DeWALT 18 V Cordless 1/2 Gallon Wet/Dry Portable Vacuum
The DeWALT 18 Volt Vacuum is a great portable vacuum with a permanent utility nozzle, extendable hose and the 18 volt battery common to the 18 volt line of DeWALT tools.
Ease of Use/Performance: 21/25
Convenience/Storage 24/25
Appearance/Design 22/25
How much I enjoy 23/25
Total: 90/100
The DeWALT 18 volt 1/2 Gallon Portable Vacuum is the perfect shop vac for small jobs and makes a great house vac for quick cleanups. I have been reviewing some small hand held vacs, still another to come, and have been impressed with the current portable vacuums from several companies.
The DeWALT vac I received for reviewing makes a fantastic small vacuum for around the house and in the shop, on the job and at the work site for a true all around vacuum. The portable vacuum uses the 18 volt batteries common to the 18 volt line of cordless tools of DeWALT and snaps into place quickly.
The DeWALT Vac comes with the vacuum, battery, charger and instructions but is also available without the battery and charger if you already have them from other 18 volt tools by DeWALT. The charger will charge the battery in an hour and has a built in automatic battery Tune-Up Mode to extend the battery life.
The vacuum has a simple design with a motor that uses the detachable battery pack toward the front under the permanent nozzle that snaps into place. The power button is directly below the handle for an easy and quick on off motion you can perform with the hand carrying the tool.
This one feature makes perfect sense and makes ease of use while carrying around the house or on the job site a dream, with one quick motion you can turn the vacuum on or off. The motor is in the main area right above the dust collection tank and the hose enters the tank with plenty of room for hair and other stuff to enter without clogging.
The motor sits right on top of the filter that keeps the finer particles out of it using a Hepa filter assembly that twists in place. Underneath the Hepa filter is a sponge disc that keeps the smallest particles out of the motor while the bottom of the dirt tank snaps on and off easily.
The vacuum is easy to use with either a single hand or both if you pull the hose out to use it instead of the permanent nozzle to get in and around objects. The hose is your common 1 1/4 inch size so attachments from other vacuums or new ones you purchase are easy to find and use.
The DeWALT 18 V Vacuum allows you to use the permanent nozzle to pickup from floors and flat surfaces like tops of benches or work pieces. The nozzle is small enough and the vacuum is light enough to be able to use one hand to vacuum up around equipment like radial arm saws easily.
The rubber hose can quickly be detached from the front nozzle and used to get into harder places with attachments that fit the common hose size. You can easily purchase new attachments that readily fit the DeWALT vacuum, if you're like me you keep those old attachments just for this kind of use.
If the other end of the hose clogs you can remove the base end for cleaning out the hose or connection where it goes into the body. Being able to completely remove the hose for cleaning makes the vacuum handy and convenient if the hose or end does get clogged with debris.
The DeWALT vac works very well for those quick pickups and with the use of a straight hose piece using the vac around the house to pick up dust and those nefarious dust bunnies is easy. The DeWALT vac makes picking up and vacuuming around the house for those quick pickups a simple task instead of a dreaded choir.
Once you have cleaned and gotten rid of the hopping little clumps of hair emptying the vacuum is simple by unclamping the end clamp and letting the bottom of the vacuum swing open. The bottom comes off completely to make emptying the dirt tank easy, once the tank is off it is also easy to clean off the filter.
I simply open the bottom over a trash can which is easy to do with two hands by holding the handle and popping off the bottom. Once you empty and tap out the bottom and set it aside simply twist off the filter that holds on with three tabs and twists about a quarter inch to lock into place.
The filter can just be brushed off or knocked to get out the dirt as well as rinse the filter to clean off the remaining dust. You can also rinse off the foam filter if it is dusty and replacing all the filters and bottom is quick, just make sure the filters are dry.
If your picking up wet stuff it works just as well but you should allow the insides to dry after use before using it on dry stuff. I had no problem picking up a spill here and there as well as some stuff like wet coffee grounds and more.
The vacuum is easy to use and clean out, it makes a great shop vacuum or for use around the house for quick clean ups as well as those jobs like picking up pet hair from floors and furniture. I have been using the DeWALT Vacuum for more than a month and am pretty impressed with the power and how easily it picks up piles of wood shavings and saw dust.
The vacuum is easy to use and makes a perfect shop vac or household quick pickup vacuum that is also easy to clean out after the work is done. I highly recommend the DeWALT 18 V 1/2 Gallon Wet/Dry Portable Vacuum for a great portable vacuum that works well with plenty of power.