Product Review: Vax Hard Floor Master S2 & Rapide Ultra 2

Last year I was asked to become part of the "Vax Voice" consumer testing team. The timing of this couldn't have been more perfect as I was just about to buy a steam mop for myself having heard great things about them (I've always been a mop and bucket girl myself). I jumped at the opportunity because Vax is a brand I trust and my parents have always used Vax carpet cleaners, so I said a big yes and I was sent two products to try out.

The lovely people at Vax sent me my steam "mop" the Hard Floor Master S2 and they also sent me a carpet washer, the Rapide Ultra 2. Mr M nearly had a fit when he saw the size of the boxes in the hallway. I had failed to tell him that they would be coming...

First up, let's talk about the Hard Floor Master steam cleaner.  

Cleaning the kitchen floor is one of my most hated jobs but with cream floor tiles, it needs doing often as my children seem to treat the floor as a waste disposal unit and at any one time it's covered in all kinds of sticky residues and dirty footprints. I hate mopping. Hate it. Which is why up until relatively recently I've used my feminine wiles to get Mr M to do it. One of the things I hate about mopping is the time it takes to dry. You can guarantee that I'll have forgotten to pick something up from the other side of the kitchen. Then there's emptying the dirty mop bucket outside, and the manky mop head. There's just nothing pleasurable about it. One of my friends first told me about steam cleaners, a long time ago however I dismissed them as another gadget I didn't need but recently I started wondering about them again and spent some time reading reviews on websites and forums and was surprised at how happy people were with them. 

The Hard Floor Master is a powerful cleaner that can be used on a variety of hard floor surfaces like tiles or lino. It doesn't use any detergent at all, meaning it's kinder to the environment. The water you put in to the tank heats up (this takes about a minute) and the high temperature of the steam kills bacteria and breaks down the grime.  

On getting it out of the box it was straightforward to assemble and the instructions were clear and simple to follow. From opening the box to cleaning the floor only took a few minutes. It comes with two cloths that go over the head of the cleaner and these can just be thrown in the washing machine. Which is fortunate really as they come up BLACK after I have cleaned the floor, even when I feel like it was relatively clean to start with!  It's lightweight but it kind of connects with the floor, so you can feel that it's doing it's job and because it's quite slimline it doesn't take up a lot of storage space at all.

I've used the Hard Floor Master several times now and I've been very pleased with its performance. It always leaves the floor squeaky clean and it dries in no time at all as the floor doesn't get soaking wet.  It does however mean that I have now reclaimed the floor-cleaning role in the household and I'm not so sure I'm happy about that...

The second product I was sent was the Rapide Ultra 2.

The Rapide Ultra 2 is a upright washer than can be used on carpets and upholstery. It can also remove stains and suck up any spillages - a very useful feature with two children in the house.

I've never owned a carpet washer before but was in the market for buying one since my entire house (bar the kitchen, playroom and utility) has in the past few years been recarpeted, in a sensible light beige colour. By enforcing a strict "no shoes" rule and by being very careful with eating and drinking in the living room, we've managed to avoid any major carpet mishaps however, day-to-day, you can't help the carpets getting a little grubby, especially on high-traffic routes, like from the kitchen to the living room. In the past, I've done what any girl does - phoned her daddy to bring over his wet vac but now I need do that no longer.


The Rapide Ultra 2 has powered jets that pump water into the carpet pile whilst the rotating brushes lift out dirt, dust and odours. It's powerful suction means excess water is sucked out and the carpets dry really quickly. What I liked about this carpet washer was that it comes with a flexible hose and wash tool which is designed for making cleaning the stairs easier, you can use it for upholstery and it says it can be used on your car seats too.


The first time I used the carpet washer I did my living room and hallway. I was pleasantly surprised that when I had finished that the carpet didn't feel saturated, just slightly damp, and it took no time at all until the carpets felt dry. I was surprised, but not quite so pleasantly, by the disgusting murky water in the tank after I had cleaned my carpets. I thought my carpets were much cleaner than that but it was pretty gross and I've vowed to clean then more often now! The beauty of it the washer, is that it doesn't take long to set up and clean a room and because it dries so quickly I think I'll be able to force myself to clean my carpets more often.


The second time I used the washer, I decided to try out the pre-treatment kit which is designed to break down stubborn dirt and stains before you wash. Whilst there are no stains on my carpet, the high traffic area outside the kitchen door was a bit greying and needed a bit of extra attention. All you do is use the wand to apply the solution to the affected area and leave for about 15 minutes, before washing as normal. I could certainly notice the difference!


The Rapide Ultra 2 is not overly heavy and is easy to manoeuvre, but it is rather bulky which if you're short on space might cause you a storage problem however the performance of the washer far outweighs this as an issue for me. I've stashed it neatly in the utility room and plan to give the carpets downstairs a clean and freshen up every 6-8 weeks. Will be interested to see how murky the water comes out next time!


With thanks to Vax for providing these products for review.


love & kisses
Mrs M x