Vax 1-1-142257 Platinum Smartwash Carpet Cleaner, Charcoal/Blue
There’s a different kind of life deep in your carpet.
The VAX Platinum Smartwash kills over 99% of potentially harmful bacteria that can cause bad odours in your home.* Leaving your carpet clean and smelling fresh.
VAX’s best ever carpet washer
Platinum SmartWash effortlessly outperforms the UK’s leading rental and delivers a deep clean 7 times more effective than vacuuming aloneΔ.
Kills over 99% of bacteria*
Kills over 99% of potentially harmful bacteria that can cause bad odours in your home.*
Motion sense technology
The Platinum SmartWash automatically transitions from washing to drying, just push forwards to wash, pull backwards to dry.
Triggerless design
No trigger, no hassle. Platinum SmartWash automatically dispenses the correct mix of water and solution.
Advanced FLEXFORCE brushbars
Optimised, flexible bristles distribute the correct energy deep into your carpet fibres to effectively lift dirt.
Easy to access brushbars
Quick and easy to access and remove for cleaning, the brushbars simply lift out with no tools required.
Dedicated dry only mode
Leaves carpets dry in as little as 1 hour† so you can carry on with your day without disruption.
Don’t stop at carpets
Above floor cleaning for a complete home clean. VAX’s patented Spinscrub hand tool enables you to remove dirt from stairs and upholstery too.
Shop the Vax Carpet Cleaner range
 Platinum Smartwash |  Compact Power |  Compact Power Plus |  Dual Power Pet Advance |  Rapid Power Revive |  Rapid Power Plus |  Platinum Power Max | |
| Brush System | Advanced Flexforce Brushbars | Aquaspin Brushbar | Aquaspin Brushbar | Dual Brushbar | 5x SpinScrub Brushes | 5x SpinScrub Brushes | XL Brushbar + 7x SpinScrub |
| Antibacterial Cleaning | Kills over 99% of bacteria* | — | — | — | — | — | Removes up to 93% of bacteria* |
| Motion Sense Technology | Yes | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Outcleans UK’s leading rental | Yes | — | — | — | — | — | Yes |
| Above Floor Cleaning | Yes | — | — | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Quick Dry | Yes | — | — | — | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Automix Technology | Yes | — | — | — | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Antimicrobial Brushbar | Yes | Yes | Yes | — | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Cleaning Reach | 11.5m | 6.7m | 6.7m | 10.5m | 10.5m | 10.5m | 13.5m |
| Tools Included | 2in1 Antimicrobial + SpinScrub | — | — | Wash Tool | 2in1 Antimicrobial + Crevice | 2in1 Antimicrobial + SpinScrub | 2in1 Antimicrobial + SpinScrub |
| Solution Included | 2x 250ml Platinum Antibac | 250ml Platinum Professional | 250ml Platinum Professional | 250ml Platinum Professional | 250ml Platinum Professional | 250ml Platinum Professional | 250ml Platinum Professional |
| Pre/Post Treatment Solution | 250ml Pre-treatment | — | 250 ml Pre and Post Treatment | 250ml Pre-treatment | — | 250 ml Pre and Post Treatment | 2x 250ml Pre-treatment |
| Weight: | 7.4 kg |
| Dimensions: | 32 x 46 x 106 cm; 7.4 Kilograms |
| Brand: | Vax |
| Model: | 1-1-142257 |
| Colour: | Charcoal/Blue |
| Colour: | Charcoal/Blue |
Easy to put together and ready to use within 5 minutes. Scrubbing tool great for stairs. My carpets were dry within 3 hours. Best cleaner I have ever owned , worth paying extra.
Extremely good! The dirt that came out of the carpet!!!
Easy and simple to set up and use…..simple is bes
I have a back problem and found that I could manage a room at a time….pushing forward to clean and back to dry and then you can push dry only button to dry it more. I couldn’t lift it but you don’t need to.
Easy to clean afterwards….all the parts come off and can be easily cleaned under the tap….and are easy to pit back too.
Great product, carpet came up brand new, a must for a house with children, cats, dogs and men! An the occasional spew from my drunk mother in law!
For those thinking of buying one, I would recommend it.
For those who haven’t used theirs yet, the following maybe of interest.
The machine is easy to manoeuvre, it’s light going forward due to the rollers pulling it along, it’s a bit heavier on the back stroke but still easy. It used far less solution than I expected. Keep an eye on the top water tank as it’ll be empty before you expect it to be and you’ll be “washing” your carpet dry. The giveaway is you’ll notice you’re no longer picking water up on the back stroke. When the waste water tank was about half full, the machine sound changed significantly and I thought there was a problem. It was simply that the float had activated and cut the suction off. Simply empty the tank and carry on. Once you’re happy with the clean, remove the small solution tank and continue cleaning but now with clean water alone. I spent more time on this “rinse” process than the actual cleaning process and was surprised how long it kept extracting dirty water. I reckon I spent 3 x longer on the rinse process than the cleaning process. Then switch to “dry” and keep going till very little water is being extracted. The machine took 2-3 mins to clean. Strangely, I found the process quite therapeutic, presumably seeing the dirt being extracted from what I thought was a clean carpet, was quite satisfying. I will add that I paid 240 last year to have this carpet cleaned professionally. There is only 2 of us in the house, we have no pets, we have a patio and fake grass. It’s unbelievable just where the dirt comes from. I’m absolutely delighted.
easy enough to put together this is my third vax machine over about 20 years and between friends family and work they have had some real hammer.
good for upholstery and the car not just carpets
we also have some rental properties so they also get used on tenant change over
of the vax machines we have had this is the best, easy to use good suction and hence quick drying times.
the first we bought was simply worn out and we could not replace the parts and the second one i bought was a reconditioned one and while ok i would not do that again
DO NOT over dose with cleaning fluid it does not make it any easier and over a long term is not particularly good for the carpet as you will leave behind residual cleaning fluid unless you rinse really well … which doubles your cleaning / work time
Works a treat, the dry only is a nice touch
This carpet cleaner is brilliant. Last time I had a man come in to clean my carpet it cost me over 100.00. Now I can clean any small bit of carpet when ever I want & where ever I want.
