Customer Reviews

Porter-Cable 7812 10-Gallon 1-1/2-Horsepower Tool-Start Wet/Dry Vacuum

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I purchased the Fein 9-55-13 Turbo II last year and it kind of found a new home with a family member. Thought I would give the new Porter Cable 7812 a try. I was not disappointed at all with the Fein but just like trying new items. The 7812 has been a pleasant surprise so far. Like the on board storage brackets for the accessories and the auto shut-off feature that it has for water pick-up. The Fein has a little nicer hose and longer power cord. Both units have the same hose size. You should purchase the accessory kit and save your self some trouble finding attachments to fit if you need them. Both units have the on board outlet for auto-start while using a power tool. Porter Cable could do a nicer job with advertising its features especially on the Internet. Even a call to Porter Cable was not what one would expect. The literature I received over the fax was a brief one pager. The manual also could be a little better. Although its nice that they included an actual parts break down of the unit. You don't see that to much anymore. In addition to the paper bag that traps most of the dirt they have a car like pleated filter that is accessible from the top lid. Also there is a foam final filter on the topside of the unit. To help in cleaning of the pleated filter, a flip down lever is located on one side that when pulled will shake some of the dust build up off the bottom of the filter. Don't know how effective this will be in actual working conditions with a lot of dust build up. The best method is to remove the filter and wash it out and keep the bag changed. If you don't keep the air moving, you're not going to pick up much dust and dirt. Box has Made In Italy on the side. Between the Fein and Porter Cable I prefer the Porter Cable 7812. It's a nice well built unit.

I was looking for a new shop vac to replace my 15 y/o
Sears Shopvac and save my hearing. Having purchased and used several different house vacuums over the years, severe dust allergies required me to purchase a Nilfisk HEPA vacuum for house. After using this I realized how much fine dust < 1 micron leaves the exhaust in my Shopvac. My choices for vacuum were narrowed down to Fein and P-Cable. It is easy to find Fein Vacuums in local woodstores. Finding information on Porter Cable is very hard. I ended up purchasing PC based on reviews here. I liked features of Porter cable more as it was designed for drywall vacuuming. Fein required extra filters and brackets for fine dust. I still cannot find data on how fine filtration is on Porter's unit. It appears excellent as it comes.
I agree with other reviewer that accessory tools are essential
It can clean any car, boat, shop or garage mess. Unit is very quiet. I wish it had a place to wrap electrical cord when stored.
Hose appears narrow caliber and flimsy for quality of vacuum.
It wheels easily and doesn't seem to tip over easily at all.
The plastic casing is well made and very durable.
Overall I am very impressed.

I purchased this vacuum after reading the reviews here on Amazon and I agree with most of the things said in those reviews. I have used this tool a lot in the last 6 months and there are a few things I feel will help others decide if this is the tool for them. It is my opinion that although this is a nice tool that performs very well it is primarily suited to be used in conjunction with a power tool as a dust collector or other applications that do not involve large volume intake. Big debris will not go through the small hose and sucking lots of debris will fill the bags up fast and the bags are expensive. You can use it without bags but this will cause the relatively small fine particle filter to load up with dirt rapidly which will at best make it necessary maintain it on a regular interval and will perhaps shorten its life. I use a large shopvac style vacuum with a .4 micron filter element for heavy clean-up on the job. Most shopvac style machines allow you to hook the hose to the discharge side and use it as a blower; this is not possible with the 7812. It is also worth noting that I accidentally sucked up a small amount of spilled Diet Coke (less than an ounce) and the result was a severely ruptured dustbag. Regarding the criticism for the lack of adequate cord and hose storage, I solved that with a 12 inch long bungi cord. I have used this machine in conjunctiion with random orbit sanders, belt sanders, a table saw, chop saws, a compound miter saw, and various drilling operations and it really helps to reduce the dust associated with these tools. I have used rubber Fernco drainage fittings to adapt the hose to the various sized tool discharge pipes and have adapted to tools that have no dust collection by rigging tools up using duct tape and scrounged stuff. This tool helps me to keep a lot of the dust I make from messing up my jobsites; I start the sander, the vacuum turns on, I stop the sander and after a few seconds the vacuum turns off, very little dust escapes. For what it is worth, this vacuum is very very similar to the ones sold by Festool that cost a whole lot more, furthermore , I have been told by a guy who is in a position to know these things that they are made in the same factory as the Festool vacuums but I am not sure if this is so.

