Horswispr's Full Review: Black & Decker FV5000 Bagged Upright Vacuum
I vacuum often. I don't like dust, and dust settles on things quickly in California. Because I vacuum often, I am something of an expert in vacuum cleaners. I vacuumed earlier this year. I vacuumed in June 2000. And in 1997, I vacuumed two times, in July and September.
When I was given the assignment to buy a vacuum cleaner for work, I went to Wal Mart with an open mind. Although I vacuum often, I had never actually BOUGHT a vacuum cleaner.
When I saw the Black and Decker DirtBuster, I knew I had to have one. It looked like a cute little toy, with its smooth purple-blue plastic surface, and it only cost $59. It also had Black and Decker prominently displayed on it. I trust the name Black and Decker, and I thought it would probably be a product that wouldn't break.
Most importantly, it looked simple enough that I could use it without injury. Although I vacuum often, vacuum cleaners intimidate me. I pulled a back muscle once, trying to unlock a vacuum cleaner's handle from the part that comes in contact withe the floor. Another time, while trying to empty a vacuum cleaner's little bag, I wound having the bag explode on me, sending dust bunnies, dead flies and other nasty stuff all over my house.
The DirtBuster does not have a bag that you throw out, necessitating the purchase of new bags. It has a little plastic container that you empty into the garbage periodically. I like that.
It comes with three straightforward attachments which fit neatly into the upright handle: a hose, a brush attachment, and one of those reachy ant-eater-like attachments for getting into corners.
The power cord is fairly long (I didn't measure it) and of high quality.
A neat feature of this vacuum is that you can completely remove the stand-up part and turn it into a a hand-vac. I was unable to do so, probably due to fear of injury, but one of my colleagues was able to do so with minimal effort. She laughed at me for some reason.
So does the thing pick up stuff well?
I used it on bare floor and it picked up just fine. It didn't seem super-powerful, but it picked up all the dust and little scraps of construction paper in its path.
Then I tried it on low carpet--the indoor-outdoor kind you find in institutions sometimes. There was this cool green light glowing through the button on the unit that "bare floor." so I touched the the other button, which said "carpet," hoping it would glow some other cool color.
Nothing happened.
So I bent down and tried it with my finger. Nothing happened. So I vacuumed the low carpet with the thing on "bare floor" setting and it picked up just fine. In fact, it left a subtle version of the path I enjoy so much when vacuuming, kind of like mowing a lawn.
The light? Maybe that's just for visual effect. Or maybe there's another light-changing button somewhere that I couldn't find. No biggie.
I was feeling adventuresome that day so I decided to see if I could empty the little plastic container full of dust into the garbage without incident. To my surprise, it slid out easily, and I was able to dump the stuff I'd vacuumed up into the garbage without any disasters occurring.
Another neat thing about this vacuum cleaner is that there are two on-off switches, one conveniently located on the back of the base unit. I was able to turn the thing off with a tap of my big toe.
What else can I say? The attachments attached as they were supposed to, the thing wasn't a powerhouse but was good enough for general office use, and I was able to use it without spilling stuff all over or injuring myself.
We've only had it for a month or so, so I can't attest to its long-term reliability, but for $59, it's kind of hard to go wrong.
If I ever actually give in and buy a vacuum cleaner for my place of residence, the Black and Decker Floor and Hand Vac will be on my short list of units to consider.
2003 is coming, and I'll probably be vacuuming again here at home by May, or maybe even March.
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