Which Shop Vacs Brand Wins?
In our test we compared 7 shop vacs options head to head. Craftsman came out on top. See the measured results, the runner-up, the budget pick, and a link to the full test video.
Craftsman
Price shown in test: $101.49
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The quick take
The short version of why each pick lands where it does, built straight from the measured results.
“In my opinion, the best overall Shop-Vac is the Craftsman. It has terrific air speed, very good suction, and a very good warranty.”
Placed top three in 3 of 8 measurements.
The measured results
Every number below is read straight from the test. Products are listed in the order they finished.
Weight
- 1Craftsman23.2 lb
- 2DeWalt32.2
to 32.4 lb depending on which point in the transcript is used (both figures given), the heaviest of all seven brands
- 3Bauer19.2 lb
- 4Ridgid24.6 lb
- 5Shop Vac28.4 lb2nd
- 6Stanley16 lb
the lightest of all seven brands
- 7Hart20.2 lb
Noise level
- 1Craftsman81.5 dB3rd
- 2DeWalt75.6 dB
the quietest of all seven brands
- 3Bauer87.5 dB
the loudest of all seven brands, described as extremely noisy
- 4Ridgid82.4 dB
- 5Shop Vac83.5 dB2nd
- 6Stanley79.6 dB2nd
- 7Hart81.5 dB3rd
Air speed (wind tunnel)
- 1Craftsman13.1 mph
the fastest of all seven brands
- 2DeWalt10.4 mph5th
about the same as Shop Vac
- 3Bauer10.1 mph6th
- 4Ridgid12 mph2nd
in its first mention and 12.1 mph in the final recap (both figures given), second best
- 5Shop Vac10.5 mph3rd
- 6Stanley7 mph
the slowest of all seven brands
- 7Hart10.45 mph4th
Suction (rubber ball lift)
- 1Craftsman6.4 lb4th
- 2DeWalt10.4 lb
the best of all seven brands, narrowly beating Bauer
- 3Bauer10.2 lb2nd
in its first mention and 10.1 lb in the final recap (both figures given), second best behind DeWalt
- 4Ridgid5.8 lb5th
attributed by the narrator to a loose lid fit and a detachable motor design prone to air leaks
- 5Shop Vac7.8 lb3rd
- 6Stanley4.8 lb2nd
narrowly outperforming Hart despite lower horsepower and air speed
- 7Hart4.4 lb
the worst of all seven brands, attributed by the narrator to a poorly sealing lid
Wet vacuuming 5 gallon bucket (timed head to head bracket)
- 1Craftsman
beat Shop Vac in the first round at nearly 6 seconds, then lost a close tiebreaker to Bauer, finishing third overall
- 2DeWalt
won its only race against Bauer in just under 6 seconds, finishing first overall
- 3Bauer
beat Ridgid, then Craftsman in a tiebreaker, then lost the final to DeWalt, finishing second overall
- 4Ridgid
lost to Bauer at 7 seconds, tied for fourth overall with Stanley and Shop Vac
- 5Shop Vac
lost to Craftsman at 7 seconds, tied for fourth overall with Stanley and Ridgid
- 6Stanley
beat Hart at 7 seconds versus Hart's 9 seconds, tied for fourth overall with Ridgid and Shop Vac
- 7Hart9 seconds
the slowest individual time of all seven brands, not included in the four way tie for fourth
Wet holding capacity
- 1Craftsman13.9 gallons
the highest of all seven brands, in a 16 gallon bucket
- 2DeWalt11.6 gallons4th
best of the three 14 gallon bucket brands, fourth overall
- 3Bauer9.5 gallons
sixth of seven brands, ahead of only Stanley
- 4Ridgid12.5 gallons2nd
in a 16 gallon bucket
- 5Shop Vac10.8 gallons
fifth of seven, in a 14 gallon bucket
- 6Stanley9.4 gallons
the lowest of all seven brands, in a 12 gallon bucket
- 7Hart12.2 gallons3rd
in a 16 gallon bucket
50 lb sand pickup time
- 1Craftsman383rd
to 39 seconds depending on which point in the transcript is used (both figures given), third fastest
