Review on 🔋 BLACK+DECKER POWERSERIES Cordless HCUA525JP: Powerful and Portable Cleaning Solution by Michael Tegan

My wife and I love this small and light cordless touch up vacuum. We bought one at a deep discount because someone returned it and I'm pretty sure he or she expected diesel pickup performance from the Nissan Leaf. The greatest feature of this device is that whenever you need to vacuum up dirt, lint, crumbs, or various clumps of dust, you take it, do it, and put it back on the charger. The lack of a cord removes a major psychological barrier to its use. It cleans all types of surfaces, hard floors, rugs, deep pile rugs, entryway rugs, dusty shelves, etc. etc. visually clean. We have a 2,000-square-foot townhouse with about the same amount of carpet and hard surface, and we can do a full vacuum that takes about 30 minutes on a single charge. My wife owns a commercial cleaning business and she told me that industry studies show you can cover about 30% more floor space in a given amount of time with a cordless vacuum. I suspect this benefit is even greater if you're vacuuming during the week when portability is everything. It took about 4 charge/discharge cycles before this thing started showing its rated life. It runs for over an hour if you keep the fan speed on 1 or 2 and use the brushroll as little as possible. In real life, the battery lasts almost half an hour if the brushroll is left on most of the time, and the adaptive function (it measures mass flow) regulates the fan speed. The roller brush is actually quite powerful (translated: energy intensive) and does a great job of keeping both hard floors and carpets looking clean and neat. The suction unit can be detached from the power head, resulting in an incredibly lightweight yet powerful canister vacuum. While it's not a true "quick pull" assembly system (which would require B&D to implement a much longer hose and thus an airflow resistance that this little device can't handle), it's still a very versatile tool. The direct dirt path allows it to pick up items like toothpicks and paperclips without clogging, which many powerful plug-in vacuums can't. Everything is dismantled without tools, including the driven brush roller. The wiper/dirt compactor works with reasonable efficiency and I never had to dig through the bottom of the bin to get tangled hair and lint out. When the filter begins to clog, the mass flow indicator will illuminate and filter performance will be restored while vacuuming the filter with a shop vacuum. (I don't like waiting hours for the filters to dry if I can avoid it). The last exhaust filter is still clean, but can be rinsed (or blown out very thoroughly with compressed air, I suspect). The only three improvements I can think of (an advanced technology brushless motor, a much longer hose that supports instant configuration of fast attachments, and the use of external removable lithium-ion batteries) make the weight, complexity, and price unacceptable make. The plastic frame of the power head and handle can flex a little but has proven to be durable even with fairly rough daily use. Fully assembled it is a pleasure to use on the stairs. It's small and maneuverable enough that we can do most of the cleaning with a very flat nozzle. And unlike all but the most expensive cordless vacuums, this one delivers really good (not quite HEPA full) allergen-rated air filtration. Using less stringent (translated: dusty) air filters is a very compromised way to get more performance when every watt-hour counts. I also like the ergonomics of the vertical D-handle better than the attachment with the long tube attached. Every week or two we deep clean our carpets with a mains vacuum with a 12 amp bag and it's almost amazing. how much stubborn dust, broken pile and fluff can a connected four-wheel drive sweeper brush, beat and vacuum out of a superficially clean shag-pile carpet. But our little radio miracle ensures proper cleanliness in between, and if we had almost all floors empty, that would probably be the only vacuum cleaner we need. I would recommend it to anyone who is not going to tow a trailer on a Nissan Leaf :)