Customer Reviews

Milwaukee 8965 10 Gallon 1 Horsepower Blower Wet/Dry Vacuum

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is the VERY BEST vacuum on the market. I went the bagless route and regretted it. This is the same vac that my parents have had since I was a kid (the vac is now over 30 and going strong.)It took me a while to find it and then some time to adjust to the price but I use it for home and automotive. Worth every pennny.

I've used dozens of different "shop" vacuums over the years. When I was apprenticing to tune, repair, refinish and rebuild pianos, we actually used an old Electrolux canister vacuum that once upon a time was obviously very nice and very well made. Here at the lab where I currently work, we have a number of different brands of shop vacs. For a while, there was one old-school metal shop vac that was a favorite, but tools here are usually abused and not well maintained and this vac died, probably after two decades of very hard-duty service. I don't even remember the brand--but it wasn't a Milwaukee. All of our new vacs are plastic and they are junk. They don't have much suction and don't last very long. But, hey, they're cheap, right? So you pay $60 every three years or so, so what? Well, apart from the fact that that is just NOT my "style"--I don't like the disposable mentality and I get attached to my tools--it's actually a false economy. This particular shop vac under review will probably last a couple decades, even with heavy use. And you won't have the hassle of replacing it every few years.

More importantly, however . . . this vac WORKS, and it works WELL. It has very good suction that continues even when the bag or tank gets full. It's a powerful, high quality motor. The tank is metal, the wheels are metal, the base is metal. This thing is well made, and made to last. It's also an attractive red and white styled unit, as you can see from the picture. It's loud, but not as loud as the less expensive shop vacs on the market.

But why THIS particular Milwaukee shop vac? They have a whole line of them, after all. Well, this is where my research paid off. In my opinion, this is the best value for the money. It's not their top of the line, but it's plenty powerful enough and is still a metal tank, high quality unit, not a plastic one. And, IT COMES WITH A HOSE. It may be the ONLY metal Milwaukee shop vac to come with the hose, if I remember correctly. So if you have a few attachments (or buy them) from another 1 1/2 inch ID shop vac, then you don't need to spring for the Milwaukee shop vac "kit" which adds another $200 or so to the price (!). Or, you can get the less expense vac kit with the plastic tools which lacks the hose: VACUUM KIT. Also, this unit is ready as-shipped to handle water. You don't need to add a float assembly or a foam surround. It's already got those. This is not true of some of the other Milwaukee vacuums. Amazon sells the bags (a pack of 5) for a reasonable price, too, by the way: Milwaukee Paper Filter Bags (49-90-0302)

Are there any negatives? Obviously, this is heavier than a plastic shop vac, but I don't count this as a negative since it's still manageable. Other than this? Well, yes, there is one negative. It doesn't "pull" that easily, meaning that if you want to pull it towards you using only the hose, it's harder to do than it should be and any bumps or debris in the way will sometimes actually stop it. Seems like Milwaukee should be able to come up with a better wheel system that would address this issue. But, it's not a big deal. I thought about dropping a star for this, but it's really only a half-star drop, so I rounded up to five stars. And, overall, you're really getting a much better value for your money buying this unit than one of the $50 or $60 run-of-the-mill shop vacs. This works so much better and will last so much longer. Recommended.