My local HD has two Ridgid models that each have products at the $69 and $99
price points. One has a gray body and the other has a orange body. Other
than different colors and body shapes, the orange model is advertised to be
the "quiet" model. How quiet is quiet? Does the exhaust filter make much
of a difference?

I have an old (and tired) Craftsman shop vac that I use to vacuum big pieces
from the floor and a Fein II that attaches to the vac port on some of my
power tools (routers, sanders, etc.) to vacuum dust and small debris. The
Craftsman sounds like a jet plane taking off (I have to wear earmuffs!).
The Fein puts out a moderate hum. Where is the orange Ridgid w/ the exhaust
port likely to fit in?

"toolmiser" wrote in message
...

I also picked up one of the $69.97 vacs at the Borg, and I like it. I
have a little bigger Shopvac "quite" model in my shop that I also like.
I added an "exhaust filter" to my ridgid to help with noise. My
shopvac is already pretty quite, and they achieved that by exhausting
around the perimeter, so you can't use it as a blower. I also passed
on the Ridgid vac that had the detachable blower. Usually tools that
do more than one job do them all poorly. BTW, the vac I just bought
replaced a 30 year old metal "power-vac" that just was past it's prime.
The motor was tired, and the tank was rusted out.


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toolmiser