My thoughts on electric dusters - LFC
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- čas přidán 7. 08. 2022
- I've often been asked if I use, or would use, one of these electric air dusters, and I've always been sceptical of them. I saw an early one years ago that was kinda rubbish and it put me off them.
The modern big boy 500w ones though? Different animals.
Dusters featured in this video:
DataVac - amzn.to/3bErBWs
ATEnge - amzn.to/3oZjIhh
UK recommendation:
CompuCleaner - amzn.to/3zHa4F6
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I bought an electric air duster early last year and it was the best $50 I've spent in recent memory. No more buying canned air every few months. I can't believe I held off on buying one for so long.
@@chewcab8008 - No it isn't. Not even close. Turning on a 500-watt hand-held air duster to clean out a couple computers twice or three times a month is the equivalent of running a 500w PC at full load for a few minutes two or three times a month, probably like 20 cents. The lowest-priced can of compressed air on Amazon right now is $7. You can get it for about $5 a can if you buy it in bulk. Once you've bought 7 to 10 cans of that (and believe me I've bought way more than that over the years) then that's the price of the handheld electric duster right there. The cost of electricity for running it for a few minutes is inconsequential.
Same, bought one last month and it's amazing.
Which one did you buy??
@@OneNOnlyJesus - It's a Meco H-136.
Your review on this couldn't have been better, Thanks for helping me decide on a product. You sir have excellent work!
I've had a datavac for just over a decade now and it's been a fantastic duster as well as backup leafblower if someone is borrowing my leafblower. I do highly recommend wearing hearing protection though when using it.
That said the ergonomics of the pistol grip blowers are really interesting. If my data back eventually finally breaks, and it's in a way that isn't easy to fix, then I will look into a pistol grip blower.
Thank you very much for taking apart both blowers to show us what is inside. I really enjoy getting to see what's inside useful and/or interesting products.
Yeah right about the space efficiency of the electric dusters being higher than a compressor that can do similar work.
Thank you for that nice video. Very informative. I ended up getting the one on the left shaped like a hair dryer. Just ordered it through your link. The other one seemed too big size wise. I like the long narrow attachment for the fans in small areas. Thank you again!
I enjoy thoughts in video format plus the accent. Thanks for sharing!
I was one of the people that recommended the Metro Data Vac in the comments of a past video. I've used one at home and one at work for over 10 years now and both are still going strong; so I can certainly speak to its longevity. I believe when I purchased them they were only about US $70 and I agree that the US $100+ current asking price is too steep. I can't even imagine how many cans of duster I've replaced with it, though. Hundreds maybe.
I’ve had my DataVac (like the white one … the industrial looking model) in black, a dive had it for 5.5-6yrs now. It’s had regular usage for multiple purposes, and still going strong 💪💪
HI. Yes, I bought the "Original" Compu-Cleaner about 9 months ago or so and have found it very useful. But I think it functions more like a mini compressor because after a while the air coming out of it as well as the unit itself gets what I would consider quite hot! It has lots of fitting of variable size and length as well as one with a brush fitted.
But it does have that instantaneous blast that makes you need to hang onto it - almost like as "kick"! But it certainly does the job!
At £49.00 no complaints!
I bought one of these electric air dusters last year. It's called the "Meco Eleverde" and has two settings for 250W/550W power with a good selection of interchangeable nozzles. Works super well and I don't have to waste money on canned air anymore.
how is it now after 8 months? I see many comments complaining of battery failure and bad quality.
@@ostrados Battery failure? Huh...It's a wired one though?
I bought my datavac ED500 back in 2014. Even with all the hundreds if not thousand of computer repairs I have performed for customers. It still works perfectly. Doesn't seem to have lost any power. I even use it to blow grass and leaves off my driveway while I am standing straight up. Have drop it many times over the years and still no problems.
I've had a datavac now for almost 8 years and its still going strong. It was super cheap too at around £45. Never looked back, use it around every month or so to blast the desktop outside. Get some funny looks from the neighbours lol
Bought the CompuCleaner last month - very impressed with it. Only flaw i thought was the switch on it means you have to have the button held in at all times, as it’s a rocker rather than like the one on the “hair dryer” style blower you have there.
