Vacmaster 4 Gallon, 5 Peak HP with 2-Stage Industrial Motor Wet/Dry Floor Vacuum, VF408, Blue

It got the job done and the button to retract the plug is honestly something I overlooked and useful, however be mindful of the extension cord length if you’ll be using one with the shop vac…

I just got mine day before yesterday and have only had a little time to try it but that's all I needed to see just how much this thing can suck up! It has way more, several times more sucking power than my 1.5hp ShopVac and makes only a fraction of the noise the old shop vac does. Besides its super sucking power I cant believe how quiet it is! I was hoping to find one that wasn't as noisy as my old shop vac but have a lot more suction power and this is it. The first time I turned this on I had my TV on at normal volume and I expected not to be able to hear anything else but the vacuum. Surprise! I could still hear the TV and understand what they were saying without any problem at all!As for sucking power, this thing is like, WOW! I bet it could suckup and hold a bowling ball with the end of the hose. I'm a bachelor with a strong aversion to house cleaning. Add to that a bad lower back and a neck injury that makes doing anything quite painful. So needless to say, but I will any who, my place is a little more than say,, a disaster area. It would just about take a tornado to clean it up. With that in mind this vac is just what I needed. It's light weight and has such sucking power I only have to go across an area a couple of times for it to suck up rocks, sand, dirt, goat heads, stickers, and everything else that has built up over the years. My old shop vac couldn't suck up the same stuff this one did in a minute, even if I run my old one across the same area all day.My only complaint about this one is the wands that came with it. They are so flimsy! Granted, they are light weight, but they are also very crooked. When I stuck them together with the bow in each one going the opposite of the other it almost looks like a snake crawling across the floor. With the bow in each one turned the same way it makes a nice rainbow shape. Maybe not a complete rainbow, but enough to be very notice able. It would really help if they had a little larger inside diameter and a little thicker wall so that there was more to them. Also if they had a larger ID it wouldn't restrict the suction power like the ones it has does. But, other shop vac tubes that are stronger, longer, and don't have a bow in them, will fit and work with it's hose.I have a pretty good upright vac but the beater bar in the head of it likes to catch on a string in the carpet and unravel it wrapping it around the bar in the process. It does pretty good in large open area's, which I don't have cuz of too much stuff. And even though it has a hose and attachments, when using the hose the beater head keeps running and it makes all sorts of noise.I'm so glad that I decided to give this one a try! It has so much sucking power and is so quiet I can hardly believe it. I've never in my life seen or used such a strong vacuum that is so quiet! It probably even has enough suction power to run one of those small roller brush heads that work off of the air flow. Even if it doesn't it still has enough suck power to pull up all but the deepest dirt in the carpet. I highly recommend this vacuum for anybody looking for a new one. You might want to pick up a set of stronger & longer wands or tubes for the hose but it still does pretty good with the ones that come with it. This has to be the best vacuum anywhere for under $100. Besides, if you don't like it you can always send it back. But I'd bet that after you try it you wouldn't let anybody take it away from you for anything.So if you are looking for a good deal on a great vacuum you should give this one a shot. I bet you will be very happy with it.There's one other little thing and that's the bags for it. They are a bit expensive and a little hard to find other than on Amazon. So after using the one that came with it I'm going to try one of the blue wrap around paper filters that I use with my old shop vac. It doesn't have the plastic ring to hold it on but a good sized rubber band or small bungee cord should hold it on over the paper filter inside it.

