Powerful and useful: not your grandmother's DustBuster!!!

My wife and I purchased the CHV9600 Black & Decker DustBuster to fill a particular void in our household appliance arsenal. We recently welcomed a wonderful new kitten into our home, and we wanted a hand-held vacuum to help expedite cleaning up pet hair, litter, food crumbs, and other such minor messes/buildup in our home. To put it bluntly, we're sick of the dustpan and brush! Having grown up in a household that made much use of the original DustBuster, I was somewhat unsure of how its newest sibling would perform. The original was rather underpowered and tended to simply move most dirt around, and it was known for allowing the already vacuumed dirt to fall back out. It also lost a great deal of suction due to easy clogging with dirt. Given these worries, I went ahead and read a number of reviews of this latest-generation DustBuster. They were quite mixed, but we tried one out at a store and were very impressed, so we took the plunge and bought it. I hope to set the record straight here about what this machine does and does not do. Hopefully this will be helpful to those of you who are considering purchasing one, and will give you a better idea of how it's truly worlds ahead of the original model.

Features

The newest generation DustBuster boasts a number of improvements over prior models, as well as a plethora of standard features including:

-9.6v power
-bagless operation
-new "cyclonic" action
-mountable charger/base, which may be screwed into a wall
-washable cone-shaped filter
-translucent container, allowing for visualization of dirt
-one-way valve/flap to prevent vacuumed debris from falling back out
-on-board attachments!

The "cyclonic action" is something new to the DustBuster world. This supposedly spins the dirt around in the chamber, so as to prevent clogging. Perhaps Black & Decker is trying to capitalize on the popularity of the Dyson, however this model still uses a filter that will eventually clog with dust, so it's an entirely different concept. I'm not sure if the DustBuster really spins the dirt around like a "cyclone," but whatever it does it seems to work well! Another nice feature is that there's no need to ever buy replacement filters, as is the case with similar hand-held vacuums like the DirtDevil. The included cone-shaped filter is fully washable! Furthermore, the translucent container allows you to see when your DustBuster is getting too full! As with the original, emptying the container is a snap, but now it's even easier! Simply press the button located just ahead of the power switch, pull the container open, then dump its contents. It's quick and easy, unlike the Dirt Devil I've used. The onboard appliances are a new improvement as well. There's a stiff brush, which I've found to be very helpful on carpets. There's also a "crevice tool," for lack of a better term, which is basically a pointed extender that allows for directed use in cracks and crevices. Both work quite well, and are very welcomed additions to the basic but sometimes limited functionality of the original DustBuster. The onboard battery supposedly lasts 9-11 minutes without charging. This doesn't sound like much, but it hasn't died on us yet, so I don't see any need for a larger, heavier battery. And speaking of weight, the next generation DustBuster is definitely heavier than its predecessor, but is surely not unwieldy. The beefier, more powerful 14.4v model is MUCH heavier though, and I found the 9.6v version to be a good compromise between heft and power.

Operation and Uses

The newest DustBuster preserves some of the better features of the older generation model while incorporating a number of improvements, as mentioned above. With the flick of your thumb its motor roars to life, placing powerful yet portable suction at your fingertips. While some complain in other reviews that the newer model DustBuster is a bit on the heavy side, I haven't found it to be at all unmanageable. It is heavier than the original, but such is the price one pays for more power. The added heft is not uncomfortable, and it results in a great deal of extra power to help overcome the shortcomings of the original DustBuster. The filter is also washable, and makes an enormous difference in performance when kept clean. Washing and cleaning the filter apparatus regularly helps maintain maximum suction power. As I mentioned above, emptying the dirt container is quick and easy, done with the touch of a button and a flick of the wrist. And if the re-chargable battery eventually fails, you can simply replace it!

Overall, there is less clogging, easier emptying, and no dirt falling back out with this model. This makes for a much more versatile appliance and a much-improved next generation DustBuster! I've used it for cleaning up after my Christmas tree, picking up stray cat litter, and even for cleaning crumby kitchen countertops or floors. We even tried it on our carpeted stairs. When coupled with the brush attachment it picked up a great deal of dirt!

Summary

The next generation DustBuster is an enormous improvement over the original. New features including cyclonic action, 9.6v power, onboard attachments, translucent dirt container, washable filter, and one-way valve make this the best DustBuster ever! Its weight and balance are quite manageable, and it provides enough power to make it versatile, handy in any situation where you'd want to use a hand-held vacuum. I found the heavier, more powerful 14.4v model to be too heavy to be practical, and chose the 9.6v one instead. I think it's the best of both worlds! For the price, it really cannot be beat.