A shop vac is an important ingredient of every workshop, especially for woodworking. Dust collection not only keeps your workshop clean, it is also good for your health. During my research, I quickly settled upon the Bosch AdvancedVac 20, for a simple reason: it is the cheapest vac with an anti-static hose that I could find. Other contenders in a similar price range (from Kärcher, Nifisk, Makita, etc.) all required the purchase of an extra antistatic hose, whereas I could get the green Bosch for a bit above €100.
The key features are:
- Can be used with and without dust bags
- Can vacuum fluids
- Integrated power outlet for power tools, with automatic start when the connected tool is engaged
- Comes with tube and accessories to be used as “normal” vacuum cleaner, including holders for most of these and the tube
So far I’m quite happy with it. I’ve been using it with my Makita track saw and the Makita AWS adapter, which works like a charm, and there’s barely any dust. I also use it for cleaning the floors during the renovation of my new house, and it does a decent job there, too. The main downsides that I’ve identified so far are:
- It is quite loud, it doesn’t hurt to wear ear protection (which you should already be doing when using it with power tools, but probably didn’t plan on doing for vacuuming a room or your car).
- The chord is a bit short.
- There is no storage for the wet floor nozzle and no decent storage for the chord, which apparently you are expected to fold into a loop and stick under the handle or hang from one of the hooks for the hose.
- When used without dust bags, fine dust will clog up the filter and severely reduce suction. More expensive vacuum cleaners often have an automatic cleaning function (which shakes the filter), here you’ll have to do it yourself.
Nevertheless, I think this shop vac is a good deal for the price and a decent tool for DIY use (for which the green Bosch range is intended). For stationary use as dust collection system in a wood shop, you were probably intending to get another solution (including a dust cyclone) anyway.
