What brand shop vac to buy? (HELP, buying one this weekend)

T

ThumperAC

New member
I went and looked at wet/dry shop vacs today. I went to Sears, Lowes, and home Depot they all have basically the same thing for the same price. Anyone recommend one over the other.



Specifically I am looking at the 12 gallon, 5 HP models.



Lowe's has ShopVac 12 gal, 5 hp for $69.88



Home Depot has Rigid 12 gal, 5hp, for $69.97



Sears has Craftsman 13gal, 5hp, for $67.99



Just looking to see if one is really better than the other?

Thanks for any help as I will be buying one tomorrow.
 
I have a rRdgid which is excellent, if I am not mistaken Ridgid and Craftsman are both made by Emerson, So I would shop price, If you are a member of the Craftsman club I believe you get 10% off
 
and I ended up buying a Sears 3.5 hp for about $50 for several reasons:



1. Price. obviously, this is pretty cheap;

2. Suckness. I plugged in each one at the store and compared them head-to-head. Unscientifically, I decided this one was the biggest bang for the buck. There are observable diminshing returns;

3. loudness. My last 5 hp vac warranted ear plugs, and this one is noticeably better;

4. size. When was the last time you really needed a 25 gallon tank. Unless your using it to pump out your basement, by the time you get it half full, it's going to be rancid. I found the big ones are too bulky. Another consideration is center of gravity. The smaller ones have a comparably larger footprint rendering them more stable.

5. accessories. I don't know if any of them come with the "crevice tool," which costs another $5. The smaller one has a handy tool carrier that's nice. And this one came with a filter as I believe they all do, but check.



So, those were my considerations. A tip to prolong the life of your hose is to wrap the first foot or so from the vacuum with some stiff wire to increase the minimum bending radius. It works.
 
The German Wap vacuums, still at Sears?, are quite good and very quiet. Expensive yes, but ........
 
I purchased the Rigid 12 gal, 5hp last year at Home Depot on sale for $49, and it's worked out great.
 
Rigid's are great, that would be my first choice, with Craftsman being close behind. You cannot beat any of those prices, and I personally have experience with the Rigid, so I would choose that one.
 
Just for the record (and search accuracy), it's "RIDGID", not "RIGID" jessispop got it right.



I actually just picked one of these up tonight, gonna fire it up tomorrow. i just got the 6 gallon one ($40)
 
I ended up buying the Shop Vac Ultra Pumpvac; 11.5 Gallons and 5.5 hp. I love the thing but the pump feature makes it expensive; as in $179.00 Canadian!! But wow, what an awesome shop vac!!:xyxthumbs



Here is a a pic(bad angle):
 
I purchased that 12 gal. Rigid @ HomeDepot in January...my first shop vac, and I think it's great...awesome sucking power...plus, I believe it has a lifetime warranty...that was pretty much my deciding factor...
 
I just borrowed my mother's Ridgid to clean the crap out of my car. The power that thing has is amazing, I know what brand I'm going with. Just don't think I need the size she owns, its kinda big to move around....
 
I have a 5.5 hp shopvac. Its great but with a 20 gal tank its way to big for what I need. Next chance I get i will get a 3 hp 2 or 3 gal one as I noticed that 5.5 hp only has a slight advantage in suction power.
 
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