If you’re looking for a shop vac that can handle all kinds of cleanup duty, but won’t crowd your workshop, these are the best small shop vacs you can buy right now. How We SelectedThe Best Small Shop VacsHere at Popular Mechanics, we have spent years testing shop vacs of all shapes and sizes, learning which brands make the best models, and what specs to look for while shopping for a shop vac. It’s one of the heavier small shop vacs, at more than 17 pounds, but features wheels to make maneuvering around large spaces easier. A small, portable shop vac with full-size shop vac power, the Ridgid is a versatile cleaning tool for every (small) cleaning job. Small shop vacs produce between 40 and 70 CFM, with some larger 4-gallon models reaching 100 CFM.