Side by Side Comparison of: Black & Decker

WoW!Powerful vacuum that sucks up wet and dry leaves, turns them into mulch, and dumps them into the leaf bag. Having two speeds, I only needed the slowest one.Worked great for three months when it simply died....darn!Good news! The Black & Decker's warranty service place (Comes with a two year warranty.) immediately sent me a completely new one and took the old one with NO questions asked. Black & Decker's Customer Service was OUTSTANDING!Sadly, the new replacement BV3600 arrived within a week. So the very next weekend my wife had me using it in both the front and back yards. If you get my drift? (-:<

This blower/ vac actually works quite well for the fall leaves. I have had gas-operated blowers in the past and they get heavy after a while and usually become harder to start with time (and age). The electric one is much lighter and seems to work consistently as long as you don't mind dragging a 100-foot cord behind you. Cheaper than gas and spraining your elbows to start it. Plug and go.

Great unit. I use it to vacuum up leaves; it does a great job on large leaves as well as damp leaves. I like the bag and ist zipper location. I bought this BV3600 after my Toro's bag wore out and the Toro replacement bag looked like a design that would quickly fail at the zipper; all reviews of the Toro led me to the BV3600. It does a far superior job compared to my Toro (which I will retain as a leaf blower). The BV3600 bag (so far) does not emit much dust. I am glad I read the reviews and purchased this unit !

This is perfect. It's powerful and vacuums leaves up. The blower beats anything I've used before.

I use this both to clear clippings from the sidewalks and driveway, as well as to clear leaves.For blowing debris, this is a great tool. It's very powerful, and even cleared grass clippings that had been rained on and then dried out and stuck to the concrete. Of course it's loud, but not uncomfortably so. My neighbors have very "twiggy" trees, and it cleared sticks as thick as my pinkie finger from the sidewalk with no effort.As a vacuum, it's fun, but a little nerve wracking. The impeller is plastic, and there were lots of small twigs mixed in with the pile of leaves. When it sucks them in, the twigs make an awful sound when they hit the blades, but it never slowed or stopped. I am a little concerned how it will stand up come time to clean up the back yard (we have two large pear trees) given the plastic blades, but it seems sturdy so far.Changing from blower to vacuum is a little cumbersome, but that's to be expected since 100% of the weight is in the orange seen in the photos. As long as you're switching over either on a table, bench, car trunk, etc, it's very manageable with no effort. I thought it would be kind of a pain since it's electric, but it's nice not having to worry about gas or oil. I wouldn't have the same comfort level with a lawnmower, but for this, it's perfect.I'm also looking forward to using this in the winter, since we get a lot of dry, dusty snowfalls. Using the blower will help prevent the resulting icy patches.

This is my second one of these and it performs flawlessly. Very handy tool for blowing just about anything or vacuming even larger items than leaves. I have pine needles that I chase around and I can vacume these up in a jiffy without having to pick them up by hand. A real time saver. The vacume also shreds the leaves so you don't have to use as many yard bags. My neighbor always has at least ten yard bags full of leaves in the fall. When he used my vacume, he only had a bag and a half. Pretty cool and a money saver.

This thing has saved me what normally takes about 30-45 minutes to manually sweep, rake, and collect leaves that fall on my patio to sucking everything up in one pass. Now takes me 5 minutes to do both balcony's! Couldn't be happier with this purchase. There are two power levels on this blower and the first level was more than enough for what I need. I would recommend ear plugs when operating.

I was a TOTAL SKEPTIC on this... I hate to say it, but I haven't trusted Black and Decker brand for years... And the price of $75.00 seem low to me for a quality blower, vacuum and mulcher combo with all the attachments.... This is probably the best $75.00 tool I've purchased in a very long time.. I've had it for about 3 months and I really am impressed every time I use it...

