VAX Platinum Power Max: Review

I know you’re here to read a VAX Platinum Power Max review, but bear with me. I want to set the scene and bring you into my world before I crack on. My husband and I live in the countryside with a small child (Ava!) and two dogs (Lily and Lou Lou). Our house is an old cottage and we have a section of matting by both outside doors. Plus carpet in the dining room, and upstairs. The rest of the flooring is laminate/vinyl.

Even though we try to keep things as clean as possible, with 8 muddy paws and 6 ‘could-be-cleaner’ boots, some areas need a spruce up.

The matting by the back door (which we use 99% of the time) had definitely started to suffer. The dogs’ bowls are there, so they stand there to eat. They might have a little shake when they come in and it endures most of the mess.

One thing I’m paranoid about the house smelling ‘doggy’. So I was keen to clean all the carpets and matting areas to make sure I banished any potential smells. 

I also wanted to make sure that there were no bacteria or other bugs in the carpets. Ava might not be a baby, but she still lies on the floor to play and the thought of her lying on bugs stresses me out. I wanted to reduce the risk of contamination, which could cause diarrhea, stomach pains, nausea, vomiting and fever.

VAX PLATINUM POWERMAX CARPET CLEANER; REVIEW

VAX made me super happy by sending me the Vax Platinum Power Max Carpet Cleaner to put through its paces.

VAX PLATINUM POWER MAX CARPET CLEANER: FIRST IMPRESSIONS

The carpet cleaner has two tanks, one for clean water and one for dirty water. It comes with a hard floor adapter and three tools to make cleaning sofas or stairs easier. A SpinScrub tool, a flexible hose and a compact wash tool. All of which was packed neatly into a VAX bag. 

I also received a 250ml bottle of pre-treatment solution and the pre-treatment wand. Plus two 250ml bottles of VAX Platinum carpet cleaning solution.

You can tell the machine is of a high quality when you’re assembling it. One other thing which struck me was how sturdy it is, but remember this makes it weighty to move around. 

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VAX PLATINUM POWER MAX CARPET CLEANER:  TACKLE THE 3 PS

Dogs aside, we all know the havoc children can wreak on our homes. We rent our house, so we need to prevent the carpets becoming tired or stained from Bolognese splats! Mentioning no names *cough* Ava!

In fact, VAX focused on the 3 Ps of parenthood and have designed the Platinum Power Max to help parents fight back against these 3 Ps.

Pee

We are well beyond the nappy changing phase, but that and potty training can leave your carpets desperate for a deep clean. The VAX Platinum Power MAX carpet washer also removes up to 93% of bacteria along with other fungi and allergens lurking within your carpets. So it won’t just look and smell cleaner, it WILL actually BE cleaner.

Puke

The chances of our poorly little ones making it to the bathroom to be sick are slim to none, let’s be honest. So sometimes carpets might come into contact with sick. We all know that smell can linger if you don’t have a way to clean that area deeply.

The Platinum Power MAX has an XL brush bar and patented SpinScrub technology which agitates the carpet fibres and lifts away deep-down dirt. There’s also a long reach stretch hose and SpinScrub wash tool, which helps you clean any stubborn spot stains in tricky spots around your home, or even the car.

Puree

Again not something we have to worry about now with Ava. However, I vividly remember the days of feeding her in her high chair. Witnessing the destruction that only a baby exploring its food can create. I was lucky that we had wooden floors when we were going through that stage! Baby food stains can be tricky to remove at the best of times. You can use the VAX pre-treatment wand to spray a jet of concentrated cleaning solution directly on the stain before cleaning to lift the stain away.

VAX PLATINUM POWER MAX CARPET CLEANER: FEATURES

VAX designed the Platinum to make washing carpets regularly effective and efficient. Its features include:

· Easy to use: The Platinum is easy to assemble and has ‘Automix’ technology. You just fill one tank with water, and the other with Platinum cleaning solution. Then it does the rest for you and automatically mixes the correct concentrate of solution for you. Before agitating the carpet in two different directions with its patented SpinScrub technology and XL brushbar.

· SpinScrub technology: Seven patented SpinScrub bristles sit behind the XL brushbar. These rotate in different directions to lift and remove any dirt from deep within your carpet.

· Controlled wash & rinse: You release the washing solution by pressing the trigger on the forward stroke, and the water is sucked away by letting go of the trigger on the backward stroke.

· Two cleaning modes: Quick Clean mode for a quick, surface clean with carpets dry in less than an hour, or Deep Clean mode for best overall results for a thorough, deep clean.

· Onboard tools: SpinScrub tool, Upholstery tool, Hard floor squeegee and a long reach stretch hose.

· Cleaning solutions: Included are 2 X 250ml patented VAX Platinum cleaning solution, plus a bottle of pre-treatment solution.

· Easy to clean: Remove the water tank, filter, and cleaning nozzle to rinse. From time-to-time, clear any debris from the brush bar, cleaning, and SpinScrub brushes.

· Corded: Long reaching 9m cord

· Weight: 9kg

VAX PLATINUM POWER MAX CARPET CLEANER: HOW IT WORKS

There are two modes: a wash and rinse mode with two settings to use – deep clean and quick dry, which is mean to leave carpets dry in as little as one hour.

When the VAX is on, move it slowly forward, holding down the lever/trigger on the handle as you do. This releases the cleaning solution into the carpet.

Then, slowly pull the cleaner backwards while releasing the lever. This allows the VAX to suck up the water solution and dirt from the carpet.

VAX suggests repeating this up to four times in the same place before moving to a new spot. If you really need the carpet to be dry ASAP, then try to do more dry passes (moving with no lever press).

To give it a proper test, so used the deep clean setting.

I cleaned the dining room carpet and the two matting areas and it only took about half an hour and that included rinsing and cleaning the filters, brush head and emptying the tanks. There was no need to move plugs as the cord is super long.

The dining room carpet wasn’t stained, but it smelled musty. After cleaning it smells so much fresher in there.

I also tried it on an old stained bag of Ava’s that she wanted to use again. It came up as good as new!

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PROS & CONS

PROS

• The water tank is easy to fill and empty.

• It comes complete with hand tools to help you get an even better clean.

• It really gets deep down clean. You can tell by the colour of the water!

CONS

• At 9kg it’s sizeable.
• It’s not the cheapest carpet cleaner you can buy.

PRICE

The price is £249 and all direct purchases get a free steam cleaner. When you consider the cost of hiring a carpet cleaner starts at around £25 with no detergent or tools (our local hire place prices). It wouldn’t take too long before the VAX paid for itself. I also think having one at home means you are more likely to include carpet cleaning into your routine. You’ll end up taking better care of your carpets, cleaning routinely every month. Rather than waiting for there to be an accident, you need to clean up.

OUR FINAL THOUGHTS

The VAX Platinum has won the Which? Best Buy award and in the Good Housekeeping review it scored it 98/100. I can see why having tested it myself.

The only thing I would change would be the weight. Not a deal breaker for me, but definitely something to test out yourself.

It does a great job and is a high quality machine that provides a deep clean with little effort.

WOULD I RECOMMEND? 

I would recommend the VAX Platinum Power Max Carpet Cleaner.

Are your carpets a little worse for wear? Would you ever consider buying a carpet cleaner rather than renting one?

Disclosure: To create this review, VAX gifted this cleaner to me. I am under no obligation to write anything but my own words and opinions.