I used to go through alot of air cans until I finally decided to buy and try a "IT Dusters CompuCleaner" and I gotta say it is frigging great. Compressed air cans are really expensive for what they give, these things however are just great. For the cost of 12 cans of air I bought that one and i've been using it for like 3-4 years now. Only thing I'd like is for some manufacturer to make a battery operated one which would use same batteries as the most common drills etc power tools. So the duster would be just another cordless power tool. That would be the best thing ever :)
I’ve had the uk version of the datavac for a few years, super robust and reliable. It’s a bit poorly laid out like mentioned in video but they are indestructible. The other one I can’t speak on its reliability but it is a plastic build compared to the metal of the datavac. Also the datavac fan is metal whilst the other again I would assume is plastic. My vote goes to the datavac especially is you plan on keeping it around for a few years. Mines about 8 years old and still going strong.
No experience with either tool but it's obvious the datavac is aimed at professionals and the plastic version is more for home use. Your experience confirms my guess. 👍
The impeller is not made of metal anymore with Datavac, they switched to plastic, also most of the components are made in China, it's just assembled in the USA these days. They pulled a beats by Dre, got big brand name recognition, lowered the product quality and jacked up the price. All these comments by people with 7-10 year old Datavac that are still working great is cool and all, doesn't apply to any of the ones they have sold or made recently though. It's not the same Datavac you or they bought anymore.
"Whilst" doesn't reinforce the non point. Case fans are plastic as are 99% of all house box fans. Metal is heavier thus spins slower with the same power applied. DataVac works but is over built and overpriced, I bought a $25 Amazon duster 5 years ago, all plastic, came with 6 different attachments plus extra filter (Never needed to replace one) and it's still going strong.
@@animalyze7120 box and pc fans don't move near the air of something like that. Plastic just means a limited lifespan. The plastic will get brittle over time. The ones with metal blades will last as long as you can get brushes and bearings, which are probably not even made by the company selling the product.
I brought a rechargeable one from amazon for work, really good and blows really well, plus it has the advantage of no cord. Cost about £59 to £79, saved a fortune on canned air !
I got a CompuCleaner duster from Amazon UK for about 50 quid, been very happy with it.
Great video as usual, and I particularly appreciate your different reviewing perspective.
I'd like to highlight one issue you missed: the position of the on/off switch on the Datavac is set for a right-handed person. As such it is a particular annoyance to me because I am left-handed and I have to use it right-handed or swap hands for finer work.
As I mentioned in a comment on an earlier video I've had a Datavac for nearly a decade. Mine came with a rather better set of accessories than yours, including a long thin nozzle part and a set of brushes. I've managed to lose most of them, of course. I think you needed to give more importance to the drop test. Especially as your floor is flagstones. It's so easy for equipment to get accidentally knocked off a workbench or trolley - especially when you are as clumsy as I am - and my Datavac has survived admirably.
Eleven years for my DataVac and still going strong. For my family's PC's and home server. I made some extra add-ons for mine. Some advice: Have hearing protection when using.
WHAT?
lol @@erbenton07
I have a pump made for inflatables that I use for dusting computers and TVs when I repair them, they also comes with different nozzles.
It is also a 12V version made for use in cars, so in combination with my DIY variable bench power supply i have a precise speed controll on it.
Would be interesting to see the flow rate test and static pressure test just to see how it compares to mine "duster"
The nicest thing about Electric dusters over cans of air is they don't run out midway through cleaning a pc. And the cost savings do add up over time
Really interesting! Nice video. Thank you ❤️
I bought an electric duster in 2020 for £50 and it's been great it's called a Meco Eleverde, it's pretty strong, its made it so much easier for cleaning the dust/animal hair out from my pc and game consoles.
I bought an XPower A2 last year it's awesome, loads of power and compact.
Also only 50 quid.
