The DeWalt is really a tool meant for small messes, like drywall dust, sawdust, and wood shavings. In our other test, the DeWalt vac sucked out 2 gallons of water in 11 seconds—more than twice as long as it took the next weakest vacuum (the cordless Greenworks vac). That lines up with the DeWalt vac’s given CFM number—indicating suction—of 31, which is half that of the Greenworks vac. This isn’t an extremely high-powered tool, but it really is convenient to use. This wet/dry vac (aka “shop vac”1) has a large capacity and a powerful motor for sucking up debris.
If you can’t find our pick or you just want a more powerful option, we also like the Ridgid 14-Gallon NXT Wet/Dry Vac HD1400. This vacuum has more capacity and a more powerful motor than the 12-gallon HD1200, but the identical hose should suck up the same debris. User reviews for this model, like those for our pick, are extremely positive.
Several battery and self-propelled mowers in our ratings offer an impressive run time of 70 or more minutes. (The average run time of battery mowers in our tests is 45 to 50 minutes, a 10-minute improvement over last year.) Some manufacturers are designing new models with multiple battery slots. When one battery is spent, another can take over, a feature CR’s expert testers consider in determining a model’s true run time. The best battery lawn mowers perform as well as—or better than—the best gas mowers, Consumer Reports’ lawn mower ratings reveal. Ridgid’s largest size, the 16-gallon HD1800, can hold a lot of debris (and it comes with large wheels and a dolly handle).
Recently, cordless models have appeared that emphasize portability over power. These are more for quick, little messes, like clean-up after a minor repair or home upgrade. hyper tough tools In the cordless category, we prefer the smaller models in the 2- to 3-gallon range. One of these might be the only wet/dry vac you need for a smaller home or an apartment.
A few brands, including DeWalt, Makita, and Milwaukee, sell battery mowers that run on 18- or 20-volt batteries that also power their hand tools, such as drills and circular saws. This means that it will be really easy to interface any other brand’s 18V/20V lithium ion battery pack with some Hyper Tough power tools. The diameter of the hose is also much smaller than that of the hoses on the larger wet/dry vacs.
As a vacuum, the Greenworks model is really functional and can handle medium-size messes—like small nails, little bits of wood, shavings, dust, and general debris—without much issue. This vac struggles with larger items, due to both the diameter of the hose (1⅞ inch) and the suction power, which hyper tough battery isn’t as good as you get with the large corded vacs. One feature we liked was how easy it was to disconnect the hose from the vac. This made clearing any blockages much easier than on some of the other models. Another cordless option we like is the Greenworks 40V 3-Gallon Wet/Dry Cordless Vac.
The DeWalt’s hose is only 1¼ inches wide, compared with 2½ inches for the hoses on the Ridgid models and 1⅞ inches for the hose on the cordless Greenworks vac. The DeWalt vac’s smaller hose, along with its overall power, really limits what this vac can suck up. If you’re looking for a smaller vac that’s a lot easier to move around, we like the DeWalt DCV581H 20V 2-Gallon Cordless/Corded hyper tough tools Wet/Dry Vac. This vac is substantially lighter and more compact than the Ridgid models we recommend and can be carried like a duffel bag. But considering how this vac is intended to be used, its portability more than makes up for that. This is not a vac to use to clean your entire garage floor or to suck the dirt out of a 1,000-square-foot flooded basement.
Therefore, it should be safe to use Ridgid 18V batteries with an adapter on Hyper Tough 20V MAX power tools. But you might consider disassembly your Ridgid 18V battery to ensure that there is an over discharge protection circuit. There are plenty of other wet/dry vacuums available, most notably from Shop-Vac, a company so well known for its wet/dry vacuums that its name has become synonymous with all wet/dry vacs. In most ways, Shop-Vac models are going to deliver the same thing as the Ridgid vacs. However, on the 12-gallon model, the accessories are bunched at the upper rear of the vac, instead of stored on each caster, and we’ve found they get knocked off much easier this way. The Shop-Vacs models’ availability is also a little more scattered, so you may not be able to get one in an emergency at a place that is as convenient as Home Depot.