DEWALT 20V MAX Wet/Dry Vacuum, Cordless and Corded, Versatile Power Source, Portable Shop Vacuum, Tool Only (DCV581H)

I just recently took on a job driving a school bus and if you are a school bus driver, you understand how much of a pain in the you know what it is to sweep in between the seats to get the dirt out and all other kinds of things that children drop on the floor of the bus. I bought this vacuum because I have already invested into the DeWalt 20V Max tool line and have a few of those batteries around to run my tools plus I needed a vacuum that would be much stronger than your usual big box brand store type dust buster. This vacuum does fit the bill and does the job nicely. It has strong suction for a battery powered vacuum which supprised me, even to the point where it is almost as strong as my 5 gal shop vac that I have in my work shop. It comes with on board tools that you would most commonly use on a shop vac and this vac with the cord option weighs in at just over 9 pounds.The only cons that I am finding with this vacuum which are not many...- It does not come with any extension wands to allow you to reach into that hard to reach areas like what a school bus would have but you can get generic extensions at your local Lowes or Home Depot.- On a 5Ah 20v Max battery, it will run about 20 minutes only. BUT will run off a 120V power inverter that is capable of supplying over 300W. (If you have the corded option with this vacuum)- Lastly, This vacuum from what I have researched is not packaged with a battery and a charger if you want to use it in the battery mode. It will require you to purchase a battery and a charger seperatly wich can be an additional $150.00 or more, depending on the size battery you get.I have this vacuum now for some time and it continues to work flawlessly! I have purchased the 60V Flex Volt Batteries to use on not only this vacuum even though it will only draw 20V. BUT IT IS 20V at 9Ah, but other DeWalt tools that I have and this vac will run for a VERY LONG TIME before needing to charge the battery. I am finding that when I need to do small vacuum jobs around my house, I pass up my dust buster that I have and use this vacuum.

I do HVAC for a living, so in winter months I spend about 5 to 8 hours a day doing routine maintenance on Furnaces and Boilers. Part of the job is vacuuming out the equipment. I had a Stinger Vacuum for the job for years. But I always needed to carry around a 20 foot extension cord because there's not always an outlet within 7 feet of the equipment. This vacuum is a game changer. After I bought one most of my work mates bought one as well. I purchased with (2) 5 amp hour batteries. One battery easily gets me through one day, usually 2 or more days. I'd guess probably around an hour or so use on one 5 amp hour battery.I like that the crevice tool stores in the handle. I like being about to ug it in to conserve battery when I can.The suction power, even while plugged in, doesn't match the Stinger I had. It's good enough for the job however, to get rust out of boilers, clean out burners, clear cobwebs and dirt and dust from blower motor compartments. It works great in my RV and my truck while cleaning. The filter is easy as pie to remove and clean, and is significantly more durable than the bag style filter that was on the Stinger.I've had this vac for nearly 2 years with daily use and it does the job. I would absolutely buy it again and I will when this one buys the farm.One thing, it would be epic if it charged the battery while plugged in but I still love the thing.

Works great , just as expected from Dewalt.Low noise level decent power. Very light weight and portable.

I've owned this vacuum for a year and a half now, and I've used it constantly over that time. It's very convenient for small jobs where you don't want to drag out the big shop vac. One reviewer said it can "suck a golf ball through a water hose", but I'm here to tell you, that is nowhere close to being true. This vacuum is really not very powerful even compared to its competition such as the Milwaukee 0880-20 18-Volt Cordless Wet/Dry Vacuum, but that said, it is powerful enough for every job I've used it for. This includes dry applications - which I've mostly used it for - and wet applications. I've used it to remove water from a toilet tank for example when replacing a toilet and a couple of other wet applications. The Milwaukee is definitely more powerful, and I knew that when I purchased this Dewalt because I had used both, but the DeWalt is certainly sufficient.However, this DeWalt vacuum has a few other advantages over the Milwaukee:* The DeWalt, while not quiet by any means, is MUCH quieter than the Milwaukee. The Milwaukee makes a loud high-pitched screaming sound - so loud I wouldn't use it for an extended period without ear protection. The DeWalt is not as loud and not nearly as annoying.* The DeWalt has a cord, whereas the Milwaukee does not. So if you run out of battery, you can keep going if you have access to an outlet. That was a major plus for me.* The DeWalt is somewhat smaller, and generally more rounded. It's just a bit easier to carry around and use than the big, square, sort of toolbox-looking Milwaukee vac.* I already had an investment in DeWalt 20v batteries and chargers, so that was a motivator as well.Now, for the reason why I didn't give it 5 stars: Recently it stopped working on the battery. It still worked on the cord, but it would not power up on the battery. I have several DeWalt 20v batteries, so I tried others to ensure it wasn't just the battery, and sure enough, it was the vacuum. I've read a couple of other reviews with the same issue - it appears the battery connector goes bad. This sort of happened slowly - at first I noticed when running on the battery the motor would slow down and speed up while I was using it - sort of like it was running out of battery power, but this would happen when the battery (a 3ah model) was fully charged. Then, after a few weeks it finally stopped running on the battery completely.One big plus for DeWalt is that this vacuum has a 3-year warranty, so I took it to the DeWalt factory service center about 15 miles from me. At first the guy at the counter tried to blame my battery even after I told him I tested it and it wasn't the battery causing it. So - I didn't say a word and just pulled a second battery out of my coat pocket, plugged it in and flipped the switch... nothing. He smiled at me sheepishly and said, I guess it's not the battery. He also tried to tell me that it was only a one-year warranty, which was also wrong, so I told him no, it's 3 years... Look it up if you don't believe me. (You would think a guy working in a DeWalt Service Center would know that???). So he did and found that it was indeed a three-year warranty. He then took my vac and said it will be about a week and we will ship it back to you when it's fixed.10 days later I didn't have a vac in my possession, so I called them. They looked it up and said "yes, we'll probably get a chance to look at that in a couple of weeks". I said hey, the guy at the counter said I would have it back in ONE week. I got the "who told you that?" routine. Finally he said we'll look at it tomorrow and hung up. Later that day I got a voice mail, saying please call us about your vacuum. I called and they said, well, we looked at it, and the part you need is back-ordered from the factory for several MONTHS! I thought great, that's nice. Then, before I had a chance to say anything he said: "So we're going to give you a brand new vacuum; it will be ready this afternoon if you want to come and pick it up." Wow! that's nice!So bottom line as of today I have a brand new one, with new accessories, filter and everything, all new in an unopened box. So I have a mixed review of the warranty service. The first guy at the counter was fairly clueless and didn't seem to care much, and gave me a run-around about the warranty, but in the end, they gave me a brand new one, so you can't beat that.I have to say, I own probably a dozen or more DeWalt tools, both corded and cordless, everything from routers, to drill/drivers and hammer drills, circular saws, and miter saws, and on and on. This is the FIRST DeWalt tool I've ever owned that I had a problem with. So I'm giving them the benefit of the doubt on this one.I do like this little vac!