VacTidy Blitz V8 Pro review: powerful suction on a low budget

The VacTidy Blitz V8 Pro is a cordless stick vacuum designed for the budget end of the market, which means that if you buy, you will have to accept some compromises. The parts do not have this reassuring robustness and the bin emptying movement is not very fluid. This is not a product to buy for life.

That being said, it sucks really well and, given its very attractive price, we’d consider it a great buy if it weren’t for a little quirk of its design.

Let’s take a closer look.

Design and build

• Replacement filter
• Telescopic wand
• Wall dock

For your money you will get a telescopic wand, a vacuum head with a very fluffy spiral brush, the motor bin, the battery handle, the charger, a crevice tool and dust brush, a wall dock and a replacement filter, as well as with the manual and warranty.

The telescopic metal wand is an electric Tyrian purple that extends from 41cm to 65cm, making the V8 much easier to store than most vacuum cleaners. The opaque black plastic vacuum head gives you a 20cm suction opening and features four LED lights on the front for illuminated vacuuming. The body contains both the motor and a 1.2 liter dustbin that has a spring-loaded lid that opens to allow you to empty the dust.

The handle contains the 6-cell 2,200 mAh lithium battery and the control panel which includes the power button, a button to switch between normal and maximum suction and the battery level indicator. As you might expect given its price, there’s no fancy LCD information screen with the V8 Pro.

The crevice tool is 9 inches long from socket to angled tip, and the dusting tool adjusts from a narrow oval opening to a dusting brush by means of a spring-loaded purple button on top . The charger includes a cable built into a barrel jack, and the dock, which must be screwed to the wall for use, contains both the vacuum stick and the two accessories.

You can tell right off the bat that the Blitz V8 is a budget model. It’s very lightweight, the smell is very plasticky when you first unbox it and use it, and the construction itself is pretty basic.

Performance and Features

• 2.5 hour charge time
• 35 minute run time
• Four-stage sealed HEPA filtration

The V8 Pro is simple to set up. Charge the battery for 2.5 hours via a socket located at the base of the handle, whether or not attached to the vacuum. The telescoping wand means it’s easier to load the entire vacuum in one location as it shrinks to a smaller size than a typical stick. empty.

Then place the wand into the swivel head, the wand into the bottom of the motor tray and attach the battery handle to the motor tray. This last action requires a little attention; you have to insert an internal bar on the handle into a hook on the surface of the dust cup before pushing the rest of the handle onto the motor, but when you’ve done it once it’s very simple.

All you have to do is press the power button. This will start suction in normal mode. You can press it again for maximum mode and then again to turn off the V8 Pro completely.

VacTidy claims you’ll get 35 minutes of runtime from a full battery, and we think that’s about accurate, if not a little conservative.

And the suction is good. The V8 Pro has excellent suction settings, meaning it only needs to touch the end of a strand of hair to a hard floor to clean it. It also works well on carpets, although you don’t get that deep filament brushing action that you find with a luxury carpet accessory.

While the swivel head’s LED lights only illuminate about 4cm in front of the swivel head, the head itself features a 180-degree rotating joint, so maneuvering the head from left to right is a breeze. ‘child.

There is, in our opinion, only one thing that lets the V8 Pro down: the click plate that allows the wand to attach at 90 degrees to the head. On the one hand, this is a smart feature, because one of the most common problems with a cordless stick vacuum is that unless you hang it on a wall mount, you can’t hold it standing nowhere. If you lean a conventional stick vacuum against a wall, the head simply skates across the floor and drags the wand, battery, bin, and handle with it.

The V8 Pro’s stand-up function works by simply bringing the head at a 90-degree angle toward a plate on the front of the wand where it snaps into place and stays in place. But if you vacuum your entire house regularly, you might already be able to see the problem here.

Vacuuming a large area of ​​floor inevitably means a pushing and pulling motion, incorporating turns. This means that the wand can go from almost level with the vacuum head to an angle of, say, 80 degrees to the vacuum head. The problem with the V8 Pro is that if the wand comes within about 80 degrees of the head, it catches on the plate. So when you then move forward, the vacuum head no longer runs along the floor but gets stuck at around 20 degrees. corner.

The only way to fix this while vacuuming is to push the head down with your hand or foot, which can get a little annoying, especially when you’re distracted and haven’t noticed it immediately. If the wand is fully extended, the problem occurs more.

Alex Greenwood / Foundry

Alex Greenwood / Foundry

Alex Greenwood / Foundry

That said, this problem might go away with time – we were testing a completely new model – but we can’t help but think that the vacuum head would need to be a little heavier and the vertical plate a little higher on the magic wand.

The HEPA filter also seems very good and is said to capture 99.99% of dust particles. Emptying the bin is also easy. Simply hold the trash can over the trash and open the lid.

Another thing to mention about the V8 Pro is that the lightweight nature of the vacuum means that it doesn’t put any strain on your hand or forearm when vacuuming. There’s also no power trigger (you turn it on via a button on the battery grip), so you don’t get that tension between your index finger, thumb, and forearm, which which can lead to pain the next day.

Pricing and availability

Its affordable price is one of the main selling points of the VacTidy Blitz V8 Pro. If you are in the US, its MSRP is $199 and you can buy it for that price from VacTidy. But if you are planning to buy it, get it from Amazon where it is currently available for $99.99.

In the UK you can buy it from Amazon for just £79.20 at the time of writing. Considering how aspirational it is, that’s a great price and we think the trade-offs are worth it.

Should you buy the VacTidy Blitz V8 Pro?

The V8 Pro is a budget-friendly cordless stick vacuum that is a great buy. It is lightweight, has excellent suction and its telescopic wand makes it easy to store. But that’s aside from the odd standing position that sometimes causes the suction head to tilt. That’s the only thing that separates this void from a four-star rating.

We like to recommend very sturdy vacuums that will last a long time, but if you need a vacuum and money is tight, this is a good option.

Not the vacuum cleaner you need? To see our best vacuum cleaner recommendations, take a look at our roundup of the best vacuum cleaners we’ve tested.