List Price: £149.99
Our Price: £93.48
Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours
Manufacturer: Vax Ara
Average Customer Rating:
Binding: Kitchen & Home Brand: Vax Ara EAN: 5012512118017 Feature: Slim, compact design Label: Vax Ara Manufacturer: Vax Ara Model: V-026 Publisher: Vax Ara Studio: Vax Ara
Features
Slim, compact design Lightweight Handle lays flat, allowing easy cleaning under and Easily washes in forward and backward motion Two motor system
Customer Rating: Summary: Please don't buy a VAX Comment: I have not seen a Vax V-026. I did, however, buy the slightly more expensive V-028, and based on the miserable experience with that device, I would recommend staying away from *any* Vax product. There are two general problems. One is the offensively poor design. I don't know where Vax finds its engineers, and doubt that going for a more expensive model would get one a quality product. Another is dishonesty. Vax is selling a device (V-028 again) that by design - weak suction and the useless "static" brush - cannot do the advertised job. Is the plan to have enough customers attracted by a "low" price and wishful thinking, and then too lazy/busy to send this garbage back for a refund? Customer Rating: Summary: utter waste of money Comment: have spent more than it is worth on spare parts it leaks and doesnt give a good clean do not recomend it
Customer Rating: Summary: Read and make up your own mind Comment: I purchased the Vax V-026 Rapide Deluxe Carpet Washer in Sept 2007. In June 2008 I used it for the first time to clean liv/din room carpet.The carpet is a very light fawn it had no marks on it and i only cleaned it to freshen it up. The result was very good and I was well pleased The second time it was used to remove a spillage, the filter fell to pieces so I had to buy a new pack, I fitted the new filter and after 20 minuets the motor blew up leaving a black dust deposit on the carpet. It has now been with VAX appointed local service agent for five weeks and still no sign of a new motor from Vax. I sent Vax an e-mail today saying sort it out or send a replacement machine, I'll wait and see what happens.
Chris Jones
7/11/08
Hi
Finally got my vav cleaner fixed after seven weeks,in the end i had to return it too vax who fitted new motor. It appears that Vax are holding onto their motors for their own repairs, thats why the agents can't get them. I found this a bad experience and i hope nothing else goes wrong as it's guarantee has now expired.
Chris Jones Customer Rating: Summary: Do not buy for £150 Comment: I have had my Vax Rapide Deluxe for a few months now and after using it a few times a problem developed. The small float inside the water collector became too sensitive and would shut the vacuum suction after a few seconds turning the machine on. It is only supposed to do this when the water collector is about 2/3 rds full. This is quite a bad design fault and I am guessing that the people who have written decent reviews may encounter this problem before too long. I have turned the filter inside out and this has made the float less sensitive. However I would urge anyone not to buy this for more than £100. It's simply not worth it.
Customer Rating: Summary: Don't regret buying this... Comment: Despite some of the negative comments about this product I took the plunge (although not bought at Amazon, I needed something this weekend). Assembly was very straightforward, and yes you have to screw some things together but it's hardly what I'd call complicated (4 screws in total). In all it took me about 5-10 mins to put it all together ready for use.
The dirty water tank is in the lower part (in the base) with the clean water/detergent in the white tank attached to the main handle. Both go on and off very easily, and it was quick and straightforward to empty the dirty water and refill the clean tank.
Yes the capacity is not huge (as some others have complained about in their reviews), but at the end of the day the design is just a series of trade-offs. Vax could have put bigger water tanks on the product, and no doubt the very same reviewers would be complaining that the product is too big or too heavy to move around.
In my opinion they got it just about right - it's small and portable and the tank capacity gives a reasonable amount of cleaning time before you need to refill or empty the waste water. I don't find this a problem - after all, it's not like you wash your carpets every weekend is it!
When you switch it on the machine is noisy as others have said. Again, I think this comes down to trade-offs. They could have included a better quality (quieter) motor but at a higher price and probably more weight. I put ear-plugs in whilst using it and it wasn't a problem. For a machine that I'll only use once in a while I'd rather pay less and put up with earplugs.
Performance wise I was very pleased with the results. We have old carpets (10+ years) and in that time we have always had dogs, so the carpets are well used and get quite soiled. No only that, but we've just taken in a new puppy, whose toilet training is not what I'd call perfect just yet. I wasn't expecting miracles, but could certainly see a difference after just one cleaning session. The detergent also freshens up the carpets.
In use I found the machine easy, quick and simple. As another reviewer suggested, I took the dirty water tank to the toilet and was shocked at how dirty the waste water was. Not only that, but in use the washer pulled up much more dog-hair than our normal vacuum cleaner manages - unfortunately some of this got deposited as little "fur-balls" on the carpet rather than being sucked up, but it was easy to pick these clumps up by hand.
So all in all I'm very pleased with my purchase. I wanted something that was quick and simple to use, and I think the Rapide Deluxe delivers on this.
