"For about one year's time, on and off, I have tried to find a cordless vacuum to be used primarily in my car. I knew that above all else it must use a lithium battery because my previous hand vac (and plenty of other devices) used Nickel Cadmium batteries. They are so consistently terrible that I refuse to ever buy something that uses Ni-Cd batteries again. My last hand vac being a Dirt Devil which was useable for about 5 minutes at best, and though I tried to maintain the battery properly it was still ruined within about a year. One of my favorite websites to shop is Woot.com and they frequently sell vacuums of all shapes and sizes from Dyson. I had bought (and I do really like) my DC-25 upright ball vacuum. So I was leaning heavily toward buying a cordless DC-34 vacuum which can be used as a hand-held or as a floor vac. The major downside: They are insanely expensive! The best price you'll likely see is about $170 for a refurb. Two other things persuaded me to look elsewhere as well: The battery lasts about 10 minutes at best (but usually about 7 minutes of usefulness), and the thing is rather large and bulky for a hand vac. So, off to the web I went to try and find a vacuum with decent ratings and a lithium battery. I eventually stumbled upon the Black & Decker CHV1410L. I'm glad I did. The vacuum features an attractive design, it's compact, it's got an absolutely tiny charging base (and still functional, happily), and other course...a lithium battery. One likely won't need the user's guide to figure out how everything works. Disassembling, cleaning, reassembling, and using the vac are all quite intuitive. Still, the manual offers all the information you'll need while being brief. You can read the entire guide in just a few minutes. Happily the vacuum is a bag-less canister design, and the filter is a mesh design which is easy to clean. Aside from the battery eventually wearing out, there's nothing else you'll need to buy or replace in the lifetime of this vacuum. A major improvement over older hand vacuums to be sure. Not bags, no foam or paper filters! Right out the box I put the vacuum on it's charging base and the battery was full within an hour. One thing to note is the extremely bright charging indicator. While it doesn't bother me I was still surprised how bright it is. You can practically use the thing as a night light ;-) The charging base itself is refreshingly small, simple, and functional. It's a disc perhaps 5 inches in diameter, virtually flat, and the vacuum simply rests on top of it. It's very easy to seat the vacuum on it and getting it to charge. The vacuum itself is very light weight and I'm glad that they went with a tapered design for the business end of the nozzle. It makes vacuuming tight spaces much easier and gets the job done well. The nozzle features an interesting flip down brush which is convenient since you don't have to worry about losing the attachment but unfortunately only half of the assembly has bristles. It works well enough but I'm thinking it'd be better to have a full brush attachment. Suction for the vacuum is excellent and compares to a floor vac with hose attachment for effectiveness. It actually outperforms the aging plug-in canister vacuum I had been using to clean my car. Out with the old, in with the new I suppose! And this one is cordless! Noise level is less so than most floor vacs but this device isn't exactly quiet. I'm not complaining about the noise level but you wouldn't want to vacuum in the middle of the night. Your family and neighbors wouldn't appreciate it! ;-) Battery life is very good for a cordless vacuum. Thus far I've only needed it for about 5 minutes at a time but I did use it once for approximately 10 minutes straight and the suction was mostly consistent. I notice that the suction is strongest the first 2 minutes of use, it then drops off a bit but is still fairly consistent the rest of the way through. Consider the first couple of minutes Turbo Mode or something like that! In any case it's a huge improvement over my previous Ni-Cd vac which was useable for only 5 minutes before beginning the steady decline to uselessness. A note: Disassembly and cleaning are a breeze, though you might have to fidget with the nozzle to get it to lock down tight with the base. Try rotating the nozzle assembly back and forth to get it locked down. If you don't the nozzle end might fall off during use. One thing to consider though is that you'll be paying far more for this cordless vac than you would for a corded one. You can find a corded hand vac that performs just as well for $40 or less. Is the premium worth the convenience of a cordless vacuum? For me, yes it is. But if the price bothers you I'd strongly recommend a plug-in vacuum over the future landfill you'll otherwise buy if you go for a cheap cordless. Ni-Cd batteries are garbage! So, in closing. This is an excellent cordless vacuum with powerful suction, a good design, and at least 10 minutes of useful battery life. I'd recommend purchasing it over ANY vac with Ni-Cd battery. Look for pricing to be $80 or less."
