What You'll Learn
Skip the Explanation and Go to the VWM510 Winning Garage Vac on Amazon
- 2-Stage Motor for Powerful Suction and Quiet Operation
- Complete Vac Organization with On-Board Hose, Cord and Accessory Storage
- 20-Foot Cord with Cord Storage
- 41-Foot Cleaning Reach with Hoses and Power Cord
- INCLUDED ACCESSORIES: 11' x 1-7/8" Standard Hose, 10' x 1-7/8" Flexible Hose, Remote Control Handle, (2) Extension Wands, Car Nozzle, Floor Brush/Squeegee Nozzle, Round Dust Brush, Crevice Tool, Air and Noise Diffuser, Tool Caddy, Washable Cartridge Filter, Foam Wet Filter and Wall Mount Storage Rack.
What if you want your garage vac be a wet vac, a wall mounted vac, and have wheels? Only one vacuum I’ve found can do all three.
The disconnect is because a WET vac on the WALL would be a disaster. The bucket would be too heavy to take down. I wanted a wall vac that I could occassionally use as a wet vac. The VacMaster I bought has an optional wheel kit. I achieved the holy grail: a wet vac, a wall vac, and it has wheels. Of course, I put it on the FLOOR before using it as a wet vac. Then I WHEEL it where I need the heavy bucket of water to be.
Recently VacMaster upgraded the winner with a new model number. The older one is definitely better. The new one does not have the wheel kit or HEPA. Go for the older model rather than the new one.
The Best Garage Vac with a Wall Mount, a Wet Vac, and Wheels
The VacMaster VWM510 is a wall and wet vacuum that accepts the optional wheel kit. This is the only quality vacuum cleaner I found that has all three. The VacMaster VWMB5080101 is the VWM510 upgrade, but it does not accept the wheel kit (maybe it does, but the wheel kit page doesn’t mention it), and does not have HEPA.
VacMaster makes some really cost-effective, powerful and highly-rated vacuum cleaners. This contest compares the VacMaster models to one another. I scored each contestant on eight features I want in my garage vacuum cleaner. The winner achieved an almost perfect score. With a cost-effective wheel kit add-on, I found the garage vacuum cleaner winner in the VacMaster VWM510. It’s cheap, powerful, and has every feature I want in a garage vacuum.
- 2-Stage Motor for Powerful Suction and Quiet Operation
- Complete Vac Organization with On-Board Hose, Cord and Accessory Storage
- 20-Foot Cord with Cord Storage
- 41-Foot Cleaning Reach with Hoses and Power Cord
- INCLUDED ACCESSORIES: 11' x 1-7/8" Standard Hose, 10' x 1-7/8" Flexible Hose, Remote Control Handle, (2) Extension Wands, Car Nozzle, Floor Brush/Squeegee Nozzle, Round Dust Brush, Crevice Tool, Air and Noise Diffuser, Tool Caddy, Washable Cartridge Filter, Foam Wet Filter and Wall Mount Storage Rack.
VacMaster is a Good Brand
VacMaster has a good reputation. They over Household, Specialty, and “The Best Professional” vacuum lines I thought “the Beast” sounds like it’s their strongest offering. I found out that it is, if you have allergies or you are cleaning construction sites. For the garage, the wall-mount has more features for less money.
My VacMaster Unboxing
What do You Need in a Garage Vac?
I started the search for a new garage vacuum when my Shop Vac bit me in the ankles for the last time. I decided I needed a wall-mounted vacuum cleaner, so I could just carry the hose wherever I wanted to clean. But you can’t leave a wet pickup vac on the wall when cleaning up large spills. The bucket will get very heavy, and you don’t want to pull a heavy, wet bucket off the wall. You want that bucket on the ground, so you can pick it up to throw out the water.
If you need to move the bucket full of water before emptying it, then you want wheels on that bucket. So I came up with an impossible grocery list for my new vacuum. It had to have a wall mount, a wet pickup function, and wheels. Thinking about your own garage situation, you might come to the same conclusion, or you might not.
Runner Up: The Amazing VacuMaid GV50Pro 50 Ft. Hose Garage Vac
The VacuMaid GV50Pro has a long hose, a great warranty, and a wall mount. It does not have wheels, and does not do wet pickup. But, did I mention that this vacuum has a 50 ft. hose? That’s more than double the VacMaster hose, but you give up the wheels and wet pickup to get it. If you want to spend a bit less, you can get the VacuMaid GV30Pro with the 30 ft. hose.
