shop vac recommendation

[Kizar_Sozay]

Mine is a Shop-Vac brand and they have replaced parts for me for free. Its been years but IIRC it was the on/off switch.

[Cabinet Monkey]

Mine is a Shop-Vac brand and they have replaced parts for me for free. Its been years but IIRC it was the on/off switch.

Those days are long gone. As of 2020 the ShopVac Co. you knew is dead and gone. 



The name was purchased by an Asian tool maker and it’s making low cost low quality disposable stuff.  And after the (short) warranty period is up , you’re on your own.

[JDuke]

I have a variety of vacuums in my shop, 
Just a few, a Festool 36, a Fein, Rigid, commercial vac(not sure the brand, just targeted at office cleaners) a Bauer, and a backpack vac that I don’t use much, also have a small 2.5 gallon shop vac and a battery operated Bauer.

You didn’t mention your budget, but If I weren’t concerned much about the budget, I would go with either the Fein, or the Festool, both are very good at keeping high suction right up until they have to be emptied.  

If I were looking for the cheapest you can get I would probably go with the Bauer and put a dust deputy or similar in front of it.
This is what I have setup to clean up metal as I have irreversibly clogged a hose on one of these and they are cheap enough to replace I don’t mind ruining one from time to time.  
As an aside, the Bauer vacs are maxed out on the size of impeller the motor can handle, I experimented with one and ordered a slightly larger impeller from amazon for $10 and burned the motor up on one of these.

If you’re looking for middle of the road, Rigid would be in the running.  If I recall correctly, Rigid has a couple different lines, one is their bottom end and was designed to compete with ShopVac’s low end, they also have a step up in price and performance level that would be where you should look if you want something to last.

I also have a ShopVac with the metal can that I bought dedicated under the miter Saw, and with an aftermarket dust boot behind it, it works pretty good.

If you want the Auto turn on feature don’t feel obligated to buy a festool or Fein, you can get a device that you plug the tool and the vac into and it turns it on automatically when you start the tool.


One of the better vacuums I have, is the one I bought used that was targeted at commercial cleaners, unfortunately I don’t recall the brand.
It has a very long cord, and I had to modify it to take typical shop vac type heap filters and bags, but it has very good suction.
When I bought it, I did look up what they cost new, and as I recall, was very happy that I had bought it used, as the new price was fairly high.

Good luck

[museumguy]

If you can wait until Black Friday, both Home Depot and Lowe's usually have a "special" shop vac on sale. I have one from each and they both work great. The HD version is connected to my Dust Deputy. My only complaint is that I waited way to long to connect it. The Shop Vac version from Lowe's is for general use and it's connected to my lunchbox planer. Again, it works great.

[Philip1231]

I've been using Fein vacs for at least 25 years. Back then, they were the only game in town when it came to low decibels: I just did not like the scream of the regular "Shop-Vac". They are well made and the auto-start feature is a nice thing to have. Today, there are probably other lower-volume vac choices, but I've been pleased with the performance of the Fein vacs.

[fixtureman]

My last fine that I had for 20 years finally gave up the ghost.  I had 2 of them that I used for Vacuum hold down on my CNC

[ajkoontz]

Black Friday deals are coming up and the big boxes usually have a shop vac deal.

I finally broke down and got a Festool midi, which is a great vacuum. I use it exclusively for collection at the tool. My old black Friday shop vac does all the dirty work. For the price, I don't know if I'd recommend the Festool. It's a great vacuum, but at 5x or more the price I don't know that it's that much better.

The Hercules (Harbor Freight) HEPA vacuum is getting a lot of favorable reviews lately. Not sure if this is paid sponsorship type of thing, but a bunch of YouTube videos out recently talking this vacuum up. I'd be serioulsy cinsidering this one if I was in the market.

The plug in your power tool and the vac automatically turns on has won me over so I'd look for something with that feature. I'd also buy a premium hose if you go for the low-end shop vac choices. That was a huge upgrade to mine. Otherwise, I don't notice a huge difference in performance between my Festool and my Lowes Black Friday Shop Vac.

[Cabinet Monkey]

If you can wait until Black Friday, both Home Depot and Lowe's usually have a "special" shop vac on sale. I have one from each and they both work great. The HD version is connected to my Dust Deputy. My only complaint is that I waited way to long to connect it. The Shop Vac version from Lowe's is for general use and it's connected to my lunchbox planer. Again, it works great.

Be careful on these.  

I got one once and later found out it used a non standard filter and IIRC bags too.  It was for a jobsite and was ridiculously cheap so I just threw it in the dumpster after we were finished.

[fishhh4]

The 16-gallon Rigid is on sale now. Similar to last year, I bought one for my son for Christmas. He loves it.
For the money...Hard to beat.

At HD

[stav]

Be careful with the black Friday vacs. I got one many years ago that served me well and died. Then I got another an the hose was the smaller diameter so the fittings from the old one that I had saved didn't fit.  Had I looked at it, I probably would have opted for a different one than the cheap offering that black Friday.