Well I’m very impressed with this bit of kit, and it takes a lot to do that because, in my experience, nothing bloody works properly!
Whoever designed this is a genius, so easy to set up and use, great results, but for me the stand out feature is how easy it all is to disassemble, clean properly and fit back together. Simply brilliant. Let’s hope it doesn’t self destruct in 12 months.
Vax are not my preferred brand, I’m not really a fan but this cleaner is a pleasure to use and to look after.
Suction is brilliant lifts dirt from chairs stairs and carpets and hygienic too.
Brilliant carpet cleaner does what it says carpets dry within one hour would highly recommend
The issue I have is that it goes through 3 tanks of clean water and the dirty water tanks was onky 1/3rd full.
That means its leaving a lot of water in your carpet!
Easy to use and it deep cleans carpets the best carpet cleaner I have ever had
It cleaned a very heavily corner brought the carpets up like new
i was a little disappointed that i missed out on the free steamer that was advertised on the tv
however, the performance of the vax was outstanding i knew it would be good but more than reach my expectations i would give this product 110% recommendatio
With plenty of traffic lanes,and bad staines. Bought a dc beckmans stain remover,and dotted those, and went
Over them with this cleaner. To say we were pleased is the understatement of the year, wow, now the carpet looks almost new.
I kept the carpet up for the last few years with a upright bissel, and I thought that did a good job. This machine,totally outclasses that by a new dimension. Well done vax.
Well thought out,well put together,
And simple to clean afterwards.
Ps. If you remember that it’s all plastic, it should last a few years
If not,you will break it.
This is a review for the Vax 1-1-142257 Platinum Smartwash Carpet Cleaner
I just bought this product and have cleaned my hall, landing and a bedroom. The results are pretty good!
A few things about the design of this VAX. The removable tank system for dirty and clean water, plus the detergent works well. They are easy to remove and fit, easy to fill and empty. So is the brush cover that is the feed for clean and dirty water. The ability to just dry (that is suck up fluid) is also a very useful feature – more on that later. With a fill of water it is quite heavy, but not so you struggle with it, and I suggest moving it up stairs with the tanks removed.
I found that you need to plan your clean so you get as long and straight runs as you can, as you need to pull the VAX back over the path you just washed to dry the water. I also suggest overlapping your paths by 5cm/2″ as well.
As you clean, check if the clean water level is getting low, and the dirty water level getting too high! When you come to empty the dirty water tank (and it will surprise you how dirty it is!) also clean out any lumps of carpet fibre, hair etc. Also check the brush cover isn’t getting clogged. These are all quite quick things to do.
Once you have covered the area you are cleaning, switch to DRY ONLY mode, and go over it again so you don’t miss any fluid. I found it was easy to do this. And don’t rush. Don’t use the VAX like a vacuum cleaner, you get a better result if you push it slowly.
The end result is pretty good. My carpets were dry in an hour or so. This all takes practice, but it is worth it.
My only concern are the wheels that look a bit flimsy, although they haven’t come off or broken. I haven’t used the hoses yet either.
This machine is amazing! I’ve had my carpets for over thirteen years and, today, they look new. Even the stubborn marks have either disappeared or faded (and will disappear next time, I guess) and the box contains a pre-wash spray for difficult marks. The machine is very easy to assemble and use. It’s quite heavy and pretty noisy but those are not insurmountable problems and certainly shouldn’t put you off buying. The accessories are terrific for stairs and harder-to-reach areas. It may seem an expensive purchase but it’s nowhere near as expensive as the new carpets I thought I was going to have to buy. A brilliant machine!
Arrived the day after ordering and assembled easily.
As we are well passed retirement age and not as able as we used to be we thought the Vax might be too heavy and unwieldy in use but to our delight it was easy to push and pull when being operated.
The instructions were simple to understand and follow.
After topping up both containers the machine glided over the five year old pebble beige lounge carpet.
Years of use by us, a hair shedding Collie and occasional spillage of beverages and other drinks had left it looking well worn and in desperate need of Tlc.
After the cleaning by this machine the carpet looks amazing compared to it’s condition before cleaning and we really were pleased at the ease of use and the cleaning power.
The Vax and it’s containers were quick and easy to clean after use.
The only down side to this is that our daughter has seen the remarkable results and has her eye on ‘borrowing’ it in the near future — getting it back from her may take some time …
This is one great machine. Don’t need new carpets at all. Best thing I’ve bought in a long time
Very easy to use and clean after use. Does an excellent job. Carpets look good.
It was so simple to put it together that I was cleaning my carpets within 20 minutes .
I love that I can tip the carpet shampoo in a separate bottle and it only mixed the amount you used so the rest that isn’t used can go back in its original bottle untill next time.
With my other carpet cleaner I had to mix the shampoo in the water and if you don’t use it all then it was washed down the drain.
And this really does nearly dry the carpet which is the reason I went for this one and with 3 kids it is really hard to keep them of the carpet when it was wet . But now they can go on it within the hour because it really is that good in drying the carpets.
I would recommend this machine to anyone it is that good.
One of the best VAX i have purchased, worth the extra money over lower cost units
Absolutely love this vax… I’ve had a couple before, but neither were a patch on this one. It’s so easy to use and has removed stains from the hallway carpet, that we had tried everything on and more or less given up (was about to purchase a new carpet as these were stained when we first moved into the property). We’ve got 2 dogs, so pale carpets are not ideal…. But I’ve shown the difference that this vax has made. Totally amazed! Was so quick and easy to use, too. Carpets dried really fast. I can’t recommend this enough and have just purchased more cleaning solution (although I only used just over 250ml for the hall and the lounge plus a rug – which were quite dirty). When we buy new carpets, which we’re not in a rush for now, I’ll definitely keep the regular cleaning up to keep them looking as good as new. Also comes with attachments for furniture, stairs etc. And the deep cleaning attachment, which I used on the bad stains, made light work of an otherwise impossible job.
