Vax Gator Handheld Vacuum Cleaner - Orange

Great product and performs much better than expected. So much so, I have been asked to order two more for members of my family who saw it in action. It is very comfortable to use and has single click buttons to empty and release the filter. For it's size, it has a powerful suck. I recently has some building work done in our house and my air-intakes on our main laptop were completely blocked (as it's usually switched in 24 hours per day). Using the vacuum on the intakes (and the computer off), it cleaned out the entire system and when I opened it up, the computer, fan and entire airflow system inside were spotless. When fully charged, the battery appears to hold it's charge well. I've only charged once (first 24 hour charge) and has now been a week using several times every day for little jobs and there are no signs of the it needing re-charging as yet. A brush attachment for the extendible nozzle would be a nice addition. If I could give a score of 4.5 stars, I would as there are two slight drawbacks to this product, that no way distract from it's actual performance. 1) For a small vacuum cleaner, it is quite noisy. I would say it's almost as loud as our full size vacuum. In defence, it does have a lot of suck for it's size, so that may be the reason why. 2) The charger is cheap and does not have an automatic cut-off, meaning that it doesn't switch off when the vacuum is fully charged. This results in both the vacuum and the charger becoming very hot if you forget to unplug it after charging. My father has a similar product from another manufacturer and while the vacuum itself is not as good as this once, the charger is far superior and cuts out, meaning that you can safely leave it plugged in. All in all and despite the two issues above, this is a handy and powerful cleaner useful for home and car, especially if you have pets, messy children or like me, you tend to spill sugar and coffee granules over the place.

Vax H90-GA-B Gator Handheld Vacuum Cleaner I bought this after much research on other hand held cleaneres and the reviews were NOT good. However on this this little gem it seemed to get most peoples approval, I find it a trial to keep getting the big Vax out, it is very good but heavy, so have had my eye on this for a while, just waiting for Amazon to come up with a good price, which they duly did. This a powerful little cleaner and picks up well for all those small jobs where it is a pain to have to get the big cleaner out when this is just perfect, I cannot fault it at all and only wish I had bought it ages ago- thank you Amazon as ever - perfect price and free delivery. Update at 7th January 2012 - NO spare filters are available for this Vax, I have been on to the Customer Services Manager and complained as these are essential, they tried to say they do not make spare filters for hand held Vacs, but this is NOT THE CASE. I went onto their website and there spare filters for 2 of their hand held cleaners. If they cannot supply any spares then my view is that they should not have sold it, there is nowhere on line to get any as Vax do not make them, so be warned - a good little Vax, but now a complete waste of money for the sake of no filters- I have asked them to give me a refund, as I do not call this a disposable item,and for a Company like Vax, very very poor service, I am waiting now to see if they will refund my money. UPDATE @ 13TH MAY 2012 - after much chasing VAX Customer Services and threats to go to the top regarding NO spare filters, they actually sent me 2 free ones!! . I then had an email in March, to say very sorry they had made a mistake and the filters are now available on the Vax Website @ £3.99 each. It does pay to keep up the pressure and as it is such a good little cleaner I have just bought 4 more, so now have 6 filters. Get them while you can!!

Bought to remove the cat's hair and other debris (though not the battered mouse) from our bed on which she sleeps at night. The Vax is well made and looks attractive. It is easy to charge with a cable (like a mobile) I knew when buying it that it does not have the most powerful suction available but was pleasantly surprised at how good it is, It removes fur, bits of leaf and dirt from the duvet easily. I've used it on the car and it worked (to my satisfaction) but didn't pick up everything that a full size vacuum would have done. Emptying it and cleaning the filter are very easy almost one handed operations. The amount of stuff it picked up when my wife tried it on the (we thought immaculate) stair carpet was alarming, naturally my cleaning regime was blamed and I was told to pick up my game in no uncertain terms. All in all a good addition to our household cleaning equipment and one that we both recommend.

The hoover is not bad for picking up crumbs from under a sofar or chair, portable for cleaning the car, the nozzle is fixed so you can't get into all the nooks and crannies but it works well for cleaning my drilling jobs. The battery lasts about 15-20 minutes but we only use it for short bursts at a time. It struggles picking up screws over an inch and a half although why you can't pick them up is your call. Hoover is good but cordless and battery doen't last long enough (1/2 hour would be good) The charging light doesn't go out to let you know when full but it apparently comes with good back up that we have not used yet - time will tell but so far we are satisfied with it..

