Need a new rechargeable hand vac. What do you use and what do I need to look for or look out for?

 

cheap?

I have never had one work very well or for very long

 

I got one of the Coleman wet/dry mini rechargeable shop vac styles as a gift, and I really like it. Works a lot better than the typical dust-buster type. Comes with the various attachments, and a wall and cig ligter plug charger.

Like most rechargeable stuff, though, the battery quit after a year or two. I figured it had some proprietary battery, but I took it apart and found a standard UB645 battery. For about $15 at Radio Shack a new battery was sent to my door.

Though I was disappointed in the life of the orignial battery, I've got to give them credit for making it a 3 minute job with a phillips screwdriver and no directions to get to the battery, and for using a standardized battery type so that replacements are easy to find. In my case, that saved me money and kept a perfectly good vacuum from ending up in a land fill.

Here's one place that sells them...

http://www.toolking.com/category/pro...tag=CPMPMV6990

There is one thing I'm not too crazy about. It has a shoulder strap that attaches on the sides, and the unit (think it holds like 1 gallon) is so small that the hose will flip the vacuum over. It's not a big deal, but you often have to hold the canister with one hand and the wand with the other, which would have been avoided if the strap attached to the top.

 

It's not really a "hand" vacuum but I have had excellent results with the Dewalt cordless shop vac.

I use the 2 gallon version but they do have a 1/2 gallon version also.

http://www.dewalt.com/us/products/to...productID=6220

Jeff

 

Hmm. Thanks for the suggestions.

Based on how few posted, could I assume that most of the rest of you don't use or think very highly of rechargable hand vacs?

 

I 2nd the Dewalt , same 18v batteries as my other 5 Dewalt tools , the newer batteries with the yellow top are much better than the black top ones .
Some times on sale , do not pay more than $99 , have seen it as part of a package deal , is the best if you can use what it come with .

 

I guess I don't think too much about the little hand wand types. They just don't have the suction or battery life to clean much up.

The DeWalt ones look nice, and would make sense if you already have their batteries.

The Coleman one, on the other hand, can often be found at big-box-mart well under $30. The disadvantage is that it will run about 30 minutes on the built-in battery, but then needs to be recharged, where it looks like you could just swap battery packs on the DeWalt.

In my book none of the rechargeables are a replacement for a good shop-vac type unit, but for smaller jobs I think one of these little wet/dry cordless outfits are handy enough to be worth having... especially when camping or if your driveway isn't close to an outlet.