VAX Rapide Deluxe Carpet Cleaner

Got new vax carpet cleaner as my old one broke first time used to clean bedroom carpet half way through smelt burning turned it off and within minutes bedroom fild with smoke it smelt like it was coming from motor wot a load of rubbish will phone them up in morning on there number which isn't free

After testing the Vax rapide carpet washer I was very impressed with the results, my carpets have been bought up like new, the rotating front bar really helps in removing dirt from the carpet.

It has the addition of a stair tool and a wand for spot treatment. This product is quite noisy but worth it for the results you get.

The Grime master steam cleaner is a brilliant product I tested it out on my cooker hood and what results! squeaky clean, a job I have always hated doing became enjoyable, the steam cleaner does run out of water quite quickly and then you have to wait for it to cool before releasing the pressure which is a bit of a bind but overall fantastic results.

VAX Rapide Delux Carpet Cleaner and grime steam cleaner package.

Now I was a bit of a sceptic about these products because having had to clean the carpets by getting down on my knees, I wanted something that was easy to use without being back breaking. The rapid carpet cleaner was certainly that, easy to use and so quick, (although noisy) but I can live with that because the benefits outweigh the cons, and it does save my back. My living room carpet has a few areas on that were really grubby and looked awful, after using the rapid carpet washer and going over these areas a few times (yes they were that bad), they came up clean, my mum even commented on how the carpet looked clean (she is a clean freak). The steam cleaner was great for my stairs as it was the right size and admittedly had only every been wiped over, I was happy with the way it got the stair carpet up clean and I could get into the corners too. Cooker came up gleaming and hubby thought I had got some magic cream cleaner to do it. It did take awhile to put together but with my son's help we managed it. Overall I am happy with both these products, they are value for money and I will be recommending the package to family and friends. In fact I have just ordered more of the cleaning solution from the vax website, as my son has come home from a festival and brought lots of mud home, so this cleaner is going to be busy over the next few days.

Generally I have found the machine useful for the price. It cleans fairly well and leaves the carpet dampish but usable.

The lead is generous and filling and emptying OK

It is noisy but not too excessive.

Problems:

Had to return the first one as the accessory hose didn't pass water.

The second machine, the accessory hose trigger worked occasionally and sometimes stuck on causing a mess.

I had to pay for it's replacement which took months.

The replacement does work, but the spray pattern is much wider than the accessory getting surrounding area rather wet.

The plastic clip holding the fresh water tank just fell to bits. I had to make a replacement to stop the tank falling off.

Customer service is polite and they try to be helpful, you may get lucky or else told that the breakage was your fault and you may not know until the whole machine has been returned to VAX. (expensive!)

Conclusion. Probably reasonable value but leakage and brittle plastic continues to spoil VAX machines.

I bought the VAX Rapide Delux some time ago but have used it very occasionally, probably a dozen times. Usual problems as described in other reviews, leaks water, does not clean particularly well, but for the money is just about acceptable. My problem was it stopped working one day and I traced the fault to a blown fuse in the internal wiring. I replaced this fuse a number of times and traced the root cause to the brush motor circuit. I took the cleaner to my local certified VAX dealer/repairer who told me he did not know exactly what was wrong but quoted £100 min. to fix.

This seemed ridiculous to me so I contacted VAX - to date no response. Cleaner will now go for recycling bringing to an end an unhappy and expensive foray into the world of VAX carpet cleaners.