Vax VZL-702-U Ultima Bagless Vacuum

I`ve had one of these for seven years now and it has provided excellent service throughout, those that have borrowed it have brought it back impressed saying their converted!

The U (Ultima) variant just means this has the full set of tools (five tools including a turbobrush & turbotool) and is red in colour, other models in the series are VZL-702, VZL-704, VZL-7022 and VZL-7022P & I believe all parts are fully interchangeable.

The hoover provides excellent suction though the dust box does require emptying often as it has a fairly low capacity. Emptying is also a little messy. To prevent overheating (and motor burn-out) this has an integral air valve, when suction is blocked or dust box too full or filters clogged a valve auto-opens reducing the suction, if the valve is not closing fix the aforementioned causes.

You must clean the filters periodically (I do every 6 months or so) and after 7 years I`ve just replaced mine (part number 1-9-127613-00 currently £15) which is definitely cheaper than buying bags, plus my old filters were actually still quite usable.

My machine used to have a problem with the rear HEPA filter cover blowing off for which there are a number of solutions, however I have now replaced the cover with part 1-3-126872-03 (£5 or free for machines under 2 years old) which is a much tighter fit than the old and fixes the issue, the only disappointment being the new cover is grey instead of red.

An excellent machine that with proper maintenance just keeps going.