Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Recently, I had a perfect opportunity to use this vacuum system along-side two other hepa-vac systems: the Festool CT26, a RIGID 16 gallon with hepa filters and bags, plus this DeWalt. The job was at my friend's farm, which he just bought as a "distressed" property. Specifically, we had to clean the old chicken coop (with years of dried chicken poop) and clean another barn for his new tractor. Obviously for jobs like these, good dust collection and HEPA filters are necessary, along with face-masks and protective clothing. Yeah, it was gross. I was feeling somewhat queasy just standing in the coop. Then his neighbor delivered some fresh manure for his garden! I nearly puked in my face-mask. I'll cut right to the chase... All three vacuums worked well, including this one. The festool was a little smaller than the other two, but we found it had equivalent suction (CFM) and was generally easier to use. Festool has the best cord and hose management of these three units. This DeWalt and the RIGID 16 gallon are easier to maneuver because of the tall-handle. At least, it seemed that way when you don't want to bend down and get any closer than necessary to a floor encrusted with avian excrement. Festool was the quietest, Rigid being a close second. This DeWalt was the loudest, but not by much. After two full days of work, I can say all three vacs worked great, but it is worth noting that the Rigid costs substantially less than either the Festool or this DeWalt. So, if DeWalt was trying to compete with Festool for performance, it did OK with this model, but DeWalt failed in the quality-vs-price category. This is nearly as expensive as the German-made Festool, but this one is made in China, is louder, bulkier. Even the bags and filters are expensive. So if DeWalt intends to compete, they either have to raise the quality or lower the price. That doesn't mean this is a bad tool... it's good. It just has no advantage in quality or value. Meanwhile, the relatively cheap RIGID did everything the other two vacs did for dirty work like this. It is not quite as quiet as the Festool, but not nearly as expensive... less than HALF the price of the Dewalt, a THIRD the price of Festool. The RIGID vac does not come with auto-on /off, clever hose-management or a minimal footprint. But for dirty jobs like this, who cares? Also worth noting, the RIGID vac came with several accessory attachments including a crevice tool, water pickup nozzle and a brush. Tips: For a big nasty mess (like a chicken coop or bug-infested barn) sweep the floor at least twice using "sweeping compound". If you haven't tried sweeping compound yet, I highly recommend it. Basically, it's saw-dust and chips with some sticky oil mixed in. You spread the compound all over the floor, then sweep it back up. The sticky sawdust and wood chips pick up tiny particles that brooms otherwise miss, while keeping dust to a minimum. That's the main thing with chicken poop... controlling dust. If you must also provide some measure of sanitation, you can hose the floor down with water and bleach, which is what we did in the chicken coop full of chicken poop. After that, go in with the wet-dry shop vac of your choice. Even with coveralls and full face protection and a change of footwear, I still felt like I needed two showers and a hose-down to thoroughly delouse after this job. It's also a good idea to wet-wipe the vacuum, hoses and electrical cords afterwards too. Two capfuls of household bleach in a bucket of water is a good solution. Of course you wear rubber gloves for this work! This was a BIG job, ...a two-day-long nasty, stinky, disgusting, repugnant, unsanitary, disease-ridden, puke-in-your-dust-mask causing job. And that's a great test for vacuums! All three vacs performed well and so similarly, one wonders why anyone would pay more for a fancy tool. Well, here's why... If you want value... then get a regular shop-vac like the RIGID or another popular cheap brand your local store sells. If you want German engineering and convenience-features (hose management, auto-on/off) then buy genuine German stuff like Mafell, Fein or Festool. But None of us can figure out what DeWalt is thinking with this imported vacuum. It has nearly the price of a fancy teutonic tool, but not the quality or features. Sure... it sucks dirt and filters dust, but no better than any other important vac. Do they just want the extra profit without delivering the quality? Good luck... I like DeWalt tools, but cannot support that kind of price gouging. My "brand-loyalty" stops when you intentionally overprice a simple thing like a shop-vac. There is no precision engineering here, no new exclusive feature, not even any esthetic design features... it's just a plastic canister with a motor, a bag, a filter and some wheels. It sucks dirt, that's all. Meanwhile, the cheap shop vac we used (in this case a RIGID 16 gallon) worked ALL DAY, for TWO DAYS and actually picked up more nasty stuff than the other two, simply because it was bigger, so we did not have to change bags so often. BTW, the 16 gallon RIGID filters are less expensive and easier to find too. So... make your choice based on your needs. If you are just using a vac for cleaning, and don't need auto-on/off & super compact portability, hose-management of Mafell or Festool, then you can do the job just as well with a 160-dollar home-store vac. If you need all the features and are going to spend big bucks anyway, you might as well get German quality from one of the premium brands like Mafell, Fein or Festool. Although I love all the Dewalt I own and have used, this is one of the worst examples of price gouging I've seen. It's not a bad vacuum, just way over-priced for it's class. It does not have the convenient features of Mafell & Festool, nor the quality of those or Fein. Neither of these vacs suck dirt any better than a cheap shop vac. My rating of TWO stars is reasoned as follows: When a tool does what it is supposed to do at a reasonable price, I consider that a four-star product. That's plenty good enough for me in most situations. When a product has extra features that make it more convenient or less expensive to use, (cheap accessories like bags and filters or lower operating costs because of efficient motors for instance) then I would add a star to whatever quality-rating the tool normally deserves. But when a tool as dirt-simple as a shop vac merely does its job, has no extra features, is of normal mediocre imported quality AND is EXPENSIVE... I have to deduct stars. This vacuum was not defective in any way. It just is not worth the exorbitant price. Hence, the two-star rating. I hope that helps you make an informed choice for your needs.