What shop vac/vacuum cleaner do you have? Need advise for a new vac.

[Alex Kuzn]

I have a 10 y/o $50 Wet-Dry Sears shop vac and always disliked it.
It is very loud. The hose is very rigid and and it's hard to bend it to get nozzle where you want.
All of this makes it hard to use it with my lathe or just for floor cleaning.

I've done some research and looks like Bosch 3931A Airsweep has good reviews and will fit my needs.
Before I spend $550 on this vac I wanted to check with other fellow woodworkers if you guys have any recommendations for me.

Thanks,
Alex

[David Christopher]

Alex, I have a Ridgid WD14500....I done a fair amount of research before buying...and money for what you get, I think its hard to beat

[Kent Chasson]

I've had my Fein for 4-5 years now and it's been, um, fine.

Quiet, good suction, long hose, wheels work well, good filtration, auto on switch with a tool connected to it.

[george wilson]

I have used the medium size Fein for several years. They suck as hard as any,but aren't excessively loud AT ALL. They also will accept a 2 1/2" Sears vac hose if you don't like their long,smaller dia. hose. They have VERY long cords,as all Fein tools seem to have. They have automatic vac. cut on and off for use with power tools plugged into he vac.. A very handy feature.

[Jamie Buxton]

There's a couple of kinds of shop vac. One kind is more a contractor's tool; it can easily suck up housebuilding debris. It generally has a larger hose diameter --- 2 1/2" or the like -- and the hose can be fairly rigid. The big Craftsman ones are generally of this sort. The other kind is more a cabinetmaker's tool, intended to hook directly to tools to capture sawdust at the point of generation. The hoses are generally smaller diameter -- 1 1/4" or so -- and more flexible so they don't interfere with the tool operation. The Feins and Festools are of this sort. The tradeoff of the small hose is that it may clog when presented with housebuilding debris. Generally the sawdust extraction kind are quieter than the construction debris kind.

[glenn bradley]

Ridgid "6HP" and a "5HP". They are both screamers! I've had the 6HP for 6 years and run it almost daily. the 5HP has been run for a couple years. I have Clean Stream filters in both (money well spent). I have a Dust Deputy on the 6HP (a gift that I really enjoy). Had I known that Ridgid was going to stop selling their 25' 2-1/4" hoses I would have bought a couple of them. The Mr. Nozzle hose products are very heavy duty but are 1-1/2" and expensive.

[Van Huskey]

My choice for a general use, "quiet", premium vac would be the Fein.

[Dave Sabo]

I've done some research and looks like Bosch 3931A Airsweep has good reviews and will fit my needs.
Before I spend $550 on this vac I wanted to check with other fellow woodworkers if you guys have any recommendations for me.


Curious why you decided on that over say a Fein or a Festool ??? They are all have similar specs and prices, so what does the Bosch have that put it at the top of your list?

[Bill ThompsonNM]

I have 2 fein vacs-- like them so much I'm thinking about buying a third...

[Dan Karachio]

I can't testify to the Fein or Bosch, but I went kicking and screaming to pay $500 for my Festool CT22 and once I got it home it was a true love affair. It is perhaps my most used "tool" in the shop. It is super quiet, works with all my smaller power tools (Festool and others), is super easy to use and with the cheap attachment set I use it to clean up my shop quickly and almost every time I am down there. You would think I could do the same with almost any Shop Vac type tool, but I had many and they never worked as hard or as often as this one. It is the power, ease of use, design and quiet that makes this (and others like the Fein I am sure) much more usable and therefore used.

So, you probably can't go wrong, but the Festool does have the ability to stack things (their things mostly) on top of it and that makes it less of a space hog.

[Erik France]

Like Glenn, I've used a Ridgid vac for quite a while. It's a large model with the detachable motor. I probably use it more for blowing than vacuming. It is not exactly quiet. I always wear hearing protection when using it.

I'll use my smallish dust collecor for general clean up jobs, especially since I put one of the 'dust right' hoses on it.

[Van Huskey]

So, you probably can't go wrong, but the Festool does have the ability to stack things (their things mostly) on top of it and that makes it less of a space hog.

If one has or plans to own Festool tools I would say certainly get the Festool. The Fein is cheaper and quieter if that makes a difference.

[Chris Tsutsui]

I have a Festool CT33.

The features I like about the festool is I filled up 2 bags with saw dust and when you remove the filter bags, the internal dual hepa filters are virtually clean and you can tell that the bags do a good job at keeping the dust in and CLEANING the air with the Hepa filters.

