For as long as I’ve been following holiday tool deals, there have always been Black Friday deals on wet/dry shop vacuums.
In the past, these were doorbusters, with limited quantities only available to those who would brave the trek to stores the day after Thanksgiving. Luckily, times have changed, and you can score these vac deals online.
All of the deals discussed here are live, so there’s no need to wait.
Advertisement
Ridgid 16-Gallon NXT Wet/Dry Shop Vac
Home Depot’s biggest deal is on the Ridgid HD1640 NXT wet/dry shop vacuum, with 16 gallon tank with built-in drain plug, 5.0 Peak HP motor, locking-style hose and accessories, and built-in blower port.
Why buy this one? 2-1/2″ hose size, large collection container, low price.
You don’t get a lot of accessories, but the price for what you do get makes this a great deal.
Price: $59.88 ($10 lower than last year)
Ridgid 14-Gallon Wet/Dry Vac + Car Cleaning Kit
Spring for the Ridgid HD1401 if you want more in the way of accessories. The HD1400 is a 14-gallon 6.0 Peak HP wet/dry vac with fine dust filter, and it’s bundled with a car cleaning accessory kit with additional hose and nozzle assortment.
Why buy this one? Fine dust filter, higher motor rating, and a car cleaning accessory kit.
Advertisement
The vacuum regularly sells for $119, and so you’re basically getting the $55 car cleaning kit for free – or at least that’s how it looks to me.
Price: $119
Milwaukee M18 Fuel Cordless Wet/Dry Vacuum
If you need to go cordless, Milwaukee’s M18 Fuel 6-gallon vac is at a “special buy” price right now.
Why buy this one? Skip the cord and clean without being leashed to a wall outlet.
Don’t forget that you’ll need to source your own battery and charger.
If you want a more powerful solution, consider the 9-gallon model, which comes with a more powerful motor that requires 2x batteries.
Price: $219 (6-gallon), $299 (9-gallon)
Ridgid 3 Gallon Wet/Dry Vacuum With Modular Tool Box Attachment
Sometimes you need a vac you can carry up and down the stairs or through narrow hallways with ease.
This Ridgid vac features a 3 gallon tank, wet/dry pickup capability, 5.0 Peak HP motor, and expandable hose that can extend from 2′ to 6′. Everything stores on-board for convenience and portability.
It also has a “Ridgid Sweep” feature that allows you to place the vac on the floor for use as a dust pan.
Why buy this one? It’s a more portable wet/dry vac, and comes with a dock that allows the vacuum to attach to Ridgid’s Pro Gear tool boxes.
This is at the same price as the vacuum by itself, but comes with the Pro Gear 2.0 dock at no added cost.
Price: $119
Upgrade an Old Vac with New Accessories
Home Depot has a bunch of Milwaukee AirTip shop vacuum accessories in stores and online at special buy prices. There are more options online as well.
My favorite of the AirTop attachments is the long reach flexible hose set, which fits in spaces too small for most crevice nozzles and the like.
Handheld Cordless Vacuum Deals
Dewalt 20V Max Cordless Handheld Vacuum – $99 at Amazon | Acme Tools
Milwaukee M18 Fuel Packout Vacuum – $179 at Home Depot
Dewalt 20V Max Cordless Vacuum with Hose – $79 at Amazon (subject to change)
Makita 18V Cordless Stick Vacuum Kit – $129 at Amazon | Home Depot
Neil H
I really wish the big wet dry vacs had cords and a battery option. Just doesn’t seem reasonable to always rely on a battery
Stuart
Milwaukee has a modular vacuum system where you can choose between an AC motor or two types of M18.
Some brands have had handheld cordless vacs with AC cord options. I had one and used the power cord a single time.
It’s hard for large vacs to be battery powered. If you’re filling the tank, battery power will rarely cut it.
Eric
I guess the option is there, but I think most of us would prefer to have one head that had both options. By the time you spend $200 for the corded motor head you might as well just have 2 separate vacuums.
Stuart
Tools with motors that can be powered by both AC and cordless battery are a rarity. I can’t think of any brushless models.
Metabo HPT’s MultiVolt vacuum is the only one I can think of, given that they have an AC adapter that works with their MultiVolt 36V tools.
T
Dewalt and Harbor Freight’s Hercules also are dual power, with no adapter needed.
Stuart
Yes, but they’re not brushless. They’re older tech with brushed motors and are outperformed by newer models.
https://toolguyd.com/dewalt-cordless-corded-vac-best-field-pros-dcv581h/
It’s a great model if you want battery and AC functionality, but it can’t match up with modern brushless models when performance is the top priority.
Brad
Seems a little strange that Ridgid goes to the trouble to make these toolbox form factor vacuums, but doesn’t make them automatically stackable with their modular systems. And those that can stack require an adapter.
mikedt
HF sells a compact 2gallon dual powered vacuum for $90.
Mac
The cords really do kill portability though. A corded adapter plate for the battery mount would be a cool option for many tools needing occasional long runtimes, but even a retractable cord eats up space or grows the form factor. AC shopvacs are bigger and cheaper if the first part doesn’t matter.
Greg
Dewalt honestly has dropped the ball the on the Flexvolt line. Other than the 12″ dual compound sliding miter saw nothing else has seen 120v via two Flexvolt batteries in 60v mode or a 120v adapter. There’s no reason they could have made most of the tools like this at this point. A shop vac would have been the next logical tool for this setup.
