£200 well spent. You get several attachments and mine came with various cleaning and treatment products although you need to check as VAX seem to have regular special offers that give added value

VAX UK asked us to try out their new SpotWash product …

Crikey, not sure about you but back in the seventies I remember my dad proudly spending half of his week’s wages on a big old ‘wet’ vacuum cleaner. A massive thing. He’d grown fed up with the lounge carpet being filthy and he was too tight to buy a new one, even though one of his mates owned a carpet shop.

Cordless so no pesky wires to trip over – VAX’s ONEPWR system is great and powerful. You’ll get about 15 minutes in the real world of constant use

The basic theory with what looked like an oversized vacuum cleaner with a water tank was that you soaked your carpet and hoped it would clean whatever detritus or crud was trodden into it.

The unit has two ‘tanks’ – this one is the dirty water container. It’s amazing how much filth comes out of the carpet

His one seemed to work – sort of. It could well have been a VAX T or something or other or maybe it was a Bissell. It was a long time ago and I recall that it got chucked in the back of the shed for what seemed like years, shortly after.

What I do remember is that when he did finally manage to get most of the gallons of water out of the carpet, it did look cleaner. However, it dried very strangely and seemed rough to the touch thereafter. It also seemed to get dirty again very quickly. It was almost as if he’d sucked all the goodness out of the wool.

Four attachments came in the pack enabling you to get into all sorts of spaces

Little trigger (out of shot) enables you to apply a jet of water to the soiled area

There are a couple of marks on the freshwater tank (warm water is recommended for best results) depending on the severity of the area you are trying to clean. You also add the cleaning solution to this tank too. Don’t use too much. A little goes a long way…

Anyway, scroll forward many years and the new VAX SpotWash Home Cordless. Times have changed greatly and this fiendish little device isn’t the size of one of those old huge TV sets and you don’t have to lug it about as it is very light.

The oily stain on the carpet on my garage floor has sent me bananas for months. It would not budge. A tough task for the VAX which when all is said and done is not a miracle worker

It got straight to work and you keep going until the water runs clear

Times have changed greatly (as we know) and the latest technology means that this machine is simple to use and it is effective.

Something very satisfying about seeing the filthy water being collected

The missus had bought one of the latest VAX ‘stick’ vacuum cleaners last year and it is so effective and easy to use that even I have a daily run around with it, so when Michelle the very nice PR lady at VAX told me about their new SpotWash and asked if I’d like to try it out, I jumped at the chance.

Yuk. I could not believe the filth that was in that collection tank

I must confess though that I thought of my old dad when I first turned it on. I could almost hear him moaning, groaning and turning the air blue as he flooded his front room carpet! He always liked to see a raging flame on his barbecue too did the old man!

The fact is a machine like this is perfect for us specialist car enthusiasts. It is small enough and so easy to use that we can get into small places to clean carpets, soft trim and upholstery including on delicate Alcantara seats.

Then, of course, the missus can use it around the house, with equally effective results so she’ll be happy too. Bonus.

This little attachment is very useful and gets into very tight spaces

Its size makes it perfect for me. Sure you can buy very good vacuum cleaners that can suck up water, but I find that these can be cumbersome and I think they can only remove water they can’t agitate stains for example, whereas the VAX can. When you use the attachments that have scrubbing brushes on them it really is doubly effective.

You can also still get new generation wet vacs, which are good but when all is said and done are ideally suited to domestic use around the house. The VAX SpotWash is so much more versatile, however.

The VAX costs £199.99 (they offer various models – see https://www.vax.co.uk/carpet-cleaners-and-washers/spot-washers) and it comes with four attachments enabling you to tackle most jobs and get into really tight spaces.

I used the smallest one to shift an annoying stain on my boot carpet that I couldn’t get rid because I couldn’t fully get to it. The VAX managed it.

Not bad for a five-minute going over. Especially because I had tried umpteen cleaning products on that particular stain that didn’t get near to removing it. The VAX did a great job and I reckon another session with a fully charged battery attached would remove the stain completely. It was oil and grease that it removed here.

Its portability is also first-class. You won’t fall over it and likewise, when it is in your car it shouldn’t fall over as it is light, stable and well-balanced. VAX engineers have clearly thought about this one.

It is also cordless, but VAX’s ONEPWR battery system has plenty of oomph particularly if you use the 40-amp battery. No wire to trip over or to get all twisted up. I hate that.

Anyway, if you are looking for a new and useful device for the garage/car/house that will do a great job, work excellently and also keep the missus happy then I’d thoroughly recommend it. £200 well spent in my view. Remember to shop around as you might be able to find it cheaper.

More from www.vax.co.uk.