The Black and Decker Scum Buster SB400 is a product that you will either love or hate--there's no middle ground with it. In the right hands (ones with arthritis in particular), it can be a real blessing. I bought it primarily because I have rheumatoid arthritis in my hands, knees, back and every other joint and needed an appliance to do the scrubbing that I am no longer able to do by hand.

After charging the Versapak battery and doing the quick installation, I prepared to do battle with the shower. I quickly learned that old habits die hard. Not being accustomed to having a device to actually do the scrubbing for me, I caught myself time and again trying to scrub with it instead of just holding it. Using a manual scrubbing motion while the Scum Buster is on only slows the revolutions and the cleaning. It took awhile for me to break the habit of scrubbing and let the Scum Buster do the job it was designed to do.

The choice of cleaning products also has a great deal to do with the effectiveness of the Scum Buster. For the shower and sinks I use Comet Bathroom Heavy Duty Cleaner; it's the best product I have ever used to remove soap scum. I simply sprayed the Comet on the walls of the shower and let the Scum Buster do the rest. Before I bought the Scum Buster, it took me two hours to clean the shower, now I complete it in less than a half hour. As a real bonus, I no longer hurt my knuckles trying to clean the faucets--I just slip in one of the attachments that came with the device and watch the dirt, grime and soap scum disappear.

The drawbacks are that the Scum Buster is not as well balanced as it could be. It feels a little awkward and heavy in the front until you get used to using it. For people with advanced arthritis or muscular deterioration of the arm, it could cause some problems because of the slight heaviness and unbalanced feeling it has while holding it. It could use a little more power too. If Black and Decker would upgrade the design to allow it to use dual batteries, the extra weight in the handle just from the second battery might solve the balance problem and more power means more revolutions to cut cleaning time. I would love to see them add a handle attachment to allow cleaning tubs without having to bend or stoop. The handle itself was large enough for me to be able to hold without hurting my fingers (which no longer bend like they used to) but a little more ergonomic design for the handle itself would be a plus.

Overall, I am very pleased with it and don't think I could live without it now. My sinks, tubs and showers are cleaner than they have ever been and I spend far less time making them that way.

I would highly recommend this product to anyone with painful hands with a reminder that the device will do the scrubbing without having to push and pull it around, you just have to break the old habit of doing it yourself.

Recommended: Yes

Amount Paid (US$): 25.00