Vax ONEPWR Blade 4 Cordless Vacuum Cleaner review 

In our Saga Exceptional testing centre, we put the Blade 4 through its paces, seeing how well it picked up different debris, from wool to ground coffee. We also tested how well it worked across different floor types. 

We measured how long a single charge would last by running the vacuum every day throughout a three-bedroom house. Our tests covered both floor spaces, including the stairs, and upholstery.  

In addition, we determined how much vacuuming we could do before the bin had to be emptied. 

Coming in vacuum cleaner grey, the Blade 4 is nothing particularly special to the eye, but it does the job.

As with most cordless vacuums, it’s relatively easy to store away. If you don’t want to use the wall mount that comes with it, you’ll need to either prop it up or separate the handheld section from the handle. The head is really compact, so it was easily stored away in our small cupboard.  

Weighed by our test centre, it comes in at 3.16kg (6lb 15oz), which means it’s definitely on the light side for cordless vacuum cleaners and is fairly portable.

Once you’ve added the battery, though, it becomes more top heavy, which means it might not be for everyone when vacuuming. That said, it’s easy enough to move it around the house, if you carry it in the middle of the handle rather than at the top. 

Setting up the Blade 4 was simple. It involves clicking a stick part into the floor head and the bin, and that’s it. You need to make sure everything clicks into place, otherwise it will fall off – as we experienced.  

We like that the controls are at hand height, and they are easy to push and use while you vacuum. However, we had to consult the manual to work out what each one did.

There are only three buttons – the power, brush bar and boost – so once you’ve got that sorted, it’s plain vacuuming. 

It comes with a wide variety of attachments, which makes for really versatile cleaning, and they simply click into the handheld section. There’s also an option to use them with the flexible hose, which helps if you want to clean areas that are high up. 

When it came to dismantling it for cleaning, we did find it a bit tricky to work out how to remove the bin, but once we’d consulted the manual, it was clear what to do. You just press the light grey button and pull. It also has instructions on the side of the bin for how to remove and clean the filter, which is handy. It’s all very straightforward, and the filter just needs a rinse through with warm water.  

While it is a very top-heavy vacuum cleaner (although lighter than the more recent model, the ONEPWR Blade 5), we love how the floor head swivels around corners and furniture with ease. It just might not be the right vacuum cleaner for you if you don’t have a strong grip. 

It’s fair to say that this vacuum cleaner was made for carpets. In fact, our head of testing, Philip Sowels, says it’s a “carpet warrior” – even on thicker pile carpets. 

On the standard setting, the test centre found that it performed exceptionally well on a deep-pile carpet, picking up around 96% of the measured debris. A quick going over with the ‘boost’ setting and we were able to pick up pretty much the remainder of the debris.  

Using it in the house, we definitely noticed the difference with the ‘boost’ mode activated. In fact, it ups the suction so much, we had difficulty pushing it on our thicker carpets.

The results were fantastic, picking up the usual debris along with plenty of dog hair from our moulting pooch. 

In our testing centre, it didn’t fare as well on a vinyl floor, with the first forward and backward pass scattering debris everywhere, requiring numerous passes before all the debris was collected.  

On the hard floor in our kitchen, though, we felt it performed OK, especially with bigger debris, such as stray dried dog food, as well as dog hair and dust. The headlights are also great on hard floors, and are particularly good at highlighting the dog tumbleweed that often accumulates in corners. 

Tests in the centre also involved how well it picked up wool and synthetic hair, and while a noticeable amount found its way to the bin, some did get wrapped around the brush. It was a bit fiddly to remove the brush head – you need a coin – but a significant amount of debris was wound round it. What remained on the head had to be cut away with scissors to remove it. 

The attachments definitely get our vote for making this one of the most versatile cordless vacuums we’ve tested. The crevice tool was great at getting into the corners, and the upholstery tool worked a trick on the sofa.

We also vacuumed the stairs by attaching the floor head directly to the handheld, which made the job really easy, especially as the floor head is nice and compact.  

While it has quite a small bin capacity, at just 0.6 l (one pint), it was enough to do a quick once-over of a three-bedroom house, minus the stairs. While the bin is easy enough to open, our one gripe with emptying it is that the debris and hair just don’t come out unless you get your hand in there.  

According to the Vax website, the battery has a run time of 45 minutes, but our test labs said it was nearer to 30 minutes. We managed three (and a bit) runs of a three-bedroom house, including some cleaning of upholstery, a dog bed and stairs.  

When it’s time to charge the battery, it is easy to remove. Just squeeze it at the sides and pull it out. It charges in its own docking base, which means you don’t have to faff around storing the vacuum near power sockets.

According to our test results, the battery takes two and a half hours to charge, which is half an hour faster than the time stated on the website. 

The battery indicator is simple but effective. It has four white lights that dim one by one as the battery power diminishes. When less than 20% of charge is remaining, the bottom light flashes red, so you know you need to charge your battery.   

You can buy an additional battery (RRP £79.99), which would double your run time and means you could always have one charged and ready to go, perfect for bigger homes.

The beauty of the ONE PWR range is that one battery fits all, so you can use this battery on the Blade 4 or the ONEPWR Glide 2 hard floor cleaner. 

While it may not be as fancy as its Blade 5 stablemate, the Blade 4 has everything you need from a vacuum, at a great price. Yes, it’s not the best on hard floors, but it more than makes up for it on carpets and rugs. The assortment of attachments also adds to the good value, making it a versatile piece of kit that can take you from the car to the sofa with ease.  

It may be small, but this cordless cleaner from Hoover is mighty, with a bin capacity of 0.9 l (one and a half pints). Just like the Blade 4, it comes with a ‘carpet’ mode, which activates a brush bar and helps to loosen dirt and debris.

It’s also a super lightweight choice – coming in at just 2.5kg (5lb 8oz) – so it’s a good choice if you struggle with heavier vacuums. It doesn’t come with as many attachments as the Blade 4, but you do get a pet tool, a useful addition if you have dogs and cats. 

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For just £150, you can snap up this cordless vacuum by Bosch. It has a design more akin to an upright, which means it stands upright easily, which is a bonus. It has a decent run time of 45 minutes.

However, the bin is on the small side – just 0.4l (approximately half a pint) – so it would be more suited to smaller homes. One downside is that even though it can be used as a separate handheld, it doesn’t come with any attachments. 

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While this isn’t the best cordless vacuum we’ve tested, for the price, this is a good value vacuum cleaner that will tackle all floor types, as well as upholstery, annoying crevices and the car. 

It is slightly top-heavy, which can be a bit tiresome at times, but we loved the simplicity of how easy it was to put together and use, including the control panel.

The only thing we would have liked is a bigger bin capacity, but it’s still sufficient for small to medium houses.