Well, I had to have one in the end, and having not bought a new vac for a while I went out and bought 3 in the last few days. Having seen the new Zoom range in the Argos book, and the lovely colours they come in, I decided to go for the Pink one, as I don't have any Pink vacs yet.

Its not a bad vac and seems well made for the price paid of £69.99.

I wanted a couple of examples of budget bagless vacs for the collection and this one uses the same filtration method used in the Vax Power canister range - ie an inner cyclone that throws the dirt out into the main container.

I was also surprised that its quite quiet in use and even has a soft start motor which not many sub £100 uprights have these days.

It picks up well, but is slightly heavy to push along due to the suction power at the main head. This has a 1800W motor and 260 Air watts. I'm quite impressed with it for the price, and although the Zoom gets a few negative reviews on Argos website, I'm going to reserve judgement till its been used  few months and I've seen how often the top filter gets clogged.

Here it is anyway - the front view:

Side view:

The base of the vac shows a good brushroll with stiff bristles which make a good job of brushing the pile, but the selector dial needs to be on the lowest setting for short pile carpets. It is no harder to push than a Turbopower or an old type Kirby without tech drive, but nevertheless it does take some effort to push when going against the pile of the carpet. Brushroll view:

Showing the washable Hepa top filter, which is a thick sponge filter much like the Mach Air range and Power 5,6 and 7 Canister range

The dirt enters the main cylinder at the top and then gets directed into a small cyclone chamber (Primary Separator) from the bottom, where there is a perforated central suction shroud in the centre. The dirt then spins round this chamber and exits at the top of it where it gets flung out into the main canister, and out of the main airstream. Only the finer dust will get sucked into the shroud and then get captured by the top filter above the shroud. This design of separator was first seen on the Vax Power canister range, and whilst only a single cyclonic, its actually fairly effective, but not as effective as a multi-cyclone setup - meaning that the top filter will need washing more often.

The canister lid features a bypass valve that opens and makes a loud noise should the airflow be impeded to much by a clogged filter - this also helps to ensure that the motor gets some airflow for cooling and lets the user know that the filter is clogged:

Here is the exhaust filter which is also a sponge filter, but a thick one that seems to silence the motor quite well. It makes a good sound and with soft start sounds like a Miele at startup:

The rear view showing the stretch hose which stretches to about 3 metres. Not bad quality and it uses the removeable handle as an extension wand. The hose locks into the end of the handle better than  the Mach air 3 models by pushing in and twisting like a bayonet fitting.

It has the standard combi crevice tool but this does not store on the vac however.

The cord is 8 Metres which is not bad for a £70 budget vac - but the cord does exit from the base and there is no cord hook on the top of the handle either, so the cord is best put round the front of the handle when in use. This is a real gripe of mine that Vax and Hoover still insist on putting the cord exit at the base of the machine instead of on the handle like Sebo and Miele do.

Of course, you can run the cable up the back and secure it on the cord hook (If the vac has one), but this means losing a metre of flex and on a machine with only 6 metres of cable this is a pain.

The On/Off switch is mounted on top of the bin housing and operates the main switch in the bas of the vac by means of an internal pushrod - this method is also used on the Vax Mach Air3 Agile and the Vax Mach 9 uprights.

The pictures in the Argos book or on the website don't do it much justice - it looks really good in the flesh and the pink colour is very vivid, so its not really a good choice for a straight bloke to use lol.

The box says its for "busy mums" so this vac is clearly aimed at women, but with it being a bit on the heavy side to push along, a good many women might think that this is a drawback, and raise the head too high to make it easier to push, but then it reduces the performance.

I think the best feature is the motor soft start and gentle speed up to full power - that's gonna help preserve the carbon brushes and the motor in general.

The handle also features an extension tube in pink built into the inside of it that you pull out.

A great cleaner and very cool colour. The green one is cool too, and they also come in royal blue and in purple.