@@wayland7150 I think I paid £65 a year ago on amazon so £50 is a good price.
These are great. Been wanting to grab a decent one but no clear identification of which ones are great and spending $100 on the datavac vs taking more time and going after it with a brush I've so far gone the spend more time route but knowing now that as long as they're rated to about 450w it'll work wonders is a good point to start looking for a cheaper option.
I got the Data Vac *white one*, and I agree: The blower is great for dusting equipment; and not just computers but anything that needs air blasting. it might be great for mechanics also. But I do agree with you, that I would prefer a pistol grip approach, but i cannot complain about the data vac; it gets the job done.
Nice air duster. I advice against washing the filter. The dust will eventually clough the sponge and start to smell. Just use the duster to blow the dust out from them. I do that to a vacuum cleaner for years and is still like new.
Ye I do it with a vacuum too but be careful, it's easy to suck the whole thing out and in to the vacuum :)
No it won't, just make sure to let it dry thoroughly and there's no issues. The one I have came with 3 replacements and never needed them all. I use one while the 2nd dries, not a single issue.
ATEnge also has a battery version of the same duster. So if you quickly want to dust out something outside you don't have to be close the a plug. Really handy.
Yup, I agree: those things have their place and they're really handy at times. Highly portable too, so if you're a tech on the go, you can carry it in your car - not something you can do with a big ol' air compressor, at least not easily. Not a replacement for an air compressor, but the next-best option indeed.
Thanks for the video man. I have a Chinese dust blower from Aliexpress which I've bought a few years ago for 25$. I've been using it from time to time. When it comes to noise it's about the same as your DATA VAC but it's rated at 800W. It's handy though it's big. The problem it began to stink when using it. I don't know if it's a dust or it's motor. Now I see that 500W is enough and it's better too look at the quality, not the power.
I was confused, not 800W but rather 600W. And actual power according to review is 450W.
Just picked up a rechargeable one, best cleaning gadget ive ever brought imo, instead of taking hours with a cloth & brush, i just blast my PC for 15 mins to get a perfect dust clean finish everytime
I'm using the DATAVAC 220V since 8 years and I'm fully satisfied about it, I love it.
which air duster on these two is good for deep cleaning laptop?
I bought my Datavac back in 2014 and back then it only cost $50. I was not too shocked at a price increase over such a long period, but to think it's been increased that much over the years is crazy. The Datavac has (and continues) to serve me well, but I wouldn't pay $100 for it.
I've been using a portable shop vac that works great in the blower function. It's not a huge gust of wind but still need to keep it back away a bit. I imagine it's safer than an air blower line fed from a compressor.
I am surprised those blowers did not overheat! They are rated at 60 hz. Even if you are able to step down the voltage to 120V, it's harder to change the cycles from 60 to 50 unless you are plugged to an electric generator with frequency adjustment.
Thanks for the video.
What about static electricity? Can you use a regular house vacuum cleaner (with the hose set to the air blowing side) safely to dust electronics?
Static is difficult to quantify... If you live in a particularly dry area then it can be an issue, but you'll get static risk from basically any cleaning method. I'm in the UK with an average humidity of 70%, so it just doesn't build up here.
Newbie question: Do you recommend the use of dusters for laptop cleaning?
Using piston compressor on electronics is not preferred. Water condense under pressure in the tank and blown air from the tank have high humidity and even water droplets. This may result in short circuits and rust on the board. That's why these type of simple blowers are recommended for dust removal from electronics.
I have a compressor that is quiet once charged up, but after buying a cheap shop vac from screwfix a while back, I use that as its got a long hose and blower function, its a lot lighter than lugging a large compressor with an air tank around and doesnt need the same level of maintenance as the compressor and as it does 2 jobs as its main function is a pretty powerful vacuum cleaner its a win win for the money
You can wire them in series and use them simultaneously on 240V!
Great video! I have the datavac and it stopped working a few months after purchase and i found that the plug is very low quality. After I replaced the plug with a better quality one from the hardware store its been working solid for 6 years now. I also have an Xpower A-2 which is half the price but very similar build. In my opinion the Xpower A-2 is a much better duster since it has 2 power settings, longer cord, comes with brush attachment and half the price.