So far this Vax is going strong. I do have 3 whippets so it does have to deal with fluff every day along with the usual, it will also cope well with small debris on the stair carpet (short pile) which was a surprise as I didn't expect too much judging from other comments. As you would expect it's an occasional use/quick clear up tool which is far better than using a dust pan and brush or getting the hoover out. If you expect it to do the same job as a hoover - around the whole house don't bother as that's not it's purpose! The charge is OK and I did run it flat and did a full overnight charge the first time (every time I run it flat before charging). I do empty it every other use - and it can be fiddly getting the fluff out if you don't take the filter out - but I've only taken the filter out once (approx. used 50 times) and its not difficult. Feels sturdy and well made - the little light comes on when charging and stays on until you unplug - doesn't bother me as it's on charge over night. The pull out end nozzle isn't that useful and it does slide back in if you put too much pressure on it but you are limited to the overall size of the unit so it's not designed to get right into tight places like a hoover attachment - no big deal.

Four stars if you consider this a throw-away purchase. Zero stars for the company that makes it. I bought one of these hand vacuums to replace a DirtDevil when that vac's batteries died. DirtDevil makes no provision for replacing the batteries, which are an odd spec so expensive to obtain elsewhere. So, in the bin and on to the next company. This Vax model works well enough. It has a relatively easy to empty and clean dirt receptacle. BUT - the AC adapter fell apart, exposing live wires inside. It had never been moved since being plugged into a mechanical timer (it's better for the rechargeable batteries to just charge them a few hours a day) so the adapter hadn't been hit or damaged - it simply wasn't made correctly (plastic shell not stuck together properly). When I reported this obvious safety issue to the company, their immediate response was that there was NO warranty on the power cord or adapter, which, of course, is illegal and untrue (EU and UK law prevails, not what the company makes up). They did offer to sell me a new adapter, though - for £20! Similar adapters are available retail for less than £10. So - for Vax, a faulty product is an opportunity to take advantage of an existing customer. Not very classy. My recommendation? Stick with Black & Decker. They have more models with more options, plus better service and parts availability. And their handvacs just seem to last longer.

I brought this on the strength of the POSITIVE reviews. Also because I had brought an Upright Air Mach 2 which is AMAZZING, so I totally trusted VAx would be excellent all-round. How wrong I was. PLEASE listen to all the reviews. This is POOR at picking up. Its performance when fully charged is OK, but the charge hardly lasts! You can hear it power down, after a tiny amount of time, and its useless. For pet hair and small crumbs, initial power is ok, even verging on good- for the crumb part- not hair, but the charge lasting time is truly pathetic. I would not be happy anyway with its performance, but the added sting of the price just adds to the bad taste in my mouth!! The so called extend-able head is hard to pull out, and then slips in as soon as you put any pressure on it! For those that said it would do your car-ummmmm, maybe one seat or two! but if you have a lot of dogs, one or two even and not to tidy a car, please don't buy this. You will regret it. You will have to recharge just to clean the whole car. A pointless waste of time. I am really annoyed by this hoover and should have returned it. Gutted I didn't and am going to complain to Vax about it, to see if I can get my money back. I SO wanted to leave good feedback, but I can't for this, so disappointed. I so should have trusted the reviews that said the power was rubbish and the usage time after charging was not long. If you want a hoover that lasts for 5 mins and is good in that time only, get this. If you want a decent one, please don't. I will be getting rid of mine.

I had been looking at a number of small vacuums and in the end went for this one (although some reviews were not great) and I am so pleased I did. Price was good for a start and delivery even by Amazon standards was fast but the product itself is fantastic. We have mainly wooden floors in our house so have to sweep the floor every day but this little vacuum saves me so much time. The suction is really good (even on the carpet on the stairs) and never leaves anything behind. We don't have pets so can't comment on its fur collection credentials but for most household mess it's awesome. I also use it in the car and the built in 'nozel extension' means I can get to every corner with ease which is better that trying to use the house vacuum. Finally the battery, some people say it only lasts 10 - 15 minutes, well they are correct it does only last for about 10 - 15 minutes. So what! It's a small unit, if you're cleaning something that requires more than 15 minutes vacuuming use your house vacuum!! I have not yet once found this to be an issue and I use mine 4 or 5 times a day, I just keep it plugged in so it's always ready to go. I would wholeheartedly recommend this product it's the best thing since He - Man, and He - Man was awesome.