Review: H20 Vac

Hi Folks!

I bought this engineering marvel while watching an infomercial. Imagine that!

Essentially, the H2O Vac is a vacuum cleaner that holds water and directs all the dirt it picks up into the water. This has the benefit of preventing dust from being ejected during vaccuuming (doh!), as occurs with many vaccuums. It costs from $150-200.

After the bold promises in the commercial, it looked like we'd be able to clean our carpets quickly, easily and dirt cheap (so to speak!).

The H2O Vac shipped to us lightning fast (1-2 days), despite us not paying A LOT extra ($10-20) we were offered to super-expedite shipping. Unfortunately, things did not work out well. And to add insult to injury we ordered a second one for free (plus, extra shipping costs).

What was wrong with the H20 Vac from Thane.ca?

The tank was a pain to fill up - we had to use a large laundry sink in order to have enough clearance. This was when I also learned the tank becomes VERY heavy full, and it is not recommended to lug the entire vacuum up a flight of stairs once filled with water. As such, not a good product for sick, frail, or elderly people.

The tank was a mess to empty. There were a few too many nooks and crannies in the tank to make emptying a quick process. Some sediment was left in the tank after one initially poured the dirty water out (into a toilet or laundry sink). Truly, it all seemed much more glam on Teevee!

Suction! (It sucks. In a bad way!) The infomercial shows the team picking up a bowling ball with the vacuum. And while I wasn't pursuing janitorial duties at a bowling alley, the vacuum did seem to have a strong amount of suction once I put my hand to it. But it was then that I found to be its major shortcoming, namely, that the vac has a very small hole (ridiculously so) for debris to enter. And I found myself going over carpet several times to pick up hair, for goodness sake. Suction seemed much worse on carpet and sometimes required getting on hands and reddened, skinned knees. No fun. The cleaning lady hated it. We hated it, too. :razz:

Quite honestly, I couldn't believe someone had put any time into designing and engineering this product. I wish I had been able to read a thorough review of it before making the purchase. This is my first review. I hope this helps you!

I would rate this product 0/10 (as in H-2-O, N-O!). :lol:

Are you able to ship back and get a refund?

I hope my sis reads this, she wants one....
ohohhhhhhhhhhhh hope she does not get it!!!!

LMAO!! Wow what a great review!! It was informative as WELL as entertaining! LOL
Welcome to SmartCanucks!!!

They offer a refund within 30 days, but you have to pay a small fortune in shipping and handling. And I bought 2 units (1 of which is still packed, ha!) and with that kind of expense ($30 or so per unit) and feeling sheepish to have to pay to return them, I kinda delayed (what they're counting on, no doubt!) and now I'm stuck.

I bought an inexpensive $70 vacuum at Walmart and it works great a year later. $400 vacuums are a thing of my parents era, since that's all you see at Sears. I'll review my new vac later.

Btw, thanks for the nice words! :)

I'm so glad to know I'm not the only one who buys things she sees on infomercials.

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This was when I also learned the tank becomes VERY heavy full, and it is not recommended to lug the entire vacuum up a flight of stairs once filled with water. As such, not a good product for sick, frail, or elderly people.

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Sounds like it's not a good product for anyone, really.

Lots of people buy stuff from TV. If their ads weren't effective (despite sometimes being cheesy!), there wouldn't be so many on TV. Advertising for 30-60 minutes is not cheap, after all. I'm sure they run all kinds of focus groups to target our weaknesses. Ha!

I'll be sure to post some more of our infomercial purchases and the varying degrees of success we've had. Mostly stinkers! :)

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Originally Posted by nwriter

Lots of people buy stuff from TV. If their ads weren't effective (despite sometimes being cheesy!), there wouldn't be so many on TV. Advertising for 30-60 minutes is not cheap, after all. I'm sure they run all kinds of focus groups to target our weaknesses. Ha!

I'll be sure to post some more of our infomercial purchases and the varying degrees of success we've had. Mostly stinkers! :)

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Mine too. And everytime it happens I say that I'm never buying from an infomercial ever again and then a month later I see something that looks awesome and the cycle starts all over again. Right now I've got my eye on the Flavorwave oven.

That's funny. My wife was eyeing that the other day. But instead she bought a ridiculously expensive flat-iron (for her hair) which she's since returned. Ha! :)

Guilty admission - I'm often mesmerized by the Magic Bullet commercials. But I'm even more mesmerized by the slightly tipsy b-grade actors (imho, this bunch appears to have been rounded up at a swingers club) and their totally misplaced enthusiasm at being able to make an egg salad in 3.5 seconds.

LMAO!!! I bought the magic bullet! FABULOUS item! Those b-grade actors from a swingers club sold me on it. Seriously it was awesome... until the motor strips and you can't crush peas with it let alone ice drinks. :( But I bought mine at Canadian Tire for 50% off. It ended up being close to $35 anyway.

LOL cheesy actors make me want to rip my hair out. The magic bullet infomercials those people are more than cheesy...wish they had of paid me a bunch to do their little dumb "amused at how well it works" thing, at least I wouldnt be that completely cheesy about it, I mean those people probably got paid a lot to sit there and act excited I would just think about the pay cheque I would get at the end of the filming and I wouldnt have to fake the excitement LOL

Thanks a bunch for this info!!!
I'm in the cleaning business and I get asked all the time if I heard about or tried it out yet.
Sorry you didn't get a refund without the shipping fees. That sucks big time!
Just think about how many people that will read this that will appreciate your input.
Maybe try unloading it on Ebay?

Yeah, I might use eBay. For local pickup, to avoid shipping costs :)

You're welcome, Al. I'm glad if my review helps people or at least if it makes them think twice. I had bought the second one for my mom and I can't see her lugging gallons of water in the tank up and down stairs or fussing with the cleaning. It might be semi-decent if you had a bungalow.

But again, I found the operation of it disappointing ie running repeatedly over strands of hair and being forced to crawl around on hands and knees. It did do a good job of pulling up dust from carpeted areas, since the water turned dark - so something was happening. But the effort and clean-up was just too much.

They've come out with a new version the Flaming Turbo H2O Vac or something, but really, I don't have the patience or funds to do THEIR Quality Control research.

That might be better handled internally ... as opposed to, you know, using paying customers. LOL.

:)

ILMK, it's a real shame that your magic bullet bit the bullet! I think a product like it would be useful if only because I hate cleaning up and lugging about all the bits that make up the full-sized kitchen blender. And onions can really irritate my eyes.

But if the motor goes within a short period of time, then it's as much a disappointment as if it didn't do what was promised. I've seen them at Canadian Tire. How long did yours last?