency led buyers BUT ALSO seems to mimic the original design of the Hoover Windtunnel Air that TTI offer in the U.S etc.
Their original model for example has the hose coming down and locking onto the left hand front compared to the rear hose on our Vax branded models.

I think it will be a massive seller based on its wattage and cleaning ability. I'm glad you brought it to the attention of the forum members.

 

[suctionselector]

Not bad.

Not bad at all, looks the part! To me it appears to be slightly pricey, but I am a Northener after all!


 


Thank goodness someone else is working on bringing wattages down. As Vax are becoming increasingly popular I think it's great they've acted quite early on.


 


If I was James Dyson I'd be getting worried. After all, they sell more Vax's than Dyson's nowadays.

 

[oliveoiltinfoil]

@suction selector - Yes, it is pricey, but put it this way, it's not as over priced as some bagless machines we could mention, besides which, this is very new machine. I guess that's a novelty of sorts. Like I said, if it gets reduced within a months time, I can claim the price difference, which is good. Amazon are the only people who will tell you this, I am told.

@turbo500 - yes. I had use it already and found out how good it was, and then looked at the sticker on the machine and found it was 820, and as sensortronic pointed out, it may very well be a 700watt motors, with a 120 watt brush roll motor.

Just used it to do the conservatory which we have relatively dense pile hardwearing carpet, and the other spare rooms and I am sweating, eww I know, but this thing sticks to the floor like nothing I have used before.

 

[sebo_fan]

Sticking to the floor isn't all that helpful to me. My old Vax Mach Air used to do that if the brush roll was turned off on a hard floor, making it impossible to move the floor head along without brute force.

Does that happen with this model as well?

 

[parwaz786]

I like that sound of that sticking to the floor! And stiff bristles! OMG I am so buying one :O

 

[parwaz786]

A few questions;

1) Would you say the suction comes close to a Dyson DC14/DC07?
2) does this lifts carpets off the floor like a Kirby? as I thought they were the best at sticking to the floor
3) And Approx which type of (let's say) Henry does the noise level come close to? e.g Autosave[this post was last edited: 7/18/2014-16:53]

 

[oliveoiltinfoil]

@sebofan - This sticks to the floor on nearly all the carpets I have used but because the cleaner Is so light, it is easy to drag backwards. Going forward it is very easy as there are two large-ish roller on the front which help things. If I remember rightly the original mach air had quite small ones.

Also, this head sticking may be to do with the opening on the head being quite thin, concentrating the suction even more. No bad thing what-so ever and it proves to be very effective.

It doesn't stick on hard flooring but makes a very good seal. As you can see just about on the picture of the floor head, there is a strip of very soft bristles, sort of the same softness as those brushes you could buy to clean vinyl's a few years ago. This obviously helps to sweep the floor but also means not dirt is left behind. Hard floor performance is the best I have seen on a vacuum with no additional attachments for hard floors.

@parwaz786 - This machine is very quite, but indeed the noisiest part of this cleaner it the brushroll motor and hearing the brush agitate on the floor. You can certainly hear this over the suction motor. All together, when using the cleaner with the brushroll on, its probably a fraction quieter than the sebo, although the 86dB doesn't suggest that, as sensortronic pointe out, this may also be to do with the pitch of the sound, but what I can hear, (and there is nothing wrong with my hearing touch wood) it is one of the quietest cleaners I have used, especially when using suction only. The brushroll motor sound very beefy, not like the shark/MR navigator series brushroll motors which whine.

Long time since I used a DC07 or DC14, but the suction on this isn't quite as good as them, it is more or less the same as a felix with a new bag, that's the best way I can describe it. Perfectly adequate for any household to be honest. It picks up everything in one pass, partially thanks to the bar less soleplate.

 

[sebo_fan]

I like this new design by Vax/Hoover but...

Thing is, I would never compare a cordless upright with any mains power vacuum, let alone a SEBO Felix, which you forget has two motors, one for the PN and the other suction motor...

I do understand your excitement though. I was the same when I bought my first Vax Mach Air and the secondary Reach model but those are corded mains power vacs compared to something cordless. I wasn't that impressed with the Vax's inability to go flat to the floor for cleaning though.

Also I have had a look at the underside of the old Vax Mach Air and the smaller wheels by the brush roll aren't that much of a difference compared to this new cordless upright. I would suspect that if Vax have redesigned the sole plate to be a great deal flusher, thus allowing the vacuum to STICK to a floor, then in time this kind of force of suction will either weaken the battery on board because of the brush roll friction and suction working at the same time or the brute force that may be required to push the vacuum along.

On the other hand, whilst you are perfectly entitled to make any comparisons you wish, bear in mind that if there is any competitor which springs to mind in which this new Vax cordless upright actually rivals, then it surely must be any one of the newer cordless stick vacs that are coming out, and have come out already - Bosch Athlet for example as well as AEG's updated Ergorapido and the Gtech AirRam.

What Vax have brought out here is a better alternative - not determined by the brush roll or performance but rather outright design - the airflow is going to be wider than the narrower, smaller suction channels on both the AEG models and the new Bosch Athlet. Everything on the Vax is bigger including the dust bin capacity AND a full size HEPA filter.

Thus in turn, the wider channel isn't likely to clog up long term compared to those narrower stick vacs and the Vax also comes with a rather handy long extension hose - something that traditional cordless stick vacs appear to lack, except in some cases dependent on the design for the owner to lift out a cordless dust buster, which may well be a lot heavier than a stretch hose alone.

 

[oliveoiltinfoil]

@sebo_fan - I think you are getting confused here. You keep mentioning cordless uprights, this vax is corded, it is not the air cordless. It has a very long power bale, don't actually know the stats but it is longer than the felix.

And I don't really know the complete science as to why this vacuum sticks to the floor so well, but I used my felix a couple of days ago and actually found it harder to push backward and forwards than this vax, even though the felix doesn't stick to the floor as much. I always thought the felix is the ultimate in cleaning performance for vacuums priced around £200 - £300, but this vax is seriously making me think. It is so powerful, it is genuinely brilliant machine.

I will be getting the air silence powerhead when that comes out, as judging by the photos, the air silence powerhead (newly designed) looks similar to the this model, but it has the suction channel in the middle with a chevron style brush (I think that's what it is) where the bristles "scoop" the dirt and debris into the channel of suction. I have a feeling the cylinder will also be more powerful, as the total wattage for this air model is 820, meaning the suction motor on this air might be around 700, with this efficiency, and extra 80 watts may make a noticeable difference. Vax still have excess power wattage to use for other models, if that makes sense.

 

[sebo_fan]

Ah, sorry I thought you bought the cordless one!!

Oh well. Good luck with your new CORDED Vax! lol I'd have bought the Reach model though.

I consider the Felix as an excellent all rounder, but I wouldn't say it is the ultimate. I think something ultimate may come eventually from Germany but not just yet.

The Felix is a good one though - I much prefer pushing it than the Vax Mach Air Reach - all because it has those 4 height adjustments.