Best shop vacuums

I am using a Craftsman vacuum with lots of years on it and starting to get dust blowing out from my Makita 81/2. Recommendations and comments would be appreciated. Various ratings show the Rigid 1450 or the Craftsman 17066 at the top. Interesting that the Shop Vac is not high in ratings. Your thoughts, please.
Bo

Bo,

A friend gave me a Shop-Vac 90LN for doing a job for him. Thus far I'm impressed, it is much better than my old Craftsman. Quieter and with better vacuum. The large back wheels make it easy to roll over the inevitable debris on trhe shop floor. The small front wheels are not the best, sure beat the small wheels on the old Craftsman.

Bo.

At the top of the list is the Fein. I have both the turbo 1 and turbo 2. Both are very good vacs but you pay for them. I checked specs of the Fein VS those shop vacs that the local lowes had in stock and the Fein specs were much better. My experience is owning the Shop Vac brand hasn't been good but it has been primarily with the smaller units. I burn the motors out on those all to frequently. I have heard good things about the league of shop vac that Dik has but I haven't used them.

There is a loty to be said for the craftsman. They seem to work well and last for a respectable period of time.

The Feins I am using have the advantage of having a built in auto on and off switch. It is nice turn your saw on and have the vac fire up at the same time. Sears and some other places have the auto switches as an add on. I think usual price is about $20.

If price is no object, the best bet is a fein along with a dust deputy. A dust deputy is about the same price as a sears shop vac.


Burt

I have the Fein Turbo II, and recommend it. It is a bypass style vac, so the stuff your sucking up, never goes by the motor, it gets its cooling elsewhere. Now, to empty it less, I picked up, Onieda's new plastic dust deputy (work related reason why I went plastic over metal), if your getting something like a deputy/clearview/Thein then your budget may have to be less. The Ridgids, have a lower pitch, then some of the old Craftsman's I have access to. The Ridgids are made by Emerson, where the Craftsman vacs have gone from Emerson, to Shop-vac, and supposably back to Emerson.

Fein came out with a new one, (variable suction for sanders) so you may be able to get a deal on the older one. As for Ridgid, personal opinion, look for one of the ones with SNR (serial noise reduction), it is supposed to be quieter. Then you will need the $20 Craftsman auto switch.

Dik, Burt and Randal, thank you for your opinions and experience. Always able to count on you all. It gives a beginner like me a nice feeling knowing that tons of experience and knowledge is available. I bought a Onieda Dust Deputy a month ago so I'll stay with Craftsman or Rigid for now. The Fein would be nice, but us retired folks are getting kinda tight fisted.

Bo

Bo, you did good getting the Dust Deputy, mine works great.

I have two of the 6.5hp Shop vacs and haven't had a problem yet. I'm sure the Feins are better but I'm having great luck with the Shop Vac brand so far. Home Depot seems to be replacing the Rigid with another brand, can't remember the name. No experience with the Sears brand but probably on par with the Shop Vac and Rigid brands. I do use the Sears switch to start the Shop Vac when the saw starts.

How is the PBB build coming along?