Black & Decker WV 4850

...dust buster this time, the Black and Decker 4.7V cordless Wet and Dry Dustbuster, bought from Argos for around £25-30. I have had it for about 6 months now, and have encountered no problems.

-Design-


The Dustbuster is a reasonable size and average weight for a mini vacuum, approximately 40cms long. The vacuum is white in the body with a transparent turquoise dust chamber to let you see how full the vacuum is. ...
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The Black and Decker Dustbuster is also a wet vacuum. Until now, I've never tried the vacuum on wet spills, but I gave it a go on a tiled floor, using the purpose wet spill attachment, and was surprised to see that the vacuum did indeed pick the water up, not just smear it. Using the vacuum on a wet spill required no more effort than the average dry spill.

On absorbent surfaces, such as carpet, the vacuum fails entirely ... more

As a teenager, I have an affinity for getting rooms mucky, mostly from snack crumbs, so, about 1 ½ years ago, I decided that enough was enough, and bought a little dustbuster was what I needed to keep my room looking presentable between my weekly clean with a big vacuum. My first dust buster was a Dirt Devil, well priced (around £20) but poorly made, and, after a year, a key part of the dust chamber broke and the motor died, after groaning for a long time beforehand.

So, I decided to try a slightly higher priced dust buster this time, the Black and Decker 4.7V cordless Wet and Dry Dustbuster, bought from Argos for around £25-30. I have had it for about 6 months now, and have encountered no problems.

-Design-

The Dustbuster is a reasonable size and average weight for a mini vacuum, approximately 40cms long. The vacuum is white in the body with a transparent turquoise dust chamber to let you see how full the vacuum is. The handle is ergonomically shaped, and there is a convenient rubber hoop on the end to hang the vacuum from a wall hook.

The Dustbuster has one control that is pressed forward to turn the vacuum on, and pulled back to turn it off. The dust chamber is released by pressing down a button below the power button, and by pulling off the dust chamber.

Inside the dust chamber there is another plastic container which contains the collected dirt; this is kept in place by a sturdy, thick foam filter "lid" which is pushed into the top of the container. I do not honestly understand the need for two different dirt containers, but I assume that the inner container filters out bigger pieces of dirt and other accidentally sucked up items.

On the underside of the vacuum, the two supplied attachment heads slot into a purpose built niche (and they don't fall out, which is particularly good). The two supplied heads are a crevice tool and a rubber attachment for wet spills on non-absorbent surfaces such as kitchen counters. The rubber head fits over the top of the crevice tool for storage, and this is then slotted easily into the underside of the vacuum.

The Dustbuster comes with a basic charger, whose jack fits into the back of the vacuum. One downside to the vacuum is there is no LED light to confirm that the vacuum is charging.

-Ease of Use-

The vacuum's single control button means that it is easy to operate, and the vacuum is relatively strong, able to suck up crumbs, hairs, pet hair and dirt from carpet, upholstery and tiled floors with little force required.

The Black and Decker Dustbuster is also a wet vacuum. Until now, I've never tried the vacuum on wet spills, but I gave it a go on a tiled floor, using the purpose wet spill attachment, and was surprised to see that the vacuum did indeed pick the water up, not just smear it. Using the vacuum on a wet spill required no more effort than the average dry spill.

On absorbent surfaces, such as carpet, the vacuum fails entirely to suck up liquids. This didn't exactly surprise me. The liquid only dried slightly due to the air blown out by the vacuum fan.

The vacuum is a little noisy when in use, but no more so than the average mini vacuum.

- Peripherals -

The Dustbuster has two attachable heads, an effective crevice tool, and another rubber attachment for sucking up water from non-absorbent surfaces. As stated above, these are attached to the body of the vacuum which makes them readily available.

-Manual-

The manual is concise and written clearly. It contains useful information about the various functions of the vacuum and safety information and is worth retaining.

- Charger/Charge Time -

According to the manual, the Dust buster requires 16 hours for a full charge. I do not know how long the vacuum will last before requiring re-charging, but it is certainly over 5-10 minutes, and will last for the average clean up.

Empty and Replacing the Cartridge

The biggest downside of the vacuum is cleaning out the cartridge. As the dust chamber clicks onto the body of the vacuum, it requires a little effort to take it off, which can spill some of the dirt if the chamber is full.

The second inner dirt container also requires being taken out before you can empty the main dust chamber, so this all best done over a bin to avoid dust and dirt going everywhere.

Both chambers should then be emptied, which requires nothing but a shake, or a wipe out with a wet cloth if you desire. This can be a little tricky, as they are some hard to reach areas at the mouth of the main dirt chamber.

The foam lid of the inner container will also require shaking and rubbing with a cloth to remove any hairs and dust bunnies, which is somewhat unpleasant, but quick enough to do. Then, it's a simple matter of putting the vacuum back together.

It's suggested that you occasionally clean the top foam filter as well in warm soapy water, to keep it clean and picking up the optimum amount of dirt.

-Overall Opinion-

I have only had experience with one other mini vacuum, but so far, the Black and Decker Wet and Dry Dustbuster trumps it. It has a strong suction for a handheld cleaner, and works on carpets, upholstery and tiled surfaces. Though it can't pick up liquids from absorbent surfaces, this seems an unlikely use to begin with, and it picks up liquids from non-absorbent surfaces quickly and easily.

The price is reasonable for this quality of cleaner, and perhaps the only improvement would be to include a "charging dock" to place the cleaner on when not in use.

After 6 months, the cleaner has shown no faults and has not yet lost suction.

Well worth buying, particularly for those with young children or pets.

I bought the vacuum from Argos for around £25-30, but it appears to no longer be stocked there. I would therefore suggest that you purchase this vacuum if you happen to spot it, or else choose a similar Black and Decker product as they are simple to use and well built.
 

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