Vactidy Blitz V8 Review
A cheap and basic vacuum cleaner.
Verdict
A relatively cheap cordless vacuum cleaner, the Vactidy Blitz V8 is simple to use, and I love its extendable wand. It’s not the most powerful cordless vacuum, struggling with some of my tests and not dealing very well with hair. If you have a plug-in cleaner already, this could be a good additional tool for smaller jobs; if you want a cordless for whole-home cleaning, look elsewhere.
Pros
- Good value
- Decent battery life
- Height adjustable
Cons
- Struggles on some floor types
- Not much suction power
Key Features
- TypeThis is a cordless stick vacuum cleaner with a height-adjustable wand.
- Battery lifeUp to 25 minutes is possible with this cleaner, although its relatively low power meant that I could clean a limited area.
- PowerA maximum of 42AW in my tests makes this one of the least powerful cordless vacuum cleaners that I have tested.
Introduction
If you baulk at the price of some cordless vacuum cleaners, the £120/$199 Vactidy Blitz V8 may be more up your street.
A stick cordless cleaner, with a motorised floor head and an extendable wand, this cheap vacuum certainly doesn’t cut back on features.
Performance in the right situation is alright, but anyone that needs something more powerful for deep cleaning may want to look elsewhere.
Design and features
- Removable battery
- Simple two-power control system
- Easy-to-empty bin
Externally, the Vactidy Blitz V8 looks similar to many other cordless stick vacuum cleaners. As a stick vacuum cleaner, accessories can connect directly to the body for handheld mode or connect to the wand for upright mode.
It’s nice that the wand is height adjustable, a feature that not many other cordless cleaners have. Adjusting the wand height is useful for both people of different heights and for storage, as the wand can be compacted down and put in a cupboard. There’s also a basic wall mount provided if you’d rather hang the vacuum cleaner.
I found the wand extends long enough for me to clean up around the top of my walls where they meet the ceiling. Although the Vactidy Blitz V8 weighs just 2.5kg, the weight is balanced so that the vacuum cleaner naturally points down.
Vactidy provides the basics in the box: there’s a motorised floor head, with LED headlamp, a crevice tool and a brush. There’s no mini motorised tool for dealing with pet hair; for that, you’ll want a more expensive model, such as the Hoover HF910P.
It’s a shame that there’s no tool storage onboard, nor a charging dock with storage. Instead, the tools will need to be kept loose in a cupboard.
Controls on this vacuum cleaner are simple. Squeeze the trigger at the back to turn the Vactidy Blitz V8 on in low power mode; squeeze again for high power mode; and squeeze once more to turn the cleaner off.
There’s no indication of which power mode the vacuum cleaner is in, so this all has to be done by listening out for the sound the cleaner makes.
Battery life is represented by three LEDs that extinguish one at a time. It’s enough to get a sense of how much power is left, but a far cry from the detailed display you get on the Dyson Gen5detect.
Charging the battery can be done while the battery is inserted or when it’s removed from the body. It all depends on where you’ve got a power plug, how much space you have, and what’s the most convenient option for you.
Dirt gets sucked up and into the large 1.1-litre bin. That’s a very good size, and is easily big enough to take dirt from a whole home clean. Although the bin can be emptied while still inserted in the vacuum, with the flap dropping downwards, it can also be removed entirely.
Once out, the top can be removed to give access to the washable HEPA filter, and the central filter pulled out so that the entire bin can be cleaned.
Performance
- Good performance on the right surface
- Struggles with tougher jobs
- Edge performance is basic
I start all of my vacuum cleaner reviews by measuring raw power at the handle in AirWatts, a combination of airflow and suction power. On the lowest setting, the Vactidy Blitz V8 managed just 23AW, upping to 42AW on the highest power setting. I measured the vacuum cleaner at the nozzle.
