Vax Blade 32V

Verdict in 10 seconds

• Really light, which means you won't break a sweat as you're cleaning your home

• It's cordless so there’s no cord to trip over or lug behind you up the stairs

• Cheaper than the newer Vax Blade 2 Max, but still a high performer

Pros

• Quick and easy to assemble

• Incredibly light, which means you won’t break a sweat

• Simple to change tools

• Press a button to vacuum different floor types

• Great suction – no problems picking up large or small debris or pet hair

Cons

• Bagless, so it’s a little messy to empty

• Need to wash and air-dry filters every three months

• Need to unscrew the brush bar to clean it

• Need to buy direct from Vax to get extra tools

What are the features of the Vax Blade 32V cordless vacuum cleaner?

• 45 minute run time – more than enough to vacuum most homes

• 0.6 litre capacity

• Lightweight (only 3kg) and easy to manoeuvre

• Steerable – easy to get around furniture

• Boost mode gives extra suction power when needed

• Reach wand means you can get to cobwebs and dust up high and in hard-to-reach places

• Smart control dial tells you how much power is remaining

• Four hour charge time

What’s in the box?

• Vacuum cleaner, charger, crevice tool, dusting brush, wall mount

• If you buy direct from Vax: cordless pro tool kit, including flexible crevice tool, tough dirt tool, dust brush, textile tool, stretch hose and storage bag

What are the Vax Blade 32V’s specs?

• 0.6 litre capacity

• 45-minute run time

• Weight: 3kg

• Two-year guarantee

• One-year battery guarantee

• 109cm (H) x 24cm (W) x 26cm (D)

Cordless vacuums used to be viewed as a backup to your everyday vacuum, but new technology means that a good cordless can tackle all your vacuuming needs. The Vax 32V is powerful, light and easy to use. Its 45-minute run time means there’s enough charge to clean the entire house (if you don’t live in a mansion, in which case you should probably buy two or three).

How good is it on carpets?

During day-to-day cleaning, the Vax Blade 32V is amazing. It’s staggering just how much dirt and hair the cleaner picks up. It gets right to the edges, pulling out ingrained hair and dirt, and works fantastically well on rugs.

In specific tests, it picked up larger debris, sucking up spilled cereal and crisps with ease, and it picked up toast crumbs with just one sweep.

How good is it on hard floors?

On most flooring the Vax brush bar is formidable, but it isn’t appropriate for use on hard or delicate surfaces. The good news is, all you need to do is press a button and you’re good to go.

Once you’ve done this, the Vax 32V makes short work of cleaning hard floors, picking up everything (and we mean everything) in its wake. Cereal and crisps, coffee granules and washing powder – all gone in one sweep.

How effective is it on pet hair?

The textile tool is pet hair’s nemesis. It’ll pick up even the most stubborn hair clinging to upholstery. Attaching another tool to the main body will also turn the Vax Blade 32V into a detachable handheld.

If (and it’s a big if) there’s any pet hair left, the crevice tool gets down the sides of furniture. Our tester found the upholstery tool worked brilliantly on cushions and throws.

By attaching the power brush, you can remain standing to vacuum pet bedding, or for an even more thorough going over, the upholstery brush or crevice tool are the ones to reach for.

On carpets, the turbo boost helps to really pull out embedded hair, and any hair missed from edges is easily sucked out using the crevice tool. On hard floors, the vacuum effortlessly sucks in clumps of hair lurking in corners and under furniture – no elbow grease required.

How easy is it to vacuum the stairs with?

As it’s a cordless, there’s nothing to lug up behind you and no cord to trip over. The best thing is, it’s really light, which makes the stairs a quick job, rather than a mammoth effort. You can easily switch tools to tackle edges and skirting boards on the way up, too. The Vax Blade 32V picks up dirt effortlessly and the turbo boost helps pull out anything lodged deep in carpet fibres.

How loud is the Vax Blade 32V?

In normal mode, our tester didn’t find the vacuum particularly noisy. It was louder when tested in boost mode, but if you only use this when you need it noise shouldn’t be a problem at all.

How easy is it to keep clean?

The bin is a bit small at 0.6 litres, but this means the vacuum is very light. It’s simple to empty the bin so it isn’t a problem to do this frequently. You just press the dirt release button, allowing everything to fall straight into the bin. As with most bagless vacuums, there is some dirt left and this can be quite messy to get out, so you do need to dig around and pick away hair and other bits from the separator – something to bear in mind if you have allergies.

You need to wash the filters and separator every three months and leave to air-dry for 24 hours. If you vacuum every day, cleaning the filter means having your vacuum out of action for one or two days – not great if you have pets. If you need to get at any threads or hair caught in the bristles, you’ll have to remove the rotating brush bar with a cross head screwdriver.

Are there any other features?

• Relatively quiet – great if you have nervous pets or a baby

• Stretch hose makes dusting high up surfaces easy

• The tough dirt tool is great – in our tests it removed ingrained dirt from a wooden floor without scratching

Is the Vax Blade good value for money?

If you buy direct from Vax, the Vax Blade 32V is currently £179.96, reduced from £219.99, and this includes the free pro tool kit. It’s not the cheapest vacuum on the market, but it’s by no means the most expensive, and it’s actually a great price for a cordless. Considering performance and ease of use, and the fact that it takes a lot of the hard work out of vacuuming, we think it’s great value for money.

What's the difference between the Vax Blade 2 Max and the Vax Blade 32V?

The Vax Blade 32V did win Mumsnet Best Vacuum Cleaner 2018. Since we awarded it, Vax has brought out a new model that we think is even better – the Vax Blade 2 Max. The 32V is still a fantastic product, and we would we still certainly recommend buying it – especially as it might be more likely to be on sale now.

The 32V still offers excellent value for money, and if your budget won’t stretch to the Vax Blade 2 Max, then the 32V is a great alternative.

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All Mumsnet product reviews are written by real parents after weeks of research and testing. We work hard to provide honest and independent advice you can trust. Sometimes, we earn revenue through affiliate (click-to-buy) links in our articles. However, we never allow this to influence our coverage.

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