New Vax Zoom Upright (Argos Exclusive) Review & Pics

[hi-loswitch98]

i don't know yet, buying a Hotpoint one first.

 

[sebo_fan]

Certainly from the handle point of view for the hose, its a dead cert version used on the Vax Mach Air. Nice model though I knew you couldn't resist!

I was looking at Wikos site online last night and they are selling a £70 Vax "Exclusive" in the form of the white "Power" upright known as the "Naked Truth." I couldn't believe it - what a name to give a bagless Vax budget upright! It won't be the Naked Truth when it starts to clog up though!

Also the Pink Zoom upright is also on sale at Homebase, Argos company. It will also sell on Amazon UK no doubt.

 

[sebo_fan]

Well there's a new-ish Russell Hobbs upright vacuum, no loss of suction on Amazon UK. It is purple, not pink though : )



http://www.amazon.co.uk/Russell-Hob...id=1376103894&sr=1-33&keywords=Vacuum+cleaner

 

[hi-loswitch98]

It's exactly the same as the Vax White Upright - Sebo_Fan, just another name they use.

 

[rootcyclone]

It's a Vax! - I think i'm going to be sick.

No offense or anything but i don't really like Vax machines. I feel that there are too cheaply built and are horrible to look at.

Not to mention that Vax have copied Dyson on several occasions (not in this machine, but in others). And, as a Die Hard Dyson fanatic since the DC01 i find it disgusting what Vax do.

As a designer myself i can already see some design flaws. That wand and hose system, and the fact it's hard to push (which you pointed out already). Also the plastic looks way too thin, drop that thing from a metre and it will smash into a million pieces. Looks like it relies on filters as well, which means it will be highly inefficient.

Sorry, just had to get my point out. I could ramble on forever, but i'm not going to for once!

 

[sebo_fan]

I used to have quite a few DC01's - they were my favourite Dyson uprights as well as the DC04 but I stopped after that.

Well, the GOOD thing about Vax is that because they're cheap and well priced, they suit a lot of buyers - and mostly judged by the reviews online, a lot who tend to get turned off when the Vax starts to clog and can be expensive to maintain - then turn to Dyson. I mean, I hardly think a purple Zoom priced at nearly £200 that Amazon UK now lists will find that many buyers.

I've often thought that Dyson should do an economical upright that doesn't cost an arm and a leg to purchase. I don't think it would dull the image of this design led company and I for one would consider it - but I can't abide the expensive prices of the Dyson range in general. They can do a £100 vacuum cleaner but they're leaving it up to the likes of other brands who are churning out the Dual Cyclone patents to fill that market pricing.

 

[sebo_fan]

Well I downloaded both manuals for the White upright and the Zoom. They may share similar design and tools but the Zoom looks like it has a more elaborate filter system to clean.

 

[sebo_fan]

Pic 2 - The white upright seems to have the more old fashioned HEPA paper pleated cone hidden under the plastic mesh shroud cover.

 

[ultraperformer]

Steve I'm sure you said on my Mach Air Cylinder thread that you weren't buying anymore Vax machines haha

Not sure about the colour would of liked to have seen the purple or green ones though, I was intrigued about these so thanks for the pictures.

Dan [this post was last edited: 8/11/2013-06:33]

 

[madabouthoovers]

Yes Dan - I know, but you know how it is, when that nagging feeling wont go away, and I was intrigued by the zoom as well, as there's not much info on it on the net, as its a fairly new model and only available from Argos as well. It was a toss up between the apple green model or the blancmange pink one, and I got some funny looks in Argos as well when I carried the cleaner away from the counter. I bet Elton John and Julian Clary have got pink vacuums lol


I just love different looking vacs, and even bought a Henry in yellow, just to be different, as they are much less common than red Henrys.


A pink vac will always be a talking point, and in the future, it will be more in demand than a bog standard boring coloured vac. That's one reason why I liked early Dysons, which came in lurid colours - especially the deStijl models, and I think Dysons nowadays are a bit bland and non-descript. Look how sought after the DC02 and DC03 Clear models are now - mainly because of the colour schemes used.


The Pink Zoom in my opinion is the best one of the bunch, with the green one second best, and I may even get a green one too, as they are a good price.

 

[sebo_fan]

I know what Steve means - I'm the same - I said I would never buy bagless again and there I went and bought another Hoover Slalom. Find it a lot better in the hand in terms of quality than the Vax Air3 Agile and yes I still have to put up with the suction plate on the base - but do you know what - the Slalom isn't rough on my wool carpets and that's a good thing for a "modern" bagless upright.