PROS> Excellent NO BS suction power.> Great range of accessories, meaning it is expandable to fit all your cleaning needs. Search for 1-1/4 attachments or adaptors that allow you to use more attachments from difference sizes. I can use this with attachments designed to clean inside the computers and keyboards to wet and dry messes and high up places, car detailing and even long attachments for cleaning the dryer and difficult to reach nooks and crannies.The pole sections size are expandable and therefore you can vacuum places at great height without a ladder. It comes with 3 but you can attach more for longer reach. I like the idea of not having to buy several different vacuums to do a specific task. This one does everything. It can be an all in one solution.> Handles both dry and wet messes, but it involves removing the dust bag if you are vacuuming anything wet.> Wheeled with ergonomic handle. Easy rolling on the floor.> Comparatively quite. Noise is muffled.> Royal blue color is nice.> Very reasonably priced.CONS> Heavy. Lifting it in assembled form was heavier than what I've expected. While you may not have that much need to lift it, there are times when you can't simply roll on the floor. On the other hand, a heavier design will help with the stability of the unit.> The wire retraction mechanism is weak, meaning it takes some fiddling with to finally retract it in place. They should have used a stronger retraction mechanism. The way is to press the retract button a few times and slowly feed the wire in. The retraction is slow. The customer service suggests pulling the wire all the way out to reset the tension but that doesn't work. I can tolerate slow retraction or simply tie it up given how it does everything it is supposed to much better than competition.> The vac hose holder/support that is inserted around the vac keeps coming off if it brushes against anything. No thought has been given for a proper lock in and lock out mechanism to prevent this.> The hard vac attachment pipes are broken down into smaller segments that fit into one another in order to create a larger pipe. It is useful to have this feature so you can customize the height of the hard pipe attachments for differing cleaning scenarios. The issue is that no locking mechanism has been implemented. The pipe segments can detach under regular pressure from pushing and pulling the pipes and have to be put together.> This is not a totally sealed vacuum meaning that micro particles may still escape from the back filter, but you can pretty much seal it by adding a MERV16 sheet (available separately). Simply cut a Merv16 sheet to size and install it on the front of the back filter. There is enough space for it to perfectly fit. It will catch any micro particles that might escape the 2 stage filtration inside. Discard and replace at intervals. This vacuum is not for cleaning hazardous materials by the way. But this step can essentially create a seal that is only available in models that don't have the features that this unit has.> The other steps for better trapping of micro particles is the type of bag you put it. The bags it comes with are regular dust bags for dry mess vacuums and not high efficiency (they contain fine dust better).Vacmaster doesn't have any HEPA or High Efficiency bags for 4 gallon vacuums at the time of review. So I found and tried another high efficiency bag made for another brand and it worked perfectly with this unit. You can find it by searching "SpaceTent 6 Pack Ridgid VF3501 Filter Bags, Compatible with Ridgid 3 to 4.5 Gallon Dust Bags/ Dry Vac Bags, Fine Dust Bags Part# RIDGID VF3501 / WORKSHOP WS32045F" on amazon.Doing this and the latter Merv16 step pretty much creates a perfectly sealed unit that are available in much more expensive and limited feature vacuums.> No carrying bag for attachments. I simply got a large royal blue duffle bag that matched the color of the vacuum and arranged all the attachments including many that I bought separately to complete my cleaning kit. You can store the included accessories on the unit itself but I am talking about additional ones you can get. I also used a large leaf bag as a cover for the vacuum itself for storage.> You have to stay on top of the 4 gallon bag used for collecting dry mess in terms of replacement schedule. There are no lights or mechanism that tells you it is time for it to be replaced. I suspect I will experience a drop in suction power when it is times to dispose of the bag. While normally I am not a fan of units that work with disposable accessories, in this case it is far more convenient to dispose of a bag rather than wash and clean the filter every time and using it as a bagless model, which you can. They are also reasonably priced and last a long time. For most people, filling up a 4 gallon bag takes a long time.I will update this review in terms of its long-term performance once I used it for a year or so.

The media could not be loaded. Was looking for a good shopvac as an auto detailing enthusiast I used to use the 4gal5hp Ridgid and it was a good strong vac but decided to try this Vacmaster and I absolutely love it! It has plenty of power and so much quieter. I typically vacuumed with AirPods in my ears because of the noise but now I don’t have to, and the retractable extension cord is an amazing feature. I did buy an aftermarket hose for it, but it didn’t fit into the inlet. That was my only con since the inlet isn’t universal but with some adapters, I got it to fit at the end of the hose and now I have 20 feet of hose. I can vacuum the whole car without moving the vac. It’s so much quieter and I noticed no suction loss going from 10 feet of hose to 20 feet of hose. As for durability I have owned it for three months and had no issues with it.