Back to the Past ?, March 6, 2012

Porter-Cable's "handheld vaccum" does the job and actually picks stuff up. We have all hardwood and tile floors and there was nothing more frustrating than waiting for our previous alternate brand handheld vacuum to pick up a dustball! This is a great tool to avoid pulling out the full-size vacuum between thorough cleaning...see it, got it..quick. Coupled with the Li-Ion battery technology there is no painful slowdown to the work. It works until the battery needs to be charged and then charging in quick. I am buying a second one for the garage. I highly recommend this fine, but fairly priced tool!

I have lots of the Porter Cable tools, starting with the 4 Piece Combo Kit, and I think they're top notch. At first look and use this Hand Vac seemed to live up to the same high performance level as the others. A good balance, handy trigger, solid bin lock, and more power than I'd ever seen in a dust-buster type Vac such as this. Looked like another hit at a fair price - until I tried to clean it for the first time.I went to the manual to see what was recommended and they were good enough to offer these simple cleaning notes - or is it non-cleaning notes - along with detailed diagrams:DO NOT BRUSH.DO NOT clean filter media with abrasive materials.DO NOT scrub to clean between pleats.DO NOT spray water or high pressure air on the filter...Well so much with what to , "DO NOT". What to do? They must have some really high-tech method for cleaning and maintaining the filter like a Violet Laser Hand-Wand, or an Ultrasonic...

If ever there was some truth to the saying, "You get what you pay for," this is it. By the time you purchase a battery and the charger, you will have spent a lot more money than on any competing product (to my knowledge). But this thing is worth every penny, in my opinion. It's VERY strong, thanks to the 18V battery. I have no complaints about it and my wife loves it, too.Here's a tip for saving some money and killing two birds with one stone. I ordered the Bare-tool 18-Volt Cordless vac, but I also ordered the combination bundle of a Porter-Cable 18-Volt drill with charger and TWO 18-Volt NiCd batteries. When it's all said and done, I paid only $12.00 for the drill and its carrying case, over the combined price of buying the vac, the charger and two NiCd 18-Volt batteries separately. We all know who uses the vac the most - my wife - but I got a two-speed, high-torque cordless drill out of the deal for just 12 bucks more!We keep one battery on the...