Not ready for residential use 
After giving up on home style vacuums I decided to go with "more power" in the Shop-Vac. While I am thrilled with the performance of the shop-vac, my fiance is not. It seems that shop-vac is a bit to clunky to pull around the house, furthermore the attachments are too industrial for carpets and rugs. This might be a different story if these carpets and rugs were under a foot of water or covered with nails and debris. In conclusion, if you must have a shop vac in your house (as I must), opt for the smaller model.
Disappointed
The bearings on my little 10-gallon Shop vac I purchased in the early 70's finally had a melt down. The closest replacement is the 12-gallon Shop-vac 925. You would think that 30 years of engineering and space age materials would produce a spiffy new model, right? Wrong. There is a lot to like about the Shop-vac. The machine is very quiet. No need for ear protection. It is better constructed than others and offers several filter alternatives. It has a more flexible hose than most. For a vacuum cleaner, it's aesthetically pleasing (Ok, that's a stretch). Unfortunately it has some major shortcomings.
Power: While the suction is adequate, the airflow is considerably less than Ridgid or Craftsman. It will do a fine job vacuuming out your car, but it's nearly useless in the shop. It will pick up sawdust if you are patient (I'm not). Shop-vac does not provide a measure of air volume or suction so there is no meaningful way to compare models. In addition, the model/catalog numbers change from retailer to retailer so it is difficult make price comparisons.
Blower: This machine does not have an outlet for blowing. You cannot blow sawdust out of a machine or from behind a woodpile. In my shop, I blow nearly as frequently as I suck (did I say that?) so this was a deal-killer for me.
Wheels: The 2" wheels on my old Shop-vac were too small to roll over it's own cord and caused much frustration. In wisdom known only to Shop-vac engineers, the new model has 1.5" wheels.
Construction: I like the clips that hold the motor housing in place. The rubbery plastic housing looks great and appears rugged. In practice, however, static electricity causes the plastic to attract and hold dust. What a mess! Reminds me of Linus's blanket. You won't want to bring it into the house. The top handle does not allow the lid to lay upside down for maintenance.
I do not use the wet pick-up feature so I cannot evaluate that, but for shop use, take a look at a Ridgid or a Craftsman. I got a Craftsman 16-gallon model on sale for about the same price. It's a little louder and the case probably won't last as long, but boy does it suck and blow! That is the way it should be.
Motor Failure
With some improvements this model could suit most homeowner and light contractor needs. It is the quietest I've had. I would like a blow feature but having a calm exhaust comes in handy on many cleanup occasions. I was upset that mine met an abrupt end when one of the motor cooling fins broke off dropping into the motor and caused it to lock up. I may have it repaired depending on cost but needed to replace it and did so with another major brand--and am not as satified as with the Shop Vac. The Shop Vac filtering features are superior.
Happy with Shop-Vac
Purchased the 925-41-10 12 Gallon Shop-Vac from Amazon on clearance a couple of months ago and have been quite happy with it so far. The suction is excellent, it is lighter, easier to move around and the noise is much less than my 5yr old 10 gallon Sears wet-vac that burned out last year. We just purchased a house back in November and put in an upstairs laundry room, hardwood floors and other assorted messy projects, making the shop-vac an absolute necessary. I purchased the 906-72 dry pickup bags that are large and make picking up everything from drywall dust, wood shavings and a large nest of carpenter ants a clean and easy task. I have also used it to suck up standing water in the garage with no problems although 90% of my Vacuuming is for dry items.
burnt motor
Bought about 9 mo. back. Used for a couple of days for a small drywall job. Stored the rest of thje time. Pulled out for use last week. I used it for about four days. The machine had a total of about 10 hrs. total use time. The motor suddenly burnt out. I took it apart to diagnose the cause and found nothing obvious. I took it to a pro for a diagnosis and was told what I already knew. Burnt out motor, no cause found. I will go back to my old Craftsman which is over 8 years old.
