BLACK+DECKER 40V MAX* Cordless Hard-Surface Sweeper with POWERCOMMAND (LSW36)

Worthy upgrade from B&D 18V sweeper
I bought this sweeper as part of upgrading all my yard tools from 18V to the 36V system.The sweeping function of this unit is really about the same as the 18V unit, as far as strength/utility. The upside though, is that the 36V lithium ion system runs the same whether the battery is full or 3/4 empty, unlike the old ni-cad system, and lasts about twice as long. That’s the real shiney part of this sweeper over the 18V sweeper, the packs aren’t much larger/heavier, but they have a LOT of power reserve.The vacuum function works as advertised, I was able to remove the intake, swap on the tubes, and vacuum up my garage without blowing debris everywhere. The impeller withstood small metal screws and such without failing, and it mulches up leaves and such, and has a zippered bag for dumping out later. The big tube for the vacuum locks into the intake without any additional support, so feels a bit flimsy, but worked fine.This sweeper, like the old one, is a bit short for a tall guy… there’s not a lot of power, so you want the intake close to the ground, and it’s obviously modeled for someone shorter than 6’0″.There’s a minor design flaw versus the older unit, the intake is now on the side (to better support the vacuum function), and because it’s on the side, it’ll suck in any looser clothing, such as the t-shirt and cargo shorts I usually wear, and block the intake. It’s on the left too, so unless you’re holding it in the left hand, you gotta watch out for it.Overall, very happy with the sweeper, mostly because of the increased power reserve, and of course the 36V system works fantastic for the string-trimmer & hedge-trimmer tools, which I’ll review later on.

USELESS
The title pretty much says it all; this thing is useless. It can’t blow leaves more than a foot at a time on cement even when set to the highest level. I tried using it to move a pile of dry leaves out from under my deck and I might as well have turned a table fan on them for all the good it did. The 6-year-old B&D blower I bought this to replace sounds like it’s about to explode and it still works better on level 2 than this thing does on 6!I thought the leaf vac would be a big help with the leaves that collect along my fence and in the river rock under my deck, but it barely picks up anything. It took 15 minutes of babying this thing to suck up the same amount of leaves I could have pulled out with a rake and run the mower over in 3. The vac burns through batteries really quickly, too, so if you try it (which I do NOT recommend), be prepared to do at least one battery change for even a small fence line. It’s also very awkward to operate. I’m only 5’8″, and the tube is too short to reach the ground unless I lean forward.Most of the leaves I deal with are maple (large but brittle with longer stems) and pin oaks (smaller but thicker). The pin oak it would sort of halfway pick up if I kept “patting” the tube down on top of them, but wouldn’t chop them very well. The maple leaves would get stuck covering the end of the tube, so I was constantly scraping it trying to get them repositioned so they would fold into the tube and get sucked up. Then about every 5 minutes, it would completely lose suction and I’d have to stop and clear out a wad of stems jammed around the outside of the fan housing where there’s a huge gap between the cheap plastic “blades” and the body.I’m returning this thing and looking for a different brand if this is how Black & Decker makes their products these days. HORRIBLE quality and lazy, inefficient, ineffective design.

B&D Always bang for the buck and THOUGHTFULLY ENGINEERED.
I originally purchased the B+D 40V Chainsaw for General Purpose around my property that is partly wooded. I mostly use it after storms. Point being that I purchased this Black + Decker 40V Blower (without battery) because it’s currently Autumn (Fall) and I don’t always need to crank up my heavy/loud Petrol Powered Backpack Blower. The unit is noticeably a bit more powerful than my 20V B+D “Sweeper” and substantially better than my 18V B&D which is now 8 years old. At first I kind of laughed at the “Scraper” feature on the end of 40V blower when I read it in the Instructions. In retrospect, the Scraper actually came in handy my second day of use. Wet leaves have accumulated under the toolbox of my truck (see photo). I opened the tailgate and SCRAPED them forward so I could blow them out. Seriously! B&D products are reasonably priced and I’ve never felt like I didn’t get way more than my Initial investment out of them. Thanks

C’est ok

it does an adequate job. The B&D battery is ok, but the after-market one from Amazon lasts much longer.I can interchange both batteries with my B&D cord trimmer – a plus.