BLACK+DECKER BDH2020FL GEN 2 Flex VAC 20V MAX Lithium, One Size, Black, Grey For many years, I have owned a Black + Decker “Dustbuster” handheld rechargeable vacuum cleaner (similar to the current CHV1410L model) that I have considered to be one of the best designs I have ever seen for this class of appliance. It is ergonomically excellent, easy to use, has very good suction power and plenty of battery life so it does not falter halfway through cleaning up spilled bits and pieces. It is still going strong. But that vacuum is on one side of my house and I wanted another on the other side. In a moment of weakness a year or so ago, I picked up a “Dirt Devil” model of similar size and functionality at the local hardware store (which does not carry DustBuster products), which turned out to be a real turkey (in many ways). So now I was looking to buy the latest “Dustbuster” model CHV1410L, but noted something about it that would not work for me. While my old Dustbuster, when not is use, rested on its tail end on top of the charging base, the new model does not work that way, rather it hooks onto and hangs from a wall-mounted charger. I have an ideal tabletop location for the new vacuum, but no suitable wall space. While perusing Black + Decker’s Amazon store to see if they might have a model that charges like my old one, I ran across this “Flex Vac” model BDH2020FL, and it looked pretty good, albeit considerably more expensive than the CHV1410L. This “Flex Vac” vacuum is still a handheld model, and shares with other handheld vacuums the same limitations; it cannot hold very much volume of vacuumed particles before its ‘dust bin’ gets too full to allow continued use (without emptying first), it does not have any kind of ‘beater’ and thus cannot dislodge small items that have worked their way down into carpeting (a full sized vacuum cleaner is better for carpeting), and being battery powered it needs to be returned to its charge after use. Note that this Flex Vac is NOT a wet/dry vacuum. Using it to vacuum liquids would not be a safety issue (being only battery powered), but it would probably ruin the appliance. This vacuum is perfect for short, light jobs like cleaning up the kid’s spilled Cheerios, general small bits and pieces of litter when you don’t want to drag out the normal vacuum cleaner, light dusting and things like that. Resting on its table-top charging base, this vacuum has dimensions of approximately 12” x 7” (without accessory holders attached) or 12” x 8.5” (with them attached) x 9” tall. The charging base is very basic, just a molded piece of plastic with two electrical contacts on top which make contact with those on the bottom of the vacuum. The “wall wart” style power supply, unlike most such devices there days, is NOT “universal” and is only designed to work with 120VAC 60Hz, and it has a typical 2 prong North America plug configuration. I have one small gripe about the charging base design; while my old Dustbuster did not care which orientation the vacuum was in when set down on the charging base, this “Flex Vac” must be oriented properly in order for its electrical contacts to mate properly with the base. If they do NOT mate properly, the blue “charging” lamp on the base of the vacuum will not illuminate. There seems to be no facility designed into the vacuum and its charging base to assist the user to orient things properly, other than to look at the contacts and use them as a guide. There are two small plastic tool holders included with this appliance, and one or both of them can be snapped onto one side of the charging base, and any two of the included attachments can be stored on these, standing up vertically alongside the vacuum cleaner. Presumably the third attachment will be stored docked to the vacuum cleaner’s hose. The ”Flex Vac” is called that apparently because, unlike most other hand vacuums, it includes a built-in length of flexible vacuum cleaner style hose. The hose starts on the lower front of the vacuum and then wraps around underneath (passing through a channel on the bottom side), then wrapping up around the rear side of the vacuum, then its handle snaps into a channel on the top side of the vacuum. Pulling the hose handle up and backwards disengages it from the vacuum, and the user is then free to take advantage of the flexibility that the hose offers. The hose is quite short when not extended, but it easily stretches out to about 4 feet in length. This allows the user to do things like vacuum cobwebs from the ceiling while holding the vacuum in one hand, or rest the vacuum on the floor while reaching under the sofa to clean up crumbs that fell past the cushions. I am 5’8” tall, and with the “crevice” tool installed on the end of the hose, I can comfortably reach the normal-height ceiling of my house with arm outstretched. I cannot reach that far using my older Dustbuster handheld vacuum that does not have the hose. This version of the “Flex Vac” (BDH2020FL) comes with three accessories; the normal “nozzle/brush” tool, the “crevice” tool, and the “pet hair” tool. The “nozzle/brush” tool has a flat rectangular opening, similar to most other handheld vacuums, that is ideal for vacuuming up small bits and pieces from a floor, or which are laying loosely on top of a carpet, or cleaning up dust from a table top. It has a fold-back brush which normally remains stowed out of the way, but which easily flips around to the front where it can be useful in helping small items that might be slightly stuck on carpeting or other surfaces to come ‘unstuck’, or for light dusting of surfaces. The “crevice” tool is just like every other crevice tool ever made for vacuum cleaners, and is the longest reaching accessory provided. The “pet hair” tool looks a lot like a wide round shower head, with a soft rubbery surface having many bumpy protrusions resembling coarse brush bristles. These are designed to dislodge hair from carpeting and upholstery while still discouraging the hair from getting tangled up on the tool. I don’t have a pet, or much hair myself, so I have not been able to put this last tool to any kind of test. However, the nozzle/brush tool works just fine, as does the crevice tool. All three tools have molded detents where they fit into the end of the hose, and the hose has an end fitting with a spring-loaded button which releases a tab that normally fits into one of the detents. This allow the attached tool to remain firmly in place on the end of the hose, but at the touch of that button, the tools can be rotated until they snap into position at the next detent. I should note that there is a more expensive version of this product, the BDH2020FLFL, which also comes with a “floor head”, two extension tubes, and an adapter to join the end of the hose and the extension tube(s). With these items fit together and attached to the end of the hose, this vacuum takes on some additional functionality that resembles a normal floor vacuum cleaner, albeit one with a lot less power and useful operating time. According to the common user’s manual that is provided with both product versions, the floor head does have some kind of beater, but it seems that it is not electrically powered, rather it most likely is powered by the vacuumed air stream. My awful Dirt Devil hand vacuum also has a vacuum air powered upholstery attachment that is too weak to be useful, and I suspect that the beater on this Flex Vac’s “floor head” will also be useful for only the lightest use situations. Better to fire up a real floor/carpet vacuum cleaner for those cleaning jobs. The Flex Vac is turned on an off by a pair of push buttons located on either side of the handle in a position easily reached by the user’s thumb and forefinger on the hand that is holding the vacuum cleaner. Pushing the button with one finger turns the vacuum on and extends the opposite button, and pressing that button turns the vacuum off and extends the first button. All vacuu
