Vax VPPHV18

Hopeless Charger – So disappointed with Vax Gator purchased from Harvey Norman 2013. Could not charge properly and red light never turned green. Now it's too late for a replacement my own fault. I always shop Harvey Norman Gympie Store, no reflection on staff of this store who could not know that this charger was faulty.  Show details

V Poor Product V Poor Support – Needed constant charging as self discharge was unbelievable. Then the thing nearly caught fire. Case melted. Resistors and pcb inside burnt due to poorly designed charge circuit which couldn't safely deal with dead batteries. VAX would not look at it without proof of purchase. Won't be buying Vax ever again. I wondered why it came covered in… Read more

stickers saying please contact manufacturer instead of retailer in case of problems. I suspect they new before they sold them the batteries were duds.

Rubbish – Battery life is laughable, suction is pathetic. Don't waste your money. The only thing this product is very good at is wasting electricity as you charge it. After being on charge for a whole day you get about 30 seconds of full speed then it drops of rapidly to nothing. So if you have a spare power point that you ever wondering what to use it for this is the product for you it will be constantly charging.  Show details

Worked OK for a short while – From the beginning, it never had great suction and 7 minutes is not enough to vacuum out the car, etc. After less than a year the run time was terrible and now it hardly works at all. Unless there is a super cheap battery replacement option it is going to landfill (or maybe it's going anyway...).  Show details

no luck – purchased to use after sweeping the floor, from the very beginning it wouldn't pick up sand or tiny stones the kids had walked into the house, sounded powerful but really wasn't, paid $120 for it, but had to continue with my old broken dust buster covered in electrical tape. v disappointed.  Show details

Surely it's a kids toy – Surely it's a kids toy. What a load of rubbish this Vax is, it wont even suck a tiny cobweb out of the corner. It's power is pathetic & you don't even get 6 minutes with that first initial 24 hour charge. No where in the manual does it say how long to charge it after the initial 24 hour charge either. I'm taking it back to Bunnings to see if I… Read more

can get a refund because this just isn't worth $69.95, $20 bucks is even a bit steep for this.

How dare they even have the hide to sell something like this as mainstream cleaner.

WARNING: The only place this VAX works decently is in the advertising on the box & its the biggest sales exaggeration of all time.

My dear old dad once told me that you should never believe the sales pitch from a vacuum cleaner company or an Oil company. And his statement gets more truthful every day especially when you get suckered in to buying one of these lemons.

13 months in, battery died in the rear. Glad I just found out it has 2 yrs warranty – The Vax was my first handheld, and for the first 8 months of its life it served me well, i enjoyed using it and had no complaints. But after the novelty wore off and I stopped using it daily or even weekly I found the battery life dwindled noticeably in a very short period of time. In July this year I tried to use it and found that over the course… Read more

of a few days discerned that it's battery life is so bad it basically won't work off the charger, which unfortunately is only like 50cms long. Im terribly disappointed. Waste of $100.

Never buy again – Was a good vac for 14 months then the battery failed. Two years warranty on the vac, 12 months warranty on the battery. Battery last about 2 minutes. Goes flat just without even using it. Second think is who on earth using Ni cad batteries in this day and age? Old technology, if they had NiMH batteries in them they would be a far better appliance, no memory effect which is what I assume has gone wrong with these.

Not worth the price – I have used another brand of a dust buster for 5 years with no problem. This unit is to heavy for a hand held action and not at all versatile and the retailer would not take it back after I had opened the box. Further, the front slips off easily but once put in place not easy to slip off. After having used the item for under 12 months it has… Read more

stopped charging and the charging light does not light up. From my experience I would not recommend to buy. Cost $140

Just not good enough for the price – I have a competitors hand held vacuum with a lower voltage, that i have had for a decade and works better than the Gator. The suction is low for the voltage. It holds its charge for about two good uses, and if you trust the small Chinese made charger enough you should leave it permanently on charge. For some reason the manufacturer has opted for a… Read more

Ni-cad battery when there are better batteries available that have almost no memory. Even without using it at all it loses its stored charge fairly quickly. I bought a Vax as I believed that they were a good brand but the technology in this one really isn't up to scratch. I still use my old cheaper hand held vacuum for the heavier jobs even though it is 10 years old, has a lower voltage, as it has a much better performance. The rotating brush is great and I use it regardless of whether it is pet hair or anything else as it really assists in picking up heavier items. The size of the dust storage inside is far too small though and for the chunky size of the machine you would think could be bigger. Would I buy another Vax? Well, this is my first experience of the brand, so no I wouldn't. Not up to scratch.