I did not expect this product to be as good as it is, I tried it for the first time today and putting it together was easy with the step by step instructions along with pictures. I used about 2 ltrs of water which only required 80mls of cleaning solution and it comes with 2 bottles of it and pre treatment solution. Not only did it clean my carpet, the dry mode left my carpet touch dry as it has a separate dry mode you can change to once you have finished the washing process. I found it easy to dismantle for washing including the base and brushes, I have yet to try the wand for cleaning stairs, but all in all I’m very impressed! I would recommend this carpet cleaner, only thing I could find wrong was one of the attachments had scratches on it but nothing that would affect performance.
I was a proffesinal carpet cleaner for 40 years.This macine does everything youred like it to do.Light to use not to heavy does what it says it will do. Dont hesitate buy this machine you wont be sorry. Highly recommended.
Reason I knocked 1 star off is that it doesn’t 100% dry my carpets when pulling it back, my carpets felt slightly damp to the touch which annoyed me because tv advertising claims it fully dries your carpets.
But besides that, does it job effectively.
It has good suction and I like the self mixing of the cleaning solution
Fairly easy to assemble
The drying only mode is a good feature
The only negative points are It is a bit awkward to carry and the rotating brush could do with a release trigger.
Suction and cleaning are good but not as good as is advertised.
Carpets fairly dry after cleaning.
Unit is heavy especially when filled with water for use.
will buy again very good product and super fast delivery ! thank you !
Easy to assemble. Suction and cleaning power very good. Heavily soiled areas will take a little longer to clean. The tanks empty quickly and need filling more regularly but this makes it lightweight.
Excellent carpet washer. My cream carpets are clean again. Really pleased with purchase. Easy to use especially as you don’t have to pre mix the solution. Drys the carpet well.
Now that is what i call a fantastic carpet cleaner. So easy to use and cleaner carpets than ever before
My older vax (the rapide) finally gave up the ghost, and up till then I thought it was doing a great job. How wrong I was….in fact we were going to buy a new carpet due to traffic wear which seemed impossible to get rid of…Then we saw this advertised and bought one form Vax direct because it also came with a 80 team cleaner.. When it arrived it was a matter of pushing the handle into place and that was it, all done…I filled the water tank, cleaning fluid and within 10 mins I was cleaning the carpet…mainly the traffic area…WOW…immediately I could see great results.. the traffic stain was all but gone and the rest of the carpet was looking fantastic, so much so we are no longer changing the carpet.. Over the ongoing weeks I have cleaned the carpet several times and every time it still finds some surface dirt to clean, and that traffic area has completely gone…we are over the moon and I’m very impressed. It just shows how much technology has moved on with carpet cleaners, but this one will take some beating..Cheers
Easy to assemble, simple to use. No more messing with solutions, it has its own tank for that and mixes it automatically.
I have a long pile carpet and previous Vax have always struggled to suck up the water, even the rental Rug Doctor did as well.
This thing seems to have no trouble at all.
What I love is how easy it is to clean the machine itself. The lid comes off the dirty water tank meaning it’s easy to rinse.
The top plastic just clips off the brush bar making that a breeze to clean too, no more having to dismantle the screws to get at the brushes to clean them.
Best machine I have ever used.
A very powerful cleaner. It works very well so far. It took me longer to clean the cleaner than the carpets
Really easy to set up and use, works better than one hired! Brilliant results and drys in a few hours, it’s impressive.
Very efficient product leaves carpet clean s as nd dry
Great improvement on the original model, nothing really to assemble and the wash and dry feature is excellent. My husband made an excellent job of out living room carpet and sofa’s, so I guided him to the bedroom, landing and staircase to finish the job before pouring a well earned glass of shiraz.
Would definitely recommend this model plus a willing husband; but not mine.
Fantastic product. Need time to dry completelly but the result is unbelievable.
I actually bought the the Vax Platinum Power Max carpet cleaner a few years ago which is the previous model to this one and while that was pretty good, this one easily beats the pants off it. One of the main things I didn’t like about the previous one was that you had to press a button to release the solution and it was hard to tell where I had released and where I hadn’t.
This new model for Vax solves that issue with the automatic release/suction of the solution as you move it back and forth, I can’t tell you how much easier this makes it to use. Don’t get me wrong, the Power Max model still did a a great job of cleaning the carpets but this one just makes the whole process much more smoother and easier so I would recommend shelling out the extra for this model. Suffice to say, I’ve given away my other one as this is the only one I’ll be needing from now.
Used this on my sitting room carpet and sofa absolutely brilliant would recommend this machine the best vax carpet cleaner yet well worth the price
Really like this carpet washer got rid of my old one as it didn’t make much difference but this is great good suction to really clean and dries in no time.love i
This is the best ever. Easy to operate and clean. Does a fantastic clean. can highly recommend.
Easy to use. Cleans dirty carpets very well leaving then just a little damp not wet. Nicely made with parts fitting well. Simple to dismantle to clea
I then us the wet cleaner following the instructions given.
The machine was easier to push than the dry cleaner. Forward stroke distributed the mix of fluid and water which is much easier than pushing buttons on previous machines. The reverse stroke then picked up the dirty water. When I finished the cleaning the dry only button was used and further water was picked up.
Following this the machine had to be cleaned. This was simple but time consuming. I recommend this should be done thoroughly because it saves having to remove the dried on dirt later.
All in all the results were most satisfactory and I recommend this machine.