- 2DeWalt28 seconds
the fastest of all seven brands, beating Bauer by 3 seconds
- 3Bauer31 seconds2nd
described as totally crushing the test
- 4Ridgid43 seconds
fifth of seven, despite good air speed its lower suction hurt this result
- 5Shop Vac63 seconds2nd
attributed by the narrator to its longer 10 foot hose versus most competitors' 7 foot hoses
- 6Stanley40 seconds4th
nearly twice as fast as Hart
- 7Hart78 seconds
the slowest of all seven brands, the hose clogged several times during the test
Grudge match (hoses joined head to head)
- 1Craftsman
lost to Bauer, eliminated
- 2DeWalt
won the final match against Bauer after several rounds of back and forth, crowned the grudge match champion
- 3Bauer
beat Ridgid, Craftsman, and Shop Vac in succession before losing the final match to DeWalt, finishing as grudge match runner up
- 4Ridgid
lost to Bauer, eliminated
- 5Shop Vac
lost to Bauer, eliminated
- 6Stanley
lost to Hart in the first round, eliminated
- 7Hart
lost to Stanley in the first round, eliminated
All measurements (2 more)+
Measured amp draw / calculated horsepower
- 1Craftsman13.1 amps
about 1.8 horsepower, the highest amp draw of all seven brands
- 3Bauer10.2 amps
about 1.4 horsepower
- 4Ridgid12.3 amps
about 1.7 horsepower
- 5Shop Vac11.8 amps
about 1.6 horsepower
- 6Stanley9.6 amps
about 1.3 horsepower, the lowest horsepower rating of all seven brands
- 7Hart11.4 amps
about 1.6 horsepower
- 2DeWaltnot tested
Measured amp draw
- 2DeWalt10.9
to 11 amps; no horsepower conversion is stated for this brand, only that it is less powerful by this measure than the Ridgid, Craftsman, or Shop Vac
- 1Craftsmannot tested
- 3Bauernot tested
- 4Ridgidnot tested
- 5Shop Vacnot tested
- 6Stanleynot tested
- 7Hartnot tested
How it was tested
- measured amp draw and calculated horsepower
- noise level in decibels
- air speed through an 8 inch wind tunnel
- suction as measured by rubber ball lift weight
- wet vacuuming speed emptying a 5 gallon bucket of water, head to head single elimination bracket
- actual wet holding capacity in gallons
- 50 lb sand pickup speed
- grudge match: suction hoses joined together in a head to head tug of war
“In my opinion, the best overall Shop-Vac is the Craftsman. It has terrific air speed, very good suction, and a very good warranty.”
Brand head-to-head scoreboards featuring this test
Data notes and caveats
Seven shop vacs tested across eight sub-tests: horsepower/amp draw, noise, air speed, suction, a timed wet vacuum single elimination bracket, wet holding capacity, a 50 lb sand pickup race, and a final hose to hose grudge match. Transcript is unusually clean with no phonetic brand mangling. A few minor internal numeric inconsistencies are preserved rather than resolved: Ridgid's air speed is given as both 12 and 12.1 mph, Craftsman's sand time as both 38 and 39 seconds, Bauer's suction as both 10.2 and 10.1 lb, and DeWalt's weight as both 32.4 and 32.2 lb. The narrator explicitly names Craftsman as his single overall pick, but DeWalt actually won more individual test categories outright (suction, the wet vacuum race, the sand test, and the final grudge match), and Bauer is separately called hard to beat for raw suction performance with the caveat of only a 90 day warranty; because the narrator commits to one clear overall winner (Craftsman) while also giving these two qualified alternate callouts rather than a true per-use-case split, winner is set to Craftsman and runnerUp is left null rather than guessing which of DeWalt or Bauer he would rank second.
