Feedback Thread for the Vorwerk Kobold VK200 Vacuum Cleaner Testers

[VerityLocalEdKent]

Want to try “The Ultimate Homecare System” – the Vorwerk Kobold VK200 worth £1,049 and share feedback on Mumsnet Kent?

We have been asked by the team at Vorwerk to find 10 (lucky) local Mumsnetters to try their latest Kobold VK200 vacuum cleaner and report back on MN!

They say “compact, unbeatably handy and extremely powerful, the Kobold VK200 Upright Vacuum Cleaner is the ideal addition to your household, making life easier and cleaner.

Designed by global German household appliance manufacturer Vorwerk, the Kobold VK200, in combination with two different attachments, takes care of all your floor cleaning needs. Whether it’s carpets or hard floors – the Kobold VK200 Homecare System has it covered.

The unique SP530 DuoClean head allows you to mop and vacuum at the same time – a world first! It uses just 100ml of water to cover up to 20 m² of hard floor. And the best part? Simply remove the cleaning cloths when you’ve finished and pop them in the washing machine ready for next time.

“The EB400 brush head meanwhile ensures vacuuming is thorough, gentle and hygienic – driven by its own motor, a special rotating brush scans the floor 16 times per second and removes dirt and dust completely. Even the finest dirt particles do not stand a chance!

“Visit Kobold Vorwerk to find out more about the Kobold VK200 vacuum cleaner and discover the array of clever additional accessories that turn this machine into the Ultimate Homecare System! Simply click and swap to the attachment you need to expertly deal with upholstery, furniture, mattresses, textiles and anything else you need cleaned. Built to last, the Kobold VK200 is the only vacuum cleaner you’ll ever need”.

The 10 testers will receive the Kobold VK200 Homecare System on loan to test it out in their own home for one week, and asked to share feedback on a thread on Mumsnet Local. Those selected will be asked to share their first impressions as well as follow up feedback after it has been used a few times.

Prior to use, each selected tester will receive a visit from a representative from the team at Vorwerk who will do a personal demo of the machine in the tester’s own home to ensure the features are fully understood.

On completion of the demo and publication of the review, the selected testers will be reimbursed for their time with a complimentary VC100 handheld vacuum cleaner worth £129.

If you’d like to be considered, please get in touch quickly with your local editor at [email protected] - those 10 spaces won't take long to fill up!

Testers - please share below your first impressions

~ how did the demo from the Vorwerk rep go? What were you the most keen to try out?
~ how were the instructions in the box?
~ what did the demo cassette bag show after the first use - are you surprised by how much has been picked up?
~ please share a photo!

[kentlass]

[email protected] hello. I'm not sure how to get in touch to ask kindly to be allowed to test this. Sounds fab!

[Rosiecrow1960]

I would love to be a tester too please

[VerityLocalEdKent]

KentLass - I received your email - you're on the list

Rosiecrow - can you email me at [email protected] so I can add you to the list?

[Mamagin]

Me too, please! I have emailed you.

[kentlass]

First impressions:

~The demo was really thorough and I'm looking forward to trying out the mattress attachment and the dry cleaning attachment.


~ The instruction manual is very comprehensive, but I'm glad of the demo as there's quite a lot of attachments.

~oh my goodness, the demo cassette was rather full after a short sweep of the carpet and my kitchen floor. It's quite satisfying in a weird way to see the detritus!


~ No photos taken as yet, but I'll be posting some later if I can.

[kentlass]

Photo of the detritus! Look away if easily offended ten pence piece for scale purposes

[Mamagin]

Dean arrived promptly with huge cases containing what turned out to be the Rolls Royce of the cleaning world.
The Vorwerk is a sleek machine which wouldn't be out of place on the Starship Enterprise. It comes with many attachments, all beautifully stored.
Dean was friendly and explained everything very well.
His demonstration could have taken much, much longer, he only cleaned one mat and the kitchen floor, and I have many more floors. I think he could have carried on to clean the whole house while I lounged on the settee and watched him work.
He first demonstrated the vacuum, showing both the main cleaner and stair/wand attachment.
From one small mat in a room which isn't used that much, an embarrassing amount of dirt was extracted - as shown on the pictures.(can is there to show size of mat)
He then went on to show the carpet 'shampoo' attachment - a sort of dry powder which is first scattered, then massaged into the carpet fibres.
This was left to dry while Dean showed me how my kitchen floor should be cleaned. The Vorwerk has a mop/vacuum attachment which has suction either side of a reusable microfibre pad which you dampen before using. I'd steam cleaned the floor that morning (I have my pride)but the microfibre pad was decidedly dirty.
We went back to vacuum up the cleaning granules, and the mat was positively glowing.
He didn't demonstrate the mattress cleaner, or the thing that simulates a feather duster, or the thing that sticks to the wall and catches dust while someone else you drill holes in the wall. Told you he only did half the job.
I am now left with this beautiful object for only a week. Why did you do this to me?
I have to work! (Ponders phoning in sick)
Obviously I'm not going to sleep for the rest of the week, while I'm cleaning mattresses, curtains, soft furnishings, anything that will stay still!
Dean, if you are reading this, I am seriously considering carrying out my threat to kidnap your machine and move to an unknown address before you come back next Monday.