I used this to clean my fabric sofa after it had gotten to an embarrassing stage and it was a little bit more difficult than I had been expecting. I wish that the instructions were a little bit more clearer. However, I did manage to successfully clean my sofa after stumbling through it for a while.
If you are using this and the attachments to clean your sofa, then I recommend using the spinning attachment as that really worked and worked a lot better than the other one I was using first.
It does leave it wet for a while after, but simply cover it in a throw or sheet and you should be able to sit down on there while it is drying.
I am looking forward to using this to clean the carpets and use the main aspect of this.
Well worth the money I binned my other vax carpet cleaner but this one is so easy to use and it also does what it says.
Easy to use works really well cleaned the carpets perfectly really glad we bought i
I am a Caretaker in blocks of flats, this does the job!
Works well and easy to use. Wish I had ordered it from the manufacturer as I see they are offering a free steam cleaner which I didn’t ge
Do u not get a free steamer like advertised on television ?
I have owned two carpet cleaners before I saw this one
It’s head and shoulders above anything I have ever used
One point I would make
Please please Hoover up the carpet as if not the brushes and the front get clogged up and it reduces the performance
Money well spe
What can I say about this machine that the video does not.its the best cleaner I have ever used it does the job that it designed for better than industrial cleaners . Effort less of amount of work to clean carpets.
First off, let me say when this arrived it was HUGE much bigger than I expected so be sure to read the description so you know that you can store it! Its also very heavy!
That being said, its big and heavy for a reason. Goodness me this boy is powerful! I never thought about how filthy the carpets in my rented house were before having this. Now I am so glad I have it! I’ll never not wash the carpets in a new home again after seeing how much comes up from this. My carpets are sparkling, any marks completely gone and a whole new colour. Definitely going to get my carpets deposit back haha.
It was a little confusing to set up, so be sure to follow instructions but once you’ve figured it out you’re away!
This vax carpet cleaner is a great product to own. We have cleaned our sofas which were in a sorry state to say the least and the amount of dirt that the machine sucked out was amazing! The chairs looks like new again, it definitely given them a new lease of life. Warning! This become very addictive as you can see the tank of dirty water, it becomes very satisfying to use knowing that your upholstery is being deep cleaned. There’s several different attachments to suit your need. It makes cleaning car seats or carpet on the stairs a breeze. It’s also a bonus that the machine sucks all the water back out so material is pretty dry after just an hour. They even send you some cleaning solution with the machine to get you started but of course refills are available to purchase.
The machine itself is easy to use, it’s a little bulkier than an average household hoover size but not tremendously heavy to manoeuvre around the house.
Very pleased with this product and I now have peace of mind knowing how easy it is to clean up any carpet spills the kids make!
It is so easy to assemble and much lighter than I was expecting. Up and running in 10minutes with experience of previously using one.
Love that you no longer have to mix the solution as theres a seperate bottle for that. I filled the bottle once and it lasted long enough to clean a large rug with a number of passes and a large lounge carpet, again, with a number of passes.
The suction on this machine is certainly strong enough to remove almost all the solution from the carpet.
Overall, I’m am very pleased with this product so far, the cleaning results have been fantastic, just remember, don’t use it like a hoover, it takes patience to use it properly.
Also, theres a label inside to register the product for a 6yr manufactors warranty
Everything you need is in the box including two bottles of antibacterial cleaning fluid and a spray bottle of stubborn spot cleaner.
Unlike the old model this one also comes with an attachment for cleaning stairs and upholstery that even has its only separate carry bag to keep it all safely together.
My only very small niggle was the generous long power cable that Vax provide, I found that I kept getting tangled up in it when backing up on the drying strokes, perhaps a retractable or coiled one for the next model.
I tested it on my beige lounge carpet and it took me longer to clear sundry small items of furniture than it did to clean the carpet. I finished with two passes in the ‘dry only’ mode and the carpet was left so dry that pressing a piece of kitchen roll onto it hardly made it damp. The room was completely dry in a few hours.
The only consideration left is the price, its not cheap and how often do you clean your carpet? If money is no object then yes its worth having if you have the space to store it but it may be better suited to a family with several homes clubbing together to buy it. Then you would really get value for money.
I am very very impressed with this cleaner. Initially I was a bit intimidated by the size of the box and the amount of bits inside but it only took me a few minutes to assemble it and I was ready to go.
It is very easy to use – you fill one container with warm water and another with the solution. You then switch it on and push forward to apply the solution and draw it backwards to suck up the dirty solution from the carpet. Double brushed rollers ensure that the carpet is fully coated. You can then deselect the spray function to give the carpet an extra suck to ensure that you get the most of the solution out. You also get a set of tools for spot cleaning or corners, stairs or car interiors and so on and these likewise work very well. It is quite amazing how much dirt you will see lifted from your carpet or furniture! Allow the carpet to dry and run a normal vacuum cleaner over it for best results.
Cleaning the unit is also very simple. The tanks can be removed to be emptied and a clip will allow you to remove the brushes to be rinsed under a tap.
Things to be aware of though. This is quite a big unit – longer and quite a bit heavier than a standard vacuum – and does not fold away for storage, although a bag is provided for the accessories. For some people both of these things could be an issue, but this is going to be common for every carpet cleaner and this is certainly lighter then the commercial ones you can hire whilst producing comparable results.
So overall I am very impressed. Vax has produced another excellent cleaning product which is well designed, easy to use and does a very good job.
Comes with great accessories and is extremely well made.
We got this vax machine just to was the carpet and wow its very very good
We dont have shoes on in our house and the dirt this hoover found was alot and it did a perfect job
Easy to use
Dry in under a hour
I would buy this hoover again at the drop of a hat its not cheap but worth every penny
It is super easy to use, have a separate container for the wash liquid and use warm water.
It is lightweight and dry!!! I cleaned all my house, easy, fast and efficient!