Got this with the trash can bagging system, very nice. My old B&D switch went bad so I bought this one and the trash can bagging system and this thing is great. The only problem i had was keeping the adapter attached to the hose, but an easy fix was to drill a small hole in the adapter and put in a screw to fix the adapter to the hose, the link up from the adapter to the vacuum is rock solid.This unit with the bagging system works like a dream, my wife and I cleaned up about an acre of heavy leaves in about 4 hours of work, used multiple trash cans w/ wheels to move the cut up quickly into the woods. Before I had to handle the vacuum because the heavy attached bag was to heavy for my wife, but now she can vacuum and I can change out tote the full trash cans away. This system is sooooo superior to our old attached bag system.If you get this and have a lot of leaves to collect, get the trash can bagging system, you will like it :)

While it isn't as powerful as I'd like, it is only an electric motor so I can deal with it. It is surprisingly loud for being electric. The unit comes with a little "oscillating" tip that I thought was a super gimmick at first. It turns out it makes the job of blowing leaves around MUCH easier. Turning it into a leaf vac is pretty easy. The rotor inside seems to have no problems turning the leaves into mulch, even if the leaves are wet. You hear some pretty terrifying banging and rattling once in a while, but the rotor keeps on chewing. Like I said, the unit isn't super powerful it won't replace your gas powered leaf blower, but I'd give it 5 stars for being both a leaf vac and a leaf blower. Black & Decker is starting to make some pretty decent tools as of late. I have a bunch of their 20v battery powered tools that I bought for my first house. I haven't had any problems with any of the tools and I think they'll give me some good use.

I was skeptical about anything electric BUT my gas blower was in the shop every 2 weeks and well had enough of mixing gas / oil and the smell etc etc. This blower blows strong enough for my use of a blower. IT is not a super power industrial blower but it works well with a 100 foot 12 gauge cord (Do not use a 16 gauge it will not be strong enough) as far as the leaf suckage system it's pretty amazing. It will get clogged if the leaves are more than damp. The bag fills too fast wish they had a larger bag but you can use it without the bag and it does mulch the leaves into tiny peaces great for making compost!!!! it sucks leaves up fast and furiously. I found it's best used in Island beds - corners and in between hard to reach areas. I still have to use a rake and bag system but this is excellent for the above mentioned - glad I bought it and well I'm digging the electric system for home use. Will probably last a very long time. Just wish the bag was a bit larger. Aside very happy with purchase.

My husband loves this! Basically, pulled it out of the box and started using it. We have a couple big maple like trees that lose their leaves like crazy in the fall. It easily sucks them up and mulches them and drops the mulch in a bag. The bag seems to hold quite a bit so you don't have to stop too often to dump. It is light enough to be able to pick up and do a quick pick up without much exertion. I think he actually has some fun with this thing. Plus, no raking is pretty sweet.

I don't know what happened, but I'm giving it the benefit of the doubt and ordering another one. I just did a lot of construction on my house and I think it probably got tossed around, bumped, and who knows what else. Worked great when it worked - so much easier than sweeping up, and the mulching feature means I can fit more in the recycle bin.

Works well but the bag is basically useless. Unless you are dragging a gigantic garbage bag behind you, you'll be emptying this out every 30 seconds. Strong motor was able to blow leaves that were laying about 6 inches deep.

First, my review will only encompass the parts of this unit used to vacuum and mulch leaves. I have not used the configuration or parts for leaf blowing, nor do I expect to have any reason to. I purchased this unit as an ordinary buyer, and have not been compensated in any way for this review, not by discount or any other emolument.As a leaf mulcher, this works exactly as described. It will suck up the leaves just fine on low speed (I have not had reason to use it on high speed), and when the bag gets full, it simply indicates that by not sucking up any more leaves. So empty bag, repeat.My cautionary notes are two:1. I am using this (have done it 6-7 times so far) on the patio of our condo, an area of about 750-800 square feet. For this, it is virtually ideal. For a regular yard with a fall of leaves from large trees, it would be completely inadequate. Were I to be faced with such a situation, I would go with a powered unit pulled behind a riding mower.2. It's unclear how long the impeller (which serves both the function of creating suction and also serves as a blade for mulching leaves) will last. While much of the surface of our patio is either wooden decking or concrete, the flower beds were mulched with wood chips by the previous owner of this condo, and they are eroding the leading edge of the impeller, as it is impossible not to suck in a few chips when trying to get the leaves off of this area. This is the reason for four stars out of five, as the durability of this unit is unclear.

