For many years, the Craftsman name was synonymous with high quality tools.  In recent years, that has become a distsant memory, and this vac is a good example of the quality slide that Craftsman tools have taken.

When I bought the vac, I found its small size appealing - and the size remains its primary redeeming feature - as it will easily fit in my truck and is easily carried into a client's home for quick, small clean-up jobs.

The very first time I used the vac, I needed to suck up some plaster/drywall dust after installing a wall safe.  While cleaning, I was not looking behind me to note that the vac was blowing the dust onto the bed, clothing and furniture in the master bedroom.  So much for cleaning up fine dust!

Next was an attempt to do some cleaning in a place where that blowing of dust was less of an issue, and most of the debris was larger stuff; small pieces of drywall, some wood slivers, etc.   I managed to go for about 30 seconds before the hose was plugged and I then spent a buch of time clearing it.  After repeating that exercise a few times, I did the cleaning with a broom.

I have owned the cute little vac for a year or more now, and rarely use it.  If you would like to give it try, you can probably buy it - CHEAP.

The  Craftsman 1773 vac is very noisy - I think it makes more noise than its 16 gallon big brother.  The noise level is high, and very includes a very high frequency whistle.  I always needed to dig out my earplugs prior to starting it up.

I used the vac once for a wet clean up; it worked OK, but at 3 gallon capacity I made a lot of trips to dump the water out.

Recommended: No

Amount Paid (US$): 30.00