Black & Decker VP7240 DustBuster Handheld Vacuum

Pros: Portable, replaceable batteries, cute
Cons: Little suction, batteries run down quickly, clogs easily, hard to empty

Black and Decker has spread their little 3.6 volt batteries far and wide. It started with tools and now moves to their small appliance and vacuum line. In this case, the move wasn't great.

I got this little sucker to do quick clean-ups in my...

Pros: IT SUCKS!
Cons: Side vents blow in your face.

Alas, the old Bissell stick vac I've owned for 3 years has finally been laid to rest. Do things like that ever happen at a good time? No. Off to the store I run in search of a new cleaning device for my kitchen floor.

Not being a big...

Pros: Relatively long run time, very powerful sucking, replaceable batteries
Cons: A little noisy, attachments are not built into unit like other Dustbusters

Okay...I've owned more than a few Dustbusters in my life. The early ones were not very powerful. A few years ago, I got a DB+ as a gift and found it powerful enough, but battery life was dismal...and just got worse. I replaced it with another...

Pros: Had lots of power
Cons: In addition to the blowing in your face, my dustbuster died after a year.

My dustbuster completely pooped out after 1 year and barely sucked anything. I replaced the filter, ...

Pros: Good suction
Cons: FRAGILE. Don't every drop it. It's toast.

With fresh gold (NiMH) batteries it vacuums just fine but don't every drop it or not fully seat it in its holder on the wall, because when it falls out it's ended its useful life. The injection molded plastic part that holds the two Versapak batteries in place will break rendering the vacuum useless. The local Black and Decker repair center would replace it free of charge, but since it's no longer offered by B & D the last one broke and it cost be $10 to repair it. I had pair of them and the holder / charger didn't hold and the vacuum fell down and hit the tile floor. Bang, the batteries fell out. I put them back in and they would no longer be retained because the little plastic tangs that grab the battery broke off.

I have bought four of them since 1995 and all have suffered the same fate. Time for another manufacturer.

Pros: Easy to use, conveniant, not very expensive, very easy to clean.
Cons: Vent position, slow charge.

Unfortunately, the vents for the air coming out are not idealy located. They are on the side. I have a corded dirt buster that the vents on the rear, and I think it's better. It is good for loose dust, and the flap inside makes it possible tu use it for unwanted bugs, instead of squishing them against the window, wall or ceiling. Charges slowly, but keeps it's charge for quite a while (a couple of days).

Pros: It has great suction and can get into hard to reach places/corners.
Cons: The dust buster is loud. It doesn't stay charged for more than 15 minutes.

I got my dust buster as a Christmas gift from my mother and it is awesome!I have this cat who loves to kick her kitty litter everywhere in my bathroom and kick dirt out of the potted plant and i have to say the dust buster is perfect for sucking all this stuff up. Its also good for getting into hard to reach places/corners. The only con's i would say is it is rather loud and it will only really run for 15 minutes and then you have to charge it again for a while. But i really don't have to use it for more than 15 minutes anyway, so its not that bad. I was kind of hoping that i would get a shark vac for Christmas but after i read up on it i am so glad my mother got me the dust buster.