It’s always the same thing when it rains. Floors in the house get dirty quickly. Too fast. Lazy or don’t want to wait until the weekend to clean? This is where mop vacuum cleaners come into action! With its Ultimate 800 West & Dry , Electrolux claims to vacuum and wash well at the same time. 20 Minutes challenged him, rolled up his sleeves and built his home sweet home .
Two tanks, two brushes, two filters
Canister vacuum cleaner , broom , robot or mop vacuum cleaner? All have their advantages and disadvantages, but in these rainy times, a device that vacuums and washes at the same time makes sense in our dirty interiors, especially with footprints.
The Ultimate 800 West & Dry from Electrolux joins the cohort of these new cordless vacuum cleaners whose sales have increased by +2.5% in France (source: Gifam).
Assembling in two minutes, recharged in four hours on its base, this new model uses the principle of Proscenic’s WashVac F20 , previously tested by 20 Minutes . A rotating brush supplied with clear water from a tank located at the top of the handle cleans the floor. Dirty water and dust are simultaneously sucked up, filtered and evacuated into a separate tank housed at the bottom of the handle.
Delivered with two rotating brushes but also two filters (this delays the purchase of consumables!), the Ultimate 800 West & Dry does a good job judging by the results of our tests. We tested it in a pavilion with smooth white tiles, textured gray tiles (imitation parquet), but also on floating floors.
Equipped with a dirt detector, the vacuum cleaner adapts the speed of its rotating brush, as well as its water flow, accordingly. To implement this function, simply select “Auto” mode using a button on the handle. To increase its cleaning efficiency, a “Boost” mode is also offered.
Vacuumed, washed, and already dry
First tests on our white tiles validated! The device performs its task perfectly by slightly moistening – but not too much – the floor, which ensures record drying time. We had barely reached the back of our dining room when the parts vacuumed and washed at the start of our session were almost dry.
However, we note that the Ultimate 800 West & Dry struggles to venture under certain furniture. For example, we manage to pass it under the edges of our sofa (although quite high: 15 cm), but not under its entire surface, the brush and its handle not being able to bend up to 180°. The two LEDs on the front of the brush, which light up as soon as the Ultimate 800 is turned on, are a good thing and reveal small dirt that you don’t necessarily see with the naked eye.
The contours of the plinths to the fine
The gray tiles in our kitchen suffered the same happy fate; vacuumed, washed and dry in minutes. This time, we notice that certain dust, located just in front of the plinths of the furniture in the room, is not all swallowed up by the vacuum cleaner, whether it is attacked from the front or from the side of the brush.
Dirty with dried food residue, the surface around the cat’s bowls deserves a more intensive use of the machine. Indeed, its detector activates more muscular suction and washing. It took us about ten seconds to get over it. Usually, it’s elbow grease and a good scraper that we need to get a clean spot on this kind of stain…
Head upstairs. Weighing 4.5 kg, the Ultimate 800 West & Dry is not too heavy to move. Electrolux also had the good idea of placing a discreet handle just above the clean water tank which makes it easier to handle. Carpets removed, we tackle the bedroom floors. Here again, the device does not go everywhere. Under radiators, yes, but not under beds. Stopping suddenly in the middle of cleaning, the vacuum cleaner does not warn when its clear water tank is empty or when its dirty water tank is full and turns off without warning. A small light on its screen nevertheless flashes to confirm that it is necessary to intervene.
Brackish water and small waste
And here is the drama. We completely spill the contents of our dirty water overflow onto the ground by unhooking it from the machine. Nothing to do with its fixing system, just a wrong movement. We immediately put it back in place to suck up any spilled liquid. Good point: in just three passes, the already brackish water is sucked up and the floor cleaned.
The time has come to empty this famous tank for good. Once removed from its base, simply remove the airtight cover above which the filter is located. The color of the water shows that it was time to clean up, but above all that the Ultimate 800 West & Dry seems effective. Inside the tank, a removable strainer has collected a lot of small waste: grains of sand, crumbs, hair, cat hair… Everything rinses in a flash. The small brush provided allows you to clean the gaps in the filter.
