Black & Decker Dustbuster Flexi

I was very happy with the performance of this product while it worked; it provided good suction and enough cleaning time to vacuum my narrowboat in one session. However! After about 18 months the power cord to the charger base unit snapped at the point where it enters the plug. The wire is so thin and weak it looks as if it's been designed deliberately to break quickly. It is impossible to repair the wire as the plug is a sealed unit. When I rang the parts company recommended by Currys, they quoted me £51.99 plus delivery for a new base charger! Daylight robbery and one can't help wondering if money is being generated from built-in obsolescence!

Love the longer hose. Powerful and works great. Would suggest getting this one over the 14 volt model. Good suction, last a reasonable time, does all of the jobs I want it to. Easy to empty and useful tools and holder. Got mine from Harvey Norman as they hold the more powerful model.

Had two of these. Very satisfied at first, good suction, easy to clean filter, did a great job on small areas of dust on rugs, timber floors, window ledges etc. First one: switch broke within a year. Replacement had less suction now battery is almost dead, after just 1.5 years.

Since posting previously, I discovered the cause of the poor suction. The flexible suction tubing is quite narrow. It is easy for dust/lint balls to form and occlude it over time (unlike other larger vacuum tubing). If they form in the middle (which is what happened to me) it is not possible to see it due to the conduit being opaque. To overcome this, it is necessary to shove something along it to dislodge anything which might have formed if suction drops and you have done the usual other maintenance of cleaning the filter etc. Of course, B & D could just choose to make the tubing transparent to enable easy detection and timely cleaning - a pretty obvious design feature which is missing really. I therefore have upped my rating slightly.

Bought this from myer store on ebay on spacial. It has a decent battery life for about 15min continues run. The suction is also Ok for cleaning the floor just in case there is a small mess. The flexible tube should be always removed from its place while using otherwise the strong wind from its fan will push the rubish away from the unit. It is also a bit noisy. Otherwise as I said it is Ok for a short run.

Bought it for our bus. It's really handy with its flexibilty, can easily clean under seats/bed. It is quite loud, but that's not a problem for us. Super easy to empty and keep the DustBuster clean.
Only I wish it could charge up faster and that the battery would last longer. But other than that, it's an awesome littler helper, specially if you are living in a bus/caravan etc.

Very happy with this nifty little vacuum. It cleans wuickly and efficiently and the battery hold enough charge for a
quick vacuum of our small house. It is little fairly quiet and easy to handle. I wouldn't rely on it for a deep pile rug, but for a quick vacuum around carpeted and tiled areas it is great.

Bought this about 18 months ago. Suction has been fading progressively despite cleaning, emptying etc to the point now where it doesn't even pick up lint. It still makes a loud noise and battery is fully charged. Purchased it from Bunnings but of course the receipt has been misplaced so they don't want to know me. I don't recommend this vacuum cleaner unless you want to replace it within 12 months. Judging by some of the reviews, I am not alone. Clearly this has a design flaw and should have been recalled.

I looked at a lot of reviews and did my research on dustbuster type vacuums before purchasing this one. I really wanted it to be good and usually rate Black and Decker products. It has a Li-on battery and 18V should be able to do the job. I've had it for a while now and rarely use it as it has almost zero suction. It won't even pull up basic dirt. I spilt 100s and 1000s the other day and it couldn't even suck them up. Filters have been cleaned and changed, but it hasn't helped. Unfortunately, I've probably waited too long to organise a replacement.

I've been surprisingly happy with this device. I use it mostly on wooden floors. My mum bought one for herself after trying mine, and she uses it a lot to clean her car.

It sucks fairly well and the floor-extension works remarkably well for what it is, even though the suction from that head feels pretty weak. All of these devices are fairly noisy, but this one is tolerable (better than a Dyson and a simpler Dustbuster I've tried). The flexible hose is very useful. It's a pity the bristles on the main head become so misshapen so quickly.

After 20mths of ownership, the device has stopped charging (there's a fault in the baseplate), so I'm going to have to take it for repair under warranty. Frustrating.

what a performance and thank you product reviews for helping me find this excellent portable vacuum cleaner! it is so light weight, powerful and easy to clean! fantastic that it has a flexible hose, not available in other brands which makes all the difference in getting to hard to reach areas. great for the car too!

This is brilliant for those little bits that drop to the floor in the kitchen. It is brilliant for the car too as it is small and the flexi hose gets into all the difficult areas of the car. The B & D Dustbuster Flexi is one of the best bits of kit we have at the moment.

Purchased this for our camper as we have limited space. I think the suction is great for our camper, lightweight and easy to use. I haven't had any problems with the door opening. If anything, I have found that it does take a long time to fully recharge but don't see this as a problem as I just leave plugged in overnight.

Excellent performance and easy to use however the dust bowl door opens way too easily resulting in spillage and mess. This detracts from an otherwise good product, powerful and efficient. Very disappointed that even the slightest touch or knock opens the flap. Having paid close to $150. had expected better.

This dustbuster has really good suction and is really easy to empty, which can be frustrating on cheaper products. Battery life is fine for me, and the charging base is compact. The unit is attractive and the indicator lights are very visible.

I find the ergonomics of the device a little poor. Needing to 'un-pivot' the suction head on every use can be a little annoying, the unit is quite unbalanced in the hand - most of the device weight is in front of the handle causing it to tip forward when used.

Overall happy with this product and it's much better than cheaper dustbusters I've had in the past.

..they don't sell the filter anywhere. Not a single place. So you have to call and buy it directly from black and decker. I just got off the phone with them (1800 654 155) and they quoted roughly $28 including shipping then reduced the price by $10 when I complained. I still didn't buy it in the end - im gonna throw it the dirty one in the dish washer and see what happens.

I bought this dustbuster to replace my old-school dustbuster. I love using the nozzle to get into difficult places (including the bench top) and it makes vacuuming the car and cleaning up after my 3 year old very easy. In my opinion, the suction is very good, even on carpet. I think the reviews depend to some extent on expectations. I might have been starting with low expectations, just wanting something better than the last dustbuster! This definitely fits the bill, and I've had no issues with it.

Pathetic performance for the price. Bought only to clean debris from window & door tracks. Barely picks up anything & the crevice nozzle is too big for the tracks although it seems quite narrow. So so so disappointed at the cost for a machine that's going to sit in the cupboard collecting dust instead of sucking it up like it should!