Vacuum Cleaners Discussions

Seen the new VAX line of bagless yet? better quality and performance?...at a far lower price.

Some say its stolen Dyson tech...some say its VAX xposing Dyson as a rip off [over priced] over hyped vacuum......that dyson is slipping[sinking brand]...that a dyson can be had at a fraction of the cost and with a warranty thats actually useable.......solved all the dyson flaws.....without the dyson shaft at the register. That VAX has zeroed in on dyson and plans to come at him head on.  If this is true ..then some drastic changes are due at dyson ....and another dyson [im a victim] lawsuit will come.......as always.

turtle1

hey are in a larger abundance because:

1) Dyson were never a catalogue / home shopping brand but went head first into mass sales, a fact that is documented in Dyson's Book. Thus, Vax spares and models are high up in the catalogues and a proportion of UK buyers still prefer the idea of paying by week or monthly /Hire Purchase deals than buying an appliance outright. This is how Vax has become more wider known for buyers on a budget.

2) Vax are cheap and cheerful; they do their job and most models are cheap to buy and run and whilst they break easily; some customers wont think twice when value for money comes to mind and would probably buy another Vax again based purely on price; supermarkets here also sell a high proportionate amount of Vax models too.

3) From perusing the internet, visit www.ebay.co.uk Here are the current statistics:
For Dyson there are 917 vacuums for sale and in that list there are obvious reconditioned models or as you put it, refurbs also included.

For Vax the number is 856 which Im sure you'd agree isn't that far off from Dyson on Ebay.co.uk

For Oreck the number is far less at 217, Miele at 84 and Sebo at just 67.

Now for refurbs in the UK EBay is one of the highest sellers.

Frankly Carmine, you don't need rocket science to work out that despite Dyson being the more popular, Vax are also as popular and yet have a high proportion of refurbs on sale.

However I dont see why you need refurb info to assume that by having that data it necessarily points to poor reliability or otherwise?

http://www.which.co.uk/reviews/vacuum-cleaners

This currently shows that there are three models in the Vax family under Which? UK's consumer reliability records as being the best. No prizes for guessing that the ones featured just happen to be Hoover's Mach series, albeit TTi and not the previous Dirt Devils that Vax still sell, here in the UK.

Let's see if I can recap your data into a synopsis of salient points:

• VAX is a popular selling brand of vacuums in the UK and has been for 30 years.
• VAX has widespread availability in all the UK retailers.
• VAX models rate highly with WHICH?
• VAX is marketed to the budget minded and frugal consumers as an alternative to higher priced vacuums.
• VAX is reliable and worthy enough to warrant a substantial resale market in refurbs rather than meet with a junk dump fate.

In summary, as a mass marketed and sold vacuum brand VAX competes equally on all accounts with the bagless brand that is the UK icon and in first place for yearly new vacuum sales.  As well, as Electrolux which is in second place.  Did I miss anything?

Carmine D.

VAX was the best selling vacuum cleaner in the UK from 1987 thru 1993, selling 80,000 machines on average every month in 1989.  When the River Severn flooded near VAX hqtrs, VAX staff helped residents to clean up with the VAX.  Nice piece of VAX vacuum history.

Carmine D.

CarmineD wrote:
This fact I didn't know until now - nice PR opportunity!

Spot on there Carmine, however for some buyers having a rebadged vacuum that's made by someone else just won't do.

When I had my vacuum store [over 42 years], I was amazed at the number of customers who came in and didn't know the name of their vacuums and/or were wrong with the names they thought. 

Carmine D.

CarmineD wrote:

HI CARMINE

Nothing has changed.....but what really blows me away is when they dont know if they have an upright or canister.....or the color....gotta love it.

turtle1

How right you are 'turtle1."  Men were the worse.

Carmine D.

CarmineD wrote:

HI CARMINE

So true..but i wouldnt have it any other way....lightens up things on a busy day.....hard to beat a good  laugh with a customer.

turtle1

Actually Carmine having a look at your salient points there is some truth in them and some not so near enough the truth. For example;

Point one - Vax is a popular selling brand of vacuums in the UK and has been for 30 years.

Only in terms of its canister tub vacuums which are completely different to the uprights - the sales of their canisters were hit badly when Numatic's Henry came onto the market in a domestic version and fully internationally available from 1990 onwards. Consumers only bought Vax canisters because of their carpet shampoo patent; Electrolux and Hoover et al remained more popular for compact sledge pull along cylinders and upright vacuums.

Point two - Vax has widespread availability in all the UK retailers - yes completely true but unlike Hoover and Electrolux, Vax have limited models in UK retailers so you can't always get the same model and research on one you want may be difficult.

Point three - Current Vax models from the TTi era (recent) have not been rated Highly on all grounds of performance but in terms of the models Vax had initially before their involvement with Dirt Devil, they rated poorly on performance by Which?.

Point four - If Vax was solely marketed towards the budget minded / frugal consumers, their new Mach series from Hoover U.S wouldn't be so highly overpriced. Current Mach 7 costs around £200 which puts it into Sebo/Miele and Dyson terriotory. Other cylinder vacs in their family are also too over priced for what you're getting; compared to Vax rivals.

Point Five - Most Vax canisters are reliable because they are BAGGED; the bagless Dirt Devil inspired designs have had less reliability due to the main wear parts, those awful paper cone filters and clogging not to mention brittle plastic quality.