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I can buy a Vax carpet cleaner for about as much as it would cost to get someone in to clean all our carpets for us once... but are they good, are they worth it, or not as great as rug doctors or the professionals?

We have a Vax and we haven't found anything (yet) that it doesn't get out of the (cream) carpet:

Dog poo
Dog wee
Cat vomit
Coke

I haven't had any other wet cleaner so I can't compare.

Ours comes in very handy when things get spilled. Like when ds3 spilled half a tin of emulsion on his carpet (doing weightlifting with the tin that had been stashed far under his bed). Or when ds3 spilled most of a bottle of ink he'd 'borrowed' from his father's bedside drawer into his new carpet (trying to use a feather he'd found as a quill pen). Or on any of the occasions when dh has spilled blackcurrant squash onto the carpets - kindly and thoughtfully, he only does this on the light coloured ones, so I can see exactly where it is!!

i have the vax heated carpet washer, it cost £330 but i have cream aswell and i find i have to do them once a week,(3 yo, dog, cat verry muddy garden.) it brings the carpet up really nice. only thing is when i do my rug it stays wet for a while and is then quite heavy to hang outside to dry. but it is clean.

They are not as thorough a clean as you would get from a professional, but you can use them again (which is why I got mine) and they do make a big difference. I've been really happy with mine.

I bought one from argos for £60 when a 2 day hire would have costs £50. it made my carpet all fluffy!
My carpet is dark green thoguh, so doesn't show stains, although water always comes out black [ick]

We got one when ds2 was a baby and a professional projectile puker. Did get rid of the sick stains and made the place smell alot better but used to leave the carpets quite damp. It was a while ago and they could have improved since then.

I have had mine for a couple of years and it's used by family too. I have found it as good as when i got a professional carpet cleaner in. I do our living room every other week.
Only thing is the shampoo doesn't last long and is about £6 a bottle. Still have saved myself a fortune on getting carpet cleaned.
Carpet still looks good and is cream and is used by dog and 3 dc's so can't complain.

lol Iliketomoveit same here. They are also v usefull at getting off wheatabix and ribena.

We have just bought the heated Vax - it was on Amazon half price with free 5 bottles of cleaning solution.

We have had vax machines for years but find after 18 months they die on us (hard water area and an ASD son so used often.) The new heated vax have a 6 yr warrenty, rug doctor have 12 months with no option to extend.

Finding it does a good job on my light cream and beige carpets and leaves the carpets much drier that the last machine (I have the All Terain).

I got one in Homebase a few months back, half price, I think. Much cheaper, over the course of a year, say, than hiring their rug doctor.
Got out ground-in chocolate muffin from the cream carpet, with very little effort. And is great at the perpetually grimy-looking heavy tread area between the kitchen and hall.
BUT, the filter sponge is wrecked, and I haven't managed to source a replacement yet. Needless to say, Homebase don't appear to stock them!

The filters you can online direct from vax theyre only about £8 for two.

We've got an original orange one - great but it has needed new parts which are expensive and change design so not as compatible with old style remaining bits.

Vax are very good at replacing any parts just ring them

We have a vax upright and it's fab. For the cost of buying it I would not have got my carpets cleaned professionally and I get to use it again and again (which is quite handy as my dog is a bit leaky!).I got in in Argos on offer about 6 months ago for about £120

My family have all used it too at one time or another. Bit of advice- don't bother with the AAA liquid stuff. I use 1001 liquid for machines (it says it is recommended by VAX.) In Wilkinson you can get it for about £8 for 3 litres where as the AAA stuff from argos is £24 for 2 litres.

ooooh, I was thinking of getting one too, so glad to see this thread. Vac have loads of different models - if anyone can say which one they have, that would be really useful. They vary a lot in price; I think the most expensive is £329.

www.vax.co.uk/shop/carpet-washers

i have the heated all terrain - yes the dearest one, have six months to pay it off!! it is good though and with a 6 year warranty, should be worth the cost, its used weekly.

I agree about not buying the expensive Vax liquid. We have used Mr Muscle floor cleaner on our carpets and they have come up a treat (do do a patch test first though)

Amazon have them at the moment and they seem to be discounted, I was thinking of getting this one as it's the cheapest, http://www.amazon.co.uk/Vax-Agilty-Upright-Carpet-Washer/dp/B000Y7WKVG/ref=sr16?ie=UTF8&s=kitchen& qid=1210596632&sr=1-6

Anyone got this one, or think it's worth paying the bit extra for one of the more expensive ones?

Sorry here's the link in clickable form: www.amazon.co.uk/Vax-Agilty-Upright-Carpet-Washer/dp/B000Y7WKVG/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&s=kitchen&qid=121 0596632&sr=1-6

I hope!

Got the Agility - its great. I dropped a whole bottle of calpol on a cream carpet and it totally sorted it out. 6 year guarantee is pretty reassuring too.

BTW the Amazon is a really good deal - the Agility 1-2-3 is not one of the cheaper ones, it is just heavily discounted at the moment! It retails for £249.99 from Vax (I think JL sold them at £199 when we got ours though). It's second from the All Terrain in terms of being top of the range, go for it!

I have a Vax, not sure what model, it was half price in January sales about 2 years ago. I love it.

I have beige carpet and it gets most things up and very good at getting the heavy tread areas clean

I used to use the Vax cleaner stuff too though one time the carpet really needed cleaning and I'd run out of the real stuff so used normal clothes washing powder instead and it worked fine.

I'm always horribly fascinated at looking at the dirty water when I empty it

This thread has just cost me £161.

Just bought the Vax V-125 from Amazon. Like Tibni said, there is an offer for 5 bottles of free cleaning fluid at the moment - see here for details.

I just added both items to my basket, and the discount came off automatically. Also, if you use the code LOWERVAT, it reduces the VAT to 15%.

Very Need to tell DH now! ... actually just rung to ask him, and luckily he said 'fine, go for it'!

Arrived today

Hall carpets already cleaned. Fantastic buy!

I didn't pay for supersaver delivery or anything, just went for the free option which should have taken up to a week.