Maybe it's a bit mean of me to give this product only two stars, but whilst Vax is usually a great brand, this product just didn't do it for me. Sorry.

So this hoover is what I call a site hoover, like a Henry. Basically it can cope with a lot of dust, large lumps and even water.Setting up is easy, simple and fast.The suction is great with just the hose. I found a noticeable difference when using the heads, it is reduced, but still acceptable. I really put it through its paces when we had our builders in doing work. I was really happy with it's suction.The cord is really long and you can wind it onto two hooks on the hoover. The annoying thing with the cord is it doesn't have any hook for the end once it is round round the hooks, so it tends to come unhooked. Also because of how the cord is stowed it doesn't feed well as you move it about.I would have happily given this hoover more stars except it has a major flaw which is the catches which keep it closed are really easy to knock meaning they come open easily. This means the suction reduces at least, but the whole top has come off meaning there was dust going everywhere! This left me so annoyed, just when I thought I was done I had to start over again. This happened regularly.The hose has a bend in it, which I have had items get stuck in. As the bend is at the end of the hose and is fixed its hard to remove blockages.Where the hose joins the body there is a bit inside which stops bit falling back out. This regular gets blocked requiring clearing. Another pain in the bum.It rolls well around a room, but as its heavy and very bulky its difficult to carry up stairs.The suction keeps the same until it is completely full, and the filter inside deals well with dust. I used this hoover when a chimney was removed and the dust from that caused no noticeable difference to the suction. This hooverIn conclusion I would not recommend buying this hoover.

This is a good solid wet and dry vacuum cleaner which does what it sets out to do, but has a few flaws in the process.The first thing you notice about the Vax ECGAV1B1 (other than it's name, which should. I think, be shorted to just Gav*) is that it's heavy. Even the box has a warning on it. This could well be an issue for lugging the thing around the house, though if you're into bodybuilding then maybe it's a bonus. The weight is, in part, due to the large capacity and the fact that this can deal with water and other liquid spills, too.The unit comes in parts but is easily put together and the main hose can be lengthened by using different parts or all of the segments, useful for hoovering parts of the house that require a longer reach, though it would have been good to make it extendable like some other vacuum cleaners. There is a filter in the top and a large capacity base for dirt and water.Obviously, all of this would be useless if it didn't actually do its job. We tested this on several carpets and rugs with varying degrees of success. The rugs cleaned up well, even those with deep stains in, but the long haired carpet fared less well but was older, so it might not be a fair test. Unfortunately, if doesn't do a proper wet clean with shampoo, unlike our other cleaner, so is of limited use with more ground in stains.For general household cleaning, the Vax's weight will be an issue in 2 storey houses and it's a large thing to find a storage place for, but if you do have spills or stains that normal vacuum cleaners can't pick up it could be of more use. I'd personally go for a good cleaner which can do a proper wet clean if needed as the added weight is at least justified then.* Look, there's a hoover called Henry, so I don't think Gav is too far fetched and it sounds friendly.

Is your old vacuum on its last legs, so a new one is needed? There are literally hundreds to choose from so which one to go for? A Vax 2 in 1 wet and dry cleaner seems a decent choice. And it is, save for one rather important point. (In my own opinion that is.)Yes, this has an incredibly powerful suction to it.Yes, it’s easy to pull around.Yes, it has a very long lead of nigh on 33 feet.Yes, it has plenty of pick up tools (four) to suit any situation.Yes, it can collect spills. (There’s an internal float that switches off the suction so you can't overfill it.)Yes it has a huge capacity.Yes, it can be used as a blower by attaching the hose to the slot on the top, and rather effective it is too.However, there are two negatives to this (well three actually, but the third is a matter for your wallet), which loses it two stars. The hose in in three sections and isn’t retractable. Yes, I realise the sections can be separated, but I doubt many want to keep putting it together each time. It also needs to be longer, as tall people will need to stoop, but that isn’t the main problem I have with this. Unclip the top and there’s a huge cone shaped filter inside. The hose fits into the hole beneath this and all the debris collects in the main compartment. So far so good. But that inlet hole is literally right in line with the bottom of the filter, so any fluff and stuff doesn’t collect in the bottom but attaches itself to the filter. I spent ages trying to remove all that detritus, half of which ended up back on the floor.Though it’s incredibly noisy, and certainly the loudest I've ever owned, as a vacuum cleaner it works. For tackling floor spills, it works. For blowing, it works. The company has obviously spent serious time and resources on it but as for internal design, it doesn’t work. The hose input can't be lowered, as that would mean liquid going back up the tube and the filter has to be the shape it is because of the liquid float and motor. No, it should have been designed differently to alleviate the potential time