Black & Decker SmartTech Vacuum

Before you read this article, please throw everything out the window of what your thoughts are on vacuums and sweepers.  You may remember the old Black & Decker Dust Busters.  At the time they were the cats meow and made life easier.  When you had those little clean up jobs and didn’t want to break out the vacuum, you could just grab the Dust Buster and do a quick clean up.  Since then times have changed.  Technology has gotten better and most importantly, battery technology.  We have moved into a new battery era with Lithium-ion battery technology.  With Lithium-ion batteries, the battery shelf life improved and the power of the batteries increased, which means more working time.  A couple of years ago we had the chance to experience this change when we reviewed the Black & Decker Platinum 20V Hand Vac Review BDH2000L.  There hasn’t been a day gone by that we haven’t used that hand vac.  We have two kids that love making messes.  So let’s jump forward to today and now Black & Decker has come out with a couple more options.  This new system surpassed all of our expectations.  So today we are talking about the new Black & Decker SmartTech Vacuum.

This new vacuum, well actually there are three styles, but a whole bunch of colors, will change your mind about small vacuums.  These are powerful, easy to use, lightweight and have long run times.  Now with that said, these are not designed to replace your traditional upright vacuum.  While these are powerful, it doesn’t compare to a traditional vacuum with a big motor that is designed to do your whole house.  Those bigger vacuums are designed for deeper cleaning, but as we all know, we don’t vacuum every day.  This new Black & Decker SmartTech Vacuum is designed for those quick cleans.

With the Black & Decker SmartTech Vacuum you can easily vacuum up a couple of rooms.  You can move from hardwood floors to carpet without having to push any buttons and do a quick clean of surface dirt.  Black & Decker introduced three new vacuums:

• Hand Vacuum
• 2-IN-1 Floor Extension Stick Vacuum
• 2-IN-1 Stick Vacuum

I will get into each vacuum in a bit, but since all three models have some common features, I figured it would be easier to tell you once instead of including it for each vacuum.  So what is SmartTech?  SmartTech is smart technology that Black & Decker implemented on their vacuums.  First is the battery.

So what Black & Decker did was take away all the guess work of how much battery life is left and when to clean the filter.  They also added the ease of converting from wood floors to carpet.  They also increased how the vacuum is used.  If you don’t need all the power, you can get a longer run time.  However we have those dirt items that a vacuum never picks up.  So now you can get a little boost and hopefully pick up those items.

Even though there are three models, they are all based off the hand vac, which means they all share the same features in common.  All the hand vacs have washable filters, which saves money.  Cleaning the filters is very easy.  Just open up the dust compartment, pull up on the filter and you have access.  You can dump the debris  into the trash and when needed, wash the filter.  I have to admit, I really never wash the filter.  I just take the bigger debris that is built up around the filter and remove that.  Sometimes I take it outside and use the compressed air to blow out the small little holes on the filter.

A cool feature about the two upright models is the fact you can take the hand held vac out and use it as just a handheld without the upright.  This makes the vac much more versatile.  All three models have a pull out crevice tool for those harder to reach areas.  I have to say I love that design.  However only the handheld vac that is not part of the upright family has an attached flip up brush.  The other two come with this brush, but you have to attach and detach it as needed.

Again, this isn’t designed to replace your vacuum, so if that is what you are expecting, you will be disappointed.  If you want a quick and easy way to keep your floors tidy, this is a perfect solution.  For me I just think it is cool how far these vacs have come over the years.  The days of having to bend over to pick up a couple of crumbs is over, now you can use it in an upright position and do more than just a small area.

 

Black & Decker SmartTech Vacuum – Hand Vacuum – HHVJ320BMF26

If you are looking for a single hand held vac, this is the way to go.  It has the built in flip up brush and makes cleaning up those smaller areas much easier.  You don’t have to worry about storing a larger vac when you don’t have the room or the need for an upright.  As a note, you can’t buy this vacuum and upgrade to the upright system down the road.  You will have to use the correct handheld vac for the uprights and they are not interchangeable.

This hand vacuum is the next generation to the Platinum 20V.  I have to say that while I love this new design and power, I really like the Platinum 20V charging system.  With the old way you have a round base and just set the vac in the base in any direction.  When you set it in the base, it will start charging.  With the new way, you have a hook system and the vac has to sit in the charger in a specific way.  Not that it’s a huge deal, but it can be a little tricky to get it to sit in the base every time.  I am getting use to it and it is getting much easier, but as a note in case you are familiar with their older system.

