Green (Living) Review: Gtech AirRAM cordless vacuum cleaner

by Michael Smith (Veshengro)

Gtech AirRAM™ has received the Good Housekeeping Institute endorsement after rigorous testing of this innovative vacuum cleaner that is sucking up success across the UK.

Heralded at its launch in April this year as ‘The Future of Vacuuming’, two months on and the Gtech AirRAM™ has firmly stamped its mark, becoming one of the most desirable vacuums within the John Lewis portfolio.

According to the huge volume of customer reviews, banishing the need for heavy, cumbersome, corded vacuums has changed domestic cleaning into a pleasure rather than a chore. Gtech users literally ‘love vacuuming’.

Now armed with an order book worth £6m from high street and independent electrical retailers, Gtech is proud to display the Good Housekeeping Institute Approved logo on its packaging.

Good Housekeeping’s Head of Consumer Testing, Patricia Schofield says: “Lightweight and convenient to use, this cordless cleaner scored a hit with the GHI testers. Using only a fraction of the electricity of its mains competitors it packed a punch, picking up dirt and debris with ease.”
Since initial independent laboratory tests showed Gtech AirRAM™ outperforms leading mains and cordless competitors on carpeted floors, further independent laboratory tests have again been undertaken to reinforce its effectiveness revealing that Gtech AirRAM™ also picks up and removes dust and debris from hard floors more efficiently than leading mains powered vacuums. Both of those factors, know to me already since I have had the pleasure to see the Gtech AirRAM™ at the launch and then use it and review it, are what make the Gtech AirRAM™ such an outstanding machine, together with its environmental friendliness.

No Cyclone, No Bag, No Cord
Launched by British design specialist, Gtech, the AirRAM™ is the first cordless vacuum cleaner utilizing ground breaking technology that heralds the biggest evolution in vacuum development during the last 20 years. Despite banishing cyclones, bags, cords and using only 100 Watts of electricity, AirRAM™ outperforms leading mains powered and cordless vacuums on both hard and carpeted floors. Using only 100 watts of electricity to deliver this performance, AirRAM™ can save up to an astounding £252 in electricity bills over a five year period. Its lightweight and ergonomic design coupled with cordless feature also means you can easily take AirRAM™ upstairs and downstairs reaching into every corner of your home.

Gtech’s founder, Nick Grey says: “History shows that once a fully capable cordless version of a product comes onto the market, corded versions lose value and become niche. Phones, kettles and drills were all tethered to sockets not so long ago. AirRAM™ challenges the market leaders bringing a new era of technological change with true mains performance achieved for the first time ever from a cordless vacuum cleaner.”

The innovative Gtech AirRAM™ will change the way you vacuum your home forever, making cleaning faster, easier and more convenient. Be part of the cordless revolution today with your very own AirRAM™. Gtech AirRAM™ (RRP £229.00) is available from www.gtechairram.com or www.gtechonline.co.uk, John Lewis stores nationwide and from September 2012; Argos, Curry’s, Comet and Debenhams.

In my opinion this is the most innovative vacuum cleaner, probably, ever; at least to date.

Having now had the Gtech AirRAM™ in use ever since a day after the launch in April 2012 my old-style cord-tied vacuum cleaner has not seen much of an outing at all. There is no need for it as I found the Gtech AirRAM™ to perform much better and that equally on carpets, rugs and hard floors.

Review by Michael Smith (Veshengro)

Suction power does not equal cleaning efficiency

Vacuum cleaners have not changed much in the time that they have existed. They are heavy, much too heavy in fact. They also have not improved much in respect to cleaning efficiency. In fact cleaning power has decreased which suction power – I don't really want to pick up a bowling ball with my vacuum cleaner – has increased and energy consumption.

Today's vacuum cleaner is one of the most power hungry domestic appliance that you use in your home, bar, maybe, your cooker, if you cook electric (as I do).

In the day of the Hoover Junior and its competition soon all the vacuum cleaners were about the same in performance and the marketing wars began and suction power became the buzzword and still is today. There is, however, no correlation between suction power and cleaning power and today's most powerful, in suction and energy consumption, bag-less vacuum cleaner, using a whacking 2,000 watts, has less cleaning power than the Hoover Junior of the 1950s, which only used about a quarter of the energy. Instead of using good design most work on brute force. Gtech, however, is aiming to change all that with the AirRAM cordless vacuum cleaner.

With a consumption of 100 watts it has more cleaning power than the Dyson bag-less vacuum and similar and with a weight of 3.5kg (about 7lbs) is it the lightest vacuum cleaner one could imagine.

Ten years ago Gtech led the way by bringing out the fist battery-powered carpet and floor sweeper, and those have come a long way since then also, and now the company has developed the most powerful vacuum cleaner with batteries.

The battery enables the AirRAM to work on full power – due to a built-in computer there is no loss – for about 40 minutes with a 4 hour recharge time. Forty minutes running time should be enough for most cleaning around the home.

The dust is collected in a plastic box with two compartments, creating two little dust bricks, making emptying less of an issue than the emptying of either vacuums with bags or without bags, and the filters can be removed and washed out time and again. No need to change your filters every so often and also no bags to buy. A total win-win-win situation.

I have been using the AirRAM quite a lot around the home now since I got presented with a it at the launch event on Tuesday, April 24, 2012 and am very pleased with it indeed. In fact, “pleased” is an understatement. The word amazed much better conveys the message.

The Gtech AirRAM cordless vacuum cleaner has managed to get dust, etc., out of rugs and carpets in my home where powerful vacuum cleaners of other makes have simply failed dismally.

The green credentials of the Gtech AirRAM cordless vacuum cleaner, aside from the fact that it has extremely low power consumption, are that there are no consumables that need to be purchased and that the machine is also repairable, should the need arise.

This is yet another great product out of the Gtech stable and it will certainly revolutionize floor and carpet cleaning.