Yea. I personally felt that the Datavac is only really worth it if the metal construction is useful. Like, a more mechanical workshop where the tools get banged about a lot.
@@Adamant_IT I agree it is a very solid build with the metal housing.
I got our IT dept to buy one of these as the desktop guys were going through compressed air like crazy. I think it was a Compucleaner brand, definitely worth it if you have to work on lots of computers. Being in a normal office they definitely don't have access to a compressor.
I bought one of these after doing a lot of research and watching your video. However I bought the "XPOWER A-2". Comes with a lot of attachments (inc a "slot" type one for wide sweeping).
Great for cleaning PC and even blowing crap off my desk and out of my keyboard and all the nooks and crannies. I now no longer use canned air.
Would heavily recommend this model.
is it the green colored Duster? how has it performed since then?
Like the long nozzle on the hair dryer style as a secondary use, would it get down the sides of your car seats where you can never get the vacuum cleaner end nozzle?
Maybe... not sure if compressed air would help in that situation though, might just push dirt and grit deeper into the seats.
I've used the American made datavac at an IT job around 2012. That thing is extremely loud and can blow components off a motherboard if you're not careful. I still prefer just using canned dusters due to the noise.
There are very silent real air compressors like from Senco. Also a lot better for the planet earth.
I've been using electric air dusters for many years now and never had a problem. Cleans boards and fans very well. For fans though, you need to secure the blades before.
More fun to spool them up like a jet engine.
Fantastic overview
Does your Transformer only step down the voltage from 240 to 120 or does it change the frequency from 60 to 50 Hz as well?
That's a good question actually... the product page doesn't say, and I believe it's just a massive toroidal transformer in a box, so I'm guessing No. I'll check it tomorrow and see, because if it's 60hz that's probably going to cause issues with certain equipment that relies on the supply frequency.
@@Adamant_IT 50 to 60 I meant, btw. sorry.
@@Adamant_IT Won't matter much for a brush motor (e.g. one with a commutator), though it will maybe run slightly slower (and thus blow less) and draw slightly more juice in the UK.
Looks like a conventional transformer (which doesn't matter too much for these air dusters but may do for other devices with motors / clocks). Frequency and voltage converters are available, at many times the price.
I work IT at a factory that builds modular homes. We get SO MUCH DUST!! I have been unable to convince them to let me run an air line to my office so i've been stuck using canned-air. After watching this I put in an order on Amazon for one of these.
hi does your datavac shell get really hot when in use?
They do warm up, yes. I'm not sure what you can get away with, but I avoid long-uses, and give it a short rest now and then if I have a pile of stuff to do.
This is off topic but I bought a laptop online from someone and it turns out that the computer is enrolled to a business and still has the remote management screen pop up after entering the wifi password. Is there anyway to bypass this?? And or unenroll the computer from the business?
I have an Xpower...similar in looks to the datavac but only £50 as opposed to £130.....It has a 2 speed switch on the handle and comes with a good set of different nozzles....had it a couple of years and it's been great.
Same as I've got. Very tough construction and 500watts of power. Massive torque when you switch it on, twists in the hand.
I bought 1 can of compressed air back in the day, then I found out about Giotto’s rocket from the DSLR community and haven’t used anything else since. It’s a lot of manual work though (2nd best daily hand/wrist workout I get 👀), so these fancy powered units are pretty attractive
i own an xpower datavac and i LOVE it. super handy. no reason to buy canned air. now if you have a nice air compressor and it works fine thats good, but for mobile use a datavac is super handy
I have a "compu cleaner" made by itdusters, its been going a few years and does a great job, if you use canned air I would recommend an electric duster over canned air any day, the long term savings works out really good value.
Waiting on a MECO ELEVERDE duster from Amazon - 30% off at the moment and looks like decent reviews. Fingers crossed!
