Vax ONEPWR Edge Dual Pet and Car Review
A neat cordless vacuum that replaces an upright
Verdict
The Vax ONEPWR Edge Dual Pet & Car neatly apes a regular upright vacuum cleaner but in a cordless form. It comes with a good range of accessories in the box, although if you buy direct you’ll receive a pack of useful additions for free.
This vacuum cleaner is a solid mid-ranger: it picks up everyday mess without a problem, although you may need to resort to the higher power Boost mode for bigger spills. Fortunately, there are two batteries in the box, delivering well over an hour of cleaning time on the Standard setting.
Complaints are minor: there’s only storage on board for one accessory, plus there’s no wand. As such, you may have to bend down to use the tools.
Pros
- Dual batteries
- Good range of accessories
- Simple to use
Cons
- No wand
- Won’t fit under low furniture
Availability
- UKRRP: £399.99
Key Features
- TypeThis is an upright cordless vacuum cleaner
- Battery lifeExpect around an hour of cleaning while using the powered floor head and both batteries
Introduction
Using the same ONEPWR range of batteries as the rest of the lineup, which includes vacuum cleaners and spot cleaners, the Vax ONEPWR Edge Dual Pet & Car is a cordless vacuum cleaner that sports a standard upright design. It’s simple to use and comes with a decent selection of accessories – in particular, if you buy direct – but there are some slightly more flexible alternatives available.
Design and Features
- Stands up by itself
- No wand to use with tools
- Dual batteries
If you want the usability of a standard upright but without the inconvenience of a cable, the Vax ONEPWR Edge Dual Pet & Car could well be of interest. Externally, this vacuum cleaner looks like a regular upright vacuum.
At 5.2kg, it’s a heavier cordless than rival cleaners, but this isn’t really an issue since the Vax ONEPWR Edge Dual Pet & Car will spend most of its time being pushed around on its wheels.
Vax has designed this vacuum cleaner in a way that makes it convenient and easy to use. First, the controls are positioned on top of the main handle, so they’re within easy reach of the user’s thumb. There’s a button to turn on the vacuum (it starts up in Standard power mode), a Boost button for maximum power, and Hard Floor and Carpet buttons that adjust the roller speed to suit the floor type.
WIth the vacuum cleaner on, I simply had to tilt back the handle to engage the rollers, pushing the Vax ONEPWR Edge Dual Pet & Car around like any regular cleaner. It’s nimble and easy to move around furniture, but the large bin on the front means that might not be able to get the vacuum under certain bits of furniture.
The Lift-Away mode on the Shark ICZ300UKT lets you remove the main cylinder, leaving just the floor head on a wand, which allows you to get under pretty much any item of furniture.
Vax enlists its VersaClean floor head here, which has stiff bristles for agitating carpet and a soft roller for picking up dirt from hard floors. I’m a fan of such floor heads, since it means I don’t have to switch heads when moving between different floor types.
The bristles are coated with an antimicrobial coating, designed to kill bacteria and fungi, which is particularly important for pet owners. It’s the same technology found included in the company’s ONEPWR Blade 4 Pet vacuum cleaner.
For detail work, the hose can be removed from the vacuum cleaner and used with the provided tools. These include a dusting brush, crevice tool and mini-motorised pet brush, which is great for sucking hair off sofas. I have a slight preference for upright cleaners that have a wand and hose, as the wand delivers extra reach.
With just the hose, I had to bend down to clean around the edge of the room with the crevice tool. I could stretch the hose out to 180cm and, combined with the neat extendible crevice tool, I could reach the top of the walls in the testing lab, to clean close to the ceiling. However, in a home with higher ceilings, this wouldn’t be possible.
I did find the vacuum cleaner to be just the right weight for using the hose, though. The unit stands unaided, and even with the hose stretched to the maximum, the vacuum cleaner didn’t move or fall over.
The vacuum cleaner itself has provision to store one tool. A little more space dedicated to carrying further add-ons would have been welcome.
Even more so when you consider that if you buy direct, you receive the additional accessory kit. This comes with a Tech Tool for cleaning keyboards and touchscreens; a Tough Dirt attachment, which attaches to the Textile Tool for upholstery; a Radiator Tool; and a High Angle Tool, which makes it easier to clean in hard-to-reach places, such as above cupboards or under fridge freezers.
Similar to a regular upright cleaner, the Vax ONEPWR Edge Dual Pet & Car has a large 1.5-litre dust bin, which lifts out of the front of the vacuum. An eject button opens the bottom flap, although I found this very stiff to start, having to pull open the bottom. After a few goes, the system opened automatically when the button was pressed.
