Will a Shop-Vac help you keep your gym cleaner than a top of the line home vacuum like a Dyson? If you own a gym or work in a gym, I am sure you are doing everything you can to keep your gym cleaner and healthier for your members. We want to do better for our clients, so put down the money to buy a top of the line Rigid Shop Vac for our gym. Here is what we learned.
Rigid Shop-Vac vs Dyson Vacuum Showdown
Because a Cleaner Gym is a Better Gym
Biases: Neither Rigid nor Dyson sponsored or contributed to this article in any way. I really don’t care which vacuum you buy. If you decide to buy a Shop-Vac and want to support us, here are the Amazon Affiliate links for the vacuums we tested.
Summary:
First off all, we only tested one brand of Shop Vac and one brand of Vacuum. That said Rigid and Dyson are some of the biggest names in their respective suction industries. We bought a super high capacity, Tim-the-Tool-Man Taylor power 6.5 HP Stainless Steel Shop Vac. Your mileage buying smaller and lower power shop vacs will vary. Plus, many other companies make Shop Vacs such as Dewalt and Vacmaster. We didn’t test those variations. Comparing a Shop Vac to a Dyson is like comparing a warehouse to a penthouse. They can both cost the same, but one emphasizes function, while the other emphasizes polish.
Negatives: The Rigid Shop Vac uses big hoses that with a pressure clamp. Changing attachments is clunky but secure. Assembling the wheel cart was a three hour chore (parts were cheap and they didn’t fit well.) If you are vacuuming rubber floor mats, you’ll need an expensive accessory called a beater head. The Shop Vac’s power cord doesn’t retract and it’s way too short. While they advertise it as a wet / dry vac, you have to swap out an internal filter to switch between each variation. While a Dyson Vacuum is loud, it’s dwarfed by the noise from a Rigid vacuum. Your cats and dogs would run to the neighbors. Pulling a big vacuum along is more annoying that having the motor and bag in an integrated unit.
Positives: The Rigid Vacuum we bought the 16 Gallon / 6.5 HP probably has about twice the suction power of a Dyson. It’s special beater had is lightning fast around corners allowing to vacuum around exercise equipment in the gym. It’s so strong, it pulled the duct tape off the floors. It can pick up small objects and water.
Overall: The increased suction and fast moving and agile beater head allows us to get a cleaner floor in less time. The numerous brush attachments are great for cleaning up chalk and dust from hard to reach sections. The Rigid Shop Vacuum with the necessary beater head is more expensive than the Dyson. It’s much larger in terms of storage (maybe three times the size).
Bottom Line, will it help you keep your gym cleaner? Yes, the shop vac with the brush attachments and beater head attachment works better for cleaning rubber gym mats. For the home? No, it’s more power than you really need. If you need to vacuum a workshop or garage, then maybe a small one. On plush carpet, a shop vac will be hard to move, and it’ll probably pull the fibers out of your carpet.
Rigid 6.5 HP Shop Vac Ratings
No Comprise Cleaning Power
It’s Massive – like 2 plyo boxes large
It’ll Clean Anything You Need.
Cheap materials for the wheels and carriage. Ours cost upward of $350, but you can definitely find a cheaper solution if you need.
Why Does a Cleaner Floor Matter?
Burpees, pushups, situps, and countless other exercises on done on the floor. Yoga uses a mat, which goes on the floor. The floor is where bacteria and fungus love to hang out. A powerful vacuum sucks them out, and keeps them out. We opted to get a bag liner and a hepa filter with our bag, so that the dirt and bacteria we vacuum up stays in the machine. Hepa filters cost more, but then again, it’s better than risking getting sick. Changing out the filter on a shop vac is straight-forward as compared to a canister vacuum.