Black & Decker Flex Cordless Mini Canister Hand Vac FHV1200

Bought this yesterday, and while I waited the loong 21 hours for it to charge, I went online and read reviews from several sites. I ALMOST returned it without even giving it a chance. I didn't want to get it dusty and return it a used item. I'm glad my curiosity got the best of me, and what the heck, I gave it a test run. Thinking I only had 5-6 minutes run time, I chose my task carefully. I cleaned the edges, seams and baseboards on the stairway, and it was still going strong. I turned it off, and fired up the stop watch on my iPhone, and decided to document how long this little cutie really ran on its maiden voyage. It did a great job on the stairs, so I moved to a tiny "watercloset" in the bathroom that is too cramped to bring the full sized vacuum into. It's awkward to clean the floor, baseboards, or door panels behind the door, because you cant close the door with the full sized vacuum in there. The B&D Flex was what I've need all along for this teeny tiny bathroom! So easy to get behind the tank, in the crevices of the window track. It was still going strong, so I cleaned the baseboards and all the tight spots my large vacuum doesn't reach in the bathrooms and bedrooms upstairs. It finally started to lose power, and I clicked off the stopwatch (see photo at right) at 11 minutes, 49 seconds. This did not include the run time spent on the stairs, before I even started timing it! The other photo you see at the right, is what I found when I opened it up to empty it after this quickie cleaning session. It picked up a lot! Even better, it was simple to clean. I dumped most of it out into the trash can. Some stuff remained, so I turned the center thing counter clockwise and all of the debris came out at once. I tapped that plastic center thing on the trash can edge. Then, best of all, I pulled out the paper filter thing and tapped the dust off into the trash. The paper filter thing is my biggest pet peeve about small vacuum cleaners. I DESPISE having to pick a bunch of hair, dirt and dust off those paper accordion things. If I was cool with delving that close into the muck, why did I just use a vacuum cleaner to do the job? Yuck! The design on this little B&D Flex really does a fine job of filtering out the big mess before it ever reaches the paper filter. All that made its way to the paper filter was dust, which was easily tapped into the trash. It was nearly white again, with very little efffort. The only reason I gave this four stars instead of five, is the charge time is really long AND because it has a blue "charging light" that tells you no more than the fact that the unit is plugged in. It does not go off, or change colors to tell you when the unit is fully charged. How dumb is that? You plug it in and it turns blue and stays blue, no matter what the status of the battery is! I also found the instructions difficult to read. At first glance, it looks like a booklet of nothing but electrical warnings. The most important information is buried in a bunch of verbiage. They really should add a quick start guide, in color, or at least organized with better titles and headings. Still, I love this little thing! I bought it for my son's tiny apartment, and now I don't want to let it leave my own house! It's a keeper.

I made a in depth video review that you can check it out on YouTube.

I purchased this to vacuum my new car! New car? New vacuum! I didn't want a clunky Dust Buster, as it just doesn't get IN where it needs to! I didn't want to haul out the big Shop Vac and extension cord just to clean up the weekly dirt! So I looked for something small, yet flexible, and here it was!!!! The downfall comes with the battery, as it is a NiCd battery. It lasts for about 12 minutes...TOPS...so work fast, and don't leave it on as you go from one section to another! Use sparingly, as it then takes 9 hours to recharge! I DID see, after this purchase, that they make a similar model with a lithium battery, but they add a floor wand (long extension you'd use for floors!) which is totally unnecessary for this type of vac! I can't imagine buying this unit to clean my FLOORS! It might be worth the price difference, however, if the battery were to last longer! There IS a 2 year warranty on this unit, so if you have issues, it is under warranty! GREAT IDEA.... GOOD SUCTION.... Just not enough of it at one time! (Battery!)

I saw an infommercial of this item a few weeks back and was intrigued. Imagine my delight when I walk into Walmart and see it at the lowest price yet! It's important to note that you need to charge this item for at least a full 24 hours to get the maximum battery life. This thing is a joy around the house! It's the best for reaching awkward crevices and angles. I love the 4 foot hose, it makes it 10 times more useful and versatile. It really shines when you use it in the car, no more huge shop vacuums or weak suction handhelds. It has the power to do the job right the first time. My few gripes are these: The motorized brush attachment would've been a nice addition. Instead it's extra. I also wish you had at least 4-5 minutes more per charge Vs. 7-8 minutes. And make sure you time your cleaning right because when it dies it needs at least 4-6 hours to get a decent charge. I like it much better than the Dyson handhelds and at $65. its the cheapest on the internet or otherwise. Thank you for low prices Walmart!

