BLACK+DECKERdustbuster Flexi 18V Handheld Vacuum Cleaner, PD1820L-GB

Black & Decker Handheld VacuumWe have two 10month old Frenchies who moult like crazy, it was getting too much trying to get the Shark vacuum into their crate, despite it being XL. I also have a handheld vacuum, but that is as strong as a gnat’s fart and doesn’t even pick up one piece of fur, let alone clumps full!!So I had a good look on Amazon and decided on this one, which was a lot more expensive than I thought I was going to spend. I was lucky to buy it on Prime deals day, so got it for just over £100.It comes boxed. My Husband thought it was going to be a bit too heavy for my arthritic wrists, but in actual fact, it’s very light!It had to be put on charge immediately - you park the vacuum on the base and plug the base in - a bit like an electric kettle, and as soon as the blue light goes off, it’s charged.I am so glad I chose this vacuum. The suction is great, especially for all the fur we need to keep clearing up, and the way you empty it is easy, just press the grey ‘handle’ on the side and tip it over the bin.It’s so easy to get out for little bits of tidying up through the day. I love that the hose comes off to reach into tight spots, and it comes with the brush and reaching tool too.You will see the culprits in my photos checking out the new addition to the family.As always I have added a few photos to this review to help you with your decision.

We bought this 18v version of the Dustbuster 10 years ago. It's used all the time, and provided the filter and the filter housing are kept clean the suction is tip top.The machine is lightweight, the flexibility hose makes it brilliant for reaching into small spaces, using it as a duster, vacuuming the furniture, cleaning up spills (dry only). Really easy and comfortable to use.We keep it on its charging stamd all the time so it is ready to go.Only fault are the bristles on the nozzle attachment being nylon distorted out of shape with use quite quickly.We manage to use other tools from our main vacuum cleaner on it too.Also have the 14v version at a holiday home but the suction on that is rather less.Sometimes a manufacturer produces a machine that is way and above everything else, and this is an example. I see the price today is £134 and we'd buy another.

This is the second one I have purchased. I have found it a useful piece of kit. The first failed because the outlet from charger was a bit fragile.

I'm absolutely blown away by how good this is - so much so that my mum asked me to order one for her as well. My view of dustbusters was a fairly low suction thing with a wide nozzle which would only run for a few minutes before needing to charge for hours on end. Not so this beast: it's tackled everything I've thrown at it and I'm yet to run it flat.I got this because I've got a cat who tracks his wooden cat litter from the kitchen into the living room, and to a lesser extent the rest of the house. The vac is great for getting that off the carpet and furniture, as well as doing a quick zoom around the kitchen to clear up anything he's spilled in there. It's also good for when you spot a cobweb on the ceiling and would ignore it if you had to get the Dyson out of the cupboard. I've used it for doing a quick clean up of dust/hair/fur on my small bathroom floor (lino) and it's coped easily with that. The flip-out brush is useful for dusting furniture or a quick clean of my laptop and computer keyboards.I mainly keep the wider attachment with the flip-out brush on it attached to the vac. It's handy for quick clean ups. If you need to change a tool, they easily unclip. The crevice tool is fine - not much you can say about it. It's comparable to the ones on a standard hoover. The 'animal' attachment, though, is absolutely brilliant. It makes cleaning fur off furniture a very easy task. It also works on rugs and curtains, without sucking the fabric into the hole. Now, instead of taking my living room curtain down to wash it (because the black cat pushes past it to go on the windowsil and it gets a big black streak of fur) I can quickly hold the curtain taut with one hand and the animal attachment removes everything within seconds. It's really good.The machine is fairly easy to empty once you get the hang of holding the door so it doesn't flap about as you try to shake all the bits out. To clean the filter is also easy as you just press a button and twist the body of the unit to remove the motor and hold the grey plastic bit in your other hand. you open the filter compartment and the filter itself can be easily lifted out by a little metal handle, which folds flat against the top of it. I clean the filter every couple of times I use the machine as I notice there's a drop in suction when that needs doing.You clean the filter by removing it and then you can shake it into a bin or brush it with a stiff brush. If you're worried about creating dust clouds in your bin as you do this, you can just use your normal vacuum cleaner to suck all the dust off. Apparently you can wash the filters periodically tp clean them but I've not yet done this because of how long it'll take to dry. Replacement filters cost under £8 from what I've seen. Although the filter seems to be made of concertinaed cardboard, the original one I'm using is not showing any signs of wear or deterioration, even with brushing the dust out of it.Some people have said that the machine is noisy when in use, but I don't find it to be so and it doesn't make the cat run away as he would if I got the proper hoover out. It sits neatly on the charging base provided and charges up within an hour or so after a 10 minute cleaning session. I've run it for half an hour and still not got it to go flat. To be honest, if I needed to clean constantly for that length of time I'd use the actual hoover instead. But this copes brilliantly with everything - I even took it up in the loft to clean up a load of dead wasps after we had a nest cleared.Weight-wise, I do find the unit a little heavy to hold for too long, but with the flexi tube it's not often that I have to as I hold that and have the base down on a solid surface. The hose then neatly coils round the unit to be stored.I can't recommend this highly enough - I find it invaluable and it's a very powerful little vac with lots of good features. Hopefully it'll last for a few years.