[Mamagin]

Oh, sorry, instruction manual comprehensive, but not as good as Dean.

[Rosiecrow1960]

Well Dean arrived with several large bags which contained an array of equipment and tools for the machine.
Firstly he tried to clean the rug in our hall but it didn't pick up much, so my first impressions of the machine were not good. I hadn't vacuumed for several days and have 2 dogs so I was quite surprised! However when we tried another rug, that produced more dirt.
Dean then demonstrated other tools for the tiled floor in the kitchen, and the dry cleaning tool on a carpet, plus he quickly showed me the other tools.
I have to say it seems a very complicated machine when I am used to a plug in and go cleaner and the manual is long...It also takes up a lot of space with all the tools, bags etc
On the plus side, the machine is very light and easy to manoeuvre.
Hopefully over the week, I will get more used to it but I am yet to be convinced.
Sorry it is not a glowing report!

[Peekaboomoo]

Just marking place. I'm one of the lucky ones to try this but have arranged to have it delivered once I'm back from my holiday in a couple of weeks. Looking at the comments above I'm getting quite excited!

[Mirasol]

~ how did the demo from the Vorwerk rep go? What were you the most keen to try out?
The demo was great. I was very excited about the vacuum/mop at the same time feature.

~ how were the instructions in the box?
I was glad to have the instructions as we decided that Dean wouldn't demo the dry cleaning since my toddlers were present. My husband and I tried it after the kids went to bed instead. Couldn't have done it without the manual.

~ what did the demo cassette bag show after the first use - are you surprised by how much has been picked up?
There was quite a bit of dirt, grit and hair in there. I wasn't too surprised, to be honest. Carpets don't ever come completely clean, I think.

I didn't take a photo of the demo, unfortunately.

[Sah1987]

I would love to try this - is it still available to test? X

[LocalEditorKent]

So Dean came round today for our demo Hello Dean!

And I am a little bit in love with our Vorwerk

Here is my first bit of feedback...

~ how did the demo from the Vorwerk rep go? What were you the most keen to try out?
Dean was great - clearly a pro when it comes to the Vorwerk machines. He went through each part of the machine thoroughly and made sure I understood how each part worked. After seeing all the bits in action, I was probably most keen to try out the carpet cleaner parts. During the demo, it worked wonders on a rug that had been abused by my children . A close second would be the parts to clean our mattresses - I am guessing that is going to be a satisfyingly good amount of 'stuff' that the Vorwerk will get out of them! Will photo document it when I tackle them at the weekend.

~ how were the instructions in the box?
Very clear - but Dean did a super job with the demo, so I haven't had to refer to them yet. But every detail is covered in the manual.

~ what did the demo cassette bag show after the first use - are you surprised by how much has been picked up?
Well, I did vacuum up before Dean arrived with my (now clearly inferior) cleaner, as I didn't want to make the Vorwerk's job too easy . But after a minute or two running over my carpet, it brought up a good amount of dirt/hair etc! I could tell when using it, even briefly, that the suction was excellent and that it would be getting far more up than my current cleaner.

~ please share a photo!
Photos attached of demo cassette from carpet, then one from my stairs and then my fresh rug after a Vorwerk clean!

I'd also like to say how much I like the smell of the Vorwerk! Every time it was used during the demo, it filled each room with a lovely scent .

Roll on the next week that we'll have together!

[LocalEditorKent]

TESTERS who have now had their Vorwerk for a week, can you answer the following questions please...

~ Do you think the Kobold VK200 will save you time?

~ Did you think that the vacuum was powerful?

~ Did you think the vacuum was easy to manoeuvre?

~ please share a photo!

Thank you!

[CatThiefKeith]

Hi Verity. Do you need any more testers?

[Treadlightly]

Got my vorverk today
Great demo with dean - all really helpful & he showed us how to use all the attachments. Really impressed so far!
The vac/ mop looks like the most useful feature for me but I like the stairs attachment & want to try out the mattress cleNer & the dry cleaner- going to have a busy weekend!!

The instructions were good. Dean's demo was very informative & the manual is easy to use

The demo cassette was so full! Was great to see how much came up! Was a bit grim but oddly satisfying:)

Will take some more pics later but we all liked the cool lights - toddler said it looked like a rocket ...

[LocalEditorKent]

Hi CatThief - I can ask Vorwerk if they'd like any more . Can you email me at [email protected] please?

[Kentlass]

Nññ

[Kentlass]

TESTERS who have now had their Vorwerk for a week, can you answer the following questions please...

~ Do you think the Kobold VK200 will save you time?

Yes, especially with the vacuuming as the Kobold automatically alters for carpets or hard floors.

~ Did you think that the vacuum was powerful?

Yes it picked up very well on my carpets

~ Did you think the vacuum was easy to manoeuvre?

It was easy to manoeuvre in vacuum mode, not quite so easy when using as a floor washer (tended to need more control or it ran away with itself)

~ please share a photo! -Later I shall.

