Customer Reviews

Black & Decker CHV7250 7.2-Volt Wet/Dry DustBuster

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

We live in a carpeted apartment, and we bought this vacuum because spills are inevitable, even if you're careful. Therefore, the idea of having a cordless wet/dry vacuum cleaner was quite appealing, as you could in principle vaccum spills at once. However, the B&D Wet/Dry DustBuster proved to be quite useless for this purpose. The dust/water container fills up quite rapidly, becoming full with about 2 fl. oz. of liquid. When the container fills up with water (or wine, or whatever nasty stuff you're vacuuming), the liquid passes through the sponge filter, literally hitting the fan. The outcome: the nasty stuff you're vacuuming sprays in a thin mist all over the place (an you).
Pros: portable, powerful, cordless.
Cons: small dust/liquid container; bad design allows for overfilled liquids to be sprayed.
Botton line: ok for small dust jobs; worse than useless for spills larger than 2 oz.

[...]

I'm not using it for big jobs, I have a 2 1/2 year old... and I use it for the occaisonal spill & cleanup and for that purpose alone it's well worth the price I paid.

I like this wet/dry vac becuase of the size-i have a bird,and dogs and a cat and this dustbuster is in constant use--the size is ideal and it is powerful. The combination of having it be able to pick up spills and do it quickly is also helpful. Cleanup and dumping the dirt and liquid is pretty easy to do-just snap off the filter and dump in the nearest trash receptical. I like the recharge power which is good for 20 or so minutes--which is plenty of time before
a recharge is necessary. The 7.2 Volt Wet/Dry DustBuster is proving to be a pretty good machine.

This DustBuster has been very useful with a baby. Great to clean his high chair, get Cheerios and pieces of banana off the floor. Also very handy for getting spit-up off the rug.

Clean up is not for the faint of heart, however. We learned you must clean it out EVERY DAY or bacteria will grow and the whole machine will emit an odor every time you clean. The machine is not easy to clean out either, which makes us less likely to do it often.

The other drawback is that some liquids and fine dusts (like drywall) will actually come out through the vacuum exhaust, and emit a very fine spray everywhere. That's particularly disgusting with spit-up. Black & Decker should put a finer filter on it to prevent that.

Good things:
Dry and wet pick up
Light

Bad things:
Does not have a charging station.
Average suction

here's what's good: before the battery runs out, it does a good job of sucking things up.

here's what's bad: if you tilt this at the wrong angle, you will get a face full of whatever it is your sucking up as it comes out the exhaust. this is disgusting. i can't stress how disgusting it is.
and IF YOU HAVE ALLERGIES
you need to rule this dust buster out right here and now.
or if you plan to use it to suck up cat litter, well ....

the battery doesn't last as long as i'd like either.

We have had this about a month. This is great for cleaning up small messes. We have it in with our cat litter boxes and it works great for picking up the cat litter! It has lots of suction for the size. We also have wood floors, and it is great for going around and sucking up dust bunnies without having to get out the big vac. The bunnies seem to collect in corners anyway (one thing about wood floors and kids/pets - you can vacuum daily and the dust bunnies will still be there).
For the car, it has plenty of power, but not quite enough battery time. The box says that it will last about 8-12 minutes on a charge, and it is right. We have a minivan, so it takes longer than a sedan.
We have not tried it on wet spills. I usually just go get a wash cloth for those. It really doesnt hold that much anyway.
No bags to replace is also great. It has a sponge that works as the filter, and you can just rinse it out in the sink after emptying the vacuum. You DO need to let it dry out before you use it again though.
I imagine that the batteries will only last about a year, maybe two, just like our coordless phones. But the vac comes with instructions to replace the batteries, and it looks easy. At under $20 for the vac, it probably isn't worth it though. Just buy a new vac!
Other reviews I have read say you need more volts, and I wasn't sure this would work good. After trying it, I think it is more than enough for what I use it for. For a bigger job, I get out the big vac.

I bought this with the intention of using it for cleanups around the kitchen and for sucking up leftover food in my 1yr old's high chair especially. While at first I thought it was great, after not emptying the contents right away (which is a pain because you have to remove the filter thingy that is dirty and gross) I found that they would get moldy very quickly and I would end up with a disgusting mess on my hands. Not to mention that it is VERY difficult to clean b/c it goes to a point where the food/debris gets caught and you have to find something that will reach in and clean it. Not the helpful tool that I thought it would be!

Other than that it has good suction! I recommend plugging it in everytime you put it away so the battery stays charged.

I bought mine almost two years now, and I am pleased to tell you that it is still running just fine! I was disappointed when I first bought it, as the charge literally lasted 2 minutes or less. According to the manual though, it takes repeated usages for the battery life to extend. This is true. It easily lasts ten minutes today. This vac I find is great for chasing after a two-year-old's droppings. Crackers, snacks, dirt piles, grass clippings, you name it, it is much faster than getting out a broom everytime. The downside is that the filter needs to be cleaned often, probably everytime you decide to empty the canister. I have never bothered to use it on wet spills, but the filter doesn't take too long for liquid to pass through it. I would imagine that the spill could not be too large. Works well for light duty stuff. Anything else, I would look elsewhere.

Pretty good for the price. Hate the feeling when the exhaust blowing at my face although no dust coming out.