Can we talk shop vacuums

I had a Rigid "5HP" with an Oneida dust deputy that lasted me for a good while, and is still fine, and served me well for about 12 years so far.  Still have it. Their "quiet" models aren't bad for the money, and are quieter than the "normal" shop vacs.

I replaced the Rigid last year with an Oneida Dust Cobra.  If you want more than a shop vac, but not a full blown dust collector, it's fantastic.  It's expensive compared to a shop vac, but it fit my needs well and I've been very happy with it.  It's HEPA rated, and takes up less floor space than my rigid+cyclone, and pulls about twice as much air through it.  Excellent upgrade for my CNC router, and for the bandsaw, which were my two primary uses for the shop vac.

Otherwise, I would have gone with a Fein Turbo Hepa, because I wanted something quieter, when I'd be running it for a while with the CNC.  

Thanks for the response Mos.  Way cool system.  Something to think about.

I just bought a small 3-gallon Craftsman last year, mainly just use it to vacuum the truck out. This year I broke down and purchased a 1250 CFM (Dust Right from Rockler, it was on sale).I have run a hard duct into a Onieda Dust Deputy and for my use it has been working well. Still have a few machines to hook up.

That 1250 unit is impressive, I was surprised at how quiet it was in the store

Mos, it is quite and works good in my small shop. I have the unit up in the loft hanging on the wall. The power source is on a switched outlet with a piolet switch below, and the unit came with a remote control. I do have to admit it cost more for the duct work though. But my lungs will appreciate it.

Been tired of my noisy R2D2 looking antique SS canister shop vac for awhile, but am to cheap to buy something NICE and quiet.
After reading some online reviews,  bought a Dewalt DXV10P Quiet 10gal Shop vac, when saw Lowes had it on sale for $139 a few months ago.   It's so quiet, forget to turn it off when both fans are keeping my AZ shop comfortable.  Have only owned a couple shop vacs, and performance seems about average for medium sized vac; except for very low noise level. 

No major complaints.  OEM 2"+ plastic hose is really stuff.  Use a smaller hose when attached to my various ROS.  I use it with a Dust Stopper cyclone head on 5gal bucket for my media blast cabinet successfully.   Besides sanding and blast cabinet dust control; only other duty of my shop vac is cleaning the wood/metal chips off the floor.
YMMV

It'd be remiss of me not to bring up a Fe$tool for efficiency, health and Bluetooth remote functionality.

But then again, it'd be foolish of me to think anyone would listen when it comes down to cost.

I need to look into the filter aspect - ran across this video

I have a Ridgid shop vac for major clean up.   But my Festool HEPA extractor gets used for sanding, scroll saw and small tools.  It is quiet and does really suck.

I have a newer Ridgid that replaced an older one. The newer one is a little less noisy, but the more important factors for me were a) budget and b) filtering.

The big thing that lead me to the new Ridgid was their availability of filters and bags. When equipped with both the HEPA filter and bag, they're supposedly OSHA compliant or some such. Regardless, my lungs feel a hell of a lot better, now. (I do use it with a bucket separator, too). 

Would you mind sharing which one you have?  This may be a good Christmas gift for my pups to buy me (they are pretty generous 😊)
  

I think it's the HD1400 - that's the smallest one that'll fit the VF6500 filter/bag kit. 

edit: oh, I just saw the video that you'd posted earlier - it wasn't loading for me before. Yeah, that's the same video that I stumbled across after a day in the shop left my lungs aching. 

Thanks!  Going to look into this.

Do you find the 1400 to have good power?  I see they have a 16 gallon for a but more (but likely too large for my current stand).  This was my first setup, have a larger shopvac on it now 

I had the smaller shop vac previously, so it's was a big step up in suction, but I don't have a frame of reference for more powerful dust extraction. Would I step up to a higher CFM for a few bucks more? Sure. 

Will have to go check what I have and dimensions as I do like my rolling stand.  Thank you for the insights!

I spent some time yesterday looking into what was going on with my old Craftsman Shop Vac that was causing the motor speed to fluctuate.  At first I thought possibly a bearing was about to seize but, after spending some more time exploring, I realized that the hose just as it comes out of the vac was collapsing just enough to be the cause.  In an effort to fix it, I heated it up with the heat gun and then sprayed with some cold water to set it in a straight shape again.  Fixed it!  I feel kind of dumb starting this thread now but, in the posts that you all made, I learned about the filter bags which is something I have never tried.  I might have to give that a try.  I also learned about the Dust Cobra which is also on my list of things to look into.  Cool.  Nice bunch of folks on here.  Thanks to all for your input.  

BB1,  I like the idea of stacking your cyclone over the vac.  Small footprint for the whole thing.  Mine is not stacked and takes up quite a bit of space.  Your picture of that system has got me thinking...   : )

I'm sure that a full cart is a little more sturdy, but I found a quick and dirty, using the vacuum attachment points on the casters, that's effective -

It sways a little bit when jostling it around, but even without any PVC cement, there's no real concern about anything coming undone or failing.  

That looks good Will.  I like the smaller footprint.  Hmmm...