Fein Shop Vac Purchase - Turbo II or Turbo III?

[Will Rowland]

My old Craftsman shop vac has finally died, and I plan to upgrade to a much quieter Fein vac as a replacement. It will be used for shop clean-up and dust collection on small power tools (mainly the sander). I also have a narrow Shark Guard on order so may hook it up to that as well.

Does anyone have an opinion on whether it is best to get the Turbo II (9 gal, 1.25" hose, 1.3 hp, $399) or the Turbo III (15 gal, 2.5" hose, 1.5 hp, $469)? They both appear to have roughly the same suction lift and cfm ratings.

I have 26 x 24 garage shop, and, like most, space is already at premium, so I'm leaning towards the Turbo II just due to the slightly smaller size and more easily stowed 1.25" hose.

Also, any feedback on the most practical filter/bag combo for these vacs?

[Greg Johnson]

Will,
I have the Turbo II with the 1 micron filter. My opinion is that it is a different animal.... It really is not made to clean a shop floor or do any serious "sucking". It does not have the ooomph that your old craftsman probably had. Having said that.... I have no regrets for buying it. The auto on/off switch is fantastic for small tool DC. I have used it on my sanders and CMS quite a bit. It is quiet and very efficient. It's great for using inside the house. (Makes for a much happier wife...:)) I plan on using it soon with a floor sander. It is fantastic for this type of work. When I need some serious "sucking" I use one of my el cheapo Ridgid vacs. They have the lift, can pick up 16 penny nails, but the noise is unbearable....

Greg

[John Harden]

I've had the Turbo II for about 6 years now and its a fantastic tool. For the longest time I used the standard filter that came with it and it provided tons of suction. In fact, too much suction as it would slow down the oscillations on nearly all my ROS's, (except the Fein).

Recently, I "upgraded" to the 1 micron filter and the suction dropped by over 50% due to how quickly the filter loads with ultra fine particles.

I've been meaning to toss it in the trash and go back to the original filter, so thanks for the reminder.

The new ones allow you to vary the suction, so you'll be able to tune it to the sander you're using.

Can't speak to the Turbo III as I've never used it. The dust hose of the TII fits right in to the port on my Festool sander and circular saw.

Personally, I like the smaller hose over the bigger one.

I have a very old Shop Vac QSP that I marveled at how quiet it was when I bought it. The TII is MUCH quieter. You can barely hear it running from across the shop.

You might check out the Festool's too. Also very nice, but quite a bit louder than the Fein units from what I understand.

Regards,

John

[Billy Trinh]

I have Fein II but not fein 3 so I can't do comparison but here are somethings to think about.
1. How much saw dust do you make? Fein II is smaller so you'll have to dump dust more often unless you plan to use some cyclonic dust collection like thien's baffle - then it's a + due to smaller footprint not including the cyclone component.

2. Are you planning to have some dust collection network around the shop? I hooked up a 2 1/2 network on the ceiling so i don't have to move the hose to different tools. Fein iii might be better since the hose is bigger. but if you move hoses around a lot between tools, smaller diameter is more convenient.

I'm just starting out have a 1 garage shop with just Fein II for dust collection. Moving the hose to different tools become a hassle so I hooked up a 2 1/2 network (basically one main tube in length of the ceiling and branch off to seperate tools. I just bought a $20 ridgid shop vac and I can plug it into the collection network for more OOHMP if needed but it's pretty loud so most of the time just the fein ii do the sucking.

Now I'm wondering if I should've gone with a small dust collection unit vs 2 shop vacs...

[roman fedyk]

I have the turbo 1 and 11 and they will pick up screws, nuts, golf balls anything that gets in the way. If you have used the Fein for drywall dust without a drywall filter it will slow down the suction. You have to blow out the motor housing area with compressed air to get rid of it. It is possible that there is an obstruction in the hose too. One way to tell if there could be a problem is if the unit runs loud or at a high pitch.

The other thing I like with the 11 is the 16 foot hose. Between the 16 foot electric cord and long hose, you have a tremendous reach around the shop.

Mine are extremely powerful, much more so than either the Craftsman or Shop Vacs I own.

I think you will be happy with the 11.

