• As the rain arrives more than usual this fall, the floors of our homes, dirty and sometimes muddy, require more frequent maintenance.
  • With its Ultimate 800 West & Dry vacuum cleaner, Electrolux offers an efficient partner for occasional or regular cleaning of our tiles, liners and even parquet floors.
  • Sold for 499 euros, it has what it takes to seduce consumers, who are increasingly fond of this type of equipment, which also saves time.

It's always the same old story when it rains. The floors of the house get dirty quickly. Too fast. Lazy or not want to wait until the weekend to clean up? That's where stick vacuums and mops come in! 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 bricked his home sweet home.

Two tanks, two brushes, two filters

Canister vacuum, broom, robot or stick vacuum? 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 soiled interiors, especially with footprints.

Electrolux's Ultimate 800 West & Dry joins the cohort of these new cordless vacuum-mops whose sales have increased by +2.5% in France (source: Gifam).

Assembled in two minutes and recharged in four hours on its base, this new model is based on the principle of Proscenic's WashVac F20, previously tested by 20 Minutes. A rotating brush supplied with clean water from a reservoir at the top of the handle cleans the floor. Dirty water and dust are simultaneously vacuumed, filtered and discharged into a separate tray at the bottom of the handle.

Coming 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 grey tiles (imitation parquet), but also on floating floors.

Equipped with a dirt detector, the vacuum mop adapts the speed of its rotating brush accordingly, as well as its water flow. To implement this function, simply select the "Auto" mode using a button on the handle. To increase its cleaning efficiency, a "Boost" mode is also available.

Vacuumed, washed, and already dry

First tests on our white tiles validated! The device does its job perfectly by slightly – but not too much – moistening the floor, which ensures a record drying time. No sooner had we reached the back of our dining room than the parts vacuumed and washed at the beginning of our session were almost dry.

However, we find 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 (even though it is quite high: 15 cm), but not under its entire surface, as the brush and its handle do not manage to bend up to 180°. The two LEDs on the front of the brush that are lit up as soon as the Ultimate 800 is running are a good thing and reveal small dirt that you don't necessarily see with the naked eye.

The contours of skirting boards at the end of the road

The grey tiles in our kitchen suffer the same happy fate; vacuumed, washed and dry in minutes. This time, we noticed that some of the dust, located just in front of the baseboards of the furniture in the room, is not all swallowed by the vacuum mop, whether it is attacked from the front or from the side of the brush.

Soiled by food residues that have dried, the surface around the cat's bowls deserves a more intensive passage of the machine. Indeed, its sensor activates a more muscular suction and washing. It took us about ten seconds to get through it. Usually, we need elbow grease and a good scraper to clean up this kind of stain...

Let's go upstairs. Weighing in at 4.5kg, the Ultimate 800 West & Dry isn't too heavy to move. Electrolux also had the good idea to place a discreet handle just above the clean water tank to make it easier to handle. With our carpets raised, we tackle the parquet floors in the bedrooms. Again, the device doesn't go everywhere. Under the radiators, yes, but not under the beds. Stopping dead in the middle of cleaning, the vacuum-mop does not warn when its clean water tank is empty or when its dirty water tank is full and turns off without warning. However, a small light on the screen flashes to confirm that it is necessary to intervene.

Brackish water and small waste

And that's where the drama begins. We completely spill the contents of our dirty water spillway onto the ground by unhooking it from the machine. Nothing to do with its mounting system, just a wrong movement. We immediately put it back in place to suck up the liquid that spreads. Good point: in just three passes, the already brackish water is sucked up and the floor cleaned.

Now it's time to empty that famous tank for good. Once detached 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 more importantly that the Ultimate 800 West & Dry seems to be effective. Inside the bin, a removable strainer has collected a lot of small waste: grains of sand, crumbs, hair, cat hair... The whole thing rinses off in a flash. The small brush supplied allows you to clean the gaps in the filter.

Resting on the base, the vacuum mop has a self-cleaning function that can be activated from a button on the handle. The brush is then rinsed by using the clean water supply by turning quickly. The vacuum cleaner switches to Boost mode and sucks up the dirty water, collected in the second tank. The operation lasts two minutes flat.

For regular use

Verdict? With a battery life of up to 35 minutes, the Ultimate 800 West & Dry, which retails for 499 euros, allowed us to properly clean all our hard floors. It probably lacks the possibility of adding an extra battery. Its moderate weight and noise level (81 dB) are not handicaps. As it does not fit everywhere, the device will probably not be enough for a complete cleaning that will require a classic vacuum cleaner in the most difficult to access areas. Still, it is very useful for a quick run over spilled liquid, the regular cleaning of an entrance soiled by children's sculls and, also, to save time... by postponing the deadline for a more substantial clean-up!

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