Chris I
I picked up that DeWalt vac recently. Such a handy little thing, I just zip around the whole house now with no cord. My wife is irritated with how much I’m vacuuming lately.
There’s no winning.
xu lu
Which model? Thank you.
Chris I
dcv501hb
John E
Someone said it’s noisy. I’m done with screeching or whining vacs when there are quieter options.
Any thoughts?
Chris I
How old are you? Old people tend to not like noise at all. It’s not silent or quiet, but not as loud as my 10gal shop vac. I would argue it’s no louder than the Dyson v10 we also have, and certainly quieter than our Dyson floor corded vacuum. Def quieter than my FlexVolt leaf blower!!!
For the few minutes it runs, it makes noise but nothing extreme I don’t think. It’s kind of hard to verbalize or explain the noise of something.
Plain+grainy
I have the Metabo HPT vac. It also has 3 suction levels to save the battery! Now I have to figure out if Milwaukee’s air tip kits will fit.
Skylar
I know we’re all thinking the same thing here… These deals really suck!
But really- The Ridgid one is fantastic. That’s less than I paid for mine when I bought my house almost 6 years ago.
Matthew
Wondering if someone here could suggest a better vacuum for my situation:
I have a small woodshoop in the back of a 1 car garage centered around my Sawstop CTS. I’m currently using the 14 gal Ridgid as dust collection because it’s powerful (for a shop vac) and its 2.5″ port matches the saw’s. However, it’s a large vacuum and I’d love to replace it with something smaller without sacrificing power or hose diameter.
I know a proper dust collection system would be better, but I really don’t have the space, and the garage has 7 foot ceilings so I can’t go ceiling mounted either.
I saw the Fein Turbo deal recently and almost pulled the trigger, but it has a smaller hose diameter. I know they make adapters, but I was worried that would negatively impact CFM, which shop vacs already struggle with compared to dust collectors.
Is there any product out there that 1) is comparable in power to the Ridgid 2) works well with a 2.5″ connection and 3) is compact?
Stuart
What’s your budget?
I’m a fan of portable dust extractor vacuums. The Fein with another hose would be my go-to, whether ideal or not, due to its reputation and price point. I’ve used it before 80% for cleanup and 20% on-tool dust collection since I already had a separate dust extractor vac.
I asked about budget because I’m a huge fan of Festool’s vacs, but there are more affordable options as well.
Matthew
Budget isn’t the biggest factor, although Festool is probably at the limit. Even if I need to save for a year or wait for a good deal, I can do that. Space is the most limiting thing so I place a huge premium on that.
Would love to hear your opinion on which Festool model and also what the more affordable options are.
For what it’s worth, the Ridgid vac works surprisingly well, especially for cuts where I can keep the blade guard on. My main issue is size, and secondary issue is noise.
mikedt
check out grizzly.com and look at “wall mount dust collector” $200-500.
Matthew
Thanks! I took a look and some of those models seem like I could probably find space for them. One of the things I like about the shop vac is I’ve built storage for it into my saw’s workbench, so I’d have to figure out how I’m going to route the hoses and all that for a wall mount. Should be doable.
I’ve read that those big dust collectors don’t really like being restricted down to a 2.5″ port from their 4″ hose. Do you have any experience with that?
Lyle
The Milwaukee Air-Tip products are awesome. I have several. The most useful one is the $29 deal that is in the far right of the picture. It has like 4 different thin clear tubes that fit in the end of a nozzle. This is great for sucking lint form a dryer or for behind or underneath things.
Chaz
Thanks for the heads up. Those Milwaukee Air Tips look like they will really handy.
JamesR
Stuart,
Any deals you’ve seen on a good 12-gal shop vac? Its kind of the Goldilocks size for my shop…not so big I dread moving it around, but big enough that I’m not emptying the bag/chamber all the time. I’ve had my eye on the Dewalt Stealthsonic 12G because of some good reviews I’ve read. However, it never seems to go on sale.
John E
The DeWalt StealthSonic is usually $139 at Lowe’s. I have seen it on sale there for $119 -once. At either price it is a great vac. It’s the quietest vac I’ve ever used and that includes Fein, Festool and the quietest Ridgid I’ve owned of maybe half a dozen. Whisper quiet is pretty close to describing it. You’ll think it’s not working right until you put your hand over the port and it tries to suck your arm in.
It needs a better hose than the one it ships with. I had a 13′ 1 7/8 anti-static laying around so I threw that on it. Also, the included dust bag is junk. Get the 10-14 gallon yellow Craftsman or Shop Vac bags from Lowe’s. You can upgrade to a HEPA filter but that will run $50.
It’s not my favorite vac ever, but it’s definitely a keeper.
There is supposed to be a 10 gallon version of the StealthSonic somewhere but I haven’t seen it. It has the same footprint though.
A two vac combination for me would be this: This DeWalt for general cleanup and a compact tool activated dedicated (HEPA?) dust extractor. Maybe add a small cordless 18V for whatever battery platform you prefer.
Hope that helps.
Stuart
I’ll keep my eyes open.
Most deals are on the 16 gallon size, but I’ve seen some smaller ones. We might see a limited time deal or two over Thanksgiving weekend, it’s hard to say.