Purchased vacuum for use with the PC drywall sander. The sander works great, and in combination with the vacuum, I finished drywall with the door to the room open. It's not particularly loud, and the auto-on feature (accessory plugs into vacuum, vacuum plugs into wall) when you turn on the accessory tool is great. I used it on a chop saw as well as the drywall sander for renovation of two rooms in an occupied house. The bags hold plenty and the secondary filter (like a large lawn mower air filter) keeps everything out of the air. Didn't like the cheap-ish hose, and it could use an adapter that fits std vacuum accessories. Watch power usage: add amps of vacuum and your accessory tool.

I'm glad I replaced my $99 Craftsman "6.0 peak horsepower" shop vac with this ($230 on sale) vac. The Porter Cable 7812 is much quieter, much less clumsy to wheel around, stores in half the space, has a filter-clearing gizmo, and other nice features. I replaced the flimsy 1-1/4 inch ID hose with a commercial grade 1-1/2" hose, and made adapters to fit standard 2" ID nozzles. The suction is good for most shop clean-up tasks, but noticeably less than the crazed suction power of the Craftsman 6HP.

Size: It is NOT 23-1/2" high as stated in the specs. It is 20-3/4" high. Width is 14-1/2". Length is about 20" plus at least 8" for protruding hose.

Suction: This unit is 9.0 amps versus 11.4 amps for my Craftsman "6.0 peak horsepower" vac. (Don't compare the stated 1.5 horsepower of this unit with the grossly inflated "Peak Horsepower" claimed by other shop vacs.) I'd say the suction and air volume are at least 25% less on the Porter Cable, but adequate for most tasks. The filter clearing gizmo helps maintain suction. Maybe it's nice that your loose fitting sweatshirt is not suddenly pulled 9" up the vacuum hose. On the other hand, when I am using a large nozzle to vacuum sawdust off my driveway, it takes just a bit longer.

Noise: It's not crazy quiet, but it's much quieter than my Craftsman 6HP shop vac. It's noisier than my (pretty quiet) Kenmore indoor canister vac, but it's not a grating sound and you won't feel like wearing ear protection.

Bags & Filters: I can't see spending $100 a year for bags (over $4 each) so I use the filter only. A filter cleaning gizmo dislodges crud when you pull a tab on the outside of the vac. Also, the top-mounted flat filter is easier to remove and clean than the cylindrical filters on most shop vacs. Other vacs don't get de-clogged till they've lost 80% of their suction because it's too much mess and hassle. <<Nov-7-2010 update: After 3 years, the original filter still works fine.>>

Hose Replacement & Tools: The flimsy 1-1/4" ID hose provided is perfect for hooking to your belt sander or other hand-held power tools. A larger commercial grade hose is better for vacuuming floors, etc. Less air resistance. Less insult to your manhood. You'll need to track it down (get it with swivel cuffs), find or make adapters, and work out misc issues. (I used 1-1/2" ID hose. 20% more diameter means 44% better throughput. 1-1/2" PVC couplings (from the plumbing or electrical aisle) fit nicely. Some rubbery PVC tape from the plumbing dept will pad out the couplings to fit standard large (2" ID) shop vac tools available at Home Depot. 1-1/2" female threaded PVC couplings fit the 1-1/2" swivel cuffs nicely.)