BLACK + DECKER CHV1410L 16 volt Lithium Cordless Dust Buster Hand Vac (Compare Deals from $50)
" Purchased in Nov 2012, writing a second update, now in April 2015. This Dust Buster keeps on going. Still holding a charge VERY WELL and has not lost an ounce of suction power. I'm planning to add another one to the garage, and possibly adding more so that there is one on each floor of the house. Really amazing design and usefulness. ORIGINAL REVIEW: Purchased in Nov 2012, writing this review in Jan 2014. Its my first video, but of all the products I've reviewed on Amazon, this one deserves an extra star. We had a Black and Decker Dust Buster when they first came out (sometime around 1987). You would charge it up, and right after it got off the charger, it could suck up sawdust, but the battery would drain quickly, and suction power would lower until it barely made a noise and you couldn't feel the air moving into it. The Lithium Ion battery changes all that. When it is on, it is on at full blast, with the ability to suck up everything that fits in the tube. I've run it hard over the past year, and about 60 seconds before the battery dies, I can hear the sound reducing and you know it is almost out of juice -- That has only happened when I intentionally left it off the charger overnight in my garage in sub-freezing temps, then was doing woodworking and turned it back on to clean up a huge mess of sawdust. When it is out of juice, it just plain turns off. Much more satisfying than slowly sucking at lower power. But with day-to-day use, and always putting it back on the charger, I've never had it run out. What you WILL find with this dust buster is that your home vacuum gets used a lot less. :) This thing is about as addictive as a power washer. Once you turn it on, good luck putting it down; it is so satisfying to use and works so well, that I inevitably work around the room I'm in and suck up everything else I see on the floor, surfaces, baseboards and so on. In fact, while I was thinking about this review, I was trying to remember a time where I only vacuumed up the ONE THING that I was planning to suck up, and couldn't remember a time where I DIDN'T go around and clean up other things. It really is fun to use and the house is just naturally cleaner as a result. When you have the right tool for the job, any job can be fun, and this is the absolute right tool for the job. Right now I'm saving up to add one to the garage and other to the basement so that I always have one close at hand. Our upright vacuum now only comes out when we want to do the deep cleaning, about once a month. I use it for cleaning up spills while baking, cleaning up the table (chairs and floor) after the kids eat, I suck lint off the couch, clean up sawdust in the garage, suck up ash from the fireplace, suck up paper cuttings and stickers the kids leave on the floor. The list goes on. Another thing I have to mention is how easy it is to disassemble and clean. The filter system is great. I'm only now looking at replacing the filters, though I probably should have done this every six months. I keep it very clean by emptying the container, but also taking apart the filters and rinsing or brushing them out. I've seen a lot of vacuums meet ash or sawdust and immediately spray particles in the air, but this vacuum does not. It does an amazing job of containing very fine dust particles, which in turn raises your confidence to suck up anything and everything you see. The only two things anyone in the world could complain about are the noise and the LED light. I throw out both of those arguments as pointless, but I'll address them. The noise is loud. In the video you'll see that it gets up to 98 decibels. That is louder than conversation, about as loud as a Subway. The pitch of the noise is probably what some people object to. It has a higher pitch noise - closer to a weed whacker than a Harley - but the decibel level is what I'd expect for truly awesome suction power. The other thing people complain about is how bright the LED is. I'll give them that. It surprised me. You can see the blue glow outside the window of our kitchen. But if this does bother you, get out a Sharpie or some model paint and put a couple of dabs on it to either block or diffuse the brightness. Neither complaint should hold you back from getting this thing. If I had to choose this or an upright vacuum I'd choose this, or two of these. UPDATED 2/16/2014: It looks like you can replace the batteries if they ever die. Not easily, but if you have a multimeter and you really wanted to, the batteries are easy to get out and are stored in a nice battery pack. I uploaded another video to YouTube here: [...]"
