Best Shop Vacuum Cleaners

Wet/dry vacuums aren’t especially known for their portability, but Armor All’s small-yet-powerful utility vacuum manages to pack all of the features you know and love into a product that’s perfect for cars and delicate jobs.

Armor All Utility vacuum utilizes a 2 horsepower motor, which may not seem like much, until you consider the entire package is well under ten pounds. Included with this utility wet/dry vacuum is a six-foot hose, cloth and foam filter, and a 2.5-gallon tank to hold all of the debris you pick up. And with these attachments, that may be quite a lot.

Even compared to the larger shop vacuums on our list, this Armor All vacuum has a ridiculous amount of attachments. You get the usual crevice tool and a detail brush, alongside two nozzles that are specially made for what this vacuum does best: car cleaning. While it’s still more than capable of picking up wet spills, it is the crevice tools and small size that make this product affordable and powerful.

However, Armor All doesn’t have a patent on attachments, and it will not be difficult for other shop vacs to do the same job with a more powerful motor and larger canister. This product is affordable, but other shop vacuums with more features are close enough in price to question this vacuum’s value.

Public perception of the utility vacuum is quite high, with most customers using the vacuum in their cars. The only major problem comes again from an issue of size. When using a full-sized wet/dry vacuum, you’ll need to purchase a bag and use a strong filter to pick up those smaller pieces of dirt and debris. While the Armor All Utility AA255  comes with effective filtration, it’s not quite up to snuff when compared to the others.

Overall, this wet/dry vacuum is for cars and smaller homes only. If you’re already going for a larger wet/dry vacuum for big spills, a few extra attachments might be better than pick up a product of this size. For apartment dwellers and car owners who just want an affordable product for their vehicles, this product is more than up to the task.

Stanley is one of the more recognized and versatile brands in home improvement and tools, and their take on the wet/dry vacuum is designed for harder use.

Unlike the Armor All utility vacuum, Stanley SL18116P can be ordered in many shapes, sizes, and power levels.  Their flagship model uses a 6-gallon tank and a 4 horsepower motor, making it more suited for bigger jobs, but it is also relatively quiet when compared to the bigger vacuums.

The thinner and taller build on the canister is offset by wide swiveling wheels that make this vacuum sturdy and difficult to tip over. It is also relatively lightweight when compared to similar models, and the included fine dust cartridge filter saves many from having to seek one out.

Unfortunately, while the cartridge filter is more than effective, the vacuum’s ability to pick up small particles in the first place is questionable. Public perception is fairly good, but a lack of suction power seems to come up more than once. For a vacuum category that is heavily reliant on horsepower and raw suction power, that can be a big detriment to man.

Still, the included bag can pick up lots of medium and large-sized debris, and the vacuum is relatively waterproof as well.Which is a good thing too, as you’ll have to manually dump out the canister after sucking up water, instead of relying on a drain port.

Generally speaking, the Stanley SL18116P is a middle-of-the-road vacuum with middle-of-the-road features. The price is right, and the ability to use hoses and change out filters makes this just about as versatile as the higher end models. If you want more than a car cleaner but less then a professional-grade monstrosity of a vacuum, this Stanley product is ideal.

For many, shop vacuums, wet/dry vacuums, and the Shop-Vac brand are generally considered the same thing. After so many years of excellence, it’s hard to blame them.

Shop-Vac has been making vacuum cleaners and making a name for themselves for the past 50 years. We’ll get into the nomenclature a little bit later on, but Shop-Vac has claimed so much of a hold on the wet/dry vacuum market, they’re essentially the same.

Their 8 gallon 5989400 model is their newest in a long line of 8 gallon wet/dry vacuums. The stainless steel build, in particular, makes a commanding presence and promises to last much longer than the plastic builds in some of their competitors.

The 6 horsepower motor makes quick work of small, medium, or large debris. Using the included filters and bag, you can quickly and easily pick up a mess in your car, on the toolshed floor, or in the basement. That power isn’t lost on wet spills as well, and a tank drain makes cleanup a lot less labor intensive.

For a unit that’s built as well as it is, however, the included attachments are surprisingly weak. The gulper nozzle and crevice tool do an adequate job, but the multi-use floor nozzle doesn’t feel as sturdy as it should for a vacuum cleaner in this price range. Likewise, this model is built short and stout, but it tends to tip over and frustrate homeowners trying to get the most out of the 6-foot narrow nozzle. You may need to stop and clear out this hose every once in a while.

Problems aside, a 3-year warranty from a brand as trusted as Shop-Vac is more important than you would expect. The raw power is there, and if you get creative with your own attachments, you can expect to pick up any kind of mess for years to come.

Ridgid is known for a product line designed to directly compete with Shop-Vac, and their WD1450 wet/dry vacuum might be their most powerful yet. Matching the Shop-Vac’s 6 horsepower motor and nearly doubling its capacity, this wet/dry vacuum can clean several rooms without ever needing to be emptied. Using either the 2 included extension wands, one of the three nozzles, or simply the 7-foot hose, this Ridgid product will have no problems gulping down just about anything that dares get in its way.

That level of power requires a few sacrifices, so if you’re aiming for power and size over everything, consider the following before purchasing your vacuum: At 25 pounds and over 2 feet in height, this product isn’t designed to squeeze through tight spaces or be carried in a pinch. This won’t be much of a problem for single-room spaces or ranch homes, but it is going to take great effort lifting this behemoth up a flight of stairs.

Likewise, the attachment list is surprisingly sparse, and the plastic build of the canister is a bit questionable considering this products price tag. While Ridgid offers a generous Full Lifetime Warranty against defects and other manufacturer-blamed issues, people can easily overestimate the integrity of the plastic build and suck up far more than the machine can handle.

Still, public perception on the Ridgid WD1450 is sky high, with most claiming that more powerful wet/dry vacuums possibly don’t even exist. The only major complaint from reviewers, despite the included noise-reduction technology, is the sheer volume of the product. As it turns out, 6 horsepower motors aren’t all that quiet. Cleaning cars and transporting this wet/dry vacuum is going to be a hassle, but with the right location and a good set of ear plugs, any dirt in the immediate area will surrender to the Ridgid WD1450.