Vax CDCW-CSXS SpotWash Spot Cleaner

I have used my parents massive VAX carpet cleaner before and although it has an upholstery attachment, I found it very unwieldy. This is completely different - so easy to manoeuvre and handle. I used it on a sofa that has been abused by children and pets for 8 years and couldn't believe the results after one use. 2 sofas needed me to fill the water and detergent tank to the max twice and I will need to go over them again for perfect results but the sofas were in bad shape and are already massively improved. You get a small bottle of the VAX solution with this that you use up with one use but litre size bottles can be bought easily. I love this machine!

We have used the spot cleaner regularly, it's super easy to use and clean. One side is the clean water and solution which clips in and the other is where the dirty water ends up. The carpet is clean in a matter of seconds and doesn't need too much water. It's efficient and effective - the machine is powerful and doesn't make the carpet really wet. The carpet dries really well and can be used on carpets and upholstery. We have used it to spot clean our sofa and dining room chairs. The amount of time and effort saved by scrubbing or other products - just wish I found it a lot sooner! The item arrived really quickly and a choice of click and collect was useful. It's easy to store and the cord wraps around at the back of the device.

I bought this because I have elderly cats who are having trouble keeping their food down and I wanted to be sure I was cleaning thoroughly. It's a good little machine, more of a wet vacuum than a full carpet washer, you spray the water with a button on the head and use the brush manually, rather than an automatic rotating brush head that you get with an upright, but that's to be expected with a smaller machine.I found the suction to be stronger and the waste water tank capacity to be bigger than expected, I think if you had a small room you could do the whole room with this but it would take a fair bit of manual effort, in my opinion it would be better to give a full carpet a deep clean with an upright carpet washer and use this to keep on top of it. I haven't ... MoreI bought this because I have elderly cats who are having trouble keeping their food down and I wanted to be sure I was cleaning thoroughly. It's a good little machine, more of a wet vacuum than a full carpet washer, you spray the water with a button on the head and use the brush manually, rather than an automatic rotating brush head that you get with an upright, but that's to be expected with a smaller machine.I found the suction to be stronger and the waste water tank capacity to be bigger than expected, I think if you had a small room you could do the whole room with this but it would take a fair bit of manual effort, in my opinion it would be better to give a full carpet a deep clean with an upright carpet washer and use this to keep on top of it. I haven't found it as effective on upholstery as I have the carpets, and naturally the deep pile takes longer to dry than the short pile but even so I was impressed with how much water it got up and how quickly it dried.It's a great compact little machine, easy to store but also very little hassle to get out and set up when needed. Definitely pulled a lot more dirt out of my carpets than expected, and while it's probably not suited to someone who isn't as strong or has a weaker grip due to the manual nature of the scrubbing, it's a really good little machine for the price point.The only gripe I have is that the tank is filled horizontally, but the measuring lines of where to fill it to are placed vertically which means that you have to keep stopping and tilting it upright to see if you've filled it to the right amount, I've often overfilled it which is fine with the water but with the solution being so expensive it feels a bit of a waste. It could be easily solved either by moving the full point to the top of the tank, or providing a jug with the measurements on to fill first and then fill the tank from like with a kettle. The other thing is that while the self clean house function is brilliant, and you can take it apart easily to clean all the small parts out, it takes forever to dry since the only opening to the clean water tank is the small hole you filled it through so it's impossible to towel dry or even get the water out. Leaving it out to air dry does work but it can take a few days, which negates it being so compact and easy to store, and I worry that putting it away with it still damp accidentally will make it smell bad which will then get into my carpets.Pros:Compact and easy to store and move, strong suction so gets up mess easily, larger waste water tank than expected, really good for small spills.Cons:Hard to fill accurately, replacement solution is quite expensive, difficult/time consuming to dry, fairly manually intensive if you're not very strong.Overall it's a great little machine that does the job for small spills and refreshing high traffic areas, it won't do what a full carpet washer will do so don't expect miracles, but it's perfect for what I wanted.