Guest reviewer Eric wrote in with a brief comparison of Craftsman’s new XSP shop vacuum and his Shop-Vac-branded vacuum. He wrote up a more detailed review of the Craftsman vac over on his site as well.
[Ed Note: We have begun testing one of the new XSP vacs as well, but it’s great to have a second opinion. We also had the chance to kick the new vacs’ tires at a recent sneak peek preview, and found the products to be exceptionally promising.]
Advertisement
Craftsman just came out with a new “XSP” (Extreme Suction Performance) line of wet/dry vacs, and sent me a 16-gallon version. I decided to pit it against my Shop-Vac 16-gallon vac to see how they compare.
Power
My Shop-Vac totes 5.5 horsepower, and Craftsman 6.5; but yet for a single-digit increase in power, the Craftsman one seems more powerful. As Craftsman boasts, the extreme suction performance technology delivers impressive airflow. I was impressed at the power of the Craftsman vac, which I can only tell you through first hand use is noticeably different.
Size
The Craftsman vac is actually a bit larger than the Shop-Vac despite having the same 16-gallon tank capacity. I attribute this to the differences in motor size and feature sets of both vacs. However, for the size of the vacs, when lifted simultaneously by their carrying handles, the weights seems comparable.
Features
When I purchased the Shop-Vac, it came with filters for wet and dry use, a 6′ x 2-1/2″ diameter hose, 2 extension wands, and an 8″ crevice nozzle. I then separately purchased a top-mounted accessory holder and additional nozzles separately via Shop-Vac.
Out of the box, the Craftsman XSP vac came with filters for wet and dry use, a 6′ x 2-1/2″ diameter hose, 2 extension wands, an 8″ crevice nozzle, a utility nozzle, and a wet nozzle that came with both an insertable squeegee and a brush. The Craftsman also comes with onboard storage built in, with places to put 2-1/2″ accessories on all four wheel casters and four additional spots on top of the motor housing.
Advertisement
Moreover, this new XSP vac features a flat surface “tray” on top. You can use this area to place items, and a full-360° lip prevents them from rolling off when rolling the vac around.
The Craftsman vac also features a pos-i-lock design on the hose, inlet, and blower ports to help keep the hose securely attached to the vacuum.
Speaking of the hose, the Craftsman vac features wire holders, which are mounted to the top of the vac, to help store the hose on board without it dragging on the floor. This is a feature I have been looking for in a wet/dry vac for quite some time!
Craftsman boasted an “extra-large” tank drain, but I found it to be the same size as on the Shop-Vac.
The Craftsman vac also features a blower mode, which for being a useful feature for any wet/dry vac to have, is also its curse. When I tried out the vac, it was too close to my pegboard, and the powerful force of air exiting through the blower rattled my tools, which could have been a frustration if something would have fallen. A quick remedy for this is a muffler/diffuser, (Craftsman 9-16993) which not only reduces vacuum noise by 25%, but also filters air exiting the blower port for particulates. The vac did not come with this accessory, it must be purchased separately.
A big gripe I carried with my Shop-Vac is that it only had a 6′ power cord. This created an incredible inconvenience for portability around my shop. The Craftsman vac features a 20′ power cord, which is long enough where I can roll the vac all around my shop to make cleanup a much easier chore.
Conclusion
In summary, Craftsman packs power into a great feature set for the right price. The Shop-Vac I purchased retailed for about $90, the Craftsman one retails at $109. For the power and the storage options, I would definitely go with Craftsman’s XSP series.
Standalone Review (via Eric Jacobi.com)
More Info (via Craftsman)
John Sullivan
Although I’m no expert, I’ve bought one or two shop vacuums per year for the past 22 years. These purchases have been distributed over home use, shop use, work, rental property maintenance, hurricane recovery tasks, etc. Over the years, Craftsman shop vacuums have been consistently better in terms of power (and usually price) in whatever category I’m shopping for at the time. Shop-Vac branded units have prevailed in durability (not quitting/dying on me) under light-to-moderate use. Shop-vac hoses have lasted longer (the 2″ ones… the 1.25″ hoses are thin, crushable junk) than craftsman before splitting, but they all crack eventually. The Craftsman filters stand up to the rougher bang-bang cleaning on the side of a dumpster that they get to shake out the dust.
If you can time your purchases around sales like Black Friday and still avoid the junky “doorbuster” vacuums, there is no reason to spend two to five times the price on a “Professional” shop vac unless you really need a metal (stainless) can. BUT, if you have to or are spending somebody else’s money– both Dayton and the high-end “Pro” Shop Vac are both pretty sweet.
Javier
Ive had 2 separate experiences with different people in which people bought brand new 16 gallon shop-vac brand vacuums and on both occasions they both had wimpy suction out of the box. Compared to my used ridgid at the time, the ridgid had way more suction power with the same hp as the shop-vacs. I have no experience with craftsman vacs and wouldnt mind testing out a craftsman wet dry vac. They look like they perform well. Earlier this year I was buying a high performance portable vac, I looked at all the major brands and almost bought a craftsman. I went with ridgid because even though both brands had nearly identical features, the craftsman didn’t have a blower port.
Stuart
As John brought up, some Shop Vacs are designed to be “doorbusters” starting around Black Friday every year. These vacs have lower-rated motors, small diameter hoses, short hoses, short power cords, and designed around a sub-$50 pricepoint.
I have looked over the holiday specials every year, and it always looks like Sears offers the best shop vacuum deals. The Craftsman vacs might not be as cheap as Home Depot’s Ridgid and Lowes’ Shop Vac specials, but they’re not cheapened either.
My parents have a nice Shop Vac vac, and it’s no slouch, but it also wasn’t a sub-$50 doorbuster special.
Joe
I have a cheap 6 gallon shop vac, 1.5″ hose, that would probably qualify as a door buster, but it still beats the pants off of most “household” vacs for cleaning hardwood floors (with the appropriate head on the brush), assuming you can deal with the noise obviously.
fred
Noise was just the reason we used Fein Vacuums – and I even bought my wife one for home use outside the shop. I’m sure that there are other brands that are also low noise.
At the other end of the spectrum – the big Bill Goat vacuum that we use – sure can pick up debris but engine noise is something else. I’ve heard however that there are new – much quieter Bill Goat machines
fred
Sorry for bad typing – its Billy Goat – and they do seem to have a low noise unit:
http://www.billygoat.com/Product-Categories/Detail/qv-quietvac-contractor-hard-surface
K. Ness
After owning both Shop Vac and Craftsman shop vacs, the Craftsman is far more durable and more air flow than the Shop Vac. The shop vac filter has hardly any filtering space so it clogs up very fast compared to the Craftsman that has far more filter surface area. the 15 year old 5hp Shop Vac died this summer while the 5hp Craftsman bought in 1992 still works like a charm. Even still have the original hose, though the end is duct tape reinforced to prevent the collapse from bending at the port.
Willie Lawton
I wouldn’t own a rigid nothing sorry customer service I’ve brought 20 one a year in my business no more craftsman xsp is the only way to go