Whether you’re a professional tradie, a serious DIYer or just like having a powerful tool to help you clean your home or car in record time, a wet & dry vacuum is a very handy machine to have. The latest generation of Gerni wet & dry vacuums has just hit the market and we decided to put one through its paces.
We started with the most basic function first. How does it stack up as a vacuum? We thought we’d skip the easy part and give it a challenge straight up. Paving sand, which is a coarse sand that contains fine pebbles, was spread over a rough paved surface with lots of cracks and crevices. The floor nozzle took care of all the sand on the surface while removing the nozzle and using the stainless steel tube handled the larger particles stuck in the deeper crevices. There were no worries about the filter either. The in-built filter guard protects it from damage caused by large objects.
To test the ability of the machine to get rid of water, we did a two-stage test. First we poured water over a bathroom floor, simulating a water leak. Using the floor nozzle that comes with the machine, the water was cleared up on each pass. A few minutes later and all the surface water was removed. Next we filled a bucket with 10 litres of water and stuck the tube in to see how quickly it would drain. All that water was sucked up in an impressive 12 seconds. Once the job’s done simply remove the top of the machine and pour out the water from the container onto your garden.
Apart from the fact that you don’t have to change the filter between wet and dry cleaning, we also liked another feature that makes using the vacuum easier. It’s the filter warning light and cleaning function. If the light comes on it means the filter is clogged and needs to be cleaned. A press of the button next to it sends pulses of air into the filter to clean it without having to remove it. This means you can work for longer before you have to actually pull out the filter and rinse it.
The optional accessory kits, make the vacuum more versatile and user-friendly. The car care kit contains a range of brushes and nozzles especially designed for all the different surfaces in your car such as carpets, upholstery, a soft brush for dusting off the dash and our favourite, the long crevice nozzle which gets into all those hard to reach spots, like beside and under the seats.
The convenience kit contains nozzles for dust-free wall drilling and a suction cup to suck up water and debris clogging blocked drains. It also has a blow nozzle kit that, when combined with the blower outlet on the vacuum, makes short work of anything inflatable such as beds and pool toys. The tradie and DIYer will love the power tool adaptor. It turns your vacuum into a portable dust extraction machine for power saws or sanders. Plug the tool into the outlet on the machine and the instant you turn on the tool, the vacuum starts as well so it’s a seamless process.
Storage is easy as the accessories sit on storage spots on the body while a pair of hooks keeps the hose wound up. The cord wraps around the large handle on the top. In one go you can lift the machine with everything you need, grab the vacuum tube and get on your way.
All up, we were impressed with the Gerni Wet and Dry Vacuum. The powerful motor handled the hardest suction jobs in both wet and dry mode, the filter indicator light took all the guesswork out of when the filter needed cleaning while the self-cleaning function meant a longer run time between physical filter cleans. Add the accessory kits and you’ve got an extremely versatile tool that’s perfect for the tradie, DIYer and homeowner alike.
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