Shark 15.6V Cordless Vac, a different mobile experience

Update: 03/17/09 - I found this bad ass version of the Shark from Bed Bath Beyond. 16.8V of power with a bigger motorized brush head. In the words of Barney Stinson, legend.... ... wait for it... -ary.

Today, I am blogging a slightly different mobile experience. Ever since I moved out to the East Coast, I haven't had the convenience of a private car garage to upkeep my car. My poor ride has been quite dirty since I can't hook up a vacuum to keep the interior clean in a public parking garage. I finally started to research for a portable vacuum solution. I need a cordless vac that is powerful and last long enough to clean out my car's interior including the trunk space (if done right, roughly lasting 7 to 10 minutes of non-stop suction).

Growing up, my parents had a dust buster that is hooked up to a car's cig lighter, I always remembered it being quite weak, so I know I had to checkout the specs. Upon research, I found two cordless products rated at 15.6V. Those familiar with power tools will know that as you get up to 15V+, these tools have ample power to do just about anything. The two choices were: 1. Black and Decker dust buster ($54 from Amazon) and 2. Shark Cordless Vac ($39 from Amazon). The Shark brand was big few years ago on infomercials and some auto forum folks said they've been happy with it. Amazon has about a dozen reviews for the Black and Decker at time of writing while the Shark Cordless Vac had about 100+. By popular choice, I went with the Shark vac and I am happy with my choice.

The Shark Cordless Vac comes with two additional attachments: a narrow crevice tool and a spinning motorized head (like a full size vac). The vac itself provides a powerful suction for a mobile device; using the narrow crevice tool will intensify the suction for concentrated regions. The motorized spinner head is whats cool about this vac. I usually lay the floor mats out on the floor and use this spinning head to pickup the dust bunnies, dirt, and crumbs. Whats really cool is the way the spinning head is designed; it has two prongs which attaches to the vac head that provides the juice from the unit's battery to spin motor. The result is effective ways to quickly picking up all sorts of dust and dirt effectivey. I can only imagine if I didn't have this attachment, I would spend twice amount the time per floor mat which would end up draining my battery out completely.

The only thing I have to complaint about is the time it takes to charge. Preliminary charging is 20 hours, which is highly recommended by the manufacturer. Incremental charges, atleast for me, has been about 12+ hours. There is no indicator to show me when charging is completed so its a little bit of guess work. One thing on my wishlist is if in the future, they release a version capable of handling both dry/wet applications like some shop vacs.

Overall, I am very pleased with this product and how it functions. This little vac is handy for any occasion throughout the house. My car's interior, is at last, clean like the way I kept my cars when I lived in the west coast. Now I just gotta figure out a way to wash the exterior of my car.