Cheap Westinghouse WST1600A Unplugged Cord-Free Vacuum (Kitchen) Price

Up until now, all full-powered upright vacuum cleaners shared the same irritating feature--a cord. While vacuuming with one hand, we hold the cord with the other hand to keep it out of the way of our cleaning path. As we go around furniture this leash gets caught, and we continually stop our work to free it. Westinghouse has finally done away with the cord, and included other recent vacuuming innovations to offer what may be the easiest to use floor cleaner we've tried. The vacuum is bag-free and uses a long-life HEPA filter to trap the smallest particles and keep your air clean. It has a clear dust canister that lets you see when it's full, and emptying the collected dirt is quick, easy, and mess-free. The canister pops out of the machine, you twist out the filter and empty it--a quick rinse and it's as good as new. There's also a built-in telescoping cleaning wand on a stretch-hose for above-floor cleaning. The vacuum adjusts automatically to different rug heights and thicknesses, and it's also great for bare-floor cleaning.

Out of the Box
The Westinghouse Unplugged comes with a great easy-to-follow manual, and you'll want to give it a read before getting started. Once you do, you'll find the one disappointment with the machine: you can't use it immediately after arrival. The vacuum uses an advanced battery system that requires the Ni-Cad batteries to be conditioned in the charger before your first use (and again about once a year). So, once your exciting new machine arrives, you'll have to find some patience, put the included fuses in the battery packs, and put a battery in the charger for a 24 hour conditioning. Since you need both batteries to operate the machine for more than a half hour, it'll be 48 hours before both are conditioned, fully charged, and ready for service.

The wait is worth it. Each battery lasts for 30 minutes, and it takes the charger only 30 minutes to charge the back up, so you can clean continuously with his machine. Switching the battery is simple--it pops out with a simple lever on the back of the machine, and the fresh battery snaps cleanly into place. One caveat to the continuous cleaning is that use of the telescoping wand tends to drain batteries faster, so your best bet is to do all your floor cleaning first, and then move on to the drapes and such. The included battery charger is designed to detect problems with battery packs, and to prevent problems from arising during charging. It has a built in cooling fan to prevent overheating, and can tell you if you ever need to put new fuses in the batteries.

Does it Work?
We found the Westinghouse to be as powerful and effective a bagless upright as any corded models we've tested. While they spent considerable effort and research coming up with the cordless functionality, they didn't sacrifice anything else you'd expect in a well-designed modern vacuum. They even have a separate motor for the brush head that you can turn on or off while working (and that will relieve you of the need to constantly replace belts). Westinghouse also designed the machine to help you preserve battery power. Even after pressing the power button, the machine stays in stand-by mode until you release it from the upright position, and when you stop to move furniture, or shoo the cat out of your way, the machine powers down until you need it again. The initial wait while you condition the batteries is a one-time only, short-term frustration easily overshadowed by the quality, cleaning power, and leash-free operation of this machine. The Westinghouse Unplugged comes with the vacuum cleaner, two battery packs with fuses, the advanced charging system, a long-life HEPA filter, a dusting brush attachment, a universal cleaning tool attachment, a crevice tool, and onboard storage for the three attachments.--Brian Trinen