Need a vacuum cleaner. Is Vax good? Is cordless better/cheaper to run?

dllive

Hi all

Im in the market for a new vacuum. I tried a Vax last week and thought it was great. (I dont have much to compare against, so presume its a good vac).

Is cordless more expensive to charge/run that a corded vac? Ive never had a cordless vac and can see the convenience of not being tethered to a wall socket or tripping over the lead.

Thanks

CliveOfIndia

Ooohh, great question.  For what it's worth, my thoughts .....

We've got a Dyson (corded) and I really can't fault it.  I know there are a lot of Dyson-haters out there, but really we've been very pleased with it.  Works well, very easy to clean the filters and wot-not, and the customer service has been top-notch on the one occasion we've needed to contact them.

We've also got a G-Tech (battery) which is great for a quick "whizz-round".  Not as powerful as the Dyson, but certainly very light and easy to use.  Only downside would be that the battery doesn't last very long (I would guess about 40 minutes or so).  Depending on the size of your house, this may not be an issue.

Vax - I think they're generally regarded as a pretty good brand.  We've got a carpet shampoo-er from them, and again it works well.

There's lots of things to consider, really.  Is weight an issue?  If so, a cordless may be a good option.  You need to think about battery life - how big is your house, how often do you vacuum?  My parents have a G-Tech and they love it, but it's just the 2 of them in a small-ish bungalow.  Family of 5 with muddy kids and dogs(!), maybe a corded would be more appropriate.

Do you want to be cleaning the inside of the car with it every weekend?  If so, the "tools and attachments" it comes with may be important to you.

Do you prefer a cylinder or upright?  (personally, I used a Henry when I was house-sitting for a friend one time, hated it, the most awkward thing ever, but each to their own!).

Sorry, a simple and very valid question, complicated answer!  But hopefully some food for thought.

Brie

We have a cordless Shark which I really like except that it gets clogged with rug fluff (& cat hair previously) at one of the bends in the hose where it attaches to the machinery.  But it's light, easy to use, very effective (when not clogged!).  It's easy to change it to handheld, including having a long attachment to do ceilings (what we call dust bats), also bends to go under furniture which is handy.

We had a similar cordless vax which was very good and bought cheaply on some online deal for £99 but after 3 years the wheels broke.  We freegled it to someone who wanted something easy for stairs/cars etc so wheels weren't important.  

Previous to that we did have a dyson.  FiL insisted on buying one for MiL to use and she couldn't manage the weight at all.  I completely understand too as being some 30 some years younger I struggled to shift it around a room.  It was however much easier to declog as it is very modular and the different bits are various colours so it was easy to figure out without a manual.  

Postik

I had an old Vax (corded) years ago with a 5 year guarantee.  After 2-3 years the filter housing came loose and would not stay on.  I tried to claim on the warranty and they said first I had to buy new filters before they would entertain a claim.  The issue had nothing to do with the filters themselves so I vowed never to buy a Vax again.

I had a Dyson cordless stick vacuum.  It was great but the motorised head on it failed after a couple of years (I note they only have 12 months warranty).  I managed to take it apart and it was evident that the wires in the swivel head are unlikely to last due to the way they pinch and rub together.  I managed to patch it up but it didn't last long. We used to store it proped up against the wall and I think this causes the wires to sit at right angles versus wall mounting it and the head hanging straight down.   Either way it's a design flaw in my opinion.

I then bought a Shark cordless which you can store standing up and it folds in half.  I much prefer this to having to wall mount it.  I thought the lights on the front were a bit of a gimmick but they've proved to be useful when vacuuming in low light.  I'm happy with it so far but I've not had it for that long so don't know how it will fare long term.

I must admit I wouldn't really want to go back to having to plug cords in.

dllive

Thanks for the comments guys!

My current (soon to be ex!) vacuum is a Dyson. Ive had it for 7 years and havnt had course for complaint, other that it was ineffectual on carpet! It would 'move' hair/fluff/furr around rather than suck it up!! Its easy to take apart for cleaning, but after using the Vax I realised how heavy it was! Perhaps theyve made them lighter since. 

Although I feel with Dyson that theyre overpriced. (form over function). 

I thought the light on the Vax was a gimmick, but I was pleasently suprised to see that it was actually really useful for steering and looking under furniture! With the Vax is has a brush thing which propels the vacuum along. I thought that was a good feature.

I dont do much vacuuming (TBH!!), so I think a cordless would be nice. And it would make it easier cleaning the car.

I think the only thing I didnt like on the Vax was that the pole-thing wasnt telescopic! So it was difficult getting at cobwebs.

Ive heard people say good things about Shark before. Ill have a look.

Cheers!

jonnydeppiwish!

We had the same decision and purchased a refurbed dyson from their eBay site. We also have a cordless dyson but the corded is just much more efficient.

baser999

You might need to consider if you need to hoover stairs. Our Dyson Animal ‘sits’ on the stairs, which saves it having to be supported when in use

DullGreyGuy

dllive said:

Is cordless more expensive to charge/run that a corded vac? Ive never had a cordless vac and can see the convenience of not being tethered to a wall socket or tripping over the lead.

Define expensive?

The corded will almost certainly be higher power so per minute running it'll be more expensive however it may mean what takes 10 minutes with a cordless vac takes 5 minutes on a corded because its a once and done. At the same time it may also take 10 minutes if its just quickly picking up light crumbs etc from a tiled/vinyl floor etc. 

We had both, a corded dyson for the proper cleans and a cordless for stairs or quick pickup in small areas but the cordless one suffered the battery panic issue that some dyson suffers from so we gave it away. Would say we were ok with just the corded but having just seen the stairs we may buy another cordless 

propertyrental

My (fantastic!) Dyson DC07 finally failed (my sister did something to it!) after 10+ years. 

Bought a replacement 'Lightball' Dyson for £14 off ebay. It needed a good clean (thank you utube!) and replacement filters, but works just fine and saving the planet by recycling too!. Very happy.

macman

Vax is a budget brand that won't last long. They are lightweight because the build quality is in line with the low price. Shark are also problematic in that spares are not widely available: you'll be buying whole assemblies rather than just the one part that breaks. On some of them you can't even replace the brushroll individually.
The cordless Dysons are powerful but overpriced. I'd got for the older V7 or V8, not the V10 or V11.
If you want something that will last a decade then buy a Sebo or a Miele. You get what you pay for, and nothing under about £200 will last very long.
If your older Dyson (which model?) isn't picking up on carpet, then something is reducing the suction and it's time for a service. Most of them will last for years, and spares are widely available on the 3rd party market, even when Dyson cease to support them.

TELLIT01

We have a Vax Blade 4 cordless and a Miele corded cylinder vacuum.  Since we bought the Vax, the Miele has hardly been used.  The only thing against this particular Vax is that the dust container is small.  It has a 3 year warranty, and I don't agree with the comments above about it being poor build quality.