Many reviewers comment on the shoddy manufacture of the Zoom range, and this is really something that Vax will need to get sorted, or more people will not buy a Vax again. Silly things like pivot joints too stiff and quality control issues, but get a good one and this vac is recommended by me!

The packaging "For busy mums":

Showing the power switch on top of the canister housing:

Showing the handle removed from the machine with the extension in pink inside it:

Here we see the hose cuff inserted into the handle end and secured by twisting it to engage the securing lug, so that the hose doesn't get pulled off easily like on the Vax Mach Air and Air3 range. A much better idea Vax - I'm liking it!

And here we see the whole wand and extension attached with the turbo tool on the end. A very good design this is and hats off to vax for improving the Air and air 3 design which was very poor in my opinon:

The turbo tool even has the lint pickers on it. This is the only turbo tool I have seen to include these (and I have quite a few turbo tools lol)

I see from another thread you were thinking of getting one of these anyway - does this review help you decide? Its also no harder to push than the Turbopower multi-cyclonic ( I have one of these as well) but considerably cheaper, although its not multi-cyclonic. Even so, the top filter is the only filter you need to wash - just as in the Hoover Turbopower.

Yes Dan - I know, but you know how it is, when that nagging feeling wont go away, and I was intrigued by the zoom as well, as there's not much info on it on the net, as its a fairly new model and only available from Argos as well. It was a toss up between the apple green model or the blancmange pink one, and I got some funny looks in Argos as well when I carried the cleaner away from the counter. I bet Elton John and Julian Clary have got pink vacuums lol

I just love different looking vacs, and even bought a Henry in yellow, just to be different, as they are much less common than red Henrys.

A pink vac will always be a talking point, and in the future, it will be more in demand than a bog standard boring coloured vac. That's one reason why I liked early Dysons, which came in lurid colours - especially the deStijl models, and I think Dysons nowadays are a bit bland and non-descript. Look how sought after the DC02 and DC03 Clear models are now - mainly because of the colour schemes used.

The Pink Zoom in my opinion is the best one of the bunch, with the green one second best, and I may even get a green one too, as they are a good price.

I was going to get that TOL Ultra One in brown with the power nozzle but after reading reviews that it was not very reliable and the fact that the remote handle sends spurious signals to the main unit to keep switching itself off, I have decided against it. The problem with power nozzles is that they use a cable that runs the length of the hose, and then have the connections down the adjustable wand that develop faults. They are nice when new, but do seem to be very expensive to put right when they go wrong.

This may be one reason why Miele discontinued the Revolution models in the UK - they were expensive and also expensive to replace the hoses on if the internal wiring to the power nozzle got damaged.

The other model that didn't get a good write up was the Wertheim, and that's a very badly made vac, so steer clear of them as well.

Having used the Zoom every other day since buying it, I have still been impressed with it.

The issue with the effort required to push it around can be solved by lifting the head to the position in between the lowest and second lowest mark on the dial:

The bin is massive on this model and as it gets used, the dirt mainly goes into the bin rather than the filter - you can see how it sticks to the exterior of the primary separator:

It has a fairly efficient separator, so that the only dirt to reach the filter is the very fine dust, and a few hairs from the cat. Suction has not fallen at all, even though the filter has started to show a build up of dust. I would think that the best idea with this model would be to clean the filter after every bin empty, even though Vax recommend to do it after every 3 months - this all depends on how much and how often the vac gets used.

Filter and housing:

Much of the heavy dirt falls to the bottom of the large canister, and simply spins round the base when in operation. This is very impressive for a single cyclone model, and knocks many multi-cyclone models into a cocked hat when you look at the space for the dirt in this canister compared to a multi-cyclonic one where most of the bin is taken up with the cyclone assembly so leaving hardly any room for the dirt itself.

I do find though that when using the turbo tool, the hose is under a lot of vacuum, so tends to recoil and be hard to stretch out - much like the Dyson models. Because the brush roll turns all the time, if I pull on the hose too much, the vac head pulls down at the front and can leave a scorch mark on the carpet - even with the brushes in the highest position. This happens with the Sebo X4  as well, so its best to hold the handle of the vac when using the tools for upholstery, and make sure that the brushroll does not scorch the carpet.