Wash and dry properly, also have different tools for the steps and my husband wash the inside of his car.
Worth all the money, i don’t need any professional cleaners now and may be an excellent gift!
Highly recommend it!
It’s extremely simple to use, once switched on moving it forwards washes and pulling it backwards dries the carpet, there’s even a sign to indicate what mode it’s in as you use it. Also there is a “dry only” button which when pressed will only dry your carpet during forwards and backwards motions, which I found very useful at the end to make sure the carpet would dry as quick as possible.
The results were great, the unit washes really well and is very easy to move around whilst activated so I was able to effortlessly clean a small room in minutes. Also it really does remove most of the moisture out of the carpet, it did take around 3 hours to fully dry, but it was cold day so I imagine in summer it would dry much quicker. Obliviously you need to empty the dirty water tank afterwards but you also need to remove and clean the rollers after use as they get quiet dirty, but this was straight forward enough.
Overall i’m impressed, it’s a well designed, powerful cleaner that’s simple to use and quickly gets great results. The only thing to be aware of is it’s a little heavy to get up and down the stairs and it makes a fair bit of noise during operation. It also didn’t remove the few little stubborn stains we did have on the carpet with the included solution but I’m sure they probably do a stain removing one to use with it that would work. If you’re looking for a carpet cleaner I’d happily recommend this one!
When you think of carpet cleaners, you immediately think Vax. This is absolutely superb and does such an amazing job.
Packaging is basic, large but comes with handy carry holes. Inside, everything is well packaged and secured within the box.
The machine looks like a beast, with a large footprint but surprisingly light even when the tanks are full of water.
There is a handy getting started guide on how to assemble and clean the machine. There is also a useful swing tag with the getting started steps. I have left this on as its handy to refer to.
Assembly was quick and easy. Fill the small tank with cleaning solution, which you are supplied 2 of. I was only doing my living room and I only put half a bottle in and there is still plenty left in the tank after use. Fill the water tank up and away you go.
Easy to use foot pedals (like a standard hoover) for tilting the handle and for the power. Even upright, the brushes will turn so don’t leave it unattended and turned on.
The cool thing is the washing and drying action. Push forwards it washes, pull it back and it dries. It even has a display that changes when pushing and pulling that says “wash” or “dry”.
As mentioned, it is light to manoeuvre and I didn’t struggle at all. It was fascinating (and grim) to see the durst sucked out of the carpet, I was ashamed!
Took less than 10mins to do the living room which is approx 12x10ft. The carpet still felt damp and there is a handy “dry only” Button that turns off the washing function when pushing the machine forwards. I went over the carpet again and could see it still pulling liquid and dirt out of the carpet. When finished, it was still damp but took about an hour to dry with all the windows open.
Cleaning is simple. I followed the instructions and everything just opened and lifted so easily. All easy to clean and it does need a good rinse afterwards because my machine was grim. Only downside was the main unit that holds the brushes was filthy and covered in hair, but you can’t take off anymore to clean it. So I used some cleaning wet wipes to wipe it down and that did the trick.
This product is amazing and has certainly done a good job on the carpets. The carpet is old and never replaced after we moved in 4.5 years ago. But I can see some marks and stains have gone and it certainly smells a lot cleaner.
There are lots of attachments that come with this machine for upholstery and stairs. I haven’t used these yet. There is also a handy bag with a hook to hang it and keep everything together. If you think you’re missing anything, check the bag!!! I thought I was missing one of the small brushes but it was in the bag with the hose.
Highly recommend.
The cleaning action is simply push and pull. Pushing it will release the clean water and detergent simultaneously; pulling it will suck up moisture on the carpet. The carpet is quite wet if you are only doing one push and one pull cycle. I found after a couple of push and pull cycle I will need a few dry runs to help the carpet drying otherwise it is very damp. Dry run mode can be operated by a button on top, no water or detergent is dispensed in that mode.
There is a pair of rollers to help brush up your carpet. Those rollers are extremely effective, it picks up a lot of dirt and pet hair that my vacuum cleaner did not.
There is an attachment for cleaning stairs and tight corners. The attachment is long enough to do more than half of the stairs, but you will need to move the heavy main body of the cleaner up or down to finish the other half.
The result is clear that it works really good judging by the colour of the dirty water it sucked up which is what I expected from 10years of just hoovering. Will give it another go in a couple of weeks’ time to see if the water is still as dirty.
My overall verdict is this machine will need the same effort and power to operate as a lawn mower, in fact the noise level is not far off from a lawn mower. It deep-cleans your carpet and there is a noticeable difference before and after. Due to the weight of the machine, it would be better if the handle was wider to allow for two-handed control.
It comes in a pretty huge box but not bigger (taller) than the item itself. First thing that stroke me was that there are lots of accessories. You’ve got a hose with two different ends: one for more precise cleaning and the other one for stubborn stains. The first one also has two brushes: a proper one with hard bristles and a rubber one. You then get two carpet cleaning solutions which are the Vax Platinum Antibacterial ones (2x250ml). You also have the Vax pre-treatment solution for really stubborn stains and for prepping the surface (optional) – with its own spray. The hose comes in its own handy drawstring bag. Of course you also get the manual.
Assembly is pretty simple but the manual doesn’t help much in my opinion. I had to work things out for myself. For instance the dry only button is only mentioned in one place and very briefly… It’s actually quite important.
This cleaner has a really long cord. Not sure exactly how long but it must be 10m at least. It’s good it has 2 hooks you can use to wind the cord around.
The first thing the manual says is to thoroughly vacuum the carpet using a conventional hoover. Otherwise you’re risking clogging the machine if the carpet is really dirty.