The huge two wheels make it easy to move over power chords and the like.

It's nice and square so it can park nicely in places and maximize the internal volume.

Very long power chord, you can store your other "festool" tool containers on top and lock them in place. This reduces trips to make if you are bringing your tools from a truck or van since the vacuum acts as your cart.

There's a green pull knob that moves fingers to massage the dual filters so if there was dust on the filters, this aggitation removes dust from between the fins and such.

What I also like about it is the auto-on feature and how effortless it turns on and off when activated by power tools like a chop saw, sander, or festool router.

Then there's a bunch of little engineering features like you can prop the lid open when accessing the bags, non-stepped suction attenuation, anti-static, and of course, the styling.

What I don't like about it:

Accessories are expensive
the black rubber hose end can make skid marks if you rub on something when vacuuming.
You can't massage the air filter unless you unravel the power chord.
The wheel locks arn't as easy to use as the new version.

Replacing paper bags that are like $7 ea. (Though I got the Dust Deputy nearly eliminates the need for new bags so this Con is moot now)

Anyways, good luck with your choice, I'd have gotten the Fein one, but I ended up with a TS55 and was bitten by the festool bug.

[Bruce Volden]

I use a Rigid 16 gal. model. Loud, stiff electric cord in cold weather, hose always seems to be in the way, it does have a nice attachment holder 'tho! I like the 210 MPH blowing feature best-makes quick work of cleaning gutters and shop clean up :D ! This is my 2nd Rigid and find it affordable for my needs. I should just tap into my lasers' exhaust system and have a bunch of blast gates scattered around, sorta like what was popular in homes several years ago??:cool:

Bruce

[Matthew Hills]

I've got a 12-gallon Ridgid shop vacuum that I got on sale and which works pretty well. I replaced the filter with the finest (HEPA?) one they have, and pretty much always wear ear protection with it. It is my go-to vacuum for cleaning up around the shop. It feels rough and dirty; I'm not remotely tempted to coddle it.

I was very impressed with a buddy's Fein shop vacuum. It was remarkably quiet and seemed to have decent suction.

I got a Festool CT26 recently and have used it just a little bit for cleanup in home and with track saw. It is quieter than the ridgid, although not as quiet as I remember the Fein being. The electrical cord is very heavy duty -- I expect this is good for powering the tool through the vacuum's electrical port, but it does make that cable more stiff. The vacuum hose is smaller diameter than the Ridgid's and more stiff. It is anti-static, although I don't tend to get much issue with static with my ridgid, either. My favorite thing with the festool is the connections to the two festool tools i have works well.

the ridgid seems to always require some obnoxious adapter, possibly with duct tape, too. Oh, except router table fence, where the ridgid hose can plug in directly. That works nicely.

The ridgid shop vacuum uses a single pleated filter. The Festool has both a vacuum bag and also a finer filter. Not sure on the Feins.

Matt

[Justin Bukoski]

The porter cable dust extractor works as well as the Fein but is a bit cheaper. The bags are quite a bit cheaper IIRC. Its pretty noisy though.

[Greg R Bradley]

I am a BIG Bosch fan BUT I didn't buy their vacuum. I own many Bosch tools and have little negative to say about any of the ones I have bought. Some of their items are simply awesome like their 36v Cordless Rotary Hammer. I struggled to justify that but think it was easily worth the price each time I use it. If you have their 10.8/12v cordless tools, try out their FL11 flashlight. It came free with some other items I bought but if it disappeared I would gladly pay double its $39 list price for another.

I really tried to like the Bosch Vacuum but after discussing positives and negatives with a tool person that I trust, I bought a second Fein. That dealer carries both along with several other brands. I bought my first Fein about 10 years ago and really like it except for tool storage (non-esistent) and no handle to drive it around. The Bosch solved both of those issues. BTW, if you have to constantly load a vac in and out of a truck or haul it up stairs you will probably curse the Fein designer that designed the handle.

After using the Fein at work for 10 years, I thought I couldn't justify that cost for home and purchased a $200 16gal Stainless Shop Vac. That made it obvious why I should have bought a better vac for home. When I ran across a Fein Turbo III on sale for $350 I couldn't resist and am now happy with the extra power and SILENCE.

For $550 I would probably buy a Festool Vac, which has some tool storage, great hose storage and a handle to drive it around.

[Karl Brogger]

I have an Alto-Wap and love it. Small, quiet, and powerful.

Fein, and the Festool are good choices also.

