For years, we have had a small cordless hand held vacuum in the kitchen to keep the counters and floor tidy and to dig out food and debris from the kitchen throw rug.  Black and Decker came out with the “Dust Buster” years ago.  I wore out one and bought another, even though I was never too happy with it.  The newer version is powered by two 3.6-volt batteries that B&D uses in many of its tools.  The batteries, which look like 12 gauge shotgun shells on steroids, do an OK job of powering the vacuum, but they run down quickly.  Perforce, the Dust Buster is cradled in a large clumsy recharger that needs to be plugged in all the time.

Now, along comes a better cordless hand held vacuum—a lot better and wet/dry too.  Ryobi, a respected maker of medium-priced power tools, has come out with—(are you ready for this?)—the “Tuff Sucker.”  While the Dust Buster is powered by 7.2-volts, the Tuff Sucker is powered by 18-volts.  This is real power.  Indeed, the standard of the industry for cordless drills, drivers, saws, etc.  For example, I have an 18-volt, ½-inch Bosch drill that can drive screws through 2x4s, with ease, all morning without a recharge.  So, imagine the reserve power of this battery that only drives a low resistance fan, albeit at a high rpm.  The Tuff Sucker runs for a week or more of daily use without the need to remove and recharge the battery.  No cradle is necessary so, while the Tuff Sucker is larger than the Dust Buster, it takes up less counter space.  Not surprisingly, the Ryobi vacuum is heavy at 4 pounds; the battery weighs half of that. 

If you want a small hand held cordless vacuum in the kitchen, the Ryobi Tuff Sucker 18v Wet/Dry Vac is awesome. About $50 at any Home Depot, Lowes or other hardware store that sells power tools.