Is a dedicated mattress vacuum cleaner worth it? I put Lakeland's to the test and now can't stop telling my friends about it

Vacuuming your mattress might be something you do often, but I’m guessing it’s more likely a less-frequent job you do when you remember - or not at all. But did you know that dust mites are the leading cause of house-born allergies in the UK – and that they feed on dust? Vacuuming can blitz those critters and help alleviate allergies, plus prolong the life of your mattress. But is it worth investing in a dedicated mattress vacuum cleaner for this?

Lakeland sells an entry-point mattress vacuum, which vibrates your mattress to shake out dust and dust mites and then suck them up. It also has a UV light on it, which permeates below the surface of your mattress and zaps dust mites and bacteria.

According to Lakeland, the mattress vacuum will leave your bed fresh and clean so you can sleep easy. I’ve done lots of product testing in my time, including looking for the best vacuum cleaners and best mattress. So I was called in to check into the big claims to see if they ring true and it's worth adding a mattress vacuum cleaner to your cleaning arsenal.

Product specs

• Dimensions: 32.5 x 26 x 12cm
• Guarantee: 3 years
• Dust bin capacity: 300ml
• Filter: HEPA

First impressions

When I got the vacuum out of the box, I was amazed at how lightweight it was. And I was a bit worried about how small the dustbin was. However, I am used to testing full-sized vacuums and quickly realised the lighter load meant it was easier to weld - especially in annoying-to-reach areas of a mattress.

There’s very little in the box - it comes preassembled with the dust bin and filter already in place and the cable attached. It has a generous flex, which means you don’t have to be right by the plug socket to use it.

The handle is easy to grip, with a moulded underside and a raised texture above to stop any slipping.

I did wonder if something so small would have much power to be able to suck up nasties from a fairly dense mattress. Again, here I was probably unfairly comparing it to the standard vacuums I’ve tested.

It struck me how simple this vacuum was to use - there are two buttons and that’s it. Even the allergen-busting UV light was controlled this way

What it's like to clean with

I got to work cleaning all the mattresses in my house. I was particularly keen to do one of my son’s mattresses, as he has a dust-mite allergy.

A power button gets things initially fired up, and then you can press a button in the handle to switch on the vibrator function. This is meant to agitate the dust and dust mites, to make it easier to suck them up. At first, I thought you had to keep this button pressed down all the time to make the vibrations work, but actually you can click it on and off without having to hold it all the time.

The vibrator pad in front of the intake port then gently pummels your mattress. This creates a bit of extra noise, but overall the operation sound is pretty moderate.

I found the mattress vacuum very easy to run across the mattress. This is thanks to the roller at the front of the sides of the input port, which help to stop the machine getting snagged.

As I rolled the vacuum over the mattress, the UV light flashes on and off. I was slightly worried I’d got a faulty unit, but it seems that UV kicks in when there’s enough suction power. This safety feature stops the UV light being on constantly when it’s switched on, which is pretty sensible in hindsight.

I was surprised actually at how little dust came out of the mattress. It was a single mattress, admittedly. But the instructions say empty the bin after every use. However, there was just dust on the filter rather than in the bin. I dutifully tapped this off – you cannot wash the HEPA filter in the Lakeland vacuum.

After cleaning my son’s mattress as a priority, I moved onto my own mattress – a kingsize. I am quite tall (6ft), so found it easy to stretch across the mattress to the middle. The long flex meant I didn’t have to unplug to go around to the other side.

On a kingsize mattress, more dust came out, although not a huge amount – it was still all on the filter rather than the bin. I tested it on the Hypnos Wool Origins 6 mattress and also gave my Woolroom wool mattress topper a going-over too. Both were easy to do, with the UV light kicking in once enough suction was happening.

Although not piles of dust came out, I was quite heartened by this. After all, a mattress is not the same as a floor – plenty of dust comes out of my carpets when I vacuum them, but I’d be horrified if that much dust came out of my mattress.

I liked that I could see through the dustbin, so I could check out the progress as I went. All my concerns about the small capacity of the bin vanished as I realised comparing a regular vacuum to a mattress vacuum is like apples and pears.

How is it different to a vacuum cleaner?

This vacuum offers different functionality to a regular vacuum, which makes it much better for eradicating dust and allergy-causing dust mites from your mattress.

Firstly, this vacuum is lightweight and is V-shaped, which makes for quick, easy mattress vacuum as you can cover more ground. If I vacuum my mattress with an ordinary vacuum, I’d use the crevice attachment. This is, in part, because I feel a bit squeamish about using the same attachments I use on the floor to vacuum my mattress. So many of them pick up and hold dust in the fibres of the rollers. However, the crevice attachment on a regular vacuum makes the job of vacuuming the mattress laborious and gives me an armache. However, it is worth noting that Dyson also sells a dedicated mattress tool for £25 if you're short on space.

Then there’s the UV light, which is there to penetrate the mattress and zap dust mites and bacteria. While I don’t have a microscope to do a side-by-side comparison, my standard vacuum doesn’t have a UV light in built, so definitely won’t be zapping anything. I did rest a little easier knowing the UV light had hopefully blitzed the dust mites – especially in my son’s bed.

Thanks to the smooth rollers and the right suction for a vacuum - much less powerful than a standard vacuum – it all made the job of vacuum the mattress much lighter work. And this made me more inclined to do it more often.

Final verdict

Despite being initially sceptical of the point of a dedicated vacuum just for my mattress, I’m a total convert to the Lakeland mattress vacuum cleaner. It’s made the job of vacuuming my mattresses much less onerous, and therefore I find myself doing it every time I change my bed linen.

I love the fact that it might help alleviate my son’s allergies, along with prolonging the life of all our mattresses. After all, mattresses are eye-wateringly expensive.

I found the Lakeland mattress vacuum a breeze to use, easy enough to store away and overall just frustration-free. It has totally replaced my Dyson for this job. And I’ve been raving to all my friends about my new discovery too – the sure sign of a product that’s tested well.