Overall I love the upgrades to this vac over their older model.  This is powerful and lasts a long time.  I love the hideaway crevice tool.

 

Black & Decker SmartTech Vacuum – HandHeld

• Air Watts – 22AW
• Capacity – 16.9L
• Weight – 2.13

Black & Decker SmartTech Vacuum Includes

• Wall-Mountable Charging Base
• Flip-Up Brush
• Extendable Crevice Tool
• VBF10 Washable Bag Filter
• Washable Plastic Pre-Filter

 

 

 

Black & Decker SmartTech Vacuum – 2-IN-1 Floor Extension Stick Vacuum – HFEJ415JWMF22

I have to say I wasn’t expecting much from this vac, but it did really surprise me.  Again, you’re not going to be sucking up gobs of pet hair or big items.  But as far as cleaning surface dirt, it does a great job.  In regards to charging this system, you actually have to plug it in.  It does take away a little bit from the grab and go since you have to plug and unplug it.  It’s not a huge deal, but good to know stuff.

Going from bare wood floors to carpet is easy.  As a user you really don’t need to do anything.  The vac senses this and makes the adjustment.  The brushes on the bottom of the vac spin very fast, so it does a great job lifting dirt and debris so the vacuum can suck it up.  One great benefit to this vacuum is the low profile.  We all know vacuuming under a couch can be a pain.  This unit lays pretty flat and you are able to get it far under the couch.  Even the swivel heads allows you to maneuver easy around corners and other obstacles.

The head, the shaft and the floor brush are all removable,making this easy to clean.  I did find on my unit, it was a little difficult removing the hand held vacuum from the shaft if I needed just the vacuum part.  There is a push button to release the head and it is a little finicky.

Black & Decker SmartTech Vacuum – Floor Extension

• Air Watts – 30 AW
• Capacity – 16.9L

Black & Decker SmartTech Vacuum Includes – Floor Extension

• Jack Plug Charger
• Wall Mount
• Extendable Crevice Tool
• Flip-Up Brush
• Brush Attachment
• Pleated-Pre-Filter
• Washable Filter

 

 

 

Black & Decker SmartTech Vacuum – 2-IN-1 Stick Vacuum – HSVJ520JMBF61

The 2 in 1 stick vacuum is their Cadillac edition and is my favorite.  This one represents and looks more like a traditional vacuum.  While this charges the same way as the floor extension model, it does have differences.   As you can see the hand vac sits in the middle of the vacuum instead of the top.  With this model you can control everything from the top of the vacuum.  Here is where you find the power button and with this model, you can also start or stop the roller brush.

Again, this one has a low profile making it easy to get under your couch or other low profile pieces of furniture.   The Cyclonic system does a great job and is powerful enough to quickly clean up those messes around the house. Detaching the hand held vacuum is extremely easy, much easier than the floor extension model.  This also has a button to detach it, but it just feels much easier.  Now both systems seem to have the same air watts, but for some reason I found this to do a better job.  Not that the floor extension was bad, but this just performed better.  Maybe it’s in my head or maybe it’s because the head unit is closer to the debris getting sucked in.

Again, this one is my favorite unit because you get the best of both worlds.  You get the freedom of movement and you get power.  You can either use it like a regular vacuum and perform a quick floor cleaning or detach the handheld vacuum and get those smaller items.

Black & Decker SmartTech Vacuum – Stick Vacuum

• Air Watts – 30 AW
• Capacity – 16.9L

Black & Decker SmartTech Vacuum Includes – Stick Vacuum

• Jack Plug Charger
• Extendable Crevice Tool
• Brush Attachment
• Pleated Pre-Filter
• Washable Filter

 

Bottom line, I think Black & Decker did a great job with the redesign of the hand held vacuum.  The new technology makes it head and shoulders above all their other models available.  The autosense system works as advertised.  Not only is the new technology useful, but these seem to have more power than my older Platinum unit.  While there are a couple items I would like to see changed, overall they did a great job.  Anyone looking for a way to do quick clean ups, I would highly recommend these units.  My top choice would be the 2 in 1 vacuum as that is the Cadillac and will give you best of both worlds.