Makita cordless/corded vacuum cleaners

[Job and Knock]

In the light of changing OSHA regulations in 2017 on silica (building) dust in the USA Makita announced two new cordless vacuum cleaners over there a few weeks back, the XCV04Z cordless 2 x 18 volt HEPA extractor (which can also run from 120 volt mains power):

Makita XCV04Z Vacuum 001 01.jpg (41.03 KiB) Viewed 7199 times

and the XCV05Z cordless 2 x 18 volt HEPA backpack vacuum:

Makita XCV05Z Vacuum 001 01.jpg (18.57 KiB) Viewed 7199 times

The significance of these is the HEPA standard - HEPA is very close to the Class M standard in Europe and exceeds Class L so with the ever increasing pressure from the regulatory authorities for us to use dust extraction on even cordless tools it looks like there might be a solution on the horizon, albeit an expensive one.

The XCV04Z will run either on two 18 volt LXT batteries (with 5Ah batteries giving 30 minutes continuous on high setting, 65 minutes on low setting) or mains power. The suction rates are 127cfm (215 m3/hr) and 74cfm (126 m3/hr) respectively. This vacuum comes with a 20ft (6 metre) power cord in the USA which is more like the sort of length you normally need on a vacuum cleaner. The vacuum uses a 3-stage filtration system with a pre-filter bag to capture large particulate dirt, a second bag to capture the remaining dirt and a washable HPA filter

The XCV05Z is a portable, backpack-style extractor which again runs on two 18 volt LXT batteries (with 5Ah batteries giving 60 minutes continuous on high setting, 90 minutes on low setting). The suction rates is 53cfm (90 m3/hr) on the high setting. It is designed to bridge the gap between portable site vacuums and on-board tool dust cannisters, although tool adaptors are planned for this model. It weighs in at 4.3kg (9.4 lb) empty and comes with a harness which has adjustable padded shoulder pads and an adjustable waist belt. The 1m long (39 inch) flexible hose is attached to a telescopic wand some 500 to 850mm (20 to 34in) long

There is a YouTube video on the USA versions of these tools here but it's worth noting that the European version of the XCV04Z (called a DVC860LZ - the L stands for L-class I'm informed) of the corded/cordless model has already appeared on Amazon UK and Amazon Germany. Initially these prices seem to be around the price of a conventiona M-class, although for an L-class vacuum. If we see an M-class model in due course perhaps the difference will be in the area of £150 - about the difference in price between L-class and M-class corded vacuum at present . We shall see.

In the meantime the European version of the XCV05Z (the DVC260Z) is already available from a number of retailers in the UK including Toucan Tools, Lawson-HIS and FFX with FFX currently the best price at £199 for the bare unit

I have no dounbt that we'll be seeing more of this type of tool from other manufacturers as 2017 goes on