The bin’s top opens, too, allowing the entire central cylinder to pull out for cleaning, along with the filter on top. Plus, there’s a secondary, post motor filter at the rear of the vacuum cleaner.
You’ll find two 4Ah batteries in the box and a single charger. Batteries slide out of the bottom of the cleaner and are easy to switch over. Plus, you can use the batteries in any other ONEPWR device, such as the ONEPWR Glide hard floor cleaner or ONEPWR Spotless Go spot cleaner.
Performance
- A few sweeps required for tough spills
- Solid suction power
- Edge performance could be better
I put the Vax ONEPWR Edge Dual Pet & Car onto my test rig to measure its power at the hose in AirWatts. I found that it delivered 42AW on Standard power, jumping to a more powerful 148AW on Boost. The low power setting is about average for a cordless cleaner, and most vacuums on their standard mode come in around this level.
On Boost, the power level is good, but a little behind more recent rivals, such as the Dyson V12 Detect Slim Absolute and Shark ICZ300UKT.
Of course, it isn’t only a vacuum’s raw power that counts; its ability to clean properly is equally important. To test this area of the Vax ONEPWR Edge Dual Pet & Car’s performance, I ran through my usual real-world tests. First, I sprinkled a teaspoon of flour onto the floor and gave the vacuum a forward and backward pass through the centre of the mess in the Standard power mode, with the floor head set to Carpet mode.
Most of the mess was collected, although a trace of dust was left to the side of the floor head.
I then ran over the rest of the mess in Boost mode, which delivered better results, clearing everything. Overall, the Vax ONEPWR Edge Dual Pet & Car puts in a decent mid-range shift, with a few more sweeps required over the best vacuum cleaners.
Next, I sprinkled flour right to the edge of my carpet tiles, then ran the vacuum cleaner down the skirting board. On Standard power, the results weren’t great, the vacuum leaving a fair amount of dust behind.
Switching to Boost mode, pickup improved, but there were still traces remaining. The best vacuum cleaners (both cordless and plug-in models) can remove everything right to the edge of the room.
Moving on to the pet hair test, I combed cat hair into my test carpet. This time, the Vax ONEPWR Edge Dual Pet & Car collected everything in a single pass in Standard mode.
It was a similar result with the hard floor test, where the Vax ONEPWR Edge Dual Pet & Car collected my spilt rice without dropping any grains back onto the floor.
Battery life is quoted at up to 50 minutes here. I tested the Vax ONEPWR Edge Dual Pet & Car with the floor head set to Carpet mode, and on Standard power, the vacuum cleaner lasted a reasonable 30mins 18secs. However, this this dropped to just 11 minutes on the Boost power mode. I recommend using that mode only when you need it.
With the two batteries combined, the Vax delivers over an hour of cleaning power. Although this vacuum cleaner requires a few more swipes to pick up tougher piles of dirt than the best, a full hour of cleaning was sufficient to tackle my entire terraced house.
I did find this vacuum cleaner quite loud, however: 74.6dB on Standard mode and 78.3dB on Boost. It’s the level of noise that will see you glad once the cleaning is completed and you can turn the vacuum cleaner off.
Latest deals
Should you buy it?
If you want an upright without a plug, a great choice of tools and long-lasting runtimes, then this is a great vacuum cleaner.
If you want more power or a cleaner with a wand, so you can use tools without having to bend down, look elsewhere.
Final Thoughts
Nicely designed and easy to use, the Vax ONEPWR Edge Dual Pet & Car neatly replaces a plug-in upright vacuum cleaner.
At this price, the main competition is the Shark ICZ300UKT. That vacuum cleaner costs around the same, offers similar performance, although it has only a single battery in the box. However, the main benefit of the ICZ300UK is its Lift-Away mode, which makes it easier to clean under furniture with the floor head.
That said, the Vax ONEPWR Edge Dual Pet & Car has two batteries for longer-lasting cleaning, and a better range of accessories, particularly if you buy direct and get the free cleaning kit. If it’s range of tools and longer-lasting runtimes that are a priority, then the Vax is a great choice. If you’d rather go for a more traditional stick cleaner, check out my guide to the best cordless vacuum cleaners.
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
You might like…
FAQs
Battery life is up to 50 minutes per battery, but I found it was closer to 30 minutes with the floor head turned on.
You can use the batteries here (and vice versa) with any Vax ONEPWR tool.
Full specs
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.
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.
