Peak horsepower is the number on the box, not the one that clears the pile

Four of the eight vacuums in this comparison carry the same 6.5 peak HP label. Their published airflow runs from 90 CFM on the DeWalt DXV16P-QTA to 123 CFM on the Vacmaster Beast, 161 CFM on the Ridgid HD1600, and 190.8 CFM on the Craftsman CMXEVBE17595.

The label does not sort the rest of the field either. Shop-Vac’s 5.5 peak HP Contractor Series publishes 105 CFM. The Ridgid RT0600, at 4.25 peak HP, publishes 70 CFM, the lowest here. Milwaukee publishes no horsepower figure for the NEXUS and leads with 95 CFM instead.

CFM and water lift answer different questions

Airflow is the figure for how quickly a pile of sawdust disappears. Water lift, which Shop-Vac calls sealed pressure and Milwaukee calls suction, is the figure for pulling standing water up the hose. The two do not move together. Craftsman publishes the highest CFM here and no water lift at all.

Only five of the eight publish a lift figure, and the three that do not are all corded 16-gallon drums: the Ridgid HD1600, the Craftsman, and the DeWalt. If a flooded corner or an overflowing washing machine is part of why you are buying, those three cannot be compared on the job you care about, and their scores on that factor reflect the gap rather than a judgment about how they perform.

Sizing the tank: gallons set how often you stop

Four drums here hold 16 gallons: Ridgid HD1600, Craftsman, DeWalt, and Dustless. The Vacmaster holds 14, the Shop-Vac 12, and the Ridgid RT0600 and Milwaukee NEXUS 6 each. A 16-gallon drum holds a little over two and a half times what a 6-gallon one does, so a job that fills the small tank three times fills the large one roughly once.

Capacity costs weight and height. Among the 16-gallon drums with a published weight, the Ridgid HD1600 lists 24.5 to 24.7 lb, the DeWalt 36.6 lb, and the Dustless 37 lb; Craftsman publishes no weight. The DeWalt and Shop-Vac stand 29 in tall, the Dustless 27 in. Full of water, 16 gallons is a load, which is where a drain matters. The DeWalt, Vacmaster, Shop-Vac, RT0600, and Milwaukee list no drain in the documents retrieved, so emptying water means tipping the drum.

The hose decides what fits down it

Hose diameter and length come as a pair, and the pairs here differ more than the tanks do. Four vacs run a 2-1/2 in hose: the Ridgid HD1600 at 8 ft, and the Craftsman, DeWalt, and Vacmaster at 7 ft. The Dustless runs 2-1/4 in by 12 ft. The two 6-gallon vacs use 1-7/8 in hoses, 8 ft on the Ridgid RT0600 and 9 ft on the Milwaukee. The Shop-Vac pairs the narrowest hose here, 1.5 in, with the longest, 12 ft, a length only the Dustless matches.

Drywall dust is a filter question

Tank size and CFM say nothing about what leaves the exhaust. Only two manufacturers here publish a particle rating. Dustless rates the D1603’s disposable WunderBag pre-filter to 0.5 microns, describes it as close to HEPA, and markets the three-stage filtration for drywall, concrete, stone, and fiberglass dust. Vacmaster rates its high-efficiency cartridge to 1 micron. DeWalt’s DXVC6910 is named a fine-dust cartridge, with no micron figure. Shop-Vac describes a nanofiber cartridge with a foam sleeve and compatibility with a high-efficiency disposable bag, again without a micron figure. Milwaukee names a Large High Efficiency Filter without a rating.

The remaining three, the Ridgid HD1600 with its VF4000 cartridge, the Ridgid RT0600, and the Craftsman with its cartridge and foam wet filter, publish general-debris filters with no fine-dust claim. For sanding dust, there is no published basis for choosing them; the Craftsman’s 190.8 CFM moves the dust faster, but nothing on its spec sheet says what the filter holds.

Two Dustless details matter on a dusty site. The Shaker Basket agitator rod lets you knock the outer filter clean from outside the barrel without opening it. And the D1603 is the standard model: Dustless sells the D1606 as the HEPA version of the same series, so a buyer who needs a HEPA label is shopping for a different model number.

Corded or cordless, and what the cord costs you

Seven of the eight run on 120V wall power with no time limit. Their cords differ: 20 ft on the Ridgid HD1600, DeWalt, Shop-Vac, and Vacmaster, 20.5 ft on the Craftsman, and 10 ft on the Ridgid RT0600. Dustless publishes no cord length for the D1603.

The Milwaukee NEXUS 0915-20 is the only cordless vac here. Milwaukee publishes up to 44 minutes of continuous cleaning in max run-time mode or 31 minutes in max power mode, and up to 1,800 or 1,300 sq ft per charge in the same two modes, all on the M18 REDLITHIUM FORGE HD12.0 battery. That battery is not included; the 0915-20 is a bare tool. On paper the NEXUS out-pulls the corded 6-gallon Ridgid RT0600 on airflow while publishing slightly less lift.

Details that only show up on the spec sheet

Noise figures appear for two models: 65 dBA for the DeWalt on the WebstaurantStore listing and 79 dB for the Dustless.

Warranties range widely. Vacmaster publishes 5 years, the longest fixed term. Craftsman, DeWalt, Milwaukee, and Dustless each publish 3 years, and DeWalt adds 1 year of free service and a 90-day satisfaction guarantee. Ridgid’s published terms differ by model number: the RT1600 listing says Full Lifetime and the HD1600 figure is 6 months, and the documents retrieved do not resolve whether the two carry different terms.

Three vacs double as blowers: the Ridgid HD1600 with a detachable blower, the Craftsman through a rear blowing port, and the Vacmaster through an included port.