Differences in specs between good brands shop vacs?

[greg mann]

What Greg says makes sense.  I have been using a Dust Deputy on my Fein and am just amazed by how clean the filter stays.  Since this is planned to be a dedicated vac and not mobile, something like a Dust Deputy is a way to make a less expensive vac work more like an expensive one.  If I used mine other than in my shop, I'd probably pop for a Festool for the reasons stated by Greg.  But for a dedicated shop based vac, the dust deputy means no bags to mess with and all the advantage of having bags.  Suffers big in form factor.

Love it when folks agree with me. It doesn't happen often enough, IMO.  ;D

The Rigid Shop Vac that taught me what I needed in DC is still in use, but with a ClearVue mini-cyclone and a CleanStream Hepa filter (and a noise suppressor too). I would still like to have a bag but the cyclone reduces filter cleaning by a factor of ten. Without the cyclone it would be relegated to a wet vac because I hate cleaning clogged filters. Did I say hate? That is way too nice a word for it.

 

[jonathan-m]

Greg, the Starmix vacs have variable speed, autostart & use bags, both paper & felt.
But this video is to show off the new electronics. That it can be used without bags for tasks such as shown. Plaster / drywall dust & the likes.

When using a Planex, Festool as well advises to use an open bag instead of a regular bag with their autoclean vacs.
The main point to take away from the video however, is that the vac has 2 seperate filters, and 2 measuring points with smart electronics. It measures the airflow before the filters AND after the filters. This way the unit can determine when airflow & suction is decreasing and it cleans the filters automatically. Not just at set intervals like other vacs do.
It only cleans them when needed, probably like you said, to extend the life of the filters & unit.

Another important feature is that there are 2 seperate filters that are cleaned independantly from each other. Not at the same time so you do not loose suction for a few seconds. The user doesn't experience any drop in performance when the cleaning happens.

It's quite a cool technology and I'm on the fence for either this one, or a Festool because of the systainer integration & larger array of accessories in general. I just can't make up my mind I currently have a Fein Dustex 40 with a dust deputy, works great but it's about as mobile as a giant tortoise...

 

[greg mann]

Greg, the Starmix vacs have variable speed, autostart & use bags, both paper & felt. But this demo is to point out it can be used without. For tasks for example as shown in the video like plaster / drywall dust.
When using a Planex, Festool as well advises to use an open bag instead of a regular bag.
The main point to take away from the video however, is that the vac has 2 measuring points and smart electronics. It measures the airflow & underpressure before the filters AND after the filters. That way it knows exaclty when airflow & suction is slowing down and then cleans the filters automatically. Not just at set intervals like previous generation & other brand vacs do.
It only cleans them when needed, probably like you said, to extend the life of the filters & unit. And because there are 2 filters that are cleaned independantly from eachother you do not loose suction for a few seconds, like other brand vacs do.
The cleaning happens independantly without the user experiencing any drop in performance.
I'm on the fence for either this one, or a Festool, can't make up my mind

I did suspect that, and it is probably something they should have made clear in the video just for guys like me.  [embarassed] Your description makes it a winner, IMO. Since the machine distribution is a bit Eurocentric I may go a long time without actually seeing one.

 

[Holz-Her]

There are quite a few companies who use Starmix vacuums....
for example: Eibenstock, Baier, Spit, Metabo, Bosch, Hitachi, Storch, Mafell, Duss, Ramset....... Milwaukee and AEG were customers in the past too....

...so they are probably not the worst

 

[Frank-Jan]

...
It's quite a cool technology and I'm on the fence for either this one, or a Festool because of the systainer integration & larger array of accessories in general. I just can't make up my mind I currently have a Fein Dustex 40 with a dust deputy, works great but it's about as mobile as a giant tortoise...

As for the systainer integration: some brands like metabo and mafell have accessories for their starmix vacs to attach systainers on top. link to metabo version

 

[Mauri Motti]

Hi Bob,

Have you considered Protool vacs?

Mauri

 

[Bob Gerritsen]

Hi all, busy times here which is why I've missed all the new posts, thanks for those! Will check them all today.

 

[Simon O]

I'm currently puzzling over exactly the same areas re extraction and came across this thread, through researching Starmix and Nilfisk extractors.

I'm a decorator by trade, so assuming many of you are joiners/carpenters, my needs are a little different - a little cutting of wood; but mainly sanding -  timber, old paint work, 2 pack filler, dry wall filler; and very occasionally smoothing/stripping old masonry surfaces using a diamond grinder with a dust cowl. The last one I have a dedicated machine for, supplied by PWM Surface Preparation (the SP13) - but if I could fit all my requirements for extraction into one machine and it's weight and size was similar to the Festool Midi that'd be ideal - but given my research to date this is not currently possible, certainly with respect to the size/weight issue.

So, just wondering what the contributors to this thread, eventually decided on?

Cheers
Simon