That’s not much power at all, and similar to the Beldray 2-in-1 Cordless Vacuum – most cordless vacuum cleaners are 70AW plus on the regular power setting, jumping to much higher levels on maximum. While power in AW isn’t a definitive measure of performance, it does have an impact on cleaning prowess, particularly when using handheld tools.
I put down a line of rice granules next to a tape measure. Placing the Vactidy Blitz V8 at the end of the line with the crevice tool attached, it could only suck up rice from a distance of 1.5cm. For picking up bigger spills, it’s going to take longer with this vacuum cleaner than a more powerful model.
For real-world performance, I started with my carpet test. I sprinkled 20g of flour onto the carpet. First, I moved the Vactidy Blitz V8 forwards and backwards through the middle of the mess on its regular power mode. Visually, It did quite well, although the fact that there’s not a clean line shows that suction drops off towards the edges of the cleaning head.
I upped power to maximum and then finished off the rest of the mess. A visual inspection shows that the cleaning is decent.
I weighed the Vactidy Blitz V8’s bin before and after vacuuming and found that 81.05% of the flour made it into the bin. The remaining mess was either in the floor head, stuck in the main vacuum or in the wand. That’s a slightly lower result than I’d hoped for.
Next, I sprinkled 10g of flour right up to the skirting board. As you can see from the before and after images below, a lot of flour was left behind, even after using the maximum power mode. According to my measurements, 77.5% of the dirt was collected; again, quite low.
Moving to the hard floor test, I sprinkled 20g of rice onto the floor. Here, the vacuum initially picked up everything, but when I turned it off, a lot of rice fell out. That meant that only 82.95% of the rice made it to the bin – a good vacuum should be able to get 100% of this mess (or very close to that).
I combed cat hair into my test carpet and then ran the vacuum cleaner over this. Although most of the pet hair was collected, there were a few strands left over.
Moving to my human hair test, I sprinkled strands of hair over the carpet and then vacuumed it up. This resulted in the hair getting tangled around the brush bar. If you have pets or lots of people with long hair, a vacuum cleaner with an anti-tangle head, such as the Shark Stratos IZ420UKT, would be a better bet.
In terms of noise, I measured the vacuum cleaner at 71.3dB on its lowest setting and 74.8dB on its highest setting. That’s in-line with other cordless vacuum cleaners that I have tested.
Battery life tops out at 24m 27s on low power, reducing to 19m 21s on high power, both measured with the motorised floor brush. That’s good in terms of length, although the relatively low power does mean that areas need to be covered multiple times to collect everything. I didn’t have enough power to fully clean my entire house on this basis.
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Should you buy it?
You want a cheap cordless as a backup:
If you have a powerful plug-in for most jobs and want a simple, cheap cordless vacuum cleaner this could work for you.
You want more power and the ability to deal with hair:
For whole-home cleaning or bigger spills there are better cordless vacuum cleaners.
Final Thoughts
A lot cheaper than much of the competition, the Vactidy Blitz V8 doesn’t quite have the power or performance to act as a vacuum cleaner for entire home cleaning. It also struggled with my pet hair and human hair tests. If you’re looking for a cordless vacuum cleaner for entire home cleaning, I’d look at one of my best cordless vacuum cleaners.
If you have a plug-in vacuum cleaner that you’re happy with at the moment, and only need a cheap cordless for backup and quick jobs, then this one will do the job.
How we test
We test every vacuum cleaner we review thoroughly over an extended period of time. We use industry standard tests to compare features properly. We’ll always tell you what we find. We never, ever, accept money to review a product.
Find out more about how we test in our ethics policy.
Used as our main vacuum cleaner for the review period
Tested for at least a week
Tested using tools to measure actual suction performance
Tested with real-world dirt in real-world situations for fair comparisons with other vacuum cleaners
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FAQs
Yes, the battery can be removed. There’s one provided in the box.
There’s a slider that lets you adjust the wand’s length for storage or to make it more comfortable to use.
Full specs
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Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
