Review: VAX Air Cordless

What is it?

What we are looking at is what will probably be the newest trend in vacuum cleaners. VAX are not the first one, and they won’t be the last. A full sized vacuum cleaner that runs on a battery instead of mains, and packs in all the features and power of what you’d expect. An extra battery and an external charging port means that you can always be on the go. Combining both batteries, you can get up to 50 minutes of run time, which tends to be more than enough for most homes. It comes with a cleaning wand for those extra tricky spaces

Look and feel

Upright vacuum cleaners have taken on a form factor that was very popular in the 90s. Part transparent, part hidden, making it look both beautiful and showing you the functionality. The VAX Air Cordless doesn’t look much different from that, as the pictures clearly show.

The ‘compartment’ for dirt sits in the middle, and can easily be clipped off for emptying. The battery plugs in near the base, and a couple of handles let you carry this easily.

Good quality plastic finish, and contrasting colours give it a good domestic look which tends to fit in with rest of your cleaning equipment.

The bottom is transparent to let you see if anything gets stuck while getting sucked in, such as cords.

Power button as well as floor buttons can be pressed to turn this on or off, or choose between hard floors such as wood to carpets.

Behind the vacuum is a plug socket clipped in which can be taken out for use with the wand.

It weighs just shy of 5kg, making it fairly portable as well easy to carry up and down stairs, and for general usage.

Ease of use

Vacuum cleaners don’t tend to frustrate many users. This one is no different, and it focuses on simplicity of use. A power button to turn it on, and press again to turn it off.

Another button to shift between hard floors and carpet.

In upright mode, you swivel the main body back to enable suction from the bottom, much like most upright vacuum cleaners.

To use the wand, clip out the pipe from the top, plug it in the bottom, attach a brush, and off you go. This is probably the only niggle I would point out with the device. While fairly easy to use, it seems an awkward way of doing something that the competition does in a more simplistic way. Either way, once you get using it like this, it works, and it works well. This is probably the only point where you will need to read the manual.

While in upright position, the vacuum cleaner swivels and goes into position easily, meaning it can go under tables and in hard to reach areas a lot easier than the usual vacuum cleaners. This makes it more pleasing for everyday use than many others we have tried.

Stairs

Ah. Stairs. What to do eh? Well, you have two choices. Being light, you can actually go and take it on every individual step. Or just use the wand and attachments to clean them.

The same goes for tough corners, and awkward to reach areas.

Suction

The suction on the VAX Air Cordless has been supreme, and it has given me no reason to complain. Performance is great on both carpets and hard floors.

Emptying the compartment

Emptying the compartment is a fairly easy job. Clip it out, open and empty in a bin (or bag, whatever your preference), wipe the insides clean if preferred, and clip it back in. Good to go for another spin.

Battery Life

The battery life worked as advertised. You get about 20-30 minutes on each full battery, and when you run out, you can just switch it with the other one that may already be charging.

The best way to do this is to make sure you start with two fully charged batteries, and shift when one runs out.

However, for most typical homes in Britain, you can do what I have been doing. Pop in a freshly charged battery, pop the old one on charge, and you should be fine to vacuum before it runs out.

More information

You can find more information about the VAX Air Cordless by visiting their website at the following link:

http://www.vax.co.uk/air-cordless/

It retails for £299, and can be bought directly from their website.

Verdict

Home items are particularly important to me as they hardly get mentioned as exciting or ground breaking, which I personally find harsh and a bit unfair. Guess the best items are those that work so well that you tend to forget about them. The VAX Air Cordless definitely ticks that box.