Hoover Multifunction Pro SX9750 Wet and Dry Tank Vacuum Cleaner, 1400 Watt

This multi function machine, from the company synonymous with vacuum cleaners, can do everything from cleaning up large spills to blowing leaves. It also serves as a vacuum cleaner! My initial impression was of a smartly looking, cylindrical pull-around vacuum cleaner, from a trusted brand at a sensible price. I was also interested in the extra long power cable which would save me time stopping to switch to another power socket.

There are a number of positive things to say about this budget multi purpose Hoover. First, it has a powerful action that smartened up wooden and carpeted floors along with staircases and skirting boards.

The main unit moves around easily and is reasonably light to carry when you need to.

However, in my view the negatives outweigh the positives for this machine. The first noticeable quirk is that, while the extra long power cable is convenient when the Hoover is in use, there is no tidy way to store the cable when it is not in use, other than to wrap it around the cylinder and hope it doesn't unravel.

The Hoover's attachments are the most unusual I have come across in many years of using all types of vacuum cleaner. The main heads for both carpet and wooden floors are smaller than you'd expect, and while they worked efficiently, it took longer to cover the main floor areas than I would have liked. The other attachments are also too compact, again drawing out the time required to complete detailed work on stairs and awkward corners.

The strange size of the attachments also means that you are caught between 'bended knee' hoovering or standing up straight and thus too far away from the small head to be sure you're not missing areas.

I have to question the build quality of the main shaft and attachments, after an extension pieced snapped in normal use on a large flat surface.

Finally, if you live in a modern house and with neighbours close by, it's worth noting that this Hoover is seriously loud in operation. That could be said of many vacuum cleaners by this one really is exceptionally loud, and may irritate anyone close by if you are working for long periods or early or late in the day.

In summary this might be the vacuum cleaner for you if you are looking for a reasonably low cost device that has some extra features, such as the blow function or the ability to clean up liquids, and don't mind the shortcomings mentioned above. Otherwise it may be best to look at what else is available at a similar price.

I'm not sure what market this vacumn cleaner is aimed at, possibly a business premises that has only hard flooring with lots of spilt liquid and sawdust scattered about.
The suction is good but the attachment head is far too small; it has a bag, it is unnecessarily bulky, is heavy and looks quite ugly. The lead is wrapped around the cylinder and the attachments are designed to be stored on the actual cleaner itself. I think you would be better off buying a cheaper bagless vacumn than this one. With so many alternative options I don't know who would choose this vacumn over the many much cheaper asthetically more pleasing and frankly better operationally cleaners.

This vacuum cleaner has the advantage that it can be used to hoover both liquids and dry items. However, in reality, it does neither of these things very well, and it actually performs better as a blower, which is a bit odd considering it is a vacuum cleaner!

The majority of the vacuum cleaner is pre-assembled and so the only things you really have to do after removing the packaging is to fit the wheels and the suction pipe. After the wheels were fitted, I found the cleaner could move around easily, so it clearly didn't suffer from shopping trolley syndrome.

A long cable is also provided, so the hassle of having to keep finding a new plug should be somewhat minimised. Having said that, the cable is stored by wrapping it around the hoover in a dedicated groove, however they didn't seem to make it deep enough so the cable doesn't sit flush and can slide down if not wrapped tight enough.

This storage problem also affects the supplied tools. While most of the attachments can be stored on the slots provided, the spare floor nozzles can't and so they just have to balance themselves on top of the hoover. These nozzles are also quite hard to change, as they require a firm press at each end to unclip them.

With regards to the dust capacity, this seems fairly large and it is only a simple matter of unclipping the top of the hoover to gain access to the dust bag. However, I was slightly unimpressed that it still needed a bag as at least one well-known brand uses bagless technology, thus saving on running costs. A cloth bag is available, but it has to be ordered from your local retailer separately.

Having tried out the actual performance of the vacuum cleaner, I was fairly satisfied with the level of suction; however I wasn't impressed with how well it managed to remove dust and fluff from the carpet. The nozzle had no problem in "sticking" to the carpet itself, but didn't seem to be able to actually lift dirt off it. Instead, it only managed to grind it in further. Any dirt that it did lift only happened after several passes with the suction pipe.

I also noticed that the angle you have to hold the suction pipe at is very low, and so a sore back will result if hovering for any length of time. I'm not an overly tall person (around 5ft 10) but I found I had to stoop in order to get the nozzle to run along the carpet smoothly and get any suction. Through the rough calculation I did on the back of an envelope, I estimate that around 4ft 10 is the optimum height the average user would need to be - which isn't ideal.. This would have been much improved if the designers had included a swivel joint on the hose pipe, allowing the angle to be changed and so suiting a much wider range of heights.

After have run through my major gripes, the final one isn't actually that important. From the description given of this product, I was led to believe that this was an industrial standard vacuum cleaner. The instruction manual makes it very clear that it isn't, and is for domestic purposes only. I'm not sure if the warranty is voided if it is used for industrial use, however I would think that it wouldn't be up to the task anyway.

So to sum up, it's a fairly standard looking cylinder vacuum cleaner; however some of the features just aren't up to the standard I would expect. If you do decide to get it, I hope you won't be as disappointed as I was, however the lack of cleaning power, coupled with the angle at which I had to hold the suction pipe left me quite unsatisfied with the product.