If you spend a lot of time around your car, a compact vacuum cleaner that you could quickly whip out and dust off some dirt and debris from your carpets is handy to keep around. But, with just how many vacuum cleaners there are out there, which one should you choose? I bought a vacuum cleaner from Ryobi before and honestly, it wasn’t super impressive. However, this new one showcases a huge improvement in the two areas that I was most critical of – 1) the suction power is way higher, and 2) the filter system actually filters out dust.
Another major upgrade on this new Ryobi cordless vacuum cleaner is that it’s now a part of Ryobi’s ONE+ line of tools, which all utilise the same, interchangeable 18V batteries. It’s thus shared among 200 other individual tools within Ryobi, making it super easy to quickly swap out the battery between this vacuum cleaner and any other Ryobi ONE+ tool you might have lying around. Although, while they can all plug in interchangeably, the Ryobi 18V ONE+ batteries do have varying capacities, ranging in size from 2.0Ah to 9.0Ah.
These ultimately impact how long you’re able to stay powered on. For example, if you’re using this Ryobi cordless vacuum cleaner with the bigger 9.0Ah battery, it could keep vacuuming for around 60 minutes. The more commonplace 5.0Ah battery, on the other hand, is rated for around half an hour’s worth of vacuuming. Either way, you should note though, that the Ryobi cordless vacuum here is sold as a bare tool, so the battery and charger are sold separately. But enough about the battery, how well does it vacuum?
A Huge Improvement Over The Old One
One of the complaints that I had with the previous Ryobi vacuum cleaner that I owned was the filter, and as I noted earlier, can easily leak out dust and particulates out of the filter and the seals around the dust canister. As you can imagine, this defeats the purpose of having a filtration system. Thankfully, Ryobi’s gone back to the drawing board, and the new HEPA 11 dual-filter system on this updated model is way, way better, and it actually filters out all the dust and allergy-inducing particles from leaking back into the air.
The one thing to consider though, is that the dust bowl or canister, which holds the dirt, debris, dust, and the many nasty things you’re vacuuming up, is rather small. So, there’s not a whole lot of storage in there before you need to empty it out. Granted, it’s big enough for a quick little vacuum job, like dusting off the interior of your car. That’s my use case anyway, and it’s by far one of my favourite little cordless vacuum cleaners for detailing the cabin. On top of that, the 600ml clear plastic dust bowl is easy to install or remove.
And, they now have rubber surrounds instead of plastic (unlike the old one), ensuring that it forms a tighter seal with the dust canister or bowl, further preventing leakage of dust and particles. When you do need to use the cordless vacuum cleaner and do some spring cleaning, Ryobi includes a small, extended nozzle in the box, and it’s really handy in helping you to get into all those tight spots inside your car. This can be vacuuming between the folds of the seat, under the seats of your car, between bits of trim and upholstery, and so on.
Packs A Punch For Its Tiny Size
Suction power gets another huge upgrade over the old Ryobi vacuum cleaners that I’ve used. This new model has a rated 1,100 litres-per-minute of airflow and 32W of suction power, making it very powerful, given how small it is, relatively speaking. This is courtesy of a beefier motor compared to its predecessor, so this revised Ryobi cordless vacuum cleaner should have no problem sucking in dust and debris around your car. It’s more than powerful enough that you could easily use it outside your car and automotive applications, too.
I’ve kept this inside my workshop for doing woodworking and vacuuming up sawdust, or random bits of much and dirt around my garage, and I can’t see why you couldn’t use it in your home, too. When that dust canister or dust bowl fills up, the new latch system (with a satisfying click) makes it really easy to empty it out, as well. For £53.99, and especially if you’re already using other Ryobi ONE+ tools (with the batteries and charger), it’s one very good compact cordless vacuum cleaner. The only major downside is the small dust canister.
On top of that, while the suction power is way stronger now thanks to that stronger motor, Ryobi’s new and updated cordless vacuum cleaner here can still be limiting. Of course, there’s only so much a handheld, small cordless vacuum cleaner can do, but you can overwhelm it if you’re trying to vacuum up too much or if you’re sucking up bigger bits of debris. For heavy vacuuming jobs like this, it’s good to have another, larger vacuum cleaner around. Luckily, Ryobi makes a huge range of different vacuum cleaners in the line-up.
One Of Many Great Vacuum Cleaners
They have a tiny 4V palm vac if you just need to vacuum up your desk, for example. And, they also have a big family of stick vacuum cleaners, for varying use cases and applications. If you need extra suction power, Ryobi has a range of brushless stick vacuum cleaners. Otherwise, they also have a bunch of conventional stick vacuum cleaners too, for a more attainable, budget-friendly price. These can be a good companion for the tiny RHV18-0 here, if you demand higher suction power and dust capacity.
For specific spots that you need to vacuum, Ryobi has spot cleaners. Additionally, they also have cordless dry and wet vacuum cleaners. With that said, the Ryobi RHV18-0 that we reviewed here is an awesome cordless vacuum cleaner, particularly for its more compact, more manoeuvrable size. It’s pretty easy to use (the lock switch on the top is a nice bonus to make vacuuming a bit more effortless), and as a whole, comparing it with its predecessor, this new Ryobi RHV18-0 vacuum cleaner is exactly the kind of upgrade I was hoping for.
