Best Shop Vac in 2022

[mark mcfarlane]

... Be prepared to replace the filter and bag after the drywall work and take it outside and clean the heck out of it. Every vac we have used for drywall cleanup basically became a throwaway, because no one was willing to take it apart and really clean it...

Yep. I do as much joint-compound-sanding-dust cleaning as possible with a broom, dustpan, and mask. Unless you buy an auto-clean high end extractor, joint compound dust will clog up just about anything and cleaning a vac after sucking up this dust is a PITA. For small repairs I use a soft brush and dustpan, followed by a wet rag. For larger jobs its a broom and dust pan, using the vac and crevice tool to get into corners.

For me it takes longer to clean a vac after sucking up joint compound dust than to just us a broom or brush and dust pan.

[mark mcfarlane]

Wow quite a few recommendations for Ridgid as a general purpose vac! ...

In my experience the stock Rigid hoses are lacking. Rigid sells a bright orange upgrade hose that is pretty good and reasonable priced. If you can swing it I'd also get the upgrade hose in the initial purchase.

[Maurice Mcmurry]

I sand lots of joint compound, suck up concrete dust while attached to the angle grinder and diamond cup wheel, etc. I use cheap shop vacs and get years out of them. I use a drywall bag and pleated filter or a cloth bag and a pleated filter. I never sand drywall without attaching the sander to the vac. If the dust only goes into the bag the cleanup is as simple as emptying the bag.

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[Jim Becker]

Rigid sells a bright orange upgrade hose that is pretty good and reasonable priced.

Yea, that orange hose is really good and quite flexible. I've had mine for years. It will also work with the Festool extractor for those times when I want a larger diameter for something odd-ball, but it's largely conneted to my small Ridgid shop vac.

[Dave Sabo]

I’ve always found that orange Ridgid hose to be too short.