Vorwerk Kobold VK200 Upright Vacuum Cleaner is a collaboration with Vorwerk. As always you can be sure that my views are my own and if you read the post you will also see that I was devastated when it had to go back.
Have you heard of Vorwerk before? Well, they are a well-established company (over 130 years) in Europe and their products include the Thermomix and are one of the biggest selling brands of vacuum cleaners in Germany. In fact, we have used one when we were on holiday in Holland in the past.
But before I start to tell you about what we thought of the Kobold VK200 Upright Vacuum Cleaner I want to get rid of the elephant in the room, the price. At £750 for the vacuum cleaner and £1500 for the full kit that I reviewed, it certainly is not inexpensive. In fact it is a considered purchase, however, unlike other vacuum cleaners, I believe that this would be a one time only purchase. Yes, you read that correctly, the Kobold is that good that it comes with a five-year guarantee as standard and people buy them for a lifetime. My Mother in Law has spent far more on vacuums over the last 7 years than she would have if she had bought a Kobold VK200 Upright Vacuum Cleaner. Is it worth it? How about you keep reading and see what you think at the end of this post!
To start with when you purchase a Vorwerk Kobold VK200 Upright Vacuum Cleaner you are given a full demonstration in your own home, you can have one even if you don’t buy one! I had a demonstration in my house but decided to let the boys have a go with the vacuum to see how easy it was to use. You see cleaning is a joint responsibility in my house and it is no point having a fabulous tool if only I can use it.
As you can see both the boys found it really simple to use. Firstly it has a telescopic handle making it perfect for all heights to use. It weighs 3kg but is also strong and sturdy and feels really robust. It moves exceptionally well thanks to a pivot joint. In our home, we have wooden flooring and a rug downstairs and were really impressed by the fully automatic floor type detection system. It really works out what flooring it was on and adjusted to make sure that it operated most efficiently. We also found that it really does have edge to edge cleaning which means that the boys’ managed to clean all of the floor right upto to the skirting.
One of the other really impressive things was that it truly cleaned under our sofas. the head stayed flat on the floor no matter how much we lowered the body of the vacuum.
The vacuum is really simple to use and empty. The bag level indicator is easy to see. Yes, I said bag. The vacuum isn’t bagless, in fact, the boys said the bag reminded them of a nappy! The Kobold’s technology is so superior, that even when its bag is 90% full it still performs better than a bagless vacuum cleaner with an efficient HEPA filter, sucking up an impressive 99% of allergy-inducing particles from the atmosphere. Another thing which might seem a small thing, but turns out to be a big thing is it stands up on its own. I do not have to find somewhere to balance it and worry about it falling over and breaking.
Now let’s talk about the accessories. One of the fabulous things about the Kobold is that it comes with lots of accessories meaning you can do lots of different things with it. The complete VK200 system includes; VK200 Body with Automatic Electric Brush, Carpet Freshener, SP530 head, Full Accessory Pack and Electric Upholstery Brush. There are different options available and you can also choose the carpet system of the VK200 Body plus Automatic Electric Brush, Carpet Freshener, Full Accessory Pack and Electric Upholstery Brush.
As our home has lots of hard floors downstairs I was keen to try theSP530 headSP530 head option and I have to say I was really impressed. It vacuums and mops the floor at the same time. It is really clever and I was so impressed that the suction isn’t compromised by adding a damp microfibre cloth. Plus you use so little water and cleaning fluid that the floor is dry within minutes and mine dried totally streak free.
One of the other accessories, we used a lot was the soft brush attachment. It is perfect for dusting anywhere and everywhere. It can be adjusted over 13 lengths and agitates the dust and sucks it straight into the machine making is suitable for delicate jobs. We used it for skirting, ceilings and even our glass pendant lights.
We also used the Electric Upholstery Brush a lot, for the car, for the stairs and for cleaning the sofas. It’s powered counter-rotating brushes vibrate the dirt out of the fibres and this released dirt is immediately vacuumed up.
So these were the main accessories that we used in our home, but there are so many more things that the VK200 Upright Vacuum Cleaner can do such as dry cleaning where the combination of a vibrating and spreading head and a special powder draws out grease and grime, adds stain protection in simultaneously. This worked wonders on our rug. You can also get a Deep Cleaning Mattress Attachment to freshen your bed.
Why should I buy a Vorwerk Kobold VK200 Upright Vacuum Cleaner?
Seriously there is nothing theVK200 Upright Vacuum Cleaner cannot do, well apart from making coffee! But what I really found was that it did an amazing job. We cleaned our house with our existing vacuum (a bagless machine) and then used this and I had a full bag and I thought that my carpets and floors were clean. The way it was explained to me is that the Vorwerk Kobold VK200 Upright Vacuum Cleaner vibrates your carpet with its brushes as it sucks up the dust, therefore, the vibrations loosen the dust and dirt at the bottom of the pile as well as just sucking up the dirt from the top of the carpet.
Yes, it is expensive and I do think that you have to be at a certain point in your life to buy one although you can pay for it over a number of months. This is the sort of machine I could see my Mum having invested in and one that I wish we had got before we had children and had disposable income. I cam not going to shy away from the fact that it is an investment, but then so is a good carpet and this will prolong the life of your carpet.
I really didn’t want to return the Vorwerk Kobold VK200 Upright Vacuum Cleaner. If I came into some money I would definitely buy one. The only other thing to consider is that you need to have somewhere to store the tools, although they do come in a nifty storage bag.
