I needed a small sweeper style vacuum for keeping my small home office (detached from the house) clean and free from debris tracked in from outside, and the job is a bit more than I would trust to something unpowered. I was previously using a nice little Shark brand powered vacuum of the same style, but after about 18 months of light use (once per week I would say) it died on me, pretty much the battery gave out. When I went to replace the unit I was appalled to see that the price had gone from $25 to $60 and there was no way I was going to pay that much for a little stick vac sweeper - so the research began. I don't know what the deal is with these things, but it is absurdly impossible to find a powered sweeper for under $30, let alone one that is well rated. I bounced back and forth between about 6 different models and even checking prices between Amazon and eBay and before I knew it I was once again looking at $60 models! After months of this I finally got tired of carrying my household vac outside to the office, so I finished my research and ultimately ordered this Black and Decker model. To be honest, the biggest reason I chose this was the price - it was the ONLY model that was below the $30 mark (albeit a penny) and the only one with a lithium-ion battery. Shipping was fast and well-secured as usual with Amazon, and 2 days later the unit arrived. Assembly was a snap - literally, the 4 poles and vac head snapped right together, and I immediately plugged the unit in and allowed it to fully charge before using it, even though I was tempted to try it early. I especially like the small utility brush they provided for cleaning the brushes, which also snaps right onto the handle so you don't lose it and always have it close by. Another great feature is the small magnet on the bottom of the handle AND the vacuum head which function to hold the vac head flat against the pole and the wall for neat and tidy storage. It took nearly ALL day to fully charge the unit as it arrived from the factory, but eventually the little red charge indicator light finally went off and it was ready to use. I'm not a big fan of the charging port on this thing itself - it is notched to only insert it one way, and it requires a firm push to fully engage, which means you can forget about connecting the charger one-handed. I also question the longevity of such a connector, but only time will tell on that regard. Once I had a full charge I was off to the races and tried this thing on every surface I could find in my office, and then moved it inside the hgouse to try it there. My office has a combination of linoleum "tiles" along with a light-pile carpet, an area rug, a small welcome matt and then some plywood near the doors - and inside I tested the sweeper on my standard ceramic tiles, hardwood floor (not pergo) and a stand-pile carepeting - so I think I can say that between the two I tested close to every surface one might use this on, save some pergo flooring and marble. Considering that this vacuum isn't really a vacuum, it is a "cordless sweeper" actually, I would say that this unit performed amazingly and well-beyond my expectations. I have zero complaints with its performance on any of the hard surfaces I tested, including the linoleum tiles, ceramic tiles, plywood and hardwood and it also did a pretty effective job on the low-pile carpets too. To me, this device has performed better than just a cordless sweeper and does a GREAT job at making fast, easy work of cleaning up daily messes and spills. I wanted something that could keep my floors looking and feeling clean even in barefeet which I go often here in the summer, and this unit fits the bill perfectly. I am continuously amazed at how close it cleans to the edges of the device/walls/baseboards, and because it has brushes on all 4 sides of the cleaning head, it tends to get most debris in a single pass. My office is pretty small so I can't really speak about the battery life of this unit, but I will say that I haven't had any issues with running out of power yet, and I've found myself cleaning up even more since I purchased this sweeper. It is just so convenient and fast to just hit my floors with this, which takes all of maybe 3 minutes, and then I'm good to go! Oh and emptying the debris bin is a snap and mess-free - just position the unit over top of a trash can and then squeeze together the 2 clips on the top of the head. The trap door opens fully and dumps EVERYTHING in one swift action, and you can just set the sweeper back on the ground to click it back in place and lock it for the next use. Obviously this device lacks the power and suction to dig out deep, ground-in dirt and debris, but anyone who goes into the purchase of one of these devices with the understanding that it is a CORDLESS SWEEPER (no matter how many times I mistakenly used the term "vacuum" in this review) will have a hard time writing a bad review of this product. The only reason I gave this 4 stars instead of 5 is because of the overly long initial charging time, but mostly because of how much I dislike the power charging connector itself. The device gets 5 stars for sure on performance and ease-of-use, I just can't get past thinking that charging port is going to cause me issues down the road. Here's to hoping I am wrong, but DO NOT let that stop you from getting this IF you need a great quality cordless SWEEPER. And no, I didn't get this at a discount, I paid full-price.
