The XYL spotted this being advertised (She does far too much commercial TV viewing IMHO) and decided she could do with a decent carpet cleaning machine for the bedroom carpet (ill chosen colour imho to begin with - you just don't argue with your XYL on matters like this if you value your sanity).
Before rushing out to 'snap one up before they're all gone', I thought I'd seek some advice and or opinions from the rather knowledgable (and oft opinionated) members of this NG.
For a penny shy of 70 quid, I don't expect anything fantastically good, just something that at least lives up to its promise (basically, dealing with the type of dirt that can't simply be vacuumed out of the carpet fibres with a Dyson DC07 or similar).
TJs also have the Vax Rapide Supreme Washer VRS17W on special offer at £89.99 claiming a whopping 160 quid saving on the rrp £249.99. Would spending the extra 20 quid be a better investment or are there better alternatives to the Vax range of carpet cleaners?
BTW, TJ Hughes are still a going concern to save anyone asking. :-)
"T J Hughes is a British discount department store brand which first emerged in Liverpool in 1925 and had become a national chain with 57 shops by 2011. The business now consists of ten shops around the country, following liquidation and rescue in 2011."
Quite often, after liquidation and rescue, a company bears precious little resemblance to its former incarnation. Never having seen or used a TJH, I have no idea if that is true in this case.
The XYL spotted this being advertised (She does far too much commercial TV viewing IMHO) and decided she could do with a decent carpet cleaning machine for the bedroom carpet (ill chosen colour imho to begin with - you just don't argue with your XYL on matters like this if you value your sanity).
Before rushing out to 'snap one up before they're all gone', I thought I'd seek some advice and or opinions from the rather knowledgable (and oft opinionated) members of this NG.
For a penny shy of 70 quid, I don't expect anything fantastically good, just something that at least lives up to its promise (basically, dealing with the type of dirt that can't simply be vacuumed out of the carpet fibres with a Dyson DC07 or similar).
TJs also have the Vax Rapide Supreme Washer VRS17W on special offer at £89.99 claiming a whopping 160 quid saving on the rrp £249.99. Would spending the extra 20 quid be a better investment or are there better alternatives to the Vax range of carpet cleaners?
BTW, TJ Hughes are still a going concern to save anyone asking. :-)
Unless you're a dirty living bugger and spill lots on the carpets personally I'd get a man in now and then to clean tghem professionally
Not a fan of the old style vax machines that only washed with the wand[1]. If they have done one that can wash and agitate when being used as an upright, that might be better.
[1] Surprisingly hard work, and only patchy results.
+1, great machines. I have had a Vax Rapide upright in the past and found it wasn't very effective and took a lot of effort to get decent results. I have a Numatic George that I got a few years ago when I was valeting cars and that works well on the household carpets but it's not quite as easy or effective as using the RugDoctor.
Whatever machine you get, I recommend using Prochem chemicals which are available from most janitorial suppliers.
Many swear by the Vax range, but some suggest the plastic bits have a shortened life than might be expected. I guess like most things in life, it depends whether you are a rough user or a nice careful one!
We checked out the local businesses that hire out RugDoctor carpet cleaners and discovered we're within quarter of a mile of our nearest one. This is a Johnsons Cleaners 'drive in' who quoted 24 quid for a 1 day hire or 29 quid for a two day (weekend?) hire.
My XYL and I discussed the pros and cons of hire versus buying and the conclusion was (in the words of SWMBI) "We'd best wait for the bathroom refit to be completed before hiring the machine.".
Since we still have to sort out the kitchen extension flat roof and ceiling repairs before we can even consider getting the bathroom sorted, this isn't going to 'happen any time soon'.
I'm still considering the buying option on the basis that we can deal with cleaning a whole houseful of carpetting on a more leisurely basis than trying to cram it all into a single weekend plus the fact that any carpet accidents can be dealt with immediately if we already have a carpet cleaner of our own to hand.
Provided we can purchase a reasonable quality of cleaner for under the magic 100 quid mark ( one fifth the rrp of a RugDoctor) which doesn't fall too short of the benchmark set by that machiner, I'll be happy to accept the extra cleaning effort required to compensate in order to match the results of a RugDoctor.
I can buy the 90 quid vax machine for little more than the price of three hirings of the RugDoctor which (by recommendation of the RugDoctor representative interviewed by Richard and Judy as shown in the video clip), should be done at least twice a year. On that basis, we would be shelling out on a third hiring just 12 months after the initial hiring.
The 90 quid Vax would only need to last 18 months on that cleaning schedule to better the ROI of hiring a RugDoctor over the same period so it does look a more tempting option.
However, since SWMBI has given me the green light, so to speak, on continuing my 'policy of procrastination', I'll keep my options open on this one for the time being.
BTW, I've just realised that I failed to give the model designation for the cleaner referenced simply as "this" at the top of my post. For completeness it's actually the Vax Rapide Classic Carpet Washer VO24A which had been priced at £69.99p in TJ's.
If the price difference between the manufacturer's rrp of some 120 quid has any meaningful basis, the 90 quid model aught to be a noticable improvement on the cheaper one but I know that isn't always as true as one might reasonably expect, hence my seeking advice in this news group.
I'd get a home machine, not hire. It makes no sense to not have a machine f or all those moments its needed, and its cheaper.
Re Vaxes, pressurised solution delivery is a must, and many lack it. Contra rotating brush bars help. TBH a carpet cleaner isnt worth getting something cheap & inadequate.
I also customise carpet cleaning solutions now, with far better results tha n just using vax aaa.
Thanks for the heads up on the 'pressurised solution delivery'. I'll be taking a closer look for this when checking the specs on any likely candidates.
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