I bought this light, small garden cleaner upper to tend to my tiny deck and balconies. When I purchased it, I didn't notice that it has a chopper to compact the vacuumed contents. I think that will not be a problem for most people, but if you have allergies, bronchitis or COPD, consider your needs before buying. But if you are not hindered by such issues, it is a useful and effective tool for maintaining small garden spaces.

What you see is what you get. It works good as a vacuum for outside stuff. It is bulky and the cord can be a pain but for under $50 there is no way that you can go wrong. Saves me a lot of time around bushes and hard to get areas.

As a small-framed, over-75 woman I wondered if I'd bitten off more than I could chew with this yard vac, but I was pleasantly surprised on all counts. It was easy to put together (except for joining the vacuum tube to the motor, where I had to apply a light coat of WD-40 with a rag, and a few taps of a rubber mallet). The assembled machine did not feel too heavy at all during the 15-minute job of cleaning the leaves out of my carport and walkway. It was well balanced and easy to manipulate, and the cord did not get in the way as I had feared. (I spent hours looking for a cordless one, in vain.) I used 35 db ear plugs but on low speed I don't think I really needed them. The vac picked up well on the low speed without sucking in the pea gravel along with the leaves. The leaf bag emptied easily, but the narrow strap is better with cushioning on the shoulder (I used a piece of pipe-protector foam). The four stars is because the cloth bag let out a lot of fine dust, so next time I'll try putting a plastic bag over it, unless it interferes with the suction. I feel the affordable price was well worth it, because getting leaves out of tight spaces with a broom is hard, while the BV3600 makes short work of a tedious job.

I have been using this for my residential landscaping business for a yera now. The blower works great and the swivel attachment is awesome.removing the large mulcher tube from the small mulcher tube is improbably difficult but you don't have much of a reason to do it, other than storage and clearing a clog....The vac doesn't work that great unless the stuff is VERY dry and lightweight... My model had a metal impeller; I don't now about current ones, as I have heard plastic in this model is not unheard of...

I bought this B&D blower / mulcher primarily for it's vacuuming and mulching functions. I've used it a couple of times and find that it does the job so long as you avoid twigs and branches which can clog the mechanism. A trigger switch would be useful as the round on / off / speed knob is not handy if the it does get clogged. In fact the impeller got clogged and I did not get the machine turned off in time to avoid blowing the internal fuse. An easy enough fix if you are handy but a hassle non-the-less. Also, I found the balance, or lack of it a bit clumsy when in use.Otherwise, it did a very nice job of reducing great piles of leaves into nice bits ready for composting. Do be careful though when going over garden beds or lawns not to pick-up anything that will jamb it.

I haven't used this yet but noticed a couple of things. The bag that is included is pretty small so I would suggest adding the optional attachment for using a trash can, BV-006. I think the black handle that is part of the vacuum attachment is going to be a weak area. We have a B&D blower vac that is about 20 years old and we have loved it for cleaning flower beds and areas around the yard. Always use a 12 ga extension cord as these draw a lot of current and low voltage will kill the motor.Update: We used this for cleaning flower beds this spring. After a little use I noticed the suction seemed reduced and it seemed to be losing power. Upon inspection I found that the blower housing was packed with dirt and debris and was dragging on the blower fan. The leaves were somewhat wet from laying over the winter but I don't remember this issue with our older one. This one doesn't seem to have as much air moving through it which may cause the buildup.

I paired this BV5600 with the BV-006 Leaf collection system, which allows you to connect the vacuum to a hose which can be attached to the top of a garbage can.Pros:Powerful sucking and blowingBuilt very well with strong plastic componentsMulching blade is thick, mulches branches tooUsed half the amount bags, mulches wellLight enough to hold or use a good shoulder strap, handles are well placedSaved my back, no bending or rakingEasy to use, and troubleshootSimple to go from vac to blowerIf there is a clog, easy to snap apart and back togetherSaved me timeCons:Occasionally leaves get stuck in suction tubeI typically have 12 bags of leaves but with this I only had 6 bags. I have a herniated disc so tradition technique of bagging leaves is painful and stressful for me. With this until I did not have to bend over or kneel down. It took me 2 hours to vac/bag, would usually take me 4+ hours. Like any tool there is a learning curve and technique. I found that I would suck some leaves and do a circle motion to help them get started down the tube. It's not a constant flow for leaves, they come through in clumps. Mulches wet leaves pretty good too!! I was skeptical but had high hopes and I am very pleased.Will update review after more uses.