Also got this one using the excuse it blows up the little ones paddling pool as well 😁
for the 120v-250v on electronics, i use an ups, cuz on my town theres always cut outs and wierd electical downs, it helps a lot as a safe card when im flashing bioses.
I brought a 700w airbed pump from Argos for £20, bargain and goes like the clappers, also dataVac should be called dataBlow :D
I’ve been using the black DataVac for over 8 years to replace air cans to clean my AC evaporator, PCs etc.
so hard to find these on canada amazon that ARENT cordless
I bought a small electric leaf blower to blow out computers. I have one similar to the Katsu 500w on Amazon. It works brilliantly. I also have a SIP air compressor in the garage. I use that more often nowadays. I have an air drier on the system, and use the air from that to blow out computers.
that seems excessive does it run on petrol🤣🤣 when ever I see people blowing leaf's around their gardens I think to myself what a bloody moron
Most honest review. I trust anyone that admits "I'm an idiot".
I use a rubber rocket thing for cleaning camera sensors, for just a once in a full moon clean it fine but your hand gets tired after a bit using it and much less force.
Still it works fine for blowing out dust around my PC.
I got an "X Power" duster maybe a year or so ago, Glad I didn't spring for the Data vac as it looks similar to the two you've bought. I think I paid 50 quid for it, well worth it
This was a great video
Hi Adam I use my wife's hair dryer on a cool setting of course works like a treat blowing out caked dust I used on my m8ts PC that was really caked with dust.cost me no cost at all just the electric.
I have and use the loud white one for blowing out computers, servers and notebooks. Yes, its loud but WOW sure saves tons on $$ on canned air. I like it. FYI, it does get hot.
Hello Graham, useful video as always, thanks. I prefer use a hoover I do not want breath dust. Question: what is your twitch channel?
They say not to use a vacuum on computers because of static electricity. I don't know if that's a problem in practice but it's the reason they use blowers.
What brand screw driver is that?
Would love to see you compare some battery powered ones, see if they can compete
well what was you expecting regarding voltage when you bought them off Amazon USA
I have tried Bulle a lot, which is plastic and cheap. My last one lasted 10 years and I just bought a new one for 20 euros. No complaints so far.
I have Senco branded compressor. I is under 200 € and lasts from years to years and does a lot more than just dusting electronic things. Can't even think life without real air compressor :)
I have the DataVac and I find that it's better for blowing out larger items like whole PC's, but I don't like it so much for tearing down laptops or GPUs and using it in the shop. It blows around everything. Like you said, it's just not a very ergo design. I was sent a battery operated one and I'll be interested to see how it does. Also, should be careful with air compressors. If it's strong enough, not turning down the regulator can blow components off boards. I've seen it happen. And if you live in a more humid area, you should have a dryer on the line as well.
I dusted out a computer yesterday at a factory. They said get the water out of it first. I thought I had but I was pressure washing the PSU! Not to worry it's distilled water so did not cause a short.
i've got 550W air duster...one of my best purchases ever 👌
Still using the same DataVac ED500, that I bought back in 2012. It may not be pretty, but it is a workhorse.
You may run the black blower at 1st speed on 240 volts. Probably speed reduction is done with a diode by trimming the one side of sine wave and It should run without a problem with half cut 240v sine wave.
Half wave rectified.
Great just bought one!
Data-Vac's name annoys me, considering it doesn't vacuum it just blows.
Making the data vac so tough then giving it a brushed motor feels like kind of a waste. If you really want to keep it for a long time I guess you can replace the brushes but I don't really know if they're easy to find and whether they will be in the future.
My bet is very similar to washing machine or drill brushes
Brushes are easy to find generally.
The electric duster I used to use worked better with the large nozzle. Seemed like the small nozzle restricted the air. Just my experience.
Just stick a UK plug on it should go well for 30 seconds and should get the views up!!! Its not a propper test unless there is a small fire 🔥
Wire the two blowers in series to half the voltage. Yes you'd have to use two at once but you'd look bad ass.
