The Vax Blade 2 Max is the most recent cordless vacuum from Vax, a UK producer of cleansing merchandise and white items – and considered one of our prime picks in our information to the best cordless vacuums.
It’s no overstatement to say that cordless vacuums are having their day. We’re lastly on the level the place cabled vacuums not have the sting over their cordless counterparts, which have progressively change into sleeker, extra highly effective, and – crucially – extra power-efficient than their tethered competitors.
It’s not all home bliss, although. You continue to must do the cleansing, in spite of everything, and most cordless vacuums are nonetheless held again by restricted battery life.
The Vax Blade 2 Max is designed to provide the better of each worlds: providing the suction energy and comfort of a high-end Dyson machine whereas sharply undercutting it on worth. However in a market more and more full of cordless vacuums promising the top of cabled cleansing, does the Blade 2 Max make an impression?
Value and availability
The Vax Blade 2 Max is on the market for £249, a major step up from the unique Vax Blade Max’s worth of £179.
That’s nonetheless an honest chunk under what’s maybe its closest competitor, the Dyson V8 Absolute, and solely half the value of our prime decide of cordless vacuums, the Dyson Cyclone V10 Absolute.
So on worth alone the Blade 2 Max is aggressive, though your buying resolution could come down as to whether you’re prepared to leap up one other couple of hundred kilos for one thing extra high-end.
Design
The Vax Blade 2 Max is an iterative replace to final 12 months’s Vax Blade, and there isn’t a lot change in its look or construct.
The design is basically grey and black, with some gentle detailing in Vax’s signature orange. The majority of the physique is within the sizeable deal with and motor, emphasising steering management over shedding extra weight.
At three.1kg the Blade 2 Max isn’t heavy, however it isn’t the lightest cordless vacuum on the market both, opting because it does for normal plastic over premium light-weight supplies, and focusing extra on practicality than design aptitude.
Like different ‘stick’ vacuums, the motor sits on the deal with finish, with an extended tube connecting the motor to the floorhead. The Blade 2 Max additionally encompasses a neat modular design, although, permitting you to unclasp the central stick and shorten the size of the vacuum – splendid for cleansing in tighter areas and corners, or stairs.
The mechanics listed below are a bit DIY, and the joints don’t click on collectively or come aside as simply as we’d like – it’s right here which you could inform the place corners have been minimize to satisfy the aggressive pricing – however it’s additionally intuitive and straightforward to get your head round, and the vacuum feels agency and steady when the whole lot’s linked.
Sadly the identical logic doesn’t prolong throughout the board, and the floorhead significantly appears overly troublesome to grapple with. Inside is a cylindrical brush that picks up hair throughout vacuuming, however fairly than offering acceptable instruments to take away this for cleansing it, I used to be suggested to make use of a 2p coin – that’s a 2p coin thoughts you, not a 10p or a 5p – to unclasp the aspect of the floorhead and pull it out, after which use a knife or just like drag off the strands.
The primary adjustments over the Vax Blade Cordless are within the inside processor and improved suction , which clarify the numerous worth bounce. Make no mistake, although, that is nonetheless a steal for what the vacuum can do.
Alongside a wall mount for charging, and a dusting brush for bookshelves and window sills, on the time of writing Vax is throwing in a device equipment which features a versatile hose attachment and different floorheads for coping with robust grime or thick carpets – till November 20, not less than.
Efficiency
The actual check for any vacuum cleaner, in fact, is how nicely it cleans.
Properly, to begin, the Vax Blade 2 Max provides 3 times the suction energy of its earlier mannequin. The ability score has jumped from 32V to 40V, so count on the motor to spin somewhat quicker – although the improved suction ought to imply you’re not having to tread the identical patch of carpet again and again whereas it does so.
The Blade 2 Max cleans for as much as 45 minutes off a three-hour cost, though the run time drops by half if you happen to use the extra power-intensive increase mode – and 20 minutes actually isn’t very lengthy for a home clear, so we’d advise sticking to the default energy setting the place you may.
Whereas the increase mode does ramp up the suction, we discovered that the Blade 2 Max pulled fairly arduous at thinner sections of our carpet, which might trigger it to pull fairly than transferring easily alongside – each a testomony to the cyclonic expertise used within the Vax vacuum and deterrent to overusing the characteristic. Normally, although, cleansing with the Vax Blade 2 Max was the whole lot we might have hoped for.
The default setting is nicely able to cleansing up mud, hairs and grime, and we discovered ourselves utilizing the increase mode extra out of impatience when cleansing than due to any shortcomings on the a part of the .
There’s additionally a separate setting for heading into darkish corners or beneath furnishings, which switches on a headlight and hastens the vacuum’s rotations to suck in mud that’s simply out of attain.
The pinnacle of the vacuum can be pleasingly versatile, curving into awkward spots and making it simple to navigate furnishings. Whereas Vax’s efforts don’t fairly make vacuuming enjoyable, the Blade 2 Max is enjoyable to make use of, and is a big bounce in comfort over a daily tethered vacuum.
Whereas competitor Dyson could have first popularised cyclonic vacuums – which use the torque of a fast-spinning motor to separate particles from the air sucked via the vacuum, fairly than passing it via a filter – Vax’s tackle the expertise additionally works brilliantly.
Relating to the actual soiled enterprise – emptying the bin – the top result’s a sensible cordless vacuum with a easy unclasping system to dump collected mud into a daily family bin, fairly than having to fiddle round with filter luggage.
Closing verdict
The Vax Blade 2 Max provides handy and environment friendly cordless vacuuming with out the premium value of rival machines. This new iteration on Vax’s earlier cordless vacuum triples the suction energy, and makes a transparent assault on Dyson’s primary spot out there, even when it does not take the crown.
At solely £249 it sharply undercuts a lot of the competitors whereas delivering sturdy suction and a wise, modular design that may allow you to clip collectively longer sticks or shorter heads to greatest go well with the room or floor you are cleansing. The joints could be a bit stiff, however whenever you get to the precise cleansing it greater than does the job.
Now we have some minor complaints about stiff elements and a few fiddly meeting with the floorhead, however all in all of the Vax could have minimize just a few corners to hit this worth level, however the Blade 2 Max does not minimize any in terms of cleansing. You will not discover the design aptitude or premium-grade supplies of Dyson’s choices, however for the value this is without doubt one of the strongest arguments for cordless vacuuming on the market.