Car Vacuum question

[Allen K. Littlefield]

Date: Wednesday, 27 May 2009, at 10:56:08 a.m.

I have been contemplating the Compact Portable Vacuum as advertised in the latest Griot's Garage catalog #292. I like the idea of a portable unit rather than a larger shop vac. Griot's wants $139.99 plus shipping for his unit. Any body have experience with this or an equivalent unit? Any advice welcome and thanks in advance.

AKL

[Cloudsurfer]

You know, I've rolled the idea around for ages of getting on of these things, but I always seem to come back to the conclusion that it's not worth the money. Obviously it's going to have far less suction power than a shop vac (or even a good household vac- I have an Electrolux which can suck up marbles LOL), though the convenience of the small vac is going to be a plus. I think the only thing that would convince me to buy one of these was if it came with a very robust kit of small brushes, extensions, crevice tools etc which would greatly help cleaning a car.

[Perfectlap]

save your money. Go down to Sears and get the small shop vac $30, maybe less for the one that's the size of a soccer ball. A Boxster aint that big.... I keep in the garage right next to the car. does the job PERFECTLY. Used it to clean out the intake after I took out the old air filter and put in the new.
I tried the dustbusters and comtemplated the Dyson handheld. Anything that's powered by the cigarette lighter will NOT make enough suction, ditto for battery powered. $130 is nuts for this job. Use that for an orbital or impact wrench.

[coreseller]

Wall hung Rigid unit, comes with extra long flex hose (soft type that doesn't scratch car's finish), don't have to drag it out. plug it in or put it away. I think it was ~ $100. Worked for me.

sorry, thread hijack.....that is priceless footage...

Originally Posted by coreseller

Wall hung Rigid unit, comes with extra long flex hose (soft type that doesn't scratch car's finish), don't have to drag it out. plug it in or put it away. I think it was ~ $100. Worked for me.

[jmatta]

Originally Posted by Fred Demara

sorry, thread hijack.....that is priceless footage...

That's what I look like after a day at the track!

Small canister vac for me...have had it about twenty years, bought at a garage sale for a few dollars and works perfect for the cars.

[Allen K. Littlefield]

Originally Posted by Perfectlap

save your money. Go down to Sears and get the small shop vac $30, maybe less for the one that's the size of a soccer ball. A Boxster aint that big.... I keep in the garage right next to the car. does the job PERFECTLY. Used it to clean out the intake after I took out the old air filter and put in the new.
I tried the dustbusters and comtemplated the Dyson handheld. Anything that's powered by the cigarette lighter will NOT make enough suction, ditto for battery powered. $130 is nuts for this job. Use that for an orbital or impact wrench.

Good advice. I once had a small battery operated vac that couldn't hardly lift a kleenex let alone floor dirt. I need a vac that I can do the Boxster with without experiencing a wrestling match like I now do with the house canister (this is one machine I absolutely despise!!!) and also do the van interior. I will not buy anything with batteries in the vac line. Looked up online the Bed & Bath and Sears sites so far and the price on vacs run the gamut. The cost of a new house canister caused me to apologize to our current monster and make me promise not to drag it around the house with the lack of care that I have shown in the past. Also I promised not to curse the damn thing out when it hung up on everything in sight. I did not see any shop vacs or prices at Sears and I believe I tried every possible category including "Vacuums". Next trip to town will have me checking out Sears, Target, Best Buy etc.

AKL

[Perfectlap]

Sears Shop Vac $30

[Allen K. Littlefield]

Originally Posted by Perfectlap

Sears Shop Vac $30

Thanks for that connection. For the life of me I could not find that through my search through the Sears site. I tried Automotive, Vacuums, etc.

I will most likely go for the Sears $30 rather than the $139 for all the reasons you state. I will never get a battery powered again. The only thing that works well for me on battery is my DeWalt drill. Thanks again.

AKL

I have been using the same Sears Shop Vac for the past 18+ years. Still works great. It's on the larger size. Keep the filter clean.

[Allen K. Littlefield]

Originally Posted by Perfectlap

save your money. Go down to Sears and get the small shop vac $30, maybe less for the one that's the size of a soccer ball. A Boxster aint that big.... I keep in the garage right next to the car. does the job PERFECTLY. Used it to clean out the intake after I took out the old air filter and put in the new.
I tried the dustbusters and comtemplated the Dyson handheld. Anything that's powered by the cigarette lighter will NOT make enough suction, ditto for battery powered. $130 is nuts for this job. Use that for an orbital or impact wrench.

Thank you Perfect Lap, I owe you a couple of beers for sure!

Picked up the $30 vac this afternoon and it is a little gem for its size. Really will pull stuff out of the carpet and is light and flexible. Saved mucho dinero from your advice. Vac is strong enough to do interior of my Town & Country van and is much easier to move around than the house canister.

AKL :dance:

[schnellman]

This thread really sucks. I'm heading for Sears in the morning. Thanks, guys.

[dirtyg]

Originally Posted by schnellman

This thread really sucks. I'm heading for Sears in the morning. Thanks, guys.

it has to lol

[yimmy149]

The craftsman is on sale for $19.99 right now!