Dustbuster on Steroids!

After several disappointing experiences with small cordless vacuum cleaners, I was again looking for an item which could give me enough power to pick up the regular assortment of dust, dog hair, dog food, small amounts of gravel and grit, and anything else the dog and kids tend to drag into the house and car. After some preliminary searching, I saw an article in Popular Mechanics which rated the B&D PHV1800 over other hand-held vacuums, so I thought I'd try it.

The first thing you will note when sizing up this vac and comparing it to others, is that the box it comes in makes the PHV1800 look fairly large. Rest assured that this is due to a large amount of excess packing protection. The vac itself has the nice ability to fold up (more on this later) into a space similar to the size of a shoebox. Additionally, you will note that the PHV1800 is on the heavy side for a cordless vac, but this is a worthy trade-off for power of the vacuum. In a general comparison, the PHV1800 is slightly larger and heavier than other cordless vacuums, but if you are looking for power and performance, this vacuum will fit the bill.

Once you have your PHV1800, you will have to patiently wait for 18 hours for the battery to charge. While waiting, you will note that after you remove the protective plastic strips, you have a small docking station for the PHV1800 and two additional nozzles. One nozzle is a brush for furniture and the other is a small extension nozzle, which is for crevices. These store in the docking station and can be easily added to the nozzle of the PHV1800. They do add a nice ability to make the unit more flexible, but I can't say that I have found them all that useful.

The PHV1800 itself has a pivoting nozzle that allows you to rotate the nozzle portion of the unit up to 180 degrees by pressing a button on the top of the unit. This makes the unit extremely flexible for getting into different areas that the unit itself would not normally fit, and more convenient for storage/charging. This function has been thought out very well, since it is easy to hold the vacuum, and press the button with one hand, and adjust the unit with the other. As an added benefit, the PHV1800 also has a built-in extension nozzle that gives you about six inches more nozzle length. This nozzle slides in and out of the main nozzle and could be a little bit easier to pull out, but since it doesn't slip out when you don't want it, I don't find this a problem. The aforementioned attachments can be added or attached by sliding them into the nozzle section (similar to a regular canister or upright vacuum attachment).

When vacuuming with the PHV1800 you have a low and high speed option. The low speed is quite adequate, but the high speed really increases the suction. In comparison, it is about as noisy as other hand-held vacuums, but the pitch on high speed is a little bit higher than most.

Cleaning out the dust collection bin was surprisingly easy. Where most units have to be separated, the PHV1800 has a door in the middle of the unit where the dust hopper resides. Additionally, there is a dial/knob that can be used to help "kick" off the extra dust from the filter when the hopper door is closed. Several rotations of the dial helped kick off a surprising amount of dust from the filter. This essentially reduces the need to remove the filter unit and tap it against the wall of the garbage can to remove the fine material. I thought that this was a very clever concept. In those times when you do have to clean the filter, a slight twist on the plastic filter cover releases the mesh filter cover and filter. These can then be removed for further cleaning.

While I've only had the PHV1800 for about one month, I must say that I've truly been impressed with the unit. It maintains power for longer than I've had a need to use it, so I can't really say how long the batteries will last, but so far, as a comparison, it has outlasted any of the previous units I have had. Again, it is a little heavier than most, but the versatility and suction make the PHV1800 extremely useful in my household.