Hose Diameter Confusion: If you are putting together a 3rd party hose & tool solution, beware that advertised info on diameters of hoses and adapters is often absent or misleading. This unit comes with 1-1/4" ID (Inside diameter) hose. The OD (outside diameter) is 1.56". The tapered cuff is about 1.39" at the midpoint. For so-called 2-1/2 inch hose that is standard for larger shop vacs, the inside diameter is 2" and tapered interconnects are about 2.275" at the midpoint. For 1-1/2" ID hose, the OD is 1.91" and the tapered cuffs are about 1.79" at the midpoint.

Power Tool Outlet - Trigger: Seems nicely designed. The owner's manual has loads of electrical precaution boilerplate but avoids the one thing you'd like to know: How many amps can you draw from the tool-trigger outlet? Theoretically, 15 amps minus 9 amps consumed by the vacuum = 6 amps. You might get away with more, but I don't think you'll be using this outlet with your table saw.

Transport: Very easy to wheel around and carry. 7" rear wheels with small front swivel-casters are the perfect design. Easily carried with top handle as the vac is only 14-1/2" wide. You'll suddenly realize how much you hate your traditional shop vac with the 4 protruding swivel-casters.

Other: The beefy 22.5 foot cord is water resistant 3x14ga. with 3 solid prongs. This vac feels like quality. The head is assembled with stainless steel screws, for example.

This vacuum has picked up everything that I needed it to. Porter Cable even allows the use of bags to collect all the dust, so you don't have a mess in emptying the full vacuum. You don't need to use the bags if you have a lot of clean up. The built in pleated air filter catches all the dust, and the outside cleaning tool allows easy cleaning of the filter without opening the vacuum. The on board storage brackets for the accessories and the auto shut-off feature for water pick-up are also great. The tool power feature, is great. When used with the power outlet for tools, the vacuum only turns on when the tool is running and turns it off after 15 sec when you turn off the tool The purchase of the accessory kit will save you trouble finding attachments. The literature and manual also could be a little better. Unit has been running great for about six months in my shop almost every day. No problems.

UPDATE. This vacuum is still running great as of July 2010. No problems except the small foam seal around where the hose enters the body of the vacuum broke. Porter Cable sent out a new one within five days. When our house vacuum broke in 2005, my wife used this every week to vacuum the house until 2009 when she finally let me (I offered many times) to buy her another vacuum after much pressure to get it back in my shop.

I have been using this vacuum for over a month now building custom cabinets in basements. I agree with most of the other comments regarding the nice features-especially the tool trigger outlet.

With the vac hooked up to my table saw, circular saw or router table, dust is held to a manageable level. No more choking on plywood dust! While the vac won't catch all the dust (don't expect to work in a finished area and not get dust anywhere in the room)it keeps the air a lot clearer. Also makes clean-up at the end of the day a breeze.

My only complaints are the lame single hook for the cord and the thin diameter of the vacuum hose--don't plan to pick up small scraps or longer nails/screws.

This is the quietest shop vac I have ever used. I like the power plug that allows me to run my sander or table saw and continues to suck for 15 seconds after turning off the tool. On the down side the hose is on the small side. A larger dia. hose would have been nice for sucking up debris larger than saw dust. Ten gallons is a good size when you are working in a tool cramped garage. Storing the hose is a weak point since it's compact size allows the vac to be stored under my workbench but where do you put the hose. All in all this vac does what I wanted it to do.

This vacuum cannot be beat for easy clean-up of drywall and other fine particulates. I bought for my husband after I got tired of tripping over a system he rigged up with a shop vac, a bucket of water and some hoses. He was convinced that no vacuum was worth $265 until he tried it. It is now a permanent fixture on every project. I recommend buying the hose adaptor and accessory pack--he uses those all the time too.

I own home repair business, and primarily work out of my truck own several portable vacuums, but none compare to the PORTER CABLE. Silent - Powerful - Dustfree Exhaust - Long Cord and Hose - Lightweight, what can i say it's a Porter Cable. ENJOY BOYS.