[Mamagin]

I've written a huge review, which you're going to get whether you like it or not!
In answer to the three questions, no, too many attachments.
It picked up beautifully.
Easy to manoeuvre but heavy.

[Mamagin]

I can only compare my feelings for the Vorwerk to an attack of lust for the new man on the block. In he prances, all handsome and perfect, and you fall for him hook, line and sinker. And then, as life goes on, you realise that he is a little demanding and that for day to day life it might be easier to live with Mr Average.
Dean left me with two large bags of tools.

The basic upright vacuum is a thing of beauty. It has a panel of lights which illuminate green when everything is going well, turn red should anything tangle into the brushes, and orange when the bag fills up.
The basic vacuum head goes easily from carpet to hard flooring - when on carpet there is a line of lights which shows tufts - when it goes onto hard flooring the lights turn into a straight line.
Good things - easy to push around - the head swivels. I like the fancy light show so you can easily see when the bag needs replacing . It has a very, very long cord - could easily vacuum two floors without having to unplug.
Bad things - the head is wide, so won’t fit into a lot of gaps. It is heavy. The cord is long - but keeps getting caught on things and tangled up. It needs a bag - at £18 for 6!!

Moving on to the tools. It is hard to know what is included with what package. We appeared to have been given la creme de la creme of the Vorwerk world so every attachment was included.

I will do my best to go through them one by one - although I admit that I did not use the thing for catching dust while drilling holes in walls, or a little circular brush which was supposed to be used for getting into crevices. I’m afraid my crevices remained untouched.

The tools were a little fiddly to attach at first use, but this became easier as the week went on. Most tools were used with the hose attachment.
The hose snaps onto the end of the machine, and you are meant to clip on a strap to enable you to carry the body of the machine like an oversized handbag. This didn’t work too well, as one end kept falling off. In the end, I gave up and carried it around by the integral handle, and just propped it awkwardly wherever.
The control for turning it on and off is at the end of the upright handle - so sometimes awkward to reach from the end of the hose.
I mainly used the wedge shaped brush with the hose - this was meant for use on soft furnishings - but Dean had demonstrated it on my stairs so I used it for that. The brush is awkward to hold - too wide to be comfortable at one end, and if you hold it further down your grip is over the switch which changes the suction from the flat end of the brush to the point of the brush (great idea) but you can be vacuuming away and then realise that the only suction going on is from the pointy end, as your fat fingers have pushed the switch along.

I also used it to clean our mattresses - the powder given was quite pleasantly scented. There is an attachment which massages the powder into the mattress, and then another attachment to whack the mattress around a bit and suck the powder out. This clogged a couple of times with the powder, so I gave up in the end and used the soft furnishing brush.
There is a long wand with a flexible tip extending from it - this was useful for getting into nooks and crannies behind radiators and in the car. There was also an attachment which had long white fibres which could be extended to be used like a feather duster.
Then there were the two other floor cleaning heads to be attached directly to the Vorwerk body.
One was the combined mop and vacuum. This has suction either side of a microfibre pad. The pad is moistened before attaching it to the machine - and has instructions that it can only be moistened from the back, with a controlled dosage of specially mixed fluid cleaner from a provided dosing bottle. The pad is then slipped over a removable cartridge and re-attached to the machine - quite a fiddly job. The dosing bottle was also large and felt awkward to use. The machine judders noticeably when using this attachment, and it won’t stand up on its own when the cleaner/vacuum is attached. I wasn’t really impressed - I used it in our conservatory which has a quarry tiled floor. My husband had been doing some bike maintenance out there and there were a couple of patches of dirt which weren’t really touched by the vorwerk, but my steam cleaner had them sorted in seconds. It did have a noticeable effect on a wooden floor but admittedly I had only vacuumed this for years and hadn’t done any other cleaning on it.
The other was a hopper attachment which scatters drycleaning granules onto the carpet, and then massages them in. you leave to dry for half an hour, and then vacuum up - this was very impressive and the carpet definitely looked better.
All in all - by the end of the week I had fallen out with it, was glad to see the back of it and fall back into the arms of my ugly but dependable Henry, Vax steamer and Dyson rechargeable.

[Kentlass]

Mamagin your review is brilliant. I could almost copy and paste as your response almost matches mine. The only difference is that I found the vacuum cleaner (used just as an upright vacuum cleaner) quite easy to manoeuvre.

If there was a "love it" button, you'd get one from me for your post.

[Mamagin]

Thank you!
Just one more thing, they seem to be sold in a 'Forever Living' plan way. When Dean came to pick up the machine, I apologised that my review wouldn't be more positive, and (in a roundabout way) asked what part of his wages were made up of commission. It appears that he only works for commission. I said that's not on, and he said that you 'have to build your business'
I'm not sure how much commission is paid for each machine, but if you hold a Vorwerk party and sell 5 through the party, you are given a free machine.
It seems to me, that if Vorwerk just sold through John Lewis etc, they could sell them for a lot less, bring them to the attention of more people, and not be part of dubious 'employment' practices.

[Mamagin]

Do you think I'll still get my free hand held?