All in all though - I'm very impressed with this cheap vac and its a lot better than the old Power model series uprights.

Another point - an earlier post talked about the power rating of the Zoom. The range has 4 models, and they have different power ratings, The Green base model and the pink Pet model use 1800W motors, the purple "Reach" model uses a 2000W motor, and the range topping blue "Pets and Family" model uses a 2100W motor developing 300AW.

I don't know why Vax decided top use differing motor power for the various models, but I'd imagine that the 2100W motor would make the blue model very hard to push round on a carpet if the height selector was in the wrong position.

With this range of vacs, the key is in the height selector - even though there are no markings on it in the intermediate positions, you can still use them - they are midway between the markings, as shown on my above picture.

The Head is a sealed suction type with no bleed paths, so full suction power is drawn through the carpet - this means that head height is critical - too low and the vac will be very hard to push, and too high will make it easy to push but will considerably reduce performance. The midway positions are better for short pile carpet.

I was quite amazed at the way it does sound when in operation. When you turn it on, it starts off slowly then ramps up smoothly to full power - known as "soft start". This feature is normally only found on premium brands like Miele, who use it on most of their models. It saves wear on the motor and carbon brushes and cuts out the initial bright sparking of the brushes on the commutator, found on motors that don't use the soft start feature. On the Air3 Agile, the motor goes to full power as soon as its switched on, and you can observe 2 bright flashes from the brushes through the casing on immediate startup.

The Vax Zoom seems to sound like a flymo hover mower when running, a very different sound than I am used to for a budget vac.

Its not too loud either and quite a pleasant sound, without the high pitched scream of the Dyson DC07.

When lifting the front off the ground, you do get a rattle from the pile adjustment wheels, but otherwise its a very nice sounding vac. What also helps is that the exhaust filter is a thick round foam pad, that helps absorb motor noise, like a car exhaust silencer.

Compared to the Hoover whirlwind, this is a lot quieter. It is not as quiet as the Vax Mach Air though - you have to remember that the Mach Air uses a 1200W motor, so obviously it will run quieter. However, normally the Mach Air is much dearer to buy than the Zoom, and uses twin motors for brush and suction.

I have written my assessment on the Zoom based on the fact that it is one of the cheapest uprights that Argos sells, and for its price, its very good value.

The soft start feature is available on more cylinder vacs I agree, but on uprights, its quite rare to find, even the Sebo X4 doesn't have it, while the Miele S7 does.

Remember that many cylinder vacs have power adjustment dials, and electronic motor speed control, so are able to include soft start. The Power 6 cylinder I have also has soft start, and electronic motor speed control.

I was really talking about soft start on uprights, as the Zoom and the S7 are the only 2 uprights I have that have it fitted. All the other uprights I have start up straight away on immediate full power, the only exceptions being the Sanyo, and the Electrolux 560, which have a speed selector control.

The top filter on the Zoom does get dusty quicker than  a Dyson multi-cyclone, yes, but what great hardship is it to wash it in the sink each time the bin gets emptied and leave it to dry for 24 hours? You could even get a spare filter kit so you can still use the vac while the filter is drying. There is no hard and fast rule that says that you even have to wash it every empty - you can whack it on the inside of the bin to get rid of the dust, and maybe wash it once a month.

Either way, you are paying a very small amount of money for a nice vac, but the reason it is cheap is because you still need to help the vac out by cleaning its filter more often than on a Dyson - but for the luxury of not having to wash the filter each month, you pay 5 times more for the privilege.

Nowadays, most bagless vacs incorporate some kind of blockage relief valve, which sucks air in if the filter is clogged to a serious extent, and this makes a noise, so in effect it lets the user know there is a blockage, and allows the motor some cooling air through flow.

