Better for hoovering the car - hand held vac or car vacuum cleaner?

thor

I want to get a car vacuum but am undecided whether to go for a dedicated one which takes it's power from the cig lighter socket or to buy a general hand held vacuum cleaner which be used in the home or if unplugged from 220V mains, anywhere including in the car.
The main thing I would like to know is which sucks up more dirt, the hand held vac when cordless or the car vac when plugged in to the cig lighter socket?
Plus recommendations would also be appreciated.

newbutold

Every handheld, cig lighter charged vac I have had has been a complete waste of money with extremely poor suction power. Cannot comment on a mains handheld as I have never used one.

I just take my normal household vac outside to do the car now as I have a driveway, previously I didn't hence the purchase of rubbish handhelds!

forgotmyname

Cheap vac's are usually rubbish. Not impressed with the power of rechargeable ones either. They are OK for getting some loose dust up. But a dustpan is quicker and easier. When you want decent suction then a mains one is the way to go.

londonTiger

i just use a dyson with a small attachment.

if you dotn have a drive, buy a 30m extension from screwfix

Richard53

As above, the 12V models are a disappointment, with no power at all. I used to have a cordless Dustbuster which was OK for kitchen crumbs but little else. For the car, I use the Dyson outside on an extension lead if necessary. It sucks hard enough to lift the carpets from the floor.

agrinnall

One word answer - Henry!

Cornucopia

Handheld hoovers suck!

Seriously though, the best results come from using a mains-powered household hoover, with the appropriate extension leads/RCD etc.

Did you ever see a professional hand car wash using anything else?

martinthebandit

agrinnall wrote: »

One word answer - Henry!

Is the right answer, in fact its generally the right answer to any thread with vacuum in the title.

roddydogs

Has anyone considered He/She might live in a flat with no access to a mains fed Vaccy?. Of course we all know mains is best.

Cornucopia

roddydogs wrote: »

Has anyone considered He/She might live in a flat with no access to a mains fed Vaccy?. Of course we all know mains is best.

What about an inverter? Probably wouldn't cost that much more than a top-end handheld, and can be used for lots of other things.

http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_storeId_10001_catalogId_10151_productId_788807_langId_-1_categoryId_255206

RichardD1970

I've got one of these, http://www.amazon.co.uk/Black-Decker-PAD1200-Flexi-Vacuum/dp/B002JCSCUW/ref=sr_1_12?s=kitchen-appliances&ie=UTF8&qid=1391249323&sr=1-12, not as good as a full sized vac but good enough for me. In fact since we got rid of all our carpets it is the only vac we have and use a transformer if we need to use it indoors (or for when camping)