Littered with snack crumbs, pet hair, straw wrappers, tiny pebbles, and teeny clumps of dirt, my car is, frankly, disgusting. But that doesn’t mean I need a dedicated car vacuum to keep it neat. Both of the Ridgid wet/dry vacs we recommend come with a car nozzle, an angled hose attachment that can suck up rubbish to restore a car’s interior to a much fresher state.
I’ve tested my Ridgid HD1200 side-by-side against my years-old Dyson V8 Animal—a discontinued model similar to the Dyson V8 Absolute, which we cite as another good option in our cordless stick vac guide. The HD1200’s pickup abilities surpass the Dyson’s on my car’s upholstery, allowing me to clean the interior in less time and with less effort.
Because the HD1200 is corded, and because my house isn’t equipped with any exterior electrical outlets, the initial setup to use it outdoors can be a pain. Not only do I have to lug it up from the basement and out the front door, but I have to then leave the door cracked open with an extension cord snaking through it. Once it’s ready to go, though, I find the HD1200 easy to maneuver. Despite the fact that the wet/dry vac looks like a hulking behemoth compared with my compact Dyson handheld, rolling it from one side of the car to the other on its swiveling casters can be done with a gentle push, and its hose and attachments are all very lightweight.
With its angled head, the car nozzle works especially well as a crevice tool for getting all the gunk out from deep within the seats. And even when I can’t stretch the hose (or my own body) far enough to reach every nook and cranny along the floorboards, the machine’s suction is strong enough that it picks up particles from an inch or so away, without needing to actually make contact with surfaces—a feat my Dyson vacuum has not been able to achieve. (Another way to clean hard-to-reach places with the HD1200 is to use one or both of its included extension wands.)
However, depending on how stubbornly your pet’s hair clings to your car’s upholstery, you may find that you prefer a machine with grippier, motorized brushes, like the Black+Decker 20V Max Dustbuster AdvancedClean+ Cordless Pet Hand Vacuum HHVK515JP07, which we recommend for picking up fur.