Ok, so I don't know how many of you expect this thing to last for years, but let's get real....things just don't last like they used to. Anyway, for the price, this is a great tool for your yardwork. Very good suction and blowing power....and this has a metal blade as opposed to plastic, like some other brands. I would even say that this would be worth buying one every year because it works so well, if it turns out to be an annual disposable product.

I just bought a house that has 15 months of leaves that need attention so I was understandably excited when this arrived. What a disappointment. This thing is bulky and hard to handle (least for me it is/was) The description said that it would mulch 16 bags of leaves into 1 bag (yea!! right?) Uhm, wrong! I get no mulching action and it doesnt take long for this little bag to fill out with old wet tired leaves. The vac is VERY powerful. It would probably work better if I just drag a trash can around and suck up the leaves straight in to it. I've not tried the blower yet but I'm sure it'll work because it does pack some power. I'll try the mulching option again and hopefully I'll have better results but it's always going to be bulky and hard for me to handle.

Worked great at first. It stopped working on the 8th time using it.

The product worked well for about 2 months. Then it stopped completely. DON'T BUY THIS ONE. I have been told that it is on a recall list, so you are wasting your money in the long run

I was a little disappointed with this product. The ergonomics and suction are pretty good and it mulches well. The problem lies with the leaf stems. They block the intake and require constant clearing which is an annoyance. If your leaves have short stems you won't have a problem. One thing I like is that the suction will pick up leaves but not twigs or pecans which I think might not be good for the plastic impeller. Maybe I should have given it a four.

I like this blower because it plugs in and I don't have to worry about batteries going bad, but we had problems with the first one. It worked great the first 2 days the 3rd it just quit while blowing leaves out of the car port. Thought it may have just over heated but we couldn't get it to work again. Got a replacement from Amazon but haven't used it yet to late in the year. We have an old B&D leaf blower at our other home that we have had a lot of years with no problem. Still works great.

Opened it up yesterday and vacuumed up some leaves, worked great. Swapped out the parts and blew the drive way, worked great. Went to vacuum some more today and now the big vacuum tube isn't sealing properly and blowing leaf shreds all over me and the yard. I contacted Black and Decker so we'll see what they say. If it doesn't get fixed, I'll unfortunately be returning the item.

It vacuums up debris very easily but the amount of dust that comes from the bag is unbearable. When done using this you are covered in dust. Also the bag does not connect to the machine very easily. When you take it off it is a very difficult task of getting it put back on correctly, and if its not on correctly it doesn't turn on (good thing I guess). Have not used the blower yet but am going to switch in hopes it doesn't feel like I just crossed a desert in a sandstorm when I am done.

Pros- powerful as leaf blowerGood value , prettty light, decent attachmentsCons- not thrilled with mulch feature , I found it pretty annoying to put together, as leaf mulcher it is fine, picking up clumps of dirt won't work and it's not designed for that, VERY LOUDvery l have small yard and really wanted the blower part and mulcher feature was a nice to have and after one use willnot use often. It does blow strong, gets dirt and debri off both my artificial grass and concrete. Would love it if the multcher acted more as vacuum to pick up small dirt clumps and it didn't sound like a freight train ( more as multcher vs blower) but for the price I think those with smaller yards will really like this. Lastly, I am somewhat handy and for some reason found directions confusing

There seems to be an issue with the power cord as the motor cuts out then comes back on and continues like that. If I hold the cord against the unit it helps reduce the cut out but it still does it. If it worked properly I'd love it.Update- wouldn't work at all, only used 1 time before it crapped out and it's not my outlet

