I use a shopvac too & some cheap upright with a beater bar.
I'd use shopvac only, but it does not have the beater brush/beater bar--though recently I see shop-vac does carry an air driven beater brush--but previous experience with the air driven brushes showed me they were pretty worthless, as they stop turning at the lightest pressure--maybe with more HP in a shop vac (hp depends on model), the beater brush would work?
Also read some other types/brands of air driven brushes can be used on shop-vacs so I might give it a try.
If I could solve the beater brush/beater bar issue & find one that actually does work well--I would just stay with shop vac.
You can add extra filters, including hepa, use bags, not use bags, do wet or dry & they are nearly indestructible.
I've used them to blow leaves, unclog drains...
Buy the one with higher hp--like the 6.5
XBF killed one of my shop vacs--he did not put any filters & proceeded to suck up an entire basement & crawl space full of spiderwebs. So, after years of sucking up heavy construction stuff, aside from fur & everything else, XBF killed it in 1/2 hour-totally locked up the engine & burnt it out. Spider webs are actually stronger than steel & sticky to boot--not to mention they have some creepy creatures living in them.
I pitched a fit & made him replace it on principal of stupidity.
He then bought me a Ridgid brand, said it was better-It is NOT-I HATED that thing-it was difficult to use & switch out parts, even hard to add an extension to the hoses--stay far awat from the Ridgid.
The suction wasn't good & also the wheels marked my floors with black lines, which made me have to scrub them off.
So, if you are thinking shop vac--get the actual Shop Vac brand, or a craftsman brand.
