Hand held vacuums for cleaning vehicles....what do you recommend?

Coiled03

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Looking to get a small hand held vacuum for cleaning the inside of my vehicle. Do you guys have any suggestions? The last one I had was a Black & Decker dust buster if that tells you how long its been.

I suppose if the prices are comparable, I'd also consider a full size shop vac. But, I can't imagine a good shop vac being as cheap as a hand held.

What say you, SVTP?
 

2KBlackGT

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I use my Bissell house vacuum with the extensions/attachments it came with, works great. I have a little shop vac, not sure of the brand but my Bissell works 10x better than it does.
 

B7BlownSnake

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I have a Shop Vac wall-mount vacuum. Not the portable like you're asking about, but it works great. Has a pretty long hose so it reaches my cars if they're in the middle of the driveway. I haven't had a handheld vacuum in a long time, but the last one I had just didn't work very well. I like the wall-mount as it's powerful and still uses a small hose to get most everywhere in my cars.
 

Blk04L

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I have shop vac, but I mainly just use our spare, somewhat broken, dyson most of the time.
 

MDShelby

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I have one that is a Black and Decker - a cordless Flex I think it is called. Google should find details, I don't have it in front of me at the moment and it was a gift so not sure where it came from.
 

CV355

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Used to love Milwaukee power equipment. Now, their quality has gone to shit, and they never adjusted their prices down to reflect it, as best as I can tell.

I honestly haven't noticed a decline in quality. The entire shop used Milwaukee at my last job, and believe me they beat on those things. I have a few Milwaukee tools that are 8+ years old that still use the original battery. Haven't gotten around to buying the 3/8 Fuel ratchet yet, but I plan on it one of these months.

One guy bought that same 18v vacuum for spot cleaning after drilling/tapping in steel framework. He used it on/off 10+ times a day for well over a year and it was awesome.

An alternative, if you don't like the price, is CPO Milwaukee. You can get ~40% off and it is warrantied.
 

nofire

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Man, I picked up a 16 gallon shop vac (rigid) when they were on sale from Home Depot for about $100. That thing sucks harder than a $1000 a night call girl.
 

CV355

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Man, I picked up a 16 gallon shop vac (rigid) when they were on sale from Home Depot for about $100. That thing sucks harder than a $1000 a night call girl.

Those Ridgid shop vacs are awesome. I bought the little 5 gallon one in 2012. That thing has seen horrible things. Horrible. I vacuumed up critter nests, tens of thousands of spiders, ants, wasps, a mouse or two, and it helped move some ungodly amount of water from pipes bursting. It still works like a champ.

My wife got me a nice contractor-grade shop vac for Christmas two years ago, so I use that for cleaning the cars and keep the Ridgid for the rougher stuff.
 

bigja01cobra

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DeWalt 2gal corded/Cordless vacuum takes 18v old style or new 20v batteries and has a cord. I have 1 and my dad uses one at his used car dealership easy to grab it and clean up after test drivers.
 

Coiled03

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I honestly haven't noticed a decline in quality. The entire shop used Milwaukee at my last job, and believe me they beat on those things. I have a few Milwaukee tools that are 8+ years old that still use the original battery. Haven't gotten around to buying the 3/8 Fuel ratchet yet, but I plan on it one of these months.

One guy bought that same 18v vacuum for spot cleaning after drilling/tapping in steel framework. He used it on/off 10+ times a day for well over a year and it was awesome.

An alternative, if you don't like the price, is CPO Milwaukee. You can get ~40% off and it is warrantied.

I don't know when you started using them, but I started using Milwaukee in the early/mid-90s on job sites, framing houses. Circular saws, Sawz-Alls, jigsaws, you name it, they were all Milwaukee. And my god would they take a beating. I dropped a circular saw off a 3 story roof one time, and it worked fine after I finally got down there to pick it up. OK, the table was a little off kilter, but still!

Starting in the early 2000s is when I feel like the quality started dropping off. I've switched to DeWalt for almost all my power tools with the exception of an old Super-Sawz-All I still have.

DeWalt 2gal corded/Cordless vacuum takes 18v old style or new 20v batteries and has a cord. I have 1 and my dad uses one at his used car dealership easy to grab it and clean up after test drivers.

I looked it up, and it's kinda nice, if not a rather small capacity.

Guess I'll think about it for a few days. Try to make a decision before the weekend.
 
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CV355

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I don't know when you started using them, but I started using Milwaukee in the early/mid-90s on job sites, framing houses. Circular saws, Sawz-Alls, jigsaws, you name it, they were all Milwaukee. And my god would they take a beating. I dropped a circular saw off a 3 story roof one time, and it worked fine after I finally got down there to pick it up. OK, the table was a little off kilter, but still!

Starting in the early 2000s is when I feel like the quality started dropping off. I've switched to DeWalt for almost all my power tools with the except of an old Super-Sawz-All I still have.
.

Ah, yeah I started using them well after 2000. Never had a problem though.
 

mysticsvt

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I use this, it's ok but not for anything extensive to say the very least.


This would be better for sure..
 

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nxhappy

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don't do it man. they don't work well. I recommend a smaller shop vac from amazon. I have something like this:
 

98 svt

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Yup, shop vac. Some of them are under $50. They work sooooo much better than those hand held deals.
 

Riddla

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Small shop vac 3-5 gallons. Work exceptionally well. I tried a few that connect to the truck and they are junk.
 

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