Beldray Wet&Dry Hand Vac Copper Review
A handheld cleaner for all spills
Verdict
Having a handheld vacuum cleaner that can pick up wet and dry spills is an interesting concept and implemented quite well on the Beldray Wet&Dry Hand Vac Copper. The price is also rather good. That said, vacuuming power is low and it takes quite a while to vacuum any sizeable mess up, and the cleaner can only handle a small amount of liquid, which is likely to limit its appeal.
Pros
- Great value
- Sucks wet and dry spills
- Good suction
Cons
- Small capacity for water
- Small tools
Availability
- UKRRP: £32.99
Key Features
- TypeThis is a handheld vacuum cleaner that can handle wet and dry spills.
- Battery life There’s one power mode, which lasted for just under 20 minutes in my test.
Introduction
It’s fair to say that most people will keep a handheld vacuum in the kitchen, ready for dealing with smaller spills, say after preparing a meal.
In a kitchen, the truth is that you’re likely to have a wet spill as much as a dry one. That’s where the Beldray Wet&Dry Hand Vac Copper comes in, as it can suck up wet and dry mess.
Design and features
- No conversion needed between dry and wet use
- Wall dock with accessory storage
- One power mode
The Beldray Wet&Dry Hand Vac Copper looks like a traditional handheld vacuum cleaner, similar to the original DustBuster or, more recently, the Vax ONEPWR Hand Vac. I’ve got the special edition Copper version on review, but a standard version is also available, which is a pound or two cheaper.
Slightly larger than most handheld vacuum cleaners, the Beldray Wet&Dry Hand Vac Copper is far from a beast. At just 840g, it’s a lightweight cleaner.
This model ships with a wall dock. Screw it into place, and the Beldray Wet&Dry Hand Vac Copper drops into it, and starts to charge.
There’s space on the side of the dock for the two nozzles: there’s a crevice tool and a squeegee for wet mess.
There’s only a single power mode for this vacuum cleaner, with an on and off switch at the back.
Dirt gets sucked into the 0.5-litre dustbin. This is quite large as far as handheld vacuum cleaners go, but it makes sense: if you’re sucking up liquids, you need a fairly large receptacle to store it in.
However, the wet level is quite small: I measured 175ml of water to the wet line on the bin. That’s a regular-sized glass of wine that you can pick up before emptying it, so not much.
Once the bin is full, the whole thing removes from the vacuum cleaner body. Then, the filter pulls out the back so that you can empty it. Thanks to the size of the bin, it’s quite easy to do this without making too much of a mess.
The filter is designed for wet and dry use, with no conversion required between modes. Beldray does recommend that you vacuum wet spills or dry spills; not both at the same time. And, you should empty the bin before switching between spills.
Pay attention to the max fill lines on the bin for wet and dry mess, as the Beldray Wet&Dry Hand Vac Copper doesn’t have an automatic cut-off and can be damaged if you vacuum up too much liquid.
Performance
- Relatively low powered
- Good battery life
I started by measuring the Beldray Wet&Dry Hand Vac Copper’s performance in AirWatts. With just the one power mode, I found that the Beldray Wet&Dry Hand Vac Copper ran at a constant 9AW, which is very low suction. However, as the tools are close to the body, dust doesn’t have to travel too far, so lower power is more acceptable on a handheld cleaner.
To see how this worked in real life, I ran the vacuum cleaner through my regular tests. First, I started with a teaspoon of flour on the carpet, spread in an X. Here, the Beldray Wet&Dry Hand Vac Copper cleaned through the middle, although left a slight sprinkling of dirt towards the sides of the nozzle.
With only relatively narrow tools to choose from, cleaning an area this size would take a long time, so this is a vacuum cleaner for smaller areas only.
Next, I combed pet hair into the carpet, and ran the Beldray Wet&Dry Hand Vac Copper through. This time, the vacuum cleaner only really pushed the hair around and didn’t do a very good job of cleaning up. This isn’t a vacuum cleaner that I’d use on pet hair.
Image Credit (Trusted Reviews) 
Image Credit (Trusted Reviews)
I moved to my rice test, spilling rice onto a counter. The Beldray Wet&Dry Hand Vac Copper managed to pick up every grain, although it took quite a long time to do so. Going for a more powerful handheld vacuum cleaner, such as the Shark WV270UK would make this kind of job faster.
Finally, I poured water onto the counter, and then used the squeegee to suck it up. The vacuum cleaner managed to get everything quite easily, leaving the counter feeling quite dry.
I found the Beldray Wet&Dry Hand Vac Copperto quite loud at 78.1dB. Most handheld vacuum cleaners tend to be around this level. Battery life came in at a respectable 19m 31s, although the small size of the nozzles somewhat restricts how much you can clean in this amount of time.
Latest deals
Should you buy it?
If you want the convenience of wet and dry vacuuming in a handheld vacuum cleaner, this one is keenly price.
A traditional wet and dry cleaner can suck up more liquid, and there are more powerful handheld-only cleaners available.
Final Thoughts
It’s very keenly priced, and the idea of a wet and dry handheld vacuum cleaner is an interesting one. I’m not sure that I’m entirely convinced by the implementation. While the Beldray Wet&Dry Hand Vac Copper can pick up liquids well, it can only collect a relatively small amount. That could mean a lot of emptying of the bin if you knock over a pint glass, for example.
Unless you’ve got very small amounts of mess to pick up, you may be better with a traditional handheld vacuum cleaner, such as the Hoover H-Handy 700 or Shark WV270UK, and something to pick up wet spills, such as a window vacuum cleaner or hard floor cleaner. For alternatives see my guide to the best cordless vacuum cleaners.
How we test
We test every vacuum cleaner we review thoroughly over an extended period of time. We use industry standard tests to compare features properly. We’ll always tell you what we find. We never, ever, accept money to review a product.
Find out more about how we test in our ethics policy.
Used as our main vacuum cleaner for the review period
Tested for at least a week
Tested using tools to measure actual suction performance
Tested with real-world dirt in real-world situations for fair comparisons with other vacuum cleaners
You might like…
FAQs
It has a 0.5-litre bin, but I measured that it can only hold 175ml of liquids.
No, the battery is integrated.
Full specs
Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