"I bought this vacuum on sale via Amazon for the best deal anywhere. What can I say? I love this vacuum! It's very powerful, and has quite a few unique and useful features not found on competing brands. The extendable crevice tool is great for getting into tight spots. However, if I extend it all the way until it locks into place it is EXTREMELY difficult to push back in. So, I extend it to a point just before it click locks and it stays put just fine while being easy to retract. The suction head can even be rotated to align the crevice tool for vertical tight spots! This keeps the vacuum vertically balanced in your hand. There is also a very convenient, permanently mounted hinged brush which can be flipped into position without removing and potentially misplacing it. It can only be utilized when the crevice tool extension is retracted. Unlike my ancient Dustbuster, it has a lithium battery which stays strong right until it dies. Old technology NiCad batteries slowly lose voltage, causing the vacuum to gradually slow down - all the while losing suction until it finally dies. This Dustbuster will die only about 1 minute after it begins to sound just a little bit slower. The lithium battery holds its charge for a long time and can be kept on the charger full-time without developing a memory of short-term usage. It sets conveniently on its charger base in any direction you happen to place it. When the lithium battery dies its blue light flashes fast. The blue light flashes slower in the charger until it is fully charged (solid blue light). Some people might prefer a wall-mounted charger, but this model has none. Personally, I prefer its mobile charging base. The generously-sized dirt reservoir is very easy to remove with a push of the release button just forward of the on/off switch on the handle. If you have large hands and/or long thumbs be careful not to push that release when holding the vacuum or the reservoir will fall off and dump the dirt back onto your floor. My hands aren't so big, so I don't make that mistake. The air discharge vents are on the base of the unit, so it never blows air in the direction of the dirt you're trying to vacuum up as some tend to do. The recharge time is just about 3 hours. That's a whole lot faster than I'm used to with older Dustbusters. The usable vacuuming time is roughly 15 minutes before the battery dies, but I use Dustbusters for small jobs which don't require really long run times. So, the 15 minute run time suits my needs very well - even for vacuuming a vehicle. Now for its biggest drawback. It is VERY powerful with excellent suction, so you can imagine that the price might be loudness. And you'd be right! It's not so loud that it hurts my ears. I don't think it's loud enough to hurt anybody's hearing, but it is a bit irritating after extended use. Again, I use it for quick jobs so its loudness isn't a major problem for me and is far outweighed by the many positive aspects of this excellent design. And, yes, I would gladly recommend this Dustbuster to family and friends."
"This DustBuster was purchased to replace a very, very old DustBuster we have had since 2005. After 10 years it seemed time to replace the old one. This seemed to address the issues I had with my 2005 model and the pricing was right for a 16v unit so I took the plunge. Overall I am happy with the purchase, but some may not see it the same way. The good: Unit has very good suction and runs for almost 20 minutes without a break before it dies, more than enough to clear simple dust or dirt. It does have a screen and a rinsable filter (they need to air dry before using again) The unit is the right balance of feeling substantial and being balanced in your hand. the pickup spout has an extender that can be pulled out to extend your reach and by depressing the button on top of the white section it allows the tube to rotate allowing you to get behind various items that you otherwise wouldn't be able to. A brush is attached to the end of the permanent spout and the unit charges quickly on it's charging plate. (unit will blink to indicate charging and glow solid once charged) The bad: The brush isn't attached to the extension tube which can be pulled out of the main spout, but it also collapses far to easily back into the unit making it bothersome to need to keep pulling the spout out again. (you are also placing your hands back on the dirt you just picked up) The spout has an odd sort of opening into the main dirt chamber (it makes a 90 degree corner as it enters the chamber) it also causes items that could have been sucked into the unit not able to get into the chamber (so any items that may be slightly longer you will need to pick up by hand. IE: some uncooked pasta that was on the floor was just enough to get caught. The unit doesn't come with the ability in this model to wall mount included. So you must have a dedicated area of the counter for it's home. Unit is loud, (but then again so was the original dust buster) The ugly: Here is the part that some will hate, I am a bit disappointed so I took a star for this. The promo videos show just popping off the pickup tube and dumping into the trash (like the Dyson vac advertise, but in the case of a Dyson, it actually works that way) In the dust-buster case the filter they use as well as the plastic cover get filled with pet hair and dirt which reduces the suction power over time. As a result if you actually want to clear out the unit you have to take the bin off the of the motor and remove the filters, then remove the plastic over filter from the fabric under filter and knock them both on the inside of the trash bin. Then reassemble the unit. Every few weeks I also rinse the fabric filter out running water the opposite way of the airflow to force any accumulated dust out of the fabric then air dry for 24 hours before reassembling the unit and using again. Nice thing is that you can charge with it disassembled. Oh if you clog that little corner on the spout where dirt enters the dust-bin and you have to keep tapping on the spout until whatever you have trapped is freed and drops back out the spout. The alternative is to get a screwdriver and disassemble it to clear the blockage. This only happened once to me, but fyi. Overall: Even with the challenge of clearing the bin. I am still satisfied with the unit, for it's pickup, battery life and general ease of use. I know some would not buy it knowing that they will have to get into the dirt to properly clear the dirt chamber and filters, but if I had to buy it over I would do the same thing."
