Customer Reviews

Black & Decker CHV1688-E 16-4/5-Volt Cyclonic-Action Cordless HEPA DustBuster with AccuREACH

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

This vac is a piece of junk compared to the older chv1500 model.

There is an extension nozzle that comes out of the front - which is really handy until youre trying to vac up something larger than a breadcrumb. The passageway gets constantly jammed and you have to pull things out of it with your hands or sometimes even a chopstick when things really get lodged in there - which happens fairly often

The dust bin is much smaller than the old model. Its also difficult to remove.

Suction power is less than the old model as well

Finally the nozzle broke after 4 months of use

B & D please bring back the chv 1500!!!!

This is a great little product with one fatal flaw: the replacement hepa filters for it don't exist. I have tried contacting Black & Decker about getting the hepa filter and it has been an extremely frustrating experience - they don't have it and nobody else does either. And be WARNED: the VF100H hepa filter shown on Amazon's page as a replacement hepa filter for this product DOES NOT FIT - it's too big. The funny thing about this is that on the Black & Decker box it says the VF100H filter fits ALL CHV models. This is flat-out not true. The correct replacement hepa filter is part #VF08H, which is not available anywhere. These filters are washable so you can clean them but that will only work for so long. I just bought this dust buster two months ago and am sorry I did it. It works great but once that hepa filter is gone the dust buster will need to go in the trash.

I bought this to replace my old Dustbuster that was dying on me. Doesn't have the power my old one had even though it has much more voltage. I been using it several times a week (to pick up small bits of cat food or after sweeping) and I noticed that sometimes the dirt falls out after I shut it off. So I have to go over that again. Am going to keep it only because I threw out the packaging, but next time will go for something else.

I bought this about a month ago, to use mostly to clean out the crumbs that tend to accumulate in my car and it has exceeded my expectations. It is a bit loud as it is much more powerful than ones I have had previously. I have not had one of these in many years because they never worked well in the past, but I broke down and bought one because I was tired of pulling out the big vac to use in the car. The end of this extends out about 9 inches, good for getting into those cracks where the seat meets the back. It also works well picking up floor and counter crumbs. I am very pleased with it and have recommended it to friends.

This is more expensive than the wonderful old Black & Decker CHV1500 which had great suction and two of which I also bought here -- the switch went out on one of them. By comparision, this has about half the suction of the old one, clogs much more easily and is difficult to find filters for even on Amazon.

The dirt can actually fall out of it while you are using it, and the channel the air is supposed to travel up is so narrow that it has about half the suction of the old model. The "new" air channel design is why it won't pull and why it plugs up easily. What do they use for engineers there when they *HAD* a good design before? Mystical...

I can't stand it and hope to use it for a paper weight.

I read a lot of reviews before settling on this model. I love it. It picks up cat litter and my long hair off the bathroom floor and even picks up cat hair balls off the carpet!

I have owned many generations of dustbuster. This one is reasonably powerful, but not what I had hoped for. Although the wattage is larger, the power does not appear to be more than the previous model. The snout and pull out crevice tool are larger than previous models and will not reach into small spaces and there isn't enough power to pull things out of crevices. On the other hand, objects do not stick in the cavity of the bowl as in prior models. Depending on use needs this dustbuster could be quite good or moderately so.

I have an older cordless Dustbuster HEPA that I keep in my kitchen. It has given me two years of trouble-free service, great for picking up small messes. It was so much better than my first cordless hand-vac, which was a Rigid. We got a new cat, and I wanted another Dustbuster to use around the cat box. The older model is no longer produced, so I bought the CHV1688-E. I like this newer model so much that I ended up getting TWO of them! Now I keep one Dustbuster in the kitchen, one in the garage, and one in the basement. This is a powerful small handheld vac; the HEPA function is great for containing dust, and this new one has a sleeker "nose" that gets into corners even better than the previous model. The battery holds its charge very well. Highly recommended.

Bought the CHV1688 Cordless with HEPA filter for car cleaning, picking up hair, and quick clean up. Generally works well. Easy to handle - bagless feature is nice. Extension is good for small crevices in car. Does not do so well in picking up hair from bare floors.

This is an outstanding tool. I use it primarily for cleaning my pair of Roomba 560s.

The first stage filter is brilliantly designed to concentrate trapped debris in one area so as to maximize the air flow through that first stage filter. This maximizes the time between cleanings while minimizing the reduction in suction. It also makes for easier cleaning.

I recommend using a HEPA grade vacuum cleaner to clean this HEPA grade DustBuster. I use the Kenmore Progressive [bagged] Upright Vacuum with Inteli-Clean System (Model 35922). That vacuum has a 17' stretch hose with a 5:1 extension ratio and exceptional hose tools. In fact, the crevice tool could hardly have been better designed for cleaning the HEPA filter used by this DustBuster.

But, for removing deeply embedded dirt -- especially in a badly neglected Berber carpet -- I recommend any Hoover with the patented WindTunnel feature and the Embedded Dirt Finder feature. For that task, I use the Hoover Anniversary WindTunnel Bagless Upright (model U5786900). On the downside, the hose and tools on the Hoover do not compare well to the Kenmore. Hence, the pair of uprights. And, the bagged Kenmore makes it convenient to more thoroughly clean the HEPA filter on the bagless Hoover.

With these 5 tools -- and a pair of HyperHEPA air purifiers from IQ Air, this allergy prone lifelong bachelor is finally keeping a cleaner home and enjoying MUCH better health!

P.S.) The reviewer who complained about cat food falling back out the front is probably just trying to pick up debris which is larger than the opening to the first stage filter area. Some handheld vacs may be better suited to this task. But, they probably won't be HEPA rated. Then again, if you need a HEPA rated DustBuster, why would you own a cat?