Water, rubble, workshop · review
Thirteen accessories with both filter types, and eighteen feet of reach.
Where this ends up Thirteen accessories at sixty-eight dollars, including both filters a wet-dry vacuum actually needs — a cloth one for dust and a foam one for water. Eighteen feet of reach, and no suction figure of any kind.
“reusable cloth filter, foam wet filter.”
Two items in a list of thirteen, and they are the most consequential ones.
A cloth or cartridge filter traps fine dust, and is ruined the moment water passes through it: it clogs, sags and then lets dust straight into the motor.
A foam sleeve handles water and traps almost no dust.
So a machine sold for wet and dry work needs both, and you swap between them. Using the wrong one is the commonest way one of these vacuums is quietly wrecked in its first month.
Three listings on this shelf supply both. This, and the Vacmaster VOC508S at $74.99 which spells out why — “a cartridge filter for dry pick-up and a foam wet filter for wet pick-up”.
Eight listings name only one filter, or none at all. The Craftsman 17250 at $44.99 includes a “Filter Bag”, which is dry-only, on a machine sold as wet and dry.
And the Kärcher at $172.99 is the only machine here that claims to need no swap: “the top-mounted cartridge filter ensures seamless cleaning without removing the filter - no matter if wet or dry dirt.” That is a genuine convenience, and it costs $172.99 for 1.8 gallons with no battery included.
The full list runs to thirteen items, which is the most on this shelf — against nine on the Vacmaster VFB511H, seven on the Bissell 18P03, six on the Armor All AA155, the VOC508S and both Giraffe Tools machines, and four on the Craftsman 17250.
Three of them matter more than the rest.
Three extension wands. Enough to reach a ceiling corner, the back of a van, or under a car without kneeling. The Craftsman 17040 supplies two; six listings here supply none.
A floor brush/squeegee nozzle. This is the wet-work tool specifically: a rubber lip pulls standing water into a line that the suction can lift, which a round nozzle simply cannot do. On a vacuum bought for spills, it is the difference between clearing a garage floor and chasing a puddle.
A blower nozzle adapter. Six machines here convert to a blower; this is the only one supplying a dedicated nozzle for it, so the air goes where you point it rather than spreading from an open port.
The rest — crevice tool, deluxe car nozzle, round dust brush, detail brush, 2-in-1 utility nozzle — are the car-detailing set, and the deluxe car nozzle plus detail brush are what the brand is for.
12 ft cord + 6 ft hose.
Mid-shelf, and comfortably more than the small machines:
Bissell 18P03 — a 32 foot hose (wall-mounted) · Giraffe Tools ×2 — 30 foot retractable · Vacmaster VFB511H — “25 feet of cleaning reach” · Craftsman 17040 — 22 ft · this — 18 ft · Vacmaster VOC508S — “16 feet” · Shop-Vac — 16 ft · Armor All AA155 — 10 ft · Kärcher — a 3.9 ft hose (battery, so no cord) · Craftsman 17250 — a 5 ft hose, cord not published
Eighteen feet covers a car from one position and most of a single-car garage. It is not enough to leave the machine by the door.
The 1-1/4 inch bore is the narrow standard, and it has a real trade. The Craftsman 17040 uses 1-7/8 inch, which is 2.25 times the cross-section: far better on wood chips, plaster and leaves, and worse at pulling fine dust out of a crevice, where narrow bore means higher velocity.
For car work, 1-1/4 inch is the right choice — and it is the only bore that fits the slim nozzles this machine ships with.
2.5 gallons, “durable polypropylene”, with a wheel base and a top handle.
Polypropylene at this size is right: light, and it will not dent or rust. The Vacmaster VOC508S at $74.99 publishes a stainless steel tank instead, which is the step up and is also a 5-gallon machine for seven dollars more.
Worth knowing what the gallon figure means. Only the Craftsman 17250 admits it on this shelf: “Gallons indicated reflect drum volume, not necessarily [usable capacity].” The motor and filter occupy the top of the drum, and on wet work nobody fills to the brim, because water reaching the motor is the failure that ends the machine.