B & D vac/blower is terrible for recirculating dust into your face. There is no re-director for the air vent, so when in vac mode it just blows a bunch of dust in your face. Definitely not a job for someone without a mask on. I didn't realize how big/heavy the body would be. It is OK if you are using it with the bag because the bag straps the whole thing to your body (if you are strong enough to use it like that you are fine) but if you want to use it with the trash can contraption you need to add a strap onto the thing so your arms don't get tired from using it. The mulch blades are actually very good, it will take on small twigs and pieces of bark (those get sucked in doing my grass because I have messy trees) and it makes the leaves into practically dust. Also the nozzle is the proper size for vacuuming up large leaves. Those are the things I liked and disliked about it.

It won't suck up an aged and light piece of bark about 1" long and .5" wide but should work for leaves. I have an Apache plume plant in the front yard that when the plumes dry up and fall off would be the main reason for getting this, along with a couple other fuzz producing plants. The blower bit works for my purposes on the low speed so the high speed should be fun. This was an adequate purchase but it just doesn't "wow" me. I won't return it as 'twould be more trouble than it's worth.

The manufacturer has a good reputation for about average yard machines and the price reflects it. Most reviews are slightly higher than average which led me to purchase this model. It is easy to put together and comes with a few accessories that work good. After many dry runs or connecting and disconnecting the releases, the latch release mechanisms could be better engineered, as it takes multiple times to detach, especially the bag. Some debris from yard waste may clog release at times.? I use a foxtail broom to wipe off the outside after each use. When first starting up after previous usage, the bag emits quite a lot of fine dust/dirt that is annoying. It would be nice if the manufacturer had a different style bag that captures fine particles. I find I need googles and a dust mask while using. As mentioned by others, the machine is very load, so hearing protection is also advisable.

I got this mainly for the vac mulcher feature. It does work, IF you do a few things: dump the bag when it is about 25% full or it will stop sucking in leaves, do not try to suck up many wet leaves, rake into piles first, suck up a little and wait for it it mulch- it will clog up if you continuously vacuum leaves without letting it take a 5-8 second break every 30 seconds or so.Having said that, if you have a very small yard- you may not have to rake at all, maybe just to get leaves away from up against your house to make vacuuming easier. It's definitely not going to do the work for you if you have a yard bigger than .15 acres or so. The strap on the bag is AWFUL. It cuts into your shoulder like a knife, I wrapped mine in a pool noodle and strapped it together with gorilla tape as a solution. As a blower- it's meh, okay I guess. Pretty weak, honestly. As a way to reduce the amount of bags you have to haul to the curb- it's a decent tool.

This is the B&D second Blower, Vac I have received and both within a year had the motor burn out. This recent one merely burned out when it started to suck up a plastic bag and before I could pull the bag away, the motor stopped for good. Would I have been willing to pay another $5 for a unit that had a circuit breaker on the motor so that it didn't burn up? Sure I would have. A low price does not justify poor design and quality. Buy another brand and prevent the aggravation.

Used this vacuum three short occasions and it is now broke. Wasted my money on this one.

I have had this item less than a year and it has stopped working. I've used it maybe 3 times and now it won't even turn on. Extremely disappointed in this product especially for a Black & Decker product

If you want to piss off your neighbors, fire this monster up around midnight. They should include ear protection with this thing. The high pitched shrill is deafening My last Leaf Hog was much quieter and blew just as well. I won't buy it again..

I returned this blower as I confused it with the Ultra Blower I was replacing. This blower has a plastic propeller/shredder subject to wear and breakage. The bag etc. were not interchangeable with the Ultra Blower I had. The description for the Ultra Blower at the time made it out to be obsolete. I think the one I found was either a new model or a close out.

The bag and strap are meant for very light duty. I use it to clean up around the pool and keep the area tidy so stuff doesn't end up in the pool. Don't ask this Vac to pick up any wet leaves or sticks.....light duty only.

This mulcher was working great....for the first 20 mimutes. It did have what I thought was a small vibration, but this was the first time I used a mulcher. It simply stopped working without any warning. With all the great reviews, I think I may have received a bad unit. I returned it to Amazon and will be ordering a BV6600 which has a larger bag and the variable switch.

