Vax LiftOut Pet Corded Upright Vacuum Cleaner review: Superb value, serious suction, zero compromises on power
This corded upright picked up 97% of test dust in a single pass and every strand of human and pet hair without wrapping a single one around the brush bar. For the price, it’s hard to beat.
The Vax LiftOut Pet Corded Upright Vacuum Cleaner is a genuinely impressive plug-in upright at a price that makes its bigger siblings look hard to justify. It delivers 151 air watts, the same figure as the pricier Vax LiftOut Multi Pet-Design, cleans carpet to an excellent standard, and handles pet and human hair without tangling. The LiftOut canister detaches at the press of a foot switch and turns the whole machine into a nimble cylinder-style cleaner for stairs, upholstery, cars, and above-floor jobs. For households that want flagship-level suction without the flagship price, this is the one to buy.
Pros & Cons
Pros
- 151AW suction, matched only by the more expensive model in the range
- Picked up 97.15% of test dust in a single carpet pass
- Zero hair wrap on the brush bar in testing, human and pet hair alike
- Foot-activated LiftOut conversion is fast and genuinely useful
- 9m cord and 2L bin make whole-home cleaning practical in one go
- Free home and car toolkit worth over £40 when bought direct from Vax
- Dual filter system with washable main filter and spare included
- 5-year guarantee when registered
Cons
- Edge cleaning picked up 90%, occasionally worth finishing with the crevice tool
- 6.11kg feels more noticeable when carrying the LiftOut canister up stairs
- Post-motor filter needs replacing rather than washing when it discolours
Quick Specs
| Price | From £220 (vax.co.uk) |
| Type | Corded upright / convertible |
| Suction | 151AW |
| Bin capacity | 2 litres |
| Cable length | 9m |
| Cleaning radius | 12.5m |
| Hose length | 2m |
| Weight | 6.11kg |
| Dimensions | 280 x 160 x 1170mm |
| Noise | 73.8dB |
| Filters | 2 (one washable, one replaceable) |
| Included tools | 2-in-1 crevice/brush, pet hair remover, stair tool |
| Guarantee | 5 years (when registered) |
Price & Availability
The Vax LiftOut Pet Corded Upright Vacuum Cleaner is available from vax.co.uk, Argos, and major UK retailers. Buy directly from Vax and you get the free home and car toolkit bundled in: a storage bag, extendable flexi crevice tool, deep debris tool, fine dusting brush, and a spare filter. That extra filter is genuinely worth having. It means you can pull the main filter for a wash and keep cleaning with the backup rather than waiting for it to dry.
The LiftOut Pet sits near the entry point of a six-model LiftOut range. The flagship Vax LiftOut Multi Pet-Design comes in around £270 by comparison, while the Dyson Ball Animal Complete asks £430 for broadly comparable corded performance. The LiftOut Pet undercuts both while matching the Multi Pet-Design’s headline suction figure exactly.
Design: More Thought-Through Than It Looks
Out of the box it looks like any other corded upright: tall, purple, bin sitting on the body, tool slots along the side. The details reward a second look. One slot is clearly marked for the 2-in-1 crevice and brush tool; the other takes either the pet hair remover or the stair tool. The three tools in the box cover the main use cases without filler, and the pet hair remover deserves a specific mention. It uses small hair nibs on the brush surface to lift hair from upholstery and fabric into the airpath without damaging the surface. In testing it worked cleanly on both a sofa and a car seat.
The foot switch at the base is the machine’s best feature. Step on it, and the bin and canister lift free of the floor head cleanly and quickly. Attach the wand and you have full extended reach for ceiling cobwebs, curtain rails, and stair cleaning from top to bottom without moving the body. Remove the wand and you have a shorter, close-quarters unit for car footwells and tight spots. The conversion takes about three seconds once you’ve done it a couple of times, and you’ll be doing it instinctively within a session.
