The Best Black+Decker Tools

Most home projects don't need a job-site tool. You're hanging shelves, cutting down an overgrown hedge, sanding a dresser you found on the curb, or clearing grass clippings off the driveway before company shows up. Those jobs reward tools that are light, easy to grab and cheap enough that you own several. Black+Decker built its whole lineup around that reality. One 20V MAX battery slides into the drill, the trimmer, the hedge trimmer and the sweeper, so a starter kit grows over time instead of starting over.

Here's the honest part. These tools aren't built to run all day, every day. Consumer Reports rates most Black+Decker cordless drills as best for light household tasks rather than repeated heavy drilling into dense hardwood, and Family Handyman reaches a similar verdict — great value for occasional DIY, but step up to DeWalt or Milwaukee if a tool has to survive professional use. Owners echo it too. Batteries run short, and plastic housings feel light in the hand. Know that going in and you won't be disappointed.

The other thing worth setting straight: cheaper doesn't mean disposable. Tools in Action pegs Black+Decker at roughly 30 to 50 percent below equivalent DeWalt models, and that gap buys you a shorter duty cycle, not a tool that quits in a month. We think that the BLACK+DECKER 20V MAX Cordless Drill/Driver Kit (BDCDD120C) is the best Black+Decker tool for most people, and that the 20V MAX Power Tool Combo Kit (BD4KITCDCRL) is the one to buy if you're building a toolbox from nothing.

Buy these if your projects are occasional and your standards are practical. First-time homeowners, renters with a small patch of grass, apartment dwellers with a balcony and a folding chair to sand, gift shoppers outfitting a new grad — that's the audience Black+Decker actually designs for. The tools are light, the batteries are shared, and the whole lineup costs less than a couple of professional-grade pieces. If you use a tool a handful of times a year, paying triple for a duty cycle you'll never touch is a waste.

Skip them if a tool is part of how you earn a living, or if you're taking on something structural. Framing a wall, drilling into masonry, cutting sheet goods all day, running a saw for eight straight hours — that's DeWalt and Milwaukee territory, and Family Handyman says so plainly. This guide also sticks to Black+Decker's own catalog, so if you want a straight comparison against other brands, look at a category guide instead of a brand one.

We weighed the same things a shopper standing in an aisle would. Battery compatibility: the 20V MAX platform runs the drill, trimmer, hedge trimmer, sweeper and combo-kit saws, so tools that share it earn extra credit. Real-world duty cycle: published reviews from Consumer Reports and Family Handyman agree these are light-household tools, and we picked ones that are honest about that rather than overreaching. Weight and handling: anything over about six pounds gets hard to hold overhead, and much of this audience wants light. Kit contents: a battery and charger in the box changes the math, since buying them separately erases the savings. Owner-reported failures: we looked for patterns — spool jams, sticky switches, short runtime — and named them in the flaws instead of hiding them.

If you want a cordless trimmer on the same battery: The BLACK+DECKER 20V MAX String Trimmer and Edger ($69) — The LST300 is the trimmer to get if you already own a Black+Decker 20V drill, because the pack transfers straight over. It cuts a 12-inch swath, feeds line automatically without bumping, and converts from trimmer to edger in a few seconds — This Old House flags that tool-free switch as its best trick. It weighs 5.7 pounds, and owners in their sixties and seventies describe finishing a whole yard without getting tired. What you give up is power and runtime. Owners who switched from a corded trimmer say it's noticeably weaker, and nearly all of them recommend buying a second battery straight away. For a small lot with ordinary grass, that's a fair trade.

If you want more trimming power and don't mind a cord: The BLACK+DECKER String Trimmer Weed Eater ($59) — The BESTE620 runs off a 6.5-amp motor with a 14-inch cutting deck, and that combination chews through overgrowth the cordless LST300 struggles with. The Spruce makes the general case for corded yard tools on small lawns: you trade portability for power that never sags. Owners who tried cordless first and came back describe this as the better tool for thick weeds, and the wheeled edge guide makes edging a driveway genuinely easy. The catch is the spool. A meaningful share of owners report the spool cover not seating right and the line snapping off short — usually when they've wound their own string. Buy pre-wound spools and most of that problem goes away.

Black+Decker's catalog is enormous, and this is the slice our research surfaced — not the whole lineup. The models below didn't make the picks, but each one suits a specific shopper better than anything above.