"We have gone through plenty of these rechargeable hand vacs over the years. Most of them have a life span of about a year and the main issue has always been the fact that they start to loose the ability to hold a charge. We have tried many different brands and we have used Black & Decker ones before as well. The difference here is the fact that this one has a Lithium Ion battery. It has no memory effect so using it for 30 seconds and placing it back on the charger will not affect the lifespan of the battery. We've been using this one for several months now and it seems to living up to it's promises. Having a small child in the home makes owning something like this a blessed necessity. We mostly use it for short burst to clean up and around the high chair. It has plenty of power to suck up crumbs and other trash without any problems. It is pretty easy to clean and dump out debris as well. The charging stand is a little weird at first...but you get use to it. It is basically a disk that sits on the floor and you sit this down on top of it. You'll know it is sitting on it right when the light begins to pulse blue indicating that it is charging. There is nothing that "clicks" it in or for the device to slide into...it just sits on top of it. Another interesting thing with mine is that when you turn it on, there is a half second pause before it begins to operate. It is nothing that has ever caused a problem...just something someone else might notice too if you get it. Overall we have been happy with this one so far. It has plenty of power for our needs and the charge on it lasts longer than what we have needed it for. We have never had to operate it long enough that it runs out. I think the most I ever used it for was maybe about 7 minutes when the baby monster decided to make his food explode all over the place. Overall...good hand vac that I recommend."
"I love this vacuum! If you knew me your mouth would be hanging open in utter shock from hearing such a statement escape my lips. I'll admit it, I'm not the neatest guy and I have a small living space so having only a full upright vacuum meant vacuuming wasn't happening as often as it should. The solution? This little gem. I have to say B+D seems to have calibrated the suction force just right so that it's powerful enough to pick up all the stuff you want it to without accidentally sucking up things you don't. The built in attachments work well. The brush is great for kicking up dust from a surface and the narrow extension gets into tight areas better than one would think at first glance. I like these slide or fold out of the way for most use meaning you'll never have to worry about losing the attachments. The nozzle can also lock into any of 4 rotational positions, each 90 degrees apart, for better maneuverability. Cleaning the filter is extremely easy. Two release buttons remote the nozzle from the canister for regular dumping. When the filter gets full of dust just press a button on the handle and the motor pops off exposing the filter housing. Pull out the housing and twist off the filter mold to clean all the collected dust from the mesh filter. I clean it outdoors with compressed air but I believe the instructions said it can be rinsed under water as long as it is dry before use. All this is done in just a few minutes and then it's back to full performance. The battery has lasted me through several touch up cleanings or a full car vacuuming before needing to be charged. It comes with a charging base on which the vacuum stands upright while charging. I read that people have complained about the charger, I can't imagine why. The vacuum rests securely on it and it can spin in 360 degrees while still maintaining electrical contact so you can turn the bright blue blinking light out of the way if that bothers you. All in all, a great appliance."
"I have both this vacuum and the similar one with a NiCad battery. The main reason I went with that one first was it was cheaper. That one is still running strong, but it (and all other NiCad powered devices) have a few drawbacks. Most notably: The batteries are substantially heavier. They do not hold a charge as long while not in use. They suffer from 'memory effect.' They take longer to charge. This lithium version is noticeably lighter when picked up. As for the memory effect, it can be mitigated by ensuring that you fully discharge before recharging, which I've been doing on my NiCad powered model. This does keep it running for a pretty good time, and it still lasts a good amount of time on a charge with powerful suction. The only problem with this is you basically have to run it down every time before charging... which means you can't plug it in when it's half charged, and then the next time you use it you have half (or less, depending on how much time elapsed) the runtime. The lithium version has a smart charger so you can leave it on there all the time, and it handles itself. On that note, the NiCad model also does not come with a charge cradle. It has a wall mount to store the unit, but does not charge automatically when mounted (nor would you want it to). It comes with a separate AC adapter that plugs into a jack on the handle. The lithium model has a circular base charger which you set the unit down on (fat part down, rests at a slight angle) and a blue light flashes to indicate charging and holds steady to show charged. On the NiCad version, it just lights up red and as far as I can tell never changes status. It also takes up to a full day (24 hrs) to charge completely, whereas the lithium version charges considerably faster- a few hours at most. I've also noticed that the lithium model is slightly quieter. It seems about as strong suction-wise, though both are very good in general. Aside from the battery technology and charge method, the units are basically identical- same heads, filters, body design, attachments. On that note, it's a nice design though also quite basic. I've had some issues with the nozzle not seating properly on my older vac- you have to jiggle it around a bit to make sure it really sticks. If not, you might have a nasty surprise when you try to suck something up in a tight spot. Emptying the unit is pretty effortless, though a full clean can be a bit messy. That's pretty typical for all bagless vacuums. So is the lithium version better than the NiCad one? Definitely, if for no other reason than it's ready more often. The cradle is a nice addition, as I don't have to go digging for the AC adapter every time it's out of power. We still use both units, keeping one downstairs and one upstairs, but this guy is probably going to see more action now that we have it. I sprung for this one mainly because it went on sale and was only a few bucks more, but having now used both types I'd say it would be worth it even if it was full price."
BLACK + DECKER CHV1410L 16 volt Lithium Cordless Dust Buster Hand Vac (Compare Deals from $50)
