Customer Reviews

Black & Decker PHV1800CB 18-Volt Pivoting-Nose Cordless Handheld Vacuum Cleaner

5 star:		(258)
4 star:		(88)
3 star:		(27)
2 star:		(19)
1 star:		(17)

 

 

When our Shark went on the blink for the third time we decided it was time to get serious about a decent handheld vacuum. We own a Dyson full size vacuum so I naturally did my research presuming that the right answer was to get the Dyson cordless as well. However when I compared the reviews (some good, some not so good) to the price it gave me some heartburn so I decided to look around. Glad I did.

I did not have high expectations for this product. By and large I find the Black & Decker brand to be a decent value for the money, but not necessarily great quality. This product changed my opinion. It's very well made, with solid construction and an intriguing design. Those factors are very important to me, but it's a vacuum, so if it doesn't suck none of those factors matter much. Boy, does this thing suck! It's a bit noisy, but when you consider the amount of suction it creates it's little wonder that you can hear it so well. So far, everything I have used it for has been handled with great ease and satisfaction.

The charging station is pretty convenient and intuitive. My only criticism of it is that the charge light never changes color when the unit is fully charged - this would be a nice feature to add and is one of my issues with the Shark. But you can leave it in the base to trickle charge all the time without issues.

The pivoting nose is great because in the folded position the unit takes up so much less room, while in the extended position it's the right length and balances nicely.

Overall, this is a five-star handheld cordless vacuum and is the one I would recommend to anyone based on my positive experiences with it so far. If anything changes to alter my opinion, I will append this review.

I bought this hand vac after Consumer Reports rated it as one of the best products for the year. I am so glad I did. Best vacuum product we have ever owned, hands down. Picks up anything with ease, and has a long lasting charge. I have three kids and I use this daily to pick up everything on our floor, including large pieces of food. It grabs everything. So easy to get in those crevices as well. LOVE LOVE LOVE this product, and I never write reviews. Trust me.

We wanted to replace our aged Black and Decker handheld vac with something that would go longer and pickup more dirt. This vacuum is a little loud, but it really works. And you can clean it out fairly easily without having to grab the dirty filter all the time, like with the dustbuster style vacs. I would recommend it. While it says it can be wall mounted, I find the stand it is on works best freestanding. This thing would look weird and stick out too far on the wall.

I wanted a powerful cordless to clean the carpets in my car. This unit works great. It not only picks up the lint and fuzz with ease, but it manages to go deep into the carpet fibers and pull out the dirt also. The built-in extension tube is really handy (especially when trying to get in between the seats of the car. I'm really impressed. If you think $70 is a bit steep for a cordless vacuum you should consider the Black & Decker 14.4 volt unit. I have that one of those too and, although I don't think it's powerful enough for the carpets in the car, it works great in the kitchen.

I strongly endorse this product. It is extremely functional, very powerful, and works for a very long time on a charge. I can clean the stairs, plus one or two cars on a single charge. By the time this thing runs out of power, I am usually bored with vacuuming! Power wise, it is more than enough for most jobs. This model bears little in common with the first generation hand vacs that were barely good for getting a few crumbs off a bare floor.

In the summer, I use it to vacuum bugs from inside the house. It's less gross than splattering them with a fly swatter and it can actually grab bugs mid air.

It's a little noisy, but what the heck, it's a vacuum! What do you expect?

We have three dogs, and four birds living within the confines of our house (don't ask) so this gets used every day. I sometimes don't park it in the charger to allow it to totally discharge before recharging it. I also think that not letting the battery "cook" in the charging stand may facilitate a longer battery life. While the Dyson Root sounds like fun, I think that 6 minutes per charge sounds a little too wimpy. I don't even know the length of time the B&D works because it lasts long enough for all of my jobs. One message here, if you are in the market for a hand vac, look no further! This is the one! Buy it!

This is a great little vacuum. It has fairly strong suction and will last up to 10 minutes on the normal setting. I whole heartily recommend this product.

I have owned several hand vac's and was reluctant to purchase another. But with 2 cats, the liter box sand on the floor, and dry food, A Hand Vac really comes in Handy.

After reading many reviews on the internet, I decided this was the one to try out. It totally lives up to the ratings. Power and suction is great, battery stays charged as shown. It is housed in a compact charging cradle that I just leave at on end of the counter top, it looks nice.

It cleans a lot more than what I purchased it to do. I find myself using it for many jobs that I use to get my upright (with hose) out to do. I am very pleased with this Model. The Pivoting-Nose (that also extends) is an added Plus. Cleaning is simple and fast. Just remember, it is a hand Vac...It is not going to hold all the garbage in your house.

This is the best one that I have had, I am very pleased with my Purchase, and I received it extremely fast, as with most of my Amazone purchases.

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.

For a cordless vacuum, it held on to its power for as long as I needed to use it. Powerful with strong suction--more than one would expect. Not good for reaching into tight spaces but very good for general vacuuming up of debris and dust bunnies.

The only positive to this vacuum is that it does have very strong suction.

It is very loud. VERY loud. By far the worst thing is that it does not hold the dirt in the trap. When you turn it off all the stuff falls right back out of the chute. So basically, you find yourself re-cleaning up. Now I have to leave it on until I reach the trash can, then I shut it off. I can't wait to replace it.
Also, the filter is hard to clean and you feel like you're doing it all the time.
EDIT: I got this old vacuum out the other day to use. After using it, I remembered another key thing I forgot to post. The charging stand for this unit has the vacuum stand straight up on it's end (in other words chute opening facing down). No matter how well you clean out the collection bin there is always some remaining debris. When you place the unit on the charging stand the remaining debris falls out. This crud you either have to clean up or eventually will block the contact pads to charge the vacuum.