 

[ultraperformer]

I know the feeling Steve lol but I've been so impressed with this new found self discipline I seem to have developed thats stopped me buying a new vacuum for ages now everytime I'm about to do it I can talk myself out of it Although that TOL AEG UltraOne in Chocolate Brown keeps bloody asking me to buy it haha

Dan

 

[madabouthoovers]

I was going to get that TOL Ultra One in brown with the power nozzle but after reading reviews that it was not very reliable and the fact that the remote handle sends spurious signals to the main unit to keep switching itself off, I have decided against it. The problem with power nozzles is that they use a cable that runs the length of the hose, and then have the connections down the adjustable wand that develop faults. They are nice when new, but do seem to be very expensive to put right when they go wrong.


This may be one reason why Miele discontinued the Revolution models in the UK - they were expensive and also expensive to replace the hoses on if the internal wiring to the power nozzle got damaged.


The other model that didn't get a good write up was the Wertheim, and that's a very badly made vac, so steer clear of them as well.


 

 

[ultraperformer]

I had the Electrolux TwinClean that used a very similar powerhead (no supprise as same company) and it was fine for a couple of years then started working intermittently but to be fair to it, it was used daily as it was such a good machine wish I'd kept it new and boxed away now! I've been chatting to a very nice guy on YouTube who has the TOL UltraOne and hes had his for a while now and has not had any problems. Plus I wouldn't use it much as would want to keep it in a nice new condition I see it's gone from Currys now so wonder if its been discontinued John Lewis still have but at £299 there's no way I'm paying that!!!!

 

[sebo_fan]

That's precisely why Im keeping my Electrolux Excellio Super Silence Z5045 in the box.

(See previous thread http://www.vacuumland.org/cgi-bin/TD/TD-VIEWTHREAD.cgi?17317

 

[madabouthoovers]

Update:

Having used the Zoom every other day since buying it, I have still been impressed with it.


The issue with the effort required to push it around can be solved by lifting the head to the position in between the lowest and second lowest mark on the dial:

[this post was last edited: 8/23/2013-07:30]

 

[madabouthoovers]

The bin is massive on this model and as it gets used, the dirt mainly goes into the bin rather than the filter - you can see how it sticks to the exterior of the primary separator:

 

[madabouthoovers]

It has a fairly efficient separator, so that the only dirt to reach the filter is the very fine dust, and a few hairs from the cat. Suction has not fallen at all, even though the filter has started to show a build up of dust. I would think that the best idea with this model would be to clean the filter after every bin empty, even though Vax recommend to do it after every 3 months - this all depends on how much and how often the vac gets used.


Filter and housing:

 

[madabouthoovers]

Much of the heavy dirt falls to the bottom of the large canister, and simply spins round the base when in operation. This is very impressive for a single cyclone model, and knocks many multi-cyclone models into a cocked hat when you look at the space for the dirt in this canister compared to a multi-cyclonic one where most of the bin is taken up with the cyclone assembly so leaving hardly any room for the dirt itself.


 

 

[madabouthoovers]

I do find though that when using the turbo tool, the hose is under a lot of vacuum, so tends to recoil and be hard to stretch out - much like the Dyson models. Because the brush roll turns all the time, if I pull on the hose too much, the vac head pulls down at the front and can leave a scorch mark on the carpet - even with the brushes in the highest position. This happens with the Sebo X4  as well, so its best to hold the handle of the vac when using the tools for upholstery, and make sure that the brushroll does not scorch the carpet.


All in all though - I'm very impressed with this cheap vac and its a lot better than the old Power model series uprights.


 


Another point - an earlier post talked about the power rating of the Zoom. The range has 4 models, and they have different power ratings, The Green base model and the pink Pet model use 1800W motors, the purple "Reach" model uses a 2000W motor, and the range topping blue "Pets and Family" model uses a 2100W motor developing 300AW.


I don't know why Vax decided top use differing motor power for the various models, but I'd imagine that the 2100W motor would make the blue model very hard to push round on a carpet if the height selector was in the wrong position.


With this range of vacs, the key is in the height selector - even though there are no markings on it in the intermediate positions, you can still use them - they are midway between the markings, as shown on my above picture.


The Head is a sealed suction type with no bleed paths, so full suction power is drawn through the carpet - this means that head height is critical - too low and the vac will be very hard to push, and too high will make it easy to push but will considerably reduce performance. The midway positions are better for short pile carpet.

[this post was last edited: 8/23/2013-07:22]