Black & Decker PHV1800CB 18-Volt Pivoting-Nose Cordless Handheld Vacuum Cleaner
by Black and Decker
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Tools and Hardware Reviews of Black & Decker PHV1800CB 18-Volt Pivoting-Nose Cordless Handheld Vacuum Cleaner
Customer Review: Black & Decker PHV1800CB
Summary: 5 Stars
When I grab this bad boy off the charge station, I first have to 'lock and load' it before using it, The nozzle is folded onto the vacuum and has a safety release I have to press to release the nozzle and make the vacuum usable. My wife and I chuckle that it's like our daughter's "Transformer" toy that she can open and twist into different configurations. 12.20.2009 - I repositioned the charging station and the vacuum doesn't have to be closed now - just pick it up and use it.
Once opened, this vacuum will suck a golf ball through a garden hose. The extendable nozzle (on the fold-out nozzle) makes the vacuum great to get into tight places, like under the refrigerator and in corners. It is replacing a 14 volt Black and Decker we just slap wore out so we already know that because it is such a great vacuum, it fills up fairly fast and needs frequent emptying.
The battery capacity allows me to use it to thoroughly vacuum one car before it needs recharging. The charging station is well made and stable. A small add on upholstery brush sets securely in the charging station until needed.
This vacuum is a little pricy but if it lasts as long as the B&D it is replacing it will be a great value.
03.05.2010 Update - Still working great. Battery holds charge just like when new. I see others feel it is a task to clean but I think the 'double filtering' is worth the cleaning effort. I have an air compressor in my workshop so every two - three weeks I just blow it out and it's like new. Does have a lot more vacuum power when clean.
09.2010 - See running strong, best battery powered vac I've purchased!
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Customer Review: Good, But...
Summary: 2 Stars
We have had one of these vacuums for over two years now. It sees very light duty. It seems to have good suction, however, that is probably due to the fact that the inlet hole, in the nozzle, is so small. It plugs up occasionally and won't pick up anything much bigger than a cheerio. Because the inlet hole is so small and narrow, it takes longer to vacuum, because you need to make more passes to finish the job. It is loud, rather big and pretty heavy, which makes it somewhat difficult to use, especially for us older folks. In addition, because the main body is so very wide, it won't go in most of the narrower places we need to clean, which means we still need to use the big vaccuum. We keep it parked on the charger, so it is always ready to go. To date, the battery seems to be holding up pretty well. The filter is fairly easy to change; we extend it's useful life, greatly, by vacuuming it off with our big vacuum now and then. The pivoting nozzle comes in handy once in a while. The nozzle extension is nice, but it collapses during use too easily and the brush on the end of the nozzle falls off with the slightest use. The two speed function is pretty useless; we never use it. We received this as a gift, to replace our good old Dustbuster, which died after many long years of use. We appreciate the gift, but this is not better than our old Dustbuster which was lighter, quieter, smaller and sleeker, had just about the same suction with a much bigger inlet on the nozzle and frankly, was much easier to use. We would not buy this again and would use it more if some of these annoying problems were fixed. We hope you find this helpful!Customer Review: Great for car and home
Summary: 5 Stars
I originally purchased this to keep my new minivan clean in between trips to the car wash. Now I use it all the time. Much improved over my last dustbuster this has lots of power. There are 2 speed settings. The button pushes to to either one so that you do not have hold the button down for your entire vacuuming session.
Love the flip design. I store it on my counter top and it doesn't take much space- and is always at the ready. Its great for all the small spills and cleaning up after little ones.
1 drawback- The actual opening is only about 1/3 of the front nozzle. Not sure why they did this but it makes it a bit more work to cover larger areas such as car mats. However the thin nozzle design makes it a lot easier to get into the nooks and crannies of cars and under couches. There is also a built in nozzle extension to facilitate those tight spaces. It comes with a brush attachment that i have not used.
Emptying the canister is very easy although occasionally I have had to get in there with a stick or chopstick to dislodge a bead or other hard object that is stuck in the small part of the filter. I can't do it one handed but you don't need to touch any dirty parts. There is a twist part in the center on the door that opens that doesn't seem to do anything- I just press and hold down the door lever to open and dump the dirt into the trash bin.
A great complement to any full size size vac when you dont want to drag out the heavy duty vac.
Customer Review: Great suction but ergonomic disaster
Summary: 4 Stars
The vacuum has great suction but almost every aspect of the usability is messed up. I think they designed the thing such that it would sit on a table as a centerpiece rather that something that gets dirty and sits on the floor.
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These are the various ergonomically messed-up aspects of this product:
The unit is seems to be designed for a leftie as the switch for the pivot is set up for the left thumb. However, the cleanout is set up for a righie. So the clean out process is awkward.
Dirt clean out does require that you dig in to the filter area and pull stuff out of the chamber (eg hair). When you do this it can fall on the door and create difficulty in sealing it closed.
The base charger stand needs to be drilled into a side wall. So if you place this on the floor and you have any wood molding (eg toe molding) near the floor, you cannot attach this to a side wall. Again it seems they designed it to be a showpiece at counter level. Who puts a vacuum that just vacuumed ??? on a counter.
The pivot function for me is of questionable value. I only use it at one angle that has the best suction.
If you do place this vacuum on the floor, there is nothing to grab onto at the top of the vacuum. So you need to squat down and grab it at the handle. This would be a drag for someone older.
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Otherwise, the suction is great and the narrow nose makes it useful to get into confined places.
Customer Review: This vacuum sucks!!! (sorry, couldn't resist)
Summary: 5 Stars
I like this hand vac. Here are my pros and cons:
PROS:
1. It's powerful and keeps the suction up for a long time. You don't have to keep the vac in the charging cradle constantly.
2. It seems relatively durable for something made of plastic.
3. The noise doesn't bother me at all.
4. It has more than enough suction for my jobs, which are mostly sucking up dust bunnies. But for me, more is better.
CONS:
1. Amazon.com keeps playing with the price. It is easy to think that you paid too much. I might buy another one. I refuse to pay more than $55.00. Just my humble opinion.
2. I wish it was a bit lighter.
3. I sometimes fear that the nose will develop a crack because it seems to be precariously attached to the body. But this may be irrational.
I would buy this hand vac again. I wish everyone else would stop buying this particular model, then amazon would lower the price. If you are interested in buying, put this model in your shopping cart, then check daily for price fluctuations.
Warning: the 1810 model Black & Decker Pivot Vac 18V Cordless Pivoting Hand Vac, PHV1810 seems to me to be a slightly inferior model. I will write a separate review on this model. Take note which model is priced higher, the 1800 or 1810. That with the higher price is selling more. (Not that popularity equals quality!)