We were sent the VAX Platinum Power MAX to review but all opinions are mine (and Mr Frugal’s who built it and was the first to use it).
The VAX Platinum Power MAX comes with some pretty big claims – the most impressive of which is that it’s proven to out clean the leading rental! It also has a Which? Best Buy and scores highest in the Good Housekeeping Institute’s carpet cleaning testing. Impressive, hey? In this post, I’m going to tell you how I feel about it…
I have carpets throughout my house so I was looking forward to giving them all a bit of a refresh but if I’m honest I was just as excited (I know but that’s how sad I am) about using the upholstery cleaning tool for reasons I’ll explain below.
Let’s get on with the review, shall we?
First things first, when you open the box – DO NOT PANIC! 😉
Mr Frugal opened the box and instantly pulled a face because it looked like it was going to be a nightmare to build as there were quite a few parts in there that needed putting together. He’s always a bit dramatic when it comes to things like this though so I (secretly) set the time on my phone when I saw the first eye roll and timed the length of time it took him to put together.
I never interfere at the building stage of things like this as I like to do ridiculous things like reading the instructions before I get started and I’m not a fan of Mr Frugal’s building style which is to just go for it and only refer to the manual if it all goes wrong.
Anyway, even doing it his way, he was done in 16 minutes which is pretty good going and I reckon would have been way less than that if he’d have known what he was doing. There’s an upholstery attachment that he must have spent a good five minutes trying to figure out where it attached to and what it was before he stopped being stubborn and finally looked at the instructions.
So, I think we can tick the ‘easy to put together’ box. 😉
Once it was built, it was super easy to fill up with water and the special Vax Platinum cleaning solution and then even easier to get started with the cleaning.
It’s not the lightest machine (although we’re used to a small cordless hoover to be fair) but you know what, that’s absolutely to be expected when you consider how powerful it is and how great a job it did on the carpets.
We worked our way around the house on the quick clean mode and cleaned all the carpets except the one in Master Frugal’s room and even though I didn’t think they were too bad (they’re reasonably new) they all look lovely and refreshed. You can definitely see a difference and not only are they looking lovely and clean, the flattened carpet pile in the most walked on areas is now not flattened (I’m sorry, I don’t know a better way of putting it) and the downstairs carpets especially look as good as the day they were fitted.
Thanks to the fact that the carpets dry in an hour when you use the quick clean mode, we’re going to have a monthly carpet clean using it to keep the carpets looking as good as they do right now. Our next clean will be just before the Christmas decorations go up so we’ll be spotless over Christmas and then the day they come down again will be our next clean.
We’ll also whip it out if there are any spills or dramas as it sucks up spills so they don’t get chance to soak into the carpet which I hope will mean that our carpets stay as lovely looking as they do now for longer.
So yes, I was super impressed when it came to the VAX Platinum Power MAX’s carpet cleaning prowess but what I was most looking forward to testing was how good it was when cleaning upholstery because we have a definite problem area when it comes to upholstery.
On a whim, we bought a fabric sofa and statement chair when we got rid of our gorgeous leather corner sofa. We were only getting rid of the sofa we had because it was too big for the space we had and on the day we decided it had to go, we saw our current sofa and chair selling on Facebook for an absolute bargain price. We couldn’t resist even though, looking back, it clearly wasn’t the best choice for us.
The sofa is dark grey so no drama there but the ‘statement’ chair is a light grey with a dark tree pattern on it and it took a matter of weeks for it to lose the brand new look that it came to us with.
It seems to be both of the dogs’ go-to chair and short of actually cordoning it off, there’s no way they’re not going to jump on it as soon as they get it from playing in the garden of coming back in from a walk. It’s also used as a dumping ground for anything from coats to bags when we come in from anywhere – they don’t stay on there for long but when you’re greeted by two dogs who just want a love when you get in then you’re going to put your things down anywhere so you have two free hands.
I’ve tried cleaning it so many times but in the end, I gave up and it’s got a lovely throw over it most of the time now to protect it from more damage and also to stop me from having to be so embarrassed at the state of it. I wanted to see just how good a job the VAX Platinum Power MAX could do with something this badly stained.
I went in with the pre-treatment solution that came with the cleaner first and then went in with the upholstery wash tool to try and make the chair look presentable again.
I can’t even tell you how much dirt came out!
It was really easy to do but it was so dirty that I was there for ages so my arm did hurt by the time I’d finished! I think I probably used as much liquid on the chair as I did on my carpets but it was absolutely worth the effort because the chair genuinely looks new again. Just look at the dirt that came out of it…
Would I recommend the VAX Platinum Power MAX?
With an RRP of £249.99, I’d have to be absolutely convinced of its value for money before I’d recommend something like this as it’s not cheap. But you know what, I am convinced and I would recommend this to anyone.
I checked out how much it cost to rent a carpet cleaner at our local supermarket and it was £22.99 without the high priced cleaning solutions that bump up the price by another £10 or so which to me, makes the VAX Platinum Power MAX even better value. I get to use mine whenever I want to or whenever it’s needed and I don’t need to go and the furthest I have to go to collect and return mine is my own garage. With a manufacturer’s 6 year guarantee, it’s going to more than pay for itself in that time so I think it’s a good purchase.
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