Vax U85-AS-Ce Air Stretch Complete – Stair Cleaning

Oh yes, if there was ever a cleaner designed to be at its best looking up a long flight of carpeted stairs, the Vax Air Stretch Complete is it. The combination of ridiculous stretchy hose, telescopic wand and the turbo tool made short work of our carpeted stairs from bottom to top without having to move the cleaner from its solidly planted position at the bottom.

The turbo tool is absolutely ideal for cleaning carpets, particularly where the stairs may be a main thoroughfare from the front door and hence get quite dirty. There is no tilting or pivoting movement to the turbo tool, so a little manual dexterity with the wand is required to keep it flat to the floor, but the tool’s odd-looking claws do a great job of grooming the carpet.

We struggled a little where our stairs turn a corner, but simply unclipping the wand and attaching the turbo tool direct to the hose made for easy hand-to-hand cleaning.

Where the Vax gets a little vertically challenged by stairs are those with hard surfaces, such as polished wood or exposed floorboards. The turbo tool is too harsh for these surfaces with either the brush or the raking claws likely to leave marks. The only option is the rather small dusting brush tool, which would take you a fair while to clean a big flight of steps. As you have saved the time moving or carrying the cleaner thanks to its huge reach, this shouldn’t be too much of an issue.

Vax U85-AS-Ce Air Stretch Complete – Pet hair

The low-sitting floor head and brush bar combination proved more than a match for our pet hair test, the Air Stretch passing with excellent pet-cleaning credentials. Our 30cm patch of mixed Collie and Labrador hair rubbed into the carpet was cleared in well under 10 seconds, which competes well with most pet-specific upright cleaners. As usual, we did have a little issue with some longer hairs getting caught around the brush bar, and in the Vax’s case these need to be cut off through the opening as there is no easy way to remove the bar for cleaning.

The Air Stretch Complete’s second trump card for pets is the turbo tool, which proved equally competent at cleaning up after our furry friends. Our now famous hair-covered step carpet where the Collie sits and watches the world go by was shown no mercy from the turbo tool with its extra claws doing a great job of pulling longer hairs from the pile too. This tool also splits in two for easy cleaning.

While only supplied with the pet-specific version of the Air Stretch, Vax also do a Fluff n Fur tool which we have previously found brilliant for the dogs beds and removing hair from the sofa. As Vax offer this tool as an accessory for just £7.99 it’s well worth the investment on top of the Air Stretch Complete.

Should I buy the Vax Air Stretch Complete?

Turning in a great performance with ridiculously long reach for an outstandingly good price, the Vax Air Stretch Complete is a bit of a bargain at its currently discounted price.

It’s not the most manoeuvrable of cleaners and the suction makes the basic floor head stick down on carpet, but good cleaning and a great array of tools make it quite the all-rounder.

Verdict

With a long reach, powerful cleaning and a bargain price this is an ideal all-rounder for large houses not a tight budget.

Trusted Score