I’m quite impressed with the automation in this model. You have 3 separate tanks: the smallest solution tank, the clean water tank and of course the dirty water one. The mixing is automatically done by the cleaner. The way it works is you switch it on with one pedal (it makes quite a bit of noise), but the brushes won’t work yet. Then you have to release the handle by pressing the other pedal and that’s when brushes begin spinning. Pretty cool and safe.
The cleaner won’t release the fluid until it starts moving forward. You get the blue ‘wash’ sign light up and here we go! The brushes are so powerful, they will pull the cleaner slowly on its own. I recommend to not add speed by pushing, unless your carpet is really thick. Slow movement is the key to the successful wash. You can straight away see the dirt coming into the dirty water tank. When you start pulling it back, the cleaner will automatically switch to dry mode and a ‘dry’ sign will appear on the display. Now here’s a useful thing. After 2 or 3 strokes it’s good to switch to the ‘dry only’ mode – there’s a very visible separate button for that. The cleaner stops releasing the mix and only dries the carpet. A few strokes more and you can continue with washing the rest.
From my experience it does leave the carpet a tiny bit moist, but I guess it’s not intended to completely dry it. It does bring the freshness out. I like the discrete nice scent the solution adds to the mix. And of course the carpet feels more puffy and cleaner!
Cleaning of the machine is a lot less exciting or nice. Some parts aren’t very easy to reach, so I recommend doing it straight after the wash to avoid everything going dry…The positive is you can dismount most covers, even remove each brush and give it a good splash underwater, to make it look as good as new.
The big question is: is it worth 300? I think as a carpet cleaner – it is. If your house is carpeted, it will keep them clean and fresh. It will remove dust and bacteria from inside, which isn’t possible even with the best hoover.
It’s not difficult to install or operate once you get some practice. It’s convenient, and for spaces like staircases or hard to reach surfaces, you get the hose with detachable ends. The solution is a bit pricey and of course the manufacturer recommends using only the branded ones. At least they say it’s because other products may produce excessive foam, which in result may damage the cleaner. I’m happy to accept that considering I’m not planning to use it on a weekly basis. This is a good, powerful, comfortable carpet cleaner from a known brand. There’s a lot of useful technology involved to make the cleaning nice and effective. And in the end it doesn’t disappoint.
Thank you for reading my review. I hope you found it helpful.
This Vax Smartwash Carpet Cleaner is just about the best carpet cleaner I have owned.
I can’t fault the way you use it or how much it actually dries the carpets when reversed.
This cleaner is doing the rounds of two of my daughters’ houses as well as mine.
The carpets come out clean and not soaking as in other carpet shampooers I have used.
Vax have got their act together with this machine and although it is bulky it isn’t too hard to push or pull.
The only fault I have, which isn’t really a fault but an inevitable fact is storing it when not in use. It will stay in one of my daughters’ garages I think. A great machine and worthy of its price.
Though the carpet has been scrubbed manually, this vacuum still managed to suck an obscene amount of dirt out
The smart wash has three main components that involves liquid. The small block at the back that holds the antibacterial treatment, the piece at the top that you fill with clean warm water and the piece below that holds the dirt water.
Using the Vax Smart Wash is very easy. Once you turn it on (by pressing the blue button at the base with your foot), you can then press the grey one on the other side of the base to unlock the tilt. Allowing for better movement.
As you proceed to clean your carpet you may notice the multiple times that you will have to empty the water out and replace it. (I like to think of this as a bit of added exercise). The tank does fill and empty quickly. When the water is low it will make a sort of pop sound that will notify you of this.
With the vacuum you get a nice assortment that allows you to do the stairs and fabric chairs with ease. The pre-treatment works a dream as well.
You will have to order more antibacterial treatment as you only get two small bottles.
All that you get can be stored in the bag/sack given. This has a small hook that you can hook onto your hoover to keep everything together.
Cleaning all the parts is a very easy task as they either slide or click out. The bristle are an example of this as they simply slide out. I do recomend cleaning throughly for the best result. Hair can get tangled so be sure to be on a look out for that in between your bristles.
A simple rinse and scrub is good enough followed by wiping away the residue with a damp cloth.
Overall it is an excellent produc
This particular machine isn’t dual-purpose in the way that the old machine was, but it does have a lot more going for it in terms of technology.
The rotating brushes work reasonably effectively in working the special Platinum solution into the carpet.
The claims for this are impressive. It’s said to be better than the number one rental product.
The motion sensor technology that drives the shampoo into the carpet with a forward motion, removing it with a backward sweep , is really innovative, and did seem to work quite well.
Like the very earliest cleaners, there are separate tanks for the cleaning solution, and the dirty water.
If you have pets, or children, prepare to be amazed at just how much muck can be removed.
However, if you have pets and/or children, you will alsoalmost certainly need to work out a way of keeping them off the cleaned carpet until it is fully dry.
I was excited to see that this has a dry mode, slightly less impressed with the operation. It didn’t seem to make much difference.
Really, it’s best to wait for a sunny day, both to spot every mark on the carpet, so you can pre-treat it effectively, and to help with drying afterwards.
Much is made of the fact that no tools are required to remove the brushes, but they shouldn’t be anyway. They do clean reasonably easily, but I recommend vacuuming really thoroughly first. Pet and human hair is a pain to remove.
There is an extension hose and hand-held tool to help with stair cleaning, but be prepared to spend some time on your hands and knees for best results here.
It’s my first time using a carpet cleaner, and I must say that Vax Platinum Smartwash Carpet Cleaner makes me feel that my house is extra squeaky clean. My two-year-old son has a habit of rolling on the floor, and it forces me to vacuum, wash and scrub the floor often.
I find this carpet cleaner easy to set-up and use. It comes with all extras and accessories straight out from the package (apart from the water, obviously!). It even comes with bottles of anti-bac solution, which for me is an extra effort of the seller to get 100% customer satisfaction.