The DC41 is a VERY overpriced vacuum, I went to see one in Currys, and had a play with it. I think the handle and spine is very flimsy and pliable - because Dysons no longer use metal poles like on the DC07 and DC14, there is no strength in the spine of the cleaner and that's why its so weak. I think more of the body is made of this type of plastic now as the old type of ABS they used to use to make Dysons was brittle and fragile, but at least it was sturdy. The DC07 was a fantastically sturdy vac and very strong, but did suffer when older from plastic bits snapping off. The pre-motor filter on newer Dysons - especially the smaller ones seems to need more frequent cleaning too; on the DC07 they said clean it every 6 months, but on the DC24 I'm sure its every month, so it seems a backward step.

Dysons ARE fashion accessories, Vax Zoom's are cheap and cheerful couple of year workers. but for those who appreciate REAL quality, that lasts and lasts and lasts then its got to be a Kirby - second hand they are a bargain, and its not unusual for them to still be working after 30 years of hard work. How many Dysons could boast a 30 year life span? Yes - Kirbys are expensive too - but when you work out the cost over 20 years, and buy one second hand for say, £200 - £400, that's £20 a year, plus bags and belts and the occasional brushroll and motor carbons. This one is 32 years old and does a better job of cleaning carpets than a Dyson DC41:

I have to say that the Zoom is quite well built for a cheapo Vax - surprisingly better than the old Power series uprights and Centrix etc, which were a bag of **** !

The real beauty of the Zoom is that the canister is so easy to take apart, and the swirl chamber just pulls out of the top for total cleaning - it will never smell, unlike a Dyson, who say that you cant immerse the cyclone assembly in water or clean it, so that the inner cyclone assembly gets caked in smelly dirt, just like this one:

I don't think some people realise that when they empty the bin on a Dyson, all this crap stays behind, to smell and fester in the cyclone assembly!

Well, after a month on trial, using once every 2 days, I can now point out the pros and cons of the Vax Zoom.

Pros:

The Zoom is a very good budget vac in my opinion, which cleans very well indeed and has a good hose and handle extension.

It has very powerful suction which did not appear to diminish much at all during the gradual filling of the dust container, which I allowed to fill to the MAX line over the space of a month's use.

It is easy to push as long as the height adjustment is set correctly.

It is reasonably well made and I would imagine it would last a few years if used correctly.

The range come in good colour schemes.

The filter is easy to wash out and the primary separator assembly simply pulls out of the bin for easy washing.

The vac is not heavy and is easy to carry.

It has motor soft start and is not overly noisy in use.

It has a longer than average cable for its price point, and this has adequate stowage space on the back of the vac.

Cons:

The lint picker strips on the turbo tool came to bits over the first month of use and had to be pulled off (quality control issue).

The vac does not sit high enough off the ground when using the hose and tools to keep the brushroll from contacting carpet as the vac moves due to the hose being pulled (Design flaw)

The handle does need some kind of rubberised hand grip on it to make it more comfortable to use. (Design flaw)

The vac does not have a storage place built on for the multi tool. (but it does include one for the turbo tool). (Design flaw)

The exhaust filter does emit some very fine black dust which is evident on the bottom of the dust container after a month's use. (Exhaust filter foam insufficient?)

The belt is not easily accessible requiring tools and removal of many screws to replace it. (Bad design)

Filters are very expensive at £19.99 for the filter pack from Vax, although they are washable, they will need replacing eventually. (Corporate greed)

Final Score:

So, overall, it does have a few design flaws and the odd poor quality issue on the turbo tool which have come to light since buying it, but on the whole, I still like this vac and would be happy to give it an overall score of 8/10 based on the sub £100 price point.

Yes, I would buy one again, and I would recommend them to anyone except the elderly as I think with the colour schemes used these are intended for the younger generation. Also, I think the elderly would struggle to replace a drivebelt due to the complexity of dismantling the base to get to it.

I do think though that Vax seriously need to re-consider the price of the pre-motor filters as they are just not worth £20.