Vax air powerhead

[oliveoiltinfoil]

So I wanted a cylinder vacuum with good attachments for doing the car and stairs as my lovely sebo felix with its short hose doesn't really cut it and my numatic George is a bit fiddly constantly changing from wet and dry. Preferably something with a turbo attachments as well.

Saw this new vax air powerhead with, you guessed it a powerhead, on the vax website for £149.99. Supposedly this was half price, reduced from £300. I would never pay £300 for this cleaner, which I will explain below, so whether it is really worth 150 or 300 depends on who you ask.

Apologise for the poor lighting. Was taken in the spare bedroom.

 

[oliveoiltinfoil]

Closer up

 

[oliveoiltinfoil]

The relatively uncomfortable handle

 

[oliveoiltinfoil]

And what gives this cleaner its name - the powerhead.

 

[oliveoiltinfoil]

Relatively good filtration system. It only collected a small amount of dirt from my 4 carpets I tested it on, two thins carpets and two plush pile, but there is hardly any dirt here so that is something.

 

[oliveoiltinfoil]

Now for the bad bits - the rest of it.

I say it has god filtration because I have used multi-cyclonci vacuums including other vax's and dyson and after one short use, they have brown/black spots where the cyclones are. This hasn't.

But the post motor heap filter flew off nearly as soon as I turned it on. It is flimsy and not very secure, in fact the whole unit doesn't feel well made, considering the price as well.

 

[oliveoiltinfoil]

As for the rest of the cleaner. Well the pwoerhead is next to useless. It barely picks up surface dirt let alone groom the pile. The bristles are as soft of feathers - useless. It is only a 35 watt powerhead.

The machine itself is 1500 with 310 air watts of power, but I beg to differ. I don't know whether or not they test the air watts by a gauge that goes at the end of the hose, but the diameter of the hose is quite small, concentrating the suction. That's fine but put it on a large powerhead like this and it is rubbish. Doesn't lift the carpet at all.

As you can see below, the manufacturing quality isn't the best. If I did pay £300 I would be disappointed. The hose isn't very flexible, the cord is quite short and it just doesn't feel like a quality product. Yeah it has a 6 year guarantee but I think something would snap off before the 6 years is up. Maybe I hav been spoiled by the quality and performance of the sebo.

It is pretty poor. Some people have written reviews of this all of which are 5 star. I can't see how this is a 5 star product, maybe that's just me. There are some review of the zen powerhead in Australia how complain about the same things I have. Maybe the aussies are more honest, I don't know and wouldn't like to say :/

 

[sebo_fan]

Lordy for what you paid you could have bought a base model SEBO K1 Airbelt. They're super for the tight spaces. The K1 Komfort or Pet model at £200 comes with additional tools and a longer hose.

 

[oliveoiltinfoil]

Probably will get a K1 or something along those lines to be honest.

 

[turbo500]

you could have bought a base model SEBO K1 Airbelt

or a Henry for £99.00.

Or better yet, for £37, the extra long 3 metre hose to fit George

http://www.cleanstore.co.uk/products/Product.asp?ID=3086

 

[sebo_fan]

Well I was thinking that since you have tools from your other SEBO, Oli - you can combine and add versatility.

George is a brute - he's good but he's heavy to keep carting out to the car. I used to have a Charles for a few years but he was too bulky for the home and kept falling over 'cos of his added height. I eventually sold Charles and got as much as I paid for him!

 

[oliveoiltinfoil]

These are all good options.

I got the air powerhead because it looked quite interesting, had a large bagless tank. I don't usually like bagless cleaners like a lot of people on here but I thought if its only gonna be for the cars and stairs what the worst? Also initially looked interesting having the powerhead. They are rubbish though.

 

[turbo500]

I've got the 2.5 metre hose from Henry that I use on George for the car. I just leave him by the drivers door and it reaches all the way round.

 

[hi-loswitch98]

Glad I didn't buy the Air Powerhead, considering it was £149.99 & I had the £50 off voucher code.

 

[sebo_fan]

Yep I used to do the same with my Charles vac. When I think about it, I think Numatic added one of those clips on the machine for the crevice tool to slide onto as a storer but that's the main problem there - Numatics don't have much tool storage unless you have a James model - and that's what I owned for many years as the open top was great for a variety of cleaning tools for the car.

 

[sebo_fan]

Infact the clip eventually broke off.

 

[adamthemieleman]

Nope I wouldn't pay anything for it, mainly because I have an aversion for vax, I think they are cheap and nasty.

I agree, you could have got a Henry or a miele s2. At least they'll last longer than a month with nothing inevitably breaking off!

 

[hi-loswitch98]

I am so glad I bought the Hotpoint instead of this or the regular Air Cylinder.

 

[oliveoiltinfoil]

I don't usually like vax. I found their cleaners to be cheaply made with soft bristles and next to no agitation and quite an unprofessional customer service but I thought id give this a shot as like I said, for what I needed it for and it had a powerhead, but certainly not going near vax until they really sort themselves out. They are improving with some models, like the air 3 has quite a stiff brushroll, but they need to address other factors as well.

I will probably get a base model k3.