Air pump from Lidl this month for 6 quid. Just got one 200W max. Very cheap and effective
I ordered that Atenge air duster from amazon month ago and didn't paid attention to voltage too 😅
I do want to say that these products including the ones you shown here, and the ones I have seen in my local retailers and webshop here in norway all seem to be chinese white label products. For those who don't know what that means, white label factories make products without a brand, and then sell them to established brands for them to print a label on. The price diffrence between the same air blowers I found in norway and the exact same model on aliexpress ranged anywhere from 70% cheaper on ali, to 40% cheaper on ali. And to add to that for those that were plugged into an outlet and not USB-C charged they had options to pick between EU,US,UK,AUS plugs so that isnt an issue. So unless you REALLY need it right now and can't wait 2-4 weeks I would highly reccomend to drop greedy middle men and just buy it straight from the chinese suppliers themselves.
I also bought electric air duster from amazon like 3 years ago. After first use i was sold and it has been awesome ever since. It has so many use cases!
The DataVac logo kind of gives it away. It looks to be manufactured with off the shelf components from the 70s. That is definitely a standard vacuum cleaner motor. The only custom components are probably the housing and the nozzle. So they just rummaged through the parts bins of a large supplier, found a few things they liked, and designed the expensive housing and nozzle to put it all together. Never changed a single thing in 50 years since, it looks like.
I could only assume the datavac is the more commercial heavy duty solution, or it's a holdover design from the 70's or 80's or a small company. thinking about it in that lens I could probably forgive it somewhat.
Whose garden are you blowing all that dust into?
The one whose ivy is eating the wall of my kitchen
I have an old 12ga shop vac that can suck and blow. Whenever that goes I'll likely pick up something like these. Preferably the datavac, to me it seems worth the extra $40.
I use an electric mattress inflator, never had any issues when cleaning dust from computers and consoles.
the issue im having is the air blower can cost more than half a decent air compressor. so getting an air compressor vs air blower is like getting a desktop vs console
One thing these can't do is double as a freezer spray. Useful in finding components getting hot on PCB's.
Always recommend eye protection with this type of equipment.
ITduster Xpert is also a super good choice, I believe it's made in the UK aswell, the slightly more expensive Xpert model can do upto 600W.
I have that one and I love it!
You sir, need a variac :) allows you to run any ac voltage you want, even a bit higher than the wall voltage in some cases.
Ah that's a good idea, should've paid a bit extra for one as they have more uses than just 120-240 conversion...
I bought a Datavac in 2011, still running like a champ. It's awkward, clumsy to use, and loud, but I'd like to see those Chinese blowers last more than 2-3 years. I agreed with most of your review, but longevity is king for me. The best part:
Order Summary
Item(s) Subtotal:
$47.92
Grand Total:
$47.92
That's from Amazon US. (December 2011)
I’m am in the us, I can tell you that power adapters Like usb chargers are not polarized some us plugs that are 2 prongs like usb chargers are not polarized but some are, of course us plugs with ground prong goes in one way! The neutral pin on 2 prong us plugs are bigger as the plugs hot a neutral slots are different sizes the neutral hole is longer than the hot hole
You need to fit UK sockets and wire your full 240 volts to the socket rather than these half measures.
@@wayland7150 well ipad chargers don’t require travel adapters as Apple makes them for people who travel
Wow, you have really nice hair in this episode. Did you do that with those dusters?
I use my datavac to blow up balloons and such fairly regularly. But yeah, its metal, built like a tank and never heard of the word ergonomic. I've been playing around with getting a battery powered blower for my mobile kit.
I use the data vac to blow out its own dust filter. Lol.
The Datavac would be very inconvenient for me, being I'm left-handed.
I am left handed as well and have owned the same ED-500 datavac for over 6 years and love it, best $60 id spent on a cleaning device. With that being said, the ergonomics are not an issue for me in the slightest, you simply press the button with your index. There is nothing to it, no problem whatsoever. Cant imagine why one would/could assume otherwise. If you were to hold one in person this notion would be immediately apparent. Take care, fellow lefty!