I bought this to replace an old B&D that gave up the ghost. The reviews were excellent, even though it used Ni-Cad batteries and not L-Ion. After allowing to charge for a full 21 hours, it provides a full suction cleaning for 15 min+ with no loss of vacuum strength. The hose and accessories are great for reaching places in the house and car, and the pet hair attachment head is genius, it works better at removing pet hair than any other device of any kind, including lint rollers, special brushes, or even the most powerful $400 vacuum out there. Remember to run out the charge fully with a single use, do not use it for 30 sec "spot cleanings, or soon that is all it will be capable of. Ni-Cad batteries have a severe "memory effect" and learn bad behavior. If this had L-Ion batteries it would be 6 stars.

I was contemplating getting this vac or the Dyson handheld for $160 & I opted to give this a try for $50. I purchased this vac to keep up with the dog fur around our home & all the crumbs & little messes that happen as a result of having 3 kiddos. I am VERY pleased with this purchase! I love this little vac, it works great! I saw the reviews stating that it has a poor battery life, however that has not been my experience. It runs 15-20min on average. It states in the instruction manual that you may need to charge/discharge the vac a minimum of 5 times in order to achieve the best running time & you do need to charge it for at least 21hours before it's first use. I use it daily & it does not disappoint! Works great on pet fur, crumbs & has enough power to suck up change, screws, bolts etc. It has a reuseable/washable filter, attachments and a hose to get behind things easier. My 6 year old loves to use it as well, it's pretty lightweight! Overall I think this is an exceptional little vac!

Love this little guy. We have two cats in our 1000 sq foot condo with all hardwood floors it’s perfect for us. They did a great job on the design and they’ve used quality components. Well worth the price at $60. Here are some of my thoughts: - The hose was a great idea. Very comfortable to use (easier to swing a hose rather than the entire dustvac) - The hose allows me to point the motor fan away from the dirt I’m trying to vacuum. - The hose stores conveniently and easily around the vacuum - The hose end has a convenient flip down brush that I use when cleaning my white baseboards (avoid marks) - The transparent dirt windows let you see when it needs emptying - Dirt compartment is easy to empty and the filter is easy to clean. - It’s relatively quiet (just loud enough to scare the cats, haha) - It’s powerful enough to pick up dirt and crumbs - Battery hasn’t died on me while using it (15 minutes at a time) - It’s compact and sits on the floor in the corner of my home office

I picked this up as it has become too difficult for me to lug the big upright (Hoover Windtunnel) up and down stairs to vacuum them. Thought this would be perfect. I loved that it was cordless. It does - at best - what I would say is a barely adequate job. It does not have good suction. It does not pick up pet hair well (even with tool for that) It is too small and not aesthetically pleasing (odd awkward looking). The little place where the debris goes is small, gets full quickly and is messy to open and dump. Not very pleased for the price. Since I have used it about 3x now trying to give it a chance, won't bother to return. But debating whether to get rid of it all together or just keep to use for the car. I would just have to remember to charge it before I wanted to do that. The two available to me at the time were a small handheld Shark and this. I regret NOT getting the Shark and will likely replace it with that.

Seemed like a nice powerful little vacuum right out of the box. That didnt last long at all. Soon it started dying if we didn't keep it on the charger between uses. Shortly after that it would start dying after a few minutes of use. Now it starts dying instantly and wont hold a charge at all. For the same price I can get a Shark handheld that will last longer.

I have two cats and my bedroom is their home base, I also have a hubby with some allergy problems with them. I bath/brush out etc the girls every week and until now I lugged a full size shop vac into our room to clean the kitty tower, bedspread, lamp shades.. and wished there was such a thing as a hand held shop vac because I need a hose to get into crevices. I bought one with great excitement only to find out I should have read further because it's for a car lighter. This vacuum has All the power I could hope for, the charge lasted longer than my task at hand and I was so thrilled that I started looking for things to vacuum, like the up to my ceiling build in book shelves that of course I Never could use a shop vac for. Unlike on reviewer, the blue charging light Does turn off when charged. The rubber pet hair attachment actually worked far better than my old hand held with the rotating brushes. The vacuum is very light even for my tendonitis and was not clumsy at all and empties effortlessly. My personal tip for any vacuum of any size that uses a dump cup instead of a bag is after you dump it go outside and use canned air to blow out the filter thing and stuff. Oh, the hose is very flexible and easy to use and really Does stretch out far.