So read 2.5 gallons as the drum, not the fill line. That applies to every listing here.
At 4985 g (175.8 oz) this is mid-weight: the shelf runs from the Armor All AA155 at 2087 g (73.6 oz) to the two Giraffe Tools machines at 27 kg (59.5 lb), which publish “60LBS, needs team lift”.
“INTEGRATED HOSE AND ACCESSORY STORAGE: Keeps the hose, cord, and nozzles in one place.”
Thirteen loose accessories in a garage become four accessories within a year. On the machine with the longest list on this shelf, that bullet is doing real work.
Three other listings address it: the AA155 stores attachments “on the powerhead”, the Vacmaster VFB511H has “complete vac organization with on-board hose, cord and accessory storage”, the Craftsman 17040 has an “attached organization caddy”. Both Giraffe Tools machines mount the attachments on the wall and note that it “reduces accessories missing”.
No air watts, no kPa, no amps. Nothing on this page lets you compare suction with anything else on the shelf.
Two peak HP is 1490 watts, which a 120 V socket can supply — unlike the Craftsman 17040’s 5.0 PHP (3730 W) or the Vacmaster VFB511H’s 5.5 PHP (4100 W).
And what exposes the scale is Vacmaster publishing both: “5.5 PHP” with “320 Air Watts”, against “4 Peak HP” with “135 air watt motor” — +37 per cent in claimed horsepower, +137 per cent in real power.
No warranty. Both Craftsman machines publish “3 Year Limited Warranty” — at $44.99 and $119.99 — and both Giraffe Tools machines publish 24 months. The other eight listings here, this included, publish none.
No filtration rating. The Vacmaster VFB511H is the only listing on this shelf with a number: down to 1 micron. The Bissell 2035M publishes “2 stage filtration”.
No filter part numbers, which both Craftsman listings publish — and which is what you need in three years when the cloth filter has had enough.
No tank drain. The Shop-Vac at $139.99 is the only machine here with one: a “bottom drain outlet… without lifting or tilting the machine”, which on 2.5 gallons of dirty water matters less than on five, but still matters.
Read on the day this page was built: $68 at the American Amazon shop.
Read from Keepa on the day this page was last revised; stock and price both move without notice.
Prices quoted in this text were read on 2026-10-04. The live price is at the top of the page.
| Accessories | Thirteen — the most on this shelf |
|---|---|
| Both filters | A reusable cloth filter for dry work AND a foam wet filter — see the FAQ |
| Reach | 12 ft cord + 6 ft hose = 18 feet |
| Hose bore | 1-1/4 inch |
| Wands | Three extension wands |
| Floor tool | A floor brush and squeegee nozzle, for water as well as dust |
| Tank | 2.5 gallons, durable polypropylene |
| Rating | 2 peak HP — a catalog convention, see the FAQ |
| Blower | Yes, with a dedicated blower nozzle adapter |
| Storage | Integrated hose, cord and nozzle storage |
| Weight | 4985 g (175.8 oz) |
| Air watts | Not published |
| Warranty | Not published |
| Amazon reference | B00Y5BX674 |
| EAN | 0814953010166 |
Because using the wrong one destroys it, and this is one of only three listings on the shelf that supplies both. The accessory list names a "reusable cloth filter" and a "foam wet filter". The reason: a cloth or cartridge filter traps fine dust and is ruined the moment water passes through it — it clogs, sags and then lets dust straight into the motor. A foam sleeve handles water, and traps almost no dust. So a wet/dry vacuum needs both, and you swap between them. The Vacmaster VOC508S at $74.99 states it plainly — "a cartridge filter for dry pick-up and a foam wet filter for wet pick-up" — and this listing supplies both without explaining why. Eight of twelve listings here name only one filter, or none: the Craftsman 17250 includes a "Filter Bag", which is dry-only, on a machine sold as wet and dry. And the Kärcher at $172.99 is the only machine claiming to need no swap at all: "the top-mounted cartridge filter ensures seamless cleaning without removing the filter - no matter if wet or dry dirt."