I have a cordless blower, so I can't speak to that function. I've used it exclusively to vacuum and shred leaves. As others have mentioned, it does tend to clog when the leaves are damp, so I just use it when things are dry. The shoulder strap isn't very comfortable either. It worked fine for 4-5 months.I recently noticed that the plastic tube started to have some play in it. When using it this weekend, the tube through which leaves are vacuumed completely fell off during use, leaving the spinning aluminum shredder completely exposed. No injuries, but rather unnerving. Since I don't intend to use it as a blower, I duct taped the vacuum tube attachment to the unit. Not very attractive, but it shouldn't fall off anymore. For the price, I guess it's not a bad deal. I'd like it much better if the engineers at B&D had designed a more secure way to affix the plastic vacuum tube than a couple of click-together plastic pieces.

Works great after you figure out how to attach the back for sucking leaves. Very heavy and kind of awkward but does the job.

It needs a chord! I bought a gas powered one that works great.

The power cord is but an inch long. When you plug it into an extension cord it continuously falls out because the plus is loose. I over heated the plug because it was running for too long and fused the power cord and plug together. The machine also smokes when using which makes it look scary and like it's not working.

The bag they supply to collect the mulched leaves in is so small it fills up every 5 minutes. So every 5 minutes you turn it off, dump it out, and put it back. I have not found a bigger bag option, although you'd think they would have one. It's also MUCH to weak to blow oak leaves that are even a little wet. Don't get this. Spend the cream money to get a real one

This is a pretty powerful blower BUT the motor is so loud with such a high pitch wine it really hurts your ears ... even if you are just watching from a distance. You definitely need excellent ear protection to run this blower! I cannot in good faith recommend buying this machine.

Stopped working during first use. Returned to amazon with no problems. Maybe I just got a defective one.

This is an absolute piece of junk. I was able to use it four times in a coupe of months. The fifth time I plugged it in, it didn't work. Called the Black and Decker number and they wanted me to drive 20 miles to drop it off at a repair center "near me"... This is a joke of a product.

I ordered this to vacuum leaves from my yard and also purchased the attachment that allows you to pump the vacuumed and shredded leaves into a 30 gallon garbage can. The first blower/vac I received worked great for 15 minutes then died. I returned it for a replacement (very easy via Amazon). The second one lasted 30 minutes before the motor quit working. I can see one defective product but two in a row really suggests a design problem or poor quality control. Its a great idea but unfortunately the produce does not hold up to use. My yard is not particularly large nor do I have an overabundance of leaves. I think my use was pretty average for a typical homeowner, so I was not asking the vacuum to do any more than what it was advertised to do.

update - one year later the motor went - this is a POS would not recommend itoriginal review - B&D always a trusted name - so far so good my 3rd one in 18 years

Ran thru 2 of these in a week and a half. Both failed with 1-2 hours of runtime. Shut off and won't restart. Thank you Amazon for your honest, easy return/replace procedures! After 2nd failure I'm upgrading a couple steps, see if the build quality improves.

I used the vac setting for about an hour after receiving item and it quit working all together. The only things I sucked up were grass trimmings. I'm gonna try to send it back but I am 1 day past the return window.

Wrong Item.. wanted gas.. somehow clicked for this one.

Don't use the suction feature on leaves sitting on pea gravel. It picks the gravel up. The shoulder strap bites into your shoulder and is very uncomfortable. It does chew up leaves into good mulch starter.

Used this as a vacuum once and then emptied the bag and now the blower/vacuum won't turn back on. It lasted 1 fill and stopped working

Within 30 minutes of use as a blower the aluminum fan/impeller exploded and split open the fan case with one piece exiting the blower. Inertia of fan as it came to a sudden stop caused blower to be snatched from my hand and it hit my thigh causing bruising. Scared to get a replacement because the impeller is made of cast aluminum and quite heavy. Caused a lot of damage to the blower caseing.

sorry to say this item seems defective, does not produce enough air flow. I feel more air being pushed out the bottom than out the front of device.