- Includes 50' hose, hanger, caddy, wands, dusting brush, and floor/upholstery tools
- Galvannealed steel and powder-coated for corrosion-resistant lifetime use. 7 gallon dirt capacity.
- Big 5.7" Ametek Lamb motor, up to 75% more life than comparative brands.
- Sealed HEPA-style bag - No messy cans to empty or filters to clean
- This system mounts quickly & easily to the wall eliminating tipping over
- Includes 30' hose & hanger, caddy bag, telescopic wand, dusting brush, floor & crevice tools
- Easy to change 7 gallon 5 layer HEPA style bag - No messy cans to empty or filters to clean.
- 5.1” Ametek Lamb Motor for up to 25% more life than comparative brands.
- Powder-coated steel for corrosion resistant lifetime use. 5 yr residential warranty.
- This system mounts quickly and easily to the wall eliminating tipping over.
The Right Vacuum Features for Your Garage
You also need to decide what’s important from the other features:
- a blower
- a long cord
- a long hose
- cord storage
- hose storage
How I Scored Each Vacuum Cleaner and Its Features for My Garage
First I’ll list what I see as must-have features for my garage vacuum cleaner. Then I’ll show you how I ranked each feature. You can use my ranking scores. Or you can change out your feature rankings to reflect your favorite vacuum features. We’ll add up the vacuum cleaner scores to find the absolute best vacuum cleaner for your garage. Here are my must-have garage vacuum cleaner features.
A Blower Function
Did you know how much easier it is to blow out the garage than it is to vacuum it? Sometimes I blow all of the crud and dust toward the edges and outside. At least the middle of the garage is clean. Then I can vacuum the edges in short order. For this contest, the vacuum cleaner must have a blower function, or it gets eliminated from the competition. Each vacuum gets one point if it has a blower.
Cord Storage
I prefer a retractable cord storage feature, but this feature is rare in garage vacuum cleaners. Retractable cord devices hide the cord up into the belly of the machine, completely out of my way. I’ll happily settle for a rack to wrap the cord around. What I can’t deal with is a vacuum with no cord storage at all. That’s messy, and it’s going to trip someone. To score cord storage:
- no cord storage is a deal-breaker and eliminates the vacuum from the contest
- cord storage gets one point
- retractable cord storage gets two points
Variable Hose Length
A really long vacuum cleaner hose is both the best and worst idea for a garage vacuum cleaner. It’s the best idea because I don’t want to drag the vacuum cleaner motor around with me if I can just carry the hose instead. It’s the worst idea because the longer the hose, the less suction I have. I want the OPTION of a long hose, without forcing a long hose onto every vacuuming situation.
I am not eliminating vacuum cleaners with short hoses. I just need to get an extra long hose in addition to the one that comes with the vacuum cleaner. The good news is that vacuum cleaner hoses come in standard sizes. You can always buy an extender hose. Each vacuum cleaner in this competition gets a hose score as follows:
- short hose means I need to buy an extender: one point
- long hose means I cannot opt for a shorter, higher suction combo, so this gets two points
- two short hoses making a long hose gets three points
A Hose Rack
An unwrapped vacuum hose is a backwards constrictor snake. It unwinds itself to knock stuff off of your workbench and get under your foot just as you take a step. Any hose rack is better than none. If a vacuum cleaner doesn’t come with hose storage, I plan to make my own, or I won’t buy that vacuum. In this competition, the hose storage scores are as follows:
- no hose storage is a negative 1
- hose storage is a 1
A Wall-Mount
In my world, the vacuum’s wall-mount is as important as the long hose. I don’t want to tug the vacuum around if I don’t have to. I want to carry the hose to the area I want to clean. I find that floor-based wheeled vacuum cleaners like to hit me in the ankles. I am not a fan of this action. The thing is, I found some nice vacuum cleaners that do not come with a wall mount. I could build my own, but I probably won’t want to. So I’m subtracting a point for any model that doesn’t come with a wall mount. The wall-mount competition scores work as follows:
- not wall mountable: -1
- wall mount: +1
Wet-Vac
I use the wet-vacuum feature in my current garage vacuum. Any wall mount vacuum that is also a wet vac is somewhat of a contradiction. If you suck water into a wall mounted bucket, you then need to pull that heavy bucket off the wall. That’s a disaster waiting to happen. To use a wet vac function, put the vacuum on the floor, then pick up the water. I want a wet vac, so any vacuum without one gets thrown out of the contest. Wet-Vac scoring includes:
- no wet vac is a deal breaker
- wet vac is +1
Wheels
Why do I need wheels if my garage vacuum will be wall-mounted? Two reasons. First, some jobs need high suction. Long hoses lose suction, so I’ll use a short hose. If I use a short hose, I want to bring the vacuum cleaner to the job. To do that, I need wheels! Second, it’s a wet vac, and water is heavy.