The nozzle you need for each job, which on a vacuum like this is worth more than suction. The list: "a 12-ft cord and 6-ft x 1-1/4-inch hose, (3) extension wands, crevice tool, blower nozzle adapter, deluxe car nozzle, round dust brush, detail brush, 2-in-1 utility nozzle, floor brush/squeegee nozzle, reusable cloth filter, foam wet filter." Three items stand out. Three extension wands means you can reach a ceiling corner or under a car without kneeling — the Craftsman 17040 supplies two, and six listings here supply none. A floor brush/squeegee nozzle is the tool for wet work specifically: the rubber lip pulls standing water into a line the suction can lift, which a round nozzle cannot. And a blower nozzle adapter rather than a bare port means the air actually goes where you point it. For comparison: the Vacmaster VFB511H publishes nine accessories, the Bissell 18P03 seven, the Armor All AA155 and both Giraffe Tools machines six, the Craftsman 17250 four.
It is unknowable from this listing, and the figure itself is close to meaningless. Two peak horsepower is 1490 watts, which a 120 V socket can just about supply — unlike the Craftsman 17040’s 5.0 peak HP (3730 W) or the Vacmaster VFB511H’s 5.5 PHP (4100 W), neither of which is sustainable from a domestic outlet. What exposes the scale is that Vacmaster publishes both on its own two machines: "5.5 PHP" with "320 Air Watts", and "4 Peak HP" with "135 air watt motor". So +37 per cent in peak horsepower corresponds to +137 per cent in air watts — the two do not track. Air watts is airflow multiplied by suction, which is the work done at the nozzle, and it is the only figure worth comparing. Three machines here publish kPa instead — both Giraffe Tools and the Vacmaster VFB511H, all at 20 kPa — and two publish amps. This publishes peak horsepower alone, as do six others. Judge it on the 2.5 gallon tank, the 18 feet of reach and the thirteen tools, which are all real.
Measured against the median of its own aisle here — not against everything on sale.
cleaning machines from the same category, at nearby prices. Only what all of them publish is shown: a column with holes compares nothing.
| Model | Price | Rating | Blower | Warranty |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Armor All AA255W | $68 | 2 peak HP — a catalog convention, see the FAQ | Yes, with a dedicated blower nozzle adapter | Not published |
| Vacmaster VOC508S | $75 | 4 peak HP, which the same maker pairs with 135 air watts — see the FAQ | Not published | Not published |
| CRAFTSMAN CMXEVBE17250 | $45 | 2.5 peak HP — a catalog convention, see the FAQ | Yes | Three year limited — one of only four warranties on this shelf |
| Vacmaster VFB511H 0201 | $98 | 5.5 PHP, which the same maker pairs with 320 air watts — see the FAQ | Not published | Not published |
Details checked on October 4, 2026.
A car and a garage, where having the right nozzle matters more than raw suction
Amazon reports what buyers took in the month before this page was last checked: at least 4,000.
The figure is a floor, rounded by Amazon, and read through Keepa — it says what buyers picked, not what a maker claims.
Specifications: the manufacturer sheet for cleaning machines and the matching Amazon product page. Prices and availability: Keepa. Every figure on this page names its source.
1,250 W · 65 l/s airflow · 200 mbar · HEPA filter
The only machine here that publishes both numbers that matter — airflow and suction.
Best for: Trade use, or a home workshop where the vacuum runs alongside tools most weeks
1,000 W · 15 l · five paper bags included
The small, cheap, sensible one — and the bags in the box are most of the value.
Best for: A flat, a car and light workshop use, where storage space decides more than capacity
L class · HEPA filter · button filter cleaning · 2,000 W tool socket
Einhell's site-grade answer: dust class L with a HEPA element and a socket rated for a real power tool.
Best for: Site and workshop use where the vacuum runs off a saw, and where L-class filtration with a HEPA element is the requirement