I used it for both low-carpet floor and hard floor. As I mentioned, it is easy to use as you just have to pour the water in the water compartment and the anti-bac solution to a separate compartment, then push to wash/ pull to dry button. After passing to different rooms in the house, you’ll see the dirty water tank filling up. It made me feel more relieved and accomplished as I feel like a pro in cleaning.
It’s pretty heavy, wide and too noisy. Also, its mechanism works like wetting the carpet and scrubbing it at the same time. You need to pull to dry immediately. If not, you’ll soak the carpet, which is a pain. The extra water on the brushes will drip down in the carpet, making it more difficult to dry. Its drying mechanism works like a hair blower. You need to pass to every inch of the floor multiple times to make sure it’s dry enough not to cause mould or bacteria to build up. After washing the carpet, I suggest taking off your footwear to feel the floor if it is totally dry. I also recommend using it on warm days rather than on cold days as it takes a while for a low carpet to get dry. It takes a bit of patience using this tho, but it is effective.
I am giving this a four-star rating based on its efficiency and quality, not considering its current price of 299.99.
The hose for cleaning upholstery just slots in the front of the machine and you add solution and water to the two tanks and as you clean it mixes the two. No measuring, no fuss. It has cleaned up our 4 year old sofa to look pretty good, it will never look new as the material isn’t great but it smells fresh and clean.
I have posted pictures of our living room rug, heavily used each day and slept on by dogs, so definitely not something I expected to clean up well. It’s been cleaned before but it still looked faded and lifeless. The cleaning process took 5 minutes, and was as easy as using an upright vacuum cleaner. You can see the difference! It even smells of new carpet and nothing else.
This machine shows you with an LED light whether it’s washing or drying, it automatically washes on the forward stroke and dries as you pull it back towards you. It also has a button to push so it sets it to dry only which takes out any excess water left after the cleaning process. I found this wasn’t needed but it may vary from carpet to carpet. The machine has two large rollers which help to push the shampoo mixture deep into the pile and agitate any dirt back out as you pull the machine back towards you. The mixing of the shampoo and water is done by the machine so you just fill up both water and shampoo tanks and you’re ready to go. Any leftover shampoo is easily poured back into the bottle, so nothing’s wasted.
The rug was completely dry within the hour. The suite took longer but you don’t have the dry only option on the hose. You do get a revolving brush and a rubber brush/suction head along with a bristle brush – the rubber and bristle are interchangeable. So it does a really good job of cleaning and pulling out as much water as it can but will never be able to match the drying capability of the carpet cleaner.
Once your done you’ll find the dirty water tank is easy to empty and very easy to clean. You don’t get dog hairs etc stuck in the tank or the plastic suction area the water travels through to get to the tank, they all rinse away. The brushes are easily accessible once you lift that plastic piece off too, so they can be cleaned and any hairs pulled out.
You get a handy tool bag with this and it hangs on the machine, the whole machine is no bigger than a large upright vacuum cleaner and I can’t reiterate enough how easy it is to use, no triggers, no fiddly bits, just a really simple machine to operate. It’s not cheap, but once you’ve used it you understand why not. I’ve hired carpet cleaners in the past that haven’t been anywhere near as good as this. I would recommend it to anyone who has carpets that need regular cleaning.
Setting it up, using it and cleaning it down are all well considered in the design and are easy and quick to do. In fact, the machine has got it all, and does the job really well. Thanks to the motorised brush rollers and high level of suction it cleans well and does leave the carpet quite dry, although a summer’s day is, in my view, always the best time to clean a large carpet! One feature that is really welcome on this top model is the clever way it sprays out the cleaning fluid when the machine is pushed forwards, and sucks it back up when the machine is pulled backwards.
This cleaner gave a great professional carpet clean to my landing carpet. My older Vax Cleaner you had to press a button to trigger the carpet wash “spray”. However, with this new version it does it by itself. I am in two minds about it as i quite liked using the button to give proberlyt unneeded extra wetness to dirtier parts of my floor. But it results in a more even cleaning process.
The key part of this is that the vacuum part is pretty powerful and can really suck up all that water. In my testing my medium density carpet was 95% dry in 90 minutes after cleaning and that’s on a cold spring day.
The cleaner comes with a new 250ml VAX Platinum Antibacterial Solution. This soap is great and is well worth the buy. It really gave a new lease of life to my carpet from my family dragging their dirty shoes everywhere.
A couple of things to be aware of. First, it is bigger than an old upright Hoover so will use up a lot of cupboard space. In fact I can’t fit it into any of my cupboards so I was planning to take it to the garage until I realised I couldn’t be bothered. Instead it is sitting in a corner on the landing (where it uses up quite a bit of space). Second, make sure you budget for cleaning product as it is quite expensive and you may get through a lot, depending on how often you use it.
The machine was easy to assemble. All of the parts clip together easily. First of all I used to clean the carpet in the boot of my car. To do that I used the extension hose with one of the anti microbial brush attachments. Put clean water In water reservoir and vax platinum cleaning solution in the other reservoir. There is an on/off trigger to release solution – however much you need. It constantly sucks and you release the trigger to add solution.
Next I used it to clean a large rug in my living room. You push it as you would a vacuum cleaner and it cleans and dispenses solution on the forward push. It sucks up and dries as you pull back. There is an illuminated display saying wash or dry as you do each action. I was shocked at the colour of the water afterwards but it shows just how effective the vax platinum is at cleaning carpets .
Cleaning the machine afterwards was simple too. The reservoirs and parts are easily cleaned in the sink. They are easy release. It came with two 250ml bottles of cleaning solution. The cable rolls up at the side and keeps it tidy and safe.
I’m exceptionally happy with the Vax Platinum as it cleans amazingly well and is very easy to use.
recommend this carpet cleaner.
1.Easy to use and assemble – fill one tank with water, and the other with cleaning solution then just push to wash and pull to dry. The best thing about it is you don’t have to remember the trigger to wash, the machine automatically does it for you. Just make sure you take your time when cleaning your carpet, try to move slowly.
