Vacmaster D8 Cylinder Vacuum Cleaner Review
A neat and well priced cylinder vacuum cleaner.
Verdict
A tough and robust vacuum cleaner, the Vacmaster D8 Cylinder Vacuum Cleaner can handle messier jobs and, with four levels of filtration, keeps everything inside. It cleans well on all surfaces thanks to its huge amount of power, and it’s great value, too. Self-sealing bags would be nice to see, and the power switch needs a lot of force to operate it.
Pros
- Powerful
- Simple to use
- Compatible with Numatic bags
Cons
- Provided bags aren’t self-sealing
- Power button needs a lot of force
Availability
- UKRRP: £99.99
Key Features
- TypeThis is a plug-in cylinder vacuum cleaner.
- PowerThis vacuum cleaner managed 366AW in my tests.
Introduction
Having the latest and greatest vacuum cleaner with motorised floor heads and the like is great for regular cleaning, but these cleaners tend to struggle with bigger amounts of mess.
If you need a vacuum cleaner for bigger mess and something that can take a bit of punishment, the Vacmaster D8 Cylinder Vacuum Cleaner is a straightforward and simple vacuum that uses suction power only.
It’s super basic, but feels tough and well-made, and it could be a good alternative to a Numatic Henry.
Design and features
- Simple design with on/off button only
- Long power cable
- Huge capacity bin
A simple cylinder cleaner, the Vacmaster D8 Cylinder Vacuum Cleaner runs on four wheels. It’s easy to pull around and moves nicely. At 6.6kg, it’s not too heavy for a cylinder cleaner, either. I wouldn’t want to carry it for long periods, but lugging it up and down stairs and out of a cupboard proved easy.
Flip open the tough plastic clips on the side, and you can access the interior, which has 8-litre bags. Vacmaster thoughtfully provides five bags in the box, with replacements costing £15 for a pack of five. That’s pretty good value, particularly as the size of each bag means you could get up to a couple of months use out of each one.
The provided bags aren’t self-sealing, unlike the ones provided with the Numatic Henry, so you’ll need to be careful when emptying them, not to lose any dust. However, this vacuum cleaner will work with Numatic HEPA Flow bags, so you can just use those instead.
The bag provides filtration, but there’s a large HEPA filter that sits on top of the bin.
In addition, there’s a foam filter just in front of the motor. With the filter at the rear of the vacuum cleaner, that’s four layers of filtering: nothing is escaping this cleaner once it has been sucked up.
In the box, there’s a hose, wand, floor head (with buttons to switch it between carpet and hard floor modes), a crevice tool and dusting brush. There are no motorised parts to this cleaner, so it’s not an ideal choice for pet hair.
Neatly, everything clips onto the vacuum cleaner’s body for easy storage. Although, as this is a cylinder cleaner, trying to neatly tuck away the wand and hose can be hard, particularly in a smaller cupboard.
With the 10-metre power cable, which winds away into the lid, there’s a lot of cleaning range. Plugging the Vacmaster D8 Cylinder Vacuum Cleaner into a socket in the middle of the floor of my house, I could clean everywhere without having to change plug sockets.
Reach is good with the wand, both in terms of getting under furniture and also in cleaning up high around the tops of walls where the ceiling is.
Control of this vacuum cleaner is simple, as there’s an on/off switch on top. I pressed this by hand, but the vacuum turned off as soon as I let go.
This switch is designed to be foot operated, but even so it needs a literal kick to turn it on and off. A flip switch or something that doesn’t need as much force would be preferable.
Performance
- Lots of suction power
- Works well on carpets and hard floors
- Not so good for pet hair
I measured the Vacmaster D8 Cylinder Vacuum Cleaner at 366AW, which puts it a little way behind both the Henry and Stihl SE 33 wet and dry vacuum. Don’t worry too much about that: anything above 200AW is very powerful.
In fact, the Vacmaster D8 Cylinder Vacuum Cleaner is so powerful that it can be hard to push on carpet. There’s an air vent on top, which I had to open slightly to reduce suction power. Still, having a lot of suction power is useful.
When using the crevice tool to clean up after some DIY, I found that the debris flew up off the floor; this kind of job would take much longer with a cordless vacuum cleaner.
Next, I put the vacuum cleaner through my normal tests. I started out with the carpet test, sprinkling a teaspoon of flour onto the carpet. Here, it removed everything with a clean sweep straight through the middle.
It was a similar result on the tough edge test, with the Vacmaster D8 Cylinder Vacuum Cleaner removing all of the flour right up to the skirting board.
Switching to hard floors, and the Vacmaster D8 Cylinder Vacuum Cleaner picked up every grain of rice on a single pass without any falling back out.
Without any motorised tools, pet hair removal is much harder for this vacuum cleaner. I found that it got some of the mess, but some hair got pushed around. If you want something for pet hair, check out my guide to the best vacuums for pet hair.
I measured the Vacmaster D8 Cylinder Vacuum Cleaner at 71.5dB, which makes it louder than the Henry but not annoyingly so.
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Should you buy it?
If you want a cheap, yet powerful cylinder vacuum cleaner for all types of job, this is a good choice.
If you want a wider range of tools and motorised heads for cleaning pet hair, look for a different model.
Final Thoughts
The Vacmaster D8 Cylinder Vacuum Cleaner is a plain and simple vacuum cleaner that uses suction power to remove dirt. It cleans well on most surfaces, although I’d buy a cleaner with a motorised floor head for tackling pet hair.
This vacuum is cheaper than the Henry, but there are a few differences: I found the Henry easier to operate as it doesn’t need a kick, and it takes slightly larger bags that self-close. Still, if you’re looking for a reliable, tough vacuum cleaner for slightly messier jobs, this one is great value. If you’re after something else, check out my guide to the best 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
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FAQs
Yes, it takes 8-litre dust bags.
It has a floor head, crevice tool and a brush.
No, without a motorised brush it can struggle to pick up pet hair.
Full specs
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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.
