Designed specifically for cars, The Black and Decker Flexi Car Autovac is fitted with a 4ft flexi hose and an extendable crevice tool that lets you reach tight gaps. Equipped with a 5m cable for versatile use, the filter is also easy to clean after use. Liam McCabe is a former senior staff writer for Wirecutter, and has covered the wild world of appliances since 2011.
And just in case you were wondering exactly what it’s picking up, the colorful display shows the amounts and sizes of the particles it’s grabbing along with run time, power level and maintenance alerts. See how the impressive Dyson V11 stacks up against one of its closest cordless vacuum competitors, the Shark Rocket Pet Pro. Cordless Shark vacuums can come with a variety of tools, but the tools included vary from model to model. Always double-check if there’s a tool you particularly want. If you are a Dyson owner on another item…air purifier, hair dryer etc, you will receive an additional discount on the vac from the dyson website or customer service- so order directly through them. They will ask for your model/serial number on the other Sysom product to apply the discount.
Slight CONS — charge doesn’t last super long, but if you intend to vacuum a whole house, better pull out your full-sized corded machine. The top is heavy of course, as it should be because of the smaller handheld attachments, but if you vacuum for more than 10 minutes it can get a little annoying on your arm. The suction kind of pulls the machine forward a bit but that’s not a deal breaker. Bought this cause i needed something that would pick up dirt and dog hair from my hard wood floors. The only reason i did not give it 5 stars is that the battery does not last as long as i would like.
A strange omission in my mind is that there is no way or provision to hang it up for storage and charging. It cannot stand upright on its own, but it can be leaned against a wall. With that said, keep in mind that it’s about half the price of that famous English brand. In conclusion, it’s a quick, easy and very lightweight stand up vacuum for spot jobs, and for those in-between times when you don’t want to haul out the big, corded vac. It would be easy for kids to operate to clean up spills and such. Being very lightweight also makes it a great hand vac for cars, stairs and such.
The run time is listed as up to 40 minutes, but that’s without the powered beater head. Battery time drops to 20 minutes in that mode, and down to 10 minutes with the turbo switch activated. The battery is built-in, so there’s no swapping irobot vacuum cleaner in another if you run out of juice. There’s just the slow, plug-in charger and a few hours wait time. It doesn’t have Shark’s excellent no hair clogging head, and it just doesn’t have the power and suction of a corded upright.
After testing dozens of robot vacuums, he is neither worried about AI nor holding his breath for self-driving cars. He enjoys visiting factories and learning about regulatory loopholes, and has flooded our testing area only three times. We tried the Hoover OnePwr Blade+, which worked great on short rugs and did a solid job of getting heavy debris out of thicker rugs, especially considering the price. The main downside is that it snowplows big debris like nobody’s business.