2. As you can in my picture our stairs are really dirty but came out really well. We used the pre-clean treatment spray and did have to clean it twice, but the result was amazing.
3. Love the dry only button- making the area dry more quickly.
4. It comes complete with different hand tools and Vax Platinum Antibacterial Solution and Pre-treatment spray to help you get an even better clean.
5. Easy to clean — just remove the water tank, filter, and cleaning nozzle and rinse with water.
6. The quality is really good, well made, durable and very sturdy making it heavy and weighty to move around, which I dont mind.
This review concerns the Vax Platinum Power Max Carpet Cleaner, price at. Review unknown.
Arriving well packaged and requiring a modicum of home assembly this particular VAX follows in the foot steps of a long term range.
We have been using VAX machines for about 30 years, and each upgrade offers increased effectiveness and easy of operation.
This particular model is no exception, and to the first time user its amazing how much dirt and grime is sucked up into the waste container – be warned!
Easy to operate, great results and VAX after care is highly reccomended .
Over the past year or so I have gone through three carpet cleaners. The first one was totally useless at cleaning, it couldn’t even be used as a vaccum cleaner never mind a carpet washer. The second was by a well known brand but leaked so badly that I returned it for a replacement. However the third one which was a replacement for the leaky 2nd one didn’t leak but had as much suction as a granny sucking on a boiled sweet.
This VAx did surprise me as I didn’t realise how dirty the carpets are. They shouldn’t be as they do get washed with the well known brand carpet cleaner. However, although it’s not noticeable to the eye, my phone’s camera can see much more as my images show.
The video clip shows just how easy this is to use. It is simple to put together, simple to fill the tanks and empty the dirty water one and it is powerful.
As the 1st pic of a carpet shows, there was some ground in dirt there, that my other cleaner simply didn’t lift. The 2nd pic of the same area of carpet shows the dirt has nearly been removed and the final one shows the end result. Basically this VAX didn’t just wash the carpet, it almost renewed it
Although some reviews have made a mention of wet carpets, that is simply not what I have experienced. The instructions are simple and straight forward. Pushing the machine will release the liquid and pulling back will vaccuum the dirty water. After cleaning an area, the instructions are clear again, simply press the button for “Dry Only” and that is what this machine does. Instead of releasing liquid with every push forward it simple stop injecting the liquid so both pushing and pulling the machine creates a vaccuum to remove excess water from the carpet. It took only about 10 minutes to wash and almost dry around five square metres of carpet with well ground in dirt. Now the carpet is clean it should only take around one minute per square metre.
Another criticism that some have made is that the machine is big and bulky. Well, fair play to those that think this machine is big and bulky but happily that is not a negative thing as being big and bulky means it can clean much larger areas much quicker.
One thing I feel I must mention before I go further, this machine is quite wide and the front is low so it cleans right up to the skirting boards, unlike other machines that leave a good inch or two of a dirty line between clean carpet and skirting. It can get under the edges of furniture and basically cover every little area of a carpet except one and that is where a doorframs meets the carpet at the hinged side. However, that is where the attachments come into play. One can simply use the detachable hose and an attachment to get into any little nooks and crannies.
The dry only is really good as when I had washed the area the carpet was only slightly damp, not “wet” as some have said. So, spending a few minutes going over the area using the dry only option and the carpet will be completely dry in only a couple of hours, or less.
I am highly recommending this VAX Platinum Smartwash Carpet Cleaner because it does much better than a good job. It does more than just wash carpets, it renews them. The build and quality of this machine is very good. The ease of putting it together is very easy. The ease of use it excellent and it’s so easy to clean afterwards. Although some may think that 300 is a heavy price to pay, well, considering I have recently looking at getting new carpets at a cost of 600, there is no hurry now. 600 for new carpets compared with a 300 machine is a no brainer. 300 for this VAX cleaner is very good value for what it can do.
The carpet cleaner is incredibly smart looking and comes with multiple accessories so it can be used around the home for different tasks. You receive: 1 x 250ml Pre-treatment solution (ideal for spot cleaning and stains), a 2.5m hose, 2 x 250ml Platinum cleaning solution, SpinScrub tool, 2 in 1 Antimicrobial wash tool and a carry bag for the accessories. The carpet cleaner is a lot lighter then I was expecting, coming in at 7.4kg this carpet cleaner is easy to use without become strenuous. The cord is 9m in length and is suitable for working in a large area without having to keep unplugging and eliminates the need to use an extension cable.
Setting up the carpet cleaner for cleaning was really simple; the machine automatically mixes the solution and mixes with the correct amount of water, giving the best cleaning results during each use, eliminating the need to pre-mix chemicals. Unlike my old carpet cleaner, this doesn’t have the normal trigger, I absolutely love this feature and for me I think it’s a game changer. The Platinum SmartWash automatically dispenses solution and cleans when being pushed forward, and when pulled backwards the machine sucks up the water and ‘dries’ the carpet. The machine has a dual wash tool which really works into the carpet, the wash tool is antimicrobial treated to prevent growth of bacteria etc. The machine cleans incredibly well in my opinion, the rug which is in the picture was looking quite dirty and this machine worked wonders, you could see dirt and grime coming away with ease – leaving the rug refreshed, clean and smelling great.
The SpinScrub tool is great for cleaning upholstery and car interiors, it’s ideal for small spaces and cleans really well. This would be great for targeted stain treatment.
Due to the power of the Platinum SmartWash – my carpet and rug dried incredibly quickly, even immediately after use my carpet felt quite dry, I’d say my whole house was dry in around 1 1/2 hours.
Overall; I’m really satisfied with the machine, incredibly easy to use and easy to maintain. Performs incredibly well, the auto-mix function works well and it cleans well, leaving carpets looking great. Highly recommended.