VAX Platinum SmartWash Pet-Design Review
A carpet cleaner that's tough on pet stains
Verdict
Taking everything that was great about the original but adding a new spray wand for pet anti-odour formula, the VAX Platinum SmartWash Pet-Design is a great carpet and upholstery cleaner for pet owners. Its smart automatic dosing and powerful performance makes sure that this deals with any stain with ease.
Pros
- Separate detergent tank
- Powerful cleaning
- Useful collection of handheld tools
Cons
- Loud
Availability
- UKRRP: £345.99
Key Features
- Cleaner typeThis is an upright carpet cleaner with additional handheld tools for spot cleaning.
- DetergentUses a separate detergent tank, mixing with fresh water automatically to get the best results with the least wastage.
Introduction
The original VAX Platinum SmartWash is one of the best and most powerful carpet cleaners that I’ve reviewed.
The new VAX Platinum SmartWash Pet-Design builds on this with a removable sprayer handle, designed to target pet messes with pet stain and odour-remover. This makes it ideal for homes with (messy) pets, but those without may prefer the standard version, which cleans regular stains just as well.
Design and features
- Keeps detergent separate
- Auto-doses
- Removable spray handle for dealing with pet stains
As with the standard version, the VAX Platinum SmartWash Pet-Design is a beast of a carpet cleaner. At 1070 x 325 x 480mm and weighing 8.95kg, it’s a very large carpet cleaner, designed for the biggest jobs.
This model has three tanks. There’s the 3.5-litre clean water tank, which is simply lifted from the front of the carpet cleaner and is filled with warm water.
Next, is the 1.9-litre dirty water tank, which sits at the bottom. This has a float inside it that shuts off when the tank is full. I found, as on the standard model, that when this tank is almost full, knocking the machine can cause the float to close. Turning the VAX Platinum SmartWash Pet-Design off and then back on tends to clear this.
Even so, the disparity between the top and bottom tanks meant that I had to empty the bottom tank roughly twice for each full clean water tank.
The final tank is for concentrated detergent. Vax provides two 250ml bottles of its Platinum Antibacterial Carpet Cleaning solution in the box. It works out cheapest to replace this in bulk, with a 4.5-litre bottle costing £44.99.
Keeping the detergent separate from the water is a really good idea. As the VAX Platinum SmartWash Pet-Design automatically mixes the detergent with water as you clean, this setup meant that I only ever used the exact right amount of cleaning solution.
Once a clean has been completed, any unused detergent should be decanted back into a bottle, and the tank cleaned out.
The main difference between this model and the standard edition is that here, the handle lifts out. This handle takes a smaller tank, designed to hold the Vax Pet Stain & Odour remover (250ml is provided in the box). Replacements cost £13 for one-litre.
This tool is designed to tackle pet stains directly, neutralising odours, rather than masking them. As well as making your house smell nicer, this kind of treatment can help stop pets from messing in the same area again.
It runs on two AAA batteries (provided). Shooting out a stream of liquid, this tool makes it easier to target a pet stain than when using a traditional spray bottle.
Using the VAX Platinum SmartWash Pet-Design is beautifully simple. Just turn it on and push it forwards and the front lights up, telling you that water and detergent are being dispensed onto the carpet; pull the cleaner back, and it goes into dry mode, sucking up water.
I really like an auto-dosing machine, as it takes the guesswork out of how long to leave a trigger depressed for. The only other carpet cleaner that I’ve seen with this kind of tech is the Tineco Carpet One Pro, which also has a sensor that shows how clean the floor is. The Carpet One Pro is a lot more expensive than the VAX Platinum SmartWash Pet-Design, though.
Once I’d finished cleaning, the VAX Platinum SmartWash Pet-Design has a Dry only mode, which uses suction to pull water out of carpets, so that they dry naturally faster.
I found it best to keep going while I could see moisture being sucked up through the clear floor head.
Inside the floor head are two floor brushes, which have an antimicrobial coating that prevents anything nasty from growing on them after cleaning. It’s the same tech as used on the Vax ONEPWR Blade 5 cordless vacuum cleaner.
For spot cleaning, either to tackle a tough stain or for the likes of a sofa, there’s a 2.5m hose with a selection of attachments: the manual 2-in-1 antimicrobial wash tool (with a brush and a rubber pet tool), and the SpinScrub, which rotates automatically, agitating dirt.
All of the hand tools use a manual sprayer, so a stain can be thoroughly covered by cleaning detergent.
At the end of cleaning, everything needs to be cleaned up. Vax makes this easy, as the two brushes can be removed from the front for rinsing, allowing the entire floor head to be wiped clean.
I did find that carpet fibres could get trapped in the clear cover’s water channel, but a hot tap was always enough to rinse everything through. The dirty water tank is easy to wash out, too.
Performance
- Tackles tough stains easily
- Handheld tools give flexibility
- Brings out the best in carpets
As with the VAX Platinum SmartWash, the Pet-Design version cleans brilliantly and easily. Using it on an old rug, which had become quite grubby, I ended up with two tanks of dark black water and a clean-looking and smelling carpet at the end.
I tackled my usual stains with this carpet cleaner. First, I went with dried-on mud on a carpet. Here, the VAX Platinum SmartWash Pet-Design made short work of the mess, with just a couple of sweeps needed to remove the dirt from the carpet and leave it completely clean. It’s impressive how fast this carpet cleaner works on regular mess.
Next, I moved on to the dried-on ketchup stain. Here, teh VAX Platinum SmartWash Pet-Design needed a few sweeps to get the mess out. At this point, the stain was largely gone, and I could have finished cleaning this way.
However, as I had the hand tools available, I used them to tackle this stain, spraying it until well covered and then leaving the detergent for a minute to do its magic. Using the SpinScrub tool, the stain was quickly removed, returning my carpet to its original condition.
I used a moisture sensor after cleaning the carpet, and detected humidity at 28% initially, dropping to just 21% after 20-minutes. At this rate, the carpet would have been dry in around an hour after cleaning, but it was only just damp-to-the-touch after cleaning.
I found the cleaner quite loud at 86.3dB. This certainly isn’t the kind of device that I’d want to use every day.
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Should you buy it?
You have pets and want powerful carpet cleaning:
This all-in-one cleaner will make short work of any mess.
You don’t have pets:
The standard Vax Platinum SmartWash will do the same quality job on carpets and upholstery.
Final Thoughts
Delivering the same general quality carpet cleaning as the standard model, the VAX Platinum SmartWash Pet-Design makes short work of stains on carpets and upholstery. I love the way that this machine automatically doses, and spare detergent can be put back into the bottle at the end of a cleaning session. New here is the pet wand tool, which makes it easy to remove odours from any nasty messes your furry friends may have left. This spray makes it easy to apply to the solution.
If you’re about to buy a new carpet cleaner and have pets that leave messes, then this is a handy tool to have; if you don’t have pets, then the original model is a better choice, or you can see alternatives in my guide to the best carpet cleaners.
How we test
Unlike other sites, we test every carpet 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.
Tested with real-world dirt in real-world situations for fair comparisons with other carpet cleaners
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FAQs
This one has the spray wand for the pet formula detergent; both products are otherwise the same.
This carpet cleaner mixes concentrated detergent with fresh water automatically. At the end of a clean, unused detergent can be added back to the bottle, reducing waste.
Full specs
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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.