[roman fedyk]

No way Billy, you just can't have too many shop vacs.....:)

You can move them around, outside the shop, etc. So a dedicated dust collector can't help you if you have a water leak, or other issue needing a wet dry vac.

[Sean Nagle]

The Fein's are spec'd at:
Turbo I and II are 116 CFM and 90” lift
Turbo III is 126 CFM and 99” lift

I own an older Mini-Turbo and it has exactly the same specs as the new Turbo I and Turbo II, just a small container, but since I use an Oneida Dust Deputy it doesn't matter.

There actually are relatively few shop vacs that can equal the performance specs of the Fein vacs, even the Festool vacs don't perform as well. "Shop-Vac" style vacs don't even come close for lift.

[Rick Fisher]

I have the Turbo II .. the older style..

Its super quiet, what noise it does make is not abusive, like some Vac's..

I agree that its a vac meant to be used on tools, not for cleaning the floors..

I also have one of those obnoxious chrome shop vac's .. it does all the nasty work.. nails, nuts, floors.. whatever..

[Bill Leonard]

I have a Fein Turbo IV, industrial model. Highly recommend it, if you can find one. Stainless steel and will suck the chrome off of the proverbial trailer hitch. I believe Fein makes the best vac in the industry.

[Keith Outten]

Check out the specs on Oneida's Dust Cobra. I have one and I doubt there is any machine in its class. In my opinion it is the best vac on the market. I have used up to 60 feet of hose on mine with no loss in performance. The Dust Cobra has a built in cyclone, no worries about the filter clogging up.

BTW Lowes sells a hose handle that has an adjustible valve built in so you can adjust the amount of vacuum to the tool. It's about 8" long, you use it at the end of the hose and turn the round coupling to adjust it. You will need one of these if you are using a high performance vacuum with small power tools and your ROS.
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[george wilson]

Has anyone mentioned that a standard 2 1/2" Sears shop vac. hose can jam into the hose port of the Fein 9 gallon? I only use the Sears hose unless I am connecting to a power tool,when I use the smaller Fein hose.

[Jim Tobias]

Will,
I have a Turbo III that has been with me for about 4-5 years. It has plenty of suction for any need. I did (after a couple of years ) of fighting the larger hose go to their website and buy a 1.5" hose that makes it much more manageable.

Jim

[Randal Stevenson]

I have the Fein turbo II (old style) that I bought due to size (smaller), portability and budget. I had planned on building Bill Pentz's small cyclone, when Oneida came out with their dust deputy, I bought that instead (time verses money). Prior to that, I had gone to Lowe's (cheapest place that carried it in my area) and bought the Cleanstream filter for it. I had also prior, used one of those inexpensive fake cyclone lids and 5 gallon buckets prior, with a Fein bag in the vac. The Genie bags are said to fit, but since they haven't had a shopvac in some time, they are harder to find.
If your going to load it up and carry it to jobs, or are planning on something in front of it (like a cyclone) I would go smaller. If it is going to be a never leaves the garage, and used everyday for everything, I would prefer the larger one.

EDIT: I should have mentioned the hose. The crushproof ones sold at Sears, Lowe's, Home Depot, etc. fit the Fein. The car cleaning kit at Home Depot, is the smaller one (cheaper then Fein I believe) and the larger one is self explaining.

[Bruce Page]

I've had the Turbo III for several years and still use the original felt filter, it works very well.
It's dosen't have as much suction as my old crapsman but it's a lot quieter and works great with my sanders (inculding my Festool), plate joiner, or just cleaning out the shop.

[Will Rowland]

Thanks for the all the great info...decided to just go with the new Turbo II. It's on its way!

[roman fedyk]

Smart move. Make sure you get the HEPA filter from Lowes for it. And use bags as well. That way you will keep your machine healthy for a long time. The felt bag that comes with the unit is only for up to 5 microns. Sanding dust is a lot smaller than that.

[glenn bradley]

BTW Lowes sells a hose handle that has an adjustible valve built in so you can adjust the amount of vacuum to the tool. It's about 8" long, you use it at the end of the hose and turn the round coupling to adjust it. You will need one of these if you are using a high performance vacuum with small power tools and your ROS.
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Keith speaks true. Once I added this to my larger Ridgid, my sander performance improved quite a bit. Now I can set it so it sucks up more dust than it makes without sucking so hard it fouls the motion.