Water weights 9 lb. per gallon. If you were to vacuum up 4 gallons of water, you’d add 36 lb. to the tank. The water weight plus the motor is too much to carry around. You know what will help? Wheels! So I see wheels as a “must-have.” Lack of wheels is a deal-breaker.
Wheel scores are as follows:
- no wheels: deal breaker
- wheels: +1 point
A High Amazon Rating
I love Amazon reviews, but I do watch out for bias. Did you know that it’s impossible to give an “unbiased” review in exchange for a free product? We humans have built-in, unconscious rules about receiving gifts. The rules go deep into our DNA. When we receive something, we have an instant, strong impulse to give something back in return. It’s called “the law of reciprocity.” It helps keep human society together, so it’s a hard rule to break. (More info on reciprocity on Wikipedia.) Amazon no longer allows vendors to give customers free products in exchange for reviews. Some of the older “gift” reviews on Amazon are grandfathered in. They’re still part of the product’s reputation. Sometimes these reviews are labeled. Sometimes you have to figure out if they’re authentic on your own. To find paid reviews, you have to ask some questions.
- Does this review include personal experiences?
- Does this reviewer have any history on Amazon?
- Is the review just a bunch of meaningless adjectives? “It’s great! I love it!”
I like when products have hundreds of reviews. Even if some reviews are fake, they’re a small percentage of the whole. Most of these reviews are authentic. What about negative reviews? What if 500 people like a vacuum cleaner, but 10 say it doesn’t suck? You have to figure what could account for the opposite opinions and experiences. Did the negative reviewers get lemons? Were there shipping issues? Are these customers just angry in general? If 490 people say the product is excellent, and 10 say it isn’t, then something went wrong for those 10 people. There’s a chance that this might go wrong for you too. But it’s not the typical result people have when buying this vacuum cleaner. I’ve evaluated scores of Amazon product reviews. My system has yielded better results for me than Consumer Reports does. I don’t know why, but that magazine just doesn’t give me quality recommendations anymore. But my Amazon system almost always weeds out the bad products. When my system has failed me, I’ve adjusted my formula accordingly. The garage vacuum cleaner scores for the Amazon Ratings include these values:
- 87% or more 4- and 5-star ratings, no red fags, at least 10 reviews per product: +1 point
- 86% or fewer 4- and 5-star ratings, and/or red flags in the reviews, and/or reviews are not credible, and/or 19 or fewer reviews total per product: deal breaker, kick this vacuum out of the competition
Reminder: This Evaluation is for Garage Vacuums
Each vacuum is scored on its garage-y-ness. It might be a great vacuum cleaner, but the score is only for garage features. Low scores don’t mean a bad vacuum cleaner. They mean “not suited for my garage.”
Buy the Best Garage Vac
- 2-Stage Motor for Powerful Suction and Quiet Operation
- Complete Vac Organization with On-Board Hose, Cord and Accessory Storage
- 20-Foot Cord with Cord Storage
- 41-Foot Cleaning Reach with Hoses and Power Cord
- INCLUDED ACCESSORIES: 11' x 1-7/8" Standard Hose, 10' x 1-7/8" Flexible Hose, Remote Control Handle, (2) Extension Wands, Car Nozzle, Floor Brush/Squeegee Nozzle, Round Dust Brush, Crevice Tool, Air and Noise Diffuser, Tool Caddy, Washable Cartridge Filter, Foam Wet Filter and Wall Mount Storage Rack.
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