[Russell Smallwood]

Rigid Wall Mount Shop Vac (http://www.ridgid.com/Tools/WD5500-Wall-Vac/EN/index.htm)

I bought one of these here wall mount jobs. I like it (I think I just contradicted myself from the Home Depot thread. Forgot about this one :o).

Kind of like having a central vac in the shop. That being said, it is not a Fein / Festool by any stretch of the imagination. And it sounds just like a shop vac. It's also small which good because I'm not constantly tripping over it, but bad because I have to empty it constantly.

[Jim Becker]

I use a Festool vac for dust extraction from small tools and have a simple, small Rigid "shop vac" for general cleanup. (An Oneida cyclone handles the stationary machinery)

[Jamie Schmitz]

I have a Fein and it's great. I found an older model (9-11-55) which are still around for $235.00.If you do plan on hooking up your new vac to a tool, a nice thing to have is varible speed because the dust suction works better at lower rpm's. Hose is small for bigger pick ups. Money no object I would have purchased a Festool for sure because of the form factor which is nice for transport.

One funny thing is people buy these huge vacs and only pick up a small bucket full of debris. Another thing that is stupid is people that do not use a bag which was me until I got smart,better for the vac and cleaner air quality.

[Ed Gibbons]

Rigid. Had Shop Vac....Rigid is better.

[raul segura]

My craftsman leaf blower/shop vac burnt out a couple of months ago.I picked up another at about a hundred bucks. At 120 mp blowing it is strong and I mostly use it for blowing out the garage and the occasional wet disasters if any. This newer one is more compact it has all swivel weels and the top comes comes of easily for unloading nice. 10 mp. more blowing power. I still have the old stuff and hose from the previous one.

Caution:
my first one was great and apparently the fan design is very powerful, but the disc on which the fan blades sit on is very thin aluminum. I don't know if they have re configured this but, if you use it as a blower go easy on twisting and turning as it may start to rub on the housing before it snaps of at center of axis. I found several write ups on this and that is why mine needed to be replaced.The fan blade is about 35.00.
Just thought it may be worth mentioning.

[dennis thompson]

I've had a Ridgid for a while, loud, but it works fine & didn't cost too much. I'd say it's great for a person like me , a hobbiest (at best):)
Dennis

[Jerome Stanek]

I have 2 fein vacs for vac hold down on my CNC that when running are quieter than my shop vac. they have more suction also.

[Brian Tymchak]

Ridgid "6HP" and a "5HP". They are both screamers! I've had the 6HP for 6 years and run it almost daily. the 5HP has been run for a couple years. I have Clean Stream filters in both (money well spent). I have a Dust Deputy on the 6HP (a gift that I really enjoy). Had I known that Ridgid was going to stop selling their 25' 2-1/4" hoses I would have bought a couple of them. The Mr. Nozzle hose products are very heavy duty but are 1-1/2" and expensive.


Glenn, do you have the muffler on those? I put one on my 5hp 3-4 years ago and it helped a lot. Still can't hear the radio but that high-pitched scream is (mostly) gone.

[Thomas Canfield]

I also have the 14 gal Ridgid - don't know the model # but about $99, and use it with a Oneida Dust Deputy. It is their quietest model according to the tech service rep I talked to, and it is much quieter than the old 16 gal Craftsman I had. The Dust Deputy catches nearly all the dust and debris so that the 14 gal container catches very little and the dust loading on the filter is also minimal.

[Mike Zilis]

I bought the large Porter-Cable vac about 18 months ago. I love it. Powerful and much quieter than the Shop-Vac it replaced. It serves triple duty in my shop as a general clean up vac, a random orbit sander vac, and a vac for my Ridgid belt\spindle sander.

Mike

[Jeffrey Makiel]

$550 for a shop vac is difficult for me to justify or desire. I'm for a $100 vac and some ear muffs ($20). ;)

But that's me...Jeff :)

[Richard Cauman]

I have the ten-gallon Porter Cable 7812 (made in Italy) and highly recommend it. It's in the $250 range, is quiet, doesn't let dust out (it's used by drywallers), has an outlet with auto start and stop, and is stable. It's quiet enough that you can use it w/o ear protection if that's not handy. It does use bags, so that's a continuing expense--you don't have to use them, but it is best to do so.

Richard

[Mike Cutler]

I have the FEIN Turbo II. It's a really nice machine. Very quiet, compared to my Rigid. Which is really loud.
Some folks might balk at the cost of a Fein or Festool, which is understandable, but the more pleasurable a machine is to use, the more it will probably be used.
Either of these vac's are more than good enough to use every day in the house, and probably better made than most house vac's.