DEWALT 20V MAX Hand Vacuum, Cordless, for Wet or Dry Surfaces, 1/2-Gallon Tank, Washable Filter, Portable, Bare Tool Only (DCV517B)

I bought this last fall to clean up around out fireplace that we keep going all winter. Bringing in firewood just makes a mess around the fireplace and I decided to do some research on hand held vacuums. This one had good online ratings and I took a shot. My wife looked at me like I was crazy when it showed up as she said we have a good Kirby vacuum. Of course the Kirby weighs 50 pounds and has to be lugged back in to the living room and then mess with the long cord to clean up 10 sq. ft. of area around the fireplace. I put it next to the fireplace where it fit nicely off to the side out of sight and it was a breeze to grab it when I put wood in the fire. Just a couple of seconds.The unit is well built, has great suction and best of all, uses the Dewalt 20v batteries that I already have for my drill driver, impact swazall and weed eater. It has enough suction power to pick up most anything that will fit in the hose and its debris storage is internal and easy to empty. I has a fiber filter that is very easy to blow out and clean. I found that it was probably best on the 5ah batteries rather than the 2ah batteries just for a little longevity. I generally swapped out the battery once a month and had no issues. Even worked with the aftermarket Dewalt knock off batteries, which are as good as the originals for a heck of a lot less money.The hose detaches from the unit and stretches out pretty good for tight areas where the vac is too big to get in to.My bride now thinks I'm much smarter once she started using it and now uses it in her car or just anything that needs a quick vac without having to haul out the big Kirby. There's a lot of bang for the buck here, especially if you already own Dewalt 20v stuff.

I'm an old tool guy and I own a few Dewalt 20v cordless tools, and I have owned and own other brands as well. I've also owned several cordless hand vacs including recently the Shark and Dustbuster. I've been putting this Dewalt hand vac through its paces for the last five days and this is what I've come up with.First, I'd like to address some of the negative comments such as it being loud, or heavy. I really hadnt noticed it being any louder than any other ones that I've owned. It might be slightly, but its a more powerful vac with larger motor and 20 volts compared to 7.2 volts that most other hand vacs are rated at. You definitely wont be needing to use earplugs as someone suggested in their review...LOL. So when I first turned mine on after getting it, I was expecting something really loud, it wasnt, I just busted out laughing.As far as some saying its heavy. Yes it is a little heavier (maybe a few ounces), but please keep this in mind. Most of the other cordless hand vacs on the market are only 7.2 volts battery packs, including the two other ones that I mentioned. This runs on a 20 volt power pack thats more than twice the power of the others, so its going to be a little heavier, it has a larger capacity power pack. But, the trade off for those extra few ounces is that you get a much better performing vac, more powerful suction and much longer run times in between charges.Another reviewer mentioned the small debris canister, well its a half gallon capacity, (which is large for a cordless portable hand vac), much larger than most of the other cordless hand vacs on the market. Any larger than that, you might as well use a full size vacuum cleaner, its a portable cordless hand vac, not designed to vacuum a whole house. I've vacuumed my 4 door GMC truck, my Jeep Wrangler YJ, my wifes Mazda CX5, and my workbench work area without needing to empty the canister.Oh, and heres the one that really got me laughing once I tested mine. A couple of people said that the side exhaust vents blows the debris all over the place before you can vacuum them up. Well the vents shoot straight out of the side of the machine horizontally, not downward as one said. The only way the vent would blow the debris around is if you hold the vac sideways on its side (pointing the side vent downward). If you do that, the nozzle is then vertical and not going to vacuum very well due to the horizontal design of the nozzle. So those results would have been from user error.Another reviewer mentioned that the on/off switch is difficult to use. Well, if you'll notice in my 3rd photo, I have four fingers and a thumb grasp around the handle, so you just move one of your four fingers a half inch and flip the switch, its really that simple. If this 61 year old guy with arthritis can easily do it, I'm sure anyone else can too. So, for me its been the best performing cordless hand vac that I've ever owned, and I've owned quite a few over the decades. I highly recommend, it will be the last cordless hand vac that you'll ever need.

I use it all the time. Good suction and form factor.

Would I buy again? Likely yes, because it's nice to have the rechargeable battery that I also use on other devices. However, the shape is klunky, and the vents DO blow the dust around. The vents are on the back side and have no direction, but that means that the exhaust does blow out both down and up. It is frustrating when trying to vacuum dust bunnies because the exhaust keeps blowing them around. A nice feature I've used a couple times is the flexible hose which you'll need because the shape of this thing is so awkward. So besides from being a D at best for industrial design, I suppose this works well enough. On second thought, this is probably a D minus for design. Definitely not five star though. I considered 3 stars, but the saving grace is that it uses standard DeWalt batteries.

Very happy with the Dewalt vacuum. Works great, powerful, picks up real good and priced right. Glad I got this handy tool, perfect for all kinds of messes.

Great deal!!

Good suction and handy