Vax VST144VL/VPPL

Vax – I purchased my VAX Actractivo from Harris Scarfe possibly 12 months ago. I thought it would be good to use as I don't have a lot of carpet now (one bedroom and one mat) to vacuum and my other barrel cleaner is quite heavy. I don't use a vacuum on our hardfloor surfaces. I will agree that it is light and quite easy to manouver. However, I am very disappointed with two specific things.

Firstly, using the stick vacuum to do the carpet is pretty well ineffective as it doesn't seem to suck well enough (perhaps the distance from the hand held unit to the floor is too great). It does work well if I just use the hand held unit and vacuum the floor, but of course this is not the point of the exercise in vacuuming the floor unless one wants to hurt one's back.

Secondly, the charging of the unit seems to be a bit touchy as it doesn't seem to "click in" well enough and you have to keep pressing down to see if the unit has charged.

The hand held unit does work well, but I don't have much use for that really. Overall, wish I hadn't purchased it...

Basic – A very basic level of performance. Both light and easy to maneuver. Unfortunately that's about all the good stuff out of the way. Very good to see that this model is now discontinued! It just really did not perform well. Luckily being purchased from Bunnings a full refund was received. Having had a few different types of vacuum for different purposes I would not now discount Vax. I have had a previous Vax that performed quite well.

Good for a small house or large flat – I replaced my Aldi cordless vacuum with this. It looks more substantial and feel more substantial, with the costs of added weight. The charging and charged lights were big and you can't miss it. The suction was good with the powered brush roller it comes with; although it is 14W as opposed to the Aldi's 18W. No accessories except that the main demountable vacuum unit has a nozzle that can be pulled out; it doesn't work well as when you try to use it , it detracts. Easy to empty the dust, both by pulling out the filter or unhinging the front. The filer is round, so easy to put it back. Be warned: when unhinging the front to empty, make sure that you latched it correctly. If not, the extra bulge might make it stick to the body.

Very pleased with my choice – I purchased the stick vacuum for quick jobs and I am very pleased with the performance with this vacuum cleaner on both carpet and hard floors. I am amazed on how much suction it has and cleans my carpet beautifully. Would highly recommend it.

Great for light work, terrific for pet hair! – I bought this handheld vacuum after we moved into an apartment with hard floors...and our dog. Having always had carpets before, we didn't realise just how much hair the dog sheds on a daily basis and living near a busy road, lots of dust turns up on the parquetry floors. So dragging out the big vacuum is not so convenient every day, but I can buzz this incredibly light and flexible cordless around in a few minutes, and see clearly how much hair and dust it has picked up through the see through window to the filter. It is really incredibly efficient at collecting hair and dust on the wooden floors, not terribly effective on carpet or the vinyl flooring in kitchen. But it's perfect for the timber floors. The filter is very easy to empty and clean, and I have not yet used it for long enough for it to have lost power, so it works for a good time on a full charge, certainly enough for me to do our entire apartment. It's very light, the vac head swivels easily and the charging station is nice and compact. I would highly recommend this especially as it appears to be better priced than similar types of machines by other brands. effective at collecting pet hair, light and easy to use, easy to empty filter, reasonably priced not particularly good on carpets