The BLACK+DECKER Workmate 825 Deluxe Dual-Height Workbench ($216.87) — The Workmate 825 is the deluxe dual-height version of the folding workbench Bob Vila calls a design that's barely changed in decades because it works. It clamps like a vise, doubles as a sawhorse, and sets at either of two working heights. Buy it if you don't have a garage bench and need a stable surface that folds flat against a wall. Go in knowing two things owners flag: the assembly instructions are genuinely poor, and the crank pins take real force to seat. Longtime owners of the original also find this one lighter, with a thinner deck. If you want the heirloom version, look for a heavier model.

The BLACK+DECKER 20V MAX* Cordless Sweeper with Power ($99) — The LSW321 sweeper moves air at up to 130 mph with a Power Boost button, and at 3.7 pounds anyone can hold it one-handed. This is the tool for a driveway, a deck, a garage floor or a workshop full of sawdust — a battery-powered replacement for a broom, essentially. It's the right pick if you already own 20V MAX batteries and want to stop sweeping. It's the wrong pick for a leaf-covered lawn. Owners are blunt that it lacks the muscle for wet leaves or large areas, and a recurring complaint involves the trigger switch sticking after a season or two. Match it to hard surfaces and small jobs and it does fine.

Black+Decker occupies a specific and honest place in the tool world: the homeowner brand. Tools in Action puts its pricing roughly 30 to 50 percent below equivalent DeWalt models, and that gap reflects real differences in motor durability and expected duty cycle rather than a pricing trick. Consumer Reports and Family Handyman land in the same spot — good value for occasional DIY, wrong choice for daily professional use. The brand's strongest asset is the 20V MAX platform, since one battery runs drills, trimmers, hedge trimmers, saws and sweepers across the catalog. That turns a single purchase into a system, and it's the main reason people who own one Black+Decker tool tend to own five. A few products have simply outlasted their category, too: the Workmate and the Mouse sander both stayed in production largely unchanged because nothing cheaper does the job better. On coverage, Black+Decker's standard limited warranty on 20V MAX cordless tools runs two years, shorter than the three-year coverage some premium brands offer. The BESTE620 trimmer carries a two-year limited warranty as well. Judge the brand on that scale and it delivers.

If you need tools that survive daily use or heavier drilling and cutting, this covers the step up that reviewers consistently point buyers toward. our DeWalt power tools guide →

Worth reading if you're outfitting a trade toolbox rather than a garage and want the highest-torque cordless options. our Milwaukee tools guide →

For anyone with a leaf-covered lawn rather than a driveway, this compares machines built to actually move wet piles instead of just sweeping hard surfaces. our leaf blower vacuum mulcher guide →

Lithium batteries hate two things: heat and sitting empty. Don't leave a pack in a car in July or on a garage shelf all winter at zero charge — top it off every few months during storage and it'll last years longer. Charge indoors at room temperature. On trimmers, the auto-feed spool is the most common failure point, and it usually stems from string wound unevenly by hand; pre-wound spools sidestep most of it. Wipe grass and sap off hedge trimmer blades after each use and give them a light spray of lubricant before storing, since dried sap is what dulls and binds them. Blow sawdust out of the Mouse sander's vents and empty its canister often. And if a sweeper's trigger starts sticking, it's usually grit in the switch rather than a dead tool.

For this guide:

• We read published assessments from Pro Tool Reviews, Consumer Reports, Family Handyman, Bob Vila, Popular Mechanics, This Old House, The Spruce, CNET, Tools in Action and the Good Housekeeping Institute covering these tools and the brand overall.
• We compared Black+Decker's own specifications and warranty terms against the listing details for every model here, including torque, cutting swath, blade length, airflow and battery compatibility.
• We read through owner feedback for each product and looked for repeated themes — short runtime, spool jams, sticky switches, light plastic housings — rather than isolated complaints.
• We read owner reviews on every listing, weighted toward the critical ones, because that is where the recurring failures show up.
• We have a systematic way of automatically fetching the latest prices, so the numbers on this page stay current.
• This is a research-focused guide, so the team may not own every product listed — though we often do own the top winners, which gives us extra context for the recommendations.
• We don't accept free products, and the retailer commission never changes which product we recommend.