my review of the Quantum vac
This is my fifth water filtration machine, I will be posting my review of the Hyla in a new thread since this thread is mostly about the Quantum. It is the cheapest separator based water filtration machine available selling at $498 on their web site. Since most of the water filtration machines sell for a much higher price, I wasn't sure what to expect.
The machine has the typical three parts of a water filtration vacuum, the dolly, the basin and the motor unit. Let's start on the bottom and work our way up.
The dolly is shaped similar to other water filtration machines and has the wheels on the bottom, there is also a holder on the front for storing attachments. One difference with this machine is that there is no latch to hold the machine in place. This allows you to put the machine in the dolly any way you choose. Since there was no latch, I thought that when the machine was full of water, if I picked it up by the top handle that the dolly would fall off, but this did not happen. In order to remove the machine from the dolly, tilt it slightly and pull one side out, the rest of the machine will separate from the dolly easily at this point.
The basin looks somewhat like the basin for a Rainbow. It has a post in the middle and you are supposed to fill the basin until the water covers the top of the post. The post can be unscrewed and removed although I'm not sure you would want to do this other than to clean it perhaps. Interestingly, this machine seems to hold more water than the other machines. When you fill it until the top of the post is covered, the water is closer to the top of the basin than with other machines. This is probably a good thing as it will keep debris off the separator better. The basin is not completely open, it's not as bad as a Rainbow but it does have somewhat of a roof on it that debris can cling to, I prefer a basin that is totally open to avoid this issue. One thing I really like about the Quantum, and the Vivenso as well is that the hose inlet is actually on the basin, not the motor unit. This means that the hose inlet can be washed out if necessary. If there is debris in the inlet of the other machines, you would probably have to vacuum a bit of water through the hose to clean them out.
Ok, on to the main part of the machine, the motor unit. The motor unit sets on top of the basin and has two side latches that hold it in place. The latches look very much like the latches on a Rainbow. On the front of the motor unit is the receptacle for the electric hose. There is no cord that you have to connect though. When connecting the electric hose, the suction part goes in to the inlet on the basin and the prongs on the hose mate with the connector on the motor unit. The hose connector is slightly different than other water filtration machines. Most of the other machines have two side clips that hold the hose in place. With the Quantum, there is a button on the top of the hose connector that you press as you connect the hose, this button is also used to release the hose from the machine. On the back of the motor unit is the exhaust port, to use the machine as a blower you remove the cap and insert the hose in to the port. This is the only water filtration machine I have seen that has a cord that is completely detachable. The back of the motor unit has a receptacle that the cord goes in to, it will snap in to place when plugged in. To release the cord, press down on the latch on the top of the cord and pull it out. This makes storing the machine much easier and is a very nice feature. The machine has a touch control panel. I'm a blind person so this was a bit challenging for me to figure out, I can see light and some objects but cannot read print. I had to touch different areas in order to figure out where each button was, fortunately there are only four buttons so this was fairly easy after spending some time with the machine. There is a power button that you press to turn the machine on, there is also a low speed button, a high speed button and a timer button. The low speed is used for washing the air or delicate vacuuming and the high speed mode is used for most vacuuming where you want full power. The timer button lets you set the machine to run from 15 minutes up to two hours.
For the price, the machine includes lots of accessories. There are two hoses, one electric and one nonelectric, a curved wand that attaches to the nonelectric hose, a hard floor brush, a crevice tool, a dusting brush, a squeegee attachment, an electric telescopic wand, a nonelectric telescopic wand, an electric power nozzle for the carpets, an upholstery nozzle, and a mini electric brush. When I ordered my machine, they were out of the mini electric brush and said they would send it to me when it became available, instead they sent me a turbine brush and some free fragrances. Most likely, the mini electric nozzle will be the Wessel-werk HEB160 which I already have anyway. The carpet power nozzle is the Wessel-werk EBK340 which is a decent nozzle. It's not as powerful as the EBK360 and does not have manual height adjustment but is still a very well made German power nozzle. The hose end is the standard 32 MM size and the hose receptacle is also standard, so you could use other attachments and power nozzles with the quantum if you wanted to. I'm not really in favor of circuit boards in vacuums, it's another component that can fail and this would especially be true for a machine that uses water but I think all of the water based machines use them so we'll hope for the best.
To use the Quantum, fill the basin up to the top of the post, install the motor unit on top and latch it with the two side latches. You can then set the machine in to the dolly. Press the power button to turn the machine on, you can set the timer at this point and choose the desired speed. There is one big difference when it comes to low speed with this machine. With the Rainbow, Sirena and Vivenso, the low speed is quiet enough that you can do other things in the same room as the machine. With the Quantum, the low speed is much higher and is therefore much more noticeable. Even on low speed, you can vacuum most things with the machine and it will be powerful enough for the task.
Ok, on to performance. The machine cleans very well, I used it to clean my area rugs with the power nozzle and the bare floors in my apartment. It cleans just as well as the other water filtration machines. I also did the turbine test, using the rugrat turbo brush to see how fast the machine could spin it. It's about as fast as the Rainbow, the only water filtration machine that can spin the turbine slightly faster is the Sirena. At one point there was a rumor that this machine used the same separator and motor as the Sirena. I'm not sure about the separator but the motor is definitely different.
Maintaining the Quantum is very similar to the other water filtration machines. Remove the basin and dump out the water. You can remove the separator by removing the nut on the top of it for cleaning. I've only used the machine twice but so far there was absolutely nothing on the separator and the manual claims that you need to clean it every few months.
So, is the Quantum a good machine? Yes, absolutely. It cleans as well as the other water filtration machines at a much cheaper price, about 1/5 of the price of a new Rainbow. I'm not sure how long this machine has been out but if it becomes more popular, the higher priced machines will have some very good competition. If you want a water filtration machine but don't want to pay the higher price for some of the other ones, definitely consider the Quantum.
Since I'm a blind person and can't provide any pictures, I'm going to include some links that should provide pictures of the machine. First, here is the newest infomercial. I do think some of the claims about other machines losing airflow very quickly are taken out of proportion and the part about cleaning with your own vacuum first and then cleaning with the Quantum to see how much better it cleans are incorrect, no vacuum will get everything the first time.
And here is the user's guide for the machine which also provides some pictures. Interesting that they actually say you can use essential oils in it, I would not do that since they can destroy the basin.
https://mojonow.blob.core.windows.n...files/10.11 quantum vacuum owner's manual.pdf
Mike
