Vax 6131 Multifunction Canister Dry Vacuum and Carpet Washer for Spotless Carpets

The Vax is somthing I grew up with as the house's main hoover. When they first came out they were the best money could buy, and lasted longer than most people could belive, our own lasted just over ten years, which for any vaccum is a hell of an achivement. The newer 3 in 1 which we now have (this one infact) is basicly the same design, modernised and still a scary shade of orange.

The vaccum feature is the same as most, only with a bit more power, and an inconveniant way of storing the tools (they slot onto the side of the barrel and get knocked off easily when you move it about) but if you want a good job done, this is among the best to do it with.

When it comes to cleaning, the first time can be tricky since the instructions are more a picture book than anything else, but once you figure it out, converting it from vaccum to cleaner shouldnt take more than five minutes. The cleaning head is not the old style little box this time round, its a full hoover head, only transparent with a tube section. the cleaning ability is the same as it always was, a great job so long as you dont use the Vax AAA solution, its a bit too mild for most jobs, and youll end up needing to do a second round. Astonish do a decent one for less than a quid so get that if you can.

The claim that it will extend the life of your carpets really is true, every time you clean, youll be amazed how much dirt came out, and mow much cleaner it looks, obviously your carpets will still die off after time, no machine can undo constant abuse by size 11 feet.

For a multi roll cleaner this is the one for the job, plus what you would spend on hiring a seperate cleaner would pay for one of these after the third job. only drawback being its fairly big, and needs a bit of space to store teh cleaner section when your not using it (its about the size of a pizza tray and 9 inches thick)

Best washer / vacuum on the market.
This will suck nearly as well as all of our Dyson's we've owned. It washes nearly as well as the expensive pro cleaners and it is tough. All of the filters are washable. The card filter will wash in warm water with a dash of soap powder.
Much better over all than everything else on the market. My only criticism is the 2 catches that attach the top to the base are badly designed and many people will snap them. I think other than that it's the best vacuum around. Don't wash your carpets with company or you might be embarrassed by how dirty the waste water is, no matter how clean you think your carpet is.
I bought an upholstery head separately for sofa etc and got very good results. The only real problem is that all your friends will want to borrow it when they see how good it is.

Bought this in 2008 and now 2012 is ending and it's as good as new. I've had to replace the head as I crushed the old one in a door, the replacement was about £7.
Have since had the upstairs carpeted with new carpet about an inch deep and this is a godsend.
Several friends have borrowed it and all love it.
Still very happy with it. The catches I thought were a weakness are still fine so maybe I was wrong.

I recently moved to a new house. Carpets looked iffy and then between my dog and 7 year old son they looked like they needed replacing. Instead I bought the vax, and one for my neighbour (in a similar situation) and the results are amazing. The carpets have changed colour! All the fur came out (without the need for the turbo tool). Doing the stairs came close to pleasure! No more backache thanks to all the changeable attachments, light and easy to use, on a good set of wheels so it doesn't fall over on your foot!, a breeze to assemble. And my neighbour says it's the best vacuum she's ever had.
What else can I say? Keep the box to store it in, as you don't use all the bits at once. And it even comes with 2 spare dustbags and vax AAA carpet shampoo. I bought some Astonish shampoo aswell (because it was cheaper), but it may have been a false economy, as you only need to use 4 capfuls of AAA per 4 litres of water, compared to 500ml of Astonish!