PROS: Rotating head is great, picks up almost anything. Quiet enough. Feels solid.

CONS: Low suction performance for the voltage. Small internal storage for dust etc. Loses its charge fast even if not used. Battery (Who uses Ni-cad batteries these days?) technology inside really isn't up to scratch.

As I bought this one online from interstate it was too much effort to just send it back. Sorry Vax, can't give you a good one on this model.

Wish I hadn't bought it – Power runs out after just one use (less than 2 years old), front of vacuum falls off all the time spilling filter and entire contents on the floor. Purchased to use in my car, but now I lug my big Vax outside and use it instead. Not at all happy with this model. Very disappointed since I have a big Vax and love it.

Very Impressed! – Bought this vacuum from ebay for only $100 delivered based on reviews here & it did not disappoint! The ad said 7 minutes run time (which is alot for a handheld) but there is no way I only get 7 minutes from a full charge, it lasts much longer than that. The crevice tool is super handy being retractable & the separate pet hair brush does wonders… Read more

on the lounge since the brush actually rotates in the vacuum head. The charger just plugs straight in, no fiddly dock. So simple to empty & clean out too. Exactly what I needed & so much cheaper than the "fancy" brands available. Affordable. Does an exceptional job. Great battery life before needing a recharge. Pet hair attachment is brilliant. It is heavier than some other brands, but does such a good job so its worth it.

1/3 of the price of a Dyson with the same result? – So it was either this one or the Dyson DC34 Animal. I ummed. I aahed. Oh baby how I coveted the Dyson. I mean, “can you really put a price on a clean home?”. I imagined a dinner party where someone dropped a plate of elegant canapés and I would swoop in with my futuristic looking purple handheld and they would ask…”is that a Dyson?” and I… Read more

would say “yes….yes it is”.

But you know, is that *really* worth 3 times the price?

So after spot cleaning the entire Harvey Norman store, using both the Dyson and the Vax, at the mortified embarrassment of my significant other, my friends I came to the conclusion that no - it is not worth 3 times the price. The Dyson, with that annoying pulse trigger, proved to be good. But not $300 good.

The 18V Vax, purchased online for $99, does the job in spades with a good 15 minute window. After a few once overs, the pet attachment makes light work of the couch where furry little creatures have nested and have lost more hair than a father watching his 15 year old daughter go on a date with a guy driving a combie.

The design is very easy to use and simplicity is its strong suit; one button to open the dust compartment and another to release the filter - easy. And it doesn't sound like there's a Boeing 747 taxiing to a runway unlike the 18V Black and Decker. The crevice extension is sturdy yet pliable.

I am very pleased with the results and glad I chose the Lexus over the BMW. Great value for money, cleans as advertised. Hideous green. Looks like Shrek passed a dookie.

Time saver! – i Love my Gator. It enables me to clean everyday without having to pull down the big vax vacuum and put all the parts together to clean a small area. Detachable Turbo head cleans all my pet hair problems, and the kids love helping out now, they often fight over who would clean TURBO head, battery life

Excellent – Extremely satisfied with the products. Does the job very well, not too pricey. we paid $100 dollar for ours, didn't check elsewhere since we urgently need one when we bought it, and there's not much store that carry vax brands... really powerful for such a small vacuum. Even better when u use it with the motor brush. Decent run time. I use them… Read more

without the powerbrush, and gets a slightly longer operating time then the 7 mins stated.

Easy to use.

Fast charge. Small Chambers, have to empty it all the time.

Filter guarantee is only 3 months, however other parts is 2 year waranty.