Controls are straightforward: one power button at standing height so you don’t have to bend, one dedicated brushroll switch. The brushroll-off option is more useful than it sounds. On hard floors, a spinning brush bar flicks larger debris around rather than collecting it. Switching to suction-only fixes that instantly. There’s no electronic power adjustment, but an air vent on the handle can be opened to bleed off suction if the machine is fighting you on lighter rugs.
The 9m cord clips to a tidy on the side of the body when not in use and also has a cord clip at the top of the wand to hold it clear while cleaning. Plugged into a central socket, the 12.5m cleaning radius covers most floor plans without having to switch outlets at all.
The 2L bin is larger than most cordless competitors manage. It opens top and bottom for emptying and can be rinsed under a tap. The main filter sits underneath it, washable under running water. With the spare from the toolkit rotating in, you’re never stuck waiting for one to dry before the next clean.
Performance: Numbers That Actually Land
Testing started with suction measurement at the handle: 151 air watts from a single fixed power mode. That matches the Vax LiftOut Multi Pet-Design exactly and outperforms most cordless uprights running on maximum power. The Hoover HL4 has higher headline figures but pulls more power to get there, which translates to higher running costs.
Crevice pickup was tested with rice grains at distance: the machine pulled them in from 2cm at the nozzle tip, a strong result for close-quarters handheld use.
On carpet, 20g of flour went down on a test surface. One pass back and forth left a clean strip edge-to-edge. Total pickup at the end of the test: 97.15%. In practical terms, that is a very clean carpet. The result matches the more expensive Multi Pet-Design almost exactly, which confirms Vax’s claim that the suction motor is shared across the range.
The edge test, 10g of dust right against the skirting board, came in at 90%, a strong showing for a floor head at this price. The included crevice tool handles anything the floor head leaves behind with ease.
Pet hair testing used cat hair combed into carpet: cleared in a single pass. Human hair on the same surface: cleared completely, with zero strands wound around the brush bar afterwards. For anyone who’s spent time picking compacted hair off a brush roll, this is a genuinely meaningful result. HairWrap Resist technology routes the hair into the airpath before it gets a chance to tangle, and it works exactly as claimed.
Noise came in at 73.8dB: about where you’d expect a corded upright to sit, and not particularly intrusive.
The LiftOut Mode: Two Cleaners for the Price of One
Kick the foot switch and the canister and bin lift free of the floor head in a single motion. From there the LiftOut section works in two configurations. With the wand attached, you’ve got extended reach for ceiling cobwebs, curtain rails, and a full stair run from top to bottom without repositioning. Without the wand, you’ve got a shorter, more manoeuvrable unit for car interiors, tight furniture gaps, and anywhere that needs close control. It’s a legitimately flexible second mode rather than a gimmick, and it adds real versatility to what is otherwise a conventional upright form factor.
Filtration: A Genuine Selling Point for Pet Owners
Two filters, two different jobs. The main filter under the bin is washable and captures 99.9% of particles down to 0.3 microns. The secondary post-motor filter catches anything that makes it through. The charcoal layer in the filtration system handles odours: the faint background smell that pet hair and dander generate over time. It’s a more credible solution than simply labelling a filter ‘anti-odour’ with no mechanism behind it.
Keep an eye on the post-motor filter. It isn’t part of the usual maintenance wash cycle and needs replacing rather than cleaning when it starts to discolour. Vax sells replacements directly, and they’re not expensive.
Verdict
The Vax LiftOut Pet Corded Upright Vacuum Cleaner is an easy buy. The suction matches the flagship model in its own range, the carpet cleaning results are among the best at this price point, and the hair handling is genuinely impressive for anyone living with pets or long-haired humans. The LiftOut conversion is fast, intuitive, and adds real versatility. The free toolkit from Vax direct makes an already strong price even better, and the 5-year guarantee seals it.
Buy it if: You want corded suction power at a cordless-friendly price, with a bonus handheld mode and the best anti-tangle performance we’ve seen at this price.
